Easter Vacation in France – 2003

Planning for this trip began in January when our friends, Tom and Jan Henderson, invited us to their vacation home in the south of France over the Easter holidays.  In most of Europe Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays as is the case in Belgium.  Rita and I decided to drive, even though it was a good distance away, since the budget airlines raise their prices over Easter weekend.  So our first part of the planning was getting new brakes on the Ford Explorer and a complete tune-up and oil change.  After this trip the old Explorer now has over 97,000 miles on the odometer.



We headed out on Wednesday morning, April 16, after a very early rise.  We were on the road by 7:00 am heading on the motorway towards Mons, Belgium and the French border, where we filled our gas tank before crossing the border.  In Belgium we get special discounted gasoline prices because of our diplomatic status but it doesn’t help us in France where we paid about $4 a gallon for gasoline.



Our driving conditions couldn’t have been better.  We had clear, blue skies and mild temperatures in the upper 70s.  Our first challenge was navigating around Paris but since we had lived there for two years we did just fine driving the famous Peripherique ring road that is always heavy with traffic.  We continued south on very good motorways – they should be nice since the tolls are quite high.  We stopped for a quick lunch in Orleans and continued on.  South of Paris the traffic, especially truck traffic, dropped considerably and we could drive about 80 miles per hour, which was the speed limit.  We made good time driving past Vierzon, Chateauroux, and Limoges into the Dordogne region of France. 



We had made reservations at a bed and breakfast called Domaine les Tuileries in the little village of Le Montat just south of Cahors.  So we stopped in Cahors and did a tour of the 14^th century bridge called Pont Valentre over the River Lot.  We had visited Cahors on our first European grand tour camping trip in 1977 and were impressed with the region immediately.  We stretched our legs and went into a shop to sample and buy some local Cahors red wine.  I like this dry, rich, red wine, which has the reputation throughout
France as ‘communion’ wine. 



After a cup of tea in an outdoor café we headed on towards our bed and breakfast destination which we discovered on the Gites de France website.  The website indicated that our hosts, Andre and Martine Carrier, spoke English, which was not the case in our emails.  And, in fact, it wasn’t the case in person either.  If they did speak English, they didn’t speak it to us and were happy to converse with us in our broken, mispronounced French.  But all went well and we checked into our homey room in a small addition next to their house.  We went for a walk in the woods and sat outside to read our books where we were delighted with the sounds of the horse neighing in the paddock next to us, and the cuckoos in the woods calling.  At first Rita thought someone had their windows open and a cuckoo clock but it soon became evident that there were many cuckoo clocks in the woods.



We had requested dinner at our B&B, which was an option they were happy to provide.  We were somewhat surprised to discover that we were having dinner with six other guests and our hosts at one big table but that was fine with us.  The conversation was mostly in French but two other guests spoke good English and occasionally included us in the dinner conversation. 



It turns out that Cahors is on the old trail pilgrims have taken since the 7^th century from Le Puy en Velay, France, to the shrine, St. Jacques de Compostelle, in Spain.  Today, pilgrims still follow the trail and all of the other guests were pilgrims on their way to St. Jacques de Compostelle.  Two couples, who were friends, do bits of the trail every year, gradually working their way along the trail – similar to the way some people hike the Appalachian Trail in the USA.  Another couple was doing the entire trail in one hike, which was to take several months.  He was Gilles Wicker, an interesting person who spoke good English since he was educated in the US and worked in San Francisco over 20 years in a French bakery.  Gilles now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his American wife and, while admittedly not religious, had a near death experience a few years ago and wanted to do the trail just to ‘thank someone’ for his survival.  We promised to look him up on our next visit to Rachel in North Carolina.



Dinner was excellent, a French ‘down home’ type of informal meal.  We began with a glass of the hosts’ homemade aperitif, which was strong.  The first course was a platter of sausages, pate and salad of lettuce fresh from the garden.  Next was the main course of the tastiest, juicy duck breast I’ve ever tasted along with a huge helping of very garlic flavored green beans.  All this came with as much red Cahors wine as one wanted.  A cheese course followed with local goats cheese (chevre) from Rocqueamadour.  Dessert was a fresh pear tart that Martine had baked, rich with a buttery crust.  With coffee afterwards we were quite pleased.  This cost a mere 15 Euros where in any restaurant it would have been triple the amount at least.



We slept great and the next morning’s breakfast was modest by comparison.  We had lots of black coffee, orange juice, brioche, bread, butter, homemade jams and honey.  After some more conversation we wished our pilgrims and hosts good luck and were on the road by 9:00 am.  We headed south on motorways past Toulouse and Carcassonne to Tom and Jan’s house in Boutenac.  They weren’t arriving until the next day so we opened up the house with keys they mailed us and turned on the electricity, water, etc.  We unpacked our bags and decided to visit Carcassonne, the Medieval, walled city that first impressed us so much in 1977.



Carcassonne still impresses us and after we finally found a parking place we entered the walled city in search of a restaurant.  We were too hungry to shop around and took the first nice restaurant we saw which turned out to be okay.  It was the Auberge de Dame Carcas where we had more lunch than we needed.  We started off with a large salad covered in pate de foie gras and magret de canard.  Then I had more duck while Rita had a local dish of pork in honey.  We had a nice local Minervois wine with the meal and desserts of chocolate cake and ice cream.  Needless to say, we spent the rest of the afternoon in a food coma, walking aimlessly around this pretty town.  We bought a few souvenirs and stopped at a grocery store for grocery items on the way back to Boutenac.  We relaxed in the evening reading our books and listening to the quiet.



Good Friday we slept in late, made ourselves a little breakfast and didn’t get going until mid morning.  We drove small, narrow back roads to Montseret where we found a shop selling honey, which we sampled and purchased.  We drove to the restaurant in Fontjoncouse where we had reservations for Easter Monday and reconfirmed those.  We also found another shop selling honey and purchased another bottle that will probably go hard before we get to it.  We took a pretty drive through what is called the Cathar country to Durban and Tuchon with the occasional Cathar castle ruins on the hills.



The Cathars were 12^th century heretics in the south of France who believed in dualism instead of the triune God so many were burned on the pyres and their castles destroyed.  The country is rugged, mountainous, limestone, and, except for the acres and acres of Corbieres grape vines, reminded us of the Texas hill country region.



In Tuchon we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant at the Hostellerie du Mont Tauch where both waitresses were very pregnant and the chef had a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.  Rita had a simple, but large, green salad while I had fresh gambas, or huge shrimp.  We had a half bottle of white Minervois wine, which tasted lemony. 



We continued on to Padern where we turned off along a pretty river road to Maisons, Davejean and Villerouge-Termenes.  In Villerouge-Termenes we toured the rebuilt castle and walked the old village streets.  Here, in 1321, Guillaume Belibaste, a Cathar priest or ‘parfait’ was burned at the stake.



We drove back to Boutenac and relaxed with a beer and our books until Tom and Jan with their son, Drew, and friend, Terry Joos, arrived in the afternoon.  We walked to the neighborhood bar, Bar de Boutenac, for a late dinner of steak, turkey, or chicken with frites.  We had a fun evening of catching up conversation and drinking red wine.



Saturday we sluggishly got ready and drove to a local wine cellar in the neighboring village of Gasparets where we bought local red Corbieres wine in bulk.  It is the custom in this region of good, cheap table wine to own large, plastic containers (5, 10 or 20 liters) and have them filled from large barrels through a nozzle that looks like a gasoline pump.  The cost of some of this good wine is as cheap as a dollar a bottle.  Initial investments are the large containers, corks, corker and other paraphernalia to wash and clean wine bottles that you save and use over.  So our next stop was to drive into Narbonne to get corks, a bottle drying tree and bottlebrush.  Tom and Jan also needed some other items for their house.



