Tag Archives: champagne bucket

Champagne Bucket trips, chocolate, trip planning

A champagne drawing and a coin flip later…

Featured photo is Bill when we were younger and cuter… trying a flight of beers in Brussels, back in September 2008.

So… after a VERY dramatic weekend (detailed on my main blog), Bill and I finally figured out where we will be going on our next vacation. Although it’s not usually difficult for us to decide where to travel, this time it was really hard to make our choices. A lot has to do with what’s going on in the world right now. We wanted to avoid risk and hassles, yet still have fun.

For this vacation, which starts on March 21st, we considered Croatia, Albania, Poland, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, and Austria. I didn’t really want to go to Italy, because we went there a year ago. I love Italy, but I wanted to go somewhere different. However, I had it in mind that I wanted to go to a nice spa, and a lot of the best ones are in South Tyrol, which is in Italy.

My mind started changing about the appeal of the spa hotels when I realized that a lot of them are resorts. Sometimes I enjoy the resorts, which usually come with half board. But they do have a drawback, because sometimes having included food means that we don’t try as many restaurants or get off the resort’s property as much as we should. Sometimes resorts can be noisy and crowded.

Also, some resorts kind of have a cruise ship feel, which I didn’t think I’d enjoy right now. We went to a resort hotel in the South Tyrol back in 2020– during the height of the pandemic– and we got the side eye from so many people because we were Americans in Europe at a time when Americans weren’t supposed to be in Europe. Now, our dumbass POTUS has taken us to war with Iran. The last thing I want to deal with is people blaming me personally for what Trump does, especially when I am on vacation.

When we were finally ready to make a choice, I put my hand in the champagne bucket and pulled out a slip of paper that read… CROATIA! Yea! I love Croatia, and there are a lot of places I want to see there, especially after our visit in 2021. But then I started looking into the logistics of doing what I really wanted to do, and I realized that it would work better as a road trip. We don’t have enough time for a proper road trip for this vacation.

However, March is a good time to go see places like Split and Dubrovnik, because there aren’t so many tourists at this time of year. It’s also not hot right now. Maybe next year, or in the fall, we can do that… if we haven’t been kicked out of Europe.

So, I drew again, and pulled out a slip of paper that read… BELGIUM! Great! It’s funny, because before I started getting totally overwhelmed with choices, I had thought to myself that I wanted to go to Belgium again. We’ve been a few times since we moved back to Germany in 2014, but we have not ventured back to the capital city– Brussels. Bill and I visited Brussels in 2008, when we were a lot younger and poorer. We had an absolute BLAST!

I remember just before we went for Labor Day weekend, Bill was working really hard and putting in a lot of overtime. He sent me a funny email that read, “I want to go to Brussels and see Mannekin Pis.” It was mainly because he was really pissed off! We spent the weekend eating frites, waffles, chocolate, and croissants. We also drank a shitload of excellent beer! And we also took a day trip to Bruges. I don’t think we’ll go to Bruges again this time, since we’ve been back there since our 2008 trip. But I do know of some bars I want to visit again. I have also booked us a very nice looking and rather posh hotel!

Check out these old photos from September 2008!

We last went to the city of Paris in May 2009, for Memorial Day weekend. It was right after Bill learned that we were going to have to leave Europe a year sooner than we planned. I was PISSED. This was something that had been orchestrated by Bill’s narcissistic war boss, who was later very publicly fired. Going back to the US a year early ended up working out for us, in the long run. Still, I was not happy about being yanked a year early, especially when it turned out that the job Bill had been “handpicked for” was just a bullshit billet so that Bill’s ex boss could move a different guy to a more prestigious job. But, as you can see, we got that year back and then some… many times over.

Below are some photos from our 2009 trip to Paris. I went there once before, back in September 1997, right after Princess Diana died. Unfortunately, that trip was with my sister, who was driving me crazy…

We had a great time in Paris. I remember at one point, we went to this very unassuming little brasserie and had the most wonderful lunch. Bill discovered a new favorite wine that we actually found a couple of bottles of in the States. I actually considered going to the the winery that produces that wine, down in Narbonne. I decided not to because, again, the logistics were a bit difficult for the amount of time we have.

We decided to go to Paris after considering going to the Champagne region. I actually wanted to go to Champagne, but realized that it would be a logistical hassle getting back to Frankfurt because we are doing this trip by train, instead of driving. Going to Brussels by train is a snap from Frankfurt. In fact, we went by the now defunct Thalys train in 2008. And going to Paris from Brussels is also easy; I think we’ll be using the Eurostar train, which is what replaced Thalys. Last time we went to Paris, we flew Air France, which was a mistake, mainly because it took FOREVER to get to the city from the airport.

