Tag: adventure travel

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Greece, Part 1: Athens and Antiquity

We added Greece to our itinerary at the last minute. Bob said, “Hey, since we’ll be in Italy anyway and Greece is so close, how about we finish the vacation on a Greek Island?” He had been to Greece about 30 years ago and remembered it fondly.

I couldn’t think of a reason to say no, especially after we found incredibly cheap 4- and 5-star hotels and apartments available during the time we would be there – as low as $26 a night for a really nice two-bedroom apartment in a resort near the sea. The catch? November officially launches the winter season in Greece. So while we could find affordable, beautiful lodging, it would be too cold to go to the beach and no restaurants would be open.

So the islands were out

But then Lexie chimed in that she was really interested in mythology from her World Civilization class and books she had read, and she would LOVE to visit Athens and see the ruins and the seat of western civilization.

So Athens was in

So we added three days in Athens to the journey. I found a boutique hotel in a location that Booking.com gave a grade of 10. Bob did some research into what to do while there, finding guides to what to do in one day in Athens, or two days in Athens. He worried that we had booked too much time there and would be bored.

He was wrong.

Temple of Zeus, sunset
From the second we stepped off the plane, we were in love. The airport was new and modern and welcoming to tourists. The weather in early November was sunny and in the low 70s. (This is considered winter?) The cab driver was friendly, and his cab was large and state-of-the-art, with leather seats and the most advanced GPS we ever saw. A self-driving car (Lexie had a moment of panic about him not watching the road until he shared this piece of information), the Mercedes made its way to our hotel while he chatted away about sights we should see and places we should visit and pointed them out on his 3D, shape-shifting GPS screen.
The Arethusa Hotel, as it turned out, was just a short block to one of the main squares in Athens, Syntagma Square. When we arrived, a bellman promptly grabbed our luggage and delivered it to our room for us – a nice change from the hoofing around we had done in Naples, and a good idea since the elevators were tiny. From the wall to wall windows, the city view was delightful, the towels thick and fluffy, the beds soft and comfy. We looked at each other with delight and said, “We deserve this!”

The National Garden

National Garden selfie

Emporr busts in the National Garden

The next morning, getting up early to run, Bob and I discovered that the National Garden, with miles upon miles of running trails and views of the Temple of Zeus, was only two blocks away.  We saw scores of fit runners covering the trails in small groups. Then we went to the breakfast room. Mama mia!  Hotel Arethusa offered a delicious, abundant Greek/American buffet breakfast that included Greek yogurt, granola; spinach, meat and cheese pies; eggs, toast, fruit, cold cuts and cheese, Nutella and jams, eight kinds of coffee, juices, hot chocolate, and more. All this for just 80 euros a night ($90)!

Changing of the Guard

We started, at our cab driver’s recommendation, at the Parliament at 11 AM on Sunday morning to watch the Changing of the Guard. This happens quietly every hour round the clock, but the Sunday morning show is 30 minutes long and a spectacle designed to entertain a crowd. And in fact, hundreds of people turned out to watch, jostling with each other to get the best pictures and video. It was wonderful! Soldiers somehow managed to look manly high-kicking in perfect synchronization while wearing traditional country guard uniforms, which consisted of white tutus, matching white tights, red berets with long black feathers down one side, and black clogs with large tassels on top. Their serious faces and the long red and black rifles they carried certainly helped.

Hop On Hop Off Bus


Next we boarded the Hop On Hop Off bus to get a quick lay of the land. We took lots of great pictures from the top level of the double-decker, where every corner brought a new discovery. The tour was informative and comprehensive, and the headphones actually worked well. We used the bus as transit after the initial circle, and visited the original Olympic Stadium (including the underground tunnel, a museum that featured Olympic posters and torches, and of course the winners’ podium), the Temple of Zeus (our timing at sunset created amazing light for the pictures), Hadrian’s Arch, the Plaka (an atmospheric old city with wonderful shopping and dining options), the Acropolis and Parthenon (of course), the National Archeological Museum (where you can eat in a café surrounded by ancient sculptures), and even the Flea Market.

Views from the HoHo:

Acropolis

Fish market

Next … Greece, Part 2: The Islands, and Observations
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Italy, Part 3: Rome

Rome was literally eye-popping. We stepped out of a subway for the first time and were immediately accosted by the enormous, imposing Coliseum. All three of us stopped and gasped simultaneously. The scale of it was, as Lexie put it, “incredible. I don’t even know how to describe it.”