In the afternoon we drove to the pretty, hilltop town of Minerve, located in Haut Languedoc.  Minerve overlooks the Cesse River and the gorge it has worn into the limestone.  We walked around this pretty village and then down to the river for a peaceful rest stop.  On the way back to Boutenac we stopped to purchase more bulk Minervois wine.



We drove back to Boutenac where Al and Gayla Arnold had just arrived after their drive down from Geneva.  A large meal was prepared starting with fresh oysters (Rita and I don’t eat oysters), steamed mussels, spaghetti with sausage, and salad.  We had a nice evening talking and drinking red wine afterwards.



Easter Sunday we all slept in late.  After breakfast we all dyed Easter eggs.  Tom played the Easter bunny wearing rabbit ears for the morning.  Al and Drew bottled several bottles of wine on the back terrace.  For lunch we went to the nearby town of Lezignan-Corbieres with a table for eight at Le Tournedos restaurant.  They had several Easter special menus, all large and very good.  Portions were very large and we were filled after about three hours of eating.  I started off with a very large helping of pate de foie gras that was rich and smooth.  Next was a half langoustine that was the size of a lobster.  A steak accompanied with vegetables followed that course.  A large cheese plate was followed by dessert, a chocolate ice cream sundae.  We had pitchers of Corbieres wine and coffee at the end.



In the evening we all tried to go to Fontfroide Abbey as there was a performance by Gregorian chanters from Paris and a choir from Prague but the cost was quite expensive and we decided to go back to the house.  Instead we watched a DVD movie on a computer as we ate snacks and drank more red wine.



So Monday morning, Al and Gayla plus Rita and I drove to Fontfroide Abbey where we just made the 10:45 am tour.  This Cistercian abbey dates back to 1145 and has not suffered much damage over time.  Our tour was about an hour long and while it was in French, we had English guides to help us along.



Back in Boutenac we walked the flea market that had filled the town square but didn’t find anything we had to buy.  We all piled into two cars and drove the scenic drive to Fontjoncouse where we had a good, but pricey, meal at the Michelin two-star rated restaurant, Auberge du Vieux Puits.  It was a set menu for the day that covered six courses.  The courses were not large but we were full by the end of the meal.  Each course had several small parts to them and was beautifully presented.  First was an eggshell filled with a creamy egg in an asparagus sauce.  Next was scallops with a cream sauce of crustaceans and a spoonful of sorbet that was warmed up by pouring in chicken bouillon with anis flavor.  It was a strange hot and cold combination that tasted fine.  The next course was a small filet of sandre, a local white fish, with beet juice, sauces and other little doodads on the plate.  The main course was small servings of lamb in a potato crust and another eggshell filled with vegetables and chunks of meat in a rich sauce.  The cheese plate was next with each of us getting a small sampling of four local cheeses.  The final dessert course was a chocolate cake with pistachio sauce.  We also had coffee with several chocolate truffles to accompany it.  We started with a bottle of white wine, Clocher de Villelongue, and then had a bottle of fine Corbieres, Castelmaure No. 3.  We rolled out into the sunlight and took a group photo before pressing on.





We drove on to the pretty village of Albas but the winery we were looking for was closed.  We went back to Boutenac and I bottled three bottles of Corbieres and two bottles of Minervois to take home with us.  I also purchased several bottles of different wines in Cahors and the region around Boutenac.  I don’t know how we had room for any more food but Tom prepared a nice dish of paella with leftover sausage, duck, mussels, and green beans.  We ate late in the evening with more red wine to keep us going.



Rita and I were up fairly early to pack out and leave.  We said our goodbyes to Tom and Jan who rose to see us off.  Everyone else slept in late, which is understandable.  We would have liked to sleep in also but had to get on the road for the long trip back.  Fog had settled in for the first time and we had a slower than usual start taking the motorways to Narbonne, Beziers, Montpellier, Nimes, Orange, Montelimar, Valence and Lyon where we stopped for a quick lunch.  We pressed on through Villefranche, Macon, Chalon sur Saone, Beaune, and Dijon to Vittel where we left the motorway towards Epinal. 



In Epinal we got lost in downtown, saw a Mercure Hotel and checked in without reservations.  We cleaned up then called a very distant cousin, Lydia Sylvest-Franke, who was expecting our call.  She is an exchange student in Epinal who just found out she was accepted to university in Vancouver, Canada next year.  She met us at our hotel at 7:00 pm and we walked to the old town before settling on eating at Le Temple d’Angkor, a Thai restaurant.  We had excellent food and it was a nice change from the traditional French food we had been eating the last several days.  We had a great conversation with Lydia and were pleased to meet a new cousin.  We walked her home and planned to meet for breakfast in the morning.



Wednesday morning we drove to Lydia’s host family’s house and met her hosts, Annie and Marcel Mangin, plus their daughter, granddaughter and Lydia’s best friend.  We had a nice breakfast and struggled with our French again but luckily had Lydia to translate for us.  We took photos in the back yard and then left about 10:45 for our drive home.  We drove through Nancy, Metz and Luxembourg where it was a straight shot home.  All was fine at home but I finally realized that the nice vacation was ending and it was back to work in the morning.

Easter Trip to Istanbul - April 2007

  

We chose Istanbul for our Easter long weekend trip because, being primarily a Muslim country, we knew that everything would be open.  If we had remained in Athens or gone west we would have found nearly everything closed for Easter weekend.  So on Good Friday we flew Olympic Airlines to Istanbul arriving at our nice, small Dersaadet Hotel, in the center of the Sultanahmet district, before our room was ready.  We went to their rooftop terrace, with great views overlooking the Blue Mosque and Sea of Marmara, and had a cup of coffee.  Our room was ready soon, so we unpacked our suitcases and headed out on foot.



If it weren’t for the signs in Turkish, we could have easily thought we had arrived in Holland.  From the airport to our hotel the roads were lined with beautiful tulips in mid-bloom.  Everywhere we went there was a profusion of flowers, mostly tulips, in every conceivable color.  At other times Istanbul reminded me of San Francisco in that it had a beautiful bridge linking Europe and Asia, was hilly and set on the water, had a sounding of ships horns when the water was covered with fog, and there were several men’s bath houses called hamams – I guess I better quit comparing now or I may offend the Turks.



We walked a short distant to the Hippodrome which was at one time a gigantic stadium when Constantinople was the Byzantine capital.   In the park where the Hippodrome once sat were several columns; the column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, what’s left of the Serpentine Column, and the Egyptian Obelisk which was built in Luxor in 1500 BC, brought to Istanbul, and set upon a base made in the 4^th century AD showing Theodosius I and his family. 



Next we walked to the Basilica Cistern, considered one of the highlights of today’s Istanbul.  We walked down into the huge cistern which was built during the reign of Emperor Justinianus in the 6^th century.  It was nicely lit up and had a few feet of water with several fish swimming in it.  There are 12 rows each consisting of 28 Ionic and Corinthian style columns for a total of 336 marble columns.  Two columns have a base of a head of the Medusa, one placed upside down.  The Ottomans did not know of the cistern’s existence and it was only re-discovered and repaired in the 1960s and opened to the public in 1987 so we did not know of it during our first visit to Turkey.



This was our second trip to Turkey.  Our first trip was in 1975 when we lived in Teheran, Iran.  Strangely enough, both our trips to Istanbul were over Easter weekends.  We noticed changes, of course, one being that the city has grown to 20 million people now.  In 1975 I distinctly remember many taxis were US Dodges, Plymouths, and De Sotos from the 1950s.  Prices have gone up a great deal in comparison to Western Europe since 1975.  The Grand Bazaar had a large fire shortly after we visited in 1975 but has been nicely rebuilt.  And we seemed to think that many more young women today are wearing the scarf covering their hair than we remembered in 1975.  Perhaps this is a fundamentalist backlash? 



