Stop 3: Lemons, Oranges, and Exhaust Fumes (aka Sorrento)

Next stop (after a crazy flight/layover decision) was Sorrento/Pompeii/Capri/Positano. I stayed in this bed and breakfast which was in Piano di Sorrento and was actually this woman who rented out two of the rooms in her apartment. I was the only one there for the 5 days so luckily I got the bathroom all to myself. She served the best breakfast ever and it was completely authentic Italian: a perfect espresso, a slice of cake, and homemade jams. Each day she had a different local sweet thing with breakfast. Once morning it was a homemade delizia al limone (lemon delight) which was a dome shaped cakes with whipped cream and (of course) lemon. Another day there was a real Sicilian Cannoli. She totally read my mind because after having a northern Italy cannoli I had always wanted to try the sicilian kind. So good! The Sicilian ones are a crunchy shell filled with a ricotta cheese type mixture with candied lemon and orange pieces and almost a hint of cinnamon (although I could see no tract of the spice in the mixture). I also sat up with her two of the nights and she shared some homemade lemoncello and an amazing cream of coffee liquor. Both of which were like nothing I had ever tried before and showed me that both types of liquor can in fact be delicious. Thanks Rachele!

So back to the trip. First and foremost this area of Italy is dominated, and I mean dominated, by lemon trees. There are a few orange trees too, but the lemon is the local celebrity. It is in EVERYTHING and I love it. The first day was my walking, picture taking, death by motorcycle/car avoiding, shopping day. The streets there are about one and a half car-widths wide and naturally there are no sidewalks, so as much as I feared for my life I also found my new heros: the ladies walking down these same streets with strollers. I guess the children were the real heros. Plus to add insult to possible injury there are apparently no emission standards here. By the end of the day my cough had picked back up after breathing so much exhaust (and cigarette smoke)!

Stop 2: Tarts, Hills, and Rain (aka Lisbon)

Next stop for me was Lisbon. I only had 2 days and one night there and I think I did a pretty good job of thoroughly covering everything there was to see. Sadly this was the one rainy part of my whole 2 week trip. I ended up doing some of the bus tours since this way I could see things, but not end up drenched.

I got into town really early and had to laugh at myself when I stopped for lunch because both my stomach and my cell phone were telling me it was time, but I realized as I was finishing up that is was actually only 10:30 and I needed to change time zones on my phone. Oh well.

I, of course, had to try the Lisbon speciality pastéis de nata and I even got it at the place that supposedly invented this famous custard tart and makes the best one. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was and I was even tempted to get another one later (this is unheard of for me, so nicely done Lisbon).

The second morning it wasn't raining (just cloudy) so I hiked up the hill to the St. Jorge's Castle and went ahead and paid the 7 euros to get in. I confess it was worth it just for the pictures. I think I took about 50 pictures when I was up there.

I think the rest of the city is best summarized by these observations:

• Worst. Drivers. Ever. Not bad in a crazy impressive way like Italians, but in a cutting off buses, forcing through when you have no right of way, and ignoring traffic lights kind of way.
• There are tons of fabric shops
• They love Vasco de Gama
• Worst streets and sidewalks in Europe. Half of these surfaces were holes and the rest of the surface was slanted into the hole.
• There are no good looking people in the city. Sorry.

Stop 1: Paella, Gaudi, and Tapas (aka Barcelona)

Well I didn't time my departure from Europe very well; I should have ended my assignment in the Spring instead of Winter when the weather is better. I did manage to plan well enough that all of my destinations on my "good-bye Europe" trip were south enough to not need hats and mittens though.

Basically I left from snowy Munich and landed in beautiful (and not snowy) Barcelona. The nice part about this segment of the trip was that I wasn't alone. I met one of my travel buddies (who conveniently had been there for a day already and had lots of stuff figured out) and we went all over this wonderfully Spanish city. The first night I got in with just enough time to go to the Picasso Museum since it was the monthly free night and I have to confess that I am glad I didn't pay for it. Maybe if I were a bigger Picasso fan or something it would have been life changing, but sorry.