That pretty much describes Rome: Larger than life.

The Colosseum

Since we only had a couple days in Italy’s capital, we decided we had no time to waste waiting in line unnecessarily. So we took a skip-the-line tour of the Colosseum, the largest amphitheater ever built, circa AD 70. (We picked the first person who approached us, but you might want to do more research than that.) Though it was partially destroyed by a major earthquake, it is surprisingly intact, and truly spectacular. We were able to climb fairly high and peered down at the space where gladiators fight and public executions were the spectacle of the day.
The Colosseum

It is flanked by the Roman Forum, which for centuries was the center of day-to-day life in Rome, and Palatine Hill, one of the most ancient parts of the city.

The Forum and Palatine Hill

Our Morning Walking Tour


The second morning, Lexie slept late while Bob and I took the subway to the Trevi Fountain, the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world  Again, we got so much more than we expected. It was huge, built into the side of a big stone building, and glorious. Description, legend. It turned out we were there at the least crowded time of the day, so we were able to each throw a coin in the fountain over our left shoulders. (According to legend, one coin means you will return to Rome, two means you will find new romance and three means you will get married. We already have two and three covered.) Suddenly the 1950s song Three Coins in the Fountain makes more sense.

Trevi Fountain

We then had an overpriced breakfast of croissants and cappuccinos across the way from the fountain, basking in the location and the glorious leisure It is in a charming old section of Rome with narrow streets and no cars. We walked along, taking pictures of a large diversity of creative, small shop windows, and came along a Pinocchio shop – ah, yes, that childhood tale about Gepetto, the lonely shoemaker and his wooden doll who turned into a real boy, is Italian in origin!

Gepetto’s workshop

Our wanderings also took us through the Fifth Avenue of Rome – Gucci, Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, etc. — to the famous Spanish Steps, which we had never heard of, but they are glorious and worth a visit.  It’s127 steps up, and nearby is the apartment where Keats died at the age  of 29 – just a little literary trivia.
Spanish Steps

We found the Pantheon, an ancient temple to the Roman gods converted to a Catholic Church that was simply amazing. It is circular, 142 feet wide and 142 feet tall, with a hole in the roof that lets light in as well as rain, and a drain in the floor. It is one of the best preserved of all Roman buildings because it has been in continuous use and is still used as a church and to host concerts today.  It was also not crowded, and had pews we could sit in to rest our tired feet.

Pantheon

The Vatican

We went back to our apartment (Homeaway did us right; our two-bedroom was gorgeous, comfortable and close to the subway, and since we booked an off-season rental only two weeks before, we were able to get the price lowered) to get Lexie, who had been sleeping late (she is 18, after all), and headed out for the obligatory tour of the Vatican. We chose a 3 PM tour to avoid the morning crowds, which Bob and I had witnessed firsthand the previous morning when we ran past the Vatican and had to dodge the lines. Again, we paid extra to skip the line, and were led through the Vatican Museums by a stylish Liberian woman whose English accent was too thick for Bob to decipher. (Thanks to time spent with a Liberian friend when I lived in New York, I understood her just fine.)
The Vatican Museum (actually, museums) is one of the largest museums in the world, featuring an immense collection amassed by popes throughout the centuries. The tour was a little too quick, but interesting nonetheless, especially the Map Room. I would like to go back in my own and take the time to linger. I also discovered the secret to seeing the Vatican without the crowds is to wait till the afternoon, a time when no Skip the Line premium would have been necessary. Here are some highlights:

The Sistine Chapel was a feast to behold, although Michelangelo’s famous creation image was surprisingly small in the center of the ceiling, and the elbow-to-elbow crowd made it challenging to view. (Sorry, no photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel.)

St. Peter’s Square

St. Peter’s Basilica was glorious, but I was disappointed to be denied seeing the Pieta sculpture, which was behind a curtain and required a premium to view. I made sure to buy a couple of packable souvenirs and posted postcards to my brother John, who is a Catholic priest, and my stepmother, Katy. Because it was a Saturday evening, I could have gotten a free ticket to see the Pope say Mass the next morning from the nuns in the gift shop. Unfortunately, we planned to travel at the same time, so I didn’t. If you ever travel to Rome, you should know admission is free on the last Sunday of every month, so plan accordingly!

