Saturday, September 26, Going Home!

We got up early this morning in Barcelona to endure a very long day.  We got to breakfast at 7am and then checked out at 7:30am.  Out first flight was back to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, which was uneventful.  Then we had to hustle through the airport to get to another terminal (involving a long wait to ride a bus between terminals), plus another passport control, but fortunately not another security screening.  The flight from Paris to LAX was very nice.  The plane did not have separate business and first class, so it is possible that we may have flown international first class.  Our seats were the best we're ever had on any flight.  Here is Rob in his:

The seats lie flat and we both took advantage of this by sleeping about four hours on the plane.

Landing in LAX, we had a lengthy time in immigration.  First you had to stand in a very long line to access a kiosk that took our pictures, then another line to turn in the pictures, then a third line for some reason.  The whole process took an hour!  Then, we had a few hours to kill in the lounge, but the time passed faster than we anticipated, and soon enough we were flying home.

We had no trouble getting our baggage in SFO, and our limousine picked us up at 9:30pm or so, delivering us to our door at about 10:40pm.  We had about 24 hours of travel to get home, and when we got in the door, we brushed our teeth and went straight to bed.  We were utterly exhausted and happy to be home!

Friday, September 25, Final Day in Europe ... Walking around Barcelona

Okay, this is it, and we are ready to go home.  But the weather today is gorgeous:  sunny and in the 70's, so we are going to enjoy this day and enjoy Barcelona!  That said, we did sleep a little later that we normally would!

After breakfast, we headed out for the Gaudi designed Parc Guell.  We did stop after about one block to admire an apartment building by Gaudi, called La Pedrera or Casa Mila.  In 1996, this was not open to the public (it was really a private apartment building in use), but we saw that there are tickets for sale now and people were standing on the roof with a gift shop on the ground floor.  We elected to continue on to Parc Guell, as was our plan, but did stop to take a photo (not a great one):

We had about a 45 minute walk to Parc Guell, but Barcelona is wonderful for walking.  Rob had researched tickets this morning, and he recommended that we buy them online to guarantee our entry.  This would turn out to be an good recommendation and decision.  Note that in 1992, tickets were not even required ... times change.  We arrived at about 11:30am, an hour before our scheduled entry, and immediately noted that the earliest tickets available were being sold for 3:30pm -- smart thinking, Rob!  We walked around some of the areas in the park that are outside the restricted area.  The park is a large esplanade with beautiful benches made of shards of broken pottery.  There are two houses constructed, too.  The whole area was intended to be a housing development here in Barcelona, but it did not come to fruition.  Only the two houses were built, and they were actually intended to be gate houses, not actual homes.  Anyway, it is simply unique in its design and a lot of fun to look at.  That said, it was so full of people, even with the limited access, that it became very difficult to take pictures, but here are a few of mine (Rob took a lot more):

My pictures don't really do the sight justice, unfortunately.  

From here, we were continuing our Gaudi themed tour and walked south to Gaudi's massive project, La Sagrada Familia (the holy family).  We were trying to remember what this looked like in 1996 and can remember a few things:  the inside of the cathedral was still open to the elements, and the towers were complete (maybe).  We also remembered that we were told that there was no funding to complete the project, and donations were being solicited.  As we approached the site, it is clear that funding has been obtained.  This is a major construction site with multiple cranes and lots of scaffolding.  It is also obvious that a lot has been built.  When completed, and it seems likely at this point that it will be, this will be a massive cathedral -- much of it is still not visible at this point.  Here is my photo of the facade:

It is hard to describe this design, so I probably won't attempt it.  It is also obvious that in the past 19 years this has become even more popular with tourists.  Busload after busload of tourists passed us.  In five minutes, we counted close to ten (guess that is where the money is coming from).  We decided not to enter; we're feeling a little crowd averse at this point.  It was now after 2pm, and we preferred to keep on with our walking tour.

