Marrakesh and Essaouira, Morocco, March 21th-24th 2008

Our trip to Morocco was absolutely amazing. We travelled with 2 other couples, that we really didn’t know all that well, but were anxious to spend time with in Marrakesh. Jeff and Maria Largey work at JP Morgan – Maria and Eric had worked together in NY on occasion. Vic Cossell and Theresa Niu are friends with Maria and Jeff.

Our taxi dropped us right here when we first arrived.

The 6:00 a.m. flight from Luton was just as expected. The weather was rainy and the 3:30 car ride was quite painful, but the Ryan Air flight was on time and got us to Marrakesh in about 3 hours.






View from the roof





We arrived and made our way to our Riad El Ouarda in the center of the Medina (local part of town). The sights on the way to the Riad were incredible. It was really hard to believe that just 3 hours south of London was a 3rd world country – one unlike Eric nor I had ever seen or visited. The dress, the lifestyle, and the means of transport for the locals was eye opening. Most of the women were covered from head to toe. Many showed only their eyes. The surroundings were almost surreal.



View inside the riad from the roof.



Riads are usually large mansions that have been converted into accommodations for tourists. They are extremely authentic and right in the middle of all the local action.

The riad all lit up.

The Riad El Ouarda was beautiful. The décor was minimal but perfect. Brigitte, the French woman who owned it, spent quite a bit of time and money refurbishing the place and making it comfortable and modern. The pictures are pretty accurate and show clearly what it was like. The view from the roof was breathtaking on a clear day: the Atlas Mountains in the distance, the splattering of mosques and the infinite number of satellite dishes on the shabby roofs.



The weather was relatively mild, but not as warm as I expected for Africa. It was about 65 and sunny the days we were there.

Friday we spent most of the day wandering around the souks (markets) and visiting Jemaa al Fna (the big square). The highlights:

Souks


• Driving into town in our taxi from the airport - clearly we were not in Kansas any more. We had no idea where we were. The guidebooks don't bother printing maps because even if you could decipher the occasional Arabic street sign, the streets, which feel more like alleyways, are a labyrinthe maze of cars, mopeds, bikes, people, donkey-drawn carts, and dust. The taxi pulled off to the side of one of these streets, next to a few butchers (open air stalls with skinned animal carcasses hanging from hooks overhead - goat heads on the table, etc.) The engine turned off. I guess we're here. Wow. Luckily our taxi driver knew of our riad so he led us down some narrow alleys, past rows of beggars and street kids, knocked on a nondescript door, and led us into the calm of Riad el Ouarda. Once inside, it was hard to believe the world that existed on the other side of the wall.



Markets off the Jma al Fna


• Meeting some young boys who offered to “escort us” to the big square – There were 3 of them – 1 boy around 12, another about 10 and the 3rd was about 6 or 7. The oldest boy spoke some English and was clearly the “leader” of their little pack. Here was the order to our journey - some smaller stalls, the bank (wink wink), to a restaurant. We were a bit annoyed by having them take us everywhere and then of course wanting money, so we paid the oldest boy and told him to share the equivalent of £8 with his friends. The littlest boy fake cried because Eric hadn’t given him any money and I literally had to pull Eric away and leave the boys to work it out. (Vic would later give this kid about 15 quid, causing him to show up at the doorstep of our riad every morning, afternoon, and night for the rest of the trip.)
 



Water carrier taking a break.

 
• We then went to our first traditional Moroccan meal at Cafe Arabe.
• Eric buying sunglasses that were probably worse for his eyes than if he had no sunglasses at all. Bargaining the man down from 25 dirhams to 10. Apparently the haggling is so fierce that you can talk someone down to about 10% of their original price quoted
• Shopping for a leather overnight bag in the markets
• Seeing the big Kotoubia Minaret (mosque) that overlooked the square
• Talking to "Meedy, The Bald Healer" who tried to get us to stop into his magical healing shop for some natural remedies.
• Having mint tea in the Riad after a long day of shopping




Unwinding on the roof of the riad after a long day of exploring


• Seeing the way locals eat on benches from food stalls in the square

• Meeting Hassan (who would be our tour guide around the city the next day) and who had a nephew in Texas
• Eating at a ridiculously touristy restaurant with candle dancers, a traditional band, lots of couscous and smoke, and a bellydancer.
• The food overall was quite good. A lot of couscous, tagine (which is slow cooked meat in a traditional type of cookware and paired with dates, lemon, olives, almonds, and some type of sauce, and traditional salads – all very sweet.)