St. Peter’s Basilica

Cats of Rome


Bob stayed an extra day and visited Torre Argentina, the spot where Julius Caesar was killed, a ruin that is now a Cat Sanctuary.

Thoughts on Rome

A few thoughts on Rome:

  • It is OLD.
  • It is Catholic! I realized this, but still, it’s a surprise to see so many nuns and priests and monks in the streets of a city.
  • There are no footpaths or grassy places to run, though there is a path along the Tiber River, which was just a bit too far from our apartment.
  • Because of the density of the center or the city, public transit is limited to the edges and you have to walk a lot, on cobblestones. We skipped the Hop On Hop Off Bus because the reviews made clear the buses couldn’t actually get near the most popular sites, and stops were few and far between.
  • The menu is extremely limited: pizza and pasta. And more pizza. And more pasta. And gelato, gelato, gelato. It’s wonderful! But after a while, no matter how good it is, you get tired of the same menu.
  • There are a lot of beggars, who seemed like a throwback to another time. We saw women in scarves lying on the sidewalk with heads bowed in prayer and cup extended, and young men with gnarled legs and feet propelling themselves on skateboards, distorted hands inside of heavy boots and cups extended.
  • It is larger than life. From the Vatican to the Coliseum to the Fountain of Trevi, everything is so big, it takes your breath away.

Two and a half days was not enough time. We will be back!

Next up — Italy, Part 4: Solofra, and Radical Discoveries

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Italy, Part 2: Why Italy

Why Italy?

Italy was actually the impetus for this whole European adventure. 

My cousin Janice Carapellucci has been passionately pursuing our family roots on the Troisi side for a decade, especially the artist Donato Buongiorno, who was my Italian grandfather Domenic Troisi’s uncle and his family’s sponsor when they came to the United States from Naples in 1907. (She collects his work, as he was a fairly prominent artist at the turn of the last century, and hopes to stage a show of his work in New York City in spring 2019. Her website is donatusbuongiorno.com.)
In addition, my sister Julie Holm and her husband Mark visited Italy about a decade ago and found the hometown where my grandfather was born, Solofra, a picturesque village of goldsmiths and leather tanners located in lush mountains about a half hour east of Salerno.
Janice has been planning a family expedition to Naples and Solofra for years. When my daughter Lexie decided to take a gap year before starting college, I decided the timing of the trip this fall provided a wonderful opportunity for her to learn about her Italian family history.
Then it turned into our travel version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: If we were going to be in Italy for the family reunion, we may as well go to Rome for a couple days first. And since Spain is close by, we might as well visit our exchange student, Laia, and her family, in Barcelona. And while we were in Europe, we should visit our oldest, Aryk, at Keele University in England. And if we were going to be in England, we need to spend time in London and get tickets to Hamilton in the West End.  And if we were going to be so close to Germany, we needed to visit my brother Pat and his family outside Hamburg. And since Icelandair, with the cheapest flight to Hamburg, offered a free stop-off in Reykjavik, we had to spend a few days in Iceland. And because Italy is so close to Greece, we added Athens.
So the Italy portion of our trip can be divided into two distinct sections: sightseeing in Rome and ancestry-seeking in Naples and Solofra. You’ve already seen a report from Naples. I realize we are going out of order, but that’s the nature of travel. These blogs need to be posted when they’re written. Thanks for being flexible!
Next … Italy, Part 3: Rome
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Italy, Part 1: Naples

Walking in my Grandfather’s Footsteps

I have one thing to say to my grandfather, Domenico Troisi: Thank you so much for leaving Naples!

A few hours spent around Via Cesare Rossaroll in Naples, Italy, where Domenic lived as a child before immigrating to the United States in 1907, has made me eternally grateful that he came to the United States. This impoverished, filthy, decaying pesthole of a neighborhood, teeming with loud people and louder cars, narrow streets and narrower alleys, ancient buildings with paint peeling off, blowing litter and dog shit everywhere, is beyond depressing.

