A HOLIDAY THROWBACK TO CHRISTMAS 2009

Hope you enjoy our recent and true Christmas tale!  It was too good of a story not to share.  Link to photos at end of story.

You’ve all heard the story of Mr. Willoby’s Christmas Tree… well, here is the story of “Mr. Wronsky’s Christmas Tree”:

We decided to go back to our beloved Virginia tradition of cutting down our own tree – something we were unable to do the past 6 years in NJ.  Last Saturday, Chris, Eric, Kyle and I went to a tree farm in nearby Endicott, NY, which unfortunately had pretty slim pickings as far as the big trees go, and anyone who knows Chris knows the bigger the tree the better.  So he used to think.

We conveyed to the young man driving the tractor (he kind of resembled an extra from "Deliverance") that we wanted to be taken to the biggest trees, and after a bumpy ride through God’s country (we could’ve been in Wyoming for all we knew), and getting the kid’s cell phone number so we wouldn’t be forgotten, we traipsed through the cold, snowy field in search of the perfect tree.  After some disappointment in the selection, we were starting to get discouraged, when I (of all people) called, “Hey! What about this one?”  In front of me stood The Tree.  I tell you my friends she was 20 feet if she was an inch.  (Quint: "25... 3 tons of 'er.") Little did I dream the adventure that was about to ensue.

The men were at first skeptical.  “This one??  It’s huge!”  But it was too late.  As I began to realize my mistake and search out a more reasonable alternative, Chris & Eric were formulating their plan.  45 minutes of shared sawing later, “Timber!” was the word and the tree was down.  (We lost – thank God – about 5 feet of the tree’s base in the cutting process.)  It took my 3 guys, the man driving the tractor, and 2 other tree customers (lesser men for sure as their trees were merely in the 7 to 8 foot range) just to get the tree up onto the trailer.  One man on the tractor thought it was for a church.  Others just sat silently in awe.  Somehow, the tree was able to be bailed and shoved trunk first into the back of the van.  And after forking over a meager $40 (Chris of course bargained on the $50 price for the larger tree), She was ours.

Cold, tired, and hungry, we began the journey back home, with the open trunk tied down and 5 feet of tree sticking out the back.  As we were discussing the plan for getting the tree into the house, Chris calmly observed, “Holy shit!  There’s a mouse on the end of the tree!”  Looking out the window and knowing my husband, I figured he was making a bad joke.  So imagine my surprise when I turned toward the tree trunk to see Mr. Mouse sitting there happy as a chipmunk SIX INCHES FROM MY FACE.  It wasn’t my screech that sent him running back into the center of the bailed tree, as I actually had a moment of clarity after I composed myself and wondered if I couldn’t grab the critter’s tail and fling him out the window.   However, before I could act (and surely I would have), run back out of sight he did, and all bets were off.

Upon arrival at home, the challenge of getting the monstrous tree into the house became secondary as we pondered what to do about the rodent.  We had to leave the tree bailed in order to get it through the front door, but would need to get the creature out first somehow.  For about the next hour, we took turns standing watch so we’d know whether or not the mouse would exit on its own.  We tried to bait it with peanut butter & cheese, to no avail.  Chris hoped to spray the mouse off of the end of the tree with the hose if it made an appearance, then finally resorted to spraying the entire tree to force him out, but we were just left with no mouse and a saturated tree.

Finally, a trip to Lowe’s for mousetraps was made, and the guys left a trap on the porch next to the trunk of the tree.  It was the last best option.  And it worked!  A few hours later, Eric went out in the dark with a flashlight to find the mouse in the trap, but still very much alive!  It was truly a Christmas miracle as Eric was able to free the mouse from the trap and witness it skip merrily into the woods (well, it scurried away anyway) to freedom and happier times.  We were back in business.  We left the tree in the garage overnight to dry out (with extra traps set just for insurance) and rested well that night so we’d be fully prepared the next day for part 2:  The Tree Raising.

In the spirit of not making a long story even longer, suffice it to say that it took about 45 minutes and 6 people (thankfully Maria & Linda were also here for a previously planned visit to pick up the washer & dryer) to erect the 15 ½ foot tree in the great room.  Chris rigged up a tree stand in a large tote bucket and inserted big rocks to keep the tree upright.  He also had to wire it to the wall.  We used the 15’ handle of a tree limb saw and an 8’ladder to get the lights & decorations on, which took a couple of hours.  The angel was the biggest challenge, but Chris made the crowning achievement, and even got her to stand up straight!  Despite a lot of holding my breath (and sometimes swearing under it), it was quite enjoyable to watch Chris, Eric, & Kyle strategize and plan how to get the job done.  The only thing that could have perhaps improved the process would have been the presence of Michael who surely would’ve found a way to add amusement.

So there you have the story of “Mr. Wronsky’s Christmas Tree”.  Stay tuned for the sequel, “How to Get a 15 Foot Tree Out of Your House While Staying United as a Family” due out in early 2010.

Hope you enjoy the accompanying photos/captions.

https://goo.gl/photos/uBYStonbpYArM4569

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, some needed rest!  :-)

Love, Sue

I have no idea what I could possibly title this entry.

At around 5 pm on December 26 we had a house fire in our new home.  "New" in the sense that we moved in on November 1.  The house was built in 1989.

We are devastated.  Overcome.  Overwhelmed.  Shell-shocked.  But we are OK.  Chris, Kyle & I were home but all got out of the house unharmed.  Chris had the wherewith-all to grab the car keys and move both cars out of the driveway where they surely would've been damaged.  Our neighbor may have saved our house by calling 911 before we even knew we had a problem - he saw the flames on our garage before we smelled the smoke upstairs.  It was around 5 pm, and the smoke detectors never warned us.  It hurts to think what could have happened if the time was 10 or 11 hours later.  We ran from the house and could see the reflection of the flames in the neighbor's window across the street.  We could already hear the sirens but it seemed to take hours for the fire engines to arrive.  In reality it was only minutes.  It took more than 2 hours for the fire department to completely extinguish the fire, which apparently started in the garage and continued on to destroy Kyle's bedroom directly above.  The cause is still under investigation, although the fire department is satisfied that it was caused by cold fireplace ash that had been disposed of in an outdoor garbage can just outside of the garage door.  The jury is still out, but in the end it doesn't matter.  We have been hit by a tragedy and the cause in the end will be inconsequential.