We continued our walk to the Topkapi Palace which we had also toured extensively in 1975.  Much was closed for renovations but we entered through the Gate of Salutations to the Divan, second courtyard, and through the Gate of Felicity.  We saw the Throne Room, Pavilion of the Holy Mantle (parts closed), Circumcision Pavilion and the Iftariye Pavilion.  We had lunch at the Konyali restaurant with beautiful views over the Sea of Marmara.  We saw the precious objects in the Treasury, the kitchens, and the Library of Ahmet III then headed out without viewing the Harem – since we saw that in 1975 we decided we didn’t want to crowd in with the hundreds of school kids on their day’s outing. 



We walked out the Imperial Gate and viewed the beautiful Fountain of Ahmet III.  Then we walked into Haghia Sophia which we didn’t tour on our first trip.  This church was completed in 537 and for nearly 1000 years it was the largest church in the world until St. Peter’s in Rome was built.  When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453 they turned it into a mosque.  Kemal Ataturk turned it into a museum in 1936.  Today it more resembles a mosque because of the minarets, ablutions fountain, mihrab, and minbar but many fine Byzantine mosaics still exist from the days when it was a church.



Finally, as dusk was setting in, we toured the Blue Mosque which gets its name from the blue Iznik tile work inside.  This huge mosque is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world.  It was built between 1609 and 1616 and upset many Muslims because it had six minarets which many considered a sacrilegious attempt to rival the great mosque in Mecca.  After touring this beautiful building we walked the few blocks to our hotel, through the Arasta Bazaar, which used to be the sultan’s horse stables,  and had our first, of several, Efes beers on the rooftop terrace.  We walked the short distance to Sultanahmet Koftecisi restaurant, an institution since 1920 serving very basic, yet good, fare.  Rita’s pedometer said we walked about 10 miles for the day and we retired exhausted.



Saturday we had our breakfast on the rooftop terrace overlooking a fairly foggy Sea of Marmara.  We walked to the Grand Bazaar and meandered (a word which comes from the Turkish river Meander) around until we came to the center or Ic Bedesten which used to be a large warehouse.  We found the 17^th century kiosk that was built as a coffee house but is a jewelers shop today.  We walked down Perdahcilar Sok and found a textile store that was recommended but Rita didn’t see anything she wanted to buy.  At another shop she bought a cotton ikat table cover – one of the few purchases we made.  Finally we walked out the Oruculer Gate and made our way to the Suleymaniye Mosque.



The Suleymaniye Mosque is one of Istanbul’s most important mosques and is where Suleyman the Magnificent is buried along with other sultans and family members.  It was more than a large, beautiful mosque.  It was known as a kulliye or charitable foundation and was surrounded by a hospital, kitchen (today a restaurant), schools, bath house, and a caravanserai which is a place that caravans could put up for the night – sort of a motel in its day.



Next we walked to the Spice Bazaar or Egyptian Bazaar as it is sometimes called.  This was our favorite market – hustling and bustling with lots of people and colorful displays.  It was lunchtime so we first tried to see if we could get into Pandeli’s restaurant even though our guide book said reservations were essential.  We were lucky and were given a table, one of the best because it had a small window overlooking the Spice Bazaar below.  Our meal was the best we had in Istanbul.  Rita ordered grilled sea bass while I had their specialty, sea bass in parchment paper.  Both were cooked to perfection and we ordered an assortment of fresh vegetables to go along with it.  We also had a nice white wine and really enjoyed the meal and setting. 



After lunch we walked more through the Spice Bazaar taking photos of the many signs about Turkish aphrodisiacs.  Many stalls had Iranian caviar, sweets, nuts, and spices.  We bought some coffee at Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, Istanbul’s oldest and most popular coffee shop.  Next we bought dried tomatoes from a colorful character who called himself the “Spice Boy”.  From the Spice Bazaar we walked past the New Mosque (built in the 17^th century) and across the Galata Bridge which was completed after we last visited Istanbul.  There were hundreds of fishermen with rods hoping to catch that big fish in the Golden Horn.



We crossed the Golden Horn to the newer part of Istanbul known as the Beyoglu district.  Here the Galata Tower, built in 1348 by the Genoese, dominates the skyline on the top of a hill.  We found Istanbul’s only underground train called the Tunel.  The Tunel only runs a short distance uphill, 550 yards, but when it was completed in 1875 it was the third in the world according to our guide book.  A plaque at the entrance says it was second after the London underground so take your pick.  We took it uphill where the pedestrian walkway known as Istiklal Caddesi stretches a good distance to Taksim Square.  Istiklal Caddesi is lined with several Starbucks, Norma Jean’s coffee shops, McDonalds, and Burger King as well as several other restaurants and swank shops.  In the middle runs a restored tram like the ones that used to run all over the city before taken out of service in 1966.  From Taksim Square we walked back to the legendary Pera Palas Hotel which opened in 1892 and used to cater to travelers of the Orient Express.  Noted guests were Mata Hari, Greta Garbo, Jackie Onassis, Sarah Bernhardt, Josephine Baker, and Agatha Christie who wrote “Murder on the Orient Express” in room 411.  We had hoped to get a drink but unfortunately found out that the hotel is closed several months for renovation.  By now our feet were tired so we caught a taxi back to our hotel and relaxed on the rooftop terrace with another Efes beer.



After a short rest we started out on foot once more and stopped to walk through the new Four Seasons Hotel that was once a prison.  We continued on to the Sirkeci Gari or train station which was built in 1890 as the terminus for the Orient Express train from Paris.  Here we watched a performance of the Whirling Dervishes doing their trance inspiring spinning dance in an exhibition hall.  We enjoyed the show, had front row seats, and captured some good photos and videos.  After the show we walked back to the restaurant section near our hotel and ate at Rumeli Café restaurant.  We started with a traditional mezze plate for two then Rita had an Anatolian dish called munti that consisted of meat filled pasta in a yogurt sauce.  I had an Ottoman dish of chicken rollups filled with raisins, pine nuts, and chicken livers in a red sauce.  Both were good but the service was awfully slow.  We walked back to our hotel via the Hippodrome where we watched the seagulls soaring continuously over the spotlighted minarets. 



By Sunday morning our feet were tired and our destination was quite a distance off in the suburbs.  We had considered taking a cruise up the Bosporus but we did that before and were afraid we might not see much due to fog so instead we caught a taxi to the Church of St. Saviour in Chora, which today is the Kariye Museum.  The present church dates from the 11^th century, was turned into a mosque by the Ottomans, but retained some of the finest Byzantine mosaics and frescoes anywhere.  After touring and viewing we caught another taxi to Tunel Square in Beyoglu district.  On the way we had a good, talkative taxi driver who pointed out the old, massive city walls at this westernmost part of the old Byzantine city of Constantinople, the small remaining Jewish section, the small remaining Greek section, and the cast iron Church of St. Stephen of the Bulgarians that was built in Vienna in 1871, shipped to the Golden Horn, and assembled on its shores.



Our first stop near Tunel Square was the Mevlevi Monastery where the mystical branch of Islam known as Sufism was centered.  Here we saw the 18^th century lodge with octagonal wooden dance floor where the Sufis, better known as Whirling Dervishes, performed their spinning dances.  Once more we walked up Istiklal Caddesi stopping at a beautiful arcade called Cicek Pasaji that was once a flower market but today houses several restaurants.  We sat down at one called Cinar for a lunch of artichoke hearts filled with peas, carrots, and potatoes, grilled eggplant, stuffed grape leaves (dolmas) and some cheese filled pastries.  After lunch we walked to Taksim Square once more and then downhill to Dolmabahce Palace.