And this godforsaken alley is where my grandfather lived with his father and two brothers, first in a dingy flat with a shared toilet outside in the hall, and later in a small room separated by a curtain from his father’s “magazino,” or tailoring shop and store combined.
The Memory Book

Domenic described this neighborhood in his 50th Anniversary Memory Book, published in 1970. But his optimistic style does not capture the over-stimulating, exhausting reality of his Neapolitan living situation. Fortunately, my cousin Janice Carapellucci and sister Julie Holm both spent considerable hours and effort researching and digging to locate the home where he lived and the chapels and other landmarks he referenced in his memoir, so that a small group of Troisi cousins could make a pilgrimage to Italy and back to the place from whence we came.

Naples

I’ll be blunt: Naples is no tourist town. It’s working-class, gritty, loud and obnoxious. It reminds me of some parts of NYC and helps me understand how the Big Apple, with so many Italian immigrants, came to develop some of its pushy, in-your-face character. Walking from the train station this morning, first I was hit by multiple flailing elbows while walking the few blocks to get there, then I was almost deafened by a whole line of cars leaning on their horns to express their outrage at some poor sap holding up the line in front of them. This could have happened just as easily on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Life off Via Cesar Rosaroll

But back to Domenic. First, his family lived, as his brother D. Paul described in the memoir, in a small apartment: “Our apartment was called a flat, with community toilet out in the hall; the central heating consisted of our cooking stove in which we burned charcoal when we could afford it. We scavenged kindling at the curb market where we picked up discarded boxes and crates.”
Domenic’s alley

After his mother died in 1906, this Spartan lifestyle deteriorated, according to Domenic: “My father gave up the apartment and put what furniture he could salvage (in) back of the store, dividing the room with a curtain across the entire width. He felt that by so doing he could take better care of his three boys. Many of the meals consisted of pans of spaghetti, or paste e faggioli, which were supplied by a restaurant in Porta Capuana in exchange for tailoring and clothes my father made for the family of the restaurant owner. I cooked most of the meals on a small kerosene stove in back of the store.” 

He was only 12.

Transported Back in Time

Walking in the neighborhood where Domenic spent his childhood, I felt transported back in time 110 years. It seems like nothing has changed, except that there are cars and motorbikes clogging the streets now instead of horses and carriages and pushcarts.

Domenic’s door

People still live in the same squalid conditions, with the addition of indoor plumbing. Clotheslines with sheets, socks and pants still flutter in the wind from balconies above the alleyways. Homemade Roman Catholic shrines to the Virgin Mary and assorted saints can be found in every alcove, with some large ones dominating street corners, festooned with plastic flowers and Holy Water, better maintained than any of the nearby homes. People still live their lives in public with their doors wide open. You can look in as you walk by and see an extended family sharing one small, dark living space, a small kitchen behind, people hanging outside the door, smoking.

The whole place probably smells better, thanks to modern plumbing and the absence of horse manure in the streets (although there was plenty of dog poop). Otherwise, it’s largely unchanged.

Where We Came From and What It Means

Seeing where you came from can make you even more grateful about where you are now. In the decision by Domenic’s father, Beniamino, to board the Steamship Bulgaria, we dodged a bullet. No wonder a squalid tenement on the Upper East Side, where Domenic, his father and two brothers lived with his uncle’s family after they arrived in New York in 1907, “was almost a luxury for us.”

Domenic, Donato and Dante (L-R)

No wonder Domenic was so driven to get ahead, to get educated, to learn English, to improve his living situations, to build that glorious house on Vernon Avenue in Williamsport, PA, where my mother and her nine brothers and sisters grew up.

Walking in Domenic’s footsteps was physically draining and emotionally exhausting. I’m glad I did it. And I am really, really glad he left. 
Grazie, Nonno.

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London, Part 3: Running & Other Activities

Running in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park


The most wonderful surprise for Bob and me was the quality of the running in London. Truly magnificent! Kensington Gardens was a block and a half away from the flat we rented, and it is glorious. We were running along, talking about how it reminded us of Central Park, when we realized we were in the back yard of the Royal residences, separated by just a polo field. We speculated about which “cottage” (really, mansions) belonged to Wills and Kate, and which housed Harry and Meghan. Next thing you knew we were at Kensington Palace! Its gardens were beautful and it is actually open to visitors, though we never got there to see the Princess Diana Fashion Exhibit. 

