[GG] Adventures in Slovenia

Lake Bled

Slovenia is one of those places I have never really thought of. I have probably seen pictures of it (it's very picturesque) and thought it was Austria. When we decided to come here, it was a geographical decision as it conveniently lies between Austria, where we definitely wanted to go, and Croatia which has been on my mind ever since I saw Dubrovnik 5 or 6 years ago. So with a little planning we decided on two locations: Lake Bled and Ljubljana.

You have to really want to get to Lake Bled to make it happen with public transportation from Innsbruck. By train you travel back to Salzburg, then to Villach, and cross the border into Slovenia. It's about a 5-6 hour trip when you add it all up. The countryside flying by the train window is beautiful: green valleys, small villages, big mountains, and always a meandering river. Once in Slovenia your stop is Lesce-Bled. Exit the train, walk over to the bus stop across the street and take the bus into the community of Lake Bled. It's only about 3 miles and 10 or 15 minutes by bus. No fuss. No frills. Unfortunately, our excited exit from the train turned to disappointment as Cee realized she had left her scarf on the train. There is not much time to collect your thoughts, your bags & your travel mates once the train stops, before it takes off again. Once Cee realized her scarf was gone, the train was too.

In Bled we exited the bus and this time happily found our hotel less than 3 blocks away. True to form we put down our stuff and went exploring. First a walk around the lake (3.5 miles) hoping to find a kayak rental somewhere. Row boats were the best we could do, planning for the next day. The evening was warm and the walk was a perfect stimulus for our appetites. Chili's seemed to be our only resource for dinner after 9PM, but it turned out to be delightful. I ordered the trout fillet (trout is a specialty in Slovenia) and was impressed by the size of the trout and delighted with the flavor – cooked perfectly.

Lake Bled is like Disneyland or a fairy tale, complete with a medieval castle on a hill overlooking the lake, picturesque island with a church, and a backdrop of alpine mountains. Its natural beauty has made Bled Slovenia's leading mountain resort, popular with world leaders, celebrities, and us. Marshal Tito's home is now Hotel Vila Bled, a beautiful mansion just above the lake. This lake is also renowned for world class rowing championships held here. They even lengthened the lake in order to accommodate the long boats.

Next day we rented a row boat and Cee rowed us out to the island in the middle of the lake. We climbed the hill to briefly explore the church, relaxed a bit and then Bee took over the oars and brought us back to shore. Me? I was treated like a queen and could just sit back and relax while they did all the work.

Vintgar Gorge, just north of Bled, seemed like a beautiful way to spend the better part of the next day. I had an inkling I was in trouble when the girl at the bike rental shop described the route. “Follow this road up, turn right here and then you go up this road where you will see signs. Follow the signs up along here”, she said drawing her finger along the map. I heard a lot of “ups” in her directions. We adjusted our helmets and bikes, grabbed water and a few snacks, and off we went....up...then a little more up....then a long little more up...then a few short ups after a block or so on level ground...then another up, a down, level, then one little longer down ending in a short up. Sounds easy enough and I guess it was for the 20-somethings. The 60-something (me) was wheezing, red in the face, sweating reminiscent of my sauna experience, slowly climbing the hills, getting off and walking, resting when I needed to. Courtnie & Bailey were great, patiently waiting at the top of the hills or circling back to make sure I was all right. The effort was worth it. Vintgar Gorge is beautiful with the fast moving Radovna River cutting through the mountains and a convenient boardwalk and bridges following along. The water was clear and we could see fish but no fisherman. Waterfalls, ferns, narrow gorge, on and on we walked on the boardwalks for several miles and a couple of hours overall. At the end, we turned around and retraced our steps back to the bikes. This was a beautiful area.

More ups & downs and a new route back to Bled through a small village on a hill just above it. An open field beckoned Bee to recreate her “Sound of Music” twirls. A shady tree beckoned Cee and I. Our joy was short lived, however, as a woman farmer drove up on her tractor cursing us in Slovenian and making it very obvious she wanted us off her land, immediately. We apologized, tried to explain, and ultimately just got back on our bikes and rode back to the roadway. She's probably had her fill of tourists.

That evening we discovered a malted grapefruit drink, bottled by Union, that was very refreshing. A little rest, a few refreshing beverages, and a hearty dinner and we were ready to tackle the 10^th century Bled Castle on the hill overlooking the lake. We arrived just in time to witness a re-enactment of a typical day in the life of the king and his court, including the kidnapping and rescue of his daughter, battle scene, and a dance. The costumes were great & Bee showed her prowess in wielding a sword.

[GG] In and out of Innsbruck

Innsbruck

June 19 Sunday

An easy ten minute train ride from Hall put us in Innsbruck, a beautiful town with roots back to the Stone Age, that serves as capital for Austrian Tyrol. The surrounding Alps are breathtaking and we arrive on a beautiful blue sky day.

After a brief walk around Old Town center and a look at the Golden Roof (viewing box built in 1500 for Emperor Maximilian I), we followed the sound of beautiful church bells until we found the origin.

With that Bee was off to church and Cee and I were left on our own to explore for an hour. I should mention that the Golden Roof was actually made of 3000 copper tiles and not gold. Another example of “all that glitters is not gold.”

Innsbruck was Europe's center for culture and politics from the 15^th to the 18^th centuries, and the Old City reflects sophistication in its beautiful architecture, large central square, fountains, and statues. Cee & I meandered the streets, crossed the oldest bridge which was built in the 11^th century, and explored various shops. When we finally reunited with Bee, our prize had been the Schnapps sampling store. This cute little store was noteworthy for having perhaps 100's of different flavors of schnapps, bottled in what appeared to be over sized hamster water feeders (you know, the egg shaped glass bottle, with a spout sticking out near the bottom). It was hard to choose which ones we wanted to sample. Do we choose by color? Clarity? Name? As I choose my race horses based on color, I decided to go with this approach in schnapps tasting. Yummy. Mouth under spout, turn the spigot & enjoy the liquid flow. Well, not exactly. The friendly store keeper had her own ideas, including small plastic sampling cups, reminiscent of the small containers used in hospitals when dispensing pills to patients. At any rate we sampled several each and finally decided on a lemon flavored schnapps, something similar to Baileys Cream, and absinthe..

With more than a few swallows to fortify us we were off to Lake Bled in Slovenia.

[GG] A Short Trip across the Hall

Hall in Tirol

June 18

Austria is beautiful: green valleys & steep hills, and snow capped peaks giving way to the towering Austrian Alps as we near Innsbruck. The train ride from Salzburg to Hall in Tirol, just 10 km east of Innsbruck, was a beautiful journey. Hall is a UNESCO site as this town, remarkably preserved, dates back to the 13^th century. Its importance in history is primarily tied to salt and indeed, the coat of arms shows two lions hugging a cask of salt.

Off the train we are presented with our usual challenge: Where are we? And where are we going? With the benefit of local advice and a hand drawn map of crossroads and arrows, we marched off to Hotel Heiligkreuz, not more than 15 minutes walk through a modest residential area. We have a beautifully bright and cheery upstairs room with an unobstructed view of Mount Bettelwurf through our windows.

