The XtraSuitcase

Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro

06

Donald was asked to give a presentation in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I know what you are thinking……who has a conference in Croatia? He really did, and his presentation went very well! We ooooed and ahhhhed as we drove along the coast and caught our first glimpse of the city.

Our Ameri-Brit friends Dave (D2) and Allison (A) had been talking about visiting these countries too, so they met us there! We had a blast!

We started in the city of Dubrovnik, a cliff-side city on the Adriatic sea. It is known as the pearl of the Adriatic and once you are there, it is obvious why it has this name. Absolutely stunning!



We stayed in the center of the old town which is made up of beautiful white limestone and is completely surrounded by an ancient stone wall built during the 9th century.

The streets are car-free and are made of a polished white stone.



In the early morning and late afternoon the city was quiet and peaceful, but during the day the very large cuise ships would dock

and hundreds of people filled the streets. We were there before the tourist season, we could not image it during the high season.

D2, A, and I played while poor D worked. The three of us walked up one of the cliffs where the view was breath-taking.

I was very sad that my poo-pie was not there to enjoy it with us.

But D2 and A quickly found a way to cheer me up…..ice cream! I had pre-screened five or so ice cream shops the night before so I knew exactly which one I wanted to go to.

A success! I was a happy again. Donald who?

Excellent ice cream. Even our guide said it was THE best in the city. Do I know my ice cream or what.

We went back the next day so D could also enjoy the view,

AND A SCOOP!!

D2 and A did not know we have a check list that people need to pass before we are willing to travel with them. Number one on the list is must like, no LOVE, ice cream. They passed. D2 with flying colors. He went back one night for seconds. As much as it hurt, I did not partake in a second cone.

We took a walking tour of the city which was very informative. The woman who gave the tour lived there during the war of 1991/92 with her young daughter. She really could not talk much about her personal experience as it was still very emotional for her. Hard to imagine living through an ordeal like that.

Saint Blaise, Patron Saint of the city, always shown holding the city in his hand.



Our guide told us to go to the main square at noon and see the pigeons. Dubrovnik is one of the only cities in the world who actually feeds the pigeons on a daily basis. We were a bit skeptical, how interesting could this be? It turned out to be quite a site. A few minutes before noon hundreds of pigeons circled the square waiting for the feed guy. As soon as he dropped the food, they covered the square.

On the other side of the pigeons (red and white umbrellas) was a local market, where we bought figs, nectarines, apricots, and candied orange peels for snacking.

Late afternoon, we walked the entire ring of the castle wall,

which gives you magnificent views of the city,



and the sea.



The city was beautifully restored and hard to even see the signs of destruction. We toured an exhibit showing before and after photos and the damage was quite extensive. Shells hit 68% of buildings in the old town. The stone of the street and the walls were also badly damaged. But the Croats worked hard to rebuilt their city.

The weather was perfect, so one morning I made myself a make-shift balcony at the apartment so I could have my coffee outdoors.

We found a really cool bar, Buza, (hole in the wall) on the side of the cliff.

We liked it so much we went back the second night to enjoy the sunset.

For more pictures, click on the Croatia Bosnia Album on the first page of the blog. Once you are in the album, click on the smaller image to enlarge.

Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina

We drove along the Dalmatian coast and every turn we took presented a magnificent view.   On one side were the mountains and on the other side blue ocean and green islands. Except for the few miles of coast line that we drove through, Bosnia Herzegovina (will refer to is as just Bosnia) is completely landlocked. In fact, within a 15 minute span, we drove from Croatia, through the small strip of Bosnia, back into Croatia and then again into Bosnia and headed inland. And had to cross the border patrol for each one!

We stopped at a seaside village and had a delicious lunch. The three of us had seafood pasta and were given bibs. We had grilled calamari as an appetizer – we all agreed it was the best we'd ever eaten.

Allison did a great job mapping out a route along the Dalmatian Coast and had selected several stops for us along the way. She even read to us from the guide book between stops. I really should have tipped her for her service!

Here we are at the ancient Radimlja necropolis in Bosnia, where there were 122 medieval tombstones carved in the 13th-15th century.

Our next stop was the town of Pocitelj where the most striking site was the Sa hat-Kula, a silo shaped fort that towers from the top of the hill above town. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. We walked to the top and explored the fort.

It provided spectacular views of the town.

Bosnia has a heavy Turkish and Islamic influence throughout the country; 44% of the country's population is Muslim so we saw many minarets and heard the call for prayer often during our visit (they call five times a day).

By early evening we made it to our destination, Mostar Bosnia. Many of you will recognize this famous bridge, the national symbol of Bosnia that was heavily destroyed during the Yugoslav civil war of 1993. It was rebuilt in 2004.

As we were admiring it's beauty, we noticed a few young men looking as if they were going to jump off. Allison had seen a postcard with a daredevil jumping so we got very excited in hopes we could see one jump. Sure enough, they would walk along the bridge edge collecting coins from the tourist in order to make the jump. Once they collected enough (around $40) off they would go into the cold waters 60 feet below.