For several hours we toured the Dolmabahce Palace getting an all encompassing ticket that covered the state apartments, known as Selamlik, and the Harem.  This is an impressive palace oddly built as the Ottoman Empire was in decline.  We saw the swan fountain, crystal staircase, the Sufera Salon, the Red Room, and the Ceremonial Hall with the heaviest chandelier in the world.  The Harem had impressive living quarters and we saw the bedroom where Ataturk died in 1938.  All clocks in the palace are stopped at the time that Ataturk died.  Finally we caught a taxi back to our hotel for another refreshing Efes on the rooftop terrace.



Later in the evening we walked to Sarnic restaurant that was recommended by my brother, David, who was in Istanbul just two weeks before us.  The setting for Sarnic is impressive as it is in an ancient Roman cistern, cavernous, and dimly lit.  We had a nice meal starting with a shrimp cocktail for Rita and warm dolmas with a paprika and yogurt sauce for me.  For mains Rita had grilled bream and I had the catch of the day, bonito.  We had a nice Turkish white wine with the meal and for dessert Rita chose fried bananas and pineapples with ice cream while I had marinated apricots and figs stuffed with walnuts. 



Monday we had no time for touring, just a quick breakfast on the rooftop terrace once more, a taxi to the airport and our flight home.  We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend trip to Istanbul and can highly recommend Turkey to the intrepid traveler.

Dresden, Germany, and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic - Nov. 2003

November 2003

We had tried to get to Dresden a year ago last summer but the flooding of the Elbe River had closed the city to all visitors.  At that time we were content to spend our time in Leipzig and Altenburg where my great-great-grandfather, Ernst August Franke, was born in 1806.  On this trip we finally were able to make it to Dresden and other places Ernst Franke wrote about in his travels.  Tuesday, November 11, was a holiday so I took off Monday for a four-day weekend.  At the last moment we decided we should take off Friday noon to get down the road a way.



So on my birthday, Friday, November 7, we headed east of Brussels through Aachen and Koln (Cologne) to Geissen, Germany.  The scenery past Koln was of a pretty autumn countryside with reds, yellows, oranges, and brown colors mixed in with evergreen pines.  As it became dark early we were treated to a beautiful full moonrise ahead of us.  In Geissen we found the US military base, gassed up the car and found our guest housing on base.  The base at Geissen is pretty basic and we were tired so we ordered a pizza and salad delivered to our room and ate dinner in front of the TV.



Saturday morning we woke fairly early and were on the road by 8:00 am.  We stopped at one of the ever-present McDonalds and had an Egg McMuffin for breakfast.  We headed east along autobahns A5 to A7 to A4 where we zipped past Erfurt (Buchenwald monument in the distance), Weimar, Jena, Gera, Chemnitz and finally to Dresden where we arrived about noon.  Driving German autobahns is not as nice as it used to be.  Maybe it’s because we were in former East Germany where rebuilding is at a fast pace but it seemed that there is much heavier traffic than before with open borders and construction about every 30 miles so that we had to constantly slow down to two very narrow lanes.  And so many trucks!



We checked into our very nice Radisson hotel built in an old historic building.  Soon we were walking and looking for a place to eat.  We had a nice lunch of goulash soup, bratwurst and Paulaner beer, which we shared in a restaurant called Gansedieb.  Thus fortified, we were able to continue with our sightseeing.  It was cold with a stiff wind but clear skies and bright sunshine.  I should point out here that Dresden has had some bad luck over the years.  I don’t know the complete history but in 1760 much of the city was destroyed in the Seven Years War.  I think Napoleon also won a major battle in Dresden.  In recent times, the Allies bombed it the night of February 13, 1945, just a few months before the end of the war.  In that bombing a firestorm destroyed 75% of the city and over 100,000 people were killed – most incinerated.  Then Dresden lived under 50 years of communist regulations and last summer suffered its worst flooding in history.  So, it’s amazing that the city has been rebuilt so well.  It’s known in Europe as “the Florence of the Elbe”. 



We walked to the nearby Kreuzkirche (or church of the cross) and took a quick look inside.  This church is the oldest in Dresden and is still undergoing reconstruction from damage during World War II.  From here it was a short walk across the old market place to the Zwinger Museum.  The Zwinger is the best example of German Baroque architecture and was built in the early 1700s under the reign of Augustus II (known as Augustus the Strong).  From its concept it was used as an art gallery and Augustus the Strong and his son collected some of the best art of their day.  Luckily much of the art was safely hidden in 1945 and not destroyed.  The Zwinger is shaped in a square with different galleries along each side.  The first part we visited is called the Semper Gallery or Old Masters Gallery.  Unfortunately we didn’t have time to take it in slowly but did see tapestries by Raphael, paintings by Italian, Dutch, Spanish and German masters such as Rembrandt, Ruben, Jan van Eyck, Vermeer, Tintoretto, Titian, Botticelli, El Greco, and Raphael’s most famous painting, Sistine Madonna. 



In another gallery we saw suits of armor and weapons such as lances, swords, and early muskets.  They were the top of the line with encrusted jewels in the sword handles, ornate ironwork and armor plates for horses and a special children’s armor section.  A special section on jousting had two life size models of horses with riders in armor, shields and lances about to make contact.  It was the best display of armor we have seen anywhere.



From there we moved across the Zwinger to the Porcelain Collection, which was of more interest to Rita than to me.  However, I did find the history of Meissen porcelain interesting and the work was of the best craftsmanship.  Next we visited the Salon of Mathematics and Physics in the Zwinger, which had an interesting, but small, display of globes, thermometers, barometers, astrolabes, and mainly clocks and watches.  The clocks were most intricate and displayed much more than mere time.   



We left the Zwinger and made our way to another museum called the Albertinum, a one-time arsenal that was transformed into a museum in 1884.  Our main objective in the Albertinum is called the Green Vault Collection (Grunes Gewolbe) and is an exhibit of jewels and treasury collected by the kings of Saxony, especially Augustus the Strong.  I also saw a ring and book that belonged to Martin Luther.  There was much gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, pearls, and precious stones of all sorts. 



From the Albertinum we walked along the riverbank and then viewed the outside of the Semper Opera House, the Dresden cathedral, the Dresden Schloss (castle), and the mosaic of Meissen tiles called the Furstenzug.  The Furstenzug was built in 1906 and shows a chronological parade of the rulers of Saxony on horseback.  It is longer than a football field and about 50 feet high alongside the Dresden Schloss exterior.



By now it was dark and we were tired and hungry.  We found a restaurant in the square between the opera, cathedral, and castle.  The square is called Theaterplatz and the restaurant is called Schinkelwache cafe.  It was formerly a guardhouse.  We each had fish; Rita had salmon and I had sea trout.  We had a local Saxon white wine and desserts, which were the restaurant’s best achievements.



While walking back to our hotel we came across a new shopping area with a large, new shopping mall.  We were surprised to find most shops open until 9:00 pm, which is not common in Germany for a Saturday.  I think it may have been a special promotion night for shopping and not the usual case.  Back at our hotel we noticed that we were given a room with a Jacuzzi tub for two so we filled it and relaxed in what they called an ‘air bath’. 



Sunday we were out of our room about 9:00 am and just had coffee and croissants in the lobby ‘grab and run breakfast’ which was free.  Again it was sunny with a cold easterly breeze but we walked to the riverbank and the Bruhische Terrace for good views of the east bank of Dresden.  We crossed the Elbe River on the Carolabrucke Bridge and stopped for photos of the Dresden waterfront. 



On this side of the Elbe we were the first to arrive at the Museum of Saxon Arts and Crafts when it opened at 10:00 am.  Since my great-great-grandfather was a cobbler I had hoped they would have something on this craft but they didn’t.  It was still interesting since they had furniture, clothes, toys and other crafts from all areas of Saxony.  Saxon furniture was similar to Bavarian furniture in that it was brightly colored, usually with a date painted on, and sometimes the name of the builder or owner of the furniture.  Most of the furniture was dated in the late 1700s and early 1800s so it was representative of the type of furniture my ancestor probably was raised with.



