Ballooning in Tuscany, May 2006

Today was one of my most memorable travel days yet - as in ever.

It will be hard to decide which overall travel experience is going to go down as my favorite of all time, chronologically they are so far:

Galloping horseback, surfside, along the Pacific Ocean in Peru. uncontrollable giggling as the horse thumped along the beach.

Flying over Whistler in British Columbia...

Volcano run in New Zealand. (giggling the whole way down - if you ever get a chance to run through scree, by all means, do it!)

Zorbing in New Zealand. (non-stop giggling. and I mean helplessly nonstop)...

and this morning... ballooning in Tuscany. (google that phrase if you want to know more).

It was such a pretty day and what magnificent countryside. Perfect weather and 50 miles viz. I got up at 445 AM and made my way to Montisi. I actually decided to do a dry run last night just to make sure I wasn't wandering around aimlessly at 530 AM today. It worked out well - I found the place last night just before sunset (a beautiful time to be out) and then went back to Pienza.

That drive between Castelmuzio and Montisi is now one of my favorites - it really reminded me of the Corniche drives above Monte Carlo and Nice. zoom zoom zoom. very twisty windy curvy.

Last night I also visited Sant'Anna in Camprena - the English Patient abbey (we also saw it from above today).

Robert and Liz (the balloonists) are a lovely couple and needless to say I now have new friends in Tuscany with an open invitation to come back any time I want (even if I don't go ballooning).

What a production to get it all prepared! He used big fans to get it partially blown up and he then used the flames to get the balloon itself to rise. The basket then righted itself and we all clambered in. Then the takeoff. I remarked that it reminded me of the Wizard of Oz - haha! We lifted slowly slowly up and up. It was such a gentle graceful glide and it appeared we were headed right for the trees but he didn't even graze them as we passed (but it sure looked close!). We saw the Abbey from way up above. Robert pointed out all the various spots off in the distance and let me tell you, Tuscany is now one of my favorite spots on earth. (it's in stiff company but it's up there to be sure).

We were up at 2000 feet at one point and a few other times down so low we were almost grazing the ground. As we passed some agriturismos the folks came outside to wave and take photos. That was when he descended to just above the rooftops - boy did they get a good view. We had dogs barking at us at various times, and saw many deer. Near the end as we landed in a field some horses came out to investigate. They were separated from us by a fence but as we were descending to land they were all lined up watching. What a hoot!

The other couple was from Phoenix, and, Robert's brother Mark (Robert is the pilot) went along as well. A very nice person, we talked quite a bit after we landed and come to find out he was Kristin Scott Thomas's babysitter way back in the day. Can you guess how that conversation started? Also come to find out his wife is the niece of the Duke of... (it sounded like he said Fief but I doubt that was right, I have asked one of my British friends who is very knowledgable about everyone in royalty to figure it out although we did exchange emails so I suppose I could ask him, he was very forthcoming about it all.) At any rate he knows the Queen as well as the Princes and so forth. I thought that was pretty interesting.

After landing we loaded it up in the jeep and trailer and headed back. On the way back Mark and I stood in the basket which was bungee'd to the trailer. We were warned that if Robert tooted twice it was the carabinieri and we were to duck down into the basket. (which didn't happen but of course I'd have real trouble not peeping anyway) It was so much fun - like a very bumpy convertible ride after a balloon ride.

All of a sudden Italian fighter jets ROARED overhead, doing very low passes, and then I really squealed and jumped up and down. There were four of them and I was enthralled watching them. I suppose we were lucky they didn't try that while we were airborne as they were definitely that low!

I will write more later...

Beth

ps. Scott - haven't seen the Giro, I don't think they are near where I am?

Dean, what is your number, I meant to call you y'day after the ballooning. You and Steph must try this when you come over!