Saturday’s highlights included:

• Waking up for the 5am prayer call and chanting. One must hand it to these people for their religious devotion. There aren't many things that get me out of bed at 5am (swimming? Christmas?), but I can confidently say it isn't prayer.
• Hassan picking us up in the morning and taking us first to the Marjorelle Gardens. The gardens were a gift from Yves Saint Laurent to the city. They were smaller than I expected, but were nice to wander through.

• We then traveled to the Menara Gardens. A laser show takes place on certain nights in the spring/summer. The “gardens” is really just a big plot of somewhat dusty land with olive trees. It is a hot spot for locals to picnic and rest under the trees. In the center of the gardens is a big “pond.” You will see in the pictures that the pond is oversized but seems like something you would see at Sea World.
• Riding camels in La Palmaraie. It was a little hoakie, but pretty cool to actually ride a camel around. They were attached in 3s and led by a guide. Vic’s camel was a bit rowdy and famished so she (Ayesha) decided to bite Theresa on the leg.




The Atlas Mountains are barely visible in the distance.


• (Eric's turn to write) Saadian tombs - once we paid our 10 dirhams, we entered the garden and saw a HUGE line that we weren't willing to wait in, so we had a quick look around and then left. Still don't know who was actually buried there.
• We were a little tight on time nearing the end of Hassan's tour, so instead of seeing the Royal Palace, he took us straight to "The Complex." We weren't quite sure what to expect, as Hassan told us that The Complex was just like a small palace. Well, it might have been one day, but now it's a huge indoor warehouse selling every piece of tourist tat you can imagine. Carpets, decorative boxes, gnome outfits (Jeff actually bought one of these), ceramic colorful dishware, etc. Hassan was eager to get us there so he clearly would get a cut of whatever we bought.




Goat heads for dinner in the main market


• Erin and I returned to Jemaa al Fna for a brief visit before dusk to see the snake charmers, food and water vendors, story tellers, and the elusive plier-wielding teeth pullers (though we never spotted one of these). We bought some of the dried fruit and nuts, wondering how long it had been sitting in it's perfect piles, but not really caring because they tasted so good.
• Making our way back through the winding streets of the Medina, it's difficult not to stare into all the random stalls, wondering what each is selling, but trying not to look too interested for fear of being accosted by the vendors. We passed a lot of coiffeurs (barbers), that consisted of a single barber chair and enough room to squeeze barber and customer. I can't imagine who would risk sitting down in one of these. Well, I didn't have to think too hard, because as we passed one stall, something was clearly out of place. 4-5 locals had gathered around to watch one of the tourists sit down for a trim (a fade, actually.) And it wasn't just any tourist,it was Vic. He'd been talking about getting a proper fade since we landed, but I never believed he would do it. Well done Vic!
• We arrived back at the riad just in time to watch the sunset from the roof terrace. It was quite a sight and complimented nicely by a few glasses of Rosé and the peanut butter "power bar" Maria had bought from the nice old man on the street. For the first time in two days, the air was clear enough to allow a fleeting glimpse of the Atlas mountains.
• Listening to the sunset prayer call from the speakers attached to the mosque minaret next door is quite a surreal experience for a bunch of Westerners.
• At about 8:30, we made our way out to Bab Tarzhout square near the riad to catch taxis to dinner at Le Tobsil. If things are hard to find in the Medina, this place would have been impossible without the restaurant-employed guide who waits by the street where the taxis stop. We zig-zagged through some narrow alleyways to arrive a very nice Moroccan restaurant. I think we were not yet sick of the local fare at this point, so more heaping piles of cous cous and a few tagines later, we were all thoroughly stuffed. We talked a big game about heading out for a drink afterward, but with heavy stomachs, we made our way back to the riad in time to crash in our own beds.

Sunday- Happy Easter!!

• Early wake up for another breakfast on the terrace. No crepes this time...bummer.
• 3 hour car ride to Essaouira. Oddly, it was the same driver that picked us up from the airport on Friday. He didn't speak English so we stuck Jeff in the front seat so he could chat in French. Along the way, we stopped at a rug store to use the bathroom and later to take pictures of goats stranded high in the trees along the side of the road. Clearly a goat herder makes more charging tourist for pictures of tree-stranded goats than they do for selling the goats themselves.