Anyway during my two days there we saw just about all of the main sights, which for me included the big market with more colors than I have seen in ages. We did the historic Barcelona tour, saw the Gaudi buildings, the harbor, the beach, and of course the Christopher Columbus statue. All I can say is that the Gaudi buildings reminded be of a combination of Dr. Suess and Frank Lloyd Wright. (Hope that's not an insult). Our big splurge this time was dinner at 7 Portes. It is a well known Spanish restaurant and I finally got to have paella. Oh. My. Heavens. It was delicious. Like a really good risotto with fresh seafood, chicken, and some of the best sausage I have had in a while

The next morning we went to see the Roman ruins which are below ground and really amazing. Then some more walking, shopping, and eating. Only problem with shopping was that it was the night before 3 Kings Day which is like their Christmas Day (gifts-wise) so we waited in line with all the people buying the last minute gifts for their kids. Slackers.

Christmas, Madrid-Style

Even though I had to sit for 3 hours on the runway trying to get out of snowy Dublin and then only had 6 hours in the city on a quiet Christmas Eve, Madrid still was taking the lead as my favorite city by the first night!

Quick tangent: Sometimes I am SO glad to be a US citizen. When arriving in Madrid we had to go through immigration since we were coming from Ireland, but there were two lines: an EU citizen line and an All Passport line. Within minutes the EU line was gone while the 10 people in line in front of me at the All Passports were still there. It seemed like there was a problem with every person going through. It was taking forever. So I finally get to the counter and the guy looks at my US passport, opens it, flips to the first blank page, stamps it, and passes it back. Not a single word and finished in 8 seconds flat. Boy I love being an American!

Anyway to back to the trip. I got to my hotel (which was directly across the street from the huge Prado museum), checked in, and then started wandering. The city is beautiful. The architecture is gorgeous! The quiet and quaint streets were almost as clean as the streets in Munich! I worked my way to the Christmas Markets which compared to the German and Irish were a bit of a let down, but Madrid can't be the best at everything! I did enjoy the nativity scenes and the crazy wigs/hats/prank items for sale though. (Apparently the 28th is Fool's Day in Spain.)

So the next morning was Christmas and despite not being with my family, I actually had a wonderful day. I got up and had a big breakfast in the hotel and then had to walk some of it off before my massage at noon. :) So I headed to the nearby Parque del Buen Retiro (or El Retiro park for short). It was indescribably peaceful and relaxing. The park was full of joggers and families out walking since it was perfect weather for a tranquil Christmas walk. This was probably my favorite walk ever. Even though the plants weren't flowering the park was still beautiful and I returned there the next day because I couldn't stay away.

Well, after my massage I wandered a bit more before my Madrid Christmas Tradition tour where I learned a ton. And then for once my indecisiveness paid off. I was meandering around trying to decide if I should brave a tapas place with no Spanish when I walked past one that had the tapas out behind a glass (so I could point) and only one other person eating there (so I wouldn't get pushed around and wouldn't embarrass myself in front of lots of people) and I took a chance and went in. It was delicious! The guy was so nice and patient too! A bunch of people came in later so I knew I had made a good choice. The only frustrating part is that I have no idea what was in my favorite one. It could be anything, even cow heart for all I know, but Good Lord was it delicious!! Oh and then I got a piece of dulce de leche cake at the bakery around the corner since it was Christmas after all.

The next morning my indecisiveness paid off for a second time. I wanted coffee before my Essential Madrid tour at 10 so I wandered and wandered and finally just went into a place and wow! It was one of those cups where you don't need to add any sugar or anything. Beautiful.

Next was the tour where I was one of three. As interesting and informative as it was I found myself distracted a fair amount because I was certain I was freezing to death. By the time it was over I was finally slightly back above freezing so I went to this huge outdoor fair held on Sundays. I decided it was best if I left after about an hour because I was really fighting the urge to start pushing people. Next was my big food crawl. Most of the bakeries and other special restaurants were closed the day before so I had to hit them all on this one day. I was in and out of a dozen brilliant bakeries, but I only got cookies and a Spanish version of a Napoleon at 2 different bakeries, so I was very well behaved.

While I was galavanting through all of the bakeries I didn't realize I was missing my chance to go to the one museum I was particularly interested in (Sofia). But the day was not without it's culture element, I went to the Prado for the evening as it was free on Sunday nights. I'm glad I didn't pay and to be honest I think I think that is enough fine art for me for a while.