We are OK.  At the end of our long evening of observing the fire department work strenuously to save our house, the fire chief asked if we needed the services of the Red Cross.  We were able to decline.  I can't imagine the total desperation of the family who needs such resources after such a horrible calamity.  Because we have homeowner's insurance we have been given a place to stay.  Because we have our children close by we have been surrounded by care & love.  Because we have the finances we can shop for needed clothing and a replacement computer to get us by.  Our straights could be so much more dire and the fact humbles us to no end.  And by the way, thank God for the Red Cross.  And neighbors who call 911 and bring you tea.  And county fire departments who put out fires.  And children who show up just to hug you and tell you that they love you, and who insist that you sleep in their comfy spare room instead of the cold hotel room.  And hold you up when you are watching your house burn and tell you everything is going to be OK.  Because it is.  Going to be OK.

We'll be in temporary housing again, for the next 6 to 12 months.  We have some challenging days & weeks ahead of us.

But we are OK.  We really are.

Australia

 

7 March - London to Hong Kong
It wasn't an auspicious start to my worldwide adventure when both my checked bag and my carry-on were over the weight limit.  I had to do some scrambling to get the carry-on down or the nice lady at the Qantas desk wasn't going to check me in, so I ended up paying an extra £66 for my overweight checked bag.  Will have to work some magic when I actually get to Melbourne as we are taking 2 internal flights within Australia - then another flight back home.  This will not make Chris happy as he complains I pack way too much as it is... and now he's got the Qantas people on his side.

The flight from London lasted about 11 1/2 hours, and as it turned out wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.  Watched the Iron Lady, ate a little something, attempted to sleep without a great deal of success.  I was freezing and cramped but that's life back in economy.  But it really didn't seem that much longer than our flights from London to Dulles, which is good.  Made a good start on Angela's Ashes on my Kindle.

8-9 March - Hong Kong to Melbourne!
Second leg of the trip was uneventful.  Arrived in Melbourne to overcast skies but mild conditions.  Apparently, the Aussies are quite concerned about what might enter their country and mess with their flora & fauna, so they are very thorough about their screening of international arrivals.  Once you get through customs and claim your luggage, before you can exit the airport, they line you up next to your bags and unleash the BSSD's on you (that's "bad stuff-sniffing dogs" and yes - I made that up.)  The cutest little yellow lab came through our queue - fortunately I ate my last granola bar while still on the plane, because you even have to declare packaged foods like that.

The ride from the airport was about 45 minutes, but I arrived so early I was dropped at the hotel before 9 am and had the entire day ahead of me.  I actually - surprisingly - didn't really feel tired and wondered if I could take my driver's advice and stay up for the entire day.  After settling in and exploring the hotel, I decided to give the muscles a good stretch and went for a swim in the indoor pool and soaked for a bit in the spa.  Felt so good.  This was followed by a heavenly shower and a tete-a-tete with the concierge about what to do with my afternoon - by then the sun was shining and it was glorious outside.  I decided to just walk, my destination being the area of "laneways & alleyways" that are popular in this part of the city.  They were really charming and had a European feel, but felt pretty modern at the same time.  I stopped for a pumpkin panini with feta cheese & rocket and a diet coke - yummy but expensive ($11 Aus) and people-watched, which is always fun.  Then I walked some more and stopped for an iced coffee - yummy but expensive ($5 Aus.)  Are you noticing a pattern?

It was getting late and Chris was due to arrive at the hotel so I headed back, but first stopped into the Tourism Office for some brochures.  So far I'm completely impressed with the tourism folks; in Melbourne anyway they are extremely friendly, efficient, and most importantly helpful - in many languages!  They even have tourism "Ambassadors" strolling the streets of the cities, coming to the rescue of wayward tourists.  Really well done.  I arrived back at the hotel just before Chris arrived.  We made a plan for dinner, but decided first to walk down by the river and check out the free opening night concert of the "Moomba" - a multicultural festival going on all weekend in Melbourne.  It was a lovely evening, and we had a nice walk by the river, but once we settled on the grass and listened to a couple of absolutely lovely opera arias, I suddenly felt the fatigue starting to kick in and suggested we go ahead and make the walk to the restaurant while I could still in fact walk.  The concierge had suggested a popular restaurant not far from the hotel - the only seats available were at the bar in front of the open kitchen but watching the chefs & prep cooks busily preparing meals on a Friday night was pretty fascinating - imagine the pressure.  No nose-picking going on in that kitchen, believe you me.  And we were able to strike up conversations with the friendly people on either side of us which is always kind of fun.  The food was yummy but expensive - I have become grateful that at least Chris's meals are being expensed, minus the wine of course which was - you guessed it - yummy but expensive.  Then it was back to the hotel where I gave myself a pat on the back for managing to stay awake all day (even Chris was impressed) and sank into the comfy bed for a needed good night's rest.

Saturday:
Free city tram back to Tourist office to book Phillip Island excursion, then to Docklands (not too impressive; nothing going on) then to Flagstaff Gardens and Victoria Market.  Lots of stalls of the same stuff (cheap boomarangs, keychains, "Ugg" ripoffs); nothing too great.  Brats for lunch; tram back to central area to show Chris alleyways, etc.  To the guidebook recommended bar, "Cookie" for a beer then walk back to hotel.  Dinner at Grossi Florentino.  Yummy but expensive.  Stop for a beer at Trunk - bar next to hotel - before bed.  Beer and high prices becoming a pattern.

