Jan 1, 2017, we arrived in Madrid. We were both tired as the cough has gotten me, too. We decided naps were in order after we checked in to Hotel Europa, Madrid. George slept for three hours and then got up and went to bed for the night. We had breakfast in a very chilly restaurant the next morning but the coffee was good. We rested and then went to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. It is free on Mondays starting at noon. This is a gift from Master Card and there was a huge line to get in but it moved quickly. We got audio guides and my plan of action was to just look at the paintings that were on the guide. It took me an hour and a half to get through one floor and then we had coffee and spent an equal amount of time. What a great museum. On the way home, we stopped for some picnic food and noted many lottery sellers in the square. Madrid is dressed for the season. There is a huge Christmas shaped tree with lights in our square,
Had a lazy morning, and tapas for lunch--lots of interesting flavours together. There is a department store called El Corte Ingles that has everything you can imagine including a gourmet restaurant/grocery at the top and a more ordinary grocery at the bottom. Then we strolled along to the Palace. There are so many people out and about. The fountains are fountaining. Our square was humming including many large cartoon characters and a giant Peppa Pig. George took a photo so we could send it to Brienne who loves Peppa and her friends. We bought four tickets to the football game on Saturday--the seller told us that Ronaldo will play. I am so excited. Spent a couple of hours in the Museo del Prado which has some huge paintings. I can only imagine painting on a canvas that huge. The museum is free every evening from 6 to 8 and again there was a huge line up. I wonder how many are tourists and how many are locals. Seems like we seldom hear English being spoken on the street--people speak Spanish very quickly. Whew. We had a lovely stroll home--the streets are full of families and a comfortable feeling. We had our dinner of take away Big Macs--our children would turn up their noses at us. I consider the big M to be global!
Lazy mornings seem to to be order of each day. I am feeling well again but George is still coughing. Being sick is a drag but being sick on holiday is a bigger drag. We have both taking antibiotics. We walked to yet another Art museum today, Reina Sofia which has many Dali and Picasso paintings. I just can't see anything in their paintings. One called "Guernica" which covers most of a wall is billed as "the most famous painting in the world and is a symbol of a world's outrage at the horrors of war." It mostly just looks scary to me. I must ask Grant what he thinks as he tends to understand abstract/modern art. Anyway it was a pleasant visit--we had a nice lunch and on the way home, we bought a "Roscon de reyes" which is a king's cake eaten to celebrate Epiphany-more about that later.
Dah Dah: Sheryl and Neil arrived Thursday morning and were raring to go. What joy to see them! We ate the King cake which is sweet dough shaped in a circle and baked inside there is a porcelain king and a bean. The one who finds the bean, who was Neil, buys the next cake and the one who finds the king has good luck, who was George. We enjoyed it with Christmas oranges. It was great to catch up. Then we strolled around the squares, had coffee and chuerros (finger like doughnuts), and more coffee and hot chocolate which is like a thin pudding--very chocolatey and yummy. Then it was time for a break back at our hotel.
We lined up with everyone else to see the Three King's Parade which was spectacular. The floats were amazing--one was an acrobat on a swing hoop held up by balloons and held down by ropes which were held by men walking beside her. She was wonderful--it took about 45 minutes to see the whole parade. Another fav, was a robot who was 40 feet tall who was suspended from a tractor crane and puppeteers moved her feet. Her eyes moved and eyelashes opened and closed and she spoke in Spanish. At the end came three floats each with one of the kings with two helpers on it. Everyone cheered with delight. There were many families and also many with stepladders. A Brienne note: Peppa Pig was on a float as part of the parade. A couple nearby from Columbia said they knew Peppa too. I think she must be all over the world.
So we were ready for food. It was a joy to wander as the decorations are so amazing. We had tapas and beer and wine to salute the day. Then home to eat chocolate and drink a bit more wine while watching a "football" game on TV. A totally wonderful day.
Next day was a relaxing one for us. We strolled and had coffee a couple times while Sheryl and Neil went to the Prado which they enjoyed very much. Sheryl is using her high school Spanish a bit. We met up and went to a market that has tapas as the focus. We feasted on many delightful morsels--including one made with buffalo mozzarella cheese which is whipped and lovely to eat. They actually milk buffalo not to be confused with bison. Madrid is a lovely city with interesting squares and things to see at every turn.
We stopped at a few more places for coffee and more tapas and of course, beer and vermouth. Well, Sheryl and Neil tried the vermouth as it is popular here. We also had lovely ice cream desert before going home to bed.
