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.
It is great to hear details of your experiences and observations as you go along! Happy New Year!
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