Traveling with Old & Dear Friends

Just one of the beautiful gardens in Stanley Park

We had not visited Vancouver before, so we couldn't pass up the chance to see the city and spend some time with great friends in the bargain.

Like Portland, Vancouver is a beautiful city and it has wonderful parks and miles of harbor side walking and biking trails.

Sue & John

We were particularly enchanted by Stanley Park, with its wonderful and varied perennial and rose gardens and an impressive number and variety of trees, but the entire city is a sparkling gem.

Vancouver is another foodie city.  One night we dined in a revolving restaurant atop a 50 story building, with our view of the city constantly changing. Our AirBnB landlady, Andrea, put us onto a great eating experiences.  She recommended we try Campagnolo, which was just a mile from our apartment and five minutes from the train station, so we made reservations for lunch on the day of our departure.

We were a party of seven and they served us family style with a Chef's taster menu.  We were served with three courses--appetizers/salads, pizza, and desserts.  Each course had three or four different dishes, all were wonderful.  We ordered some Tuscan wine to go with the food, and the bill was about $35/person with tip.  Lots of fun and really tasty--we would highly recommend Campagnolo.

Cabins with Elk

In Vancouver, we were joined by John Cunningham, Lois and Martin Simpson, and Benigno and Lauriece Aguirre--friends from our graduate school days in New Orleans. We've known each other nearly 45 years--incredible as that seems.

The Gang getting ready for the Lake Maligne cruise

Thanks in large part to John's organizing skills and perseverance, we have managed to stay in touch with one another over the years, and recently we have been trying to get together on a regular basis for reunions and travel experiences.

This year we all agreed to meet in Vancouver and then ride the Canadian Pacific's train through the Rockies to Jasper National Park. It proved to be a great and unique experience.

The 18-hour, overnight train journey was surprisingly comfortable, even in a regular coach seat--most of us managed to dose off for some time during the night.  And share snacks during the day.

The construction of the line is a marvel of 19th and early 20th century engineering and ingenuity and the scenery is unparalleled. If you book through one of the Tour Canada companies, you can pay two or three thousand a person for this trip--I think we paid less than $150 for our train ticket. Seems like the scenery is the same, though, no matter what you pay.

Martin, John, Lauriece, Lois and Sue

We disembarked in Jasper, Alberta, Canada--a little mountain town of just 5,000 inhabitants that swells to a population of some 25,000 during the short summer tourist season.  Lodging for our stay was at the Pine Cabins, a cluster of log cabins just outside of town along the banks of the Athabasca River.

Most morning and evenings, we were visited by a small herd of elk--they are great fun for the tourists but make maintaining a garden and shrub plantings a real problem.

Spirit Island, a painter's paradise

There is a lot to see and do in and around Jasper, but most of it involves driving, which we did in a GMC Yukon, a huge, behemoth of a vehicle that easily held all seven of us as well as our luggage and paraphernalia.

Driving was surprisingly easy, what with power steering, the onboard GPS, and the ever present six backseat drivers and navigators. Not complaining; sometimes you needed everyone of them to see where you were suppose to turn.

Lois and Martin and the $1 million ice bus

All of us enjoyed our visit to Maligne Lake which is very close to Jasper.  On a chilly and rainy day, we booked a lake cruise that took us to Spirt Island, a small "islet" that you don't actually walk on, but you can get off the boat and take a short hike to a viewing/photography spot.  It is said to be one of the most photographed scenes in Canada. It was both beautiful and haunting.

One of the most interesting day trips involved a 200 mile roundtrip to the Columbia Icefield, where we rode a $1million ice bus that took us out onto the Athabasca glacier.

On the Ice Bus

Since its discovery in the 19th century, the glacier has retreated several miles and many scientists believe that it will disappear by the end of this century.

It certainly brings home the concept of global warming. During the 20 minutes you are on the glacier, you are free to walk around and explore.

Some of our fellow tourists, hiked pretty far onto the ice, but the story the bus driver told of the recent discovery of the body of a cross country skier that had been encased in the ice for twenty years was enough to make most of us want to stay close to the ice bus.