Now to write about our tickets to see Ronaldo play soccer. We had considered checking to see if Real Madrid was playing while we were in Madrid and Neil is a keen fan. Lo and behold there was a game on Saturday, January 7 so Sheryl and Neil said they would order tickets on line. This was an issue as the site crashed. So we said we would check into getting some. We talked to the front desk guys and George found their website. Then we noticed that there was a Real Madrid shop across from our hotel. We asked there and were directed to a ticket seller a block over. The fellow had a hole-in-the-wall kiosk and said he had 4 in an upper level. He closed at 13h30 and reopened at 16h30 so we confirmed with S & N and went back in the afternoon. We were a tad nervous as the tickets didn't actually have a date on them but did have that Real Madrid would play Granada. Anyway, on Saturday, we took an underground train to the Stadium and found that the tickets were good and we had great seats. The game was exciting but one-sided. RM won 5 to 0. It is hard to explain the excitement of actually being at a game. We had become interested in soccer during the Euro Cup last year in Portugal. I got a lovely scarf with Real Madrid on it. We came back down town for a tapas crawl which was delicious. To prepare the bill, they count how many toothpicks you have. What an excellent day with an excellent couple.
Now we must pack and move on to Portugal. At the Madrid airport, I was wearing my RM scarf and after checking us in, the fellow pointed at me and shook is finger. I was taken aback and wondered what was happening. He laughed and said wrong team. I guess he isn't a Real Madrid fan. We flew to Lisboa and then to Faro where we met Karen and Flora. Sheryl and Neil will have another day in Madrid and leave in the evening for South Africa. We will see them in a couple of weeks.
Yay, Portugal and Jardim do Vau. We stayed here last year so it felt comfortable immediately. The first night we had omelets at the resort restaurant. Yum. The morning brought sunshine and a trip to the Continente which is the nearest grocery store. They have a shuttle here so that was great. And then to the beach--blue sky and sunshine and sunscreen. What a joy to be here. We four, got together for King Cake which we found on sale and had port and a lively discussion. There was no prize in the cake so what's up with that! A perfect first day.
Lazy and relaxation were the order of the next day. We sat by the beach, had coffee, walked on the beach, read our books and waded in the water. I prepared dinner for all of us. It was lovely if I do say myself and Karen and Flora brought salad and dessert. We chatted with Cathy and Marten on ft.
Went to Portimao for the morning--some lovely sculptures by the water, saw storks in their nests and of course, had coffee and sweetnesses. Sort of an unpleasant aroma there. We were back in time for a walk on our beach. Had ft session with Sheryl--planning for SA trip. Walked to.Praia da Rocha in the morning and spent a lovely day reading and having coffee. The beach was lovely. Found a restaurant that we remembered from last year. Went back on Friday for dinner--enjoyed sea food kebabs. Walked home quickly as the temperature had dropped and it was chilly. George spent the morning booking our SA trip while I tended to the laundry. The laundry person will wash, dry and fold the laundry so I didn't have much to do. Finished a Louise Penny book that I hadn't read before. There is a library here where people leave books for others. Karen and Flora went off walking on the beach.
Saturday our last full day here, we had an easy morning, then walked to Alvor along the cliffs until the way was blocked. It took us about 2 hours as we stopped to admire the views along the way and it was a windy road. Had lunch and then headed for home. We took a cab and the ride was about 10 minutes. Packed up our stuff--The Yellow Fish shuttle will take us to Albufeira tomorrow.
We have 8 days at Praia do Oura. Getting settled was a bit of a challenge. I think the front desk guy got his kicks out of making us wait. Anyway by 17h00, we were in our apartments and ready for a relaxing evening. This is Wednesday, we spent lots of time walking on the beach, on the Strip, having coffee and lovely pastries, reading and enjoying the view of the ocean. Tuesday, was Market Day here so we walked there. Karen and Flora were not keen about markets but I had a list and George and I found nearly everything on it, including a red sweater for Brienne. I would look at stuff and try to decide if we should look longer and George's job was to say "buy it" so we did well. I also bought another purse that my eyepad mini will fit into perfectly. We had a delicious dinner at Edourdo's and lots of laughs. K and F. went to Sevillha, Spain for Wednesday and we walked to the Old Town to poke around and have coffee. Our day had a late start as we waited to FT with Claire and Brienne. Our times are 5 hours different. Today was like yesterday, except I managed to paint for a couple of hours. Yay.
Today there were many women's marches all over the world. I listened to Gloria Steinem and was overwhelmed with her message. Women are power. It took 1000 more buses to bring the marchers to Washington than were necessary for yesterday. Message from Berlin "......walls don't work..". Doctors quote re: the personality of the current president and how unsuitable he is to hold this office. "A Fox for every chicken coop in Washington". I feel concerned and fear for the world.