Erin swings a souvenir bag in the Fort at Essaouira


• Essaouria was a smaller, beach-front version of Marrakech. The slower pace was a welcome change, and though there weren't a ton of sights to see, I could see why a few people had advised staying here for two nights and Marrakech for one rather than the other way around.

• We found an Italian restaurant for lunch. The pizzas,ravioli, penne, and green salads were a nice change.




Essaouira seen through a port hole in the fort.


• We wandered through more souks, bought a leather bag and some ceramic plates for the cous cous we will never make, and tried to get off the tourist path a little bit. There were so many amazing photo ops of the Moroccan people going through their daily routines, but we were advised that the locals did not really appreciate having their pictures taken...and certainly not for free.

• We returned to the beach-front square where we bought some cookies from a guy on the street. He tried to sell us some "Happy Cookies...you know LA LA LA, HA HA HA" which sounded pretty appetizing to me. But when he asked if we wanted strong or medium, Erin realized that these delicacies were made with more than just flour,butter, and sugar.
• We had some gelati, and got back in the van for our trip back. Nice naps.
• Went to dinner at Bo Zin, a newer restaurant on the outside of town. It still seemed to cater to Europeans, but possibly those who lived in Marrakech rather than just those of us visiting for the weekend. I had camel tagine to get revenge at Ayesha for trying to eat Theresa on Saturday.

• Again, our plans for a late night out proved futile, and after a brief dance session around bonfire in the the vacant back garden area of the restaurant, we headed home.

On Monday morning, we had one last breakfast on the roof again. Like Sunday, there were no crepes served, but Brigitte packed some for us for our short taxi journey to the airport. A great finish to an amazing weekend.



 

For a look at the pictures from our journey, take a look at the link below. They are a good supplement to the highlights above. I have included our pictures as well as those from our traveling buddies for a good all around look at our trip.

Our pics

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.8uez3ajj&x=0&y=-txpw78&localeid=en_US

Theresa & Vic's pics

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.9fxnm4rz&x=0&y=-owjna4&localeid=en_US
Jeff & Maria's pics

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=mf0winp.4mt50tth&x=0&y=y8bjpu&localeid=en_US



South Beach, Florida, USA March 14th-17th 2008

I absolutely love my friends and would pretty much do anything for them, including fly from London for the weekend to one of their bachelorette parties. Back in December, I met up with Carl for breakfast when our trips to Naples overlapped. It was then and there that I decided I missed my friends so much that I was going to do anything I could to get to South Beach for Lesley’s bachelorette party in March.

Well, I set out on Friday morning, almost missed my flight out of Heathrow due to all sorts of mishaps (late trains, unhelpful airport personnel and the lack of a first class ticket). I got to the airport and checked in 59 minutes before my flight. The check-in kiosk tells me that I am too late and the flight is now closed. Panic immediately sets in. Looking pained, I seek help and am sent to stand in another line at the ticket counter area behind 5 other customers. Again, the look of pain worsens and a nice lady asks me if she can help. Almost in tears, I am sent to an empty counter and a nice man checks me in, hands me a boarding card, and directs me to security. Things were looking up.

It is 8:30 in the morning and the airport is packed. The security line is dreadfully long. But alas, there is a short line for those inept passengers who can’t seem to get to the airport in ample time (me). This line is much shorter and is only reserved for passengers whose flights are before 9:30 – mine is at 9:20. They actually were encouraging lateness! (Loved it!). I get through security in about 20 minutes, have to bypass all of the tempting duty free goods and walk right onto the plane. We took off an hour late so my thoughts jump to 9 hours from now when I have to make a very tight connection in Chicago. Panic again sets in, and I spend the next 9 hours looking at the flight journey and watching the “estimated time of arrival” go from 25 minutes late to almost an hour.

We land in Chicago at 2:55. My next flight was at 3:30. Before landing, I was able to find out my connecting gate and map out a plan for getting from Terminal M to Terminal K (oddly enough, they are right next to each other but are connected by a tram). The announcement was made that those without connections kindly stay seated so that those with connections can maintain some semblance of hope that they will make them. Fasten seat belt sign off, EVERYONE gets up. I am stuck behind two old people who seem to have all day. I run off the plane, get through customs, the tram arrives as I get there, and I make my flight by exactly 5 minutes. Everything went just right, and I was able to relax for the next 2.5 hours.

I arrive in Miami and surprise the girls in the bar. Carl was the only one who knew I was coming. Lesley cried, Brooke looked stunned, and Meggie was smiling. Those were the faces I initially remember. Then of course Carl looked over and gave me a nod (like, "nice work girl – we kept our secret and got the reaction we had hoped"). The look on their faces, and the feeling I had was absolutely priceless.