Look closely above and you can see the jumper mid-air. Below is a close-up of the jumper. It was quite exciting to watch.

Mostar had all the beauty you could image yet still scared heavily with guns wounds and abandoned and burned buildings.

It was interesting to see buildings side by side, one repaired, one damaged. Slowing they are working to repair their city.

We stayed in a cool historic museum hotel called the Muslibegovic house. It was built in the 18 century and was untouched by the war.

The photo below is the shared hallway that lead to our rooms. Our rooms were in the same building as the museum.

Because of this, we were required to take off our shoes before entering the hotel.

We had a very relaxing two days in Mostar. We ate a lot of traditional Bosnian food, mainly grilled meats and fresh grilled fish and checked out the local scene.

My ice cream posse!

The city was particular photogenic in the evenings.

Goodnight Mostar!

Our last night we crossed back into Croatia and stayed in the seaside village of Mali Ston, know for it's great seafood. And we did enjoy a terrific seafood dinner that night. Our hotel rooms had stunning views of the water.



and lots of snails!

On the way to the airport we had a little extra time and decided to "make a run for the border!"

The Montenegro border that is. We were sooooo close, we all wanted that extra stamp in our passports.

Quick, snap a photo, turn around and cross back into Croatia. Technically we should have at least eaten lunch there :   )

What a FUN trip with great company. We are already planning our next rendezvous for the fall!
IRELAND – wet and sunny. sunny and wet.

06



Our new friends - Rua and Blaskett

I am jumping to the end of our eleven day trip to Ireland because this was the highlight of our vacation.   A co-worker of D's recommended that we do the "Hawk Walk" at Ireland's School of Falconry at Ashford Castle.

It was an experience of a lifetime. I was a little apprehensive when I was first given my bird Blaskett, a ten year old male. Okay, maybe apprehensive is too soft a word…..I was really scared!

I listened carefully as the trainer promised me he would not bite my face off. D of course was laughing his butt off, watching and photographing my fear.

Okay, I am now comfortable with my new buddy Blaskett.

D admiring his bird, Rua, an eight year old female. She is one of their best hunters. I think they may have bonded.



We were very fortunate to have the owner, Deborah, as our guide. The walks are private and last for 60 minutes. We ended up having 90 minutes because this was a new pairing of birds and she wanted to give them a little more time together. Her knowledge of this magnificent bird is impressive. She and her husband started the school twenty years ago. What a cool job!

Once Deborah gave us a quick lesson on how to hold our birds, we walked about 10 minutes into the woods before letting them fly. As soon as she unties the strap on their legs they take off into the trees. She then puts a piece of meat in our gloved hand and they FLY back to us for their reward.

It is absolutely AMAZING to watch the birds come straight down from the tree at a pretty fast pace, full wing spread, directly at us. As we walked along the path they followed us, flying from tree to tree. She did not give them any signals or calls. I think they watch when she lifts her bag as this means she is pulling out their treat.

After devouring the treat, they would sit for a few minutes on our finger which gave us the opportunity to really get a good look at them.  I felt like Blaskett was looking directly in to my soul. Deborah told us they are not affectionate and do not become close to anyone, even her. She said they really do not look at you either – it just appears as if they do.

We highly recommend taking a hawk walk if you ever have the opportunity. The Harris Hawk is a fascinating bird of prey.



We were very lucky on our walk; we actually had a sunny day. Let me just say it now……the weather sucked! We had rain EVERY single day and we missed several sights (Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, most of the Burren) because of the rain and fog.

I read a quote, "if you don't like the weather in Ireland, wait five minutes". How true this was. As we stepped out of the rental car agency we had to make a run for our car as it was hailing. Welcome to Ireland. With all the rain, we did see some spectacular rainbows. They are very hard to photograph. We even saw a full rainbow – which was a first for us both. No photo as we were in the car.

Donald did a great job driving. Remember…..in Ireland, the driver is on the right hand side of the car and you drive on the right side of the road.  A guy on the plane said just remember the driver is always in the middle and passenger on the outside. Here is a typical road in Ireland. You tell me where the middle is. And yes this is a two-way road!

Our trip consisted mainly of ruins, castles, pubs, peanut butter and jelly, and sheep. Of course we will show you all the sunny photos and you will think I am lying about the rain.

Above is the Minard Castle in Dingle.

The photo below is one of my favorites of the trip. We are both snapping pictures at the same time. Look closely and see if you can tell which one of us took this photo.

I really like this one too; I think it looks like a watercolor painting.

Most of the ruins and castles we deserted.

We were the only people there, which gave them a very eerie feel.

This was probably our favorite ruin. It was on a golf course, Adare Manor. We had to walk quite a distance on the course to get to it. Good thing D is a golfer as he knew when and more importantly when not to cross the fairways.

A few more shots of the golf course ruins.

We visited Kylemore Abbey. It was built between 1867 and 1871. In 1920, the Benedictine nuns from Belgium who fled during the war purchased the castle and in 1923 turned it into an international boarding school for girls. I would have liked to have gone to school here!

