I am still using both this blog and our new Apple blog for pictures. The pictures from our trip to Argentina can be found through this link:
http://web.mac.com/tedcorbett/iWeb/Ted%20Corbett%20and%20Erin%20McMonigal%20photos/Argentina.html
Ted
Photos
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Argentina
Time to fire up the old blog again. Life in Seattle must not provide much to blog on, or maybe this really is just a travel blog. Before the memories fade too much, I want to write down some of the fun we´ve had the last two weeks. We left Seattle on Saturday, February 9th and after 16 hours on airplanes via Chicago we arrived in Buenos Aires. We spent one night in Buenos Aires before jetting south to Patagonia.
El Calafate
El Calafate is a small tourist town in Patagonia in Southern Argentina. It is almost literally at the end of the earth. The town is on the edge of Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina and third largest in all of South America. It is this amazing aquamarine color that is created from melted glaciers on one end. Most of our time in El Calafate was centered on the lake and glaciers.
Boat Tour
On our first day in El Calafate, we went on a boat tour of the lake. After an early pick-up at our hotel, we were driven an hour or so to a launching point of a boat tour. We were a little skeptical when we arrived along with 30 other giant touring busses and all stood in line in a strong cool breeze waiting to board giant catamaran, ferry-like, boats. Erin and I brought the average age down from 66 to 65.4 and we started questioning our decision to take the boat ride. Boy were we rewarded. About 30 minutes into the boat ride, we started seeing small icebergs floating by. Soon we were completely surrounded by icebergs. Massive chunks that were the most amazing deep blue colors. The trip took us to see three different glaciers, each wider and higher than the last. The boat stayed near the edges for us to all pose for pictures and watch big chunks break off creating thunderous splashes. Really, really cool. Pictures to be added when we get home.
Horse back riding
The second day we went horseback riding near our hotel. There was a small outfit about a block from our hotel. We made reservations through the hotel and told them we could walk down there when it was time. They insisted that we would be picked up when it was time and we should relax. We waited in the lobby for an hour before a taxi arrived and drove us a block. All a bit silly, but since our spanish is so bad, we had a hard time telling them anything different.
Once at the stable we signed our releases, and with the help of our classically outfitted gaucho´s mounted-up for our three hour ride. It started out as a typical horseback ride with a horse who knows the trail better than you and refuses to do anything but follow the horse ahead of him. Very boring. Suddenly as we neared the top of a ridge, one of the horses started trotting...suddenly we´re all trotting up the hill. Bouncing around like crazy. The smile on Erin´s face getting bigger and bigger the faster we went...while my general feeling of dread set-in. Before I knew it my horse was running. Completely freaked me out as I was bouncing like crazy and suddenly as the speed increased, the bouncing slowed down. It was totally surreal and I made the horse stop. Erin literally left me in the dust. Apparently we weren´t supposed to run though and one gaucho got in trouble by the other. The rest of the ride was more of a stroll with an occassional trot. Now that I´m a few days removed from the experience, I think I look forward to doing it again.
Big Ice
The third day was the best part of the trip to El Calafate. There were a number of different tours we could take but the best looking one was called ¨Big Ice¨. It included a trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier, a boat ride out to a trailhead a two hour hike up to the glacier, 4 hours on the ice and 2 hour hike back to the boat. There were also a million warnings including ¨very strenuous¨and ¨must be between 18 and 45¨and ¨very strenuous¨. Sounded perfect, but scared us both a bit. We signed up and found out where to go rent all of the gear we needed. We rented waterproof pants, winter gloves, winter coats and a backpack. We were ready.
I´m not sure words can do justice to just how amazing an experience this was. There were 21 of us on the trek from all over the world. We weren´t the oldest, but were close. The oldest were also the fittest. We felt a little better when one of the guys was from Mexico City and was wearing jeans and a wool trenchcoat and an extra 30 lbs...plus he forgot to bring lunch. When no one seemed too concerned about him on the trek, we figured we were fine.
As soon as we were off of the boat, we started hiking. We hiked for about an hour...straight up on the side of the glacier. The views were amazing and no one could wait to get on the ice. We stopped at one point for everyone to be fitted with cramp-ons. Our size was assessed and we were handed a pair of heavy steel cramp-ons to add to our packs. We wouldn´t need them for another hour. I think they just wanted to give us a better workout. The hike continued...straight up again for another 30 minutes. Fortunately since there were 20 others no one could whine much. Just follow the person ahead and hope the guy behind didn´t mind the pace. The guides set the pace and it was brisk. Every once and awhile we would stop for a two minute water break...but not often. 30 minutes after the cramp-on stop we stopped to be fitted for harnesses. They told us we couldn´t go any further without having a harness. We were not tied together with rope but were told that it was in case we fell in a crevasse, they could then tie a rope to it...¨it´s never happened....but better to be safe¨. We agreed and started to get scared again. 15 minutes more hiking onto the glacier and when we got to the edge we all put on our cramp-ons. We were given a two minute rundown on how to walk with them...Keep your feet apart or you will fall (I fell once).
And we were off, 21 people and 4 guides traipsing across a glacier. There was no trail anymore, just the guides looking for good paths and interesting things to see. We walked and walked and walked. It was all amazing...the views, the ice, the weather, the rivers, drainage holes, everything. We walked for a couple of hours and then stopped in the middle of the glacier to eat lunch. While we were all exhausted, sitting on ice for lunch was a relief for about 10 minutes...until walking sounded better than having a frozen ass. And we were off some more.
No one had any major falls or other incidents. We walked down the mountain and were all proud of our accomplishment. On the boat ride back across the lake they served scotch on ice...advertised as the one time the ice was older than the scotch...300 year old ice in 10 year old scotch. Nice end.
Back on the bus and we all passed out for the ride back to town. Truly an awesome experience.
More soon on food, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls.
Ted (and Erin)
El Calafate
El Calafate is a small tourist town in Patagonia in Southern Argentina. It is almost literally at the end of the earth. The town is on the edge of Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina and third largest in all of South America. It is this amazing aquamarine color that is created from melted glaciers on one end. Most of our time in El Calafate was centered on the lake and glaciers.
Boat Tour
On our first day in El Calafate, we went on a boat tour of the lake. After an early pick-up at our hotel, we were driven an hour or so to a launching point of a boat tour. We were a little skeptical when we arrived along with 30 other giant touring busses and all stood in line in a strong cool breeze waiting to board giant catamaran, ferry-like, boats. Erin and I brought the average age down from 66 to 65.4 and we started questioning our decision to take the boat ride. Boy were we rewarded. About 30 minutes into the boat ride, we started seeing small icebergs floating by. Soon we were completely surrounded by icebergs. Massive chunks that were the most amazing deep blue colors. The trip took us to see three different glaciers, each wider and higher than the last. The boat stayed near the edges for us to all pose for pictures and watch big chunks break off creating thunderous splashes. Really, really cool. Pictures to be added when we get home.