Had a lovely walk to the Old Town--beautiful day. Had coffee a couple of times and enjoyed the amazing views. Time is flying as usual. Today, Sunday, we attended the Sausage Festival which was interesting but I would have been happy to go home sooner. We had a sausage sandwich and a kind of beaver tail which was flat and topped with sugar, missed the chocolate cake. I forgot my travel rule which is when you find it buy it as you might not find it again.
We are packing and will fly from Faro to Lisboa and then to Munich for the night and then on to Jo'burg--arriving on Wednesday morning. Karen and Flora are heading for London and home.
Next installment from Pretoria.
Sunday, 22 January 2017
Monday, 2 January 2017
November 30, 2014, Meanderthals continue and onward to our Christmas Trip - December15,2017
Today is November 30, 2016, two years ago today, we left our bed in our apartment and set out to see more of the world and spend time with our kids. Since then, we have slept in 89 beds, visited 44 places, visited with family and friends--on two occasions we had our kids and their mates together: one being the arrival of Brienne and the other the memorial service for Gladie. And the adventures continue.
Taking care of Brienne and going to the beach are full time activities for us. She arrives ready to play and to see what is happening. We gave her three potato people who she loves to move around and play with--what a joy. She calls the pirate-Grandad tatoe. George has planned a wonderful Christmas trip for us and I packed up my painting today. He has discovered many videos of the places we will go so we have been viewing them. It is going to be fun. Chatted with Grant and Sheryl this weekend--I do love ft. On Sunday, one of Claire's friends and his son came to visit. B. just loved having a five year old to play with. She copied his every move and word. Lovely evening.
We had a very busy week of caring for Brienne as this is the last week of the current term of Claire's studies. Noah's Mom and sister arrived and we had a lovely dinner together. Thursday. 16-12-16, Claire and Brienne drove us to Myrtle Beach to take a flight to Toronto. Brienne enjoyed racing around at the airport while we checked in. She is a delight. We gave her a couple of characters from Peppa Pig which is a current fav of Brienne's. We will miss them lots. Hurrah for face time.
There was a snow storm raging when we arrived in Toronto. I didn't kiss the ground but I did have a huge smile as we walked the halls toward the Customs area. Nice to be back in Canada. Using the UP express got us downtown in 25 minutes. George found a great deal so we are staying at the Royal York--what a treat! We had dinner at the Keg which is also a treat. Maybe Christmas has come early for us! Next day we poked around downtown and did some errands. Also, I had a blood test (the Thrombosis Unit sent me an email to remind me to have one, oops!) , nice to be in the excitement of the Eaton Centre. There was a wedding party having photos in front of a huge Christmas tree decked in red lights. They were wearing Hudson Bay scarves. I bought some Canada mittens and George bought a new toque and gloves. Also found a Peppa Pig story book for Brienne with stickers. Had coffee at Tims.
"Come From Away" is playing here and is on its way to Broadway. What a wonderful production. It is set in Gander, Nfld during 9/11. The music was so great--made me want to go to Nfld. The performers played many parts both of the locals and the plane people. I don't know how much of the story was true but it was funny, sad and moving and excellent in every way. One joke: Why don't people from Gander get knock, knock jokes? Answer: Because when they hear knock, knock, they say come in the door is open. We walked home in the snow. We did lots of walking here which will bode well for our next leg of the trip.
Saturday, afternoon, we attended the National Ballet's performance of the "The Nutcracker" . Ballet really is magical. I think the last time I saw the Nutcracker was in Ottawa with Sheryl and Linda and the performers were the Alberta Ballet company. This one was quite different--more Russian costuming and less modern. We loved it. In the evening, Frank and Brenda came to TO to have a visit and dinner. What a fine couple. We ate here at the Royal York and each had a Fred Flintstone portion of ribs and beer. Well, I had a shandie. They are always lots of fun.
Sunday morning, packing and getting ready to travel. The UP Express moved us to the airport and for some unknown reason we didn't actually have seat numbers. This got ironed out and we were on the plane and sat for 2 hours while they fixed something related to water. Luckily we had three seats so I could stretch out and we both slept for 3 hours. Arriving in Munich two hours late didn't affect us as our next flight was in the afternoon. Tegal, Berlin's main airport, is not in great shape, as they are building a new one, but we had lunch while we waited until Grant arrived. Yay. We took cab to Gat Point Charlie which is a great place to stay in Berlin.