Sandy - I will tell you more about Poggio Antico later, it was a real treat and I saved the menu for you. It was so much food I just wanted to take a nap afterwards and in fact didn't eat dinner last night as I was still too full. I will say this much though - the ballooning included a champagne breakfast afterwards, they spread out the food on the trailer (attached to the jeep - actually an UMM for anyone who digs old foreign cars...) It was a simple meal with local wines and also champagne, we sat in the grass in the 9 AM sunshine out in the middle of nowhere with the balloon stretched out next to us... and I must say I enjoyed that ten times more than Poggio Antico!

Land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand, September 2005)

This posting is made up of emails I wrote to friends while I was in New Zealand a few years ago with the 99s, the International Association of Women Pilots. I'll come back later and include photos. Enjoy!

Paige, I bet you are up now, it's nearly 10 AM in Germany! Linwood, are you still in Brazil? so many friends in different time zones!! we have had fabulous weather since we got here - mid-high 60s I'd say. it's definitely spring, all the flowers are out and all. Look what I did yesterday!!

I've decided that New Zealand should be spelled with an X - New Xealand - because they definitely put the X in X-treme. That photo was at Thrillseekers Canyon near Hamner Springs. They have bungee jumping and all sortsa ways to kill yourself there. Right near the center was a local cemetery, I joked that it was where they buried their mistakes. (actually don't laugh, in Zermatt Switzerland there was a climber's cemetery near my hotel, everyone who fell off the Matterhorn got buried there...) I digress as usual!

This above was a jet boat - it skims the water surface and the drivers are crazy! They head straight for the rocks/trees/banks and at the last minute whip it around! He told us when he holds his hand up and makes a circle with it to hold on tight because he is going to do a 360! It's kinda like being on a motorcycle in the water, only you are high and have a death wish. Our driver was hilarious - when we all sat down he said "so is it the first time for everyone?" and we all shouted YES! he said "me too! but I've seen it done!" hahahahaha and off we went!

When we got back I said to him "so, did you enjoy your first time as much as we did?" and he said "yeah, it was great, wonder if they'll give me a job!" hahahaha

We went to Hamner Springs after, some people went in the pools, others went shopping (I have plenty of other opps to go into the hot pools on the trip, I'll do it later). On the way back (it was a full day) we stopped at a winery - Pegasus Bay. That sounds familiar, wonder if we can get it in the US? I bought their 2002 Pinot Noir which has won many awards and accolades. yummy! (yes, I know I am not supposed to be drinking but I'm on vacation so I'll deal with it) [edit - I was undergoing treatment for Lyme Disease with many different meds]

That night we went to the International Antarctic Centre. Oh my God! How cool was that! NZ is the closest point to the main bits of Antarctica (Argentina is technically closer but only to the one peninsula - Ross Peninsula I think? NZ is closest to the meat of it. There is a US Antarctic exploration center right there (took pics, will send later) and many flights leave from Christchurch/Queenstown.

They had a lot of info on Antarctica in general and a simulator!! You go into this room that is full of snow, an igloo, and whatever those big snowmobiles are called (not skidoos, the really big ones, you know what I mean) and then they turn on the "winter storm" and it gets down to sub-zero cold. (it's below freezing when you walk in, before they turn on the "storm". winds howling, etc. I stayed in for a few minutes and said "I get it, it's cold").

I still wanna go to Antarctica though! There is a 30 day Antarctic cruise they offer, sounds cool although a month may be a bit long, I'll have to ask Kavey what she thought of hers. I got a squeaky penguin which I know someone's going to fight over when I get home - I don't know who to give it to. (I can't believe how big those Emperor Penguins are! they are as big as a 6 year old child!)

Today we went to Akaroa which is also beautiful . We went on a dolphin cruise but didn't see any dolphins. We did however see a bunch of seals and cormorants and I SAW A PENGUIN!! A REAL LIVE PENGUIN. He was kinda tiny though - blue penguin - and all by himself. Everyone was leaning over the side of the boat snapping pics like crazy - kinda funny had we capsized. (not - it was a big enough boat).