Horse back riding
The second day we went horseback riding near our hotel. There was a small outfit about a block from our hotel. We made reservations through the hotel and told them we could walk down there when it was time. They insisted that we would be picked up when it was time and we should relax. We waited in the lobby for an hour before a taxi arrived and drove us a block. All a bit silly, but since our spanish is so bad, we had a hard time telling them anything different.
Once at the stable we signed our releases, and with the help of our classically outfitted gaucho´s mounted-up for our three hour ride. It started out as a typical horseback ride with a horse who knows the trail better than you and refuses to do anything but follow the horse ahead of him. Very boring. Suddenly as we neared the top of a ridge, one of the horses started trotting...suddenly we´re all trotting up the hill. Bouncing around like crazy. The smile on Erin´s face getting bigger and bigger the faster we went...while my general feeling of dread set-in. Before I knew it my horse was running. Completely freaked me out as I was bouncing like crazy and suddenly as the speed increased, the bouncing slowed down. It was totally surreal and I made the horse stop. Erin literally left me in the dust. Apparently we weren´t supposed to run though and one gaucho got in trouble by the other. The rest of the ride was more of a stroll with an occassional trot. Now that I´m a few days removed from the experience, I think I look forward to doing it again.
Big Ice
The third day was the best part of the trip to El Calafate. There were a number of different tours we could take but the best looking one was called ¨Big Ice¨. It included a trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier, a boat ride out to a trailhead a two hour hike up to the glacier, 4 hours on the ice and 2 hour hike back to the boat. There were also a million warnings including ¨very strenuous¨and ¨must be between 18 and 45¨and ¨very strenuous¨. Sounded perfect, but scared us both a bit. We signed up and found out where to go rent all of the gear we needed. We rented waterproof pants, winter gloves, winter coats and a backpack. We were ready.
I´m not sure words can do justice to just how amazing an experience this was. There were 21 of us on the trek from all over the world. We weren´t the oldest, but were close. The oldest were also the fittest. We felt a little better when one of the guys was from Mexico City and was wearing jeans and a wool trenchcoat and an extra 30 lbs...plus he forgot to bring lunch. When no one seemed too concerned about him on the trek, we figured we were fine.
As soon as we were off of the boat, we started hiking. We hiked for about an hour...straight up on the side of the glacier. The views were amazing and no one could wait to get on the ice. We stopped at one point for everyone to be fitted with cramp-ons. Our size was assessed and we were handed a pair of heavy steel cramp-ons to add to our packs. We wouldn´t need them for another hour. I think they just wanted to give us a better workout. The hike continued...straight up again for another 30 minutes. Fortunately since there were 20 others no one could whine much. Just follow the person ahead and hope the guy behind didn´t mind the pace. The guides set the pace and it was brisk. Every once and awhile we would stop for a two minute water break...but not often. 30 minutes after the cramp-on stop we stopped to be fitted for harnesses. They told us we couldn´t go any further without having a harness. We were not tied together with rope but were told that it was in case we fell in a crevasse, they could then tie a rope to it...¨it´s never happened....but better to be safe¨. We agreed and started to get scared again. 15 minutes more hiking onto the glacier and when we got to the edge we all put on our cramp-ons. We were given a two minute rundown on how to walk with them...Keep your feet apart or you will fall (I fell once).
And we were off, 21 people and 4 guides traipsing across a glacier. There was no trail anymore, just the guides looking for good paths and interesting things to see. We walked and walked and walked. It was all amazing...the views, the ice, the weather, the rivers, drainage holes, everything. We walked for a couple of hours and then stopped in the middle of the glacier to eat lunch. While we were all exhausted, sitting on ice for lunch was a relief for about 10 minutes...until walking sounded better than having a frozen ass. And we were off some more.
No one had any major falls or other incidents. We walked down the mountain and were all proud of our accomplishment. On the boat ride back across the lake they served scotch on ice...advertised as the one time the ice was older than the scotch...300 year old ice in 10 year old scotch. Nice end.
Back on the bus and we all passed out for the ride back to town. Truly an awesome experience.
More soon on food, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls.
Ted (and Erin)
Thursday, November 01, 2007
New Blog Site
This summer I decided to purchase a Mac in order to make better use of our pictures and blog updates. As a result I have moved all of our updates to our new site. The site has a lot of our pictures from various travels as well as all of the blog updates that we had on here. If you are still checking this site, I encourage you to check out the new site.
http://web.mac.com/tedcorbett
Ted
http://web.mac.com/tedcorbett
Ted
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Bourgogne
We enjoyed a relaxing Easter weekend in Bourgogne, France (that's Burgundy for you Americans). Erin's friend Delphine and her family have a country house there that served as our home base for the long Easter weekend. Lucky for us Friday and Monday were UK holidays so we could stretch the enjoyment a little longer.
We left on the Eurostar for Paris on Friday morning. After a quick lunch in Paris, we met Delphine and loaded into our rental Citroen, for a couple of hour drive to the house. The area was beautiful, culminating in about a kilometer drive down a dirt road in the middle of a farm to their house.
Later in the evening Delphine's mother and nephew (Noe, 2) arrived on the train followed by her partner Christophe and their son Viktor, 4 (they should have been on the earlier train too, but Christophe forgot to pick Viktor up from school first....oops). It was a full house. We enjoyed a late dinner with everyone that started with escargot and this amazing meat pie. I'm not sure what was in the meat pie but it was fantastic. Then of course was the cheese course. We particularly liked the Epoisses. Delphine describes the particularly pungent cheeses as mechant, which translates as mean and angry...I'm amazed that I like the mean ones...I must have grown up a little in the last couple of years. Of course I was the only one who didn't speak French, but everyone tried to speak English when they could, until they couldn't express their passionate objections to American politics then they'd be in full French. Just when it got to the interesting stuff I couldn't understand. "blah, blah, blah....George Bush...blah blah...stupid idiot...blah blah".
On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast of pain au chocolat and yogurt, Erin, Delphine, Christophe and I loaded in the Citroen to go visit a couple of wineries and have lunch at a super fancy Michelin starred restaurant. Unfortunately traffic was awful and we missed the wineries and showed up an hour late for lunch. The restaurant was fantastic though. I'll add the name when I find it. We sat in the garden for champagne and amouse bouche followed by an excellent lunch in the dining room. After lunch we walked through a beautiful hill-top town of Vezelay.