Our first meal was at an Italian place right next door. Great food. Tuesday, joined a walking tour which was excellent. I was happy that I bought some Canada mittens in Toronto. The guide was from England and was a history Phd student--interesting insights Lovely to see the Brandenburg Gate and walk down Under den Linden. There is something really special about Berlin. We viewed the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe which always is moving for me. We bought some food for picnics and tried to visit a Christmas market. Sadly, last evening was the tragic event of a man driving a truck into a different Christmas market and killing 12 people and injuring others. All markets were closed in solidarity. Sheryl was aware of this before we were as she sent a text to check on our health.
After a rest time we walked to a movie theatre to see Rogue One and as we were buying the tickets, the seller mentioned that the movie was only in German. Big surprise! He did tell us where it was showing in English. So we had a lovely, very German meal in a pub--food was great and also the beer. A couple from the UK joined us at our table and we had a lovely visit. The visit was so engaging that instead of walking to the next theatre we needed to take a cab. The movie started with 40 minutes of ads and then an intermission. It was excellent especially after Grant explained the chronological order of the movie to us.
Grant is responsible for navigating and finding good places to eat. While Grant went walking about, George and I slept in. Then we met and had our tour of the Reichstag which was super. I think we all have a thing for parliament buildings. We had some excellent soup at the Christmas market and poked around a bit. I was a tad disappointed in what was there--mostly food although I did find a few things for our Christmas stockings.. Grant went off to have drinks with a friend and we had facetime sessions with Claire and Brienne and Sheryl.
Wednesday, George and Grant went to the monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe and also to the museum there. Because I visited the museum to the Rwandan genocide, I felt I couldn't go so instead I went to a wonderful bookstore that Grant found. What a wonderful place to poke around--I bought a Lego Christmas tree that will need some assembly. I also sat in a comfortable chair and read. In the evening we went to the show called "The One". It had the flavour of Cirque with amazing costumes and dancing. Our evening meal was at "Transit" which served small plates and we had a grand time.
Today, our last one in Berlin, we took the UBahn to the East Side Gallery which is a long stretch of the Berlin Wall that is left. It is highly coloured with much art which was interesting, somewhat sad and chilly. (I hadn't dressed warmly enough.) I thought that anyone who is considering building a Wall should visit Berlin. There was a busker playing the accordion so George and I danced a small polka. We had lunch at Nest--yummy hot chocolate. Now we are home relaxing and we had a ft session with Claire and Brienne. In places, the Wall was behind a wire fence and where it wasn't, there was lots of graffiti. Our trip home was uneventful, except when we got our tickets, we were supposed to validate them using a machine. A homeless person was sitting near there and told us that the machine we used didn't work. Lucky for us, we listened and used another one as there were two inspectors on the tube who would have given us a 60 euro fine if we hadn't done it right.
So on to Prague (Praha). Arrived around 16h00 in the afternoon of Dec 24th after a relaxing train trip. A shuttle person was waiting with a paper with our name on it. I am always happy to arrive to have a welcome.. Our hotel is great, very comfortable. We had a brief walk around the area--it is built in the site of an old monastery so high walls and dark trim. We had our dinner at a nearby restaurant--turkey for me, duck for George and Goulash for Grant.. We had a ft session with Claire and Brienne. Grant and George shared in putting our tree together.
After a lovely breakfast, we set out to join a walking tour. This was Christmas Day. The streets and markets were full of people--lots of shops open. Now I wonder if the seemingly quiet in Berlin was as a result of the attack on the market there. There was a huge tree in a main square that had thousands of lights,, lit up bows, and a shooting star at the top. It was probably the most beautiful tree, I have ever seen. Later in the evening, the lights flashed in time with music "William Tell Overture or better known as the Lone Ranger theme". We enjoyed something called "Trdlenik" which a dessert like a doughnut but it is prepared winding dough around a dowling and cooking it over hot coals. Quite yummy--sometimes they put chocolate inside. Our three hour free walking tour was the best--lots of info and a steady view of sites in the city.
By the time we checked out the markets and had dinner, we had probably walked for about 6 hours. For Christmas dinner, Grant had Schnitzel and a special beer, George had roast pork and I had goulash. We drank mulled wine which seems to be on all the menus. We came home and admired our Lego tree and opened our stockings. One thing we all got was a "Frozen" Kinder-surprise egg and inside were Olaf, Christoper and Grant got Anna who needed quite a lot of assembly. He said it was the most annoying gift he had ever gotten. We had a ft session with Sheryl so that was delightful. We watched "Midnight in Paris" and our day was complete. Yay.