The food, the people, the architecture, the parks, the Spanish people who are nice to (and patient with) a non-Spanish speaker. What's not to like about Madrid?! New favorite!

Country or State or Region? I'm Still Not Sure.

I decided it was time to add a new country (or state or something) to my list and headed up to Belfast. I'd like to say that after spending almost 10 hours there that I now know what to call Northern Ireland, but I don't.

So I headed out really early and as we approached Belfast the train go more and more full as all the shoppers from the south headed to Belfast where apparently everything is much cheaper. And well within the first hour I might have stopped in a few shops and did some shopping myself (but I can justify it because they were stores I'd never seen before and thus it was allowed). Now the challenge will be to find space in my suitcases.

My first good decision was to walk from the train station to the city center instead of waiting for the free bus. Lucky I did because I happened upon the St. George's Market which is a huge food market which has existed there since 1890. I think I can safely say that this is the 2nd best market I have found in Europe (the one in Lyon might still win). There was tons of meat and fish and veggies and lots of prepared foods, amazing shortbread cookies, giant American style cookies, and (my favorite) the American food stand with pop tarts, fluff, candy bars, peanut butter, and a bunch of different pop. Hilarious.

The second good decision was to go on one of the bus tours. (Ok actually it was a recommendation from my colleague who is from Belfast, but it was my decision to listen to her.) Anyway it was good because there are some very interesting and impressive sites outside of walking distance from the city center. The murals were so telling of the history of this amazing city. The amount of history in this one city is astounding. I still have lots to learn!

Oh and I decided I want to go back to school at either Queen's College or Campbell College. I don't care what they teach me, I just want to be on those campuses.

The Christmas market in front of the City Hall was great, a bit too crowded for me, but very international. I even had a springbok burger. It was from a place which serves exotic burgers: alligator, wild boar, ostrich, venison, kangaroo. Not bad at all.

I liked Belfast and I need to go back some time and learn more about the all of the history there of the Titanic. Oh, but be warned, Belfast has the most slippery dry sidewalks I have ever experienced. I hate to think what they're like when it is wet.

Even Better the Second TIme Around

Well, I'm back in Dublin for 2 months for work, just like last year except more familiar but also more complications. Anyway, I had the privilege of having Bridget stay with me here for over a week and it was so much fun. In fact I am not sure how I will adapt to life in Dublin without her. It's so much less interesting today. Plus coming home from work next week and not having her here will be painful. I loved coming home and then heading out right away for dinner somewhere awesome. (And let me just say that we found some amazing restaurants, including finding the city's best cup of coffee!) We basically had a week long conversation and never ran out of things to talk about. Now that is friendship!!

On Saturday we ventured out to Cork. My favorite part about the train ride there was the girl next to us getting ready. She went from "just rolled out of bed" to "ready for a night out" in 2 hours on the train. She covered every detail. Not only did she remove her nail polish on the train (seriously?) but she also applied a new coat. Then she proceeded to put on every possible make-up item. I didn't even know what some of them were or what they were supposed to do. I can't imagine what she could have achieved had she gone the whole way to Cork and had another hour to primp.

Once we arrived it of course was raining, but we successfully found our way to the city center with no map. Aside from the occasional rain, it was the best day ever. We walked through fun shops and lots of bookstores and found not only The Wholly Grain but also the best chocolate store ever. The chocolate shop had a cafe where they made hot chocolate, one of which also had a shot of espresso. So naturally we had to get one. Oh. My. Lord. Best drink I have ever had!! It had to have been a melted chocolate bar with a shot of espresso (which of course just brings out the chocolaty goodness even more). It took us an hour to get through them though. After each sip you needed to recover from the sugar rush and chocolate overload. Best chocolate I've had in a long time (and this includes Belgium and France!)

We also stumbled upon a craft fair in an old rec center. There wasn't much inside, but we both had luck with this great hippie girl and her hand made items. I got a super cute polka dot apron and Bridget got a gorgeous table runner. I love being able to talk to the person who made an item. It always make it so much more interesting and overall better. She was a hoot.