We discovered Round Pond on one run, the Serpentine on another, the Princess Diana Memorial on another, and green parakeets that let people feed them out of their hands on another. The morning dew made the park glow eerily. 
Kensington Palace

And right beside Kensington Gardens was Hyde Park, not quite as Frederick Olmstead-like, but still large and lovely, with a huge grassy green in the center which doubtless hosts loads of picnickers and probably outdoor concerts in the summertime.

We agreed we would probably get in fantastic running shape if we lived in London, as Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are only one example of London’s abundance of green spaces.

Other Highlights

Other highlights of our days in London included:
38,000-pound silverplate set at Harrods
Metal art at the V&A
  • We visited the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, near Leicester Square, where we attended a Mozart concert in the evening in tribute to my parents, who when they lived outside of London in the late 1980s used to attend classical concerts there.
  • We discovered the London Film Festival was going on and went to see the hysterically funny documentary “I Used to be Normal: A Boy Band Fangirl Story,” in a far-flung London neighborhood (ethnic, not touristy, sort of Queens-like) after an unusual and unexpectedly delicious meal at a Turkish restaurant.
  • We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, aka the V&A, which focuses on design and saw a new history of photography exhibition that had been dedicated by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge  (just Kate to us commoners), just a few days before. I loved the museum’s display of metal art, and we mostly passed on the paintings of dead people.
  • We spent a couple of hours in the world-famous, over-the-top luxurious Harrods’s Department store, where we perused 2000-pound ($2,600 US) coffeemakers, 38,000-pound ($50,000) silver-plate cutlery sets, 3050-pound ($4000) purses, swords, wine glasses (some only 45 pounds each – $$60) and so much more, each item more decadent, expensive and unnecessary than the next. We bought nothing but bought picnic food in the surprisingly reasonable little deli in the chocolate section and picnicked out in a courtyard by the Tube station.
  • On our last day, we visited the Tower of London, enjoying a tour by a very British Yeoman something-or-other, taking in the Crown Jewels, watching a video of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 (poor girl looked terrified, in my opinion), and seeing the extreme excess and ostentatiousness of the soup tureens and salt containers for royal banquets hundreds of years past. We learned about the checkered and grisly past of the royal family, especially Henry IIX, and wondered if Meghan knows what she got herself into.
    Our guide
A beheading about to happen at the Tower of London
And now … goodbye London, off to Italy!

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London, Part 2: Harry Potter & the HOHO

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

For me, the highlight of the trip to London was actually more than an hour away: the set where they made the Harry Potter movies.

I took a subway, train and then a bus to experience the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, where all the Harry Potter films were made over ten years. (I have read the series five times, consider JK Rowling my favorite author, and seen all the films multiple times. I think they have done a brilliant job capturing the amazing world that Rowling created.) Many of the sets were there, preserved meticulously, as well as thousands of props, costumes. This is a MUST for any Potterfile. It’s really an incredible interactive museum that celebrates the Harry Potter books and movies and teaches a vast amount about filmmaking and special effects.

You could push your cart of luggage through into the wall at Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station, walk down Diagon Alley, sit in a booth in the Hogwarts Express, drink Butterbeer, peer into the cupboard under the stairs at 67 Privet Drive, manipulate a CGI Dobby, learn to ride a broom

Other sets on display included the Potions classroom, the Burrow, the Ministry of Magic and Umbridge’s office, the Forbidden Forest (avoid if you are an anachrophobe), Dumbledore’s office. There were intricate plans for Hogwarts castle,
Learning how special effects were done – from shrinking the Knight bus through narrow spaces to making Hagrid tower over Dumbledore to creating a convincing high-speed Quidditch match to lighting up patronuses – was the most fascinating aspect of the tour.

OK, enough from me – read all about it here, and enjoy my Facebook photo album.

Dumbledore’s Office
Harry’s bed in Gryffindor Dorm

Wands

Hop On Hop Off Bus


View from the HoSo

While I was experiencing all things Harry Potter, Bob and Lexie experienced the Hop On Hop Off bus, which Bob calls the HOHO. Because their feet were extremely tired by then, they deemed it the HOSO, for Hop On Stay On, and planted their buts in the front row upstairs, under the glass cover.

For the record, although we have become fans of the HOHO concept when in a new city, we would NOT recommend the Big Bus, because the driver abruptly threw Bob and Lexie (and all other riders) off the bus without warning at 5 PM, saying they were closed. They were not even near a Tube station, and they had given no warning that the tour would end so early. Aryk and I took the Original Tour a year and a half ago and it was much better.

