Author: Jean Michael

The journey from Sophia Bulgaria to Normandy France was a many-splendored thing. But after a shuttle, a flight, a bus, a taxi, a train, and another taxi, we arrived!

For this portion of the trip (3 nights) Laney and I were meeting up with the family of Laney’s friend Aidan. Laney and Aidan have been friends since pre-school.  Aidan’s  parents – Kiersten and Drew, were kind enough to invite Laney and I to join them on a private tour of the Normandy/D-Day beaches. Drew’s brother, Chris, had done a similar tour a couple years ago, and had arranged for Drew, Kiersten, and Aidan to join the same tour, along with Chris’s wife, Val, their 2 daughters Jen and Laura, and Jen’s husband Randy.

This is a pic of the group of us (minus one, who is taking the picture) at Pegasus Bridge. (Thanks Val!)

Laney and I arrived first at the beautiful hotel, which was a former farmhouse. After a rest, I wandered down to the onsite bar, which was crazy beautiful. Check out these pics! One of the coffee tables was a very very large billows, like for a fire. At least, that’s what it looked like to me!

 

 

 

Laney and Aidan played giant chess. I think they each won one game.

I met a few nice people (Americans, also) hanging out there. We shared travel plans. They were passing through, just stopped for dinner, on their way after visiting the Normandy Beaches.

The rest of the Fasy group joined later in the day, and we met them for dinner. What a great group of people. Everyone was so fun, friendly and excited for the tour to get started the next day.

The menu was great, the wine good too.

The next day we were off to an early start with Colonel Mike! We saw so many amazing sights and heard so many amazing stories from Mike. He is insanely knowledgeable and such a character, too!

From Mike, I learned that, in addition to Americans, English, and Canadians, the Polish contributed to the success of the Allies in France. Shortly following the D-Day landings, 40,000-50,000 Polish soldiers were deployed, in coordination with the British Army  in the battle of the Falaise pocket.  And there are Polish soldiers in the Bayeux Commonwealth Cemetery. Along with soldiers from many other (for me, unexpected) countries, like Australia and New Zealand.

This is a Polish gravestone in Bayeux. It looks different from the others. The Polish gravestones are pointed on top. Unlike others, which are mostly square with rounded corners.

Some at this cemetery, are buried together. When the remains of ‘comrades in arms’ could not be differentiated (in a plane crash, or tank explosion, for example), soldiers were buried together, as one.

Of the places we visited, Laney’s favourite was definitely the Pont du Hoc Battlefield at Cricquiville-en where there are still bunkers to be explored.

For me, it was the Bayeux Cemetery, the Normandy American Cemetery and the Pegasus Bridge. I literally couldn’t hang with the group at Normandy because I could not stop tearing up at the sight of all those stones. This happened to me years ago when I was here too. And now, it was even worse because I had learned so much more about the D Day landings.

The above are the Normandy American Cemetery pics. That last one is a reflection pool, modelled after the one in DC (again, if memory serves. I’m not fact-checking everything ha!)

Below are bunker pics

These (above) few pics are at the bunkers. That’s Laney’s friend Aidan, and his dad, Drew, in the picture with Laney.

Below, is a series of pics from Pegasus Bridge.  This was my favourite for a few reasons. One, we met the owner of the cafe (also, she used to own a museum in the same spot, ask me that story some time) – who was here, in this house, on D-Day. This house was the first house in France to be freed by the Allies following D-Day. She was 4 years old (if memory serves). Very cool.  The other reason it is my favourite, is it’s a rather unusual (for me) drawbridge. The one you see here (which we saw go up and down) isn’t the original, the original is in a museum nearby. But it functions the same as the original one did.

At this church (pics below), Laney and Aidan re-created the scene displayed on the sign out front. And noted the bullet holes INSIDE the church. Also, here, is where two paratroopers’ landing was interrupted by the church spires. One of them still hangs there today.

Above, John Steele still hangs from the church

Above, I thought this interesting (as did Chris). The stained glass depicts a combination of religious (Mary/Jesus) and military (soldiers).

This is a picture of a remaining floating dock. Following the D-Day landings, the Allies created a harbour at Arromanches Beach. It was made of concrete Floating Docks, and was named Mulberry Harbor. The docks didn’t last long, however. They were soon mis-aligned and wiped out by storms that followed D-Day. Interesting to me, though, that they float?

Bye Normandy! Thanks for the memories 🙂

After 2 full days of D-day, we had to say good-bye to the Fasy crew and head to the area of Mont St. Michel. We went by train, as usual. And arrived easily. Our Airbnb host offered to meet us at the train station and drive us to her home! How nice!

Turns out that was a good thing because her place was a bit, shall we say, remote? Like just a little town and neighbourhood. Very quaint. Annick was the sweetest host! She had restored the house, which was 128 years old (if memory serves) and created 2 spare bedrooms and a full bath upstairs. We shared the living room and kitchen with her, and she lived on the other side of the house. Her grandson and Son-in-Law were there a lot. I’m not clear if they live there or not. Her daughter was on holiday.

We settled in, and chilled a couple hours, then headed out to dinner. Annick drove us to a nice little campground nearby that has a restaurant. And said she would be back to get us in 2 hours. Laney and I had a nice dinner outside. Salad, mussels, wine. Then we went inside, played some pool and air hockey and had some crazy good crepes. Well, at least I thought they were great at the time.

The next morning, Annick made us a wonderful spread for breakfast. Warm croissants, home made crepes, with 3 kinds of home made jams – with fruit grown in her garden! This woman is my hero! Ha! Of course, coffee and tea too. It was a little rainy so we chilled for a few hours, pulled a workout, and then headed out. Annick let us borrow a couple bikes to get to Mont St Michel. This is where it gets funny (if you’re me) and really annoying (if you’re Laney). The directions she gave us was literally ‘go left, then right, then left, then right, then left…). OK!

We headed out. Apparently we missed a right. Ended up at a T intersection. Choice of going back (2 miles or so) or taking the direct path to Mont St Michel via the unpaved road.

YUP we took the unpaved road. A few corrections later, we finally made it. Laney was cursing me the whole way. HA!

Mont St Michel was beautiful. As usual, I was as interested in the ‘non-sightseeing’ stuff as the THING. This is a bus that shuttles people the (rather long) distance over the bridge to Mont St Michel. What’s cool about that? Well, it drives from either end. SO, no turning around. The driver simply gets off, walks to the other end of the bus, and drives forward again, but going the other way now. Kinda like a train or subway train, I guess. Pretty cool

Before we headed back, we decided to have dinner. By the time we were done, it had started to rain. Just a little. Laney begged me to call a cab, but I couldn’t. We had the bikes! SO, off we went. It didn’t  rain TOO much. But we were a little wet when we got home. Thank goodness we had packed our windbreakers. The ride home wasn’t nearly as long as there (because we didn’t make wrong turns, or fewer of them), but it was still pretty long, and against a pretty good (10-15 mph) wind.  HA.

Well we got our exercise.

The next morning, we had that same great spread for breakfast, only Annick had made fresh, homemade rhubarb jam because I was so excited to see the rhubarb in her kitchen the day before. AND she gave me a jar to take with me! WHOO HOOO!!!

After breakfast, Annick took us back to the train station. We were headed to Paris!

Another fairly uneventful train ride, followed by a taxi ride and we arrived at our apartment in PARIS!. Adorable. With a loft bed which Laney begged for. Again, we chilled a bit. I went for a walk around to find our Metro station(s), orient myself, buy food, buy wine 🙂 all the required stuff.

This was a cool door to the bathroom. I see Pac Man. “From Paris with Love”. A Rose. The Eiffel tower. A 7.  What else do you see?

While I was out walking, I hear the song from Flashdance. You know ‘What a FEELING!’. Well I walk a bit further and it gets louder. I look into a garage (garage door wide open) and what do I see but a gymnasts type of gym. ‘Iron Cross’ type rings, balance beam, etc. and young men in tights doing the gymnast thing. I almost laughed but just smiled. A few stopped and said something to me, of course I had no idea what that was, so I just waved, smiled/laughed and kept walking. HA! TOO FUNNY! I mean, if there is a song that men in America wouldn’t be CAUGHT DEAD working out to, I think it’s that song! I should have taken a picture while the guys were in there, but I was just a little surprised. We stumbled across the same place later, and I took a pic. The guy coming out of this place was in a uniform and I realise now there is a pole in the middle. FIREMEN??!!

The next day, I had booked us an Eiffel tower tour. We were late (see Misc. post) and so had to reschedule for later in the day. Not a big deal. We went out to the new Grand Arch, saw the Arc d Triumph, walked Rue de Elysses, headed back to the Eiffel tower, had lunch and joined our tour.

We saw this restaurant on our walk to the Arc. I was taking a picture because it’s called Deauville, like the restaurant in Strathmere. The waiter made a big fuss like I was taking his picture. HA! Strike a POSE!