On Sunday we had an "as close as we could stand to get to an" Irish breakfast and also discovered the best cup of coffee in town. After this great discovery we went to the Guinness Brewhouse so we could use the tickets I bought a year ago. We went on the absolute perfect day. At the end of the tour you get a free pint of Guinness and you can drink it in the Gravity Bar in the very top of the building. Luckily on Sunday there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We could see everything, including out to the channel. Totally worth it. Then we attempted to go see the Book of Kells but we just missed the last tour group. Instead we just had dinner at this great vegetarian restaurant. Another fabulous day.

During the rest of the week we had more amazing dinners and hit up some nice pubs. Although it has come to my attention that Dublin pubs are more bar like than pubs in the smaller cities. Either way you meet fun people, hear good music, and have nice conversation. Oh, it just won't be as much without Bridget here. I should have tried harder to make her miss her flight . . .

Now I Understand All the Hype

I had the great pleasure of seeing Paris through the eyes of a local. I went to visit a friend who moved to Paris last year and I had the greatest trip! Her apartment was literally in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and of all the sites I have seen in the past year and a half, the Eiffel Tower was the site that held up to the hype the best. I have been disappointed by other sites on my trips, but the tower was truly amazing. Just the shape makes it so pleasing to the eye and then at night when it is lit up and sparkling it is breathtaking.

Not only is the Eiffel Tower beautiful, but all the buildings in the city are exactly my style. I started playing a game where I tried to find a building I didn't like and well, it took a while!

One of the great things about staying with a friend is that we could enjoy the days. The first morning she picked up a fresh baguette and croissants for breakfast and we just took our time with breakfast looking out the window at the Eiffel tower. Then we headed out for a bit of site-seeing: the Opera, the Galleries Lafayette (with the most amazing ceiling in any shopping center in the world, heck just about any building in the world!), Sacre-Coeur (but the rain blocked the view of the city), Place du Tertre (artist square), some macaroons & cookies, and then to lunch at a nice little organic cafe. Then on for some more: St. Germain des Pres, the Palais du Luxembourg gardens, and the Latin quarter.

Then that night we headed to the Great Irish Houses (yep, that's right the Irish Culture Center) for a concert in this tiny chapel. It was really well done. Then we went to dinner with friends of my friend who we had met for the concert. That night when we got home I got to see the 1 am lights of the tower where they only leave the sparkling ones on. Gorgeous.

The next morning we got up and she made a fantastic, big breakfast and then we headed to the Grand Palais for FIAC. It is a huge international contemporary art show in Paris once a year. I really enjoyed (most of) it, but by the end I just needed to sit. All that contemporary art can be exhausting. Plus it can be hard to be judgmental all day, I mean let's be honest, a huge block of taxidermy animals is not art. Sorry.

The highlight of the day though was dinner. We went to dinner at a man named Jim Haynes's house. For the past 30 years he has been hosting dinner at his house every Sunday night and has between 50-60 people over. You call to get on the list for the night and then you go and just meet people. It was so amazing. I met an author working on her 2nd book, a model in town for Fashion week, a few retirees, a poet, some students, and more. All ages and all walks of life. We ate amazing food and met all sorts of people. Jim was involved in the theater and whatnot and knows all sort of famous people and just loves to connect people. Check out the website (http://www.jim-haynes.com/index.htm).

The next day my friend went to work, so I did the tourist thing. I went up in the Arc de Triomphe for a perfect view, down to the Louvre, then to Notre Dame (loved the stained glass inside), and then to the Shakespeare and Co. English bookstore. Then I wandered around the Latin Quarter (ok, I admit it, the first 15 minutes was wandering, the next hour was trying to figure out where I was). Then to the Rodin museum which was closed, although I think I saw the back of "The Thinker" when I peeked through the gate and bushes.

Then I grabbed a fresh baguette and cheese for dinner and headed to the airport.

Observations:

- People only have those tiny "non-dog" dogs in Paris

- Every person in a service industry speaks English (a far cry from Lyon)

Ah, the Discos

Last week I had the great pleasure of showing my sister, brother-in-law, and niece around the southern portion of this wonderful continent we call Europe. Because we had such a great time and did so much, I am not going to try to write everything but will make this a very high level, bullet-point type recap.