The 26th in Prague (Pauha) is the second day of Christmas and many things are closed. (including the laundromats which is becoming an issue.) This was a day off for George and I. Both of us needed a rest time. Grant went off to check out the comic shops that he had discovered on line. Unfortunately, only one shop was open. Anyway, he found a launder-mat, Yay. We had more Czech food for dinner. We relaxed, read and checked out what was happening in the world.
Our last day in Prague was perfect. We took the tram to the launder-mat where they will wash, dry and fold the clothes. What could be better than that! Then we walked to Wencelasas Square and stopped on the way to see a spoof of him on an upside down house. Very amusing. We also checked out a few book shops and comic shops along the way. We took the Metro to the National Gallery which was superb. My fingers wanted to paint. One painting in particular which was called "Murder in the Square" was so real, I felt like I could have walked into it. Grand did a super job and mapping out our journeys using his phone maps. We came home on the tram. Enough walking for today. Grand went out for dinner looking for pizza and we snacked at home. Now we must pack and be ready to leave tomorrow.
And so to Vienna (Wien). We went to Vienna by train which was pleasant. There are lots of wind turbines and solar panels along the way. The time past quickly and soon we were in a taxi heading to our AirB&B which is small but in a great location. We poked around our area around St. Stephenplatz and were impressed with the way everything is dressed up for Christmas. Groceries were first on our list and Grant cooked dinner for us which was pleasant after all the restaurant meals we have eaten.
George's cold continues to make him feel poorly--he also has a cough. He opted to stay home while Grant and I had a tour of the Parlament Osterreich. The tour was bilingual, German and English. The building is impressive both in and out. There was a room that had about 20 large marble columns that weighed 16 tons each. The guide told us they had moved them with horse and wagons when it was built. We walked to the Justice building to have a bit of lunch and had a lovely view of the city from the balcony. The menu was only in German so we had soup and strudel which was yummy even though it had raisins. We strolled through a great market--the spices smelled so good and we saw some sweaters that resembled one Brienne has that we bought in Portugal. We also stopped at a comic shop which is one of Grant's passions.
When we got home again, George was feeling better and decided he would go to the opera with me. Grant wanted to check out some more comic shops as he discovered 8 of them. The process for getting standing room places for the opera is very organized. One must line up by a door marked standing room tickets. At 17h00, they open the door and we stand in line again, at 18h10, they start to sell the tickets which are only 3 euros each. There is an old fussy man who is the line coordinator and one does not do anything he dislikes. He is quite certain when one can stand and is quite ready to make it happen. We heard a patron yelling at him later because he felt the Line Nazi was being unfair. (this is a term one does not use in Austria). During the first line, Grant texted that he wanted to come to the opera. By this time George was feeling poorly and wanted to go home, so after convincing the Line Coordinator to allow this, George went home and Grant and I went to see "Hansel and Gretal" in German. We had to tie our scarves on to the rail to mark our places and then we could explore until the opera began. The LC was still around telling people what to do and where to stand. The music was wonderful and some parts were magical except maybe when the witch was thrown into the oven. She came out a Gingerbread witch so maybe that was alright. At the beginning of the second half, a woman came to me and said there was a seat beside her so I was able to sit and also see the monitor which gives subtitles in English. Although, I knew the story. After the show, we stopped at 1516, a bar, for snacks and Grant wanted some Christmas beer that he had sampled in Scandinavia. It was loud! (not the beer)
Oh, yes, people are nice in all languages. I fell off the bottom step getting to the Gallery where we were sitting. It was the last step and was smaller than the others and one minute I was up and the next I was being smacked by the floor. I was fine and got up with the aid of two women who seemed quite concerned. My left wrist is a tad sore this morning. My dignity was hurt more than anything.
Brienne has a song that she sings that has "...here I am. How do you do?" at the end of it. George and I will say it to each other when we find each other. Yesterday, I found Grant at the Parlament and I said, "Here I am." and he said, "How do you do?" We are part of all we meet. When Claire and Brienne were having a face time session, they were opening a caterpillar coding game we gave her. Claire wanted to move to the living room and Brienne picked up the ipad and said, "I bring Granny.". What a fun kid!
Today is Friday, Grant spent the day (6 hours) at the Design museum. George and I went to the Leopold Art Gallery for a couple of hours. It was just OK. We stopped for some treats for our New Year's Eve celebration and Grant met us and we strolled to the market. We stopped for hot chocolate.