 

Our three favourite selfie pictures.

Smiling, Snarky, and Crazy. From the top!

 

The Eiffel tower is very busy, and certainly there is an amount of patience needed, but the view from the top and just the pure SIZE of it, is so impressive. Plus we had Champagne, which I don’t normally drink, but hey, when in Paris.

 

Afterwards we got Laney some cotton candy. For starters, ITS HUGE!! Then, the really funny part. About 10 minutes into eating it, Laney starts freaking out “There’s A BEE IN MY COTTON CANDY”. Yes there was. If he was there from the ‘making’ or flew in later, we’ll never know for sure. I can tell you there were lots of bees flying around the cotton candy stand while he was making it. HA!

The picture was take before the bee was discovered. Maybe you can see it if you look closely? HA

After that, we headed home. For a home-made meal of tomato (and for me, chicken) sandwiches. On fresh baguette. Seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!

The next day we had an afternoon bike tour booked. Hidden Paris. Supposed to be away from the typical tourist stuff. I used our leftover baguette to make french toast. Get it? FRENCH? OK not funny.But it WAS pretty good.

BUT, before that, I DRAGGED Laney to see Notre Dame. I bought her cappuccino and we drank it there before our bike tour began. We learned nothing, but we got some good pics before other people showed up. Had the place almost to ourselves at 930am. HA.

 

Yup, going to hell for that one.

It was a good bike tour. I had a bit of a hard time understanding the guide. He apologised in the beginning for his accent. Very cute. We did see the Shakespeare bookstore, and some other interesting places. More importantly, we met some really nice people. Pat and her grand-daughter, Emily, from the west side of Canada. Laney and Emily enjoyed having someone their own age to talk to. Pat and I, well, the same I guess. Pat invited us to come stay with her toward the end of our year, and I think we may just take her up on that!

I also saw this cool sign on the bike tour. It was hard to photograph because it was a mirror on a crowded street. Someone tell Jeff Young I found his Mecca. HA!

Another chill evening, for us.

The next day, we had booked ‘skip the line’ tickets for the Catacombs. This was one thing Laney was very excited for. Thank goodness we had the tickets – the line was crazy long like around the block. And even our short line (with only about 8 people in front of us), it took us 20-30 minutes to get in!

Well, we walked down a LOT of stairs, and entered the catacombs, which originally were dug out for the purpose of mining limestone. Later, the tunnels started to collapse, and so were reinforced. At that same time (or later?) the remains were moved from the city’s cemeteries to the catacombs. They were basically mixed together, in theory separated only by which original graveyard/neighborhood they came from. And the bones in the front (all femurs, if memory serves) are stacked in front with some skulls. Behind that, the bones are pretty much just tossed into the ‘bin’ that is formed. Crazy. You can see it in one of the pics. The random piles of bones.

 

Almost forgot about the flea market. I think it was the same day as the Catacombs. I gave Laney a choice between a cool park, and the crazy flea market. Both I had read about somewhere. She chose the flea market. Well, off we went on the metro again (Did I mention how much I love the Paris metro system? It totally rocks. – especially when you’re look at the right map.). Funny story. So, on about the 2nd or 3rd day, Laney and I head out to get somewhere. I had somewhat scoped it out as far as getting there by metro, on the map I had at home. But I needed a quick reminder. So, when we got to the metro station, I spotted a map and started trying to confirm my plan. as I always do.  Well, nothing looked right. Stops were NOT in the right place, but some of the names were the same. Like the whole shape of the metro was wrong, different than I was used to seeing it. I seriously thought I had lost my mind or that my brain just was not working. Laney was off buying tickets. When she came back I explained how it didn’t look right. I was a little freaked out because time was wasting and we needed to be somewhere on time. I asked Laney to go find another map. She did. I looked at that one (also on the wall of the metro) and it totally made sense, looked familiar, the whole thing. Looking back at the original map I was looking at, well, it was a bus map. YUP. Give me a sign. I’M STUPID. HA. That was in the main Metro station that we used about half the time from our flat. So, every time we went in, Laney would ask ‘Mom do you want to take a look at the map?’ and point at it.  Kids.  Can’t live with ’em…… and probably get caught if you kill em. SO, she lives on. HA.

ANYWAY back to my original story. So we headed out to the flea market. When we got there, and even on the Metro on the way there, my instincts were telling me this was not the BEST neighbourhood. I reminded Laney to be cautious. I followed some vague directions and found A flea market. The one I read about was supposed to be something special. Unique things. This was T shirts, sneakers, leather jackets, the usual crap. Finally, walking a little further, I peeked down an alley to my left and saw weird stuff. So, I convinced Laney to go that way. Well, we def saw some weird stuff. The article I read also said the stuff was weird and for insane prices. From what I saw, this seemed to be true. I mean, 5Euro for an antique bicycle bell? or two for a toy train ‘street’ sign? I mean it’s not a lot of money but these things are TINY. And there’s a lot of them! We saw lots of weird stuff. Strangely enough, I was quite entertained. Laney was bored, so we left. HA.

 

 

 

On the last full day in Paris, I convinced Laney to go to the Salvador Dali museum. I thought she would like it. Well, not so much. I liked it. Laney is completely over the museum thing. Maybe I’m just not good at making things interesting. HA. Whatever.

Above a cool trick. The two figures are the same, but flipped over. The gold looks like an elephant but the reflection is of the swan. Vice versa on the swan. Not a great pic. SO I got these from my friend Google Images

Above, a chess set made from models of Dali’s fingers (and his wife’s for the queens, if memory serves). This was made for some kind of charity.

 

This one above is cool. the drawing of an insect is transformed into a self-portrait (of Dali) when looked at on a curved mirrored surface.

This Abe was on a magnet as we left through the gift shop. Not a great pic since it’s a pic of a 2×3″ magnet, but I liked it and wanted to send it to my friend Karen who is a big ‘Abe’ fan. Or is it a ‘big Abe’ fan? or a big ‘Big Abe’ fan? whatever.

When we finished at the Dali museum we had a snack and drink at the adorable cafe with some live entertainment. First a guy on a cello. Then a tight-rope walker.

When we left (to go down ALL THE STAIRS we had come up – there were 2 or 3 sets like the pic below), we noticed a bustling area nearby so went to check it out. It was the artists area, where they do paintings and the like. Rather touristy perhaps, but we ended up paying them for these, nonetheless. Kinda cute how they incorporated Laney’s glasses (on her face) and mine (on my head). A good, packable, memory!

The next day, we packed up, cleaned up, and headed out to the airport (via Uber – I love uber). HA. We were flying to Krakow, Poland! The motherland! HA!

A/N – wow, when I look back at all of this I can hardly believe how much we have done. No wonder we’re tired! HA!

Ciao for now readers! Thank you for following along!

Post a comment, let me know you’re reading!

 

 

 

Ciao Bulgaria!! Thank you for the amazing foods, sights and people!

This visit was a bit different from the others so far. Mainly the difference is that we stayed with friends!! Laneys friend from school, Vali, visits Bulgaria with her parents every summer. When Dede (Vali’s Mom) heard about our trip she invited us to include their beautiful country in our tour and offered her home in VelikoTarnovo!  A generous and wonderful offer. And, although I had never spent any extensive time with Dede, I was confident it was going to be great. And it was even better than I imagined!

Another way this was different was that Laney fell ill. Boo hoo. It was good timing though, and I will explain what I mean.

Laney and I flew into Sofia from Rome. The flight was pretty uneventful unless you count how I fell into the guy next to me when I fell asleep on the plane. Yikes!! how embarrassing. Lol. I was just SO TIRED!! Ha. He was not amused 😒

Upon arrival in Sofia we went through passport control and gathered our bags and hopped in a cab to the bus station where we bought tickets to Veliko Tarnovo. We had some time before our bus so we went to the food court area upstairs. One place was cafeteria style. Yay! ALL THE FOODS!! Nothing was in English so Laney went the safe route with a chicken breast and some potatoes. I took some risk. I got some salad and a mysterious casserole like thing. It was the only interesting choice that didn’t look cheesy or fried. Ha. Turned out to be pork and cabbage and wonderful!  I also grabbed what I thought was milk. It tasted more like thin buttermilk. I found out later it was drinkable yogurt. But I was good so no worries!! Ha.

The bus ride was 2 or 3 hours. Funny thing about buses. They don’t tell you where you are. No announcements.  And the bus station isn’t usually identified – No signs like you see at train station. So, when the bus stopped, I wasn’t sure if it was the right place to get off. But then, there was Dede waving at us! Yay!!