Sunday:
Took time in the am.  Picked up by Brian of "Tours with a Difference" for our excursion to Phillip Island, southwest of Melbourne.  A family of 3 from Munich our only companions.  First stop, Gurdies Winery.  Beautiful scenery; OK wines.  Next stop, Panny's Chocolate Factory.  Kind of random but cute.  Next stop, Woolamai Beach.  Spectacular scenery and my camera battery dies.  Ugh.  Next stop, Wildlife Park.  We see wallabys, koalas, kangaroos and other Australian creatures.  Place reminded me of Storeybook Land from back in my youth - kind of kitschy & tired around the edges.  Purchase an old fashioned disposable wind-up camera on my way in.  Not sure how quality the photos will be.  Next stop, seaside town of Cowes for a pretty decent dinner, then on to the "Penguin Parade".  No photos allowed.   Tourists gather en masse to witness the Little Penguins emerge from the surf just after sunset on the way to their nests.  It is sort of remarkable as they have been swimming all day for food, then come back and waddle back to their own nest every time (so we are told.)  There are only 2 locations in the world that this breed of penguins nest; one is this area and the other somewhere in New Zealand.  Fall asleep on ride back to hotel.  Nice day.

Monday:
Chris has an interview in the morning so we get a late start in very nice weather and head to St. Kilda for the beach.  Really beautiful.  A bit cool & breezy but the sun is great.  Stroll on the beach & boardwalk and out to the pier & breakwater, then lunch in a busy spot by the water (it's Labour Day in Victoria so lots of people.)  Get back on tram toward town but get off to walk to Royal Botanic Gardens; stop at Shrine of Remembrance along the way - very impressive memorial.  Botanic Gardens are huge & very pretty.  Long walk back to the hotel.  Press Club for dinner - award winning "Masterchef Australia" celeb chef George Calombaris owns.  Very showy, nice wine, good service; called Press Club as it's housed in Rupert Murdoch's original news building.

Tuesday:

Chris heads to office then a flight to Adelaide for work so I'm going solo.  Make an early start for another tour, this time the Great Ocean Road - bigger bus, more people, the jovial Peter is our driver.  Victoria's equivalent to the Pacific Coast Highway - really lovely scenery and lots of photo stops.  I am a solo guest and the bus is full so I get the passenger seat up front, and thank goodness I did as it is a very windy journey.  Stop at Bell's Beach, world renowned surf beach.  Make an odd side of the road sort of stop where lots of other tour buses are stopped for a glimpse of koalas and colorful birds "in the wild".  Birds eat from our hands; koalas are mostly sleeping.  Stop in Great Otway National Park's Mait's Rest Rainforest Walk and it's lovely.  Make a late lunch stop - very mediocre food - then head to some iconic sights, including "The Twelve Apostles" - famous limestone rock formations off of the coast.  Really breathtaking.  Back to Melbourne; skyline at night is really beautiful. I go back next door to Trunk for dinner out on the terrace; it's a really nice evening.

Wednesday 14 March, Melbourne to Canberra:
Another nice day with a bit more cloud cover.  Decide to check out the 2 parts of the National Gallery of Victoria, first the Ian Potter Center for Aboriginal Art, then the International Gallery.  Both are good - latter is very impressive (and both free.)  Then walk to Southgate - area along the river - for lunch.  Get a "worker's special" for $20 Aus.  Includes a beer.  Just sit and enjoy the breeze and hang around for an iced coffee.  Need to walk back to hotel as getting picked up to go to airport; stop at a little shop on the way for a spontaneous purchase: an Australian alpaca wool coat.  On sale.  Back to hotel then to airport to catch flight to Canberra where I'll meet Chris.  Get to hotel on the late side - the Crown Plaza in Canberra can't hold a candle to the Melbourne Marriott.  But it's fine.  Order crappy room service and to bed.

Thursday:
Chris needs to wake up for a 4 am Australia time conference call back in the US (where it's 15 hours earlier.)  Then he showers and goes to work.  I take my time, have breakfast and head out to see what Canberra has to offer.  Not a whole lot.  Walk down to Parliament House about 30 minutes away.  Really nice day.  Check out the Australian government at work.  Then head to museum area and wander around the National Gallery of Australia for a bit - impressive collection and free to get in.  (Monets, Piccasos, Pollacks.)  Head back toward hotel for long walk around Lake Burley Griffen (man-made lake named after the man who made it); stop at Blundells Cottage, a former tenant farmer's cottage; very quaint.  Stop for a salad at a cafe close to the hotel.  Did a LOT of walking!  Chris & I enjoy a really good dinner at "The Chairman & Yip" - nearby restaurant specializing in Cantonese food.

Friday 16 March, Canberra to Sydney:
Lovely morning. Chris goes to work, I am on the march again.  Walk the Anzac Parade ("Anzac" is the abbreviation of "Australian & New Zealand Army Corps".)  Many monuments.  (This area of Canberra between Parliament House and the Australia War Memorial was apparently modeled after the Mall in Washington, DC.)  Then in to the very impressive Australia War Memorial Museum.  Hop in to a free guided tour that started 5 minutes ago.  I find this interesting when I'm in the UK as well: getting another ally's perspective on the wars that both countries (theirs and the US) have participated can be quite intriguing.  For example, the Australians had a whole different set of concerns when Japan, their back-yard neighbor, came into WWII.  Anyhoo - this museum is world-renowned apparently and rightly so.  And free!  Really great short film made by Peter Jackson that re-creates an actual aerial dog fight from WWI.  Sunshine turns to dark clouds turns to downpour before I leave and I need to hang out for a bit and wait for it to clear.  Back to hotel to wait on car that will then pick up Chris and we'll head to airport.  Take a pass on a $12 pint at the hotel bar where the minimum cc charge is $15!  Jeez Louise Australia is expensive.  Flight to Sydney non-eventful.  Sydney Harbour Marriott is incredibly beautiful and view from our room of the Sydney Opera House in the Harbor is amazing!  Go next door to Alfredo's for dinner.  Live piano music and good food.  Get in conversation with Alfredo himself at the end of the evening, after he mistakes me for Italian.  Nice way to end the night.