The Swiss Cottage is a delightful little thatched roof cottage built in the early 1800's and was used for the wealthy to entertain guests. It was usually on the same property as their castles. It was sort of like a play house.

This rugged terrain is the Burren made up of limestone. Because limestone is so porous; it is susceptible to erosion by water.

The shapes that are made by the erosion are called karren.

As you know, we are big foodies. Ireland is not a place for foodies. When you are out driving around, there are very few restaurants.  So we ate many pb&j's. In the car. There are also very few public toilets. You can do the math on this one : )



Time for our obligatory ice cream shot. On the ice cream ratings scale, good not great. D had brown bread ice cream and I had Bailey's Irish cream, both local favorites. It was very expensive. Actually everything in Ireland was very expensive.

We were able to catch a few scenic cliff-side photos in between the raindrops.

This photo captured what I was expecting Ireland to look like; beautiful, idyllic, peaceful.

With all that rain, you can image how green everything was.

There was a lot of stone which was used around the houses and on the farms. Even with all this stone, there were very few stone houses or farms. It was only used for fences.

The fog created a very beautiful scene.

This is the Gallarus Oratory believed to be a very early christian church built between the 6th and 9th century. It was built without mortar.

We had fun photographing all the goats, sheep, and baby lambs.

How sweet!

Being spring, there were hundreds of baby lambs. Even in the roads.

This is "tea-party goat". She is all dressed up with her fancy nylons and her pink hair.

The day we were in Galway the Volvo Around the World Ocean Yacht Race was coming through. Unfortunately they would not be getting into port until 3 am. We still enjoyed the festivities. The Irish Yacht came in 3rd.

And last but not least – the Irish pubs!

We visited many. There are no fast food restaurants to be found, if you want a quick bite, you pop into a pub.

All you beer drinkers should know the beer of Ireland is Guinness.

Doesn't that creamy foam make your mouth water?

I am not a beer drinker, but discovered that I really enjoyed the cider. And it has as much alcohol as the Guinness.



In Dingle, we went to listen to traditional Irish music live. There were four musicians slated to play, but four more joined in so they had a jam. We enjoyed listening to them. Both of the female singers had beautiful voices with that Irish lilt. The music, coupled with the cider…had me doing the jig.

Of course we have many more photos for your viewing pleasure….just click on the photo of the castle ruins on the upper right hand side of our main page.

Next trip – Croatia and Bosnia! See you then.
France Road Trip! Castles, Gardens, and Foie Gras

05

CASTLES

CASTLES

AND MORE CASTLES!

D was asked to speak again this year at the Aeronautical University in Toulouse, France. It was the Tuesday after a three day holiday weekend, so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and drive. In total, we covered 1800 miles, driving with only quick breaks from Toulouse to Brussels, took us eleven and a half hours.



As we got further into France, we started to see the yellow rapeseed fields. They are the most intense yellow when they are fresh in bloom. This photo is one of my "in motion" shots" meaning I took it while D was going 100mph on the highway.

Our first stop was the Dordogne also know as the Perigord region. I really love this area of France, it has a very apecial charm. It is know for the white and yellow stone houses and villages.

We stayed in three very charming chambre d'hotes (B&B's) on this trip, the first one, La Roche d' Esteil, was a stone farm house from the 18th century. Marc and Sandrine, a very nice young couple bought it 8 years ago and lovingly restored it. It took them 5 years to restore. The "before" photos were unbelievable. It did not even have a roof.



If you are wondering about the pose in this photo below, I watched a special about how they teach movie stars to twist their bodies slightly when being photographed to make them look thinner……

humm…….I think it may work, what do you think?

We stayed in the single room cottage above. Absolutely adorable! And a fireplace – ahhhhhhh. It was chilly that evening so a fire was just perfect.

They offered an evening meal the first night, which we did have. A very nice duck dinner. But the best part was that D got to REALLY practice his French as very little English was spoken.

The next morning we started our day by visiting the medieval town of Sarlat.

Here, D loaded up on his foie gras, cassolet, duck confit and duck fat.

On to the the Gardens of Marqueyssac, listed as a national historical monument.

We barely got through the gate and there he was – Mr Peacock. Quick, get the camera out, he was in full strut. Not fast enough. Missed him.

So I inform D to get comfortable as I REALLY need to get this photo. I have always admired peacock photos and I wanted one! We settled in front of his cage, cameras in hand.  Sure enough, within a few minutes, full spread.

FRONT

AND BACK.

We were clicking away for 10 minutes when we finally popped up to see why he was putting on such a show for us. And there SHE was, right behind us, oh la la.

We were between the two of them……and I thought it was my coat.   Really! Doesn't it look like the female peacock?

But he was the BRILLIANT one!

We still had energy so we headed to the Beynac Feudal Castle, dating from the 12th century.

I thought the parish church was very beautiful and believe it or not, it still holds service every Sunday.

Not only was the castle very beautiful…

but it also had spectacular views of the countryside.

From Beynac Castle, you get a lovely view of the Castle of Castelnaud, also founded in the 12th century. We visited this castle on another trip, so we skipped it this time.