We piled our stuff in a cab and arrived at Dede’s apartment in just a few minutes.   The apartment used to belong to her dad who was a professor at the university nearby. Dede’s dad passed away about a year ago and so Dede uses it now for her extended visits home. Dede’s mom still lives here  in Tarnovo but in a different part of town

We unpacked settled in and Dede made us a ‘snack’. Ha! It was dinner. Shopska Salad. Banitsa bread, yogurt. YUM! Not that night, but Dede also made us a great type of Bulgarian sausage, called kebapche. It’s amazing. Sometimes in a link sausage shape. Sometimes in a patty like a small burger. SO GOOD.

Later when things were a bit cooler we headed into old town and saw the beautiful castle. It’s lit up nearly every night with music and everything. We didn’t catch the full show because of timing etc but it’s a beautiful sight at any time of day!

We got some gelato and then stopped for a drink and a snack at a bar/restaurant. It was beautifully set under some trees on an open terrace. I had missed this biergarten type atmosphere (like in Germany) while we were in Italy. Here It seems they call them summer gardens.

Here’s something interesting. There are cats and dogs everywhere!! The pub had a handful of ‘resident’ cats that demand attention and fight over scraps. Some are more friendly than others. Laney and Vali enjoyed the cats everywhere we went. The dogs don’t hang out in restaurants but you can see one almost anywhere you go on the streets. Apparently, in Bulgaria they don’t cage or euthanise stray dogs. They neuter them, vaccinate them as needed and set them free. Assuming of course they aren’t aggressive. And some of these dogs are quite adorable!!

After that it was home to chill. Again via taxi. We took taxis everywhere. We weren’t going far and they are quite reasonable and accessible. I should mention Tarnovo is not a big busy city. It feels more like a town. With beautiful views!!

While at her home, Dede was kind enough to share with me some of this very special liquor. It’s called Rakia. A fruit-flavoured brandy.  It can’t really be described, but it was wonderful. Also, it belonged to her dad. He made it! So, it was an incredible feeling that Dede shared it with me.

Over drinks :), Dede explained to me some history and geography of Bulgaria. It’s a very diverse little country. There are the Balkan mountains that run though it. They divide the country into North and South. The south is somewhat warmer, and there are great beaches on the Black Sea, which used to be fresh water, but became salty (a long time ago) when a canal opened up between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Cool right? Dede couldn’t stop talking about their recent trip to the Black Sea, in Sozopol, Bulgaria. You can read about the Bulgarian Riviera, here.

A perspective on Bulgaria within Europe

Specifically the Black Sea and Aegean Sea

This is the canal between the Aegean and Black Seas.

Some research in writing this, I’ve learned these are called the Turkish Straits. And there are multiples. I got this from Wikipedia.

For sleeping arrangements Laney and I were to sleep in the living room which had a sectional. Little did I know it converts into a bed! Like probably queen or king size. Not like a sofa bed on the states. It’s much cooler than that. And more comfortable too!!

The next day. Bad news. Laney started to not feel well. Laney and Vali opted to stay home while Dede, Dora (Dede’s Mom) and I went to the historical town of Arbanasi. It had some wonderful historic buildings and museums. Pictures below are from a house that is from the 1300s (If memory serves) and has been preserved as it was then, including the kitchen and other furniture. A few interesting things about the house. First, it’s kind of like a fortress. All the windows have inside and outside thick wooden shutters. And the locks on the doors (there is a pic below) are not kidding around. Neither are the doors – all very thick wood. the kitchen was beautiful and amazing. Each room had a fireplace of sorts, but most of these had 2 sides, not between rooms, but where you could put the wood in one side, and the heat would come out the other side. It seemed to me the main reason for this was to keep the wood, soot, dirt, out of the room. That part was in a little hallway leading to the room. This way, you could heat the room without making a mess. Pretty cool!

 

Beautiful doorways (above) and shutters shut tight

Beautiful ceilings

The stairs are made of very heavy wood, and the decorative tiles on the side were so beautiful.

The kitchen oven.

Dora! explaining all about the historic house. She could make a killing doing tours!

Pots and pans in a small room off the kitchen

Again with the beautulf archways, and see the dishes and bowls above. gorgeous

Above, is a door with a very serious locking system. Close the door and insert the metal weight, like a railroad spike, through the hole. Only it’s about 5x the size and weight of a railroad spike. Serious security!

After touring the area (which also included a small collection of animals. Rabbits. Ducks. Peacocks. And a Summer Garden. Next to a playground. Have I mentioned how much I love that idea? I keep picturing a corner of the North Street Playground with chairs, umbrellas and a bar. Perfect! HA!

The entire area was high on the hill so the view was incredible. There were also fruit trees everywhere (in Bulgaria in general, it seemed). Plum. Pear. Walnut. Dede, Dora and I had dinner there then headed back home to the kids.

The next day Dede decided we needed to see a doctor for Laney. First, Vali and Dede went to visit some family. In the afternoon we went to the doctor who diagnosed Laney with a sinus infection and gave her a script for some antibiotics and something for the congestion. We settled at a restaurant for dinner and Dede was kind enough  to run to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled. This is why it’s serendipitous that, if Laney was going to get sick, she got sick here. Dede’s doctor is also a family friend so we were able to get into the doctor last minute, plus the visit didn’t cost much. Most importantly, we had a translator!

That dinner was on an outside porch type of restaurant. I had mussels and I think they might have been the best I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of mussels! It was a simple garlic and wine sauce, but so amazing! We also had some great sushi!

At that restaurant, there were window boxes of flowers on the outside rail. One was right next to us. In the middle of dinner, I saw the smallest little hummingbird. It flighted around the flowers for  just long enough for everyone to see it (and, after a moment, BELIEVE me that it was a hummingbird) before taking off. So great!

The next and last day with Dede and Vali, we bought our bus tickets (for the next day) and then visited Dora at her home. She has recently adopted an adorable kitten so that was fun. She also put out an amazing spread of coffee, yogurt, banitsa, fruit, all the foods!

I have special place in my heart for Dora.  I can’t 100% put it into words. But I think it is partly that she physically and emotionally reminds me of my moms mom, Stephan who passed away when I was 7 and was about the age Dora is mow. Plus Dora is so warm and loving. She and I can’t actually communicate directly (she know more English than I do Bulgarian, ha). I wish we could. But there is a connection there, for me at least, nonetheless.

Dede and I went to old town to do some shopping. The silver jewellery here is so beautiful. I picked up a couple pieces. 🙂

Vali and Dora joined us. We stopped to eat. Had pork tongue and a traditional Bulgarian dish cooked in a terra-cotta type pot with sausage, tomatoes, peppers, onions and of course feta type cheese and egg  YUM!!

While at this bar/restaurant, I got to me He He Hitler. WHO? A cat with a moustache that looks similar to Hitler, so the name. HA.

 

After dinner, Vali and Dora left. Dede and I stayed a while and had a few drinks with some friends. Fortunately for me Dede’s friend Neven had spent several years in the US so his English was very good. Because my Bulgarian is awful. Ha. Really, it’s non existent. I can’t even gesture properly. I’m not kidding!! In Bulgaria nodding means NO. Ha. So try thinking yes, saying ‘Da’ and tilting your head side to side. And then try thinking No, saying ‘Ne’ and nodding!’ Seriously, give it a shot. Now do it after 4 glasses of wine. Ha!  I laughed every time I tried!! Neven probably thought I was nuts!

The next morning Laney and I caught a bus to Sofia. On the way, there was some road construction. I saw a man using this machine to smooth the concrete. I mean, I don’t get around much, but I had never seen one before. It’s called a power trowel.

In Sophia, we were staying at a hotel close to the airport but expected to go into the city of Sofia on the bus first, and then grab a taxi out to the airport. I was pleasantly surprised when the bus stopped at the airport. Laney not so much. I rushed us off the bus to save a $20 cab ride back out to the airport. Ha.

We got to our Best Western Premier hotel. It was beautiful!  Like a nice Marriott. Whoda thunk?  We chilled for a couple hours. That means I napped and Laney got some screen time. Ha. Then took a taxi to Sofia for a walk about and dinner. We really had to push ourselves. Even though it was only 5 we were pretty tired. Laney from being sick. Me from all the wine and nodding the night before. Ha.

We didn’t find the restaurant we were looking for but stumbled across this place with bean bags on the lawn and couldn’t resist. We had a great raspberry drink there. and then dinner … octopus for me. Fettuccini Alfredo for Laney. Finally. She had been looking for it in Italy with no luck.

We walked around a bit more then headed to our room. I wanted to get to bed early for our 2 am wake up. (GRRR). The airline had moved our flight up from a barely- tolerable 7am to an insane 545. So we had to be at the airport at 345. Insert eye roll here. Ha.

The check in counter wasn’t even open when we got to the airport. And I felt like we stood out like sore thumbs. Obviously Americans. Like everyone else was related. Anyway we managed to check In and get through security and passport check. I can  you they are serious about their security there. For some reason I set off the metal detectors and was searched rather thoroughly by a security woman. Ha. Very thoroughly. Thank god it was me and not Laney. I told Laney afterwards, she could have at least bought me dinner first! HA.