On the glacier

On another day we visited Lake Louise--truly an extraordinarily beautiful location.  Even though it was the middle of August, all of us were glad to have our fleeces and jackets, and the pause for coffee and hot chocolate in the majestic Lake Louise Lodge was an unexpected bonus.

A gondola ride up Whistlers Mountain (so called for the high pitched whistle made by the marmosets who live on mountain) was the highlight of another day. The gondola took us up above the tree line, but only Lois had the stamina to hike up the rest of the way to the top, while the rest of us visited the gift shop and coffee bar.

Lake Louise

Of course, the nicest part of the trip was just being with old and dear friends--gossiping and catching up, making and eating homemade meals, teasing, playing dominoes or reading by the fire for an evening, laughing and grouching.  It was a delight, and we are looking forward to our next reunion.  We all had a truly wonderful time and Sue has dubbed it "National Lampoon's Elders in the Rockies." We should be famous!

We left our mark near the cabins

Denver & Portland

Bryn & Grant at home

Charlie, the Big Boy

As always the best part of returning to Denver is seeing our family once again.  Bryn and Grant are doing well.  Both are working very hard to make Grant's Electric a success--Grant in the field and Bryn in the office.

We think Charlie missed us; we are sure that we missed him! We were away nearly four months and in that time he changed so much.  He now talks in full sentences and is almost potty trained.  He has mastered his balance bike, and his inherent daredevilry and fearlessness keeps our hearts in our throats. He has moved up from the Twosies Class to Preschool at his daycare.  In short, to quote Charlie himself, "I am a big boy. I don't need your help. Sit on the bench."

Larry, Erin, Bryn & Sue

Erin is back home safe and sound from her yearlong sojourn in Pakistan. It was an interesting and educational experience, but one she would not want to repeat.  During the last couple of months there, the political situation was very tense, and she and her colleagues were on lockdown almost all of the time--meaning they could only be at work or their homes or apartments.  It was a great relief for all of us when she left on August 23rd.

Erin spent three weeks of home leave with us here in Denver, relaxing and recovering, but has now returned to DC where she will be posted for the next couple of years working as a State Department liaison to the Organization of American States.

Ashley & Sue at the Saturday market

Less than two weeks after arriving back in Denver, we were off again for a 10 day trip to the Pacific Northwest and Canada.  The impetus for the trip was a long planned reunion with a group of friends we first met in New Orleans nearly 45 years ago; we'll talk about that in our next blog

But our first stop was Portland, Oregon for a visit with Ashley Brown, the daughter of our good friend, Anita (readers of the blog might remember that she shared part of our trip to Italy during Spring 2013).

We have known Ashley since she was a baby, and think that she is one of the kindest and most interesting young people that we know.  We were honored that she wanted us to visit and was willing to host us in her home. She is a warm and welcoming host and a great Portland booster.

We had never visited Portland before, and with Ashley as our enthusiastic tour guide, we discovered that the city is as quirky but as fun as its reputation. Ashley made us an incredibly delicious dinner on the night of our arrival, with local corn and grilled peppers and invited some of her friends to share it with us. Sitting in her backyard, enjoying a lovely summer's eve, was a perfect introduction to the town and Portland lifestyle.

The City of Roses

What a great foodie city!  The Saturday morning market on the campus of Oregon State was a treat for both the eye and the tastebuds--highlighted by a breakfast featuring home-made biscuits and mushroom gravy.

After the market, Ashley took us to Powell's--an independent book store that covers an entire downtown block and seems to have every book there is in print.  We separated and wondered about to our heart's content: two hours hours seemed to fly by.

Breaking Bad entry in the Adult Boxcar Race

Then it was on to the Portland Adult Boxcar Race which takes place annually in the city's Mt. Tabor park. It's a great opportunity for silliness and fun, and thousands of Portland residents use it as an excuse for a laid back picnic in the park. Our favorite entry was the "Breaking Bad" RV.