Remember how I told you about the movie star twist? D teased me at first, but you can see here, he is trying this method out to see if he too can look skinny.

and his attempt to show you how the royal toilet worked back in the days…

Maybe a bit too much wine for D at lunch!

After a very full day, we had wine and cheese in the garden of our chombre d'hote for dinner. A lovely way to end a lovely day!

Friday (YES, up until now you have only seen one day of the trip as Wednesday we drove 9 hours straight), we headed west to the Bordeaux Region. But first, a stop at another garden, Les Jardins du Manoir D'Eyrignac.

It is a private estate that has been in the same family for 500 years, or 22 generations.

a fun fountain.

We also stopped at the immense Chateau de Hautefort, also listed as a National Monument.

It was built in the middle of the 17th century, but fell into disrepair. Baron And Baroness de Bastard purchased the chateau and renovated it over several decades.

Sadly, in 1968 there was a very bad fire. But this did not stop them, they resumed work and renovated the chateau to it's current grandeur. We did get to tour the inside.

Our next chambre d'hote, Moulin de la Virvee, was an old water mill. Etienne and Michelle were the sweetest innkeepers. They were an older, retired couple.

This was the smallest place we have stayed, meaning they only had one room they rent.  The room itself was quite large and was off the side of their house with a separate entrance.

It was set among the vineyards of some of the best Bordeaux wines. As a welcome gift, they gave us a bottle of wine from their neighbors vineyard D is standing next to it here. We drank it that evening, it was a very nice bottle.

Michelle served us a generous breakfast in their kitchen on a beautifully set table.

Thirty minutes from our place is one of our favorite towns from a trip we took 10 years ago, the wine town of Saint Emilion. They say Romans planted vineyards here in the 2nd century AD.

We had to go back to St. Emilion to have the most delicious Macaron cookies we have ever eaten!

We we lucky as on the day we were visiting the vineyards were having open house were you could taste the wines and buy them direct. In France they do not have open tastings of the wine like they do in California. So we headed for one of our favorite small wineries, Chateau Pipeau.

We had a tour (all in French), tasted the wines, and here is D as happy as he can be with a half case of wine! Pipeau 2002, which we can drink now. He has several bottles of this wine in his "cave" back in Virginia otherwise known as mom's basement.

Our hosts at the chambre d'hote recommended Abbaye de la Sauve-Majeure.  Etienne is also into photography and thought we would enjoy taking photos of this site. He was right!

Look closely, that is D in the tower.

It was a Benedictine Abbey built in the 12th century. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. Side note….D printed out the list of UNESCO World sites and checked off how many we have been to. After this trip, we have visited 50 in Europe.

We could not have ordered prettier clouds!

Next stop, Toulouse. D was very sweet and drove me out of the way to try and find a flea market. The flea market was a bust, but we did discover that the town was Bergerac – home to Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655) the famous poet and play-write, known for his very large nose. Several movies have been done on him.

Not only were the flowers in full bloom for the season, the grass was vibrant green and there were lots of babies in the fields!

Well, this cow looks more like a teenager : )

We stayed at the beautiful artsy La Pradesse Chambre d'hote for the second time. Christine and Frederic also renovated an old farmhouse. This one one of our favorite places to stay.

On Monday, we spent the early afternoon in Toulouse. It is the forth largest city in France and is known as "la ville rose" because of the color of it's brick. We had to hit one of my VERY favorite ice cream shops. I would have to put it in my top three best ice creams EVER. I had violet and carmel de sur, D had sheep cheese and chocolate with hot peppers.

On Tuesday D had his presentation. It went very well. We had a nice dinner that evening and then hit the road on Wednesday for an 11 hour drive back to Brussels. But oh so worth it!

Would you like to see a few more photos? Please click on the peacock in the upper right hand corner on the front page – album titled France Road Trip.
Iris Day in Brussels

05

  This weekend was Iris Day in Brussels so on Sunday we set out looking for Iris "stuff". We did not see any Iris', but we did see some beautiful – odd presentations. And for this Blog……I will let you create the words for these unusual scenes……





Even the statues and lamp poles were dressed!

It was a fun day for ALL!

When we got home, I looked up why it is called Iris Day. The iris is the symbol of the city and this is the celebration of spring. It was the 20 year anniversary for Iris Day. We told you…..the Belgians celebrate everything!
Krakow Poland – back to the Motherland!

04



D had a business meeting in Krakow (also spelled Cracow). We were very excited because Poland was high on both of our "to visit" lists as both of our mothers are of Polish descent (D's mom is 100% Polish).   Krakow is in the southern part of Poland and was the capital from 1038 to 1596.

We had a lovely visit and again lucked out with picture perfect weather. The city surprised us in many ways. It was not destroyed during WWII so the buildings were all very beautiful with a mix of some contemporary sculptures.

Most everyone spoke English and they spoke it very well. It was super cheap to eat, which was a good thing because this trip was all about eating! Okay, so all of our trips are all about eating!

Both of us grew up eating Polish food so we were anxious to taste the authentic fare. Our first lunch we were served two traditional spreads, one with cottage cheese (the healthy option) and the other (bottom bowl in photo above) was called smelec – basically lard. I was curious so I looked it up – yep, pork lard with pork added!