Off to France for us!!

This post is a departure from my usual format. No pun intended (departure). HA. I had a handful of things running around my head that I’ve wanted to share, but don’t exactly fit into a ‘place’ per se. So here goes. I’ve titled them so you can skip to what interests you.

Overall – how is it? Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.  That’s one of my all-time favourite John Denver songs. It applies to life, and to this trip. We took some down-time here in Krakow. We needed it.  We are going to continue our R&R by spending more time in Gdansk (Poland) than we originally intended. Beyond the original 3 nights we planned in the middle of Gdansk (which is one of the tri-cities, Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot), where we will do some sightseeing, I decided to book a place close to the beach in Gdansk, to chill for a few extra days. In order to still visit the many other places we are excited about, unfortunately, we will need to skip Stockholm. The rest of our plans are intact, but always subject to change 🙂

Toilets/Bathrooms – In my experience since leaving the US, toilets almost always have two flush modes. At times labeled 1 and 2. Like when I was a kid and my parents asked ‘you need to go #1 or #2?’ HA! The toilets I’ve used in Europe seem to use just as much water but seem less effective than at home, if you know what I mean. At times, public toilets have no seats. Like in the ‘boy’ position, but no way of changing it. Looks like there are bolts (or bolt holes) FOR the seat, but no seat. Squat time baby. HA. On some trains, the seat is spring loaded to be ‘up’ for boys. You have to pull it down and sit on it before it springs up. That was Italiarail. Surprised? Ha. At other times, pretty common, public toilets are not free. That’s right, you pay to enter the toilet area. It’s usually in the range of 30 cents to 1 American dollar. Maybe $2 at the worst. The more you pay, in general, the nicer/cleaner the bathroom is. That makes sense. There was one on the street in Berlin – like a circular hut, 4x the size of a porte-potty in the US – that one had a timer. The door would open 20 minutes after you (pay and) enter. READY OR NOT! HA! It had a special mode, however, for handicapped. I’m not sure how it worked but with a code/badge, you would get 40 minutes instead of 20.

Cigarettes. Most of you know I’ve never smoked in my life. And I’m certainly not going to start now!! One thing I’ve noticed. You can’t ignore it. Cigarette packages here have disturbing pictures on them. Obviously to remind you of what cigarettes can do to you. I hate seeing this but I support it. It made me question. And realize. Why we don’t do this in America. Think about it. Are our politicians really looking out for us?  I can’t imagine they don’t know about this idea and yet it’s not been implemented in America. If you know me you know I’m not a political person. I consider it a personal failure as an American that I don’t have the time and energy to follow the details of politics. I barely skim the surface. But this. This bothers me. We should do this. Seeing hat picture every time you pick up a pack of cigarettes. I have to believe this is going to deter our kids from picking up smoking. And, isn’t that worth ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY??  Rant over.

Health. Overall, Laney and I are in good health. Aside from that sickness in Bulgaria.  We get worn out, I suppose that’s expected. Feel like I’m tired a lot. And it’s not unusual for us to not leave our apartment until 12 or 1 on days we don’t have something booked to do in the morning. I’ve noticed I haven’t needed my allergy or asthma medicine as much. That’s good.

Food – of course, it’s all about the food!!  We are trying to eat the food of the region. And generally, we are doing pretty good. Also, we try to cook our own at least part of the time. In Paris, we cooked at home a lot. Not only because it’s expensive (but it is), but also because we had been eating out a lot before that, and were ready for something simpler, and we were chilling a lot, so not out and about all day, every day. While there, we made tomato and baguette sandwiches, sometimes with ‘rotisserie’ type chicken that I found at the store. I also made eggs as usual. And ‘french’ toast from some day-old baguette. Cooking depends a lot on being home, and on what is available at a nearby store that is ‘easy to fix’. Real cooking I haven’t done much. Partly because kitchens are so small. Sometimes we ‘cheat’. I had a McDonalds breakfast sandwich the other day. First time really cheating. We had to get in the car for the salt mine, and ‘grab and go’ breakfast isn’t that accessible here. And I was too lazy to make scrambled eggs again. HA. Laney had Subway a couple times in Krakow.  We had Japanese the other night. A taste of home, ironically. But mostly, I have SO enjoyed the regional foods. Laney too. Though she is a little less adventurous than I.

Most adventurous?  Kangaroo. Chicken gizzard. Whale (don’t judge). Blood sausage pierogi. Can’t think of anything else right now. Ha!

I’m going to do a post on just food at some point so I will save the pics for then.

Budget. I would say we are pretty much on budget so far. in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, my budget is higher than in, say, SE Asia, and South America. But, it seems we’re keeping to it pretty well.

Future planning. As I move through Europe, I’m planning the rest of Europe and also looking ahead to Nov through February/March. I’m putting the big rocks together, as my friend Joe Ghali would say. Big flights and tours are being booked 3-6 months in advance. Smaller rocks, like accommodation and trains, are in the 1-3 month range. Details of what to do when we get there, that’s within the month, sometimes just a day or two before. Though, I’ve learned that some of the outdoor/active stuff we like the most tends to book up early, so I’m going to pull that in a bit. Focus on that a bit more.  This definitely provides some version of ‘work’ and a little stress. But it’s all worth it. Fun at times. Stressful at others.

Packing to move. This has been a bit tricky. Each airline we fly has a different set of rules. Most are discount airlines, like Spirit in AC, where after you buy your ticket, you buy a seat, buy a carry on, buy a checked bag. Cheap rates like $29 per person expand to $50 to $80pp, but still that’s not too bad. Most of these airlines have strict size regulations on carry ons. And it’s VERY SMALL.  And the checked bag is a weight limit. Pretty much like the US. Sometimes it’s 30kg, so we can check just the big duffel. If it’s 20kg, we pull out the cheesy (but VERY USEFUL) nylon bag I stole from Dad and try to peel off some of that weight. Sometimes, they will combine the weight of 2 checked bags, so you just need to have 2 ‘bags’ purchased to cover the full weight.

Clothing/Stuff – As for stuff, it’s not rocket science. I think we have enough. When it’s hot, I can’t imagine why I have 2 pairs of jeans, a sweater, etc. but then it cools off and I remember. HA. I’m starting to get sick of my clothes tho. As expected. Just kinda boring wearing the same thing over and over. Even if it ‘works’. This, of course, is pretty easy to remedy. Just buy new stuff and toss the old. The best thing we packed? Rain jackets. Like windbreakers but waterproof.

Arguments. A group of guys from the UK the other night were pretty fascinated in our travel plans. They asked if we’d ‘fallen out’ yet. I said only once. And it, of course, was over something stupid. We were late for a tour, and could have arranged better our transportation there. When we finally grabbed a taxi, I failed to give the driver the address, and thought we would be close enough to walk, where he dropped us. Laney asked ‘why’ had I not given him the address. Frankly, I was pretty flustered and by the time I thought of it, he was driving and it wasn’t a good time to ask. I was irritated. Lots going on. Typical stuff. Otherwise, we get along great. We DO spend a lot of time apart. Separate rooms, when we can. Or just ignore each other in close proximity. HA. Headphones are our friends.

Overwhelmed. If there is one word to describe the trip, it’s this. (see note on being tired a lot, above). And this has both a good side and a bad. I’m overwhelmed with the fact we are ACTUALLY DOING THIS. Overjoyed. Then overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I have to do. The blogging (which, I do as much for myself as for you, no offence). All the planning. Trains, planes, buses, taxi’s, airbnb’s. And forget it when things change like with Amalfi (worth it) and now Gdansk. Or when I realise I’ve made a mistake. I’ve done that twice now. Had a flight out on the wrong day. Fortunately, our airbnb has, both times, been able to accommodate, so I keep the flight. Other times, I’m overwhelmed at the kindness of people. The friendliness. And then, at the history and stories of the places we go. The American cemetery in Normandy was a big one. Still is. So was hearing a big table in Krakow sing Sta Lat. Both times I’m trying to mop up my tears.

Practical Things. Travel Tools. I’ve come across a lot of recommendations for travel tools. Particularly from the Worldschoolers group on FaceBook. These are people who travel continuously with their kids. Here are some of my most-used tools (all on my phone, but also on the computer). Rome2rio. On this site/app, you enter ‘From’ and ‘To’ and it tells you all the possible ways to get from A to B. Plane, Train, Bus, Drive, combinations thereof. It includes Ferries too. And for each option, the estimated price range, AND the amount of total travel time. Very cool. Seat61.com. This site has insane advice about train travel (and some other methods). Mainly Europe and UK. But when to buy the tickets (early in some cases can save you TONS), where to buy them (fees, etc.) and what the best routes are. Skyscanner. For checking flights. I used this a lot in the beginning. I knew we would be hopping around and sometimes, planes are cheaper and faster than trains. Of course you need to account for shuttles/bus/taxi to and from the airport and the agg of plane travel, but it is what it is. This app allows you to say where you are and leave the ‘destination’ as Everywhere. Where can I go cheap, is the question. I find it’s better in Europe (where there are lots of cheap flights) vs the US where things are pretty expensive all around.