Saturday - St. Patrick's  Day!
Rainy morning.  :(  After breakfast we head out, dodging the raindrops.  Down George St., Sydney's main drag, then through Sydney's take on Hyde Park - really pretty.  Then for a brief pop into the New South Wales Art Gallery, and out to the Royal Botanic Gardens.  Loud birds above our heads turn out to be HUGE BATS and I am FREAKED OUT so we move along.  Sun is trying to come out.  Next stop is artsy area called The Rocks and sausages from a street vendor until we can no longer resist the green clad lads & lasses and the Celtic music coming from The Oriental Pub (sounded Irish enough for us.)  Have a wee bit of rollicking before Andrew picks us up to take us back to his flat in Balmain, his neighborhood just across the Harbour.  Head out with he & Jane for a few more beers then back to the flat for dinner.  Too much drinking but lots of fun and Andrew has an amazing view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Sunday 18 March, Sydney to Singapore to London
Last day in Oz.  Went by so fast.  Decide to go back to the Rocks to purchase some art we saw the day before.  Then to the really wonderful market at the Rocks - really nice stuff.  Finally walk to the Sydney Opera House - just beautiful.  Earlier raindrops make way for sunshine.  Meet Andrew & Jane back at hotel and we head to lunch at the wharf.  Weather is lovely and it's a wonderful way to spend the last few hours.  Not enough time in Sydney.  Car picks us up from hotel and we are on our way.  Nice man at the Qantas check-in lets me get away with my 2 kilo overage.  Those Aussies are so friendly!
Trip back is truly uneventful - watch My Week with Marilyn, Midnight in Paris, Annie Hall, and Tootsie between the 2 flights.  Literally minutes after the pilot tells us we are starting our descent into Heathrow, I finish Angela's Ashes.  What timing!  And boy oh boy, what a trip.

https://plus.google.com/photos/109864896434589497376/albums/5770672308757171553?authkey=CJOhkMWo4NvpCg

Change

I'm sitting in the kitchen of my home in Vestal NY.  Correction - the relocation company's home; we sold it to them and they in turn will be selling it to some buyers from Texas.  Chris & I arrived here on Saturday to hang out with family for the weekend then meet the packers here on Monday.  It's Wednesday and Chris has left for DC to work and I am here with the movers, watching them load our life onto a 40 foot tractor trailer.

I envy the Texas buyers - they have found themselves a great home (and got a great deal to boot, but that is a story for another day.)  We started building this house in March of 2009 and moved in in August.  We picked the tile and the countertops and the floor and the plumbing fixtures and the light fixtures and the toilet paper holders.  We christened it playing beer pong, Civil War-style over Labor Day weekend, hosted Thanksgiving, and put a 15 foot tree in our great room that first Christmas.  Then Chris's new assignment was offered:  London for 2 years.  Wow.  In the year and 1/2 since Chris had started his job in Owego, the economy took a dive and projects were terminated.  The areas of Owego & Binghamton NY were particularly hard hit, and jobs were lost.  Thankfully Chris still had his job and the prospect of the new assignment was welcome - wherever it was.  London was an amazing option, and we are still loving our time there and making the most of our remaining few months before our return to the US.

That return will put Chris in Bethesda, MD, however, not Owego, NY.  Hence the sale of our house and the storage of all of our household goods in a warehouse in Northern Virginia.  Before going back to London we'll be in DC on the back end of this trip continuing the house-hunting process.  Our hope is to find something then that we can move into close to the time we come back for good at the end of August.

In the end, our tenure at this fabulous home in Vestal was 7 months.   Despite the short stay we managed to have some great times here - mostly the family parties that we hosted just before we left and just about every time we came back to visit.  If walls could talk, the ones at 130 Red Fox Run would certainly have a lot to say.  Moving house is something of a surreal process, and despite our vast experience having done it, it doesn't get any less surreal, or emotional or surprising, especially when you can literally take inventory of all that you own right in front of your eyes.  Do we really need that dog blanket anymore?  Penny's been gone 4 years now.  Curtains from 3 houses ago?  Seriously?  The packers this time around were unpacking and repacking boxes that we'd never unpacked ourselves after the last move. 3 years ago.  What the heck is in there that wasn't important enough to unpack but important enough to keep?  I guess I'll find out when we move into the new house.  Which we have yet to find - but we will.  It's there waiting for us to buy (or build) and I can only hope that it will be as fantastic as our 7-month house on Red Fox Run in Vestal, NY.  Another chapter is over.  And another just beginning...   What do you think the chances are of unpacking all of the boxes this time?

Three Turkeys go to Rome

It was hard to resist the obvious title of "Roman Holiday" (my favorite movie of all time) but I felt it necessary to stick with the theme of a new city for Thanksgiving.  But don't you worry - the classic gets its appropriate homage.  (Well, an homage anyway.  William Wyler might sniff at its appropriateness.)

Rome was, in a word, bravissimo.  Perhaps a better word:  stupefacente.  One more would be favoloso. And the list could go on.  What an absolutely wonderful trip.  Without doubt, what helped to make it so was truly unbelievable weather.  We arrived on a Wednesday evening, and it had rained earlier that day apparently.  But for the entirety of our stay, we had brilliant blue skies with high temps in the 60's; we were reminded of how fortunate we'd been on our trip to Spain last spring.  Even the Romans were saying that the weather was atypical for late November.  We were told that only the week or so before there'd been torrential rains in Rome, forcing the city to close down the Colosseum and other tourist attractions due to flooding.  Boy, did we dodge a bullet.