The rest of the weekend is kind of a blur. We stayed at the Catalina Hotel right on Collins Avenue. The hotel was modern and a bit shabby but did the job. We had a nice dinner Friday night and then went to the Delano for some drinks. I actually stayed up until 5:30 London time which I was pretty impressed with.

Saturday we lounged on the beach, had a nice lingerie shower for Lesley, got some free alcohol and headed up to our room for some entertainment. Besides looking like the average Joe from the Midwest, he had Patrick Swayze dirty dancing hair and a terrible tick that caused him to yelp and clap every 55 seconds. It was hysterical, but also extremely irritating. Once that ended, we freshened and headed out to Mansion for the evening. Another late and fun night.

Sunday we had brunch then Brooke, Carl and I hung out at the Catalina pool after everyone else had gone. It was nice to catch up and just chat for a few hours before heading back to the airport for my redeye. The flight was pretty uneventful, although I did meet a potential friend. She was from New Zealand and had recently gotten engaged in the BVI – Anagada to be exact - Brooke, that’s for you :). Monday morning I arrived at Heathrow, hurried home, showered and headed into work. It made for a really long week, but the long journey and lack of sleep was all worth it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Can’t wait for the wedding in 25 days!

Dublin, Ireland March 8th-9th 2008

Apologies for taking so long to post a little something about Dublin. Been a bit distracted with work lately. It's unfortunate that work gets in the way of my personal life sometimes :)

Eric had a work trip scheduled for the 7th and 8th of March in Dublin. He had some meetings with local clients and then was "forced" (tough life) to take clients to one of the biggest 6 nation rugby matches - Ireland vs. Wales on Saturday the 8th. Knowing that he would be set up in a nice hotel and his meals would be paid for, I decided to tag along for the weekend.

I arrived in Dublin on Saturday morning and got really lost trying to be thrifty and walk from the train station to the hotel. Big mistake. It took me 45 minutes to get to the hotel which was approximately 1 mile away. I am really quite bad at directions. I spent the day wandering around Grafton Street and O’Connell Street shopping (for myself and for Lesley’s bachelorette party.) It was nice to finally save a little money by purchasing in Euros as opposed to Pounds. In fact, I really took advantage of it. I was quite exhausted after 3 hours of shopping so I went back to the Westin where we were staying, took a shower and decided to curl up in their comfy robes and just lounge on the “heavenly bed” for the next 3 hours! Eric and I ventured out to dinner later on that night and had a really hard time finding a place that wasn’t booked due to the rugby match.

Dinner was at a place called Bleu and still not sure what type of cuisine it was. It seemed to be a mix, but good none the less. We were pretty tired and ended up just going back to the hotel for the night

Sunday was almost a repeat of Saturday. We spent most of the day just wandering around the shops. We decided to stop again at Trinity College because it was directly across the street from our hotel. Eric also had an interest in seeing the Book of Kells but it was still 9 Euros, and if you know Eric, you know he was never going to pay that kind of money to look at a book.
In the early evening we visited the Temple Bar area because we hadn’t properly looked around the on our first visit with my family last summer. And, a lovely looking restaurant caught our eye so we went in. It was absolutely terrible. The food was overpriced and just not good. It was called Bruno’s. If you ever are in the area, don’t go there.

We tried to get on an earlier flight back to London due to the impending monsoon, but no such luck. However, our flight was on time and we arrived back home around 10:30 that night.

Paris, France February 23rd-24th 2008

I am sure some will be aghast when I say that my opinion of Paris hadn't been that of "the best city in the world" during our first trip there about 6 years ago. The trip overall (to Paris and Italy) was amazing, but the weather in Paris was quite rainy and the attitude of the people left something to be desired. But, in all fairness, if I went on vacation anywhere and the weather was bad, I would probably have the same opinion.

However…all of that changed last weekend when we made the 2.5 hour trip on the EuroStar down to Paris to revisit the best hot chocolate place in the world from the 2002 visit and determined to change my opinion of “The city of light.”

We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and walked from the train station through a shady area of town that reminded us of Canal Street in NY city. It was full of chintzy clothes and shoe shops that smelled of cooking rice. We wandered for a few hours through the side streets getting lost and making our way down to the Paris city center. Our goal was to find food about mid-way through and we ended up in a little place on the St. Martin Canal where we got a croissant, a half of a baguette, jelly and butter and a cappuccino. We had stopped at another café down the street (Café Prune), but it seemed they didn’t have cappuccino – only espresso of which Eric had 2.