It was a drizzly day, but undaunted by weather and characteristically optimistic, we set off to explore old town. Marked by narrow, cobblestone streets and a central square dominated by a church, in my limited experience this seemed like a pretty typical medieval Austrian village. A quick cup of cappuccino to warm us up and we were off exploring and browsing the central market. Increasing rain showers made a decision to have an early dinner quite easy and then back to Heiligkreuz for an evening of sauna.

[GG] Savoring Salzburg

Salzburg

June 15, 16, 17

I think we loved Salzburg instantly. We had minimal problem finding our Hotel Mozart within a 20 minute walk of the train station (hauptbahnhoff, as we're learning to call it). We were greeted with a jovial “Guten tag...hello!) from our animated, impish hotel clerk. If we were in Ireland, I would have thought him to be a leprechaun. But we are in Austria, so I'm not sure what he is other than delightful.

During the check-in process he provided us with a map, recommendations for dinner, and ideas for sightseeing, all the time with a little bounce to every step he took behind the desk.

Up to our quaint little room to drop off our things and we were off exploring. Bailey and I have decided tonight is Wienerschnitzel night so after wandering a short way on the cobblestone streets we stopped in at the highly recommended “Old Fox” for dinner. The anticipation of Wienerschnitzel proved to be better than the actual wiener.... but Courtnie was quite happy with her breakfast skillet (or at least that's what it looked like to me with a skillet of fried egg, potatoes, peppers, and more.

The next day we explored the castle, modern art museum, a couple of churches, and platz (town squares). The views from the castle (they're always on a hill) were wonderful. Salzburg is in a narrow valley and a river meanders through it. Steady current, sage green. The hillsides in the foreground give way to jagged peaked mountaintops in the background, the greens yielding to purples. There are patches of green grass surrounded by forest and we were told that the Sound of Music was filmed here. There's no doubt that it was as you can almost hear Julie Andrews singing and see her twirling on the open hillside. The “Goatherder” song keeps playing in my head – a continuous loop I can't seem to shake. We stop for a few minutes to listen to an acoustic guitarist playing in the Residenzplatz. He is gray haired, intent on his music, and exceptional. Cee & Bee decide to buy one of his CD's, remarkable in that we really haven't bought anything we're not consuming during our travels: water, juice, cheese, salami, chocolate, and local alcohol.

Two twenty minute walks uphill divided by a cable car ride up a steep mountain. 700 steps up; 700 steps down. Freezing cold. All that adds up to the adventure into the largest ice cave in the world – Eisriesenweldt. This is located in Werfen, a 30 minute train ride from Salzburg. We've entered the mountains and we can see snow on the mountaintops in the distant. I am a little anxious about this adventure. Steps up, well anything up, has not been my forte, and I am nervous that any necessary rest stops for me will prove to be a drag on Cee & Bee's experience. It's not that I haven't been preparing. I have been taking the stairs rather than the elevator in each of our hotels as well as when we were on the ship and we have been walking extensively almost every day. I hope I'm ready. On the train to Werfen I meditate and try to calm myself. Cee & Bee, recognizing my anxiety reassure me. Once at the ticket station (19 euros/person) I look for other people my age or older. No success. Once we are on the trail up to the cave entrance, I scan each person coming down: are they older? Do they look like they are in similar shape? Oh, Oh. That person is covered in sweat. What will that mean for me?

Once at the cave entrance somehow C & I end up in front of the line, just behind the guide. Cee is given a small oil lamp and every fourth or fifth pair is given a similar lamp. They each emit one small flame, as though carrying a birthday candle, one, into the cave. The guide issues instructions, opens the door closing the cave and instantly we are hit with a blast of wind as the cold air of the cav rushes out to the warmer air outside. And we enter and shortly begin to climb. The ice surrounding the stairs is a frozen waterfall frozen in the tumble to a lake, 24 feet thick. The ceilings and walls sparkle with frost.

As we continue to climb, the icicles take on various shapes like an elephant and another formation looks like a whale. When illuminated by the magnesium coil the guides carry they glow light blue. And we continue to climb, our steepest a 45 degree angle. I huff a little, puff a little, but I am making it and enjoying it. After 700 steps up, there are a few ramps across the frozen ponds, and then 700 steps back down, passing through a tunnel of ice, made by nature, enlarged by man. We are wearing socks on our hands, being bereft of gloves, and the socks were fine to keep our hands warm and allow me to use the metal rails for guidance. Bee moves out ahead of the group, without a torch, searching for darkness. I think it would be pretty cool to have everyone blow out their lamps, but the guides are trying to keep us together and moving as another group is behind us. They do not allow cameras because photo stops would slow us down & spread us out too much.

Emerging from the cave we are propelled forward by the wind and awestruck by the panoramic view of the mountains and the town of Werfen below. A brief stop for pictures then back down the mountain to catch the bus and then the train back to Salzburg.

There is a drink Cee & I have found which compels us to return day after day to the same restaurant. It is a Holler-weitzawein-spritzer, made with white whine, sparkling mineral water, Holler syrup, and fresh mint. It is served with ice in a large wine glass. It is amazingly refreshing and slightly sweet. We love it. 2 glasses each of these & a bowl of soup & we call it dinner.

Aufwiedersehen, Salzburg.

[GG] Vienna Without the Waltz

Vienna

June 12

Vienna is a city of parks, statues, museums, palaces, Lipizzaner stallions, Mozart, cathedrals, monuments, coffee houses, chocolate, restaurants, hotels, trams, and lots of people. Anything that is not within reasonable walking distance is available by tram.

Speaking of trams, after a full day of sightseeing and watching the Lipizzaners practice, we were headed back to our hotel when we saw a movie theater playing "Pirates of the Caribbean". Theaters here are great – they have balconies; the chairs are big, soft, and covered in fabric; and you can eat in the theater. So we brought in a bottle of wine, salami, cheese, and bread and made ourselves a little picnic. Adding popcorn from the snack bar, we were set. After the picnic & drinking my third of the bottle of wine, I needed a nap. So I slept through part of the movie. Nonetheless, I enjoyed what I saw of it and it was a great memory. I think there were only about a dozen of us in the theater and from the smell of things, we were the only ones eating. Cee, Bee, & the MFB all seemed pleased with our day.

Our last day in Vienna found us exploring a museum and the Nachmarket, an open air market that sells produce, meats, cheeses, and cooked things. Cee had felafel and hummus and that evening we enjoyed “Giselle” at the State Opera House. Very fun ….. and we're out of here!

[GG] Water Aerobics

Cesky Krumlov

June 11, Saturday

We took the late morning 2 hr train ride from Pragueto Cesky Krumlov, a fairytale-like little Czech village on the southern border of the Republic. We fondly abbreviate it “Krumlov” because “Cesky” refers to Czech & we're still in a very Czechered area, but there is only one Krumlov. Our taxi took us to the Hotel Gold, a quaint little hotel located right on the river. We had a charming room with 2 twin beds & a sofa bed. Bee got the sofa sleeper this time. I finally had a bed near a window. We had a very spacious bathroom with a long, narrow tub and instant hot water.