Airbnb – How have they been? Actually, great! Not a bad one yet. All clean. All comfy beds (reasonably). All with good, hot showers. I’ve not been good about taking pics at too many but here are some I took recently.

These are Paris. A small studio with a loft. I let Laney take the bed in the loft. The steps looked a little rough me. Especially in the middle of the night with no contacts in. Ha.

This, above, is what I now call a European shower. It’s just a small space with a shower head on the wall. At first I was a little weirded out by it. The toilet is just peeking out by the blue towel. So yes, the toilet gets wet. Sometimes the sink is in the same area. They get wet, but who cares? I think, if I needed another shower in my house, I might do this. Why not? You can make a powder room into a full bath. Even if you only use it occasionally. Just keep the toilet paper out of the spray. HA!

These are Poland. 2 separate bedrooms. They have numbers 1 and 2 so I suspect they are revered separelt at times. I’m ok with staying in hosts home but staying with strangers andsharibg a kitchen and bathroom with someone I don’t know AND have no reviews or track record on. No thanks.

 

Laundry – So, I don’t have a washer in NEARLY as many places as I thought I did. HA. My goal was every-other place. Turns out I failed at that. HA. But what I’ve learned is that things don’t need to be washed NEARLY as much as you might thing. Gross? maybe. HA. Survival. Plus, Dad bought me this cool Scrubba thing, which we use to store our dirty clothes, and then wash them in small batches, as needed. Mostly socks and underwear. When we get to Gdansk, WASHER! AND DRYER! A first, on the dryer. We usually use the towel-warming racks in the bathroom, or a sunny spot by an open window.

Windows and AC. AC is pretty unusual. Even when a place claims to have it. It’s been warm so we’ve had windows open a lot. Speaking of windows. NO screens. Pretty much anywhere. Paris may have been the ONLY Airbnb place we had that had screens. Do bugs come in? Some yes, but not many, and they leave almost as quickly.

Exercise – for my gym rat friends out there. As some of you know, I brought a TRX system. Some said ‘there will be gyms where you go’. In some cases, there are gyms, but they aren’t too close by, and without a car, it just hasn’t happened yet. In some places, finding one would be a challenge. SO, I’m glad I brought it. It was probably a month before I used it at all. Partly because we were travelling with other folks and extra busy. Partly just laziness. HA. Lately, Laney and I have been using it pretty regularly. A couple/few times per week. It’s definitely not the same as the gym, but it will do for now.

Well, that’s my stream of consciousness for now.

 

Hope you enjoyed reading!

 

 

Hello everyone!

So, as I mentioned in my Rome post, Laney and I had had enough of cities, and, frankly the HEAT! It has been so hot since we got to Italy, we just couldn’t take it anymore! It had been in the mid-90’s some days. Even with a lot of gelato, that’s hot. Too hot. HA.

So, in a bit of a rush, I booked us to go to the Amalfi coast for 2 nights. There were closer beaches we could have gone to, for less aggravation and expense, but I really wanted to see what the big fuss is all about with “This Amalfi Coast Thing” HA.

SO, a taxi, a train and a couple buses later, we were getting there!

Getting to Ravello, the name of the town where we booked a room at a B and B (via Airbnb) was – well – a challenge. We struggled, as Kaitlyn would say (and, as we said a lot in our time together). The train was fine, the first bus was pretty much OK, except that we had to get off at a specific place, and, in my experience, except for Iceland, buses don’t announce their stops, or have signs in the bus or at the stop, and don’t have readily-available bus-stop maps. SO, we were guessing and relying on the help of the driver, as we were instructed to do by our B and B host. WELL, there is a sign, directly over the driver’s head that says “Please do not speak to the driver”. Hmm. Well, I showed him the name of the place where we were to get off. Several stops and an hour later, a larger than average number of people were getting off. So, I asked the driver. He nodded and pointed to the ground. Here. OK. We get off. Now we wait for another bus. Meantime, I went into the little store to get Laney something to eat. Did that. Then realised we would need tickets, so back into the store. As I am buying tickets, the bus we need comes, Laney is trying to get the bags loaded and call for me at the same time. Well, we made it. On the bus. Seated even.

Now, I read my hosts instructions to look for the traffic light and ring the bell and get off at the next stop. Well, I see no traffic lights. We ride a lot longer than the host said it would be. Eventually, again, a lot of people get off. So, I ask THIS driver, optioning to the name of the place I’m going. He nods and points to the ground. Here. OK. We get off. We appear to be in the middle of nowhere. Nothing obviously there. The road back down the hill and a road through a tunnel (which, being new there, looked impossible to pass through as a pedestrian). After a few minutes of looking clueless (A state, by the way, I’m not ALL THAT familiar with at home, but have become VERY USED TO in travelling. I’m the Clueless American Tourist. I should just wear a sign. HA). Anyway, a guy we think is a taxi driver asks, from a short distance away, in ENGLISH “Do you need help?”. YES I NEED HELP! HA! I smile. He comes over, I show him the address where we want to go. You are downhill! 20 minutes back!! meaning, we should have gotten off the bus 20 minutes ago. Meantime,the bus is trying to turn around in a very tight area. Thank goodness because this stalls him a bit. THEN, it gets interesting. The taxi driver (if, in fact, that is what he is), starts talking very heatedly with the bus driver. Who KNOWS what he’s saying. They start arguing! At least, it sounds that way to me. Back and forth. Loud, gestures. But they are Italian so who knows. Might be the way they always talk. HA! Anyway, the taxi driver says “Back on the bus”. I look at him with doubt, because the bus is now moving as though going back down the steep windy road. “He’s not going to let us back on the bus”. YES. On the bus. So, we walk up to the bus. The driver opens the door, we go to put our luggage in the hold (below the bus) he says NO, bring bags on coach. OK great. This bag weighs like 60 lbs and I have to lug it up the bus and put it WHERE exactly? SO we get on the bus. And hold our bags. And try not to fall down, or into anyone else. For like 20 minutes.

Meantime, I am on my phone and communicating with our host. He tells me the name of a place to look for. Cantina something or other. San Marco. And to hit the buzzer when we see it. We look out the window with GREAT INTENSITY. We see a sign, hit the buzzer and struggle (ha) to get our bags back off the bus. Then we look at each other. Half laughing, half wanting to cry, thinking, what now? We look up and down the road. I say “I think that might be the place” – the building looks familiar. In this unfamiliar territory. Then I see someone waving from the porch. LOOK HE’s WAVING! THIS MUST BE IT! WE ARRIVED! WHEW!.

Our host was insanely nice and showed us our room. The place was BEAUTIFUL with an amazing view and terrace overlooking the ocean. In the middle of the picture is the outdoor terrace, the entrance is the rounded-topped doorway. The terrace is shaded by grape vines (!!!) and from there (and our room with terrace, out of the picture, further to the right) you have the view below!

We unpacked and wanted to get to the beach, so we asked how to get there. There are beaches ‘occasionally’ along the coast. Much of the area, as you have seen in pictures, is sheer cliffs and mountains that go right into the water. We were told that, typically, people walk down to the beach, and take the bus back up. Our host pointed out a set of steps that are accessed from the (narrow, windy, cliff-hugging) road, and that we should walk down and turn right.

So we changed, packed a little bag and headed out. Down the steps. Down more steps. And more and more. Later, Laney counted them. 450 stairs. HA. our goal was Amalfi, but we stopped at the first beach town we came to.

We approached one of the beach restaurants and asked about pizza. No pizza, it’s too late in the day. The nice man pointed us to the ‘square’ and mentioned where to get pizza. We found the square quite easily (there’s not much around, as I said, the beach areas are somewhat small, nestled between mountains and cliffs). The square was adorable, with a stage set up in the middle, though we didn’t know why. We looked at the menu. For 4.5 Euros we could get a Margarita pizza. I asked how big? She showed with her hands. Plenty big enough for the two of us. We were SO hungry after our travels that pizza and the wine was awesome. And within budget. HA. having decided on this excursion at the last minute, we spent more than expected on the room and the transportation, so we needed to ‘eat cheap’ a bit. This did it! After that we headed down to the open/public part of the beach. The sand here was pretty fine, and mostly black (strangely, the next day, at Amalfi beach, it was rocks. Not sure why, they are only about a quarter mile apart). The water was GLORIOUSLY warm. Good thing, because it was getting late in the day. We swam and chilled for a couple hours, but it was getting late, so around 9pm we decided to head home. After about 20 minutes of looking for the right bus (with the right name on it), we gave up and decided to walk home. YES, UP 450 VERTICAL STEPS). Our calves hurt for DAYS. Mine a few days longer than Laney’s. AHH YOUTH.