We continued into town taking the back streets and made our way to the Cimetière du Père Lachaise and spent a good hour looking at all of the amazing monuments and headstones. Some very famous names are buried there: Oscar Wilde, Chopin and Jim Morrison (just to name a few).

Hotel room picnic

Made our way to the hotel Abbatial Saint-Germain in the Latin Quarter, seeing Notre Dame, the tip of the Louvre triangle, and Les Halles along the way. We were hungry again so we went to the grocery across the street and got some soft cheese, a baguette, and some salami to have for lunch. Our hotel was sufficient. It was clean and seemed relatively authentic. We ate our ‘free grocery’ lunch in the hotel, and then headed out again.

We were determined to find this café that served the best hot chocolate EVER 6 years prior. We think we found the street, Eric secretly had looked at the background of the picture that was taken of me with the hot chocolate back in ’02. The fish place from the picture was still there but the place next store isn’t and the café is sadly, a sushi joint. I am still convinced that it was actually a different café that sat on a square with some governmental building surrounding it. All weekend, I had my eye out for such a place. (Came home unsuccessful though.)

We travelled to the the fountain that sits at the bottom of the Champs Elysee and then were tempted by the sights of the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling at night. The vision was breathtaking so we decided to walk towards it. Well, little did we know that it was actually about a 5 mile walk (ok, not really but it certainly looked closer than it was!) We admired the tower, Eric peed in a bush, and then we headed to dinner. A lovely family run Parisian restaurant called Chez Lena et Memile. The staple of many of the appetizers and main courses was courgette. Weren’t sure what that was so good thing Rick Steves Quick Conversation Guide was nearby. Turns out, it is zucchini. The food was wonderful and definitely a place that we would recommend to anyone wanting an affordable, authentic meal.

Saturday Highlights:

• Discovery of Rue de Mouffetard = Heaven
  Street Market with Bakeries, Chocolate shops, wine shops and fromageries. It really doesn’t get much better than that



At the bottom of Rue de Mouffetard

• Breakfast/Lunch of cheese (that tasted like pickles) and a baguette on the sidewalk of Rue de Mouffetard. Fantastic people watching.
• Enjoying the lovely spring weather in the Jardin des Plantes and the Managerie and even better, the Jardin du Luxembourg. There were so many people outside reading, sunbathing, and enjoying the unusually warm February weather. I truly see why so many people rave about “Paris in the springtime!”
• Found our hotel on Rue de Turbigo from our visit back in 2002 –ahh, fond memories at Hotel Bellevue.
• Ate an amazing goat cheese and spinach tart near the Opera House



No crowds in February

• Had fabulous wine and a sub-standard hot chocolate at a great café where we did some more people-watching and lamented the fact that the weekend was coming to an end
  Were our usually thrifty selves and got about 3 bottles of wine, cheese and more bread for our dinner on the 8:43 Eurostar train back to St. Pancras.

Next visit to do list:

Rent bikes (with horn and basket included) and take to the streets

Walk (and potentially shop) on the Champs Elysee

Be able to speak French fluently (me not Eric)

Find the illusive hot chocolate place

To view the pictures from our trip go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.8l8m16zr&x=0&y=qp8ili

Rome, Italy January 25th-27th 2008

Chuck and Bonnie came to visit us in London for 11 days in January. They knew we were going to take a weekend trip somewhere in Europe for the second weekend they were here, but we surprised them with the location. So early on Friday morning, we drove to Stansted Airport, about an hour by car from our flat, and flew on Ryanair to...wait for it....Rome!!! SURPRISE!!

Bonnie is an outstanding diary-keeper and sent us about 15 pages-worth of memories. For you, dear reader, the pictures will have to do.

Ciao.

Link to pictures --> http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.bh48jc2f&x=0&y=-uf7n8l&localeid=en_US

This entry offers a special treat for you, reader.  For the first and only time at Wilsons Wander, you will have the pleasure of reading the words of a guest writer!   The following text was copied from (a copy of) Bonnie Abbey’s journal entry from Rome.  It is highly likely that any spelling or grammar mistakes are the fault of the transcriber.

Friday

I didn’t sleep well in anticipation of our trip, I think.  The car was prompt and we were at the airport by 7:10 for our 8:40 flight to …ROME!  Chuck and I had guessed correctly and yesterday had emailed Paulette asking her restaurant recommendations.  We were surprised but excited to finally find out our destination.  We checked in and headed for the gate.

