Europe – Travels with Billie

Madeira, Portugal

This was my third time in Funchal, on one of the Islands of Madeira. It was a little bittersweet for me, since this was one of the ports my husband and I loved.

I again took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour, and then returned to the city center to go to their wonderful market and have lunch. I love visiting markets around the world. They have such interesting foods and products, and they are a photographers playground.

The one thing I wanted to do was have lunch at the sidewalk restaurant Richard and I visited when we were there. I tramped up and down several streets, realizing that it had been ten years since my last visit and the area had changed a lot. But I found it! I recreated the photo I took back then with my glass of Prosecco, but adding in my travel companion Polly the porcupine. She liked the Prosecco too.

Madeira remains one of my favorite ports.

Vigo, Spain

I’m a bit late in posting, but I was busy helping row across the Atlantic Ocean. Not really, but doesn’t that bring up visions of Vikings heading to the New World?

Anyway, I took a ship tour of Vigo and got to check out the city. It was a nice overview with stops at an old fort and some gardens. We stopped at a 5-star hotel for lunch before returning to the dock, and I got to try some local wine.

What I didn’t realize when I booked the tour was that the Old Town section was just a stroll from the ship. Of course I had to take advantage of that! I learned that their Old Town is quite modern, with lots of shops. As you can see by my photos, my favorite was the bakery! I ended up with the yummiest raspberry tea cake, and I enjoyed every guilty bite.

A Day In Bilbao, Spain

Today was a rather warm port day in Bilbao. I did a Hop On Hop Off bus tour and got off at the Guggenheim Museum. I decided to walk back to the place where the ship shuttle dropped us off. I think that was a mistake-I ended up with sweat in my eyes. I guess I need to remember we’re no longer above the Arctic Circle.

The museum was interesting; there were some installations that gave an idea of how the rest of the world sees us. It’s not flattering.

Polly enjoyed the museum too!

Oxford and the Cotswolds

I took another tour to a place I’ve long wanted to visit: The Cotswolds. This was a smaller tour, limited to 14. If you’re wondering, it was a Rabbies tour and I highly recommend them. Oxford wasn’t my real destination, but I enjoyed it a lot. It happened to be graduation day for some of the colleges (I think there are 39) so the streets were filled with family members with flowers and graduates in their colorful robes. What an exciting day for a young person starting out with an Oxford degree!

Then on to the Cotswolds, which has beautiful countryside. All the houses are made of Cotswold limestone, giving even the new buildings a timeless feel. In Burford I learned that the are two ways to have your scones: Devon, with the clotted cream on the bottom and then the jam, or Cornwall, which is just the opposite. Apparently it’s quite a rivalry. I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to decide which you prefer.

I also learned that even a small quaint village in the English countryside can have a traffic problem. The cars were backed up as far as you could see in both directions.

Stonehenge

I tend to avoid the big tourist destinations (for the most part), but…Stonehenge! I remember reading about it in our National Geographic or some similar publication when I was a child, and I was fascinated. Who built it? Why? What were those people like, and how did they live? Since I had a few days in London I decided I had to see it in person. I took a day tour-crowded bus, lots of tourists-but I’m glad I did. The site is magnificent, and it’s so large it didn’t feel crowded. When you stand on the hill and realize you are in the presence of 4000 years of history, you can’t help but feel awed.

Here I go again…

Getting ready to leave the land of Charlie Russell to head to the land of Shakespeare. This eight week adventure will take me from one end of the globe to the other, ending up in New Zealand before I fly home. Yes, I’m doing it alone. Yes, I’m ok with that.

My First International Trip

It’s never too late to start learning about the world.

International travel came late to me. Sure, I had been to Canada and Mexico, but I hardly considered that “international travel.” After all, I was born only 25 miles from Canada, and we considered them neighbors. Of course, driving to Alaska entailed more miles within Canada than in US territory. And living in San Diego meant Mexico was just a quick jog south. I did have a passport, but only because I needed one to fly into Vancouver to start an Alaska cruise.