Portland is called the City of Roses, and Ashley, knowing how much we like gardens, insisted we visit a beautiful rose garden that just happened to be in her neighborhood.  Even though August isn't the best time of year to view the garden, it was beautiful and smelled woderful.  Our day ended with a memorable Thai meal at one of her favorite restaurants.

Clearly, two days are not enough to sample all that Portland has to offer, so we have promised Ashley that we will be back for a longer stay. She may live to regret her offer.

Early Sunday morning, Ashley put us on the AmTrak train to Seattle and Vancouver.  We were pleasantly surprised with the comfort, modernity and cleanliness of the train--too bad we had to disembark in Seattle and transfer, after a two hour delay, onto a bus that then took us on to Vancouver.

We arrived in Vancouver in the late afternoon and easily found our way to our AirBnB apartment, which was roomy, clean and comfortable and an easy bus or taxi ride into the center of town. We continue to be great fans of AirBnB, though not every experience has been as good as our Vancouver stay.

Salzburg & Munich

We left Croatia feeling happy that we took the few days to check it out.  We would go back to explore farther south than we were able to get; it is a beautiful and fascinating area of the world.

View from the Castle in Salzburg

However, our time was running out, as our flight from Frankfurt to Denver was already booked.  Hustling back to catch it, we stopped for a couple nights in Austria, outside Salzburg.  What a treat! 

Our Airbnb apartment was one of the best; one we will remember fondly for a long time.  It occupied the lower floor of a home at the end of a country lane…the very last  house.  Next door was a huge farm perched on the hills.  Nothing but fields, hills and mountains in sight.  (We could almost imagine Maria singing on top of one of them.) The glory of watching the sun set in that breathtaking panorama amidst quiet stillness will stay with us always.

Platz where we watched the Magic Flute, Castle above

Our hosts were a wonderful, interesting couple retired from being a psychologist and university professor.  We liked them both very much.  Our first evening there they invited us to share wine in the little gazebo they had built on the property.  It felt like being in the glass gazebo out of “The Sound of Music” with the gorgeous surrounding hills.  No rain or falling in love, but a lovely setting.  The four of us seemed to be very compatible and it was an evening of wine and camaraderie.

We toured Salzburg, particularly the castle, which was very interesting and in the evening attended the outdoor cinema showing of one of the operas performed at the Salzburg Festival last year.  (The Festival was on while we were there, but getting tickets was an impossibility, both because it was sold out, and even if it weren’t, way too pricey for us.).  

What a nice experience to sit beneath the castle on the cliffs above and enjoy The Magic Flute on film with a bunch of other people munching an outdoor picnic.  Only had to tell the young girls behind us to stop their nonstop chatter once.  Fortunately they got up and left; not interested; don’t know why they came.

Ilsa, Manfred, Sue & Larry

We left this idyllic odyssey and drove on to Munich, where we were welcomed, as usual by dear Manfred and dear Ilsa.  As always, they treated us like royalty.  

Manfred took us to a typical Bavarian “white wurst” meal at a local farm:  long tables lined up, beer for all; lots of chatter and delicious homemade wurst—must be eaten the day it is made.  So delicious and such a neat experience.  On another day, we all went to a Palitinate Wine Festival--where the wine flowed freely.

We visited the beautiful lake where Ilsa and Manfred spend time.  As he said, why would you go anywhere when you have this kind of beauty in your own backyard.

At a Palitinate Wine Festival in Munich

We had some great German meals at home and in restaurants; saw more of the Bavarian area and got to spend time with Sabina and her two adorable daughters, Anna and Caroline.  As usual, we were so happy to spend the time.

We set out for Frankfurt to turn in the car (praying that they wouldn’t make us pay for the scratches we got in the front by scraping a stone wall in Italy—they didn’t; the beauty of leasing is that their insurance covers such stuff).  A stop in Rothenburg, Germay's best preserved walled town, for lunch brought yet more fascinating sights (see below).  We caught our flight (which we just made due to confusion in the airport and bad signage) and headed home.  Weary but happy as our European sojourn ended.