At the fate I had a problem with my contact solution because the container was too big.  We were not checking luggage so we had only a carry on bag – it was the first time I’ve ever used the quart-sized bag of 3oz or less of liquid.  My contact cleaner was 4oz and they would not allow it.  So the official suggested I run to Boots, a drugstore, to buy an acceptable sized bottle and poured in my Renu solution.

We boarded RyanAir and headed to Rome.  Our plane flew over the Apls, a beautiful sight and landed on time.  Rome is 1 hr ahead in time zones.

The Abbeys in front of our hotel. Erin highlights the signage.

Eric negotiated with a taxi driver and we headed to our hotel.  The weather was sunny and mid-50s.  After checking in we dropped our off stuff and began walking around.  Our hotel is near all of the antiquities so everything is an easy walk.  We stopped for a coffee and sandwich, then walked toward the Coliseum. 

We stopped at a church which we toured.  It was gorgeous – beautiful sculptures and carvings.  We kind of got an overview of what we want to see tomorrow.

In one of the piazzas we stopped for a glass of wine.  Our dinner reservations at Nino’s was at 8:00.  Our hotel clerk made the reservation for us at one of the restaurants Paulette had recommended.  Eric was a great tour guide really giving us an overview of everything. 

Wishing at Trevi

After visiting the Fountain of Trevi, making our wishes by throwing coins, and seeing the Pantheon we headed to Nino’s.  This restaurant was a bit formal for us but we stayed.  It was a white table-cloth place.  We ordered a bottle of red wine, had black olives as an appetizer and bread was great, especially with olive oil we ordered separately.  Chuck had spaghetti Bolognese; Erin had chicken with spinach and mozzarella; Eric had cannelloni; and I had tortellini with cream. 

After dinner, we decided dessert would be at the “book” recommended best gelateria in the world.  We found it; Erin and Eric partook of the gelato, but Chuck and I had to walk off dinner all the way back to the hotel.

Such good sports

Erin took our picture in bed; our “sofa-bed” is actually a trundle of sorts. We’re so tired it doesn’t matter!

Saturday

We awoke at about 7:30 to a lot of noise outside the hotel. It seems, being at the back, we are where garbage is collected. Also there is construction going on and they, too, work on Saturdays.  Finally, we gave up and 9:00.  Breakfast was included in our room rate, so we decided to check it out about 9:45.  They had cereal, toast, yogurt, sweets, and juices.  Erin didn’t come down because she had a headache.  Chuck and I had juice and toast.

Eric had figured out how to take the subway, the Metro, which crisscrosses Rome, so we tool it to the stop for the Vatican Museum.  It was sunny and warn in the upper 50s.  At the stop we followed the signs to the Museum.  For a 13 euro charge we entered the Vatican Museum.  There were several galleries including the Sistine Chapel.  We really enjoyed the Egyptian exhibits and all of the sculptures.   Eric rented an audio phone and “read” us the facts on all of the exhibits. 

After the Sistine Chapel, which was phenomenal, we walked over to a restaurant where we had a pizza lunch.  To “save money” we ordered tap water, but when it was delivered it had lots of “floaties,” so we ended up ordering bottled “still” water.  The pizzas were excellent; the bruschetta only so-so. 

St. Peter's

We headed to St. Peter’s Square and the Basilica after lunch.  The Basilica of St. Peter’s was just unbelievable!  We thoroughly explored it.  After we took a lot of photos and were on our way out,  we regrouped to decide where to go next. We decided we wanted to see the Pantheon so we began walking. 

Drinks in Piazza Navarro

We took a few photos along the way, saw the Trevi Fountain during the day, and ended up at the Pantheon.  The Pantheon was having Mass, so we couldn’t go in.  We decided to find a piazza where we could have wine and then go back to the Pantheon after the Mass.  In the Piazza Navarro we found a restaurant and met Fabrizio who had lived in the States but came back to where he was born – here.  We had a bottle of Chianti and watched some performers in the piazza. 

Pantheon

After our wine we headed back to the Pantheon and explored the inside.  When we had seen enough,  we started looking for a place to have dinner.  Erin had her heart set on pesto, so we looked at a lot of menus, not finding it.  We wanted a small café, so we were exploring a lot of back alleys. Finally, a man was drumming up business for Life, a modern-looking restaurant in an alleyway.  We didn’t see pesto on the list, but he said he would check with the chef.   We decided to stay; Erin had pesto and we had a great meal.  We had fun with our waiter, too.  He screwed up with the wine choice, but we ended up getting a second bottle anyway, so it worked out.