After we finished at the museum we walked a little further along and viewed the gilded statue of Augustus the Strong on horseback before re-crossing the Elbe back into Dresden city center.  We walked around the cathedral to the Schloss once more and viewed the inter courtyard called Langer Gang.  We had a good lunch at the Paulaner café associated with the very nice Kempinski Hotel.  I had my wiener schnitzel and Rita had sauerbraten.  For dessert I had apple strudel and Rita had a local dessert, which was a semmelknodel with vanilla sauce.



We walked back to the Zwinger and climbed to the rooftop terrace where we took more photos in the bright sunlight.  We walked past the Wall Pavilion and viewed the Nymphenbad which is a fountain called the Bath of the Nymphs.  Next we walked to the nearby Semper Opera House and took a tour of the interior.  The tour was conducted only in German so we didn’t get much from the narration.  After that we walked to the Hilton Hotel and looked at current Meissen porcelain and I was surprised how expensive it was.  We had a cup of tea at an outside table in the sunshine and waited for a tour of the Frauenkirche, one of the most beautiful Lutheran churches in Europe, which was destroyed in the 1945 bombing.  It is being restored and should be completed in 2006.  Our tour took us into the restored basement but we couldn’t see anything of the church interior except photos taken in the late 1930s.  We went back to our hotel to rest and later in the evening returned to the Gansedieb restaurant for a light snack and glass of wine.



Monday we had a big breakfast brunch in our hotel, checked out and were away about 9:30 am.  We drove south out of Dresden and found beautiful, old neighborhoods along the Elbe River that were big mansions appearing to have been built in the late 1800s.  We made our way to Pillnitz where we could see the chateau from the road but we didn’t have time to take a tour.  We drove further south into the region known as Sachsische Schweiz or Swiss Saxony.  As we climbed up into the hills the sky became more overcast and we were enveloped in a low fog bank.  We made it to the national park and overlook called the Bastei.  We parked the car and walked out to this lookout, which had terrific views of the Elbe River (see our website).  It was cold, damp and windy – we zipped up our coats, put up our hoods and put on our gloves.  The rocky cliffs were picturesque but we had to hurry back to the car with no time for a hike.  Maybe some other time.



The road took us downhill to Bad Schandau and we crossed the Elbe River once more.  We saw the fortress castle called Konigstein by the roadside.  We drove nearly back into Dresden and at Heidenau took a scenic road to Altenberg near the Czech border.  This is not the same Altenburg where my ancestor was born.  We hit fog and frost that was sticking to the trees and to the road in some places.  We took scenic, curvy back roads through Rehefeld, Holzhau, Rechenberg-Bienenmuhle, Neuhausen, and finally our destination of Seiffen.  Seiffen got us into the Christmas mood since it is a small village where the art of Christmas woodcarving started.  There are dozens of shops selling wooden toys, nutcrackers, incense smokers, candle pyramids, and the Erzgebirgean arches known as Schwibbogen.  After a little shopping and a bratwurst at a sidewalk trailer we headed back on the road. 



We headed west through Olbernhau to Zoblitz where Ernst August Franke said he went for a cure.  In his diary he wrote, “On June 30, 1824, I started my voyage to Dresden.  After spending one year in this beautiful city I took ill but soon recovered after taking some health baths in Zoblitz and Karlsbad.”  Zoblitz is a small village and we couldn’t see any sign of a cure house but this is the region where many thermal springs exist.  We pressed on towards the Czech Republic through Marienberg, Annaberg-Buchholz and the border town of Oberwiesenthal. 



We crossed into the Czech Republic and down the mountain pass to the town of Bozi Dar and saw our first prostitute trying to flag us down from the roadside.  Rita saw many more prostitutes on her first trip here last year – apparently it is a thriving business.  We drove to Karlovy Vary in the dark and promptly got lost upon arrival.  Every American I know who has driven to Karlovy Vary got lost in town.  It took us about an hour, stopping to ask several people with limited English skills, stopping at a gasoline station and buying a better map before we found good directions to the Pupp Hotel where we checked into our room. 



We had a very good meal with a Czech red wine in the grand, formal dining room of our hotel.  Service was first class with waitresses decked out in little French maids costumes.  After our meal we took a little walk in the pedestrian walk area free of traffic.  It was also free of people as this is not the main season for tourists.  Karlovy Vary has a 600-year history of balneology, as they call it, or health baths for various cures.  King Charles IV founded the town in 1350 and, when my ancestor came here, it was a part of Germany known as Karlsbad.  Charles, Carl, Karola, and Karl are all interchangeable.  The town has 12 curative thermal springs, which cure “disorders of the digestive system, metabolic disorders and disorders of the locomotive organs.”  We saw several old cure houses and dozens of thermal fountains, which had signs giving the temperature of each spring.



Tuesday morning we set our alarms and woke early since we had a long drive ahead of us.  We had a good breakfast buffet in our hotel formal dining room again and then set out for a walk to see Karlovy Vary in daylight and take photos.  There still were very few people out, mostly locals it seemed.  But most of us had our little drinking cups and I sampled about a dozen springs, filling my gut with rust no doubt.  I feel like a better person for it!



We checked out and were on the road about 9:30 navigating our way out of town much better than into town.  We retraced our drive to the border but turned west on scenic, windy roads to Tellerhauser, Ehrenzipfel, Rittersgrun, Pohla and the big town of Schwarzenberg.  This road was all that much more scenic since we had a heavy frost overnight and the forest were filled with perfect evergreen Christmas trees that looked as if they were flocked with snow.  This area of Germany had much mining of all sorts but the road we were on was called the Silver Road.  In Aue we looked for the Esso station that couldn’t be found, hit a roadblock sign, and had to backtrack with a small amount of gasoline.  I should explain that in Germany we get Esso gasoline coupons we can use for half the normal price.  We headed north to Stollberg where we entered the autobahn towards Chemnitz then turned west on autobahn A4 again where we finally found an Esso station with our low gasoline light flashing.  The rest of the trip was a long drive retracing our path to Brussels where we arrived about 8:30 pm.  Early to bed and late to rise but back to work the next day.



We enjoyed the trip and found much more we would like to have seen and explored.  Dresden’s highlights are compactly located and can be seen in a short time but it may be a few years before restoration of all the major monuments is completed.  I would really like to come back in about five years and spend more time in both Saxony and Bohemia – maybe in the late summer.

Day Trip to Zeeland, Holland

Rita and I just returned from a very nice day out.  Actually, Friday night we had planned to get up Saturday, pack a bag and make a two day trip to Zeeland, Holland, overnighting somewhere along the way - totally unplanned.  We woke up Saturday morning to a storm blowing with heavy winds and rain.  As the day progressed, the weather did get better but the sun didn't come out until about 4:00 pm.  Too late to get started.  So we said we would see what the weather would be like Sunday and maybe make a day trip.

Sunday (today) we woke to clear skies, bright sunshine, almost no wind and moderate temperatures.  Not a typical January day in Belgium.  So we ate a quick breakfast, packed cameras,  maps, water, coats, gloves, etc. and were out the door shortly before 10:00 am.

We headed north on motorway E-19 towards Antwerp where we took the ring road around the center of Antwerp.  One of the nice features of Michelin maps is that scenic roads are marked in green.  We decided to take highway N-11 which is indicated as a scenic road.  It was a very nice suburban village road with large houses, many of which had thatched roofs, a surprise to us.  The thatching was just like the ones in England.  As we crossed the border into Holland, in the little village of Putte, the highway changed to N-289.  Why, I don't know. 