We ate lots of Pierogis (above) which are small dumplings that can be filled with meat, cheese, potatoes even sweets (blueberry and strawberry). Pierogis are some of our favorites. We also ate Golabkis (stuffed cabbage – we called them halupkis growing up), Bigos (hunters stew) and poppy seed rolls – YUMMY!

Enough about the food, let's get back to the city…..oh but wait, I need to show you the cake I had. I snuck this one while D was working : )

The old town is not very big, but there is a beautiful square that is quite large. The church shown in the photo below is St Mary's Basilica. It was built in the 14th century and the story goes that two brothers were each building one of the towers. While one brother was away, the other one raced to make his tower taller, a competition. When the sibling returned and saw it, he killed his brother in a fit of rage and Krakow was left with a lopsided church.

The square was very festive and had many street mimes. We thought some of the best we have seen in Europe.  "White Guy" was our favorite. If you have never seen the street performers, they stand completely, and I mean completely, still until you drop a coin in their bucket. This one started to write about you in his book and then had you sign a pretend page. His face was so animated.

This couple was also very good. What we liked about them was they were telling a story. Each time someone gave them a coin, they acted out a little more of the story, but then stopped. If you wanted to see more of the story, you had to give them more money.

I also enjoyed the horse carriages. They had on special shoes that made a wonderful clopping sound as they strolled though the city.

Sunday we hit the flea market where I bought a very cool old photo album. I was on a roll negotiating with the old Polish man who did not speak a word of English. As I was sorting through his junk, he talked away to D. Not sure if he realized D did not speak any Polish. I am proud to say I negotiated the album down from 45 Zloty to 40 Zloty (saving about $2).

We then wandered into Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter, for lunch. For those of you who are movies buffs, Schindler's List was filmed in this neighborhood. The factory is in a neighborhood nearby. We visited Izaak Synagogue dating back to 1600. President Obama was seen in a Yamaka when he was a Senator and the rumor was he was Jewish………so……….what about D???

The Kazimierz is the "hip" new area with many cool restaurants, coffee shops, and bars. We stopped at a coffee house where each table, inside and out, were made from old sewing machines.

The petals worked. It was very original, like nothing we had seen.

In the afternoon we visited the Warwel Royal Castle.

Hard to believe, but people lived on the Wawel hill fifty thousands years ago, in the Paleolithic age. Around 1038, the first structure was built. During the 16th century King Sigismund I the Old (1506-1548) created most of what is seen today in the Renaissance style.

We toured the private apartment, but no photos were allowed. Below is the courtyard which was finished in 1540.

Sunday night we met up with D's colleague, Agnieszka, who is from Poznan Poland (home of the BEST potatoes and ice cream). She currently lives in Warsaw. It was fun having someone who could speak the language out with us at dinner. I hope to make it to Pozen one day to taste that ice cream!

I mentioned that both of our mother's families came from Poland. It was hard to do any research as both of the family names had been changed through the years. There was one very interesting story from my side.

My great grandfather was attending a seminary in Krakow. He met a young women (we think my grandmother) and had to leave the seminary (you can fill in the gap here). We went on a guided tour of the city and I asked our guide how many seminaries are in Krakow and she said a few, but this one (photo above) is the only one where they did not take a vow of silence. Guessing that my great grandfather had to meet and speak to the young lady, we ruled the others out!

So there is a very good chance that I am standing in the door of the Archubiskupie Seminarium Duchowne W Krakowie, where my great grandfather also stood. Thank goodness he was not truly dedicated as I would not be here today : )

One thing we have not seen in other countries are pretzel stands at EVERY corner in the city.    Most had white coats on, like doctors.

We wondered how much money they could actually make in a day. The vendors were young and old, men and women. The pretzels were around 46 cents. We wanted to help support them so…

Note the beautiful park behind us in this photo. At one time, Krakow was a walled city. The upkeep of the wall became too expensive for the city to repair so they took it down and made a park that circles the entire old city. It is beautiful with trees, flowers, and wonderful walking paths. Called the Planty (green circle), it is heavily used by all.

Many of you have asked, Cathy, what exactly do you do when poor D is working? D took this photo for you to get an idea.

After my morning break, I head out to the street to check out the local shopping and what is going on.

Beer anyone?

I ate at two really cheap but sweet places.

One was a "milk" bar where students eat. But when I was there it seemed like all the old ladies in town were eating there. Humm…what does that say about me?

I wandered to the local market where they were selling the delicious cheese we ate at breakfast.   It is called Qvark. It is kind of like a mix between cream cheese, cottage cheese and ricotta, but is supposed to be low in fat like yogurt.

I met up with D that evening as the sponsor of the meeting he was attending arranged a tour of the city with an English guide and a special dinner. The tour was very informative.