The scenery is simply stunning. I mean really. rugged mountains, beautiful clouds... and the viz is GREAT. as we drove to Akaroa the guide pointed out the southern Alps - he said "those are 130 KM away - and we could see them fine. 130 KM viz! t Tat's even better than when I was in Seattle last month. The people are soooo laid back here! We're doing a bunch of other stuff and I'll fill ya in later.

Matt, show this to Mom and Dad, ok? Linda and Paige, feel free to send this around ok? William, I found the "New Zealand - Down Under no more" map! (it has NZ at the top, totally different perspective - south on top. it's so cool! I'm going to hang it somewhere.


The first person in the world to see the sunrise...

or, nearly the first.

We were in Napier, which is the second town in the world to get the sunrise (NZ is really close to the dateline - it's Wednesday afternoon here and Tues night at home...) anyway, given the fact that there were maybe 3 people on the beach with me I'm thinking that I musta been in the top 40 of the planet seeing the first glimpse of the sun on the 30th... how neat is that?

Our trip is actually coming to a close! I leave in 3 days. I took many addresses for postcards and sent them at least a week ago, you should have it if I knew your address, if not, and you want a postcard, drop me a line and I'll send one to ya. more highlights: first of all, let me say, if you come here, put Rotorua high on your list of places. It is like an adult fun park. Today we climbed up a volcano crater, peered over the edge, and walked/ran/slid all the way to the bottom on the scree (ohmygod was that fun - like wearing moon boots. seriously). I JUST got back from zorbing and I will say that is THE highlight of the trip. you get in a massive, 12 feet tall bubble, they throw in a few buckets of water with you, and then they push you down a long zig-zag hill. The experience defies description but I'll try. I decided just to lay flat and go with it - some folks try to stay on their feet and run down the hill with it but that doesn't seem like as much fun. You are sloshed all over like in a washing machine, GIGGLING madly the entire way. Sky, grass, sky, grass, sky, grass, water water everywhere, and it's so slippery you just let it throw you around. It's awesome - easily the most fun thing I've done this trip and we've done a lot!

Well, I'll cut this short and fill in the gaps later. with photos.

Oh yeah we also did a luge ride here in Rotorua - also a lot of giggling. you are on a "luge track" down a mountain but are in little scooter/bumper cars. pictures will help explain. a blast!!

I hope to see y'all soon. Let me know if you didn't get a postcard yet (with address) and I'll send one along.

bye!

Beth

And finally, some of the wines we enjoyed:

South Island - Pegasus Bay. I ended up buying their 2002 Pinot Noir, 40 NZD, and apparently it's won many awards in that part of the world. (including Australia). It is in the top 5 PN in NZ and OZ. I know NZ is more well known for Sauvignon Blancs, but, the Pinots are up and coming and I wanted to try something different.

The history behind wine making in NZ is fascinating. Do you know even 30 years ago it was a relatively dry country? They've really made up for lost time. They have not only the southernmost vineyards in the world, they have the "easternmost" if you count the International Date line as the marking point. http://www.pegasusbay.com/

North Island: I bought 3 bottles of wine from Ngatarawa ("between the ridges"). One Chardonnay from their "Silks" line, one from the Glazebrook line (I think Syrah, I have to check), and one late harvest Reisling. http://www.ngatarawa.co.nz/

We visited Matariki winery but those are more easily found in the US so I decided to hold off. The wine was excellent, one wine was called Quintology - 5 grapes. http://www.matarikiwines.co.nz/

We had lunch at Vidal winery. It was a bright beautiful day. I can recommend going to NZ in off season because the weather (at least in the North Island) is not cold (other than Wellington) and actually can be quite bright and sunny. Napier was absolutely brilliant. http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/pages/vidalestatewinery

Trinity Hill - also v. good wines. Enjoyed the tasting, but didn't buy any. I believe this is available in the US too. http://www.trinityhill.co.nz/flash.htm

We didn't make it to Sileni. That was our first choice for lunch, the kitchen was closed that day.

How can I forget Waiheke Island! We didn't actually stop at wineries but we spent some time at Vino Vino, which has a lovely patio overlooking the water...