But the land was alternating farms and woods.  And one can definitely tell when they enter Holland.  Holland is neat!  In the sense of manicured, tidy, orderly.  I think the Dutch taught the Germans how to organize!  And every road has a bicycle path alongside.  Sometimes the bicycle path is just as wide as the road, which isn't very wide.  And the Dutch do love their bicycles.  One sees not only children and teenagers on bicycles but middle aged and elderly people, too.  And on a pretty day like today the bicycle paths were crowded.

Eventually we came to another motorway, E-312, which is also A58.  The A-58 is the number Holland gives to the road within its borders while E-312 indicates that the road eventually crosses an international border and continues on with that number all across Europe.  Confusing to the navigator sometimes.  We headed west on E-312 actually entering the area known as Zeeland once we crossed over the Schelde River.  In 1810, Napoleon declared that Zeeland was little more than "the silt thrown up by French rivers".  But the Dutch have built a network of dykes, canals and dams to keep the North Sea back and provide fertile farm land.  We saw many orchards of fruit trees but we didn't know what kind of fruit.

Zeeland is where the Roosevelt family migrated from to the Americas.  My experience with Dutch people is that they are friendly but dead set in their ways, and determined to tell you how you should live your life - whether you ask or not.  Sounds like FDR in many ways.  Zeeland has flooded many times in the past.  In 1421 the North Sea almost covered Zeeland.  A hurricane in 1953 sent sea water as far as Rotterdam drowning more than 1,800 people.  And in 1944 the Allies bombed areas to let flood waters flush out the Nazi troops entrenched in bunkers along the coast.  We saw many remnants of bunkers in the area off the roadside.

We followed the motorway to the end at Vlissingen, a port on the North Sea.  We parked the car and walked into town which seemed pretty deserted at 11:30 am.  Incidently, Vlissingen translates to Flushing, the New York City suburb that once was close to New Amsterdam.  We walked down to the seafront promenade, a nice walk with views of the North Sea and lined with old cannons and windmills.  We stopped for a coffee and tea, more to use their restroom than interest in a drink.  After a nice walk we headed back to the car.  I should mention that we didn't bother to change any money into Dutch guilders - this was unplanned, remember.  We had about $10 worth of Dutch coins so we had to be careful that we didn't overspend or else use a credit card wherever possible. 

We headed on backroads to Koudekerke and Zoutelande to Westkapelle at the far western end of Zeeland.  This area is known as the Zeeland Riviera, a string of pretty small seaside villages with long, sandy beaches.  The people were out in force walking or bicycling along the paths at the top of the sand dunes.  We parked the car and walked up one set of sand dunes to view the ocean and army tank I saw from the road.  It turned out to be a Sherman tank, part of a memorial to British special forces who invaded the beach area in 1944.  We drove along through Domburg and turned inward to Middelburg, a pretty medieval town that began as a 9th century fortress against the Normans.  The fort expanded into a real settlement in 1150 when an abbey was built.  We parked the car and walked quiet back alleys to the abbey then to the main market square with a beautiful town hall.  Again, the town was almost deserted.  We couldn't find any restaurant open that we liked so we headed back to the car and further north.

We took N-57 across a long causeway that crosses a small island called Neeltje Jans.  There is something here called Water Land or Delta Expo which we didn't have time to visit.  I'm not even sure it was open in January.  But it is a series of dykes, sluice gates and storm-surge barriers that offer tours to visitors.  We plan to return.

Our next stop was the village of Zierikzee which one of our guide books called the best preserved town in Holland.  It is an 11th century town with canals surrounding the village and remnants of town walls and entry gates still standing.  The streets are cobblestone and narrow - many are closed to auto traffic.  We walked around the beautiful town for a while then decided we were quite hungry.  We found a restaurant that looked promising and were their first customers after they opened their doors at 4:00 pm.  We enjoyed an excellent meal.  Rita started with tomato soup while I had onion soup.  Both were good and took the chill off.  Next Rita had fresh trout in almonds and white wine sauce while I had a plate with three different fresh fish.  Our waitress's English wasn't excellent and she wasn't sure what all the names of my fish were in English.  I know I had salmon and sole, and I think cod fillets in dill sauce.  The meal came with plenty of winter vegetables, potatoes and a salad.  It was a hearty, good meal which we washed down with a half carafe of Chenin Blanc dry, white wine.  For dessert we split a crepe (they called it a pannkake) filled with ice cream and drizzled in chocolate sauce, almonds and cream.  Coffee and tea finished out the great meal.  And they took credit cards!

After that big meal we had to walk some more just as sun had set and the town lights were coming on.  We saw the heart of Zierikzee, a large square surrounded by old, delightful houses, some leaning to one side or the other or forward towards the street.  Some had dates in the early 1600s and a few had dates in the mid 1500s.  A small canal came into one end of the square with old boats that were part of a Maritime Museum.  The town was nearly deserted but the Dutch don't put curtains on their houses and we could look into their living rooms and see their fireplaces, dogs, families, etc.  The town reminded me of Annapolis but without tourists.  It definitely requires a re-visit.

We returned to the car and headed back home, crossing the Oosterschelde on the N-256 over a long bridge.  Once we arrived at E-312 we retraced our route with the exception of taking A-4 (in Holland but A-12 once we crossed into Belgium) back into Antwerp.  It was dark and the lights of Antwerp's harbors and refineries reminded us of Houston.  Antwerp is Belgium's second largest city and biggest port.  We arrived home about 8:30 and realized we can get to Zeeland in about 1 1/2 hours from our house.  It's not all that far.

Damme Day Trip - April 1, 2001

It was another dry, sunny, mild day so we decided we could do two day-trips in a row.  We didn’t get away until noon but headed west this time on E-40 past Aalst and Gent onto highway N44 in the town of Aalter.  We took back roads to our destination, the small town of Damme on the north side of Brugge.  Damme is a very pretty town on the Zwin estuary.  It served as Brugge’s outer harbor and specialized in the wine trade.  The marriage of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York was celebrated here in 1468 but by the end of the 15^th century it was in decline as Brugge was.  Today Damme is mostly nice restaurants and a few shops.  There is the pretty, small Stadhuis dating from the 15^th century, St. Jans hospital founded in the 13^th century and the 13^th century Onze Lieve church as the major tourist sights.  We walked throughout the town, which didn’t take long, and settled on De Lieve restaurant for lunch.



We had another excellent, three-hour lunch starting out with an amuse bouche of shellfish, scallops and salmon.  The first course was a huge serving of fresh white asparagus covered in a chopped, deviled egg sauce.  They were good but we still prefer the green asparagus.  The main course was nicely presented and was fillet of sole topped with hops sprouts, which we were told just came into bloom and only last for three weeks, and covered with a beure blanc sauce.  It was accompanied by sliced eggplant covered with caviar, dried tomato and a little pot of puree potatoes with black truffle flakes on top.  We had a nice Sancerre wine with the meal and turned down dessert.  We had tea and coffee, which are always accompanied by little chocolates anyway, so who needed dessert?



After that big lunch we decided we needed to walk a little more.  We walked along the canal on a path crowded with bicycle riders and walkers as the temperature was up in the 60s and there was plenty of nice sunshine.  Since we usually get lots of leftover rain that England doesn’t want, sunshine is highly praised.  A little way out of town alongside the canal is a nice old windmill.  This part of Belgium looks very much like Holland.



We walked back to the car and took back roads again north to Holland.  We drove to Cadzand Bad, parked the car and walked to the top of the sand dunes to view the North Sea.  From here we headed east taking small roads where we could stop and watch baby lambs beside the road (but safely behind a fence with mama).  We saw many more windmills and quaint little houses and prosperous looking farms.  After a while we decided to go home crossing back into Belgium in a little town called Eede then back into Brussels much the same way we came.