They arrived just in time to catch the last day of Oktoberfest. After dropping their things off at my apartment we made the venture down to the Wiesn and so did the rest of the entire city. The day was beautiful so it makes sense that the rest of the city (and more) were there, but still. We went through a fun house (which would not be legal in the US based on safety concerns) and then Carli and Ava went on a roller coaster and the swings. We had all the Oktoberfest food: sausage, chocolate covered fruit, candied almonds, magenbrot, and good old cotton candy (which it turns out Ava does not like).

Next morning we picked up the rental car and headed to Switzerland with a nice little stop in Liechtenstein. The more countries the better! Not only did we see the beautiful snow capped Alps but we discovered that Ava gets carsick. Poor thing, she was such a trooper and even managed to make it outside of the car before, well, you know. Our hotel was at the end of a long, insanely narrow and winding road and it had a view from the movies. Not even the movies, it looked fake. Let's just say that the view from the restaurant (directly below our room, so the same view) had to be the best view I have ever had while eating (and playing I spy).

Next day we explored the area of Davos and rode the gondola up to the best petting zoo I've ever experienced. Big open pens with 2 types of goats, pigs, chickens, and llamas. The animals were actually fun and not as pushy as normal petting farm animals.

The next day we headed down to Florence where we ate our way through the city. Between the spaghetti, pizza, and gelato I think Ava was as much in heaven as the rest of us. Speaking of which, the Fiorentina steak was actually worth the hype. You must try it.

During those 2 days we saw all the sites, did some major shopping, and even got to see 'David.' He was much more impressive than I had imagined. Ava was so good in the museum and insisted on getting not only a face shot postcard (which she could take to school) but also wanted the full body shot postcard. That's my girl.

Then we headed to Siena for the day. There we got to see more of a medieval Italian city with a bit more character. This was the site of the astounding occurrence where a 5 year old child asked to go to a museum and the adults didn't want to. This was the first (and probably last) time that will ever happen. It broke our hearts to say no, but we really didn't want to go.

Then that night I am quite certain we sat next to the Florence mafia at dinner. I mean who else would get their food so quickly. It took us forever just to put in our order. Plus every person walking by stopped to say hello.

Then it was on to Lake Garda. I now understand why it is the German vacation destination. It is a beautiful, huge lake with mountains all along one side and it is only about 3.5 hours from Munich. It was such a fun night. We played foosball and bocce ball, which Ava was oddly amazing at. She won 3 out of 4 games! Then we decided to be lazy and just eat at the restaurant at our little hotel and what do you know, not only was it reasonable priced, but it was one of the best meals of the trip!

The next morning we headed back to Munich and then they spent their last day here exploring the city. We of course hit all the churches and then had a nice traditional Bavarian dinner. My favorite was when we were in St. Peter's church and Ava said that "the 2nd disco is my favorite disco." Not bad, I mean who's heard of a fresco anyway?!

Berlin . . . Finally! (Alternative Title: Keep Your Eyes Open for Another Balzac)

I finally made it up to Berlin (it only took me over a year and a half) and I have to say that it did not disappoint! I left ridiculously early last Saturday morning to fly to Berlin with a friend. So early in fact that we were in Berlin by 7:30 am and thus achieved my earliest hotel check-in ever. The best part of trip into the city center from the airport was the group of 3 Russian boys (and I mean boys, they couldn't have been over 17) who were on the U-bahn with the travel basics: an around the neck passport holder outside of the shirt and a full bottle of cheep liquor. Honestly, who drinks hard liquor before 9 in the morning? It would be impressive if it weren't so sad.

After dropping off the bags we headed to Potsdamer Platz where we wanted to grab some coffee and what do we see first thing off the u-bahn? A Balzac coffee shop. (This is a chain I had heard about several times before and I found that my inner 10 year old couldn't not giggle and my inner 15 year old couldn't refrain from bringing it up in conversation. Luckily Rachel found it equally amusing.) So armed with one of the best cups of filter coffee I have had in a decade, we headed past the Brandenburger Tor and to the Reichstag (beautiful parliment building). The line to go in was so long that we postponed the tour to the next morning.

Then we strolled down Unter den Linden and saw all the sites, then to Museum Island, the s-bahn to Kurfurstendamm, and finally to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. (A "finally" is necessary here because up until this point I had declared every church tower I saw as the "bombed out church" memorial. None of which were correct until now.) But to be honest it was quite a disappointment. The tower was impressive and really showed the destruction, but then they had built this new "modern" tower next to it as part of the memorial and it was horrible. It was ugly and was filled with a flea market/tourist shop. I don't know, but that just feels wrong to me.