Even though we missed the winery tours, we stopped in a couple of tasting rooms and sampled the local grapes, primarily Chablis and Pinot Noir. We made a bit of dent and brought home about 9 bottles of wine including a couple of bottles called Ratafia. Ratafia is a lot like Port and apparently was brought to France by the Romans. Whenever a pact was signed or ratified they drank Ratafia. It's goood.
Saturday night we were joined by Delphine's sister Clair and her husband Mathieu, parents of little Noe. Everyone sat around the fireplace talking, drinking wine and playing with the kids. It was fun. No dinner though since we gorged at lunch.
Easter Sunday was fantastic. No one there was particularly religious, so none of us went to church, but we had a great Easter celebration regardless. Erin and I got to hide all of the Easter eggs for the kids on Sunday and had a blast watching them find them. It was a beautiful sunny, 75 degree day and so we went for a walk through the fields and through the little forest.
When we returned we were greeted with the start of an Easter lunch extravaganza. All meals of course start with an aperitif, which is a tradition we need to take back to the states. Our aperitif was the Ratafia. Next course was a giant plate of Fois Gras served on toasted bread with an onion jelly and truffles. Complimented with a chardonnay. What a great way to start Easter. After that was a roast pork shoulder with garlic and rosemary and potatoes. The wine moved on to some of the local pinot noir we bought the day before. Fantastic. Following the pork, when I thought I was stuffed for the week, the cheeses were back out. Certainly it would be rude not to have a little of our favorite "machant" cheese. Almost done, just a little chocolate and almond cake to top it off. What a great day sitting on the porch of a French farm house in the middle of Bourgogne getting a sun burn with a multi-generational French family....in french. Totally cool.
Once I finished doing the dishes (the only job not requiring translation), I had the best nap stretched under a tree on the grass. Best that was until Erin woke me up because I was snoring too loudly and it was affecting her nap. But if that's the worst part of the day....
We even ate dinner later that night. Amazingly. We had a light dinner of duck, salad, asparagus and bread....oh yeah and cheese and wine. I never thought I'd eat again after lunch...but I'd hate to be rude...
Monday was another leisurely day, then Erin and I drove back to Paris for our departure back to London. It was a fantastically relaxed and enjoyable weekend. I look forward to moving into the house next summer for four months to help with home repairs and eat....at least that's what I'm going to start trying to figure out how to do.
Happy Easter.
Ted
We left on the Eurostar for Paris on Friday morning. After a quick lunch in Paris, we met Delphine and loaded into our rental Citroen, for a couple of hour drive to the house. The area was beautiful, culminating in about a kilometer drive down a dirt road in the middle of a farm to their house.
Later in the evening Delphine's mother and nephew (Noe, 2) arrived on the train followed by her partner Christophe and their son Viktor, 4 (they should have been on the earlier train too, but Christophe forgot to pick Viktor up from school first....oops). It was a full house. We enjoyed a late dinner with everyone that started with escargot and this amazing meat pie. I'm not sure what was in the meat pie but it was fantastic. Then of course was the cheese course. We particularly liked the Epoisses. Delphine describes the particularly pungent cheeses as mechant, which translates as mean and angry...I'm amazed that I like the mean ones...I must have grown up a little in the last couple of years. Of course I was the only one who didn't speak French, but everyone tried to speak English when they could, until they couldn't express their passionate objections to American politics then they'd be in full French. Just when it got to the interesting stuff I couldn't understand. "blah, blah, blah....George Bush...blah blah...stupid idiot...blah blah".
On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast of pain au chocolat and yogurt, Erin, Delphine, Christophe and I loaded in the Citroen to go visit a couple of wineries and have lunch at a super fancy Michelin starred restaurant. Unfortunately traffic was awful and we missed the wineries and showed up an hour late for lunch. The restaurant was fantastic though. I'll add the name when I find it. We sat in the garden for champagne and amouse bouche followed by an excellent lunch in the dining room. After lunch we walked through a beautiful hill-top town of Vezelay.
Even though we missed the winery tours, we stopped in a couple of tasting rooms and sampled the local grapes, primarily Chablis and Pinot Noir. We made a bit of dent and brought home about 9 bottles of wine including a couple of bottles called Ratafia. Ratafia is a lot like Port and apparently was brought to France by the Romans. Whenever a pact was signed or ratified they drank Ratafia. It's goood.
Saturday night we were joined by Delphine's sister Clair and her husband Mathieu, parents of little Noe. Everyone sat around the fireplace talking, drinking wine and playing with the kids. It was fun. No dinner though since we gorged at lunch.
Easter Sunday was fantastic. No one there was particularly religious, so none of us went to church, but we had a great Easter celebration regardless. Erin and I got to hide all of the Easter eggs for the kids on Sunday and had a blast watching them find them. It was a beautiful sunny, 75 degree day and so we went for a walk through the fields and through the little forest.
When we returned we were greeted with the start of an Easter lunch extravaganza. All meals of course start with an aperitif, which is a tradition we need to take back to the states. Our aperitif was the Ratafia. Next course was a giant plate of Fois Gras served on toasted bread with an onion jelly and truffles. Complimented with a chardonnay. What a great way to start Easter. After that was a roast pork shoulder with garlic and rosemary and potatoes. The wine moved on to some of the local pinot noir we bought the day before. Fantastic. Following the pork, when I thought I was stuffed for the week, the cheeses were back out. Certainly it would be rude not to have a little of our favorite "machant" cheese. Almost done, just a little chocolate and almond cake to top it off. What a great day sitting on the porch of a French farm house in the middle of Bourgogne getting a sun burn with a multi-generational French family....in french. Totally cool.
Once I finished doing the dishes (the only job not requiring translation), I had the best nap stretched under a tree on the grass. Best that was until Erin woke me up because I was snoring too loudly and it was affecting her nap. But if that's the worst part of the day....
We even ate dinner later that night. Amazingly. We had a light dinner of duck, salad, asparagus and bread....oh yeah and cheese and wine. I never thought I'd eat again after lunch...but I'd hate to be rude...
Monday was another leisurely day, then Erin and I drove back to Paris for our departure back to London. It was a fantastically relaxed and enjoyable weekend. I look forward to moving into the house next summer for four months to help with home repairs and eat....at least that's what I'm going to start trying to figure out how to do.
Happy Easter.
Ted
Saturday, March 24, 2007
St. Patrick's Day
One trip tops another, this time to the motherland for the national holiday of St. Patrick's Day. Every time Erin introduced herself to a local, you could see them sigh just a little and say "Aw, welcome home", but in Irish. (Yes, that is a language, wait until you go there).