Carnival in Venice, Italy – 2003

 

Our trip to Venice began on Friday afternoon, February 28.  We drove to the small airport in Charleroi, Belgium, which is used by the cut-rate airline, Ryan Air.  Charleroi is about 45 minutes south of Brussels and has long-term parking where we kept our car.  Our flight to Treviso, Italy was a little over an hour and a bus took us into Mestre where we checked into the Ramada Hotel for our stay.  We unpacked, read a little and turned in to sleep.



Mestre is on the mainland or, terra firma, as the Italians call it.  The Ramada had a shuttle bus service for a small fee that took us into Venice and dropped us off at Piazzale Roma, a large area with parking garages plus bus and taxi terminals.  There is also a large train station nearby.  All of this is at the end of a causeway that is the main way to get to Venice.  There is no motor traffic in Venice; not even motorcycles.  From Piazzale Roma you either walked or took boats.  The three main kinds of boats are vaporettos, water taxis and gondolas.  Vaporettos are the main public transportation and these boats can take from 50 to 100 people at a time.  They are the cheapest form of transportation except for walking.  Water taxis carry about ten people maximum and cost quite a lot.  Gondolas are the old fashioned method of transportation, are rowed by one gondolier, and cost about $100 for two for a 45-minute ride.  In 1977 we visited Venice and, along with the girls, did a gondola ride on the canals of Venice so we didn’t feel obligated to do it again.



We woke early Saturday to a heavy fog, had our hotel buffet breakfast and took the first bus to Venice.  We proceeded to walk and, as we did, the mid-morning fog burned off to a clear, sunny but cool day.  We walked to the church of San Rocco (St. Roch) and had a look at the interior with many paintings by the Italian artist Tintoretto.  Nearby we went into the church called I Frari, a very large church with several paintings by famous Italian artists, the only one I knew being Titian, who is also buried in this church.  In front of I Frari was our first carnival poser in costume, posing for her professional photographer plus all of us amateurs. 



We stopped for a coffee at an outdoor café and began seeing many others in costumes.  Some were quite elaborate while some were sort of like Halloween costumes.  We made our way to the Rialto Bridge, the main bridge over the Grand Canal and much photographed.  Rita and I took photos of each other here then walked on to Piazza San Marco (or St. Mark’s Square), the main center of Venice with the San Marco Basilica, Ducale Palace and much more.  The crowds were enormous and there were many more elaborate costumes on posers in St. Mark’s Square 



We bought a three-day vaporetto pass and decided to head to the island of Lido to get away from the crowds for a while.  In Lido we walked to a restaurant called Gran Viale that was recommended by a friend.  We had a good lunch then walked to the beach area, which was mainly closed.  Through the fog we could see the Adriatic Sea.  We walked back to the boat dock and caught another boat back to San Marco square.  We walked to Campo San Zaccaria with its pretty church, which had many paintings by Tintoretto.  We also discovered that San Zaccaria was a good place to photograph posers in great costumes.  It was a fairly quiet square with good backgrounds for the posers.  We took some of our best photos here.



We walked a lot in the afternoon taking small back alleys along canals to Campo San Maria Formosa and back to San Marco.  There were thousands of people now and it was getting late.  We walked west past San Moise, Campo San Maurizie, Campo San Stefano, and crossed the Grand Canal at Accademia.  There were pretty little shops all along the way and it was crowded with people coming and going.  We bought sandwiches at a small bar and took them back to our hotel room for a light dinner.  Rita’s pedometer said we walked 7.7 miles today.



On Sunday we woke to overcast skies but no rain.  We took the early bus into Venice and began walking from Piazzale Roma in a different direction to the Rialto Bridge.  We made our way to San Marco Square, which was still filled with thousands of people.  We were able to get a window table at Caffe Quadri, a famous coffee shop founded in 1775.  It introduced Turkish coffee to the Venetians. 



Because of the crowds, we thought it was a good time to visit the other islands.  We caught a vaporetto to Burano but it took about an hour since it stopped in Lido, Punta Sabbioni and Treporti.  Burano is a pretty little village with brightly colored houses.  The story is that the people painted their houses bright so the fishermen could find their way home in the fog.



We walked through the small town and had a good lunch at Da Romano.  I had a starter of gnocchetti pasta with shrimp while Rita had shrimp risotto.  For main course Rita had sole while I had fried scampi and calamari.  We had a nice local white wine with the meal and split an apple strudel for dessert. 



Then we caught the vaporetto to the island of Murano, famous for its glass blowing factories.  We visited several show rooms filled with famous Murano glass, which is expensive.  We even saw one glass blower open on a Sunday for the tourists.  We didn’t buy very much at all here and once more took the vaporetto to Venice at the Fond Nuove stop.  We walked a new route back to Piazzale Roma north of the Grand Canal.  We walked along Strada Nuova through the Ghetto (Jewish section) and Labia Palace and crossed the Grand Canal at Ponte degli Scalzi Bridge.  Back at the hotel we had our first meal in the hotel restaurant and were surprised that is was actually very good with large portions.



By Monday we were tiring and decided to sleep in late.  We didn’t sleep in very late but caught the 10:00 am bus into Venice.  We caught the vaporetto number 1 that takes one along the entire length of the Grand Canal to San Marco Square.  It was a beautiful ride.  We found that there were still large crowds but they were smaller than the weekend.  We went into Harry’s Bar where a Bellini cost 13 Euros or about $15.   We declined.  We took the elevator up the Campanile (bell tower) in San Marco Square and had great views of Venice.  We found a small bar called Piero e Mauro where we had a great crostini or open-faced sandwich.  We found many posers to photograph especially back at Campo San Zaccaria.  We walked to the old theater, La Fenice and then to the Rialto Bridge.  Rita bought herself some masks, watch and earrings.  We walked back to San Marco Square where we went into the Basilica.  We saw the mosaics on the ceilings, the pretty tiled floors and the Pala d’Oro or gold alter piece.  We climbed up into the Galleria with great views of the piazza below with hundreds of people. 



By evening we had walked some more and finally stopped at Al Calice restaurant for a pizza.  We went back to San Marco Square as it is pretty lit up at night.  We caught the same vaporetto number 1 along the Grand Canal back to Piazzale Roma.  The boat ride was beautiful at night with the numerous palaces lit up.  Occasionally you could see an interior room lit up with its old wood beamed ceilings and Murano chandeliers. 



Tuesday was the last day of Carnival and our last full day in Venice.  We caught the early bus to Venice and again took vaporetto number 1 along the Grand Canal to San Marco Square.  We had beautiful weather, clear, sunny skies so we sat in the sunshine at an outdoor café in San Marco Square for a lingering cup of coffee.  We toured the Ducal Palace, which took most of the morning.  Highlights were the walk along the Bridge of Sighs to the prison cells and the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, which is the biggest room in the palace.  It is 14,000 square feet and is the Grand Council Chamber in English. 



Once more we walked to Campo Zaccaria for our final photos of posers and had lunch at Ostaria Al Mascaron near Campo Santa Maria Formosa.  It was a noisy neighborhood restaurant crowded with locals.  Rita and I had green salads then had a sea bass large enough for two.  After lunch we stopped at a bakery where Rita had a torta della nonna (grandmother’s cake) while I had a carnival pastry called Venezia.  We people-watched then walked to Rialto Bridge where we had our Bellini drink at an outdoor café right on the bank of the Grand Canal.  It was a nice way to say goodbye to Venice.



Ash Wednesday we caught a taxi to the train station in Mestre and our bus back to the Treviso airport.  Our flight back to Brussels was uneventful with great views of the snow-covered Alps.  We were tired after this trip having averaged about seven miles of walking every day. 

Weekend Trips from Canberra, Australia

Here are a few trips to places that Rita and I enjoy.  They are not in any order of preference.  The furthest trip is about four hours away.  Since we don’t have small children at post we generally tend to stay at places where families might not stay.