Rome is a place like no other we've seen.  A constantly evolving archaeological dig!  There are ruins of some kind just about everywhere you look.  The subway system is not one of the best due to the fact that every time they try to dig a new tunnel, some ancient artifact is found, stopping the bulldozers in their tracks.  (It still got us where we needed to go, however.)  Our hotel was just off a little cobblestone square, one block from the Temple of Hadrian - built in 145 AD!!  (It was incorporated into a papal palace in the 17th century, which is the facade you see from the square.) Anyhoo... Rome is old!  I mean, like - really old!  On the taxi ride from the airport in the dark, we could still marvel at impressive sites, such as the Terme di Caracalla (we never made it there but just loved to keep saying it all weekend with our best Italian accent, mimicking our taxi driver) and the amazing Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (the National Monument) that we couldn't help but to view multiple times every day - it's enorme.  And the warmth and friendliness of the people in general was really gratifying.

The Albergo Cesari Hotel in Rome was charming & old and had everything we needed, including huge rooms.  It was in a great location on Via di Pietra, a narrow pedestrian-only street in the Pigna neighborhood and it was literally half way in between the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain - less than a 10 minute walk to each.  The first night we stayed close by and ate dinner at the Taverna Antonina, where I tried our first pasta carbonaro (a very traditionally Roman dish) and it was amazing.  I can honestly say that we had only one meal our entire visit that would not fall into the "amazing" category - and even that one was still very enjoyable.  After a fantastic meal and our first (of many) Limoncello digestifs, we strolled around our neighborhood.  As we walked we did start to notice the sound of rushing water, but it wasn't until we turned a corner that we realized that we'd come upon the iconic Trevi Fountain, and I was knocked breathless for the first time.  It's truly difficult to describe the feeling of seeing these unbelievable sites for the first time up close; places you've seen photos of your entire life or in movies or books and imagined what they must be like.  The Trevi Fountain is such a place - but very different that what I imagined as it's basically the facade of the Poli Palace which stands behind it, so it appears to simply be one of the walls of a square (the Piazza di Trevi).  Images we've all seen give the impression that it's in a much more open area.  But this does not in any way detract from its beauty. We sat and admired for awhile (with thousands of our closest tourist chums) then made our way back to the hotel for a good night's rest - we had so much more to see.

The fact that the next day was Thanksgiving in America was all but forgotten, aside from the fact that we felt very thankful for our surroundings.  We started the day with breakfast on the rooftop veranda and some of the strongest coffee I've ever had, but we were going to need it.  We had a 1:30 appointment to meet a guide that we'd hired at the Vatican and wanted to make the most of the morning.  We decided to check out one of the "hop-on, hop-off" bus tours that seem to have become all of the rage and that we've had good luck with in other cities; in Rome really not so much.  The traffic is so gridlocked that it makes for a tortuously slow ride; I for one just kept feeling like I should be making better use of my time in such a city.  We did get views of some amazing sites, but then once you appreciated what you saw you'd continue to sit there and look at it from the same view for the next 5 minutes until the bus moved again.  We stayed on board as long as we could before we knew that if we didn't get out and find an alternate route we'd never make it to our appointment on time, so we disembarked at the Termini station and hopped on the metro for the really easy ride back across town.  A short walk and we were at the Vatican Museums where we were to meet our wonderful Italian guide, Cinzia for our tour, which included the museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica (as a group, otherwise known as the Vatican.)  Mio Dio, what a place.  The museums were all once the residences of popes; apparently as a new pope came along, he would build a new palace for himself and the old one would be used to display the art collections.  The result is a huge art collection the likes of which I've never imagined.  The frescoes by Raphael in the museums stood up to the works in the Sistine Chapel in my mind.  Not to say that the works of Michelangelo, Botticelli & others in the Sistine Chapel were anything to sneeze at.   I'll never again be able to look at the former's "Adam and Eve" in the same way.  Savvy Cinzia used her iPad in the Chapel to bring up close for us the images on the ceilings and walls that seemed miles away from where we were standing.  And the Chapel was the one place that you could not take photos; I didn't have a problem with that until Cinzia told us that it had more to do with copyright infringement than the preservation of the work.  Sheesh!  But I still couldn't bring myself to try to sneak one.  Leaving the Chapel, you enter St. Peter's Basilica, and we were completely stunned by its magnificence.  If that seems dramatic, I promise you it's not.  I had chills.  I had goosebumps.  I considered going to mass again.  It had quite an impact!  Seeing Michelangelo's "Pietà" brought tears to my eyes.  St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world, and it will surely leave its mark on anyone who comes to visit, no matter what their religious affiliation.  Then it was out to St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) for some more "oohing" and "ahhing" and the end of our time with Cinzia.  Hiring her was a splurge as it was a private tour just for the 3 of us, but we felt it was some of the best tourist money ever spent.  Actually, before Cinzia left us she kindly walked us to a local trattoria and spoke with the owner on our behalf to make sure that we could get a meal at that time of day - it was late afternoon by this point.  The Birra Moretti and simple food were just what we needed before making our way back to the hotel.  That evening was a special birthday meal for me as I turned 29, just as I had the year before in Prague.  How lucky can a girl get?  We celebrated with a wonderful dinner at Ristorante Clemente Alla Maddalena (complete with fireworks in the desert!) then a walk back home past the Pantheon.