New Year's Eve evening is a big deal in Vienna. There were about 6 stages in and around the area where we lived so it is possible to stroll around from stage to stage. We had a lovely dinner at a Craft Beer Diner and then strolled around to listen to some of the music. The opera had a huge screen in front of it and were showing the current opera live. There were people everywhere. We drank a toast to the New Year, ate our treats and the fireworks went on and on. 2016 is gone and 2017 has begun. In Austria, the pig is considered a symbol of good luck so all the kiosks had a variety of pig paraphernalia. One of our treats was a sweet dough in the shape of a pig's head including raisins for.eyes.
We started the first day of the new year by leaving our place at 7:15 am in order for Grant to get his flight to Ottawa--going through Zurich, and Montreal. Ours left later--taking us to Madrid.
Taking care of Brienne and going to the beach are full time activities for us. She arrives ready to play and to see what is happening. We gave her three potato people who she loves to move around and play with--what a joy. She calls the pirate-Grandad tatoe. George has planned a wonderful Christmas trip for us and I packed up my painting today. He has discovered many videos of the places we will go so we have been viewing them. It is going to be fun. Chatted with Grant and Sheryl this weekend--I do love ft. On Sunday, one of Claire's friends and his son came to visit. B. just loved having a five year old to play with. She copied his every move and word. Lovely evening.
We had a very busy week of caring for Brienne as this is the last week of the current term of Claire's studies. Noah's Mom and sister arrived and we had a lovely dinner together. Thursday. 16-12-16, Claire and Brienne drove us to Myrtle Beach to take a flight to Toronto. Brienne enjoyed racing around at the airport while we checked in. She is a delight. We gave her a couple of characters from Peppa Pig which is a current fav of Brienne's. We will miss them lots. Hurrah for face time.
There was a snow storm raging when we arrived in Toronto. I didn't kiss the ground but I did have a huge smile as we walked the halls toward the Customs area. Nice to be back in Canada. Using the UP express got us downtown in 25 minutes. George found a great deal so we are staying at the Royal York--what a treat! We had dinner at the Keg which is also a treat. Maybe Christmas has come early for us! Next day we poked around downtown and did some errands. Also, I had a blood test (the Thrombosis Unit sent me an email to remind me to have one, oops!) , nice to be in the excitement of the Eaton Centre. There was a wedding party having photos in front of a huge Christmas tree decked in red lights. They were wearing Hudson Bay scarves. I bought some Canada mittens and George bought a new toque and gloves. Also found a Peppa Pig story book for Brienne with stickers. Had coffee at Tims.
"Come From Away" is playing here and is on its way to Broadway. What a wonderful production. It is set in Gander, Nfld during 9/11. The music was so great--made me want to go to Nfld. The performers played many parts both of the locals and the plane people. I don't know how much of the story was true but it was funny, sad and moving and excellent in every way. One joke: Why don't people from Gander get knock, knock jokes? Answer: Because when they hear knock, knock, they say come in the door is open. We walked home in the snow. We did lots of walking here which will bode well for our next leg of the trip.
Saturday, afternoon, we attended the National Ballet's performance of the "The Nutcracker" . Ballet really is magical. I think the last time I saw the Nutcracker was in Ottawa with Sheryl and Linda and the performers were the Alberta Ballet company. This one was quite different--more Russian costuming and less modern. We loved it. In the evening, Frank and Brenda came to TO to have a visit and dinner. What a fine couple. We ate here at the Royal York and each had a Fred Flintstone portion of ribs and beer. Well, I had a shandie. They are always lots of fun.
Sunday morning, packing and getting ready to travel. The UP Express moved us to the airport and for some unknown reason we didn't actually have seat numbers. This got ironed out and we were on the plane and sat for 2 hours while they fixed something related to water. Luckily we had three seats so I could stretch out and we both slept for 3 hours. Arriving in Munich two hours late didn't affect us as our next flight was in the afternoon. Tegal, Berlin's main airport, is not in great shape, as they are building a new one, but we had lunch while we waited until Grant arrived. Yay. We took cab to Gat Point Charlie which is a great place to stay in Berlin.
Our first meal was at an Italian place right next door. Great food. Tuesday, joined a walking tour which was excellent. I was happy that I bought some Canada mittens in Toronto. The guide was from England and was a history Phd student--interesting insights Lovely to see the Brandenburg Gate and walk down Under den Linden. There is something really special about Berlin. We viewed the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe which always is moving for me. We bought some food for picnics and tried to visit a Christmas market. Sadly, last evening was the tragic event of a man driving a truck into a different Christmas market and killing 12 people and injuring others. All markets were closed in solidarity. Sheryl was aware of this before we were as she sent a text to check on our health.