After diner, we took a leisurely walk back to our hotel, walking off the wine and the food.  Chuck tried a ham and cheese calzone which was authentic; I had a spaghetti alla carbonara, again and Eric had a spinach and spaghetti dish. We all had a taste of tiramisu for dessert, and we had a complimentary lemoni shot at the end the meal.  What fun.

Bedtime….

Sunday

 When we had gotten back to our room,  the service had remade our bed as a double, not a trundle and single.  We seemed to sleep a lot better and because we did, we got a little later start than we’d planned.

I forgot to mention earlier that I had brought the English curling iron, but the plugs are different here so I couldn’t use it.  It never occurred to me to ask at the hotel desk for a converter, so I just didn’t use it.  Oh well. 

Another thing I forgot to mention was that outside one of the antiquities we were visiting Eric had already read us the blurb about it and he had gone off looking at something, when I asked Erin about something Eric had read.  Erin said, “you’re asking the wrong person…if you want to know the latest on Paris Hilton, I’m the one to ask.”

So today, we packed up, checked out, and left our bags at the hotel until we cam back to go to the airport. It was colder today, low 50’s, but still sunny – what a perfect weekend!

The Forum

We walked about 15 minutes to the Roman Forum and Il Paletine.  Experiencing the ruins was just incredible!  So much has been excavated that it is just amazing that modern Rome is all around it.  The Coliseum is right next to the Forum, the site of a bustling marketplace and political buildings, 3000 years ago. It was hard to imagine how all of this could still be standing.  Why was it preserved and built over?  Chuck said the way we are not “savers,” there would be no remains if it were up to us. But fortunately, there are those who save the past for the future – and we are grateful! We explored the ruins for nearly two hours and walked all around the outside too. 

We walked over to a large expansive grassy area that Eric identified for us as the Circus Maximus, created by Julius Caesar.  Caesar held chariot races here in a stadium that could hold 300,000 fans.  A small section of seating area has been somewhat excavated.  Now it is an area where people walk dogs, jog, or ride down the steep grassy sides.

One “fun” fact I’ve forgotten to mention is the type of items for sale around the tourist attractions.  By every one there were men selling tripods, yes, tripods of every size.  We’d never seen this before.  Of course there were the typical souvenirs, but also belts, scarves, purses, and a lot of books.  There were souvenir shops everywhere and the farther from the attraction, the cheaper things were there.

We wanted to have lunch before heading to the Ciampino airport, so we found a café down an alleyway.  We had a couple pizzas and were on our way.  Before reaching our hotel we stopped for a last gelato.  Mmm, good.

At the hotel Eric asked the clerk to call a taxi for us and on appeared immediately.  He negotiated the flat fare.  This cab driver was a maniac compared to the one we had arriving.  We got the airport in about 20 minutes. We then had about a two hour wait.

Checking in went smoothly – no shoe check – but we departed about 10 minutes late.  It’s funny – RyanAir’s slogan is “The On Time Airline” and both flights were late taking off.  The airline personnel were nice, but seemed inefficient at times.  Because the crew tries to “sell” stuff on these flights (food, drinks, lottery tickets, bus passes, duty free items) we remembered to water and snacks.

The flight was great.  The driver who had picked us up on Friday morning (we named him “Lester”) was coming back to Stansted Airport to bring us back to their apartment.  Unlike the cab driver in Rome, Lester (who also smelled bad and looked like he hadn’t had a hair wash in weeks) took forever getting us back to the apartment.  It took over and hour, and the guy never stopped talking!  Eric was the one stuck in the front seat with him both trips – he’s a saint!

When we finally got back, Eric headed to the grocery store.  He and Erin threw together a dinner of some Indian favorites, breaded prawns and leftover Indian appetizers, a salad, and cheese/crackers.  We planned our departure for the next day, packed as much as we could and said goodbye.  We planned to leave at 5:45 AM so we told Erin and Eric they didn’t/shouldn’t need to get up.