Friday dawned, bringing with it more strong coffee and the goal of the Colosseum, which was about a 20 minute walk from the hotel.  There was much to marvel at on the way there, then we marveled in excess at the Colloseo itself.  We were perhaps a half mile away when we caught our first glimpse and the old lump developed in the old throat.  The pinnacle of sporting venues, the structure was built in 80 AD, mostly on the back of Jewish slaves and celebrated with 100 days of games involving the massacre of at least 5,000 wild animals, in the most brutal of ways.  Yikes.  It's basically a huge ruin with a whole lot of history.  The visit to the Colosseum was followed by a short walk to the nearby Forum (a huge grassy plaza once the center of Roman public life containing various government buildings from roughly the first to the 5th centuries) and Palentine Hill, once an ancient city.  It was hard for me to grasp the history of this area as it goes so far back, but we did get some nice pictures there.  And thus began our search for the one place - besides the obvious ones - that I was not leaving Rome without finding: the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin which contains the Bocca della Verità, or the Mouth of Truth.  Ringing any bells?  The Bocca della Verità is an ancient cistern cover which legend says will snap shut upon the hand of a liar and bite it off.  Am I getting close?  Need any more clues?  Princess pretending to be a commoner?  Gorgeous AP reporter pretending to be a knight in shining armour? You got it - it's the famous scene from "Roman Holiday" where Audrey just isn't quite sure about what Greg is telling her, then he scares her to pieces.  If you haven't seen this movie, I have just one thing to say: vergogna su di voi.  You figure it out.  All that acting made us hungry (see the photo album to understand) so on the way back to the hotel, we looked for a little trattoria that the guidebook recommended, the Enotica Corsi.  The streets were wind-y and we were getting tired so we finally came upon a welcoming looking place and Chris said "Let's just eat here."  And it just happened to be the very place I was trying to find.  And it was also one of our favorite meals.  We were almost the only customers besides the obvious family-owners who sat at their own table in the back.  The service was warm & friendly and the food was delizioso.  So cool when at the end of our meal they simply brought over a bottle of Limoncello for us to have as much or as little of as we wanted - on the house.  Now that's Italian!  After our little siesta back at the hotel (a daily necessity) dinner was perhaps our least favorite food, but our favorite waiter.  When we asked what he recommended, in his broken English he asked "Whadda you like?  I make it for you!"  So even tho' it wasn't the most delicious of meals, the atmosphere felt very pleasant and authentic.


Mio Dio!  It's only Saturday!  This day we sort of took a chance and decided to visit a place that I'd not before heard of but was highly recommended by the guidebooks and the locals: the Galleria Borghese. Talking about it the night before Kyle wasn't so sure about it, but even he was duly impressed by its awesomeness.  Once a 17th-century villa, the gallery now houses one of the richest of private art collections, amassed by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the 1600's.  No photos were allowed inside, but the works we were most impressed by were the amazing, intricate sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Simply jaw-dropping.  And outdoors was quite a treat as well.  The gallery is part of the Villa Borghese Gardens, some of the most beautiful gardens we've ever visited.  The camera got a work out as you'll see in the album.  On the way to the Borghese sites, we passed through the lovely Piazza del Popolo; on our way back, our destination was the Piazza di Spagna and the iconic Spanish Steps.  We found them without too much trouble, but timed our visit badly: it was a Saturday afternoon on a gorgeous weekend in autumn and not just every tourist within 50 miles but surely every Roman was out enjoying the scenery.  What a crowd.  And again, not at all like I imagined in the pictures.  The steps themselves are part of a square and not nearly as out in the open as you'd think.  But an excellent spot to enjoy a gelato or an espresso and soak up the sun.  We did have a look inside the Trinità dei Monti church which stands at the top of the steps before seeking out some food.  This time the guide book led us to a restaurant that had since been closed, so we settled for a nearby pizzaria and were not disappointed.  Our last dinner of the trip took us across the Tiber River (il Fiume Tevere) to the neighborhood of Trastevere and the wonderful Ristorante Sabatini where we were well taken care of (and where Federico Fellini apparently used to hang out.)  The waiter gave us quite a show with the decanting of the wine.  We walked back dodging some very loud bats in the trees above us (and keeping our heads covered - it was all a bit creepy) then Chris and I strolled to a square nearby the hotel after dropping a tired Kyle off and enjoyed a - you guessed it - Limoncello in an outdoor cafe.  When in Rome, and all that.


Our final day went quickly, and we wanted to get some shopping in (including finding the tie shop near the Trevi Fountain where Chris's brother had bought some ties on a previous trip.  We did find it - Segatori - and bought some more ties!)  We made an (almost) final stop by the Fountain to look in the shops, then made our way to the Piazza Navona - a Roman landmark but not terribly impressive that day, possibly because of the market stalls covering the square.  We hadn't yet seen the inside of the Pantheon, despite its close proximity to our hotel, and walking back to it we caught the tail end of an open-air concert by the police band.  The Pantheon was commissioned in the 2nd century as a temple to the gods of ancient Rome, but since the 7th century has been used as a Roman Catholic church.  It's a beautifully preserved rotunda, and Raphael is among the well known figured entombed there.  The inside is really beautiful.  We then made an (almost) final stop at the Trevi fountain on our way to lunch - this lunch was one of the best as we simply came upon it while we were looking for a pizzeria that one of the shopkeepers had recommended; it was an unadorned store front with the door partially closed and frankly I'm not sure what made us go in, but we were glad we did, as it was some of the most enjoyable food & service of our entire stay - and the hands-down best cappuccino.  Following lunch was our (final) final stop at the truly beautiful Trevi Fountain (I had to throw those 3 coins) then back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and catch our taxi.  Unfortunately, our experience at Rome's Fiumicino Airport was not a good one - really long, hot security lines and not the most pleasant of waiting areas.  But that could in no way put a damper on a trip to remember for the rest of our lives.  I certainly do hope to get back to Rome one day; in the meantime, I have much to remember it by.  Ahhhh... fantastico!


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Old York*

We liked York quite a lot.  It's one of our furthest travels north so far, but thanks to high-speed rail we were able to get there in just over 2 hours.  (Note to self: reserve your seats for future trips or you may find yourself standing on a crowded train for the better part of 2 hours!)