We had a wonderful meal at a very upscale restaurant. AND we experienced a first – we ate ozorek cielecy w sosie sardelowym. Who would like to guess??? George do you know? Unfortunately, I do not have a photo. Do you give????   It was Veal tongue with anchovy sauce and YES I ATE IT.   Thank god for the flavorful wine. I will admit it was good, but not sure I would eat it again. The rest of the menu was a delight, cream of horseradish soup, roasted duck and apple cake with elder sauce and crystallized rose petals. A wonderful ending to an absolutely delectable meal. It was very sweet that they invited me as I was the only spouse visiting.

Goodbye for now Krakow……we hope to see you again in September with Don & Donna!

ps…..want to see a few more photos? There is a Krakow album on the top right of the Blog.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh – Venice

04

I fell in love with Venice when I was there for the first time 15 years ago.

I am still in love with it today.

It is a place where you can truly get lost for hours in the narrow little streets.

Every corner you turn presents a breathtaking view. Again, we were so lucky with the weather. One day it was even warm enough to eat lunch outside by the canal.

Venice is all about eating…

Drinking Bellinis…….

and getting lost…….

There are no cars anywhere in Venice.

All deliveries, emergency vehicles, even trash is done via the water.

Gondolas are very touristy, but I still love them.

We took the 50 cent ride – vs the 80 euro ride!

Gondolas are also used by locals for their main mode of transportation.

some are very elaborate….

with ornate gold decorations.

and the Gondoliers!

with hats and striped shirts….waiting for customers.

peaceful……

Carnival Masks are everywhere in Venice.

Carnival began in 1268 and the wearing of masks and costumes was established in 1436. In 1797, the Austrians took control of the city and the celebrations stopped.

The popularity of the masks wasn't brought back until the 1980s, when a modern mask shop opened. It is now a huge tourist attraction.

Venice seems to run slower than most cities, people relax and stop for a chat.

This man is receiving his delivery via a basket through his window.

If you look closely – each window has a birdcage. The birds were singing very loud, they were enjoying the beautiful day too!

The colors of the city.

It is as if someone bushed it with watercolors.

Donald was working hard to get the perfect photo in Venice.

Look closely in the boxes, there is a dog and he is on a gondola.

This was definitely a new maneuver.

and his night shots were a success!

Hey – that's OUR move……eating ice cream and taking "we" photos.

We had a wonderful time…..too many photos that I want to share.

For a few more…please visit the Venice album on the right hand side of the first page of the blog. Arrivederci!
Who cut the cheese?

04

Kathrine, one of D's colleagues and her husband Kim coordinated a cheese making workshop in Achel Belgium at the Catharinadal Kaasmakerij. It is an hour from Brussels and is in the Dutch speaking part of the country.

It was a nice drive and we saw some beautiful scenery along the way.

There is a Trappist brewery at the Monastery of our lady Saint Benedict. It is in the same town as the cheese class so we left early to check it out. The Monastery is in Belgium, but the gardens cross the border into the Netherlands. You could not see or tour the brewery, but they had a great store where you could buy their beer, Achel Beer, and hundreds of others. D was a happy guy!

We brought sandwiches as we did not have enough time to eat at a restaurant and make the class on time. D wanted to eat in the Netherlands, I just wanted to stay in Belgium. So….

We both got our way!

The Catharinadal kaasmakerij (cheese room) is run by two brothers. One owns and milks the cows (just down the street from kassmakerij) and the other brother makes the cheese and runs the shop.

We were a group of 19, 11 adults and 8 kids. Here we all are with Franz, our cheese monger (and teacher).

We had to "dress" for the making of the cheese.   They also advised us to wear rubber boots (I am the one in the middle with the red boots).

D is assessing the work station.

We started with raw milk from their cows (no we did not milk the cows). The milk was heated slightly and the first step was to add lactic-acid producing bacteria and stir for 30 minutes.

Cheese is made by curdling the milk. Next, rennet ( a natural enzyme from a young calves stomach to digest the mother's milk) is added.

It was amazing how fast it started to thicken. He told us that our milk was warmer than the rest of the groups and this caused our cheese to thicken faster than the rest. We were bummed as we thought it was not going to turn out. He said it would just make ours a little harder vs soft.

Next, we had to break up the curd (the solid element) into very small chucks. To do this we used a special knife called a "harp"



and cut across one way:

and then the other – a cross-hatch style. Donald's colleague Dave said he was going to go back to work and tell everyone he saw D "cut the cheese".



After it got to a certain size, we had to use our hands to break the curd up as small as possible – the size of a pea.

And yes…..I got my hands dirty too!

Looks ready to me!



We then had to take out half of the the Whey (liquid) from our bucket, add hot water and gently wash the the curds. The curd is then pressed through a net to get out all of the whey.

It had the texture of ricotta cheese



We took a break and tasted several cheeses so we could decide what flavor we wanted to make ours.

We choose horseradish and ginger for one, shown here before mixing in the spices into the curd.

And mustard for the other shown with spices mixed in.

D tasted it to make sure our cheese was "on track".

Next step: to press the curd in to a net which was then placed into a mold.

We had to squeeze as much liquid out as possible.

It is then carefully removed from the form (this is where you could see it starting to look like cheese),

and flipped it over and put back into the form upside- down. This was the final step to "making" the cheese.  It is ready to be placed in the industrial strength cheese-press.