The Alps in IMAX - vertiginous and awe inspiring

Not necessarily in that order either!

I found out about this movie a month ago and had meant to see it much sooner but have been busy on the weekends. I checked movie times yesterday at the Udvar-Hazy center and saw that it's leaving this very week! Well, no time like the present. Off I went!

This movie is the story of John Harlan III, whose father, John Harlan II, died while attempting a new climbing track up the Eiger. The vertical drop from the top of the Eiger is one mile, I'm not sure where he was when he fell but he was a few days into the climb so pretty far up. John wanted to exorcise the ghosts of his Dad's death by doing the exact same climb, and thereby honor him.

The photos I've posted here are of the Matterhorn (not the Eiger) which I took in June 2004. The first one is also of Bernie and Minnie, two large St. Bernards - a little known True Beth Fact: I grew up with St. Bernards as my Mom raised and showed them until I was about 9 years old - they are wonderful, gentle dogs. At any rate, the Matterhorn is also an unforgiving mountain. Near the base of it in the town of Zermatt there is a climber's cemetery. Mostly, the demographic is men between the ages of 18-24, although I did note a few women's names here and there. The "Horn" of Matterhorn means "peak".

Spoiler Alert: John did make it up the mountain with his team of two (and the IMAX crew). We saw them settle in to sleep each night, clipped to the mountain and each other. There were utterly breathtaking views of the Eiger and various other Alps, both close up while they were climbing (and I do mean close up - the crew was along side them for certain) and some panoramic shots as well. IMAX movies have the tendency to make you feel you are right there with them and you get a bit of vertigo watching all of this.

I want to make a special note here of the IMAX crew. My theory is that photographers/videographers as a group suffer from the Ginger Roger's syndrome: Fred Astaire gets all the credit, but Ginger did it backwards and in heels. In this movie there was no piercing of the fourth wall - the climbers did not acknowledge the camera in any way - but they were not only climbing along side them, they were also carrying all that camera gear!

The last Matterhorn photo I took from the balcony of my hotel room, room 56 at the Hotel Allalin (in case you wanted to stay there). That's just fine by me - enjoy the beauty from afar. I enjoyed hiking around Zermatt though. Another note - they showed John doing chin ups. I haven't seen such biceps/triceps on this side of Schwarzenegger! They were HUGE. Considering your arms are pulling your body weight up the mountain, they have to be.

Here is the movie link:
http://www.alpsfilm.com/en/frame.cfm


EDIT:  Here is a photo of the Eiger, taken during my trip with my parents in 2010.

Back from Portugal, reports from the road

I hope you enjoy my tiny little trip report from Sunny Portugal. These were culled from emails home to friends during my trip. Each title is from the subject line of the emails I sent. If you want to see all the photos, click on the "Photos of my various travels" link to the right. I went over Thanksgiving week, which I highly recommend as a great time to visit there.

Portuguese Lessons

Hello everyone

I made it! The first "new" country I have visited in a while.

I am really jetlagged but it has been a great day. I am in Coimbra tonight and spent several hours today in Obidos. Obidos is a 13th century medieval town! Except that it is all whitewashed with bright blue accents on all the walls - nothing grim or dark about it. Lots of stairs, lots of cobblestones. It reminds me of photos of Greece actually except for the wall surrounding the town (which I walked the length of. and later remembered I had not put on sunscreen when I took the time to brush my teeth in the airport this morning. drat.)

Portuguese is an interesting language. It is very soft - the "S" is pronounced sh and the X is pronounced zh like zhivago. Think of Sean Connery: "Good morning Mish Moneypenny". The town Cascais looks like you would say Cass-Case, but no, it is Cash-Caesh. It all sounds very shexy. Obidos is Obi-doosh. Lisbon is actually Lisboa and it is pronounced Lishboa. (those who asked, by the way - yes, Portuguese guys are hot. Not quite up there with the Italians but pretty darn cute nonetheless.)