No major sites to see, just strolling.  Our walk took us past some modern buildings, including the National Theater and a large one that looks like a giant pickle.  Then we came upon a large space with an Arch of Triumph that is really nice.  Some event has either taken place here or is being set up, so there is a lot of activity that prevented us from getting a really good photo, but here is the best one  I got:

The bottom of the arch is cut off in the photo, so that the big trucks parked there were not included.  From here, we just headed back to the hotel; it was about 4pm.

After a little rest, we went out for an early dinner (must turn in early tonight for our flights home tomorrow).  We revisited the tapas place where we had lunch yesterday called Cerveseria Catalan.  Tonight we ordered a variety of tapas, some that we had eaten yesterday like the asparagus and mushrooms and the chicken croquettes, plus some that were new to us.  Here is a photo:

We had some new ones like beef skewers (really good) and shrimp skewers:

The star of the show was a dish called cod (bacalao) three ways:

One (on the right) was cod in a zuchini flower and was fried.  The other two preparations had tomato and eggplant.  All three were absolutely incredible!  In fact, it was so good that we ordered a second dish of it!

Time to call it a day ... what a wonderful vacation ... tomorrow we go home. 

Thursday, September 24, Back to Barcelona

On Saturday, our plans to return home begin with a flight from Barcelona to Paris, so we must return to Barcelona to get home -- not a bad option.  We rose early (after not sleeping well) and were on our way with no breakfast.  At the Rome airport we checked in and cleared security quickly and easily, then stopped for an almond croissant.  As usual in Europe, it was a free-for-all to board the plane, but the flight was uneventful.  We are both very tired, though.  It was deja vu as we took a cab to the same hotel where we were booked three weeks ago at the very beginning of this trip (the Hotel Alexandra, a Hilton Doubletree property).  We were checked in and given a top floor room this time, a little larger and nicer that the one we had before.  We had asked the check in clerk for a lunch recommendation and he told of us a tapas place one block away called Cervesseria Catalan.  When we arrived, the place was very full -- and seemingly with local people.  We were told that the wait for a table would be about 15 to 20 minutes, so we waited and enjoyed a delicious glass of white wine (for only 2 euros each!).  We were seated in about fifteen minutes.

We ordered the tapas:  tortilla with cod and mixed vegetables, a traditional spanish omelette, asparagus and mushrooms, two chicken croquettes, and fried potatoes (bravas), along with bread.  The bread here is brushed with some type of tomato sauce that softens it, different but good.  We had a second glass of wine (who could resist?), and then we returned to the hotel for a nap.  This restaurant was really good!

At 4pm, we roused ourselves and headed out to do some sightseeing.  We had thought this afternoon would be a good opportunity to tour the Casa Batllo, a mansion of the Passag de Gracia designed by Gaudi that is a real Barcelona landmark.  We stood in the short line to buy tickets and then began our tour with the audioguide.  It is a beautiful mansion, although very untraditional, inspired by the shapes and colors of the sea.  Here are a few of my photos:

Rob took a lot more than I did -- I really just focused on the tour.

After this, we walked down to the Placa de Catalunya, the main square.  We were noticing that it was odd that the sidewalks were full, but all the stores were closed.  Why would that be?  We soon had our answer, as we stumbled on a parade of paper-mache giant people.  What is this?  We asked a couple watching the parade who looked like they might speak English (they did), who were very happy to tell us:  this was the day of the annual festival of Barcelona.  Each community in Catalunya has a festival day each summer, and Barcelona's is the last one, and the biggest.  There are many events in the festival (including fireworks later tonight), but this was the parade.  Each paper-mache giant (gigante) represents an area of the city and some historical figure, often a lord and lady.  The event is geared toward children, and we were also really enjoying it.  The giants twirled and danced -- the parade went on for a very long time!  There were also parade delegations from other countries, plus dragons and dinosaurs.  Here are a few of my pictures:

Not quite sure what the bare breasted bird-head lady ws all about ... just a little creapy ... is this really for children?  Anyway, it was great fun and an unexpected treat of local culture!