Next .. London, Part 3

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Spain, Part 3: Reus

We spent the last three days in Reus, a small city about 75 kilometers from Barcelona, where Laia and her family live. It turns out that Reus is a very compelling destination of its own right! Gaudi was born in Reus, and there’s a Gaudi Center there, as well as a Modernist Tour. (You can’t get away from him in Catalonia!)

Reus has been around since the 1200s, and is full of fascinating architecture, righ history, great shopping, excellent seafood, and of course its signature vermut (Vermouth).

Cambrils


Reus is less than half an hour from the Mediterranean coast, so we visited the beach resort town of Cambrils. Although October is the off-season, it was 74 degrees F. We found a wine tasting festival going on and enjoyed performances by teams forming human castles, a regional passion. Cambrils beachfront stretches along 7 kilometers of coastline. Most people visit the better known beach resort of Salou, but we found Cambrils compelling, with a lively port area bookmarked by two lovely stretches of beach, behind the port is a tourist area of outdoor restaurants with water views on a wide pedestrian sidewalk, and off-shoot streets with shops and bars. 
Cambrils welcomes visitors

The beach

Human castles
Cambrils is often referred to as the food capital of the Costa Daurada, and we had an amazing lunch. Check out our Guide to Spanish restaurants in Cambrils to learn more about the wonderful food.

Montserrat


 We also visited Montserrat, a glorious mountain near Barcelona with a monastery atop, including a famous Black Madonna statue. It has some amazing rock formations, which we couldn’t see because of the unusual blanket of fog.

The mountain behind the monastery

Reus

Finally, we just poked around Reus. We tried to visit the town History Museum, but it was closed form 2-5 PM for lunch. Which bring us to …

Time in Spain


The schedule in Spain is very different than the United States. Much more civilized. People sleep later – no kids catching a school bus at 6 AM for school – eat breakfast, work a few hours, have a second breakfast around 11 or 11:30 AM, work a few more hours, then enjoy a long, leisurely dinner between 2 and 5 PM. Businesses close their doors for three hours for this. At 8 or 9, people have a small supper.

This schedule is designed to really give people time to savor food and enjoy each other.

Food in Spain

The most popular food we saw in Barcelona was tapas, tiny plates, as I mentioned. In Reus, Laia’s father made us paella, a signature dish or rice, mussels, squid, calamari, prawns and more. We were also fed cod, turkey, lots of bacon and ham products, and the bounty from the sea, including escargots. Americans have to be adventurous to enjoy Catalan food.

Marius and his paella

Altogether a fascinating experience. Go!

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Spain, Part 1: Or is it Catalonia?

Next destination: Spain!

We spent several days in Barcelona on our way to Reus to visit the family of our exchange student, Laia.

Well … I know I said we were in Spain, but Laia’s family would tell you we were in Catalonia.
They are separatists, like many in this province in the northeast corner of the country who are seeking independence from Spain. Since I’m not a historian, I will refer you to a nice article from the BBC explaining this political crisis “in 300 words.” (We are of course on the CatalanTeam.)

Source: BBC News

We saw signs of this conflict everywhere.

There are two official languages in Catalonia: Catalan and Spanish. More fiercely loyal Catalan enterprises would have signs and menus only in Catalan, which seems to be a mish-mash of Spanish, French and Italian. Most people in the city speak some English, although this was more of a challenge further afield.

Spanish National Day celebrants near Placa de Catalunya
We were in Barcelona on Oct. 12 for National Day or Fiesta Nacional de Espana in Spain. It was a national holiday and people celebrated with huge rallies in the central square in Barcelona, Placa de Catalunya. But separatists rebuffed the event, working as usual and displaying their version of the Spanish flag, which has yellow stripes, from their balconies.

Anyway, back to sightseeing …

The weather

The weather, mid-60s to mid-70s in mid-October, was balmy compared to frigid Iceland, though we did need to keep jackets on hand for the occasional rain showers.

We will share a few tidbits about our days in Barcelona and Reus in the next couple of blogs.

Next … Part 2: Barcelona

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Germany

Our five days in Germany were mostly about being with family, but we mixed some tourism in, visiting the city of Hamburg a couple of days.