Bath, UK January 12th 2008

Our first intra-country trip!! We traveled by train to Bath, UK with our friends Jason Straker and Jimmy Slocum. Bath, about 90 minutes west of London, was one of the first Roman settlements on the island about two thousand years ago. They chose it for the natural hot springs that shot out of the ground. England is cold enough without proper shelter, gas furnaces, and Gortex, so I can understand the Roman rationale. It was just a day trip, but we had enough time to see the ancient bath complex, sample some Cornish pasties (pronounced pass-tees), and visit 3 local pubs and a nightclub. We were by far the eldest at the latter, so we didn't stay long.

Touring the baths complex

At Royal Crescent

Dirty bath water

We look like this 80% of the time we're with Jason and Jimmy.

Raining...shocker.

Enjoy the photos.


http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.21zsrpcn&x=0&y=-nsqyqz&localeid=en_US

Munich & Nurnberg, Germany December 14-16, 2007

Synopsis: We went to experience the famous Christmas markets (Kris Kindle Markt) and to return to the place where Rob and Jean lived while completing a tour in the US Army (Rob, not Jean) in the early 1970's. The markets were crazy, crowded, and cold, but it was hard not to feel the Christmas spirit while drinking mulled wine eating copious amounts of sausage (Eric, not Erin).

Again, the journal entry for this trip is in Erin's book.

Pics of the trip--http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.cgj781lj&x=0&y=4v87cu&localeid=en_US>

The following entry was copied from Erin's hand-written journal.

We arrived Friday into Munich. We took the Bahnhof to Hauptbahnhof station (approx 30 minutes) and found our hotel – Tryp.  Smoking indoors is still legal so it is a bit unbearable in the lobby of the hotel.  We drop our things in the room and head out to find the Marienplatz to see the Chirstkindl Market.  The stalls at the Christmas market consisted of ornaments, lebkuchen (a version of gingerbread), gluhwein (mulled wine), wooden crafts, sugared nuts, chocolate covered fruit and nuts, and a whole lot of brats & brezn (pretzels).  We ate a ridiculous amount of pork.  The ___ (orbrot) was the best part!  The weather was bitter cold, but that didn’t stop us from being outside all day.  We went to a traditional restaurant, Ratskeller (“City Hall”) under the giant Glockenspiel (cuckoo clock) for dinner.  We both had sausage, some form of potatoes, and potato pancakes to start. 

Everything seems to close relatively early in Munich.  But on our way back to the hotel we happened upon a skating rink where quite a few children (and a few adults) were enjoying the small outdoor rink.

Saturday

This morning we tried to work out in the hotel, but it was really janky so we did a makeshift workout in the room then headed out.  We arrived at the train station but found the tickets to be really expensive so…we decided to rent a car and drive to Nuremburg.  Eric’s parents lived in Nuremburg for a few years and recommended that we go since we were so close and because its Christmas market is so famous.  The drive was relatively uneventful, but Eric was really excited to go 160mph in the Fiat on the autobahn.  That might have been the highlight.  The trip took approximately 1 ½ hours – not too bad.

One of many Lebkuchen stalls at the Christmas Market

View of Nuremburg from the Castle

We found our way to the Christmas Market, but we were freezing and needed something indoors so we continue on to the castle at one end of the city.  It provided some great views of the city and pitched roof houses.  Germany looks old (as you might imagine.) 

***I, Eric, copied the Belgium and Germany trip notes out of Erin’s written journal (it’s now 2011 – over three years later) and her Nuremburg entry mysteriously cuts off mid-page!  I’m afraid my memory only contains the summary points by now, so the details will be missing from here out. 

We spent a lot of time looking at the Christkindlmarkt.  The offerings were pretty similar to what we saw in Munich and the place was absolutely packed with people.  We bought ourselves the painted-Santa-Clause-with-candle-hole which we’ve used every year since.  I can’t remember what we did for dinner, but there’s a good chance it involved pork.  Later that night we drove back to Munich.  We were ready to go out for dessert, but again the city was pretty quite except for a few clubs so we found a coffee house (it might have even been a Starbucks!) and shared a piece of cake.

1972 Olympics Pool Venue

Eglischer Garden

On Sunday, we took the U-bahn out to the grounds of the 1972 Summer Olympics.  Many of the venues were still standing, include the pool where Mark Spitz earned seven gold medals.  The grounds were really nice, a great spot to visit in the summer, but we were freezing so we went back into Central Munich.  We strolled through Englischer garden, watched the surfers in wet-suits surfing the endless wave in the canal, had one last frankfurter, and made our way back to the airport.  Oh yeah, there was yet another Christmas market at the airport so we had time for one last gluhwein before hopping on our flight back to London.