York is an ancient walled city on the River Ouse in Yorkshire, and was once considered the capital of England.   Many of the English cities we've visited were at one time walled for defense purposes.  In a few places - like Canterbury - the walls still exist, and in others - like Sandwich - there are paths to show you where the walls once were.  York has probably the finest preserved walls of any medieval city and you can walk along the nearly 3 mile stretch if you like to do such things.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, tired from standing on the train (!) so took a taxi right to our hotel, the really beautiful Middlethorpe Hall, which is a National Trust property.  This was a special stay as Middlethorpe Hall was built around the year 1700 as a beautiful country house for English "gentleman" Thomas Barlow.  Over the centuries it's been used as a home, a girls' boarding school and a nightclub, and has now been beautifully and meticulously restored.  The rooms are so beautifully decorated - we really felt transformed back to another era.  And the service, across the board, was exemplary.  This is not something easily found in England.  We took a taxi back in to town Friday evening, first to "The Swan" for a pint, then to dinner.  The Swan was quite a pub, a bit off of the beaten track (the hotel had recommended it as it was near our chosen restaurant) and obviously full of locals as opposed to tourists.  There's a bit of a different accent up north and this was quite evident amongst the chatting regulars.  Our dinner at another local establishment, Meltons, was really enjoyable, and Chris was able to have a good wine conversation with Lucy, one of the owners.

Saturday started with breakfast at the hotel, then a taxi into town.  As usual, we started at the information center to get our map (well, my map) and advice on what to do in the time available.  We started at the York Minster.  A minster apparently is a title given to a certain type of church in England, having something to do with the charter and/or type of clergy; a bit confusing for me - basically it's a cathedral.  And an impressive one at that; supposedly it's the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe built beginning in 1220.  We started the tour by climbing the 275 very steep stone steps up to the top of the Minster Tower.  Did I say that these steps were steep?  Because they were.  And it was a very narrow spiral stairway as well.  And the steps were pretty steep, just in case I haven't told you that yet.  It was the kind of deal where they let only 50 people at a time go up, then once you get to the top you need to wait until all 50 have come up before you can go down as there is only one staircase of pretty steep steps.  Going down was really not that much easier than going up, due most likely to the steepness of the steps.  But it was a nice view, which we were grateful for after the steep climb.

After touring the Minster we strolled the very busy streets - I didn't mention that we were dodging Vikings from the get-go (little did we know that it was the annual Viking Festival weekend which added some color to the atmosphere.) Festival aside, York is apparently quite a weekend destination and stays teeming with people all year round.

Another recommended place to see was the York Castle Museum.  Dubbed "the best day out in history", how could we resist?  In the end, we sort of wish we had.  It did house a very interesting collection of items from daily life in York throughout the centuries, but was really oddly put together.  You started out in "period rooms" from Victorian times, then suddenly you were in the year 1939, then being given an explanation of midwifery in the 17th century, then in a reconstructed indoor Victorian village, then the "Fab 60's" - Beatles music and all.  And outside on the front lawn the Vikings were practicing their battle to the death for that evening's performance (the apparent grand finale of the day's festivities.)  It all just felt weird.  This was followed by a pub lunch which may just have qualified as our worst pub lunch since arriving on these shores.  But the beer and atmosphere were just fine.  We continued then to stroll the streets and shops.  Much of the center of York is prohibited to car traffic which makes for great strolling, and the really old pedestrian alleyways are called "Snickleways" - how adorable is that?  There is also a narrow street called "The Shambles" which is apparently one of the best-preserved medieval streets in all of Europe.  We stopped for tea, as you do, and made our way back to the taxi rank to get a ride back to the hotel.  By now, by the way, the weather had turned windy and bitterly cold, so we were glad that our dinner reservation for that night kept us cozily in the hotel.

We ended the afternoon with a swim in the hotel pool and a soak in the hot-tub which I was quite grateful for; we had had a good workout earlier in the day climbing up some very steep steps in the York Minster (not sure if I  mentioned that.)  Dinner at the hotel matched the wonderful service, and we ate & drank quite well.  Sunday morning brought with it a magnificent blue sky but really cold temps.  We packed & checked out of the hotel, took a taxi to the train station to store our bags (what a great idea it would be for all stations to have a place to store your luggage), then bundled up and headed out.  As I bought a joint membership for Chris & I in the National Trust last year, I'm always happy to gain the free admission to its properties whenever I can; unfortunately many of these properties are winterized & closed ("put to bed" they say here) for the winter months.  Luckily, the Treasurer's House in York, a NT property, is one of the few places that are piloting a plan to open earlier in the year, so we were able to visit.  One of the reasons of course that these historic homes close is that there is no heat -  not just for the visitors but also for the poor docents that have to sit in each room to keep their eye on things.  So we had a chilly tour of a home that got its name not because it houses any treasures, but because it is built on the site where the treasurer of the Minster was once lived.  An eccentric fellow named Frank Green bought the re-built structure in 1897 and decorated the rooms based on the furniture pieces in them.  Hence there's the medieval Great Hall, Edwardian & Victorian period rooms, and the Queen's Room, where the future Edward VII's wife Alexandra once stayed - before she was even really a queen but who's to notice?  Frank donated the house and all of its contents to the NT in 1930 with the express condition that nothing was to be changed - he even had pins put into the floor to ensure the furniture stayed in place.  It all made for a nice tour.

Our next stop was "Betty's" - a landmark tea house & cafe in York (its flagship tearoom is in nearby Harrogate) that's been in business for 90+ years.  We'd found the original ("Big Betty's") on Saturday but the queue was around the block and we couldn't imagine the tea being that much better than anywhere else so we moved on.  On Sunday we decided to try it again, and just by sheer happenstance on the way came across what's known as "Little Betty's" which has the exact same menu and barely any line so we gave it a shot and were glad we did. A lovely lunch and delicious "Betty's Tea Room" blend of black tea.  But our thirst was not quite so easily quenched - thirst of a different kind.  On the way from the train station to the hotel on Friday afternoon, Chris had gotten into a conversation with the taxi driver about pubs and found out that one of his favorite British beers that he enjoyed in the US, Samuel Smith's, was not only available in some of the local pubs, but available on tap, not just in the bottle.  (It apparently is brewed in Tadcaster, just down the road.) So all weekend, he popped into just about every pub we passed to see if Samuel Smith's was available.  With barely an hour to spare on Sunday before our train, lo & behold there was the Hansom Cab pub with not just one but six types of SS's on tap!  He settled for a half pint each of a stout and a bitter and considered it a successful weekend.