The hotel I am staying in is Quintas das Lagrimas - it is a Relais et Chateaux which is euro-speak for Really Nice Hotel. I have already managed to flood the bathroom (wayward jacuzzi jets, I mean jacuzzzzhi jets) and my hiking clothes are now hand washed and hanging all over. hahaha (I have those "technical" hiking clothes which are great for traveling, I figured I wanted to be comfortable on the plane rides). Luckily, the clothes will be dry before the maid sees them and I just used one of those 6-inch thick bathrobes they left out for me to sop up the floor.

Kidding! hahahaha I just used one of the 6 by 8 bath sheets they have.

ok I am getting punchy now. time for a glass of wine and then a snoozh. later!

Beth

ps
could someone email me to tell me what symbol comes up when you hit shift-2? this is a portuguese keyboard and one of my passwords uses that symbol but it is different here.

Nasty, Brutish and Short

Hi!

I visited the Roman ruins today at Conimbriga. I would have spent considerably more time there but the nice, sunny, warm weather of yesterday apparently went to Morocco because it sure isn´t here. (kinda neat to be close enough to Morocco to say that, too!)

Anyway, it wasn´t just rain, that I can handle. It wasn´t just cold, I can handle that too. No, this is the driving, blinding, cold and very windy rain. Let´s just say my planned day of town hopping turned into a drive to Conimbriga, a quick lap around the ruins (I got a photo of the Roman road to Lisbon though!) and then a run to the car after a brief stop at the empty visitor center. As I wandered around, thoroughly wet, cold and miserable in the space of about 10 minutes, I pondered on the above saying. Hobbes´ quote about the life of man seemed fitting for a day like this - if it´s going to be nasty and brutish, it may as well be short - why prolong the misery? (I know he wasn´t talking about weather but I was pretty irritated at this point).

I knew I didn´t want to be back out in that cold windy rain so I got out the map and decided to go to Tomar, which has a UNESCO World Heritage site there - the Knights Templar Convento de Cristo. I figured that perhaps it would die down a little on the drive there. Nope, it got worse. The rain was beating so loudly on my little car that I couldn´t hear the radio. When I got to town the main roundabout was so flooded I was afraid that my car was going to flood out. No joke. Big Mercedes-es had water up around their doors in that roundabout. I took the plunge anyway and made it through. I found the hill to get to the Convento since I came all that bloody way, I wanted a photo. When I put the window down I got soaked so needless to say the few photos I have were taken from the car and then I left and went back to Coimbra.

I had a really late start today since I slept so long! Tomorrow is calling for even MORE rain, even heavier than today, so watch CNN for me and let me know if Portugal´s weather is in the news. I hope there is some kind of break because I really want to visit Nazare on the coast. It appears that Lisbon will have rain through Wednesday, with a nice day on Thursday and then a little rain on Friday before a really nice day on Saturday, when I leave. Oh well, always an adventure. I´m usually really lucky with the weather. Maybe it will break and get better in time for the latter half of the week.

My little car is SO little, it has one windshield wiper. Yes, you heard that right. Just one. It is Peugeot´s answer to the Smart Car - it looks pretty similar. It does have power windows but the driver´s side door only has the control for its own window since the passenger door is close enough to lean over and push the button to open it. It is a stick shift but the shifter is so long it looks like it belongs on a tractor. When you depress the gas the engine gets a lot louder but there is no perceptible change in the rate of forward motion. It also has a nice silver medallion right in the middle of the steering wheel and it occurred to me that if the airbag ever went off you´d have a nice imprint on your face (oh, the things you think about when you can´t see 50 feet down the road...)

and I´m off again! Nice to hear from everyone, I hope my reports are making you laugh.

Beth


Come to Portugal, Save Money, Lose Weight!

Probably not the tourist board´s slogan of choice but I gotta say - Portugal is cheap. Even with the sad state of the dollar. This 6 night trip is going to cost roughly 2500 bucks (not incl souvenirs) and about 1000 of that was transportation - both airfare and the rental car/gasoline. [my edit - it turned out to be around 3000 dollars plus souvenirs]

I did see a Mastercard advert in the airport - it said "Discovering the city that discovered half the world: Priceless". I thought that was pretty cool.