We dropped our things, locked the door, and headed into the old town. Along the way we heard live music coming from a courtyard. Thinking there might be a wedding, we stopped in to watch. No wedding, but nice local music. We walked on, across a little bridge and into a fairyland. It was like the streets from Brigadoon, but only this was in Czech Republic. After making arrangements to canoe on the river the next morning, we explored uphill and down through the alleyways of the town. Bee found a church and was hoping to attend Saturday evening mass, only to be scurried out. Either they recognized she is not Catholic or they did not have services that night, whichever, she joined Cee & I for the perfect last meal in the Czech Republic.

We found a great restaurant overlooking the river, with a grill and outside seating. Did the sign on our table say “Reserved”? Well, yes, but not until 8PM and it was only 6:30. We were fine. As has been our style, we each ordered something different so that we could share. Grilled Camembert with cranberry sauce to begin, I had the “chef's surprise”, Cee had the house special chicken skewers, and Bee had another of the house specialties. We did not have Ribeye steaks. Big mistake. The table of 8 biker guys next to us all had the grilled ribeye & it looked FANTASTIC. Reluctant to barter an exchange we enjoyed our dinners, preceded by a delicious variety of hot ciders. And again a friendly dog at dinner – a Rhodesian Ridgeback. So far dogs have been everywhere, trains, trams, on the streets, in restaurants, etc. Europe, at least from what we've, is very doggy friendly.

We looked at the castle and its beautiful tower from a distance, hoping that tomorrow after our river trip we would hike up for a closer look. To this day, the interior of the castle remains a mystery to us, for unbeknownst to us we would never make it back in time from our adventure.

The next morning we were up to an early breakfast and checkout so that we could be at the boat rental shop to get our 3-gal inflatable canoe and get started on our great river adventure. It had rained during the night and early morning, which only meant that there would be fewer people on the water. Our instructions went something like this: “Ok. Now, one sits in the back and one sits in the front, each on their knees. This keeps your center of gravity lower so the canoe is less likely to tip over. The old girl gets the middle and other than stand up, it doesn't matter what she does. Now, head out to the right and just before you get to the first dam, paddle over to the bank and let the grandmother out so she can watch you go over the dam. Then pull over for her and let her climb back in. Call us when you get to the 2^nd dam. Good luck.” With 3 paddles, we 3 excited girls, and a blow-up boat full of enthusiasm but no real knowledge of what we had gotten ourselves into, we set off.

About 5 minutes into the current, we could see the dam. Pull over, pull over. And we did. I crawled out of the boat with my paddle and the important things we carried in a dry-sack, scurried onto the path above the river and directed my grandchildren back into the belly of the beast. They lined themselves up properly and with paddles only skimming the water to keep themselves aligned they made it over the dam and the rough water fizzing and churning at its base. Granted it was only about a 2' drop, but when you're new to this type of thing it isn't the size of the drop its the sizzle in the fizzle that can overturn your boat. Thankfully, the girls handled it like masters.

Once I was back in the boat we continued down the river. We were to cover about 9 miles in 4 hours but that distance, I'm sure is as the crow flies. We are not crows. We were more like the ball in a pin-ball machine: Left bank, right bank, to the middle and spin. Clockwise. Counter clock and back to the side. Sccrrrruuuuubbbbbbb the boat squealed as we scraped bottom and found ourselves stuck atop one of the river's many speed-bumps. “Quick,” yelled the captain, “use your oars, girls, more power. And now, scoot your butts, rock back and forth (the captain's technique for getting us off the sand bar and rocks) Oops. We're headed backward down the river. Ahhhh. It seems to be working. We are actually making some headway, so to speak, and we can see where we've been. A real advantage. Suddenly the boat bolted from our grasp and began to spin again. The captain became frustrated at this little boat that was getting the best of us. Again, to the right bank, then the left, then spin twice. And change. Our first captain, Cee, gave up in despair to put Bee in command.

At first, this looked like a good move as Bee initially seemed to keep us in a straight line. “Right paddle. Left paddle”, she called out. Things were looking up. Our little boat seemed to know there was a new captain at the helm and we moved forward down the stream. Then suddenly we were veering to the right, or at least one end of the boat seemed determined so. “Paddle harder”, our captain cried. “...less Cee. More GeeGee!” but no matter, our bow was headed in one direction, our stern the other. Or so it seemed. I couldn't stop laughing while the captain yelled for more paddle in the water, “faster” she yelled. She tried to yell out a rhythm which only brought me to hysterics, despite Cee telling me that it wasn't funny. “Stop laughing.” And finally in desperation, “Shut Up, Grandma.” I couldn't do anything but laugh. Telling me to be quiet while the boat was spinning simply sent me into hysterics. Even the bunny was part of the fray.

“OK. You're up, grandma.” Those were the final words that put me in the back of the boat as captain. It was my turn. I tried to warn them that this was not an especially good idea. But onward, with me still laughing like a madwomen and the boat careening first to one bank and then the other, finally settling into a slow steady counter-clockwise spin. Delightful, I say and we finally all settled into the rhythm of the river, spinning, spinning, ever spinning until miles later we spotted the 2^nd dam. Freedom. We delivered ourselves from the river and waited for our ride to carry us back upstream to Krumlov. Another perfect day except for the castle which must be left to another time.

[GG] More Playtime in the Big City

Prague

June 9 – Thursday in Prague....

Well, not exactly Prague. We took the bus for 2 hours to the spa town, Karlovy Vary (translated “Carlsbad”) in western Bohemia near Czech border with Germany. This is a beautiful town nestled along a winding river & the whole area is notable for mineral springs. Mozart and a host of other celebs & not-celebs have been coming here since the 14^th century, believing that the mineral waters are healthy taken both inside & out. There are a series of fountains within a colonnade from which people use a particular style cup to catch the waters & drink it. We tried it in Cee's new “I Heart Prague” mini-cup. The water tastes salty & metallic. There is no sulfur smell. The pipes it spews from at the fountains are pretty corroded with calcium deposits. Hmmm. We assume that the water will not similarly corrode our pipes.

The river & surrounding hillside are lined with spas offering mineral baths and other spa services. There are trendy shops and boutiques, restaurants and hotels. The buildings are painted in pastels and adorned with colorful flower boxes. After lunch on the promenade, we head to the “Spider Spa”. A little short on time before our bus ride back to Prague, we are still able to enjoy the hot & cold foot bath, rock bottom do-it-yourself foot massage, mineral pool, and shower massages. A light & sound production over the mineral bath make it seem as though it is raining and the pool bubbles from numerous jets on the floors and walls. I almost felt like I was in the pool at the Bellagio. Very fun. Very relaxing & the mineral water really softened our skin. Then it was another run to the bus for our ride back to Prague. The buses here are great – very comfy seats, movie in English, free coffee, & offer of newspapers or magazines. Great service & great method of transport.

June 10 – Kutna Hora

Bee took the day off to sleep in & spend some time on her own exploring Prague, while Cee & I hopped the train for Kutna Hora, a medieval silver mining town once the 2^nd largest city in the Czech Republic. KH is noted for Kostnice Ossuary (bone church) which dates back to the 16^th century.