It pressed for about 30 minutes while we all took a break and sampled their yummy desserts. After you took it out of the container, you trimmed the edges.

Voila - Look at this beautiful cheese! And looks like that one came from "Team Ward"!



Franz then showed us how they complete the cheese process and showed us what we needed to do at home. They soak the cheese in a brine (salt water) for 24 hours in large vats. We would need to do the same at home in a pot.

We need to let our cheese dry for 4 days, turning it each day. On the 4th day, we will paint on a wax coating as Franz showed us.

The cheese is now ready for the last stage: maturing. This needs to be done at a temperature of 60 degrees for 6 weeks. Dave rigged up a spot in his basement with an air-conditioner to keep it at the perfect temperature as our apartments are too warm and the refrigerator is too cold. He has graciously offered to "house" anyone's cheese.

So Dave and Drew will babysit our cheese for the next 6 weeks, turning it each day!

The cheese shop had a very large cool room where they matured theirs. We bought several types of their cheese, notice the Dutch names (long!)

We also bought their home-made yogurt and ICE CREAM (speculoos)! Delicious!

Who says I can't become a Belgium farmer?
Rome: Through a Roman’s Eyes

03



Stefano, a colleague of Donald's invited us to spend the weekend in Rome at his mother's apartment. We had an absolutely WONDERFUL time and definately got to see Rome from a non-touristic point of view.

We arrived Friday evening and Stefano picked us up at the Airport.  We headed straight for "mama's" to drop off our things.  Mama Ivonne {pronounced A-von-ya} has lived in the apartment since the 1950's. Very sweet apartment. Very sweet Mama!

Stefano took us to a chic restaurant Friday night where we met his two children, Francesca and Luca. His son is in a band, The Out of Tunes , and was just written up in an Italian teen magazine. I bought the magazine and had him sign it for me at the restaurant. I told him I was going to sell it on E-bay! The band is quite good.

Stefano went for a jog Saturday morning so D and I had breakfast with Ivonne. Have I mentioned that she does not speak a word of English? That did not stop her, she chatted with us non-stop. D was able to pick up a few words here and there, but we really do not know Italian.

After breakfast we took a stroll through the local market.

The fruits and veggies were packed with color.

Early afternoon we headed an hour north of Rome to the Terme Dei Papi. A thermal spring resort. This was a fascinating experience. The water comes straight from the earth and at the point it enters the pool the temperature is approximately 130 degrees. The further away you go, the colder the water gets.

Check out D with his "speedos" for the Termes. We took his American bathing suit, but Stefano said he really needed the smaller one (for drying purposes) – too funny!

The water is said to have healing properties and contains sulfurous salts (you could smell this), bicarbonate and carbonic gases. It was founded in the 3rd century and in 1450 one of the Popes had a palace built here hence the name dei papi (of the Popes). History says that Michelangelo also came here.

Wait, let's see one more shot of D in his speedos:



….how about just a little closer.

Stefano's friend Claudia joined us for the day. Here is a cute shot of Claudia, Stefano, and D.

After soaking in the Termes for four + hours with wrinkled fingers and toes, we toured a few nearby towns. And yes, they were right next to the Termes, but it was really chilly outside and we needed coats. You would never have known looking at the photos of us in the water.

For dinner we went to a restaurant where Stefano knew the owner. What a special meal, my favorite of the trip. The owner loves Americans and kept coming to our table to tell us stories, including a touching comment about Americans sending food to Italy after WWII. I really enjoyed meeting Claudia and spending the day with her. She and Stefano both speak very good English. But we still had fun teaching them a few "slang" American words! Few of which can be repeated here.

Sunday morning we went to the BIG Rome flea market – it was nice that D had Stefano to play with. I think I got an extra 45 minutes from this : ). I bought my normal junk, beads, paper, and jewelry. A delightful collection indeed!

The boys had a post breakfast snack of roasted pork sandwiches.

We then took a long walk in the park near the apartment. Am I looking Italian or what?

As you can see we were very lucky and had absolutely picture perfect weather.

There was an exquisite Villa in the park.

By this time we had worked up quite an appetite and that was a good thing as Mama was cooking a special lunch for us. One course was a pasta dish – with home-made noodles – devine. I think she was flattered that I was taking photos of everything. We had fresh buffalo mozarella from the market (the best we have ever eaten), beef with arugula, several salads, and fruit for dessert. It was a delicious meal.

We felt very special as the table was set beautifully with all of her wedding china. We even got to use the special espresso cups and there are only 3 remaining.

After lunch the "girls" had lemoncello (a lemon liqueur produced in southern Italy).

and the boys had the more manly Grappa (brandy – 75 to 100 proof) or as I like to call it turpentine! It certainly heats up your body.

And Donald made himself right at home – a post lunch nap!

Ivonne took me in her room. We sat on her bed and she pulled out several boxes. The first one had her jewelry tools and beads and then she puled out all of the jewelry she had made and was currently making. We sat on her bed talking away about jewelry for 30 minutes…..and remember….she does not speak ANY English and I do not speak any Italian. It was priceless!!