The weather brightened up as I approached Lisbon and right now it´s sunny and even a bit warm. I have already spent an hour walking around and had to head back the apartment to shed one item of clothing - I thought it was going to be cooler and even at 800 AM wearing two light shirts was too much.

about losing weight - Lisbon is all hills, many of them steep! I walked over to the street that has the Elevador da Bica which is the reason I bought a plane ticket here. I had seen a photo of that street a few months ago and previous to that had not seen many photos of Lisbon at all. here it is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/felber70/347802073/

Is that not beautiful! I took my own photo of it:

I rented an apartment that is just lovely, spacious and clean, and in a fabulous location. Right in the nicest part of town - 90 euros a night. This internet cafe is just a 30 second walk away (you will know it by the awning - it looks like a vintage chevy hanging over the doorway) and the above Elevador da Bica is another 4-5 minute walk.

A few of you asked about the hotel in Coimbra - I just did an internet search and found it. I was looking for Pousadas (former palaces converted into hotels and stumbled across it - (although I am not sure this is a Pousada, it just came up when I did the search). I stayed in a spa guestroom and paid 137 E a night. (can you believe it). The spa section is newer and was designed by some famous Portuguese architect. I really liked it - all modern, hardwood floors, spacious, big balcony. The hotel has a one-star Michelin restaurant in it! I ate there Sunday night and the totel cost for the 6-7 course meal, including wine, was 66 euros. It was so much food I did not eat until the next evening. (66 euros for a one-star Michelin meal! imagine if this were 1999, when the euro was upside down to the dollar, that would have been cheaper than dinner and drinks at TGIFridays, almost.)

http://www.quintadaslagrimas.pt/index_ing.html

more later, gotta run. have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!

Beth

Portugal is tiny!
How tiny is it? I keep running into the same tourists! I sat on a tram the other day and a group got on after I did - and 5 hours later they walked into the restaurant where I was eating. When I dropped the car off, I was right in front of an American family who had picked up their car at the same time. In Sintra yesterday I saw people wandering around who were on the plane from Newark, with me... No doubt I´m going to run into someone from DC before I leave...

I hope everyone had a nice Turkey Day with your families!

Last night while walking home from dinner I passed a busker who had a little electronic keyboard playing Xmas music. The thing is, he had it propped against his shoulder and was busy reading the paper. He actually had some coins in his hat though. He needed to take lessons from the cute little dog I saw yesterday! A busker was sitting on the ground, playing an accordion, and his tiny tiny little dog (almost like a Chihuahua but not so skinny) was holding a little basket in his mouth. The dog was so still and half asleep - but he didn´t let go of that basket! Yes I took photos.

This is by far the hilliest town I think I have ever visited - including those on Lake Como. San Francisco hills are nothing compared to this. I have not seen a single overweight person on the streets here yet - including tourists. I think you have to be in minimally good shape just to get around - I wonder how senior citizens do. The guidebook did make reference to the reason that you see SO many Mom and Pop groceries and all around is because the older people rarely leave their own hood.

I had another amazing meal last night - write this down: Olivier. It is in the NY Times and also Time Out. For 35 euros you get 9 small starters (like tapas) and then the main course. I also had two caipirinhas and their signature dessert for a total of 56E plus tip. (I overtip - another 10E).

One "small" tapas was foie gras on top of carmelized onions. but these weren´t ordinary carmelized onions, they were soaked in port and a touch of raspberry vinaigrette and a "secret ingredient" for 4 hours and then carmelized. The foie gras was the size of a hockey puck, but not as thick. I ate the whooooole thing. Octopus carpaccio, beef carpaccio, puff pastry with goat cheese, honey and walnuts, etc. etc. the main course was juicy/crispy pork of a black pig and mashed potatoes with truffles mixed in (remember - 35 euros!)