The Church of St Barbara is a beautiful, 14^th century Bohemian Gothic church which looks like it is taken from the set of a Harry Potter movie. We had lunch right outside in an outdoor cafe while we waited for our tour of the silver mines. Cee & I shared the best garlic-ham-cheese soup we had ever had. Actually I'm not sure either of us has ever had garlic soup, but this was great. We also shared a kilbasa & fries.

Great, now that the digestion has started we are off on our tour of the silver mine. Our tour leader is a very nice hobbit who tells us all about the history of this once very productive silver mine. He explains the centuries old winches and ladders used by the miners and describes their life. Although they were paid 3x the average wage for their work in the mines, these were 12 hour days underground and miners essentially never saw daylight. They were so deep that it often took them 3 hours to climb back out of the mine after their shift and they were not paid for their commute times. We donned white lab coats, hard hats, and grabbed lanterns and followed our hobbit down into the mine. A 160 steps down a spiral staircase took us to the first of a series of very narrow, low ceiling tunnels. Back in the day people were short and they made no more room than was absolutely needed. This silver mine was considerably smaller than the salt mines we visited in Poland. At one point during the tour we all turned off our lanterns so that we could experience total darkness. Dark. Then out of the cave, shed our mining garments, and we were once more running for the bus to go back to the train station & back to Prague.

We had hoped to take in an opera or concert in Prague, but our half day tour of Kutna Hora took a full day. So we opted for doing our laundry, having dinner, & getting ready for our departure from Prague to Cesky Krumluv the next day.

Now, to find a laundromat. Despite all the hostels in town, laundromats are few and far between. We only heard of two in the whole city. (“We don't need laundromats because everyone has a washer & dryer in their homes.”) So we chose the closest one, packed up our dirty clothes and took the tram about 2 miles. A confused walk through a pretty seedy area (advice from Cee: “ Let's stay together & walk with a purposeful, confident attitude. “ From me: “Now, exactly where are we again? Is that a man peeing in the bushes over there?”) finally brought us to the “wash cafe”. To do 2 washer loads, it was about $20 & the dryers were so poor that we still brought home half of the clothes damp & had to hang them out overnight to dry. The cafe was a pub, smokey, but good food & lots of local color. Some of the local color tried to pick up on Bee....a perfect segway to, “Bee, help me fold the clothes.” to finally Cee's challenge to Mr Seedy-side-of-Prague....”Are you paying our bill? That would be great; just go ahead and pay our bill.” at which point he slithered back into the smokey, beer filled hole he had emerged from.

We gathered up our clothes, wet or no, and headed back to the hotel to string up our new Rick Steve's genuine clothes line that needs no clothespins. Yipee. Done for the night.

[GG] Playing in Prague

June 7

We arrived in Prague about 7 PM. The train station was clean, orderly and new. We had escalators and not stairs. I knew I was really going to like this city!

Hotel Julian is located just south of Prague Castle, just over the river from Old Town. It was about a 30 minute walk from the train station and Bee was the perfect guide, navigating the cobblestone streets and the city map with relative ease. We have a large room with a queen & a twin bed, air conditioning, and a long, deep tub. It seems to be a very clean, nice hotel with a full buffet breakfast each morning. We're on the 2^nd floor; we take the elevators when we have the luggage. After that we take the stairs. No sooner did we arrive & put our bags in the room, then turned around to sightsee in the city at sunset.

Prague definitely lives up to its reputation as a beautiful, romantic, picturesque city. There is a Kodak moment around every corner, across every bridge, down every street. It is dripping in old world charm.

We spent the day touring Prague. Cee & Bee knew of free city tours that are advertised widely in the hostels. We met up with our guide, Michael, and 47 other tourists and spent the next 7 hours hearing about the history of Prague and the Czechs as Michael walked us around the city. He was very knowledgeable, entertaining, and funny and the entire group was very affable. About a dozen of us stayed with Michael after the tour, to share travel tales and Czech beer. The end result was that after Cee, Bee, & I had dinner (wild boar, lamb ribs, and risotto), the girls have met up with a young man from Finland (Mikko), our guide Michael, and another tour guide from Ireland, for dancing and fun. I returned to the hotel for my own idea of fun – a hot bath, cup of tea, and relaxing .

We have 4 nights in Prague...we could easily have stayed a week there is so much to see and do.

Cee vows to return to go to school here.

And tomorrow the adventure continues.

[GG] Clawing our way through Wroclaw

June 6, 2011

Wroclaw, pronounced “vrotz wahv”, is a 5 hr train journey west of Krakow. The train ticket was really inexpensive: $44 total for all three of us!

Polish train stations are confusing and not laid out well. In addition to crowds of people making their way through the tight corridors, there are also at least two flights of stairs to negotiate before you get to the right platform. I am not sure how a physically disabled person could ever do this as I never saw an elevator. In addition, most ticket agents do not speak English so buying the tickets can be a bit tricky. Threading our way through confusion, with Cee and Bee acting as my personal sherpas, we finally made it to the right platform with little time to spare. Once on board however, our 2^nd class tickets afforded us a compartment for six with overhead racks and room to spread out. We had brought cheese, bread, water, and our candy from Belgium. Ahh! Now this is the way to travel: picnic on the train.

Once in Wroclaw our problem of not having a place to stay became real. Not only did we not have a hotel, we had no idea which direction to go once we left the station. Wroclaw is a big city (much bigger than I was prepared for) & the train station is on one end of it. Signs are in Polish, so we had no idea what the signs even meant. Additionally, there was a lot of construction going on at the train station, so where we exited was around construction barriers and not through the main terminal. Although we needed to buy tickets for our trip to Prague, we decided to just wait & buy them at the train station the next day. As it turned out, this was probably not our best choice.

Optimistic as always, well mostly always, off we trudged, assuming that within 15 minutes or surely 30 minutes we would actually end up somewhere good. I was reluctant to take a taxi from the train station, having heard that they are notorious for vastly overcharging. And besides, where would we tell them we were going? So we hefted our luggage & began to walk toward steeples we could see in the distance. Steeples mean churches, churches are generally old & interesting for the tourists. I figured where there are tourists there are hotels, hotels mean taxis and surely somewhere along the way we would find a tourist information office. We walked, the girls carrying their back packs & bags, me wearing my day pack & pulling my roller bag. The roller bag has been stable despite all the cobblestones, but it's heavy. Bless Cee & Bee, they always offer to help me or take one of the bags for a while. I'll bet we walked at least 3-5 miles and changed our direction a time or two. We would have gotten a taxi at some point once we left the train station, but we just didn't see one. Finally we came upon a Radisson hotel....”only 1 room left & 1050 PLN for the night”. That's more than $300 so I just found out where the nearest Tourist Information Office was & we took a taxi.

Yes, the Tourist Information office was able to assist us with lodging – HOSTEL lodging! I gulped. The girls tried to reassure me that many hostels are very clean, very cute & safe. Certainly good enough for a well traveled bunny and me. So we trudged off to the Hostel Cinnamon. Fifteen minutes and three flights of stairs later, a nice young man at the desk told us he had just sold the last room.

Next stop: Hostel Cinema.

I must have looked like I was ready to drop as another young man carried my bag back down the 3 flights of stairs. It was hot, I was sweating rivers down my back, and I am sure my face & posture looked strained. I was reaching my limit.