The Sunday we were there, March 8, was Festa Della Donna (Women's Day). The custom started in 1946. Men would give thier wives, mothers, daughters, and other women friends sprigs of bright yellow Mimosa flowers as a sign of respect.

Stefano was sweet and bought Mimosa flowers for me and his mom. We saw women all over the city carrying them. Sunday evening we checked into the Hotel San Anselmo for one night. Stefano invited us to stay another night, but he had to work in the morning so we thoughtit best to stay in a hotel. And we have stayed here befre and I LOVE this hotel.



That is me on the balcony – we were in the Romeo and Juliet room. Very romantic.

and in ALL Italian bathrooms (even Mama's apartment), the bidet.

Stefano joined back up with us for dinner. We went to another restaurant where he knew the owner. Stefano knows everyone! Another superb meal.

We did get to see a little of the city on Monday morning before our flight home.

We even saw the Pope! We were crossing a courtyard to get to the ancient ruins and there were many people gathering and LOTS of police. We asked what was going on and we were told the Pope was coming for a meeting. We waited about and hour and saw him get out of the car.

and a close up, but unfortunately he did not turn our way.

He popped his head out one side of the building, seen here on a large video screen set up in the courtyard.

He was going to come out on the balcony in front of us to say a few words, but that was after his meeting. We had no idea how long the meeting would be and we had a plane to catch in a few hours, so we could not wait. Next time!

Italy is one of the only cities we know where you can drink the water in the streets. If you look closely, D is blocking the bottom of the faucet with his hand, when you do this, it creates a drinking spout. Pretty cool.

And a few shots around the city – how cute is this little red car!

Until we meet again in the next blog in Venice – Cheers!
Alsace France and the Wine Tasting Dinner

03



We love the Alsace region in France. It is only a 4 hour drive and we have a charming B&B where we love to stay, Ambiance Jardin, owned by Pierrette and Jean Luc. Check out their web-page, the photography and the layout are both stunning. After staying three times, we feel like we are staying with friends instead of at a B&B.

a few photos around the B&B…



Pierrette collects antique watering cans. She has hundreds of them.

Every corner has a sweet vignette……a photo waiting to be snapped.



For more photos from the B&B, see the album titled Ambiance Jardin, on the right hand side of the first page of the Blog.

We picked this weekend to go as they were having a wine tasting and dinner. It was going to be in french – but who cares as long as you are drinking wine!

This is Pierrette and her friend who is the wine expert. He only spoke French. It was a diverse table, there were three from Germany (only one spoke English), me and D (D doing well with his French), Pierrette's son and his wife (both spoke a little English) and three friends (all French but did speak some English).

We started the dinner with sparkling wine.  An interesting tidbit, what we call Champagne in the US, is called sparkling wine in Europe. Real Champagne only comes from the town of Champagne. The U.S. doesn't follow this rule, but it is strictly enforced in Europe.

D listening intently to the descriptions of the wines. It was a unique tasting as we sampled three wines without food, we were served a course, and tasted them again with the food. We did this for each course.

After sampling 15 different glasses of wine, I am pretty sure we were both speaking French and German!!

Jean-Jon was our translator. After he had several glasses of wine, we think he forgot how to speak English! No, he did a very good job. It was also great practice for D to use his french in a real setting (vs class).

A very enjoyable dinner with lots of laughter!

We spent the next day in Colmar, founded in the 9th century. It has many half-timbered houses. It is on the French/German border, but I think the houses look more German than French.

It is a charming town with colorful houses.

It also has some very old houses.

Check out the date above the door in the photo below, 1612.

We found an adorable tea shop where we had lunch.

The two women running the cafe had to be 75 and 85. They were scurrying all over that restaurant. Note the bag…..we did a little shopping too.

Looks like he is also enjoying the beautiful day.

Another memorable trip!
Amsterdam, February 09

03

Donald had a two-day trip to Amsterdam so I tagged along to keep him company on the train. I got lucky and had one sunny day.

I finally made it to the Ann Frank House. No photos were allowed inside of the house, but here is a shot of the outside. It is the taller one with the three rows of windows and the white panels. The website is very interesting, I encourage you to check it out.



Otto Frank, her father, was closely involved in setting up the museum and he refused to have any furniture in it. So the rooms do appear larger than you would have expected.  It has undergone several remodels and a face lift to the front to take it back to its orginal state, but the rooms where they lived are in authentic condition. In 2007 over one million visitors went into the museum.

Since I have given you a tour of Amsterdam in a previous blog…. I decided to focus on the ever popular bicycle. There are 700,000 bicycles in Amsterdam. Each year close to 80,000 are stolen. I was intrigued with the bells and mascots on the bikes.

And one shot of the red light district at night. There were at least 30 swans in the canals in the red light district. I found it fascinating to see such a symbol of beauty in the sleazy part of town.



Just a funny note about Amsterdam…..the restaurants went non-smoking. Marijuana is still legal and can be smoked in the "coffee shops". But no alcohol, hard drugs or cigarettes. Explain that one!

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