Because it was the night of a huge soccer match when I got there, no one was there (huge as in - determining if Portugal was going to the 2008 euro-match). The waiters had the TV on and were watching the match which worked out fine until the owner showed up and had a hissy. It was funny watching them wrestle over the remote. As people eventually trickled in I figured out that they were in essence feeding me dual portions since they don´t halve anything for single diners. Some things lent themselves to one-person portions, other things (foie gras) clearly did not so I ate a two person portion of foie gras. With all this walking my pants still fit, despite the food, so if you want to eat well, come here and don´t use public transport to get around.

Yesterday I went to Belem and saw the Mosteiros (Vasco da Gama is buried there) and also had the Pasteis de Belem which has been a secret recipe since the 1800s. Those are worth the trip - yum.

I also hired a driver to take me to Sintra and Cabo da Roca (the westernmost point in Europe). Not cheap but so nice to sit back and let someone else do the driving. I think Sintra seems like a place you´d want to settle in for at least a few days - preferably in summer. (it wasn´t cold, but it seemed to have that "summer town" kind of vibe going.) Cabo da Roca was cool! also windy. I took some good "almost sunset" pics.

Today is the last day and I am just going to wander some more. I have a walking tour at 2 PM and other than that - nothing specific planned. Tomorrow is home!


I left in Autumn, and now that I'm back - Feliz Navidad!
When I left a week ago it was still fall - pleasantly cool and sunny and the trees were still colorful. One week later and I hear Xmas music on the radio when I stepped out for groceries. Once again I'm a cat-carpet (literally - they walk all over me, including my head, jockeying for a spot to sleep). Here is my last email - some overall impressions, and let's not forget some photos too. (not all of them, don't worry).

As it turned out the only rainy day was Monday - while it called for rain all week, it only rained at night and was cloudless and sunny in time for the day's adventure (and the rain would come back in again each night...) So for anyone who is concerned about Portugal over Thanksgiving vacation next year - I'd say go for it! I might consider heading south instead though - while Porto in the north is supposed to be amazing (another place I wanted to see, but didn't...) my understanding is the Algarve is Portugal's Riviera and should have a lot of sun regardless.

I was really glad I spent 4 nights in Lisbon - so many of my trips have me on the road to the next town after 2, maybe 3 nights (Rome, London notwithstanding) and while Lisbon is small 4 nights isn't even enough. By the last day I didn't even take my map out with me - I had a pretty good idea of the lay of the land and just took off.

The walking tour I enjoyed on Friday was FABULOUS. (not to overuse that word or anything). It was called Lisbon, City of Spies. It mostly related to the fact that in WWII, Portugal was neutral which actually means it just played both sides without getting really "involved' - and made buttloads of money in the process... for instance, profiteers in Portugal were selling wolfram to both sides (also known as tungsten).

James Bond was actually based upon a spy who centered himself in Lisbon - the Casino in Casino Royale was actually the Casino in Estoril, a suburb of Lisbon. Ian Fleming was alerted (somehow - never did figure that out!) to this man and his flamboyant habits and decided to tail him to use him as a character in his books. Supposedly this man knew he was being observed and decided to show off and dumped the equivalent of 60,000 dollars on the roulette wheel because it was "banque ouvert" meaning "accepts all tips". He played the Casino's bluff since they clearly wouldn't accept that (60K back in the 30s was a lot of money..) but the "damage" was done - Ian Fleming was so impressed he started the story based on this man. (who knows how apocryphal this story is, but it made for an interesting tidbit on the tour!). This same spy well after the war wrote a book called "Spy Counterspy" based on his exploits:

http://www.amazon.com/Spy-counterspy-autobiography-Dusko-Popov/dp/0448116065

I also was reading a book that was reco'd to me relating to Lisbon during WWII and the Wolfram connection. It was a novel called A Small Death in Lisbon. I don't usually read crime novels but this one was very well done if rather graphic. I'd recommend it for the story and the writing unless you are squeamish (think Nazi Germany, spies, and a present day crime that ties the past and present together very powerfully).