I was a little concerned/reluctant about the whole hostel idea, since my only experience had been in New Zealand where I just couldn't hack it. Too dirty, too cramped. But since we hadn't been able to find a hotel on the internet that could take the 3 of us, there was not much I could do but be a good sport & check it out.

Thankfully, Hostel Cinema was very clean & cute in a spartan 70's , Nancy Sinatra sort of way. Cee & Bee shared one room (lavender walls with flowery wallpaper & I had a room painted yellow with similarly funky wallpaper. I almost felt like I was moving onto the set of “Laugh In”. The shower & toilet were shared for all the occupants on each floor, but they were separated into boys & girls. On our floor, I think we were the only girls. Everything was very clean & the bed was actually more comfortable than the bed I slept on in Krakow. And the room was a little cooler & offered a little more circulating air than what we had had in Krakow. Things were starting to look up and cost for the night about $65 total for the two rooms.

Once we put our things down & washed up with cold water, we headed out to the town square which was just about 2 or 3 blocks away. It was beautiful and very different than Krakow. Many of the buildings had facades and buildings were painted in pastels of yellow, pink, and green. It had sort of a Flemish feel to it. The square itself is huge, easily at least several times the size of Krakow's main square. Apparently over the weekend there had been a European International Food Fair filling the square & that's why all the hotels were booked up. It was a big, big event.

Now the square was filled with flower stalls, arts & crafts vendors & Poland's idea of fast food – grilled sausage & sauerkraut.

Bee picked out the open air restaurant for dinner where we finally sat down & relaxed. A glass of wine, a couple of shots of an amazing Polish Vodka (bison vodka) mixed with apple juice, beer for Bee & then shared plates of Goulash, sour soup with sausage, and potato pancakes and I was good as new. Tired, but happy. We finished off the night with hot chocolate – real hot chocolate, like a melted candy bar - & it was time for bed.

The tourist information office was able to help us with the train schedule to Prague. So Tuesday morning we were up early to do a little sightseeing in Wroclaw before checking out of the hostel & heading for the train station. Cathedral island is a small area in Wroclaw, pretty much surrounded by a meandering river, with several cathedrals. I can no longer remember the names, only that the whole area was beautiful, the churches beautiful & everything was pretty darn old. Google is for the details, if you're interested.

We walked through a wonderful market & bought food for the train, headed back to the hostel to check out & get a taxi, anticipating we'd be at the train station with about 45-60 minutes to spare. Between our taxi arriving later than expected & confusion buying the tickets it looked as though we might miss our train.

Cee & Bee ran off to get all our luggage on the right train platform while I bought the tickets. The line at the international ticket window was long & moved very slowly. I was counting the minutes and getting progressively more concerned that I would not be able to buy the ticket & get to the platform in time. Each person ahead of me seemed to have some issues that required extra discussion with the ticket agent. Finally, when it was just about ready for my turn, the agent went on a short break and a cleaning lady came into her booth to mop & dust! I was flabbergasted!

When the agent finally returned & it was my turn at the window, I realized she spoke almost no English. Fortunately, we were prepared for that so I gave her a paper with the exact train schedule & destination I was buying: train from Wroclaw to Dresden, transferring to another train which continued to Prague. With only a half hour between trains we would keep our trip to just over 6 hours. Any other schedule was significantly longer or required more train changes. By now, I'm really sweating. The train is due to leave in about 5 minutes. The agent made a mistake printing our first tickets, so has to redo them. I reconfirmed - “all the way to Praha (Prague), right?”. She shook her head. The minute she passed the tickets to me, Cee ran up to show me the way to the platform & we took off running. We just got there in time, jumped on the train with all our luggage, only to find that this time the train was almost full. Where did all these people come from? There were no separate compartments. Instead it was like being on a bus with everybody having luggage! I was exhausted and it looked like the 3 of us were going to have to stand with our bags for the 2 or 3 hour trip to Dresden. Cee finally found me a seat and cleared the way so I could get to it. So here I was in a seat barely wider than my butt, sitting shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh with the man beside me & two women in seats facing us and so close that our knees almost touched. Cee was able to place my roller bag in a rack over head, but I had my backpack on my lap, a 1.5 liter bottle of water, and oh yes, a 1 meter long bag of popcorn I had bought the previous evening from a street vendor. I thought we were going to have another picnic on the train. Oh fool that I am!

I must have been allergic to something or someone because of course, I started to cough. Every time I coughed and tried to turn my head, cover my mouth, etc. I hit the poor man next to me with my meter of popcorn or my large water bottle. The bag of popcorn was narrow, like a bat, & I swear his little head was like a pinata. He tried to be patient, but I could see he was not pleased as the bag of popcorn repeatedly hit him in the head and the bottle banged him in the side. It was embarrassing and although I kept apologizing, every time I coughed it all started up again. The two women sitting knee to knee with me just glowered.

Ultimately the man and I were able to strike up a conversation (yes, he spoke English!) and things became a bit more comfortable, at least emotionally. Then the conductor arrived to punch our rail tickets. That's when I discovered that I had not been given rail tickets all the way to Prague, but instead only to Dresden with a return to Wroclaw! Cee tried to straighten it out with the conductor and through her efforts, and translations & gesturing from my gentleman friend (by now he was really feeling sorry for me), we learned that the ticket agent had sold me a non-refundable, non-changeable group ticket to Dresden – a rail sale for that day. Unfortunately, she didn't sell me the additional ticket to Prague. Cee & the man next to me told me that the conductor told them that I got a really great price, particularly if there had been 5 of us (the group ticket was good for up to 5 people). I think they were just trying to make me feel better. This ticket cost about $120. In light of our previous rail ticket which cost $44, I felt I really had made a mistake – my first seminar on dealing with Polish rail service.

At any rate, now we only had ½ hour in Dresden to purchase our tickets to Prague, find the new train platform, and get on the train. We worked out a plan, Cee would run & buy the tickets, Bee, the bunny, & I wo,uld stay with the luggage & if we could find out which platform we needed to be on, we would move the luggage so we would be ready to hop on the train. What we didn't know was that there is more than one train station in Dresden. Yup, we got off at the wrong one. Unwittingly, we put our plan into action before we realized our mistake. Bee & I with the luggage, Cee the runner. Oops.

Shortly after Cee left to get the tickets, I checked the train schedule on the board & reconfirmed my suspicions with a fellow traveler that indeed we had gotten off at the wrong stop. We were supposed to get off at the next stop, the traveler said. OMG! Now we no longer had 30 minutes, we were down to about 20 minutes when the next train pulled in. We again loaded our luggage, jumped in, & decided to work the plan at the next station. Like trained fleas we jumped off at the next station, took our places and then: OMG! This was the wrong station, too. We still had one more to station to go before we would be at the large central station where we could buy an international (Germany to Czech Republic) ticket. OK, back on the next train and once again, Cee ran off, Bee & I took care of the luggage but we only had about 4 minutes before our train was due to depart. The clock was ticking when Cee came running down the platform to tell us to jump on the train, yes, a station agent had told her we could buy the tickets on the train. Once again we loaded the bags on the train, this time to find we were on a beautiful, clean German train where we again had a full compartment to ourselves. Out came the picnic of popcorn, cheese, smoked ham, peaches, apricots, berries and the last of our Belgian chocolate. The countryside clicking by our window sparkled with a blue river reflecting the sky, green hills, and an occasional castle ruin on a hilltop. We were in heaven and the earlier stress of our rail adventure was left on the last platform at the station, far, far behind us.