Erin, Jen Bradshaw and I left London on Friday night at about 8pm and arrived at our hotel in Dublin at about 9:30. Meredith Birkmeyer, who you may remember from our romp around Paris last year, decided to join us from Seattle for the weekend as well. We all met in the lobby and decided that we should at least go out for a pint but that we'd save the "big night" for Saturday night. Meredith arrived a day early to visit some friends and had a whole itinerary for us. Before we knew it we were sipping Guiness in a packed pub near St. Stephen's Green. A few pints and a few pubs later it was closing time, probably around 1am. Meredith happened to strike up a conversation with some locals and told them about the "club" we were going to next. They scoffed and said we should follow them to a "private after hours club". We love stuff like that so we started the march, the four of us, plus about about six others. We weren't sure what we were getting into, but they led us into this small basement club with music pounding and then Kevin, our host ordered bottles of champagne. Just what you need after a bunch of guiness is a bunch of champagne. I knew that would be a bad hangover.....but I couldn't be rude. The group we were with were a ton of fun, there was Kevin a local optician, Angry John, who was constantly warned by Kevin to be nice to the poor American, me. He wasn't so much angry as passionate about the stupidity of the American political system. I could sympathize. The angry label really came when looking at the group picture the next day. (He's the one in the back on one on the slideshow). We also met Kevin's sister who was the first Irish woman in the Royal Ballet...needless to say, Erin was impressed. There were a few other friends of their's but I can't remember all of their names. After a few dances, a few glasses of champagne, we all decided that 4am marked a good time to end our "early night".
On Saturday we all were up and out for breakfast by 10am...amazing considering our late night, but heck we were in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, we had to go to the parade. Well the parade was amazing, there were literally millions of people lining the streets and every single one was either wearing a crazy hat, or a crazy outfit or had their face painted or all three. The entire route was lined ten people deep trying to see. The other big excitement was that Ireland was playing Italy in the Six Nations Cup in Rugby. If Ireland won and France didn't win by as much, Ireland could take the cup for the first time in 20 years. Everyone was excited and all of the pubs were packed. We jammed into one where we couldn't even see the TV, but it was fun to be a part of the excitement. Ireland beat Italy by about 25 points, a decisive win and everyone was excited. Now it was up to France to lose to Scotland, or just not win by much. Unfortunately France crushed Scotland so it was disappointing in the end. We missed the second match because it was nap time for all of us.
After a couple hours of nap time, we all met back in the pub in the hotel at about 7:30pm to get ready to go out for the "big night". I think we all wanted to go back to bed and watch a movie instead of going out. But, we were in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day!! So we dragged our butts to the Temple Bar area of Dublin where all of the cheesy, overly tourist bars are, and all of the action. It was overwhelming, but we decided to drop into different pubs and have a drink and move on. After two or three jammed bars we found one that wouldn't let in obviously drunk green-faced hooligans. But they let us in. It was nice, it wasn't as crowded, there was cool art on the walls, good vibe. We may have found a good spot for the night. Then Meredith, the most single of us, noticed there were a lot of girls in the bar and few guys...and the male bartender kept serving guys instead of Jennifer no matter how much flirting she did. Yep, we were in a predominantly lesbian bar. Looking around more we saw that not only were there a lot of girls, but many were kissing each other. I was fine with staying, but the consensus was that it was time to go.
We wandered a bit more, all of us dragging a bit, but energized by the buzz of the day and the energizing power of Guiness...we finally found a bar, The Stag's Head, that was one Erin had been to in the past and Meredith's friend had recommended, but was hard to find. Once we got our beers we walked into the back room to look for a place to sit and lo and behold, Kevin, Angry John and their friends were there. What a coincidence! We were introduced to the two Nile's, fun-size and king-size were their nicknames, we kept forgetting fun-size and called him pint-size...needless to say he didn't like that. We were invited to join them and we sat around with more Guiness laughing hysterically for hours as Angry John, became flirty, fun John because of Jennifer, he was like Vince Vaughn in Swingers. He hysterically pulled off lines to Jennifer that no normal man could pull off, not to mention he was wearing a killer fur coat. I admit, I developed a bit of a man crush myself...as Erin has enjoyed telling me. His crush on Jen was fun for all of us.
We stayed at the Stag's head until closing time then all moved to a late night club down the street. Of course we were tired, so Red bull replaced Guiness and powered us into the night. Suddenly the late night place was closing, around 4am...but this night was too fun, we had to keep going. Next thing you know we're at Kevin's house. I only went because he said we could get pizza. He lied, there was no pizza. Now we're on to wine...at 4 or 5am....not good for the body. Next thing I knew it was light out and we were in a taxi...at 7am.
After a brief nap, Meredith and I took off for the Guiness factory to go on a tour and get some souveniers before our 3pm flight. After waiting in line outside in the sleet for an hour we decided we didn't have enough time and had to skip straight to the gift shop before leaving. An hour for no tour. Fortunately, I didn't have a hangover, so it wasn't too bad...I was still drunk. I think we all were.
Back onto the plane and back to London. I've never slept so well. I finally felt okay by Wednesday. I'm definitely getting too old for this, but what a blast! Go to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, but take cute girls with you and meet up with Kevin, King-Size, Fun-size and hysterical John...definitely a fantastic time.
Ted
Erin, Jen Bradshaw and I left London on Friday night at about 8pm and arrived at our hotel in Dublin at about 9:30. Meredith Birkmeyer, who you may remember from our romp around Paris last year, decided to join us from Seattle for the weekend as well. We all met in the lobby and decided that we should at least go out for a pint but that we'd save the "big night" for Saturday night. Meredith arrived a day early to visit some friends and had a whole itinerary for us. Before we knew it we were sipping Guiness in a packed pub near St. Stephen's Green. A few pints and a few pubs later it was closing time, probably around 1am. Meredith happened to strike up a conversation with some locals and told them about the "club" we were going to next. They scoffed and said we should follow them to a "private after hours club". We love stuff like that so we started the march, the four of us, plus about about six others. We weren't sure what we were getting into, but they led us into this small basement club with music pounding and then Kevin, our host ordered bottles of champagne. Just what you need after a bunch of guiness is a bunch of champagne. I knew that would be a bad hangover.....but I couldn't be rude. The group we were with were a ton of fun, there was Kevin a local optician, Angry John, who was constantly warned by Kevin to be nice to the poor American, me. He wasn't so much angry as passionate about the stupidity of the American political system. I could sympathize. The angry label really came when looking at the group picture the next day. (He's the one in the back on one on the slideshow). We also met Kevin's sister who was the first Irish woman in the Royal Ballet...needless to say, Erin was impressed. There were a few other friends of their's but I can't remember all of their names. After a few dances, a few glasses of champagne, we all decided that 4am marked a good time to end our "early night".