Pinneberg

My brother Patrick, his German wife Ines, and their two children live in Pinneberg, a suburb of Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city. We stayed in an Airbnb house a couple miles from their home and it was truly amazing – large, clean, pretty, and only 61 euros a night. The local forest was only a block and a half away and we had a lovely run there. The nearby Hotel Cap Polonio served up some of the best French fries I have ever tasted – crispy on the outside, most inside, not oily, perfectly salted. They were accompanied by mayonnaise and ketchup, the German way.
Pinneberg has a beautiful Rosengarten, which was a nice destination for a short walk with small children. The roses were in bloom and a group of old men were playing bocce.
We ate a lot of bratwurst, currywurst and other kids of wurst. (It was the best!) Also a lot of potatoes, a huge staple in Germany. And lots of brochen (bread). The breakfast pastries were to die for.

Hamburg

Hamburg, located on the Elbe River, is Germany’s largest port and commercial center. It boasts a lot of energy, style, music and culture. Its many waterways and canals make it feel a little like Venice.
The Harbor area is huge. We took a harbor boat ride up the Elbe and saw marvels of German nautical engineering, including a humongous dry dock and several Navy ships under construction. We also saw Hamburg’s theater area, reachable by ferryboats decorated to match the shows. Currently playing: The Lion King and Mary Poppins, among others.

We walked through the Old Elbe Tunnel, under the Elbe River, which used to transport port and shipyard workers but is now an interesting stroll to get a fabulous view of Hamburg from across the Harbor (Hafen). Watching cyclists and rollerbladers navigating through the crowds of families and tourists out for a stroll is very entertaining. The elevators in this structure were massive. 
We went up to the observation deck of the brand-new opera house, the ElbPhilharmonie, known by the nickname Elphy, for glorious river views.  

We rode the elevator to the top of St. Michaelis Church for awesome 360-degree views of the city of Hamburg.

We visited the St. Nikolai Memorial (Nikolaikirche), which was bombed out during WWII and never rebuilt. The front façade remains but the interior is an open shell, left as a tribute to all affected by war. The website calls it “Hamburg’s central place of remembrance for the victims of war and tyranny of the years 1933-1945.”

German Food

For Bob, who lived in Germany for 4 ½ years in the 1980s, being back in Germany was like coming home. And a lot of it revolved about food and drink. He wanted to have a German pilsner and pommes (French fries) in every outdoor restaurant in the city of Hamburg! He wanted to eat all his favorite German pastries – apfelstruedel, pretzels, franzbrochen – as well as currywurst and spezi (Coke and German Fanta) from an imbiss (casual, quick restaurant).

That’s it for Germany. On to Barcelona! 
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The Retirement Itinerary: Europe First

LISA

People are asking, “Why are you in Europe? We thought you were moving to Mexico!”

Well, we are … but not yet. We are not going to Mexico till January 2019.

First, Le Tour de Europe

First, we are launching our adventures with five weeks in Europe — Iceland, Germany, Spain, England, Italy and Greece.

We are visiting family — our oldest child Aryk at Keele U. in Newcastle Under Lyme, England, and then London because why not? (Also got tickets to Hamilton and the Harry Potter Studio Tour.)

We’re visiting Lisa’s brother Pat and his wife Ines and their family in Pinneberg, Germany, outside Hamburg.

First we gotta visit Aryk at uni!

We are spending a few days with the family of our awesome foreign exchange student, Laia,  around Barcelona and Reus.

We are joining Troisi (Lisa’s mother’s side) cousins in Italy as part of a family genealogy trip. So we’ll be in Rome, Naples and Solofra.

Then we’re wrapping it all up with a few days in Athens before flying home Nov. 7.

Then, New England

Then, we gotta hang out in Vermont!

We’ll be spending about a month at our vacation home in Ludlow, VT – hopefully taking a couple grandmas and Bob’s sister, Beth.

Next, Holidays with Family
We’ll spend the winter holidays in PA with Bob’s Mom and Lisa’s stepmom, sister Julie and any family we can see.

Finally, Mexico
After Aryk goes back to Uni after Winter Break, the first week of January, we’ll begin the next road trip, taking the cats and Lexie on the road from Pennsylvania to Tlaquepaque, Mexico. The trip is about 37 hours, so we will stop in Nashville and spend a couple of nights in New Orleans on the way.

Stay with us — it’s going to be a blast!

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