We had picked up a bottle of wine on the way, and drank on our veranda and talked about all kinds of things. It was wonderful really.

The next day, the B n B hosts tried to convince us to do something else for the day (Pompeii, or go up to the mountains) but we were tired from our travels and just wanted the beach. This time, again, we walked, and we walked through one of those pedestrian-unfriendly tunnels and we found Amalfi (technically known as Marina Grande, according to this description of Amalfi beaches).  It was much bigger and just as wonderful. We secured beach chairs (called Sun Beds in Italy) and spent the day relaxing, eating, drinking and mostly Laney was swimming. I swear she was in the water all day. We bought some swim goggles (like snorkel mask but without the snorkel) and Laney was seeing all kinds of fish. I was happily connected to wifi and was catching up on all kinds of stuff.

This tiny bar (above) next to one of those pedestrian-unfriendly tunnels. The little bar was so cute, beautiful, and the tunnel, yes, supports two-way car traffic AND pedestrian traffic. Not safe by US standards, but it seems to work here!

This beautiful building is in the middle of the square at Amalfi

 

There was sand at Atrani beach. But stones at Amalfi.

The picture above is from the Atrani beach, one beach away from Amalfi. Somewhat smaller, but just as beautiful.

For dinner that night, I wanted fish (enough pasta and pizza already!). So we wandered through the Amalfi ‘square’, which continued uphill and saw a place that looked appealing, but we had to climb steps and go around some corners to get there. We were the only ones there at 7pm (Italians eat late. some restaurants don’t even open until 8). We chose a table outside along some of the steps/pathways that lead between buildings in the Amalfi area. It’s hard to describe but here’s a picture. It seems the pathways and steps are ‘public property’, as they allow people to pass from house to house and town to town – up, down and vertical. Although they are right outside people’s doors.

We met a father-daughter-granddaughter that live in that house (door on the left of the picture). Ironically, the grandfather was born in New York and moved here when he was 3 or 4. He would like to go back. his daughter rolled her eyes. They had the most beautiful baby girl with them. She was about 14 months old.

The next day we had to head back to Rome, to spend the night and catch and early flight. Getting back was also a challenge, and, in the end, we punted and took an (expensive) taxi to Salerno where we waited a few hours for our train ( the earlier trains had been booked before we got there – lesson learned. book the train – I had hesitated not knowing when the bus would get us there).

Back to Rome, for a one-night quick stay out of the main city, closer to the small airport of Ciampino airport. We had a lovely room in a boarding house type of place ( My goal was cheap, since we’d only be sleeping there and only for a bit). The people were wonderful, with just enough english that we managed to get by. HA. You should see me gesturing for food. WE needed dinner! We walked down the road a ways. Most places were closed because it was Sunday. We arrived at the pizza place to a loud place, with a gaggle of families. It was wonderful. Laney had pizza with bell peppers. I had one with eggplant. when I pointed at it, the lovely girl behind the counter was kind enough to say “Chili Pepper!!”, in case I didn’t know. I nodded yes, I need something spicy!

We headed to bed and caught an early taxi to the airport. Off to Bulgaria for us!!

 

 

We arrived in Rome via train, once again.

We took a taxi to our apartment, which turned out to be on the 7th floor of a building. The elevator took us to the 6th floor, thank goodness. Why the 6th floor? Well, like most of Europe, this is an old building probably ‘retro-fitted’ with an elevator long after the building was built, and so the mechanics of the elevator require some space at the top (or bottom, or both) and so the elevator car itself can’t go all the way.

This is something I’ve noticed in so many European buildings. Whether for historical reasons or practical ones, they are all very old and EVERYTHING in them has to be ‘retro-fit’ to work. Like windows, and bathrooms, etc. I can see that many things have to be designed ‘custom’ to make them work in the specific scenario. It must be very expensive to renovate these spaces. Not to mention the logistics!

Everyone was pretty tired from a day of travel. We unpacked, chilled out, enjoyed the A/C (not so common in Europe, even when a place says it has AC, it’s not like we’re used to in the US) and enjoyed the deck. What an amazing view!!

That’s St Peters (Vatican City) behind me.

We then found a restaurant on the list from our host that was walkable, got dressed and headed out. The restaurant was very busy when we got there (at like 845pm) – so we settled in the bar area for some awesome drinks while we waited for our table.

We were pleasantly surprised the hostess managed to get us a table outside (could be the $$ we were spending at the bar, ha). It was a beautiful night and we all had wonderful food and drinks!

On the way home we stopped at a grocery for a few essentials. There I saw what looked like a zucchini or cucumber except it had spikes on it, almost like a cactus. I have no idea what it was. HA.

Getting home late, we had a slow start next morning.  I spent a couple hours booking a hop-on-hop-off bus tour (we were pretty tired of walking around cities, ha). As well as tickets to the Vatican (and Sistene Chapel), and the Coliseum. We had a bit of a mis-hap getting to the meeting point for the ‘skip the line’ Vatican entry, but it all ended up OK. Overall, the Vatican was VERY impressive, but, honestly, with all the people and crowd and aggravation, I’m not planning to do it again. HA.

       

Once you’re inside the Vatican, it’s a long way to the Sistine Chapel. You go through many rooms of what I am sure is breathtaking art. But I’m no expert and it all kind of looks the same to me.

I almost didn’t post these pics, because I think I look terrible. I think I’m hot, aggravated and a bit stressed by the whole thing. HA.

This guy, below, tho, makes it all worthwhile. HA. I have no idea what it is, but it made me laugh. I’m probably going to go to hell for that. HA. It was in the souvenir shop. For 191 EUROS! That’s like $230!

Below, this is one of my favourite pictures. It’s the staircase as you leave the Vatican. Isn’t it beautiful!?

There are no pictures allowed IN the Sistine Chapel. I’m sure you can get some if you google it.

After that (and another walk in the hot sun, more gelato I’m sure – I can’t keep track of the gelato stops HA), we went to our Big Bus Stop, to get on the Big Bus. That’s what it was called. By the end of the tour we were chanting “I like Big Bus, I cannot lie…”. A little punch-drunk perhaps, but it was fun.

The main thing we wanted to do on the bus was get to the Coliseum. The Coliseum was AMAZING! The history and the visuals were so cool.

     

After the Coliseum and some other sites on the Big Bus (I like Big Bus….), we returned to the Vatican area. We found a cute family-owned restaurant down a small alley. The food and wine were amazing!

We had amazing gelato and crepe on the way home.

The next day, Laney and I would say “Ciao for now!” to Becky and Kaitlyn.  And Rome. We had decided to alter our plans a bit. Instead of staying in Rome for 3 more nights, we were headed out to the Amalfi coast for a couple nights. We were in need of some beach time! Some R & R!

 

Arrived in Florence via train from Desenzano al Garda.

Took a taxi to the apartment (vs the Metro, and walking – so tired of walking, HA!).

A host from the apartment company met us there and showed us around. The place was huge!! 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with a big living room and big kitchen. There was a long hallway coming in the front door. And an outdoor patio that had been one of the reasons we booked this place. Unfortunately, the Patio was also at the bottom of 5 floors of the building. Picture the building being shaped in a square. Like an O. The patio was at the bottom of the middle of the O. Yes it was open to the air…. 5 floors up. LOL. Still it was pretty nice. The whole place was gorgeous. Arched ceilings, and tile floors, and beautiful antique furniture. The host pointed out the spiral staircase to the basement which was gated.  He told us we don’t have access to it. LOL.  I don’t want to go down there anyway!!!

I should really take pics of our airbnb places, but I don’t. Ha. Here is one pic that shows the ceilings. So beautiful.

The girls were tired from the travel so Becky and I headed to the grocery store with Laney where we found some good stuff. Artichoke ravioli and great meat and cheese offerings. We got some pasta for the girls. Some breakfast food, wine, chocolate and fruit and we were all set!!

After unpacking Becky and I headed out for a walk. We ended up by the river where there was a lively music and food/bar scene. We stayed a bit then headed home

The next morning Laney and I were scheduled for a cooking class. We met in a piazza across town and one of the chefs took us to the central market and showed us around. It was quite an experience. All kinds of food I had never seen before. Apparently tripe is a big thing. Not something I care for. Also other delicacies I couldn’t even name. We learned a little about the chianti wine that is specific to this region. And olive oil. And balsamic vinegar.

We then walked a couple blocks to the kitchen. Where we started two different kinds of sauce. A bolognese, made with meat, and a rustic summer sauce made with plum and cherry tomatoes.  Once those were going, we made our tiramisu!  Guess what I didn’t know? It’s made with raw eggs. This doesn’t bother me, but it might bother some people. Marscapone cheese is combined with egg yolks (and a LOT of sugar), then whipped whites are folded in to make the cheese/sauce. We layered that with cocoa powder and lady fingers (which are hard like a cookie when you start) dipped in expresso. Then we applied some creativity to design their look (designs on top with lady fingers or cocoa, etc.)