We had just enough time for a short walk along the York walls on the way back to the train station.  After picking up our luggage and planning to wait 30 minutes for our train, along came an earlier train direct to King's Cross; looking inside we spied 2 unreserved seats so we shoved our way past the toddlers and old ladies and slipped into them just before the man with the crutches could get there.  Hooray!  Don't judge - you find you can become a different person when the alternative is standing for 2 hours while holding on for dear life.  (And yes, I am just kidding about the kids, elderly and handicapped.)

*as opposed to "New York" the American colony named after York.

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Back to Kent

Even tho' I think every once in awhile that I miss having a car, when we actually do drive in the city I quickly remember how lucky we are not to have one.  When I say "we" drive, I of course mean Chris.  When we first came to London, I told him that learning to drive here could be one of the biggest challenges of my life, but also one of my greatest accomplishments.  However, it was not to be.  Just wasn't worth the hassle and most of the cars here have manual transmissions anyway, which I never mastered on my own side of the pond with the gear shift on my right...  I could really be dangerous behind the wheel here.  What with the "roundabouts" every 100 yards and the motorways named with letters & numbers, going clockwise and "anti-clockwise".  And when giving directions in the UK (or in fact anywhere we've been in Europe) no one uses street names.  It's "Go down this road about 5 minutes and turn right when you see the Budgens."  This includes the good old GPS, or "sat nav" as it's more popularly referred to here.  Our automated friend simply doesn't use road names or numbers, rather it's, "after 100 yards, turn right at the round about, third exit" or "after 200 yards, bear right" or "after 100 yards, go straight on!"  But she was spot on with her most recent commentary, and we were grateful to have her when we rented a car last weekend and drove to the Kent Coast.

I've been wanting to see Dover Castle, and a few different people recommended against staying in the town of Dover itself, so I found a hotel in the seaside port of Ramsgate, about 20 miles north.  Suffice it to say that Ramsgate is nowhere as scenic as its tourist website portrays, and the room we stayed in - although the hotel itself was charming - was probably the smallest we've ever stayed in.  Ever.  In our lives.  One of us had to back up around the bed when the other needed to grab something from the closet - er - cubby with hangers.  But it was clean and functional and completely fine.  And despite the lack of atmosphere in Ramsgate, we had really great dinners there both nights we stayed, first at a seafood restaurant tucked away above a fishmonger's shop, and the second at a Michelin-starred venue with a waiter from NYC.

The real highlights of this weekend were Dover Castle and the famed "White Cliffs".  And we thoroughly enjoyed the town of Sandwich, where we spent our Sunday before heading back to London.  Dover Castle is a fort that originally dates back to early Saxon days 2,000 years ago.  It was expanded upon under Henry II, who built the current castle in the early 12th century.  Well, we are talking about a king here, so I suppose it's more accurate to say that he had the castle built.  Over the years, it's served as a key defense of Britain, being quite close to the coastline of France across the English Channel.  From the first invasion by the French in 1216, to protection during the Napoleonic Wars threat in the early 1800's, to it's importance in the planning and execution of "Operation Dynamo" - a huge evacuation effort of British troops from Dunkirk during WWII - Dover Castle has earned its nickname of "key of England".

The castle is actually a huge complex, and your visit can be broken up into sort of 5 different eras of history; we spent the most time in the Secret Wartime Tunnels exhibit.  These tunnels were first built  - or dug I suppose - during the Napoleonic Wars - and became the crucial centerpiece for the afore-mentioned Operation Dynamo.  They basically provided an underground city including headquarters, barracks, and a hospital, and the amazing feat of the evacuation of nearly 340,000 troops over 10 days who were trapped in Dunkirk and unable to fend off the German army any longer, was carried out from these tunnels.  The exhibit was really well done and moving.

Leaving the castle, we drove to the nearby White Cliffs.  The weather had improved nicely by then and we had a lovely walk along the cliff edge (!) to get a good look.  We recalled our trip to the more-impressive Cliffs of Mohor in Ireland in 2005 - like then, there was not a guardrail in sight.  And it was windy which made us feel all the more vulnerable.  But we didn't fall thank goodness, rather we got some lovely pictures and strolled back to the car after about 30 minutes - we really didn't need more.  On the way back to Ramsgate, we stopped in the nice little coastal town of Deal and had a bit of a walk around before stopping for a pub lunch, then headed back to our hotel.  As I said earlier, Ramsgate doesn't seem to offer much in the way of culture or history, but we were 2 for 2 with really excellent restaurants for our dinners, in both food & service.  Made the lack of square footage in our hotel room bearable.  And speaking of the hotel, the common areas were really charming, and they even had an extensive vinyl collection and a turntable; while I was napping one afternoon Chris whiled away some time in the reception room listening to classic Dire Straits.

After packing up and checking out the next morning, we headed for Sandwich, a lovely and historic little Cinque port town. (What's a Cinque port? click here. )  At first we were a bit discouraged, as everything seemed to be closed, including the tourist information center!  But we stopped for a coffee and had a chat with the proprietor and she gave us some encouragement.  And believe it or not, the attendant at the public toilet was a wealth of information and had free maps for us!  Thank God for Chris's prostrate the size of a grapefruit.  So we went to the "Secret Gardens of Sandwich" which were beautiful, and strolled along the town "wall walk" and had a nice lunch before finally calling it a day and heading back to London.  It was a nice little getaway weekend in this nice little country of which we are privileged to be temporary residents.

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