On Saturday we all were up and out for breakfast by 10am...amazing considering our late night, but heck we were in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, we had to go to the parade. Well the parade was amazing, there were literally millions of people lining the streets and every single one was either wearing a crazy hat, or a crazy outfit or had their face painted or all three. The entire route was lined ten people deep trying to see. The other big excitement was that Ireland was playing Italy in the Six Nations Cup in Rugby. If Ireland won and France didn't win by as much, Ireland could take the cup for the first time in 20 years. Everyone was excited and all of the pubs were packed. We jammed into one where we couldn't even see the TV, but it was fun to be a part of the excitement. Ireland beat Italy by about 25 points, a decisive win and everyone was excited. Now it was up to France to lose to Scotland, or just not win by much. Unfortunately France crushed Scotland so it was disappointing in the end. We missed the second match because it was nap time for all of us.
After a couple hours of nap time, we all met back in the pub in the hotel at about 7:30pm to get ready to go out for the "big night". I think we all wanted to go back to bed and watch a movie instead of going out. But, we were in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day!! So we dragged our butts to the Temple Bar area of Dublin where all of the cheesy, overly tourist bars are, and all of the action. It was overwhelming, but we decided to drop into different pubs and have a drink and move on. After two or three jammed bars we found one that wouldn't let in obviously drunk green-faced hooligans. But they let us in. It was nice, it wasn't as crowded, there was cool art on the walls, good vibe. We may have found a good spot for the night. Then Meredith, the most single of us, noticed there were a lot of girls in the bar and few guys...and the male bartender kept serving guys instead of Jennifer no matter how much flirting she did. Yep, we were in a predominantly lesbian bar. Looking around more we saw that not only were there a lot of girls, but many were kissing each other. I was fine with staying, but the consensus was that it was time to go.
We wandered a bit more, all of us dragging a bit, but energized by the buzz of the day and the energizing power of Guiness...we finally found a bar, The Stag's Head, that was one Erin had been to in the past and Meredith's friend had recommended, but was hard to find. Once we got our beers we walked into the back room to look for a place to sit and lo and behold, Kevin, Angry John and their friends were there. What a coincidence! We were introduced to the two Nile's, fun-size and king-size were their nicknames, we kept forgetting fun-size and called him pint-size...needless to say he didn't like that. We were invited to join them and we sat around with more Guiness laughing hysterically for hours as Angry John, became flirty, fun John because of Jennifer, he was like Vince Vaughn in Swingers. He hysterically pulled off lines to Jennifer that no normal man could pull off, not to mention he was wearing a killer fur coat. I admit, I developed a bit of a man crush myself...as Erin has enjoyed telling me. His crush on Jen was fun for all of us.
We stayed at the Stag's head until closing time then all moved to a late night club down the street. Of course we were tired, so Red bull replaced Guiness and powered us into the night. Suddenly the late night place was closing, around 4am...but this night was too fun, we had to keep going. Next thing you know we're at Kevin's house. I only went because he said we could get pizza. He lied, there was no pizza. Now we're on to wine...at 4 or 5am....not good for the body. Next thing I knew it was light out and we were in a taxi...at 7am.
After a brief nap, Meredith and I took off for the Guiness factory to go on a tour and get some souveniers before our 3pm flight. After waiting in line outside in the sleet for an hour we decided we didn't have enough time and had to skip straight to the gift shop before leaving. An hour for no tour. Fortunately, I didn't have a hangover, so it wasn't too bad...I was still drunk. I think we all were.
Back onto the plane and back to London. I've never slept so well. I finally felt okay by Wednesday. I'm definitely getting too old for this, but what a blast! Go to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, but take cute girls with you and meet up with Kevin, King-Size, Fun-size and hysterical John...definitely a fantastic time.
Ted
Monday, March 05, 2007
Ich bin ein Berliner
Erin and I finally made it to Berlin! After our debacle with Ryan Air in September with Dick, we almost gave up hope of making it there. Suddenly last week we realized that our time in Europe is coming to an end so we need to pack in as many trips as possible. So off to Berlin we went.
We arrived on a rainy Friday afternoon and checked into a cool hotel, the Archotel Velvet Mitte in the former East Berlin. It was located next to an old building that has been taken over by artsy squatters. The area we stayed in, Mitte, was home to a ton of cool shops, great little restaurants and interesting looking people. We wandered around in the rain for quite awhile, of course we forgot the umbrella. That night we ate at a great spanish tapas restaurant that instantly took us back to our great times in Andalucia last year.
On Saturday we walked, and walked and walked. We started at Potsdamer Platz, the european home of Sony and the Daimler Chrysler center, though I don't think they are really based there. In the middle of Potsdamer Platz we could see the remnants of the Berlin wall and cobblestones through the sidewalks and streets marking the location of the wall. It was amazing to see that in what used to be the "death zone" between the two walls, is now a commercial center rivaling any american suburb. It felt like we were in Bellevue WA, not the former home of the Berlin Wall; a little surreal.
Our walk continued by the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the amazing new government parliament buildings nearby, the Berlin Dome and other museums. It was a beautiful combination of classic european and modern post cold war. Really cool.
The most impressive site was the holocaust memorial near the Bradenburg gate. It consisted of about 2200 concrete blocks of varying heights, like coffins. They were built on uneven ground and while some were level with the ground others were almost 20 feet tall. Erin's interpretation best summed it up in that you could almost feel the changing emotions of those involved from the high of seeing light at the end to the depths of despair and oppresive weight of the dark times. It was hands down the most moving monument I've ever seen.
The walk also included the requisite stop to look at cool European cars. Since we're starting to get ready to go back, we're hot on the topic of cars. Plus we just saw An Inconvenient Truth and are reborn environmentalists. The problem is there are so few good cars for sale in the US that have good mileage, affordable price and environmental friendliness. Europe is full of good versions. We toured the Volkswagen showroom and found a few that would be great...but they don't sell them in the US. Oh well.
Saturday night was to be our "big night" on the town. So we took a nap and were ready to go at about 9 since some clubs don't even open until 5am. We were ready to rock! We went to one club and they were checking ids but Erin didn't have hers. So as we got close to the door he shook his finger and said "No"...Erin replied with "oh good, no id necessary?", and she hadn't even said anything about her id. He looked back angrily and said, "No entrance!" while others walked on past us. We were turned away for being too old. Such a bruise to the ego! So we showed them and went out to other places...but not if they were too loud...or we had to stand too long...so we went home early...although it was about 2am. No getting into the club "Delicious Donughts" that opened at 5am...and doesn't serve donuts. The other interesting "attraction" in our "cool" east berlin neighborhood was an endless stream of prostitutes on the street. All of whom were fake blonds, tight jeans, big down jackets with corsets on the outside of the jacket, fanny packs and big furry boots....but they seemed nice. Erin said she could tell they were prostitutes because of the fanny packs. We must have seen 300 women in the exact same outfit. I guess our idea of cool neighborhoods is a little different than some peoples.