Now, the main feature. The Pasta. This was insanely simple. Mixed a cup of flour with a large egg on the counter. Kneed it until it bounces back when you poke it with your finger. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit 30-60 minutes, then roll it and cut it. We made some ravioli for the rustic tomato basil sauce and some strips of pasta like linguini for the bolognese.  Guess what else I learned? the stronger/bolder the sauce, the bigger the pasta you use. As far as thickness of noodles, or whatever. Makes sense right? The chef mentioned that with wild boar sauce, you would use very wide noodles. (I had this later in the week – yum).

 

   

After the cooking class, Laney and I intended to meet up with Becky and Kaitlyn for some sightseeing, but after all that pasta, tiramisu and wine, we were beat. So, after taking the creative way home (i.e. we lost our way for a bit), we rested a few hours.

The four of us went out for Ramen that night. Strange choice for Italy perhaps, but we’ve had PLENTY of pizza and pasta. LOL. and it was close by. It was really really good.

The next morning, Laney and I went to see Michelangelo’s David. Laney was less than thrilled. She was a real trooper, though, considering we waited in line 2 hours for something she didn’t even want to see. I had to laugh when, while standing in line, I bought us coffees, and they had David right on the cups. HA! Laney was mortified.

    

     

After David, Laney and I chilled with some cold coffee (and wifi) in a coffee shop, then had lunch with Becky and Kaitlyn.

Then we headed over to the train station to join our chianti wine tour. We drove way out of Florence to Sienna (or near there) and visited 2 wineries. The first one, we learned a lot about different kinds of wines and the certification of chianti wine in this region. The highest rankings require at least 80% of the grapes be from this very specific region. In the case of this winery, they use 100% of their own grapes. We saw some of the equipment that is used to make the wine and the fermentation tanks and the ageing barrels. All very cool.

We tasted a few different wines, and some olive oil, truffle oil, balsamic vinegars with some meats, cheeses and breads. The girls didn’t like the red wines (Chianti’s) as much as they have been enjoying the white wines recently.  Laney was the only one who liked the Grappa they served at the end (insert eye roll here).

 

    

    

The last stop on the wine tour was at a small fortress town. We walked the wall, got some gelato and it was time to go!

   

Then we headed home. Ate up some of the remaining ravioli, and crashed.. The next day was another travel day! This time, on to Rome!

As you can tell, I’ve got some down-time and I’m catching up on the blogs!

Our travels to Desanzano were pretty uneventful. We arrived by train and took a taxi to our apartment.

It was so beautiful, open with a great deck! (and a washing machine – MUCH NEEDED LOL)

And a beautiful view!

In between loads of wash 🙂 we went down to the beach. Like, right away. We were hot and a swim sounded great! When I say down, I mean DOWN. It was a walk down some steep hills. But OMG it was so beautiful!

The beach was smooth stones, not sand, and for feet sore from walking Venice, it was a little tough at times! We swam and chilled for a bit, then had dinner at this great place right on the beach. The restaurant employs people of unfortunate circumstances in order to help them out. We never found out the exact details of the types of circumstances, but the food was amazing! (as always).  (here)

The next day, Becky and I went to the grocery store and on the way back saw these cool peddle boats with slides, so we reserved one for later in the day. The girls were pretty excited when I told them about it.

We had a great day between our lounge chairs and the boat. The water was the perfect temperature, although I never could quite get used to the fact that it wasn’t salty!! That afternoon we had Doner Kabob sandwiches for lunch, at Becky’s suggestion. We saw these all over Germany, and apparently they are in Italy as well. SO SO GOOD.

   

 

That night we went right from the beach to dinner on the pedestrian street. Great Italian food, again. HA. I think Laney had carpaccio for the 5th time. LOL.

There was such great scenery and lovely places there. We really enjoyed this frozen coffee dessert a couple nights, too!

     

On the way to the beach the next day, Laney and Kaitlyn made a new friend. This little cat was making SUCH A RUCKUS in the entryway of our apartment. Screaming his head off! he was stuck inside, I guess. Laney and Kaitlyn let him out, pet him a bit and then he followed us for quite a while!

We also saw another set of ducklings.  There were two sets wandering around the beaches. They were really not afraid of people at all and would come really close!

We had one last day on the beach, we rented another paddleboat for the girls, and Laney also took out a kayak. (that’s her on the yellow kayak in the picture below)

   

We had another amazing dinner, and we were OFF to Florence!!

 

 

Here is what you do in Venice. You take a gondola ride. AND you get lost!

HA!

This city is a MAZE of streets that end suddenly, many times at a dead end. HA.

As soon as we got off the train, it was POURING so we waited a bit to get our vaporetto tickets and rode this (ferry-like boat) to our stop where our  host was waiting for us. We followed her to the apartment, meanwhile I’m thinking I could NEVER find my way back, or find my way here again! And I consider myself to have a pretty good sense of direction! HA!

     

 

The place was BEAUTIFUL. 2 bedrooms, one modernly decorated and furnished, one with antiques. There was a small stool in the kitchen which was petrified wood. So pretty. It was very well equipped as far as the kitchen and everything. We stopped out at the grocery store (right around the corner – we found it AND found our way back). After that, it was time for our first DINNER IN ITALY! YAY! Food and WINE!

We ate at a small place not far from our apartment. The food was amazing. This was the start of Laney’s Italy obsession with Carpaccio. HA. Dessert was even better.  Its been a few weeks since then, and it’s still Laney’s favourite dessert.

The next day, we wandered the ‘streets’ (which are really more like alleys) saw some beautiful piazza’s (plaza’s, like platz in Germany), churches and in the afternoon got ready for our gondola ride. Our gondolier (is that a word?) was Massimo. He didn’t speak much english but he smiled a lot. And laughed when I high-fives the gondolier of another gondola passing by. Yes, I’m that person. HA.

    

      

After that, we did some shopping near the Rialto bridge, which is just gorgeous. The girls bought some journals, Laney got a custom-made phone case (with a cartoon version of the Grim Reaper engraved on it). Shocker. HA. It was pretty cool, though, you could look up any image on the internet and this guy would load it into the computer and it would be engraved on the aluminium (I think it’s aluminium) case that you picked out. All for 15 Euro.

Of course, we also saw lots of cool masks and other fun stuff!

    

We also climbed the Bolovo staircase.

Of course we also bought some limoncello. But not in this bottle (insert eye-roll here)

After that, we rested a bit at home and got ready to go out. We just HAD to do the dinner on the grand canal. It was a little cheesy but incredible!

The next day, we left our bags in our apartment and headed to see the Doges Palace in the San Marco section of Venice. It was beautiful and the tour was really interesting. We learned about Casanova, and other people who were jailed there. We learned about history of Venice, including the fact (?) that Venice was the first city to abolish torture and capital punishment. There were a few prisons in the Doges palace. One was under water for 6+ hours a day for 6 months of the year. This prison housed the prisoners who were sentenced to death. Many died before they were executed, for obvious reasons.

This ‘clock’ (above) I think, is an astrological clock. With the 12 signs

   

 

 

Saint Mark’s Basilica

Between the palace and the other prison (the lead prison, as the roof is lead) is the Bridge of Sigh’s. So named because, once sentenced in the palace, the prisoners walked the bridge to the prison and saw, perhaps, their last view of the canal’s and freedom. One of the leaders of the city spent a night in the lead prison and heard the prisoners sigh as they crossed the bridge to serve their sentence. And so named it the bridge of sighs.

Some other pictures from the San Marco section (district) of Venice.

Later that day, sadly, we had to go. Back on the vaporetto to the apartment, collect our belongings and a torturous walk back to the vaporetto to get to the train station Torture because of the difficulty of walking through Venice with bags, considering the narrow walkways, the cobblestone pavement, and ALL THE STEPS over each and every little canal!! HA! And in the HEAT! OMG it was so hot. We made it though. But it wasn’t pretty.

Onward! Time to hit Desenzano del Garda. A little town on the south end of Lake Garda, which is in northern Italy. We needed a break and some beach/swim time after Venice!!

 

 

Another drive on the Autobahn! A long one this time. Enjoyed it more, and got more confident in the driving methods and speeds. Top Speed? 207. YAY.

Arriving in Salzburg we picked up our keys from a small (unique) hotel and restaurant, then drove to our flat. The place was HUGE! but up 2 or 3 flights of stairs. Fortunately, once you got up the first flight, there was an elevator. Thank goodness. One of our bags is REALLY HEAVY! LOL.

The place in Salzburg was beautiful! HUGE. 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. A huge dining and living area as well as a big kitchen with an eat-in kitchen (with a big U-shaped booth!).

It was RIGHT across from the love-lock-bridge, so we got to see that right away (after parking the car). We unpacked, dressed and went to dinner next door in the biergarten. Unfortunately, it had started raining so we were inside. Food, as always, was great. As was the beer. And the wine. LOL.