Random impressions:
Lisbon's buildings are either cotton candy colored (pastel pinks, blues, greens, yellow...) or beautiful handpainted tile.
Now that I've given you a positive view in your head... bear in mind that many of these beautiful buildings are COVERED with graffiti and utterly filthy. They could use a good pressure wash to get rid of the grime. In many cases the tile (at least on lower levels) are also covered with posters/stickers (you know, concert posters, etc.) and clearly elbow grease is needed to remove them.

The sidewalks are mostly hand-laid tiles or stones - intricately carved and in beautiful patterns. The streets and sidewalks are pretty clean - I saw street washers out every single morning.

The people are very friendly and for the most part I encountered a lot of English speakers (apart from the cabbies for some reason!)

as an aside, a funny cabbie story:

Monday night, after the deluge, I decided I wanted to go to a little town near Coimbra to have the roast suckling pig. This small town is FAMOUS for this meal. Jancis Robinson of the Financial Times, and a well known wine writer, wrote an article about this town and its specialty - it's that good. I couldn't face another drive after being soaked so I took a cab to have this meal - it was still cold, raining, dark etc.

The cab driver on the way home was this tiny sweet little old man. Didn´t speak a lick of English.

He had a CD in his car that was FILTHY. I mean really bad - I won´t repeat what the songs said. It was hard rock-guitar but the words were BAD. Naturally I suspected this little old man had no idea what was being said.

In my very bad Portuguese and some sign language I asked him who the artist was. he pulled it out and showed me that it was a "home made" CD. I immediately asked him if his son (which I think is filho) made it for him. "yes yes", he smiled and waved. "My son". (in Portuguese). He told me his son speaks English. Now that is a mean son!! I was tempted to write a note to his son saying "NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!"

HAHAHA. Oh dear. The meal was amazing, btw. The only damper on the evening was that there were the beautiful handpainted tiles (azulejos) on the wall in front of me: The first scene showed Wilbur, Babe, and the Piglet sibs hanging out with Mama Pig. The next scene showed baby piglet with a spit up his arse, and farmer Joe holding the spit in front of the fire, with the title "entrada al forno" (meaning, entering the oven). Hard to enjoy the meal when you are looking at Wilbur and Babe.

ok, back to the impressions:

The ways Lisbon reminds me of San Francisco:
A suspension bridge that looks suspiciously like the Golden Gate Bridge
Very hilly
Cable cars
It was utterly devastated by an earthquake on All Saints' Day in 1755, and was consumed by fire in the aftermath. In other words Lisbon's buildings are post-1755 for the most part.

The ways Lisbon does not remind me of San Francisco:
No micro-climate. It gets a lot of sun and is temperate even in winter. (warmer than a San Francisco summer, in other words...)
Narrow rabbit warrens of streets, higgledy-piggledy all over the place. The "grid" of Lisbon is in a fairly narrow area.

and that's all folks! For now anyway... I hope you enjoyed my stories. Drop me a line!

The day after...

Yesterday I went hiking with some friends. I haven't exercised very much this winter beyond the daily walking I've done on my various vacations (which happen about once a month). What I thought was going to be a nice 1.5, maybe 2 hour stroll through Manassas Battlefield turned into "hmmm, which way will this path take us"... 3 hours later we limped back to the car. The toll: sore legs (although not as sore as I expected and in fact were fine the next day), a very sore big toe (note to self - always, always cut your toe nails before a hike - even if you think it's going to be a short one), and a slightly pink face. I slathered on sun screen before heading out but 3 hours is much longer than I ever spend in the sun without a hat. I did get some good photos. To the right is one I took yesterday, and to the left is one I took in Tuscany last May - strikingly similar huh? And so cheerful. I've started putting my New Zealand photos online, so if you click my photos link you will see some of them. I expect to have them all online later this week if not sooner.

A Wannabee Photographer's first blog posting

This is going to be a work in progress for a long time, so check back once in a while.

Meanwhile, enjoy my flickr link to my travel photos. If you'd like to buy a print, I'd be happy to oblige.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalkerbeth/collections/72157603937099061/