Sunday was more walking around Berlin to see all the sites we missed Saturday. We saw an old church that was damaged by Allied bombs in the war and now sits as an empty shell next to two super modern structures. Very impressive. But it was in more of a normal West Berlin area that was particularly boring and felt like the US. We were lucky to have picked our much more interesting neighborhood.
Now we're back to work planning for our next trips. We're headed to Dublin next weekend for St. Patrick's Day! Can't wait.
More soon. I'll get pictures up as well...as soon as I find the card reader for the camera.
Ted
We arrived on a rainy Friday afternoon and checked into a cool hotel, the Archotel Velvet Mitte in the former East Berlin. It was located next to an old building that has been taken over by artsy squatters. The area we stayed in, Mitte, was home to a ton of cool shops, great little restaurants and interesting looking people. We wandered around in the rain for quite awhile, of course we forgot the umbrella. That night we ate at a great spanish tapas restaurant that instantly took us back to our great times in Andalucia last year.
On Saturday we walked, and walked and walked. We started at Potsdamer Platz, the european home of Sony and the Daimler Chrysler center, though I don't think they are really based there. In the middle of Potsdamer Platz we could see the remnants of the Berlin wall and cobblestones through the sidewalks and streets marking the location of the wall. It was amazing to see that in what used to be the "death zone" between the two walls, is now a commercial center rivaling any american suburb. It felt like we were in Bellevue WA, not the former home of the Berlin Wall; a little surreal.
Our walk continued by the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the amazing new government parliament buildings nearby, the Berlin Dome and other museums. It was a beautiful combination of classic european and modern post cold war. Really cool.
The most impressive site was the holocaust memorial near the Bradenburg gate. It consisted of about 2200 concrete blocks of varying heights, like coffins. They were built on uneven ground and while some were level with the ground others were almost 20 feet tall. Erin's interpretation best summed it up in that you could almost feel the changing emotions of those involved from the high of seeing light at the end to the depths of despair and oppresive weight of the dark times. It was hands down the most moving monument I've ever seen.
The walk also included the requisite stop to look at cool European cars. Since we're starting to get ready to go back, we're hot on the topic of cars. Plus we just saw An Inconvenient Truth and are reborn environmentalists. The problem is there are so few good cars for sale in the US that have good mileage, affordable price and environmental friendliness. Europe is full of good versions. We toured the Volkswagen showroom and found a few that would be great...but they don't sell them in the US. Oh well.
Saturday night was to be our "big night" on the town. So we took a nap and were ready to go at about 9 since some clubs don't even open until 5am. We were ready to rock! We went to one club and they were checking ids but Erin didn't have hers. So as we got close to the door he shook his finger and said "No"...Erin replied with "oh good, no id necessary?", and she hadn't even said anything about her id. He looked back angrily and said, "No entrance!" while others walked on past us. We were turned away for being too old. Such a bruise to the ego! So we showed them and went out to other places...but not if they were too loud...or we had to stand too long...so we went home early...although it was about 2am. No getting into the club "Delicious Donughts" that opened at 5am...and doesn't serve donuts. The other interesting "attraction" in our "cool" east berlin neighborhood was an endless stream of prostitutes on the street. All of whom were fake blonds, tight jeans, big down jackets with corsets on the outside of the jacket, fanny packs and big furry boots....but they seemed nice. Erin said she could tell they were prostitutes because of the fanny packs. We must have seen 300 women in the exact same outfit. I guess our idea of cool neighborhoods is a little different than some peoples.
Sunday was more walking around Berlin to see all the sites we missed Saturday. We saw an old church that was damaged by Allied bombs in the war and now sits as an empty shell next to two super modern structures. Very impressive. But it was in more of a normal West Berlin area that was particularly boring and felt like the US. We were lucky to have picked our much more interesting neighborhood.
Now we're back to work planning for our next trips. We're headed to Dublin next weekend for St. Patrick's Day! Can't wait.
More soon. I'll get pictures up as well...as soon as I find the card reader for the camera.
Ted
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Definitely one of the best trips....ever!!!
Italy
Italy was another story all together after Malta. We absolutely loved Italy. Since we were spending the year in Europe, we didn’t want to go back to the states for Christmas because it is a great time to get away and travel. We told everyone that if they wanted to see us for the holidays they had to come to us…and we would all go somewhere. We found three takers, my dad, Tracey and Abby. Luckily for us they have friends, Lexi and Brad, who have a house in Umbria in Italy that we could stay in…for free. What a deal.
After Christmas, our plan was to meet them at the house in Umbria on the 28th. We booked a flight from Malta back to Rome on the 26th and then a flight out of Venice on January 5th. The rest we would figure out along the way.
Rome
We spent two nights in Rome. We wandered, we ate, we wandered, we ate. The highlights were a walking tour through all of the major sites from our hotel near the train station to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Funny moment was turning a corner and stopping cold where I said, “wow, that sure is a pretty building” Erin of course shocked at my ignorance said “you mean the Pantheon” I guess I should know better. Dick, Erin’s dad, has talked a lot about the architecture and construction of the Pantheon and it lived up to all expectations. Amazing what they were able to do so long ago. The Sistine chapel was nothing short of spectacular as well. It was interesting to see the scale of the building and the paintings inside. I expected the famous paintings on the ceiling to be so much bigger and was surprised at how big the Resurrection painting was.
The next day we toured the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. Erin is dismayed that I don’t find history as “exciting” as she does. I think she sees it as a divorceable offense. It isn’t that I don’t find it interesting, it’s just that vivid images of past battles or culture don’t jump into my head. I find the architecture and engineering amazing, but that’s about it. It’s okay though because I’m dismayed that she doesn’t find cooking exciting. I guess we can help each other.
Umbria
We rented a car in Rome at the train station. The attendant drew a little map and said no problem to get to the highway. We just had to drive across the street and back a block or two to our hotel to get our bags. It took us 45 minutes. Rome is confusing to drive in.
Once on the road the trip to Niccone and Umbertide was beautiful and uneventful. The biggest issue we had was figuring out how to pronounce the towns. We finally all agreed on Ni CHON ay and Um BEAR ti day. Who knows if we’re right.
Regardless, the tiny town of Niccone, outside of the slightly larger town of Umbertide, was our destination. Both towns are about 3 hour drive north east of Rome above Lago Trasimeno (4th largest lake in Italy) in Umbria, east of Tuscany.