For dinner, we returned to the rooftop patio restaurant called Cercle, where we had dined three weeks ago.  The ambience was nice and the food was perfect:  fried calamari, fresh salad, and cod with beans.  We weren't sure if we could get in (there are so many people out and about after the parade), but we did.  Then it was time to turn in and get some rest.  On the way back, we admired the fountain colored red and yellow:

Wednesday, September 23, Perfect Day for Walking around Rome

Our day began with breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel, the Scalinata di Spagna.  We have no plans today except to walk around Rome and just enjoy the sights.  As Rob noted, "Rome wasn't built in a day,"  but if you willing to put in the miles, you can walk it in a day.

After breakfast, we set out for our first sight:  the Trevi Fountain.  Along the way, we saw a fabulous church called Sant'Andea della Fratte.  We also popped our heads into what looks to be a really nice shopping mall built into an older building -- how nice!  This was not likely here on our last visit to Rome.  When we arrived at the Trevi Fountain, we are disappointed to see that it is under renovation.  The fountain has no water and is partially hidden behind construction barriers.  Fortunately, the barriers are made of plexiglass so we can look through to see the beautiful statuary.  Needless to say, the area is somewhat overwhelmed by tourists.  Here is my photo:

After this, we made our way to the monument to Vittorio Emmanuelle II, whom (I think) was the final king of Italy.  On our way we are waylaid by another church called S. S. Apostali.  The interior is just beautiful.  It is unbelievable how many churches are in Rome and how many would be a major tourist draw anywhere else, but in Rome -- they are nothing special!  Here is my photo of the altar:

... and the gorgeous ceiling:

Then we continued on to the Vittorio Emmanuelle II monument.  This monument has the nickname of being "the wedding cake."  I believe that I had been told by someone that the Roman citizens are not so fond of this building, built by Mussolini in an (failed) attempt to rival the old Roman architecture.  Anyway, there is no missing it on our walk, and here is my photo:

From here we had thought we would revisit the church known as St. Mary Maggiore, which we had seen in 2000.  This church is considered the second most impressive in Rome after St. Peter's in the Vatican ... but we never made it.  We wandered over to the Roman ruins in the Forum and became fascinated by viewing what is left of the various emperors' forums, such as Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, and Nerva (Nerva?).  It is really hard to imagine the glorious buildings that once stood here, but one has to try.  My photos of this side of the Imperial Way didn't turn our very well given the angle of the sun, but I did get a pretty good shot of a statue of Caesar:

Say what you will, that man could make a great salad!

Crossing the street, we were able to look down into the more impressive Roman forum ruins -- these are the ones that require a ticket to get in (which we did in 1992), but we decided that would not be one of today's priorities.  So we just admired them from above.  I did get a good photo on this side of the street:

Then we continued on down the street to take a look at the exterior of the Colosseum -- always amazing how big this is!  We also walked to the adjacent Arch of Constantine, one of my favorites:

Not a great photo, but there it is.

Our next objective for the day was to visit my favorite place in Rome:  the Circo Massimo, or Circus Maximus.  This oval, home to chariot races two thousand years ago, still exists, but in my memory it is a relatively untended open public space.  I don't know why it captures my imagination so much, but it does.  Today, when we arrived, we see that archeological excavations are happening here.  People are at work uncovering from beneath the soil, remnants of the structure that had long been buried.  At first, I am disappointed that the place from my memory is being altered, but of course, it is best to unearth the Roman ruins.  I knew that I needed to have a picture taken of me here, so here it is:

Here is picture, taken in the other direction, of the archeological work in progress:

I imagine that if I ever make it back here again, the whole place will be utterly transformed.  I am glad I have my memories.