After a rest time we walked to a movie theatre to see Rogue One and as we were buying the tickets, the seller mentioned that the movie was only in German. Big surprise! He did tell us where it was showing in English. So we had a lovely, very German meal in a pub--food was great and also the beer. A couple from the UK joined us at our table and we had a lovely visit. The visit was so engaging that instead of walking to the next theatre we needed to take a cab. The movie started with 40 minutes of ads and then an intermission. It was excellent especially after Grant explained the chronological order of the movie to us.
Grant is responsible for navigating and finding good places to eat. While Grant went walking about, George and I slept in. Then we met and had our tour of the Reichstag which was super. I think we all have a thing for parliament buildings. We had some excellent soup at the Christmas market and poked around a bit. I was a tad disappointed in what was there--mostly food although I did find a few things for our Christmas stockings.. Grant went off to have drinks with a friend and we had facetime sessions with Claire and Brienne and Sheryl.
Wednesday, George and Grant went to the monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe and also to the museum there. Because I visited the museum to the Rwandan genocide, I felt I couldn't go so instead I went to a wonderful bookstore that Grant found. What a wonderful place to poke around--I bought a Lego Christmas tree that will need some assembly. I also sat in a comfortable chair and read. In the evening we went to the show called "The One". It had the flavour of Cirque with amazing costumes and dancing. Our evening meal was at "Transit" which served small plates and we had a grand time.
Today, our last one in Berlin, we took the UBahn to the East Side Gallery which is a long stretch of the Berlin Wall that is left. It is highly coloured with much art which was interesting, somewhat sad and chilly. (I hadn't dressed warmly enough.) I thought that anyone who is considering building a Wall should visit Berlin. There was a busker playing the accordion so George and I danced a small polka. We had lunch at Nest--yummy hot chocolate. Now we are home relaxing and we had a ft session with Claire and Brienne. In places, the Wall was behind a wire fence and where it wasn't, there was lots of graffiti. Our trip home was uneventful, except when we got our tickets, we were supposed to validate them using a machine. A homeless person was sitting near there and told us that the machine we used didn't work. Lucky for us, we listened and used another one as there were two inspectors on the tube who would have given us a 60 euro fine if we hadn't done it right.
So on to Prague (Praha). Arrived around 16h00 in the afternoon of Dec 24th after a relaxing train trip. A shuttle person was waiting with a paper with our name on it. I am always happy to arrive to have a welcome.. Our hotel is great, very comfortable. We had a brief walk around the area--it is built in the site of an old monastery so high walls and dark trim. We had our dinner at a nearby restaurant--turkey for me, duck for George and Goulash for Grant.. We had a ft session with Claire and Brienne. Grant and George shared in putting our tree together.
After a lovely breakfast, we set out to join a walking tour. This was Christmas Day. The streets and markets were full of people--lots of shops open. Now I wonder if the seemingly quiet in Berlin was as a result of the attack on the market there. There was a huge tree in a main square that had thousands of lights,, lit up bows, and a shooting star at the top. It was probably the most beautiful tree, I have ever seen. Later in the evening, the lights flashed in time with music "William Tell Overture or better known as the Lone Ranger theme". We enjoyed something called "Trdlenik" which a dessert like a doughnut but it is prepared winding dough around a dowling and cooking it over hot coals. Quite yummy--sometimes they put chocolate inside. Our three hour free walking tour was the best--lots of info and a steady view of sites in the city.
By the time we checked out the markets and had dinner, we had probably walked for about 6 hours. For Christmas dinner, Grant had Schnitzel and a special beer, George had roast pork and I had goulash. We drank mulled wine which seems to be on all the menus. We came home and admired our Lego tree and opened our stockings. One thing we all got was a "Frozen" Kinder-surprise egg and inside were Olaf, Christoper and Grant got Anna who needed quite a lot of assembly. He said it was the most annoying gift he had ever gotten. We had a ft session with Sheryl so that was delightful. We watched "Midnight in Paris" and our day was complete. Yay.
The 26th in Prague (Pauha) is the second day of Christmas and many things are closed. (including the laundromats which is becoming an issue.) This was a day off for George and I. Both of us needed a rest time. Grant went off to check out the comic shops that he had discovered on line. Unfortunately, only one shop was open. Anyway, he found a launder-mat, Yay. We had more Czech food for dinner. We relaxed, read and checked out what was happening in the world.