        

 

The next day we immediately headed to the fortress and got some great views of Salzburg.

       

    

 

After that, we wandered around the area, and visited St  Peter’s chapel, cemetery and catacombs. The cemetery was SO BEAUTIFUL!!

    

  

 

We also saw a lot of shops and street vendors selling the usual touristy stuff. I liked these beer steins. I think my mom and dad had one, once upon a time

 

 

We headed home for a brief bit to regroup and rest. Laney stayed behind when Becky, Kaitlyn and I walked over to the Mirabell palace and gardens. We saw baby ducks (YAY) and a cool dwarf garden (check out these pics! We tried to pick ones that we thought matched our personalities).

     

 

 

     

This one (above) was for Laney

The one with the tongue sticking out is, of course, my spirit dwarf. HA!

The garden there was also crazy beautiful.

     

 

     

After that, we met Laney at the lock bridge and had a great seafood dinner at a place a little out of the way. Amazing place. No menu. Just look at the fishes on display, and pick one. They grill it simply and serve it with mixed veggies and potatoes. YUM! so good! Unfortunately, we got SOAKED getting home as it started raining and would not stop.

The next morning, sadly, we needed to get going to return the car in Munich and catch the train to Venice. ITALY, here we come!!

 

 

I think I’m getting used to this! Ha!

Munich

We arrive in the Munich train station and THEN I look up how to get to our Airbnb. Cell service, like in Iceland and Switzerland, is spotty. And always very slow. I manage to get the walking directions and, with a quick bit of help from a Chilean couple drinking beer at a nearby bodega, we find our way and Check in to our room. It’s small but perfect. The bed seems comfy. Win!!

Becky and Kaitlyn are already here so we do some quick unpacking and meet them in the lobby. We then make our way to Marienplatz to meet Matt and Max and Fifi (the director of the tour Matt and Max are on).

Becky, Kaitlyn and Laney head off in one direction.  Matt, Max and I head toward the bus to a small nearby town for a friendly soccer game. While the team ‘suits up’ and warms up, Matt and I take a stroll. We pass the local brewery and stumble upon a biergarten. We stop for a  wonderful beer under the trees and catch up on the last 10 days since Matt left. After a while we head to the game. America wins!  Must be I’m good luck. Lol.

The local team hosts a dinner for everyone in their beautiful facilities that include a kitchen/bar, an indoor/outdoor space with removable/collapsible curtains, lots of tables and chairs which are mostly carried outside so we can all enjoy the beautiful weather.

The food, of course, is amazing!! Pork cutlets fried on a gas stove outside. German potato salad (OMG So Good), green salad, and other wonderful dishes.  Of course, I feel the need to try to determine the recipe for the potato salad. I am mostly successful. Lol. At one point one of the German soccer players helps translate. And what he can’t translate the cook brings to me. I taste it. It’s vinegar. Lol. Mission accomplished!!

After dinner we take the bus back to the soccer teams hotel and I Uber back to my hotel. It’s a tough good bye for Matt and I. It will be at least a few months before we are together again.

Becky, Kaitlyn, Laney and I crash. (We now call ourselves the Tripsters. Because we are not only taking a trip together but there have been a few tripping incidents – yikes!!).

In the morning, Laney and I joined a bicycle tour of Munich. We learned a lot about the different architecture in Munich which is heavily influenced by Italian and Greek architecture because the rulers at the time liked Italian and had a brother who was the leader in Greece.

The highlights of our bike tour included the biergarten in the English Garden ( so named because it is supposed to be styled like an English Garden – meaning somewhat groomed but very natural looking. Not ‘landscaped’ per se. )

Another highlight was the river surfers also in the English Garden. I haven’t been successful posting videos here but here are some pictures.

We learned a few other things on the tour. Like bicycles have the right of way above all others in Munich, at least. I can’t confirm but it seemed the same in Berlin.  Also there is a bike lane portion of the sidewalk. Laney had to keep reminding me not to walk in it. They will RUN YOU OVER in that lane. And curse you out too. Lol. Stupid American. Yes I know. Lol.

We learned that Munich was the last city in Germany to make its universities free. Also there is only dorm space for 1 or 2% if students. The rest need to get apartments in the city which is obviously quite expensive.

We also learned  that a biergarten was created from the necessity of burying beer under a chestnut tree to keep it cold. This was needed because, at some point, it was no longer legal to brew beer in the summer because it caused too many fires. So the beer had to be preserved and people preserved it under a chestnut tree which has wide but not deep roots so was ideal for his storage. In fact, in order to call a space a biergarten you must have at least one chestnut tree.

   

We also learned that refrigeration was originally invented for beer! It was later that we decided to put less important things in there. Lol.

Our tour guide mentioned a cat cafe in the university area. Of course Laney wanted to go. 🙂

After the bike tour, the Tripsters head out to check out the sites. We hit the Marienplatz and Karlsplatz. Some shops where Laney bought a watch and some sunglasses.

   

A highlight of the day was a stop at the Fraunenkirke  – the ladies church. Where we lit a candle for Doris and Dot. Our moms who were best friends from high school and who both recently passed. We all know how happy they would be that we are continuing another generation of friendship and thrilled with this trip specifically. We all feel them with us, every moment of this trip.

 

Towards evening we stopped at the Cat Cafe and saw some pretty kitties. The girls had dessert. Yes, before dinner. 😊

After that we headed back to the biergarten for a German feast. Laney and Kaitlyn both learned they like the Radler beer which is like beer mixed with lemonade. It’s a low alcohol, sweet beer created specifically for cyclists because drunk driving a bicycle is illegal in Germany.

  

Back home to bed. The next day we decided to head out to BMW Welt (world), which was really cool. Lots of cool cars and motorcycles. We picked up our ‘ride’ for the next few days. A BMW M series X6. 8 cylinders. WHOO hoo. Autobahn!

Becky drove us back to our apartment and we had some struggles to park the car, it being slightly larger than the average car in Europe. Kaitlyn in particular had trouble getting out of the car. It was hilarious.

After that we all changed into some nicer clothes (I wore my wedges, Abby) and had dinner in the back garden of Zum Dürnbräu, which is a bit hidden in an alley not far from Marienplatz, in the direction of, and past the toy museum.

The next day we were up and out by 9 am to drive to Berlin.

The drive was great. My first experience on the Autobahn. If you’re interested check out my post on THAT. 😊

   

Berlin

Our first day in Berlin Laney was anxious to get to the Black River Store. Which is a fingerboarding store. We got there a little early around 11 and tho it was supposed to open at 12 we ended up waiting until almost 1245. Laney will tell you it was all worth it. Laney spent all day there. Until nearly 6 pm.

I found a nearby cafe and spent the hours booking some train tickets for our August destinations. Once that was done I had a walkabout and found the coolest ‘restaurant row’ type of place. It was two city blocks with awnings that basically touched each other creating a continuous eating and drinking area. ALL THE FOODS. Asian. Mexican. German. Italian. More Asian. We had Asian and it was amazing. People around us asked us what we ordered because they thought it looked good.

On our way home it started to pour so we ducked into a cafe and Laney had some AMAZING apple cake . Win! Again!

The next day in Berlin we went to Checkpoint Charlie and then on a Street Art and Graffiti walking tour. Checkpoint Charlie was really interesting, in the ways people tried to escape East Germany Some were pretty extreme!

We learned about some of the famous street artists in Berlin and the difference between graffiti and street art. Know what it is?  The purpose of the object painted. If it’s purpose is to promote the name of the artist and/or their group its graffiti. It’s the purpose is to portray a statement or something interesting/thought provoking/beautiful it’s street art. Cool right? Here are some examples of street art that we saw:

      

  

We also learned that some street artists are paid. And one artist, who took many weeks to create some street art on some buildings in Berlin, later came back and painted over their own art in black when they heard the adjoining property had been sold and the developer was planning to enclose the artwork for only the residents of that property to see. You see, the idea of street art is that the artist believe people should not have to pay to see art. They want their work to be accessible for ALL to see, and so this developer was violating the whole reason for doing street art. SO, the artist took it away. Cool, right?

After the tour we went to a warehouse and created our own street art! It was really fun and I learned a lot about how to paint with spray paint!!

After that we walked around Berlin. Saw some bears. And the Brandenburg Gate.

We had some good Mexican food for dinner. After dinner we decided to walk home (Becky thought it didn’t look to far to the needle TV tower at Alexanderplatz, haha)   It was a nice walk. We ended up (accidentally) by the river (Spree, I think) where there were tons of chairs set up and people were sitting and having drinks and listening to music. I wanted to stop but we were just so tired and worn out from the day!! Another time, Berlin.

We took these pictures at the Checkpoint Charlie museum. I think this may be our HDWW ‘logo’.  LOL

The next morning, drive to Salzburg.  Yay!!