From here, we made our way to a tourist site where we had not been before: the Bocca del Veritas, or the Mouth of Truth.  This landmark is probably best known from the movie, "Roman Holiday," in a scene where Gregory Peck inserts his hand in the mouth, where, according to myth, those that are untruthful have their hands bitten off.  When Gregory feigns a great pain, his companion, Audrey Hepburn, shreiks -- he fools her good.  Today, the place is, of course, mobbed by close to one hundred tourists, all in line for a photo op.  We declined to invest that time and instead, I stuck my phone through the fence and took this photo:

It was just as well we didn't stand in line -- who knows, it may have bitten my hand off?

Now it was time for our most loved section of Rome, Trastevere, which means across the Tiber River, so that was what we did:  we crossed the Tiber.  It is our favorite for the charming narrow streets and the feeling that maybe you are not in the tourist over-run part of Rome anymore, but in a place where people actually live, albeit in a very historical setting.  In addition, this is the neighborhood where our friend Moira lived when we visited her in 1992, so of course we have sentimental feelings.

We walked through the streets trying to settle on a place to have lunch (Rob had his heart set on pizza), but don't really see any restaurant that seems compelling.  Then we enter Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere and think of the restaurant Sabatini's.  Why would we eat anywhere else?  This is probably a fancier restaurant that we had in mind (there is no pizza on the menu), but it is perfect for today's somewhat sentimental occasion.  Here is the view from our table:

And here is our lunch:

What could be more pleasant or perfect?  It is a leisurely lunch that is just right for today.  After lunch we walk across the piazza to enter the church, parts of which date to the 400's.  Inside, it is more beautiful than we remembered -- we suspect that some restoration work has been happening.

And the ceiling:

Leaving the church, we can't help but look up on the terrace for our friend Moira's apartment during her time here.  That is it in the center and on the top of the building that is just a little shorter than its neighbors.  Can you imagine a better place to live than here in Piazza Santa Maria in Testevere?  We spent several days on the rooftop terrace, drinking wine, watching people stroll on the street below, and sharing time with Moira.  Such great memories!

ver

From here, we strolled to the north and then along the river until we reached the Vatican.  We admired the Castel Saint Angelo, the pope's fortress, when he had to worry about security and then walked the approach to St. Peter's Cathedral, always magnificent.  The lines are so long to get in, but we had not planned to enter anyway (it is hard to tell from this photo, but they stretch all along the length of this photo in the background and beyond).

We continued walking and crossed the Piazza Cavour with the enormous Palace of Justice, then made our way back across the river to the Piazza del Populi, another of Rome's famous piazza's.  Naturally, there were a lot of people here, but the place is so big, it didn't matter.  The fountain here, too, is also undergoing renovation, so that view was not available.  Here are two views from the middle of the piazza that were available:

The weather now seemed as if it wanted to begin raining, so we walked the short distance back to the Spanish Steps and our hotel.  We've gone about 10 miles today, so we are ready for a rest.  Once inside, the rain does begin.

For dinner, we walked in the rain to Piazza Navona (can't help but go back there one more time, even in the rain!) and ate at a restaurant called Vacanzes Romane (translates to "Roman Holiday").  The restaurant is nothing special, but I had pizza and Rob had spaghetti and meat balls.  Inside the menu, there are photographs of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck from the movie, "Roman Holiday"  with one problem.  We point out to the waiter that the third photo is actually of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly from "Breakfast at Tiffany's."  This elicits a big laugh as he agreed, but admitted that he had never noticed this before.

We walked back in the continuing rain and turned in.

A little side note:  this evening was the first, and only time that we needed our umbrellas on tis vacation.  Turns out that September is a great month to visit Europe.

Tuesday, September 22, On to Rome!