[GG] Krakow

Our flight was about two hours and we arrived Krakow just before midnight. Thankfully our hotel had arranged for a taxi for us, who took us first to an ATM & then onto Hotel Benefis. The hotel was a small 3-star which offerd us a bedroom with a queen size bed & a living room with a sofa sleeper. Accommodations were not fancy, but clean & very well located. We were about two cobblestoned blocks from the river from which we could see the Wawel Castle.

Everything was within walking distance. Someone we met told us that Krakow is called the “other Paris”. I am not sure about that, but I am sure that it is very charming, almost magical with a large castle built on a hill next to the Wisla (pronounced Veesh-waa) River (aka Vistula River) which meandered through town. The old Jewish quarter is known as Kazimieriz with synogogues, cemetaries, bakeries, and lots of little restaurants. Kazimierz is named after Kazimierz the Great, the 14^th century ruler that brought prosperity and growth to Poland.

The Old Town & Main Market Square is very charming, surrounded by little shops & outdoor restaurants. In the center of the square is a tower, all that is left of the 14^th century Town Hall. At the base of the tower is a large, black, hollow metal sculpture of a head wrapped in cloth, laying sideways as tho' decapitation had taken place and the head left behind. The bunny chooses a Kodak moment here. The Main Market is alive with flower stalls, fruit & vegetable stands, and a parade of people.

More churches, with beautiful Gothic architecture, amazing stained glass and carvings – all with a long history start to blend. Obviously it's time for dinner. Bee found a quaint upstairs restaurant on a quieter back street where we have mussels, roasted potatoes (looked like french fries to us), pasta with broccoli & walnuts, snow pea soup with Parmesan cheese & a vegetable dish. All that & a glass of wine about $40.

Stuffed & happy, we resumed our walk and came upon the Dragon Festival & Kid's Day with street fair & food vendors at the foot of the castle. What's a girl to do when she's already full, but comes across some new, exotic food? Eat some more. Find room somewhere. Hollow leg, don't fail me now! Cee had a grilled bacon sandwich on homemade, fresh rye bread. The bacon was cut in long fat strips from what looked like pork loin. The bread was so good that Cee made a special trip to a specific bakery in the Jewish section to buy ½ a loaf to eat on our travels.

One afternoon we visited the Wawel Castle, a big rectangular, many roomed palace with beautiful and old tapestries & paintings and Wawel Cathedral – Poland's Westminster Abbey. The castle is in the midst of a restoration project & when complete, may be worth revisiting. We spent an hour or so at the castle then walked down the hill & found an outdoor takeout sort of restaurant – an open air grill with a young, sweaty fellow cooking up sauerkraut, polish sausage, & blood pudding. Put that together with a shot of cherry vodka & you've got lunch! Polish sausage was typically 8 PLN or about $3...yes, we had them more than once. During our lunch a sudden thunder, lightning & rain storm occurred but it was over within 30 minutes. Days are getting warmer overall.

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Saturday we took a tour of the salt mines. With an English speaking guide who could have worked as an SS guard, vee valked behint her down da stairs to almost 400 meters below ground, always adhering to her admonishment to “holt zee door”. We were sure she uttered “macht schnell” more than once. At any rate within the mines are beautiful sculptures – mostly religious – of carved salt. Most of these were done in the 1800 & early 1900's by salt miners with too much time on their hands. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site which is unique & worth seeing once. It's also a little pricey with an almost $20/person entrance fee. Tours from Krakow are about $45/person. By taking the bus we're saving about $60 overall & the local transportation is good, frequent & cheap – so why not.

That evening we were startled from our room but the sounds of what initially we thought were firecrackers, soon realizing it was fireworks. We quickly walked the 2 blocks to the river to find hundreds, maybe thousands of people watching a dragon-balloon “fight” over the water, accompanied with lazer lights, fireworks, and music. This was the highlight of the Kid's Day/Dragon Day festival. Due to the crowd of people it was difficult to see everything, but we could see all the amazing fireworks which went on for almost an hour. It was dazzling. Kid's apparently design & make these large dragon balloons, parade them through the old town, have an afternoon festival & then that evening the balloons are loaded onto barges in the river where they engage in their fight. If we had been able to read the Polish signs we would have been aware of the itinerary & could have made sure we were in the right spot at the right time. As it was, we were thankful that our hotel was so conveniently located & that we were able to experience what we could. Very Disney-like & the kids were mesmerized.

Yesterday we visited Auschwitz & Birkenau. It was an all day, very sobering trip to the most famous concentration camps, which were responsible for the death of approximately 1.5 million Jews, gypsies, & other targeted groups. It was not as graphic as the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, but because this was the site & not just pictures of or a recreation of , the whole experience became more real. As Bee said, as she walked she realized that prisoners had walked the same steps & looked at the same trees as she was experiencing. There is no real way to describe what we saw other than to reiterate the obvious: the living conditions at the camp were appalling and so poor it is a wonder than any survived. The weather participated in the mood with thunder, lightning & occasional drizzle. And it remained hot & humid. The theme song from "Schlinder's List" and many images from that movie played through my head while visiting Auschwitz & Birkenau. Neither Bee nor Cee & especially not the MFB have seen the movie. We'll try to download it & watch it sometime during our travels.

And speaking of chocolate (since we're no longer speaking of Irish Coffees)...one evening we had the hunger for chocolate & found a quaint chocolate shop that served chocolates paired with wine, a variety of desserts, and hot chocolate. Of course we each ordered something different & then shared. Bee had hot chocolate with raspberry, Cee had hot chocolate with cardamon, and I had wine paired with pralines. Very, very good. The hot chocolate was thick & dark, almost like a melted candy bar.
... a Kodak moment preserved.

[GG] The 3 + MFB Unite

Amsterdam

June 2

Bye Bye,Rotterdam! Hello, Amsterdam! And we're off – minus Cee's beautiful wide brimmed hat, lost somewhere between the train station and the deep blue sea. All that was left as we boarded the train was the hat band dangling from her carabiner.

(Here pictured: one, great, ex-hat.)

After a quick train trip @ 180 km/hr (about 110 mph!) we arrived at Schipol, Amsterdam's airport where we could stow our luggage while we explored Amsterdam. Our conductor told us that new trains which would be available later this year or next would go 300 km/hr (186 mph) We had about 4 hours to wander the streets, visit the Rijksmuseum, and get something to eat. Everything was crowded & electric. The museum had famous paintings by Rembrandt & other flemish & dutch painters that were beautiful & nice to see in person. We stopped in a busy little deli-type restaurant right in the thick of things & I had the best sandwich I've ever eaten: steak & blue cheese. Yummi. Cee had a smoked chicken sandwich which was also excellent.

Then back to the airport by train & on to Warsaw to meet up with Bee at our gate to Krakow.