Sue & Manfred, cousins
 What a wonderful time we had from the send off in New Orleans, to the cruise, to the trip through Spain, our fantastic return to beloved Italy, touring another part of the world we were curious about and sharing parts of it with family and friends.  We are so lucky.  Perhaps we are not saving the world, but we are certainly experiencing it.  Who knows, it may lead to something worthwhile.  Right now it is our way of life and will be so until it isn’t.

Horseless Carriage in Rothenburg

Rothenburg's Rathaus

Typical architecture

Old carved door in Rothenburg

Slovenia & Croatia

Our AirBnB in Kopar

Although we have been back in Denver since early August  events, illness, and procrastination have kept us from posting to the blog until now, but we have been working on several posts to bring it up to date.  Here's the first.

After a great three week stay in Verona, we left on July 25th to spend a few days in Slovenia, Croatia and Austria before returning to Germany and catching our flight home from Frankfurt.

Slovenia coastline

Our first stop was Kopar, Slovenia--just four hours from Verona. The AirBnB apartment was out in the country, but the GPS got us pretty close, and with just a little help from a Slovenian farmer we were able to find it without getting completely lost.

In Rovinj

We only spent three days in Slovenia and certainly didn't get to explore the country in depth, but one thing that struck us during our visit is how completely different--both physically and culturally--the Slovenians are from the Italians. They were very hospitable and welcoming, but you cannot help noticing that they are not nearly as sophisticated as their Italian neighbors, although only a few kilometers and an invisible border separate them.

While in Slovenia, we took the opportunity to make a brief sortie into Croatia, with our destination being Rovinj (or Revigno in Italian).  The drive through the Istrian countryside was pretty unexciting.  We had hoped that the coastal road would take us along a scenic seaside, but for nearly two hours we barely glimpsed the sea.

Rovinj is situated on a small peninsula and has little parking, especially for visitors, so everyone has to park outside the city and walk the last kilometer or two, which we did.  As we left the parking lot, the skies opened, and everyone we passed on our walk into town was soaked to the skin, but, for once, we were prepared and our slickers and umbrellas kept us dry.

Sue selecting cheese at a man's doorstep

Rovinj was worth getting wet for, though; what a beautiful little gem of a town.  Described by some as the most Italian of all Croatian cities, it certainly reminded us of many of the Italian towns we have visited over the years, but it was very special in its own way.

As we walked into the town, Sue discovered a man who sold the most incredible truffle cheese.  She liked him immediately and in the course of just a few minutes they bonded. When she had the idea to ask him for a restaurant recommendation,  he directed us to his friend's tiny restaurant just a short distance down the street.

Dining at Dricastel

We had one of the best meals ever.  The restaurant, Driocastel, could have held no more than 20 customers, but we were the only guests. Between our basic Italian and the proprietor's halting English, we managed to communicate.  Her story is extraordinary: twenty years earlier, she had fled the fighting and wasteland of Zagreb and established this business in Rovinj. She made us feel so welcome and appreciated and the food she served was fantastic, especially the seafood risoto.

Rescue of Saint Euphemia's Sarcophagus 

We fell in love with the story of Saint Euphemia,  the city's patron saint, whose casket seems to have floated from Asia Minor and washed ashore at this Croatian seaside town.  She is thought to protect both residents of and visitors to Rovinj. Her casket rests in the cathedral at the town's highest point which affords a lovely view of  the town and the Adriatic.

View of the Adriatic from the Cathedral

We were able to spend only a few hours in Rovinj, but thought it one of the sweetest and most picturesque places we have visited, and we would really recommend it to anyone visiting Slovenia or the Istrian peninsula of Croatia.

Veneto Adventures, Part II

Two other venues we explored in the Veneto were Lake Garda and Valpolicella.  Everyone has heard of Lake Como, thanks to George Clooney, but many Italians told us to "skip it" and go to Lake Garda instead, and so we did.

Our first trip to the lake was a short day trip drive where we ended up in the little peninsular town of Sirmione.  We parked, strolled through a lovely park and found our way to the preserved castle gate at the peninsula's point.  We passed through the gate and throngs of tourists (not our favorite company, though we, too, share the label) swarmed the area.