We were told it was a condo and had all kinds of images in our heads about what to expect. We didn’t expect a gorgeous stone building with three or four units at the top of a mountain overlooking a valley. Stone floors, wood beamed ceilings. WOW. It was truly a special place.
Day Trips
While in Umbria we explored the local area including a few day trips including Assisi, Gibbio and Multpulicano.
Assisi
Our first day trip was to Assisi where we visited the church of St. Francis. It was a beautiful town on a hillside with a breathtakingly amazing church with a few different levels all with amazing paintings. Of course the end of the day was satisfying Abby on another trip to a Gelateria…we all love ice cream after all. We told Abby it was a special treat for her, really it was a special treat for each of us.
Gubbio
Our next trip was to Gubbio. Gubbio was a small town which was known for two things. First was the amazing ceramics. We walked far and wide looking for something to bring home with us. We finally settled for a great platter that would we can’t wait to server Salmon on when we get home. The second was the world’s largest Christmas tree, which was actually lights all over the side of a mountain in the shape of a tree…really cool.
Montepulicano
Montepulicano can only be described as magical. Many of you may have heard of Montepuliano at the wine store. It is an area in Tuscany that is known for its fantastic wine. While the vino was fantastic, the town was even more amazing. It sits on a ridge between two valleys with breathtaking views on either side. We all meandered up the hillside through the town and were blown away by the views…and the wine. When we walked through the gate on the other side, we were all blown away by how magical and amazing it was. By far one of the best places in Europe, if not the world, that I’ve been to.
On the way home, on New Year’s Eve, we were on the search for what to have for dinner. As I was the resident chef, I had a chicken (plus pasta of course) in mind for dinner. I’ve never roasted a chicken before, so what a chance. If only I had a chicken. The only problem was that it was getting late. As we drove through town after town, we looked for a butcher, or a grocery store. Town after town we were disappointed by nothing being open. Finally, we found an open store. We quickly pulled in and I jumped out of the car. When I entered the cashier said, in broken English, you have one minute. I ran to the back and found the butcher, shutting down. There was nothing left in the display case so I asked for a pollo (chicken)..in as much Italian as I could muster. She nodded and proceeded to wrap up a cooked chicken. I shook my head and said no, but couldn’t figure out how to say not cooked. I tried squawking like a chicken and she got the point. She reached into the walk-in freezer and yanked out a raw chicken; head, feet and all still attached. I nodded profusely and she wrapped it up. Once we returned home we had a raucous time playing with the “dead chicken”. We took a hundred pictures chopping the head and neck off, laughing about the dead chicken. In the end we had a fantastic dinner of “dead chicken” since none of us had ever had a chicken so close to life. It was a blast.
Florence
The next day we packed up everything and began the caravan through the rest of Italy. After a long caravan drive we arrived in Florence. We checked into a hotel in the center of town…after an endless search for parking. We reconvened in the lobby for a day of exploration. It was amazing to see the copy of David, the Uffizi museum and the Ponte de Veccio. Unfortunately all the lines were too long for us to actually see any of the real art…such a disappointment. The next day we shopped and wandered more. Finally I was able to get Erin’s Christmas necklace as she found just the right store. Eventually Gar and I separated from the ardent shoppers (Erin, Tracey and Abby) for a couple hours of rest…and a trip to the Camper store for a couple of pairs of shoes…just what I needed, two pairs of Spanish shoes in the middle of Italy. As a Christmas present Erin and I gave the gift of an independent night of fun for Gar (dad) and Tracey in Florence, without Abby. After our requisite nap, Abby, Erin and I had Abby night. We had a blast walking through Florence after teaching Abby how to properly slurp spaghetti. Of course we ended with more gelato…unfortunately all of the horses (for the horse and buggy rides) were asleep…or gone.
Venice
The next day we got back in our cars and moved the caravan to Venice. Upon making it to Venice we decided to park our cars at the airport before going into town. We figured out that the quickest, yet most expensive, route into town was a water taxi. After piling in, we loved watching the breathtaking scenery of Venice unfold before us. It was amazing to see a town partially submerged in water; definitely one of my favorite places on earth. We checked into yet another magnificent hotel. We wandered, we got lost, we wandered, we got lost…it was great. I forgot to mention that we played Scrabble every night in the condo and became addicted to our nightly habit. When we got to Venice we remembered that we forgot to bring the scrabble board; so we had to find another. Eventually we found the Italian version…Scrabbeo. It was quite a bit different, as many of the letters were missing including Q, W, X, Y, J, and a couple other key letters. Nonetheless, we had a couple of ruthless Scrabbeo nights as Abby was mesmerized by Italian TV; who knows why.
The other highlight of the trip was our time in St. Mark’s square and St. Mark’s cathedral. We had an amazing time in the square feeding the pigeons and luring them onto our hands…and Abby and my heads. It was so much fun for the both of us.
The last night, Erin and I separated from the group for a last night of vacation dinner together. We had another fantastic dinner at a great waterside restaurant. The two highlights were a free bottle of wine after they accidentally poured a glass to the adjoining table, as well as an amazing salt baked sea bass. They showed us a whole fish baked under an inch of salt…something I had heard about, but never had. It was great and something I can’t wait to try to make.
The next day, Erin and I shopped all over town for something to bring back. We found an amazing mask that will surely grace our house when we return. It’s cool. Then we were off for the airport and our return to London. Another amazing trip in the books….absolutely fantastic!!!
Sorry for the long delay in posting, but it was a great trip and definitely marks one of my favorite trips.
Ted
Italy was another story all together after Malta. We absolutely loved Italy. Since we were spending the year in Europe, we didn’t want to go back to the states for Christmas because it is a great time to get away and travel. We told everyone that if they wanted to see us for the holidays they had to come to us…and we would all go somewhere. We found three takers, my dad, Tracey and Abby. Luckily for us they have friends, Lexi and Brad, who have a house in Umbria in Italy that we could stay in…for free. What a deal.
After Christmas, our plan was to meet them at the house in Umbria on the 28th. We booked a flight from Malta back to Rome on the 26th and then a flight out of Venice on January 5th. The rest we would figure out along the way.
Rome
We spent two nights in Rome. We wandered, we ate, we wandered, we ate. The highlights were a walking tour through all of the major sites from our hotel near the train station to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Funny moment was turning a corner and stopping cold where I said, “wow, that sure is a pretty building” Erin of course shocked at my ignorance said “you mean the Pantheon” I guess I should know better. Dick, Erin’s dad, has talked a lot about the architecture and construction of the Pantheon and it lived up to all expectations. Amazing what they were able to do so long ago. The Sistine chapel was nothing short of spectacular as well. It was interesting to see the scale of the building and the paintings inside. I expected the famous paintings on the ceiling to be so much bigger and was surprised at how big the Resurrection painting was.