Moving on, we headed into the KaDeWe (supposedly continental Europe's largest department store) because I needed a toilet and ended up in the discovery of the trip. Let me explain. The 7th floor of the store was the food section and exactly what I see in my dreams. An entire section for every type of food you could want. Huge cheese counters, meat counters, bread counters, multiple dessert counters, and on and on. BUT not only could you buy the groceries, but each section had a place where you could sit down and eat: fresh seafood restaurant, dessert restaurant, sushi restaurant, multiple wine and champagne bars, and on. So we went to the sausage section and I had my very first currywurst! (Appropriate since they were "invented" in Berlin). And I have to admit it was fantastic. It had something to do I'm sure with the gourmet sausage they started with, but still. We spent lots of time on this floor. Oh and they had a fairly large American food section where the combination of items they actually carried and the prices that they charged for these items about stopped my heart. A Duncan Hines cake mix for 8 euro, a can of Diet Dr. Pepper for 4 euro, and even a Whatchamacallit for 3 euro. Crazy.

After a bit more wandering we decided it was time to find the chocolate stores. The Ritter Sport store was cool because they had a place where you could create your own chocolate bar. They had all these mix-ins like nuts, candies, etc. that you selected and they mixed it into chocolate and then created your bar. Genius as far as I'm concerned!

Then we finally made it back to The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and I have to say that this is one of the most impressive memorials I have ever seen. It is a huge plot in the middle of the city consisting of 2,711 concrete blocks in rows but that are different heights while the ground is also rolling up and down. (sorry this is hard to explain) The thing I liked about it is that there is no symbolism here. The artist just created this space and I found that it just sort of allowed you to walk through it and think. It didn't tell you what to think, it just gave you the space and opportunity.

At this point we headed to dinner where we sat just across the street from the Deutscher Dom which provided the perfect view. Plus it took our food so long to come that our waiter brought us free ice cream. My kind of appetizer.

Day two started with the Reichstag again where the line was shorter, but still crazy for 9 am. After waiting for over an hour (during which 5 people cut in front of us in line which still amazes me) we made it in the building and through security. Then you go up an elevator and to the huge glass dome with a ramp spiraling up and then back down the inside of the dome. Not only is it free to go in, but they even have this great free audio guide which tells you what you're looking at! Worth the wait.

Then to a late breakfast at Einstein's where I had the greatest cafe au lait ever. This declaration isn't based on the taste, but merely on the fact that it come in two small pitchers, one of the coffee and one of steamed milk, so that you can combine them to the proportions you like. Loved it! Plus the meal was fantastic and I don't think it is only because I was so hungry from waiting in line for so long.

Later we made it to Checkpoint Charlie (disappointment, aside from the guy in the currywurst costume) and to the brand new Topography des Terrors.

Finally we ended up at the Ritz for a well earned afternoon tea. We spent over 3 hours eating and drinking tea in the Ritz and it was wonderful. We even had a fresh batch of scones baked for us right before we had to leave. I am still full.

Berlin was great and while Munich wins for cleanliness and efficiency, I think Berlin is just as livable, if not more so. Definitely lived up to the hype. Nice work Berlin.

I Climbed a Real Mountain!

Today I joined a group of colleagues from the broader Allianz family for a hike up to the top (and I mean the real top for once) of Wendelstein. It was the first and last day of summer today so it was necessary to be outside and the day was beyond enjoyable.

We rode a packed train for an hour to the base of the mountain and started right up. Then we went up and more up and more. I think we walked on ground with less than a 1 degree angle for 1% of the day. I can't remember when that happened, but I'm sure it happened at some point. Otherwise it was like a stair case the whole way up.

The view the entire way was great and the higher up we went the more of the Alps we could see. From the very top (over 1800 meters) we could see Austria and the whole of the Alps on the horizon. The view was as amazing as the weather. Once we finished a late lunch at the restaurant near the summit we headed down, but this time in the gondola. Much faster and less painful. From the bottom it was amazing to see just how high we hiked. Amazing!