After a wonderful time in the Cinque Terre, it is time to bid arrivederci and head for Rome -- as Rob noted, "All roads lead to Rome!"  Our original train plan was to take a train from Monterosso that would give us about 15 minutes to change trains in La Spezia.  We have learned that this would place our transfer in jeopardy, given how late Italian trains can run.  So our modified plan is to take the 8:45am train, more than a half hour early.  We had arranged for the hotel car (no charge!) to drive us to the station at 8am, way too early, but why not?  We arrived at the train station in less than ten minutes and discovered that the 8:06am train to La Spezia was already running late.  We could easily hop on this train, so we did.  It was an uneventful ride with not many passengers -- good!

Our time in La Spezia to wait for our train to Rome was now more than an hour, but we didn't mind.  There is a small seating, but also a McDonald's where you can sit (if you can stand listening to the loud radio station being played -- the current single from Beck (good) followed by Bon Jovi (bad).  Soon enough we are boarding the train, scheduled to depart at 10:06am, but not pulling out until 10:15am or so.  The first class is divided into compartments with six seats each, facing each other with the aisle down one side.  It is okay.  No one in our compartment is too loud, but there is a large group of 30ish men traveling together that are doing quite a bit of talking in nearby compartments and in the aisle.  The trip is scenic in many parts, traversing farms and seeing a few hill towns.  The largest place we go through is Civitavecchia, a port city near Rome.  We can see a few cruise ships in port, presumably bussing its passengers the 50 miles to Rome for sightseeing.  We arrive in the Roma Termini around 2:30pm and locate the taxi line.  Shortly after 3pm, we are riding to our hotel, the Hotel Scalinata di Spagna (Spanish Steps), where we had stayed on our trip here in 2000.

Settling into our room, we set out for some casual walking.  We walk down the Spanish Steps, disappointed to see that the church at the top of the steps is wrapped for construction and now features a gigantic billboard ad for Max Mara (modeled by actress Amy Adams).  We walk past the high-end designer shops in the Via Condotti, pausing for a photograph at Salvadore Ferragamo, where Rob had purchased a pair of shoes for my 40th birthday in 2000 (I still have and love them!).  Then we turn left down the Via Corso, another shopping street.  Needless to say, the crowds are enormous, particularly at the Spanish Steps.  A little ways down the Via Corso, we stop to admire and photograph the ancient column and Piazza Colonna.

Then we venture on to the Pantheon, again overcome with crowds.  Both of our previous trips to Rome were in April, so we have not experienced the full throng of sightseers that come to Rome in the summer (or September).  Then we proceeded to Rob's favorit place in Rome, Piazza Navona:

What a great place!  We stopped to enjoy a glass of pinot grigio at a cafe -- we could sit here a long time to watch the people passing by.  Our neighbors at the next table took a picture of us:

We see lots of tour groups, but as the afternoon latens, they dissipate -- maybe even some real Italians are coming out to stroll?  We are getting a little hungry (not having eaten since a lousy sandwich on the train before 11am), so my preference is to walk to Campo dei Fiori to find a restaurant for dinner.  We select a place where I believe we had a pizza lunch in 1992 with our friend, Moira, whom we were visiting at that time.  All of the restaurants here are probably the same, but we had a wonderful experience this evening.  We shared a tomato and basil bruschetta to start, then each had grilled chicken and vegetables with a side salad for dinner -- not typically Italian but really, really good!  Rob is enjoying himself:

After dinner we retraced our steps back to Piazza Navona:

Admire the fountains:

And find our way to the Pantheon ... then we promptly made a wrong turn somewhere and got lost.  Spying a restaurant, we stopped to ask a young waiter where we were on the map.  He pointed out Piazza Nicosia (how did we get there?), then he pointed the way to the Spanish Steps.  We walked a few blocks in that direction, then realized that we were going the wrong way.  At this point all we needed to do was reverse direction and walk directly in a straight line to the Spanish Steps!  What a great place to get lost in!