That all changed ten years ago when, at the tender age of 65, I embarked on a new career as a seasonal employee in Alaska. Suddenly instead of being surrounded by career-minded professionals, I was working with retirees, college students, and international students. There was also a whole new group to me; I’ll call them The Wanderers. They were a whole cadre of seasonal workers who went from one seasonal job to the next. Alaska in the summer, Florida or ski resorts or Antarctica in the winter. In between, they traveled. Sitting in the EDR (Employee Dining Room), I would hear their stories of Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, Central America-they all had wanderlust. Some were more passionate than others, but they all had a suitcase ready to go.

Halfway though my first season, my friend Diane (a dedicated Wanderer) sat across from me in the EDR one evening and said she found a condo in Switzerland for $300 for the week, and would I like to go? Before I even stopped to consider it, I was in! The rest of the season was spent making plans for the places we wanted to see and how to get around. We would meet at the train station in Geneva; Diane was coming from Paris, and I was coming from the Geneva airport.

Back at home, I packed my bags and made all the arrangements, and finally it was time to go. As my hubby drove me to the airport I got a case of the heebie jeebies. “I’m going to a foreign country alone. I only speak English. I’ve never been to Europe. What if I can’t find Diane? What if I get lost? Yada yada yada.” Dear husband assured me I would do fine, and it would be an adventure to remember.

Arriving in Geneva early in the morning, I went through customs and was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to understand the customs officer. But he spoke English. “Where will you be staying, madame?” I nervously pulled out the hotel confirmation and hesitantly told him I’d be going to the ski resort city of “lay-SIN”. He smiled and shook his head ruefully, and said, “Ah, LAYson” in his wonderful accent that made me wish I had taken French in high school. Stamp! And off to downtown Geneva to explore until time to meet Diane at the train station.

According to my friend Diane, you are never lost if you are with someone. You are just exploring new places.

The train station had a place to store my bag (only one-orders from Diane), and I grabbed my camera to go exploring. I was so enchanted with the city that I didn’t have time to be nervous! Until it got near to the time to meet Diane. What if she missed the train? What if it’s late? What if I can’t find her? But at the appointed time, there she was, there we were, and there we went.

The first revelation to me was that language wasn’t really a problem. Nearly everyone spoke English, which embarrassed me for not being able to speak a word of another language. There were times when it was a challenge. The policeman we asked to tell us where the head of the trail down the mountain to Aigle started. He spoke very little English, but we did get his warning about “No go. Rocks. Very bad.” We went anyway, and I had the bruises afterward to prove it. And the woman selling cheese at a village Christmas market. She called another vendor over to explain that she made the cheese herself from her cows, and provided instructions on how to use it for fondue. And the restaurant we loved (and went back to, because it was wonderful) where our server carried on a fun conversation with us, then went to tend her other customers in German, French, and Italian.

We went to a castle that was a thousand years old, and a town that was about the same age. We wandered through cities where stores like Benetton showed their wares in the windows of buildings that were hundreds of years old. They don’t tear down their old buildings to build malls that will stand empty in 30 years. They just refurbish and repurpose them.

I learned a lot from that trip. First, according to Diane, you are never lost if you are with someone. You are just exploring. Second, people everywhere are kind, interesting, and willing to help if you are polite and treat them well. Oh, and the trains in Switzerland ALWAYS run on time. So don’t be late.

Pompeii and Sorrento

After leaving our Rome hotel we headed back to the airport to meet our transfer bus to the cruise port of Civitaveccia. Even that was a bit of history: the entrance to the port area was designed by Michelangelo! We sailed that afternoon, arriving in Naples the next morning.

We took a tour that brought us to Pompeii, and then to Sorrento. Because we were traveling in the off-season, Pompeii was not at all crowded. It was also cool, and from what I had heard that’s a really good thing!

I’m still trying to wrap my head around walking through streets and buildings that are largely unchanged in 2000 years. We saw the old Roman version of fast food, and even their house for prostitutes (complete with mosaics on the walls showing the services available). For the first time I really understood how civilized the Romans were. This was a city-actually a vacation spot-that had restaurants and theaters and baths and beautiful homes. They had running water and a method for cleaning the streets. Oh, and they had a great view of Mt. Vesuvius.

After leaving Pompeii we went to a local farm, where we watched this lady making mozzarella cheese. She couldn’t speak a word of English, but she had a great sense of humor. We were treated to appetizers of their cheese and fresh tomatoes with olive oil from their farm, along with limoncello. Before this, I thought mozzarella cheese was only good for burying under spaghetti sauce. After having fresh Italian-made mozzarella, I realize I’ve never really had good mozzarella before. The taste and the texture are completely different from the rubbery, tasteless stuff we get in the US.