We can still visit Champagne if we want to, as it’s only a 39 minute train ride from Paris. But I have a feeling we’ll just drink bubbly in the City of Lights!

I have found us a lovely hotel in Paris, too… in a different area of the city than where we stayed last time we visited. In 2009, we went to Montparnasse, and stayed in a hotel near the Luxembourg Gardens and a bar where Ernest Hemingway used to frequent. This time, we’ll be in the heart of the city, near the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. Maybe this time, we’ll even go up the Eiffel Tower, which I haven’t done on either of my previous visits. We’re also finally going to visit the Louvre.

Anyway… this adventure starts in twelve days, and will last until March 29th. Hopefully, all will go well, and nothing horrific will happen between now and then. Knock on wood!

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Eastern Europe, Hungary, Lithuania, Türkiye

2025 was an interesting travel year…

Featured photo is of Bill and me at our Advent market in Breckenheim… we sure did have a great year of travel in 2025!

Bill and I thought about going to the annual Wiesbaden Sternemarkt (Christmas market) over the weekend. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty grim– cold, wet, and when it wasn’t raining, a bit damp. I just didn’t feel like putting on clothes and venturing out into the chilly weather to walk around the crowds and see the same stuff they put out every year. Maybe we’ll go next weekend, or at some point during the week.

It’s been a pretty busy fall, though, so I think we both just wanted to relax. Bill has had a bunch of business trips lately. The last one, which was to the United States, ended last weekend. He decided to spend Saturday making a kimchi recipe from a book on fermenting foods that I bought him for Christmas last year. I spent my Saturday making a new Christmas themed parody song for my YouTube channel. And yesterday, we just kind of rested, watched videos, and watched our new neighbor moving into the newly vacated row house catty cornered to us. Hopefully, he won’t turn out to be a jerk. He’s already annoyed Bill by blocking our car.

Since we didn’t do anything special over the weekend, I decided today I’d write about our year in travel. 2025 turned out to be our year to visit Switzerland a bunch of times, but we also went to a few exotic places I’d been wanting to visit or re-visit. So here goes… our travel year, 2025. I didn’t include any day trips on this– it would have made the post too long!

The bill at our first three star Michelin restaurant experience! It was worth every Swiss cent!
  1. Basel, Switzerland— January 2025

    We decided to visit Basel, Switzerland as Trump was coming back to the White House. We chose Basel because it had been a city we’d wanted to visit for some time, and it’s convenient from the Frankfurt train station. I liked the idea of being in Switzerland, close to France and Germany. I also had a burning desire to visit Les Trois Rois, a fabulous old hotel on the Rhein (Rhine) River.

    Switzerland seemed like a nice, calm, neutral, safe, and sane place to go, as Joe Biden left Washington, DC, and the orange pervert came back to terrorize us. I wanted to hope things wouldn’t get as bad as I imagined they’d be… Unfortunately, that hope was not to come to fruition, although so far, Bill and I are still doing okay.

    Our trip to Basel was highlighted with a trip to our very first three star Michelin restaurant, Cheval Blanc, which was at the wonderful Les Trois Rois. I also remember getting scolded for taking off my coat in a museum, and eating a dinner decided by rolling dice and looking at tarot cards. It was a fun trip! I’d definitely go back.

  2. Abruzzo, Italy, by way of Vico Morcote, Switzerland— March 2025

    We decided to take a longer trip to Italy by way of Switzerland. Bill has a co-worker who bought property in Abruzzo, Italy, and he wanted to go down there to check out the area. Since Abruzzo is a ways from Wiesbaden, we stopped in Vico Morcote (near Lugano, Switzerland) on the way down.

    On the way back, we spent a couple of nights in picturesque Vipiteno, Italy, which is right by the Austrian border. I had been to Vipiteno once before, on a day trip back in 2009 via a bus tour operated by the Edelweiss resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I liked Vipiteno more on my own!