Monday, September 21, More Hiking in the Cinque Terre

We rested yesterday, now our plan is to hike some.  We had thought that perhaps we should take the train to Corniglia to the south and continue our hike down to the other two towns of the Cinque Terre that we had not seen yet.  This would be a challenging up and down hike as the main trails connecting these towns (along the coast) had been washed out a few years ago and was still not restored.  One of  the attendants at our hotel's reception suggested an alternative; she told us a lovely hike would be to go north, which would provide the best views of the Cinque Terre (viewing all five towns at once), before continuing on to Levanto.  She told us that this would be about a three hour hike.  It sounded like a good idea to us, so that became our plan.  Perhaps this would be a little less crowded than what we had experienced Saturday, although we were not complaining about Saturday.

We walked down to the town and continued along the beach to the north end.  We saw the large stature of Neptune that is one of Monterosso's prominent features, known as Il Gigante.  Then we began to climb.  It is step after step at this point.  Here is an example:

There are nice views back to Monterosso along the way:

And after about one and one half hours, we reach the peak, where the ruins of a church called San Antonio are located:

And the views are incredible.  Here is a photo from my iphone using a wide angle lens attachment of all five towns:

We were almost nearly alone here at the top, just us and an older couple -- very peaceful.  We left to continue on the trail.  We felt very fortunate, because as we were leaving, a very large (30+?) group of French hikers converged on the site -- and they just do not ever shut up!  Talk about annoying, but for us, it was relatively brief, and they were headed in the opposite direction.  We continued north; here are a few of the beautiful (if I say so myself) pictures:

And they we could see our destination, the town of Levanto (not part of the Cinque Terre):

We made our way into Levanto; our trek has taken about three and a half hours (by the end of the afternoon we will have walked about 10 miles and climbed 142 flights of stairs).  We were ready for a break.  We passed by a few restaurants that seem to cater to tourists but continue on.  We were drawn into a restaurant off the beaten path for some reason, and it is a good choice.  Inside the dining room several tables are occupied by what would seem to be locals, mostly men, in fact -- seems like something out of a "Godfather" movie.  Our waitress speaks only Italian, but we had no trouble communicating.  I ordered focaccio Margarita, and Rob has a seafood salad.  Both are outstanding!  My focaccio is very thin crust and may be one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten -- such good tomato flavor.  Rob equally enjoys his salad.  It was an unusual, but pleasurable experience.

We needed to ask a few times (most of the people we approached were tourists like ourselves), but we did find the train station.  The ticket machine in the station was broken, but the clerk sold us tickets to Monterosso (only one stop away) for 1.80 euro each, but the train was a 45 minute wait.  Rob notices that there is another train 20 minutes earlier than that?  Can we take it?  Yes, but we would need to buy new tickets for 6 euros each.  We decide to be bad.  We don't buy the more expensive tickets but get on the earlier train anyway.  It is extremely unlikely that anyone would be checking tickets, and if they did, we could just play dumb.  On the train, we spot a conductor heading our way, and I feel a little panic, but he stays away.  The train ride is only 5 minutes!

Back in Monterosso, we get our train tickets for tomorrow printed and spend a little time shopping in the main area.  We had earlier seen some nice ceramics and had decided to return to purchase a few. There is a fabulous local ceramics studio which makes lovely flat pieces depicting local houses and scenes, plus some other glazed pieces like small vases and bowls.  We buy both types.

Now it was time to go back to hotel and take showers!  It has been a long day and is about 4pm.  After our clean-up, we return to town for dinner.  We had intended to go back to Il Pozza, but discover that they are closed on Mondays.  We walk down the Via Roma a little bit and venture into a place called La Cambusa.  It is very nice.  I had pasta with potato, green beans and pesto sauce.  Rod had pasta with tomato sauce and tuna.  We enjoyed both with side dishes (contorni) of mixed salad and grilled vegetables (mushroom, zuchini, and peppers).  Not too heavy, but just right!  We drank a local red wine called bagasti (?).  Neither of us had cameras, so no photos.  A very nice way to end our stay in the Cinque Terre.  Time to turn in early to be ready for our early train tomorrow.