Julie, Ian & Sue 

The lake itself is gorgeous and we enjoyed sitting on a bench listening to a street musician play some lovely tunes on her guitar. As in most places, our fondest memory will be of food.

We stumbled upon a lake-side restaurant with tables scattered on a lawn and enjoyed a wonderful fish concoction while watching a toddler, almost Charlie's age, amble about playing with his grandma.  We got a bit homesick.

Ian & Julie on the Gondola

Our second trip to Lake Garda needs to be prefaced with another story.  While attending the opera "Carmen" in Verona, we got to talking to a dear English couple, Julie and Ian, who were sitting beside us and were very excited to be seeing their first opera ever.

They were in Verona only for the evening as they were staying at Lake Garda.  We chatted before the performance, shared our blankets, as it became quite chilly that night, and planned to meet the next day at the lake.

Julie had been to the lake several times and was familiar with the best things to see and do.  She suggested we take the gondola or tram to the top of the mountain in Malcesine and have lunch at one of the alpine restaurants, to which we readily agreed.  When we met them the next day, it was clear that in Malcesine, as with most lakeside towns, the number of tourists is large and parking is a challenge.

Malcesine Castle

After driving here and there where there was supposed to be parking, and almost parking where we would surely have been ticketed, we lucked out and secured a space (the last one available) in the underground lot at the base of the funicular.  Beware, drivers in Europe--driving and finding parking can be most frustrating experiences.

Lake Garda at Malcesine

We all got our tickets and, thanks to Julie, positioned ourselves in the rotating funicular to get the best views as we ascended.

What a gorgeous panorama!  We were able to see much of the lake and surrounding mountains and it was fun to see the town become smaller and smaller as we rose higher and higher.

Malcesine

At the top were sheep and cows, and, even horses.  The views were spectacular but the temperature had dropped significantly at that height, and the sky held ominous dark clouds.  We chose a restaurant and sat outside--at first.

Soon, however, we opted to retreat indoors as a huge cloud moved towards us threatening to engulf us.  We all had a great Austrian themed meal with lots of good beer and sausage.  When we saw the staff of the restaurant begin to rush to bring in outdoor furniture, we decided that maybe we should head back to the funicular.

The threatening cloud

Good idea, but late execution--there was a long line.  We took our place and waited quite a while, getting soaked in the rain that began a few minutes later.  Fortunately we always have a sarong in our back pack and were able to use it as a rain shield.

Down below at lake's edge, the sun was shining, it was warm and beautiful.  On top of the mountain it was cloudy, cold and rainy.  A true Alpine experience for us.

View of Garda from above

When we reached lake level, we walked around the town, took a very interesting tour of the local castle and had perhaps the best gelato ever (Gelateria Cento Per Cento).  We were sad to say goodbye to Julie and Ian, as we had had such a nice time with them, but bid farewell and drove back to Verona. They live in England's Lake Country, and we hope to visit them someday; they made it sound so beautiful and enchanting.

Valpolicella:  A most wonderful day.  In 2013, Erin participated in a yoga retreat which was held in the vineyard/guest house of the aunt of Erin's friend, Miles. Erin was enchanted by the setting and its proprietor, Lucia, and had urged us to visit. Somehow, we never found the time to make the short trip to Valpolicella until the day before we were scheduled to leave Italy. We are so happy that we made the effort, got to meet Lucia, and to see Villa Monteleone.

Antony and Lucia Raimondi came to Valpolicella about 14 years ago with the dream of creating their own vineyard and guest house, Villa Monteleone. Even though Antony passed away a few short years later, Lucia has continued to run the guest house and, perhaps what's more impressive, to operate the vineyard and produce award winning wines.

She welcomed us with open arms, showed us her lovely home and introduced us to her winery.  We passed a couple of hours listening to Lucia, marveling at her story and pluck, and, of course, drinking some of her delicious wine. As we were leaving (naturally with some of her wine!), she invited us back, and we hope that we will be able to visit her again--she is an impressive and gracious lady and the setting is fantastic.