Our last day in Prague was perfect. We took the tram to the launder-mat where they will wash, dry and fold the clothes. What could be better than that! Then we walked to Wencelasas Square and stopped on the way to see a spoof of him on an upside down house. Very amusing. We also checked out a few book shops and comic shops along the way. We took the Metro to the National Gallery which was superb. My fingers wanted to paint. One painting in particular which was called "Murder in the Square" was so real, I felt like I could have walked into it. Grand did a super job and mapping out our journeys using his phone maps. We came home on the tram. Enough walking for today. Grand went out for dinner looking for pizza and we snacked at home. Now we must pack and be ready to leave tomorrow.
And so to Vienna (Wien). We went to Vienna by train which was pleasant. There are lots of wind turbines and solar panels along the way. The time past quickly and soon we were in a taxi heading to our AirB&B which is small but in a great location. We poked around our area around St. Stephenplatz and were impressed with the way everything is dressed up for Christmas. Groceries were first on our list and Grant cooked dinner for us which was pleasant after all the restaurant meals we have eaten.
George's cold continues to make him feel poorly--he also has a cough. He opted to stay home while Grant and I had a tour of the Parlament Osterreich. The tour was bilingual, German and English. The building is impressive both in and out. There was a room that had about 20 large marble columns that weighed 16 tons each. The guide told us they had moved them with horse and wagons when it was built. We walked to the Justice building to have a bit of lunch and had a lovely view of the city from the balcony. The menu was only in German so we had soup and strudel which was yummy even though it had raisins. We strolled through a great market--the spices smelled so good and we saw some sweaters that resembled one Brienne has that we bought in Portugal. We also stopped at a comic shop which is one of Grant's passions.
When we got home again, George was feeling better and decided he would go to the opera with me. Grant wanted to check out some more comic shops as he discovered 8 of them. The process for getting standing room places for the opera is very organized. One must line up by a door marked standing room tickets. At 17h00, they open the door and we stand in line again, at 18h10, they start to sell the tickets which are only 3 euros each. There is an old fussy man who is the line coordinator and one does not do anything he dislikes. He is quite certain when one can stand and is quite ready to make it happen. We heard a patron yelling at him later because he felt the Line Nazi was being unfair. (this is a term one does not use in Austria). During the first line, Grant texted that he wanted to come to the opera. By this time George was feeling poorly and wanted to go home, so after convincing the Line Coordinator to allow this, George went home and Grant and I went to see "Hansel and Gretal" in German. We had to tie our scarves on to the rail to mark our places and then we could explore until the opera began. The LC was still around telling people what to do and where to stand. The music was wonderful and some parts were magical except maybe when the witch was thrown into the oven. She came out a Gingerbread witch so maybe that was alright. At the beginning of the second half, a woman came to me and said there was a seat beside her so I was able to sit and also see the monitor which gives subtitles in English. Although, I knew the story. After the show, we stopped at 1516, a bar, for snacks and Grant wanted some Christmas beer that he had sampled in Scandinavia. It was loud! (not the beer)
Oh, yes, people are nice in all languages. I fell off the bottom step getting to the Gallery where we were sitting. It was the last step and was smaller than the others and one minute I was up and the next I was being smacked by the floor. I was fine and got up with the aid of two women who seemed quite concerned. My left wrist is a tad sore this morning. My dignity was hurt more than anything.
Brienne has a song that she sings that has "...here I am. How do you do?" at the end of it. George and I will say it to each other when we find each other. Yesterday, I found Grant at the Parlament and I said, "Here I am." and he said, "How do you do?" We are part of all we meet. When Claire and Brienne were having a face time session, they were opening a caterpillar coding game we gave her. Claire wanted to move to the living room and Brienne picked up the ipad and said, "I bring Granny.". What a fun kid!
Today is Friday, Grant spent the day (6 hours) at the Design museum. George and I went to the Leopold Art Gallery for a couple of hours. It was just OK. We stopped for some treats for our New Year's Eve celebration and Grant met us and we strolled to the market. We stopped for hot chocolate.
New Year's Eve evening is a big deal in Vienna. There were about 6 stages in and around the area where we lived so it is possible to stroll around from stage to stage. We had a lovely dinner at a Craft Beer Diner and then strolled around to listen to some of the music. The opera had a huge screen in front of it and were showing the current opera live. There were people everywhere. We drank a toast to the New Year, ate our treats and the fireworks went on and on. 2016 is gone and 2017 has begun. In Austria, the pig is considered a symbol of good luck so all the kiosks had a variety of pig paraphernalia. One of our treats was a sweet dough in the shape of a pig's head including raisins for.eyes.
We started the first day of the new year by leaving our place at 7:15 am in order for Grant to get his flight to Ottawa--going through Zurich, and Montreal. Ours left later--taking us to Madrid.
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