Bee seems to talk easily with people & sure enough when we arrived she was talking with a young man who was the lighting technician for Crystal Castle, a band which was performing in Krakow the following evening. Bee & Cee were invited to attend the concert.

Bee looked great, very cute in her dress (“from Paris”) & scarf (“from Paris”), chandelier earrings (yup, “from Paris”) & trench coat (or is it, “french” coat?). Life in Europe seems to have agreed with her.

[GG] Cherbourg, Dover, & Brugge

May 30, 2011

Voila! We're in France, docked in Cherbourg, and headed to Mont Saint Michele (aka MSM) with Walter & Christine, a married couple from Poland, and our taxi driver, Michel, who spoke only French.

As Michele & his little Peugeot whisked us through the French countryside and through quaint villages with cobblestone streets, Cee attempted bravely to communicate with Michel in her limited French, while the rest of us sat in dimwitted silence. Cee was inspiring as she fused her French with Spanish and Italian, enhanced it with arm waving and hand gestures, and was ultimately successful in communicating with our driver. Or at least I think she was. But then how would I know? I barely speak bunny. Cee, ever the linguist, having mastered enough French turned to Walter & Christine to learn Polish.




MSM is first seen from a distance as an island castle floating above the land. Traffic backed up as we made our way onto the land bridge, a small strip of land that connects MSM to the mainland. 14' tidal changes have been known to flood the road, truly leaving MSM an island. It was the perfect fortress & on our day we are lucky that the tide is out when we arrive. Narrow, winding alleyways lined with souvenir shops, restaurants, and the castle hotels, and stairs upon stairs upon stairs & we finally reach the top. The view is fantastic, but looking out to sea, we can't even really see the sea because the tide is out so far. We see white sand flats and occasional clear tidal pools. We are warned about venturing out because of quicksand. As we wandered through the castle it was just like being in medieval times. You could practically hear the knights in armor rattling trough the castle, in the towers, down in the dungeon. We spent about 2 hours wandering, then challenged the sand flats & threat of quicksand, as we walked around the base of the fortress and made our way back to our own Michel, waiting patiently in the taxi.



May 31 Dover, England

As our shipped pulled in we saw the famous white cliffs of Dover. Yup, they're white. Hopped the train to Canterbury, a walled city in England, that brings to life stories of King Arthur, Knights of the Round Table, & Canterbury Tales. The Cathedral was especially beautiful and with a very interesting history, not the least of which was that Richard Burton (aka archbishop Thomas Becket) was murdered by Peter O'Toole, better known as King Henry II. Although they were friends, they had issues they could not resolve. Relationships are often tricky that way.


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Back to Dover we hiked up to the 12th century castle fortress on the hill. The site has a long history of defense, significantly even into WWII. It has been remarkably preserved and some rooms restored to their medieval state.
... .....

With thirst beckoning, we hiked back down the hill into town and to the White Horse Pub, the oldest pub in Dover (opened in 1345). The White Horse Pub seems to be a mecca for successful channel swimmers, who have graced the walls and ceiling of the pub with their name, date of crossing, time and comments. We had bangers & mash & fish & chips and decided to leave the Irish Coffee to Ireland.


June 1 Brugge

Chocolate! Try some. Buy some. Buy more. Enough said.

[GG] Something's Fishy in Liverpool

May 28, 2011. Saturday.


Liverpool is Britain's second most important seaport. It is also the home of the Beatles & Liverpool Cathedral, the largest Anglican cathedral in Great Britain.

Oh sure, we hopped around Albert Dock, visited the Slavery & Maritime Museums, checked out the Tate Gallery and Walker Gallery. There were all sorts of touristy sites to see but the real fun began when we discovered the FISH SPA!!

What's this? A Fish Spa? Yes. Are bunnies allowed? Well, only if they can get their toes in the water. Can't do it? Ok, then just Cee & GiGi. What's not to love? Put your pink little bare feet into an aquarium & let the little minnows, dozens of them, nibble at your toes, your heels, the soles of your feet chewing, munching, crunching, sucking dead skin off your feet. Marine exfoliation. Green, definitely green. Does PETA know about this? After 15 minutes of giggling & an occasional yelp when the tickling was replaced with a nip, our feet felt refreshed, softer, and tingling ... Ahhhh. Delightful Liverpool.

[GG] Dublin in a Day

May 27

It's a 30 minute free shuttle ride into mid city, then we're off again on our own walking/hopping tour. We have goals, of course: Trinity College & the Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, cathedrals, Temple Bar & the Temple Bar district,where we plan to do more comparative research on Irish Coffee.

Christ Church Cathedral is big and beautiful with an 18 degree outward leaning north wall. It has been that way since 1562 (It's so hard to get carpenters to come in & repair another carpenter's faulty work). This is Dublin's oldest building (c.1030) – at least that's the word on the street. Cee & I, however, are almost sure that there was a pub before there was a cathedral. The crypt below is interesting but a strange place to host food service, what with the dead lying around....even a mummified cat chasing a mummified rat - the pair found in one of the pipes of the old organ.

We decide to pass on the food & grab lunch elsewhere.

Dublin Castle has the most beautiful, small chapel. The carvings are beautiful. We read that Bram Stoker worked in Dublin Castle as a civil servant in 1870 and thus got his ideas for his best seller, Dracula.

“The Spire” aka “monument of light” represents a large knitting needle in honor of sweaters & other knit articles from the Aran Islands. 15 cm @ the tip & 120 m high on main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street. & across from Georgian era General Post Office.

Trinity College & Book of Kells. TC is oldest University in Ireland. Founded in 1592 by Q Elizabeth I. The 9th century “illuminated four gospels” known as the Book of Kells and the Long Hall housing 200,000 old books are worth the wait in que.


Temple Bar: the area is very fun with narrow cobbled streets, lots of brightly painted pubs and restaurants, street artists, and excitement. It is geared to the 20-something singles. We stopped at Temple Bar for research – yes, an Irish Coffee & “ploughman's special” for lunch. Both were forgettable, neither would make our “must do” list. The Temple Bar itself, however, should not be missed and you must sit down with a pint of something to really enjoy it & let the atmosphere soak in. The waiter was generous with souvenirs including postcards and match books.

By the way, if you're looking for Neil Diamond, he's performing in Dublin. I guess he's there even if you're not looking for him & with any luck, they'll keep him.

By afternoon, the Dublin we had so enjoyed in the morning was just another busy, dirty, sooty, smelly city and it was time to take the shuttle back to the ship through rush-hour traffic on a Friday afternoon.

Caveat: plan on enjoying Dublin in the morning & early afternoon.

[GG] Jumping ship

As any respectable bunny will tell you, it is not a good idea to jump ship in the middle of the Atlantic no matter how rocky-rolly-tumbly-wumbly your tummy or the seas. However, one can be entertained only so long with a routine of room service for breakfast, out for a stroll, lunch by the pool, another stroll, a nap, a movie, a class in wine-pairing, dinner, chess in the bar, a stroll through the buffet, and cocktails. So when Ireland tethered our ship to the dock, it was time to disembark and plant feet and tails on terra firma.