Larry, Lucia & Sue

Veneto Vignettes

Being in Verona provided us a perfect place to see other parts of the Veneto, and our three weeks in Romeo and Juliette's hometown gave us enough time to see a number of interesting places, including Venice, Padua, Valpolicella, and Lake Garda.

Maya & Sandra

When last we visited Venice, we vowed not to return--far too touristy and overpriced, but at the urging of our AIRbnb host, Sonia, and being only an hour's train ride away, we decided to make another visit, and we were glad we did.

We shared our visit with an Israeli mother and daughter, Sandra and Maya, whom we met while dining at an Indian restaurant in Verona. They had never visited Venice and we were delighted to introduce them.

Grand Canal in Venice

Rick Steves says that the best way to start one's visit to Venice is to take the slow vaporetto (water bus) up the Grand Canal, and so we did.  The Grand Canal is lined with beautiful, centuries-old homes and palazzi.

On a lovely, sunny summer's day, the ride from the Santa Lucia train station to Saint Mark's Square is almost magical.  Once we arrived at Saint Mark's, it was clear that the crazy Venetian tourist season was in full bore, so we quickly hopped on another vaporetto heading to Murano, one of Venice's smaller outlying islands.

Glass blowing demo

Murano,  is like Venice in miniature, including canals, bridges and stately homes. It is famous for its blown glass--and there are certainly hundreds of shops on the island selling it, ranging in price from $10 tourist trinkets (our price range) to $20K or $30K  art works.

Touring Murano

Canal in Murano

After a while you do get overwhelmed by all the displayed glass works, but it was a pleasant place to pass an afternoon and shop for gifts. As it is not quite as overrun with tourists as the rest of Venice, it's a good introduction. After a couple of hours, Sandra and Maya decided to venture back over to Venice itself, while we opted to continue exploring Murano--agreeing to meet up at the train station for the return to Verona.

Late in the afternoon, we took the boat back to Venice, and had an early dinner in the Saint Zaccaria area, dining on white wine and a shared dish of mussels and clams in marinara sauce at the Hotel Restaurant Savoia and Jolanda. Clearly geared for the tourist trade, they still manage to serve wonderful Italian food. With a gelato from a stand near the train station, we ended up our surprisingly pleasant trip to Venice.

Another one-day excursion took us to Padua, which is located between Verona and Venice.  We had planned to take the train there, as we had to Venice, but arriving at the train station in a pouring rain storm and unable to find a parking place, we decided to drive.  Five minutes outside of town, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and when we arrived in Padua we found parking, with very little trouble.

Kiss of Judas--One of the Giotto Frescoes

Padua, or as they say Padova, was once a rich and independent city state and today is home to one of Italy's largest universities.

During our short one day visit, we clearly missed a lot of its interesting sights and treasures, but we were fortunate enough to see the Scrovegni Chapel and its stunning 14th century frescoes by Giotto.

To preserve these early renaissance masterpieces, you can visit the chapel in small groups and then only for twenty minutes at a time. We were blown away!

We would compare the impact to seeing the Sistine Chapel, but you are with 30 not 300 people and the visit is one of quiet awe, not the cattle car chaos of the Vatican.

Twenty minutes doesn't seem like enough time, but it allows you to look at all of the frescoes and marvel at the true mastery of Giotto, who is said to have altered the style of painting human figures which became a huge step in art and prefaced the Italian Renaissance.  It was a once in a life time event for us, and we were glad we had not let ourselves be deterred by a rain storm and fear of lack of parking.

Marble relief at St. Anthony's Tomb

Not Saint Anthony

We finished our time in Padua with a tour of the Basilica of Saint Anthony,   one of Italy's most venerated saints. The Basilica and his tomb are visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually, looking for his blessing and intercession.  It was humbling to see pilgrims, many clutching photos, touching the tomb and presumably asking the saint to protect/bless lost loved ones.

Fresco in St. Anthony's Basilica

None of the art works approached the impact of the Giotto frescoes, but we enjoyed our visit to this very spiritual and peaceful place.

Sue took a picture of Larry (above) while waiting to see the Giotto frescoes.  Who knew he might have been a model for one of the pictured saints?