The next day we toured the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. Erin is dismayed that I don’t find history as “exciting” as she does. I think she sees it as a divorceable offense. It isn’t that I don’t find it interesting, it’s just that vivid images of past battles or culture don’t jump into my head. I find the architecture and engineering amazing, but that’s about it. It’s okay though because I’m dismayed that she doesn’t find cooking exciting. I guess we can help each other.
Umbria
We rented a car in Rome at the train station. The attendant drew a little map and said no problem to get to the highway. We just had to drive across the street and back a block or two to our hotel to get our bags. It took us 45 minutes. Rome is confusing to drive in.
Once on the road the trip to Niccone and Umbertide was beautiful and uneventful. The biggest issue we had was figuring out how to pronounce the towns. We finally all agreed on Ni CHON ay and Um BEAR ti day. Who knows if we’re right.
Regardless, the tiny town of Niccone, outside of the slightly larger town of Umbertide, was our destination. Both towns are about 3 hour drive north east of Rome above Lago Trasimeno (4th largest lake in Italy) in Umbria, east of Tuscany.
We were told it was a condo and had all kinds of images in our heads about what to expect. We didn’t expect a gorgeous stone building with three or four units at the top of a mountain overlooking a valley. Stone floors, wood beamed ceilings. WOW. It was truly a special place.
Day Trips
While in Umbria we explored the local area including a few day trips including Assisi, Gibbio and Multpulicano.
Assisi
Our first day trip was to Assisi where we visited the church of St. Francis. It was a beautiful town on a hillside with a breathtakingly amazing church with a few different levels all with amazing paintings. Of course the end of the day was satisfying Abby on another trip to a Gelateria…we all love ice cream after all. We told Abby it was a special treat for her, really it was a special treat for each of us.
Gubbio
Our next trip was to Gubbio. Gubbio was a small town which was known for two things. First was the amazing ceramics. We walked far and wide looking for something to bring home with us. We finally settled for a great platter that would we can’t wait to server Salmon on when we get home. The second was the world’s largest Christmas tree, which was actually lights all over the side of a mountain in the shape of a tree…really cool.
Montepulicano
Montepulicano can only be described as magical. Many of you may have heard of Montepuliano at the wine store. It is an area in Tuscany that is known for its fantastic wine. While the vino was fantastic, the town was even more amazing. It sits on a ridge between two valleys with breathtaking views on either side. We all meandered up the hillside through the town and were blown away by the views…and the wine. When we walked through the gate on the other side, we were all blown away by how magical and amazing it was. By far one of the best places in Europe, if not the world, that I’ve been to.
On the way home, on New Year’s Eve, we were on the search for what to have for dinner. As I was the resident chef, I had a chicken (plus pasta of course) in mind for dinner. I’ve never roasted a chicken before, so what a chance. If only I had a chicken. The only problem was that it was getting late. As we drove through town after town, we looked for a butcher, or a grocery store. Town after town we were disappointed by nothing being open. Finally, we found an open store. We quickly pulled in and I jumped out of the car. When I entered the cashier said, in broken English, you have one minute. I ran to the back and found the butcher, shutting down. There was nothing left in the display case so I asked for a pollo (chicken)..in as much Italian as I could muster. She nodded and proceeded to wrap up a cooked chicken. I shook my head and said no, but couldn’t figure out how to say not cooked. I tried squawking like a chicken and she got the point. She reached into the walk-in freezer and yanked out a raw chicken; head, feet and all still attached. I nodded profusely and she wrapped it up. Once we returned home we had a raucous time playing with the “dead chicken”. We took a hundred pictures chopping the head and neck off, laughing about the dead chicken. In the end we had a fantastic dinner of “dead chicken” since none of us had ever had a chicken so close to life. It was a blast.
Florence
The next day we packed up everything and began the caravan through the rest of Italy. After a long caravan drive we arrived in Florence. We checked into a hotel in the center of town…after an endless search for parking. We reconvened in the lobby for a day of exploration. It was amazing to see the copy of David, the Uffizi museum and the Ponte de Veccio. Unfortunately all the lines were too long for us to actually see any of the real art…such a disappointment. The next day we shopped and wandered more. Finally I was able to get Erin’s Christmas necklace as she found just the right store. Eventually Gar and I separated from the ardent shoppers (Erin, Tracey and Abby) for a couple hours of rest…and a trip to the Camper store for a couple of pairs of shoes…just what I needed, two pairs of Spanish shoes in the middle of Italy. As a Christmas present Erin and I gave the gift of an independent night of fun for Gar (dad) and Tracey in Florence, without Abby. After our requisite nap, Abby, Erin and I had Abby night. We had a blast walking through Florence after teaching Abby how to properly slurp spaghetti. Of course we ended with more gelato…unfortunately all of the horses (for the horse and buggy rides) were asleep…or gone.
Venice
The next day we got back in our cars and moved the caravan to Venice. Upon making it to Venice we decided to park our cars at the airport before going into town. We figured out that the quickest, yet most expensive, route into town was a water taxi. After piling in, we loved watching the breathtaking scenery of Venice unfold before us. It was amazing to see a town partially submerged in water; definitely one of my favorite places on earth. We checked into yet another magnificent hotel. We wandered, we got lost, we wandered, we got lost…it was great. I forgot to mention that we played Scrabble every night in the condo and became addicted to our nightly habit. When we got to Venice we remembered that we forgot to bring the scrabble board; so we had to find another. Eventually we found the Italian version…Scrabbeo. It was quite a bit different, as many of the letters were missing including Q, W, X, Y, J, and a couple other key letters. Nonetheless, we had a couple of ruthless Scrabbeo nights as Abby was mesmerized by Italian TV; who knows why.
The other highlight of the trip was our time in St. Mark’s square and St. Mark’s cathedral. We had an amazing time in the square feeding the pigeons and luring them onto our hands…and Abby and my heads. It was so much fun for the both of us.
The last night, Erin and I separated from the group for a last night of vacation dinner together. We had another fantastic dinner at a great waterside restaurant. The two highlights were a free bottle of wine after they accidentally poured a glass to the adjoining table, as well as an amazing salt baked sea bass. They showed us a whole fish baked under an inch of salt…something I had heard about, but never had. It was great and something I can’t wait to try to make.
The next day, Erin and I shopped all over town for something to bring back. We found an amazing mask that will surely grace our house when we return. It’s cool. Then we were off for the airport and our return to London. Another amazing trip in the books….absolutely fantastic!!!
Sorry for the long delay in posting, but it was a great trip and definitely marks one of my favorite trips.
Ted
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