First, Pebbly Beach is great for US visitors.  You won’t see as many kangaroos as at Tidbinbilla but you’ll see plenty and they’ll eat out of your hands.  As will the crimson rosellas and king parrots.  Take the highway to Batemans Bay and turn left (north).  About 20 kilometers from the turn there will be a sign to Pebbly Beach on a gravel road.  It’s a right turn coming from Batemans Bay but easy to miss and drive past.  Take it slow on the road which gets worse as you drive down the hill at the end.  But the drive is worth the effort.  Be sure to take sunflower seeds for the birds and rabbit food for the kangaroos.  Swimsuits too since the beach is very nice.  To the right side of the beach (facing the ocean) are some good seashell collection places.  If you want to stay in this pretty place, contact Pebbly Beach Cabins on (044) 786-023 for details.  Or camp out at the campsite.



Batemans Bay is a nice town with beaches, campgrounds, motels, and holiday rentals but Rita and I have never stayed there. However, two places we like to eat in Batemans Bay are Rendezvous coffee shop (for sandwiches and light snacks) and Jamison’s On the Pier, (044) 726-405, for good seafood.



On the way to Batemans Bay (or on the way back) you will pass through the towns of Bungendore and Braidwood.  Bungendore is first, just a few kilometers from Queanbeyan, where you should stop to see the Bungendore Wood Works if nothing else.  Braidwood is a nice “western” town.  Park the car and walk around.  There are some good restaurants, coffee shops, bakery plus a few pottery and art galleries and other shops.  This is where the movie “Ned Kelly”, with Mick Jagger in the lead role, was filmed.  The visitor information center has a walking tour guide and local drives brochure.



Further south of Batemans Bay is a little town of Mogo with a large assortment of antique and craft shops.  Further on is the town of Narooma and a few kilometers further is Tilba Tilba where Rita and I have stayed several times at Green Gables.  Contact Gwen Hales on (044) 737-435 and tell her Woody and Rita sent you.  Gwen only has three rooms so booking is essential.  And be prepared for a large, cooked breakfast with her little dog, Jessie, begging for food.  Be sure to visit Narooma and arrange (in advance) for the Montague Island cruise.  The tickets can be purchased at the Narooma Visitors Center, (044) 762-881.  Two boats go out about 5:00 pm in summer and the visitors center will know about 2:00 or 3:00 if the tour is still on.  The entry to the bay is shallow so if the weather is bad, the trips will be canceled.  But the trips are well worth the costs.  You’ll get a ranger guided tour of the lighthouse and island then at dusk you’ll sit on bleachers to watch the small penguins come ashore and walk right past you.  It’s quite a treat and you won’t have the crowds (of tourists) you have at Phillip Island in Victoria.  But these tours book up early so check ahead of going.  If you like seafood, eat at Simply Seafood in Narooma.  It’s a BYO on a pier shared with Narooma Marine Center on Riverside Drive, (044) 762-126.



The drive to Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba is scenic.  Tilba Tilba doesn’t have much, just Green Gables, some nice gardens to tour, and Pam’s general store with a talking cockatoo.  If you are energetic, you can stay at Green Gables and take a day to hike up Mount Dromedary.  Gwen is happy to give you the local history of this mountain and several other places.  Drive on to Central Tilba which is a National Trust site.  Here you’ll find Bates general store where one of the Nescafe “special moments” commercials was filmed.  Also some nice shops and the Tilba Cheese Factory with good cheese and honey.  For children, there is a nearby deer farm but we haven’t visited that.



Further south is the town of Bega which doesn’t have a lot to offer but a cheese and milk dairy that you can tour.  Just a little south of Bega is the seaside town of Tathra which has an interesting old pier from which you can fish or spot dolphins and, in the right season, whales.  Further south are the nice old whaling towns of Merimbula and Eden.  If you go this far you may want to research a place to spend the night.  I don’t have any suggestions here.



There is a highway inland from Bega which meets up with the Monaro highway where you can turn north to Cooma and back to Canberra.  In Cooma, follow the signs to the ski fields turning left (west) on the highway to Jindabyne and Thredbo.  On the outskirts of Cooma, about 5 kilometers, you’ll find a tea shop named Past Times on the left of the highway.  Stop for tea or coffee.  They used to have Samantha the kangaroo that sat in a chair and was often photographed.  Samantha has gone on walkabout but the shop just adopted a baby kangaroo which they named Annie.   You can pick up Annie and hold her in your arms, but not for long.



Jindabyne is a pretty town on a large lake.  Thredbo and Charlotte Pass can be accessed from here but there is a $12 charge to enter the National Park.  These are ski villages and not much except hiking takes place in summer.  There are good trails to hike especially the one to the top of Mt. Kosciusko, the highest point in Australia.  It’s an easy hike but plan on most of the day.



The Southern Highlands is another pretty area nearby that can be a day trip or included in a trip to the shore.  Go north to Goulbourn and take the highway towards Sydney.  Take the exit to visit Berrima with plenty of antique shops, galleries, coffee and tea shops, and restaurants.  It has the oldest pub in Australia and an old jail and museum to visit.  Get a detailed map of this region from NRMA and, depending on the time available, visit Mittagong, Bowral, Bundanoon, or Exeter.  Go through Moss Vale and take the turnoff to Fitzroy Falls.  Take a short hike here to see the falls drop near you at the overlook.  Press on into the town of Kangaroo Valley, a good town to stop and walk around.  There are good restaurants, B&Bs and shops.  We like to eat at the hotel in town but I forget the name.  Then drive on to Nowra and take Princes highway south.  A little way take the turnoff to Huskisson and Jervis Bay.  Jervis Bay is very scenic and there is a National Park at the end of the road with lots to see.  We like to stay at the little town of Hyams Beach.  You can call Ray White Real Estate in Vincentia on (044) 41-5747 to rent a condo.  We like the two bedroom, unit 2 at 102 Cyrus Street.  Hyams Beach was picked as one of the ten best beaches in Australia and the whitest sand beach in the world.  North of Nowra is the pretty town of Berry with good shops, restaurants and B&Bs.  Still further north is the pretty seaside town of Kiama.



About a four hour drive south of Canberra is the nice region on the NSW/Victoria border near Albury and Wodonga.  The vineyards around Rutherglen have good wines and better ports.  There are some good restaurants nearby too.  We like to stay in Beechworth.  This is an interesting town with stagecoach rides, gold panning and much more.  Just south of Beechworth is the little town of Milawa which has a good mustard factory, cheese factory and Brown Brothers vineyards, one of our favorites.  Good wines plus a nice restaurant to get lunches with samples of their wines.  There are lots of pretty mountain towns in the area such as Yackadanda, Myrtleford and Bright.  Also drive up Mt. Buffalo and visit the chalet.



Another area enroute to Sydney is the Blue Mountains.  We take visitors back to Sydney this way stopping in the Blue Mountains for one or two nights.  Katoomba is the central town in the Blue Mountains with plenty of hotels and motels.  Also in Katoomba is the famous Three Sisters rock formation, incline railway and more.  The town of Leura is a National Trust town with plenty of good shops.  We like to eat at Cafe Bon Ton in Leura, (047) 824-377.  Other sites to see include the zig zag railroad near Lithgow, the pretty town of Mount Wilson, the overlook at Govetts Leap, the town of Little Hartley and the view of Wentworth Falls.  Driving back into Sydney we usually stop in the town of  Doonside just off the Great Western Motorway to visit Featherdale Wildlife Park.  This is one of the few places where you can hold a koala in your arms.  There’s other Australian animals as well. 



Then Sydney has so much to offer.  A harbor cruise, The Rocks, Darling Harbor, North Sydney, etc. etc.  But that’s another whole paper in itself.