We left with two bottles of the limoncello made on the farm. Also better that we’ve ever had before.

We finished the day in Sorrento, doing a little shopping and enjoying the beautiful town. We had lunch in a pizza place that has been there for over 100 years. We thought the pizza we had in Rome was great. This was even better!

The Vatican Museum-Incredible

We purchased tickets for the Vatican Museum before we left on vacation. We were fortunate that we could walk to the museum from our hotel, although we were of course on the opposite side of the Vatican from where the entrance was.

On advice from a friend who is a seasoned traveler, we chose to go to the museum on the day the Pope held his usual Wednesday audience. As we walked through St. Peter’s Square, they were putting up the barriers to handle the crowds. After spending six hours in the museum, we saw them taking all the barriers down. Because so many visitors were in the square to see the Pope, the museum was uncrowded and delightful.

This visit was required, since the carrot I dangled to DH to get him to fly across the ocean was that he would be able to see the Sistine Chapel. And what a carrot it turned out to be! Having lived in New York and visited Washington DC many times, I’ve spent a lot of time in museums. This was different. I was awestruck. Not only was the artwork enough to make me go “AWWWW”, but the buildings themselves are art. Every room was more beautiful and opulent than the one previous. The photo here is of the ceiling of only one hallway, and it’s just half the hallway. Every single panel is a work of art, and there are hundreds of them.

We did finally see the Sistine Chapel; it was almost anticlimactic to be after the hours spent being overwhelmed by one amazing piece of artwork after another. I guess I was expecting the room itself to be more ornate, but it turns out that when it’s open to visitors it is completely empty other than a few benches along the walls. it makes sense; thousands of people go through every day, and really, we’re just there to see the frescoes.

We capped this day off with dinner at nearby restaurant I found on TripAdvisor. It was a meal we’ll always remember. For one price (at 90 Euros a bit costly, but not ridiculous) we spent three hours learning what a real Italian meal should be. Starting with a glass of prosecco, we then had wine, antipasto (NINE different dishes), pasta (two dishes), meat course (three different types), fruit course, dessert, and coffee. It was all finished up with the waiter bringing us three bottles and telling us it was Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and lemonade. We tried to plead that we were stuffed, but he told us with a big grin that we couldn’t leave until we tried all three. It turned out to be homemade lemoncello, some sort of sweet liquor, and grappa.

As we walked back to our hotel, we looked up the street and could see the dome of St. Peters shining at the end of the street. The perfect end to our time in Rome, and a memory to bring us back one day.

Transatlantic Cruise (Belatedly)

In December we had the opportunity to take an 18-day cruise that went from Rome to Fort Lauderdale. It was a little crazy: we were in San Antonio to spend the week of Thanksgiving with our son and his family. We got home late one night and left early the next morning for San Diego. The following morning we headed to Rome. When we returned, it was Christmas and we went jet-lagged into the festivities with another son’s family.

The flight to Rome was notable only thanks to the newlyweds sitting behind us on the transatlantic flight. They were alternately loving, loud, obnoxious, drunk, and squabbling. We got no sleep. But neither did they, and they looked somewhat the worse for wear when we arrived in Rome. I can only wonder how long that marriage lasted!

Once we arrived in Rome things took a positive turn. I had arranged for a car service to take us to our hotel, and they were wonderful. RomeCabs is a great company and I highly recommend them. And they cost LESS than a taxi! When we got to our hotel it was around 9 am, and I asked if they would check our bags while we went sightseeing since I knew check-in time was 3 pm. They actually gave us our room early, and did not charge extra. Another big win.

Once we got settled in our room we went off to the Colosseum to do some sightseeing. How do you describe standing in a building that’s 2000 years old? I can’t. You gotta go! Looking out from those walls, I was able to see the Roman forum, and could almost imagine Caesar and the Senators walking along and discussing the state of the Roman Empire.

Highlight of the day? Trying to figure out how to find a cab back to our hotel from the Colosseum. We were finally assisted by a Roman soldier in full regalia, who was talking on his cell phone. Now why didn’t I take a photo of that? Oh, and the other highlight: Pizza!