Cobh chased us to Cork via a 30-minute train ride. The ancient jail (written gaol if you're in Ireland) was a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to stay there. Political prisoners and the poor whose crimes were of the self-sustaining variety were housed together in squalid conditions for illogical and absurdly long periods before suicide, illness, or the gallows freed them from their miserable conditions.



Glad to be moving on,we visited St Finne Barre's Cathedral, a mathematically perfect construct on a site which has been a place of worship since the 7th century. St.Patrick's (built in 1832) welcomed us with choir practice. Why is it that tenors and sopranos sound like the angels? It was beautiful.

We visited one cathedral after another until we were spent, then headed back to Cobh where we were introduced to (and we have since confirmed) the World's Best Irish Coffee, served proudly and loudly, with singing and belly laughs, at Kelly's Bar. The end of a perfect day!

[C] Minority Bingo …

This, like many posts to follow, is a looking-back at what we've done, a writing of days more than a week past. But, unlike most to follow, this little vignette, Inappropriate Bingo, was actually written on the ship. Yeah! First, context:

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Our boat, the USS Rotterdam, about the size of a dime if it were on your horizon, hosted Gigi and I in a Garden Verandah Stateroom from Florida to Rotterdam, Holland, the ship's namesake port. The crossing began immediately upon pulling out of the Florida harbor, no intermediate stops, and consisted of eight straight days across the Atlantic -- eight days divided evenly between a gentle rocking and an aggressive, spasmodic rise-and-fall and left-and-right stumble about the ocean. Given that I submit to motion sickness so quickly that I can't play video games or watch Imax movies, the crossing was a touch miserable for me: days 1 and 2 were calm and new, and I slept 44 of the 48 hours of days 3 and 4, but the rest of my at-sea time consisted of light meals, long naps, occasional writing, ginger-cucumber mocktails from the bar, and all the lurching steps in between. I did manage to fit in a movie, a few dances at the on-board disco, and a yoga attempt or two – but that's about it. Me and a motiony ocean don't mix.

Maybe that's how this little story started? I mean, it was just a fun idea to pass the time, a joke to get my fuzzy thoughts off the nausea. And, maybe, it was an outlet for my cruising frustrations? See, I love to travel. I've sat still on tour buses, backpacked around safe countries by myself, day-tripped less safe countries with a group, driven coastlines with family, lounged at all-inclusive resorts with my best friend – I've been exposed to many forms of trip-taking. There's just something about cruising – I don't like it. I try, I appreciate the helpful-to-some aspects of it, and I hold no ill-will towards those who enjoy it, it just doesn't do it for me. It might be that the predominate age of cruisers is 'Old.' It might be that your schedule is heavily controlled by someone else. It might be my motion-sickness. It might be any number of things (my first story tried to explore why I don't care to cruise, but ended up painting me as depressed, completely miserable, and bitter against the elderly). Regardless, I found a perfect way to distract and entertain myself, to write. Of course. But also, and almost as perfect:

Minority Bingo
by: Cee

We did it. We found them, at least two of them. To be fair, they weren't incognito—in fact, they may be the more colorful of crayons in the box:

Last night, around ten pm, before the Pilipino Crew Show and after a lengthy dinner, Grandma and I wandered up to the dance club and bar, the Crow's Nest, for Karaoke. Despite pleas from the DJ for willing singers, the audience remained blasé -- near-dead, you could say; a hair's breadth or another cruise from the long sleep, you could say. Except for two: a Liza Manelli double who claimed the stage, and fifty-something, balding man in a Hawaiian shirt. The two went tit-for-tat at the mic: she sang Cabaret and lightly pole-danced, he sang something Sinatra and flung his arms out in crescendo; she scatted an Ella Fitzgerald with bluesy hip-swings, he sang This Time acapella and fabulous.

Their meetings occur daily at 5pm, a "four-letter acronym" Gathering at the MIX bar on deck five. Grandma and I have always been too asleep or otherwise engaged (eating, drinking, or reading) to attend – that, and I don't think Grandma finds this unintentional hunt to be in good taste. Whereas, I think we should play some sort of bingo for the under-represented on our cruise: find someone wearing the motion sickness patch, find someone under the age of 46, find a black passenger, find the L, G, B, or T….

After their final numbers, Sinatra and Manelli heartily shook hands and bowed dramatically for the audience. Sinatra skipped off-stage and dropped, proud and breathy, in the seat next to his loving partner, and Liza clicked in high-heels back towards the martini bar. Not that there was, but if there had been a completely inappropriate game of Minority Bingo going on, Grandma and I could each have happily claim a "Gay" – good thing we found a cruising pair – and one of us might have gone ahead and included the dark-skinned Personal Trainer as a "Black Passenger" for the win… Bingo, Grandma, B-I-N-G-O…

[C] In the beginning...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the MFB, and the Word was the MFB...

Yup, before any real concept of this trip, there was just the blog, or just the hope of having one. And from that humble desire to write down travels, inform family, inspire readers, and have a part of my life-story transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster, came need for two things: travels to write about, and, of course, a mascot. Ours, the MFB, or Bunny to friends, is a vestige of my childhood, as precious to me as a backpack-sized brown bear named, from the infinite imagination of a kid, Beary. This should give you some indication of the MFB’s significance, since everyone who’s been a child has a Beary.

Four months ago and a good deal over a decade after purchase, the MFB was resurrected from a once-pink hatbox stashed away in the garage, played with in the haphazard and reminiscent way an adult tends to play, then plopped next to an Amber-Vanilla pillar candle on a dresser. From this humble vantage, the MFB sat as dreams of becoming a nomadic travel writer became the tangible reality of travelling Europe with Gigi and Bee, all summer. Options and opportunities came and went as we planned: Polar Bears in Norway were exchanged for castles in Scotland exchanged for dirt roads in Romania; a long flight across the Atlantic became a longer, more luxurious crossing by cruise ship; and a rental car was replaced by a Eurail Pass. When all was said and done, we had hashed out quite the summer: a 16-day Trans-Atlantic cruise from Florida to Holland, trains and buses through Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania, and a final 12-day Holy Land cruise around the Med, retiring in Venice. Not too shabby :D

And the blog? The original dream? Well, that was finally settled on a few days before departing Florida, first stories were sketched somewhere on the big, blue, wet thing, and Bunny was adopted as the MFB. Then, you know, travelling started, and there was no time and our feet were tired after walking all day and we’d already had way too much Becherovka and we’ve got such a long day tomorrow and whatshisname just came online – so this first blog is reaching you on Day 29 of our full-summer trip. As we often heard in Poland, Nie Rozumiem – roughly translated for our purposes as ‘Just keep talking, but make bigger hand gestures.’ In that spirit, and with this first post almost complete, allow me to better introduce the waving hands:
I’m Cee, a New-Age-leaning, mid-twenties aspiring travel snob. Bee, my sister, is a slightly younger adventure-loving Christian who joined Gigi and I in Poland after our 16-day Pond Crossing Cruise (more to follow on that). And, Gigi, our grandma, is a vivacious, pet-loving travel aficionado.

So! Onwards with the story-telling :) We’d love your feedback, and will post as often as we can (from now on!) with great enthusiasm and the best of intentions – be gentle if you criticize.

((And a quick shout-out to friends and family: we love you. And you're our only real audience... Enjoy!))