    Will we buy property in Italy? Maybe… but other stuff happened this year that may affect that decision. I keep socking away money, just in case. Below is a photo from the vineyards owned by the hotel where we stayed. The Lugano area of Switzerland is very Italian, but much posher!
A view of Lake Lugano from Vico Morcote, Switzerland

3. Vilnius, Lithuania— June 2025

We decided to visit the former Soviet Republic of Lithuania, and the capital city of Vilnius, in particular, for my 53rd birthday. I believe it was a “champagne bucket” drawing winner. I had wanted to go to Lithuania because it was the one Baltic country Bill and I hadn’t yet visited, and because it was a former Soviet country. It turned out to be a really interesting place to visit! I especially enjoyed visiting the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, which eerily reminded me of what’s happening in the United States right now.

The city of Vilnius has a great beer culture, but they also have really excellent food! And there’s a lot to do, as well as good shopping. I also appreciated that it was cool in June, rather than sweltering hot like it was in Germany. I’d love to visit again and see some more of the country. I hope we’ll get the opportunity!

This pink soup with a beet base turned out to be surprisingly delicious and refreshing! You can find this all over Vilnius!

4. Zürich, Switzerland— June/July 2025

We spent a little over a week in the Seefeld area of Zürich because Bill wanted to take the summer session at the C.G. Jung Institute in nearby Küsnacht. There isn’t a lot of lodging in Küsnacht, which is more of a residential area, so we booked an Apart-Hotel in the city. It turned out to be a good place to stay, as it was very close to the lake, as well as lots of restaurants, museums, and the botanical gardens.

I spent several days mesmerized by the sight of the pristine blue lake, watching people swim, boat, do yoga, and hydrofoil. This wasn’t much of a pleasure trip, since Bill was in class all day. I did enjoy myself, though, as Switzerland is a very beautiful country, even if it is very expensive. Bill’s experiences during the summer session cemented his decision to apply to study at the Institute.

A common scene on Lake Zürich in late June and early July. The lake is alive with activity! People liked my “Trump Sucks” t-shirt, too.

5. Budapest, Hungary— September 2025

I went to Budapest with Bill in September. He was there on business, but I got to tag along with him and spend six nights walking around Hungary’s capital city once again. Our first visit there was in September 2009– it had been our last trip before we had to move back to the United States thanks to Bill’s narcissistic Army boss. That trip had been wonderful, although we stayed in a different part of the city in a much nicer hotel. This time, we were in the thick of the tourist area, but in a less excellent hotel.

I’m glad I had a chance to visit Budapest again, because I got a totally different view of it during our second visit. I also got a taste of the wonderful musicians in Hungary. I think I knew Hungary had a great music culture, but I heard it firsthand on this trip… and I even got to join in with one band!

Budapest has lots to see and hear, even if you’re dining at a tourist trap!

6. Küsnacht, Switzerland— October 2025

Bill decided to apply to study at the C.G. Jung Institute in Küsnacht, and part of the process of seeking admission involved being interviewed by three Jungian analysts. Two of the analysts Bill was assigned to speak to had offices in Zürich. In fact, they were located in Seefeld, the area where Bill and I stayed during the summer session! However, this time, we decided to stay in Küsnacht at the Sonne Hotel, which had been fully booked when we visited during the summer.

I booked us into one of the hotel’s best rooms, and I got a beautiful view of Lake Zürich. We also ate at several nice restaurants and took another lake cruise, which was just as idyllic in the fall as it was in the summer. This time, we were on a steamboat, which was a different experience.

Bill’s bid to study at the Jung Institute was successful, so I suspect we’ll get to visit this area lots of times. Or, at least we will as long as we’re living in Europe. If we have to go back to the States, I might not get to go so often. I’m glad we visited the quiet suburb of Küsnacht, though. It has a different vibe than the big city of Zürich has, even though it’s right next to it.

A very cool old boat in Switzerland…

6. Istanbul (Maslak), Türkiye— November 2025

The day after our 23rd wedding anniversary, Bill had to go to Istanbul for another business trip. He invited me to go with him, which I was happy to do. This was my second visit to Istanbul. The first was in the summer of 1996, and was a lot less fancy than this trip was– although in the 90s, my friend and I stayed much closer to the tourist areas. Maslak is a business district, so it’s not so convenient for tourist purposes.

I still managed to have a pretty good time revisiting this fascinating city and seeing Taksim again, the area where my friend Elaine and I stayed in 1996. I’d like to go back to Istanbul with Bill and really do it right– see the tourist spots and pick up some cool souvenirs. But it was great to go back to Istanbul, even if it was just for a few days in the financial district. As usual, I learned new things.

A dramatic shot of a seagull I got while watching hundreds of them descend on a mosque in search of food. It was very surreal!

I don’t think we’re going anywhere else in 2025, but I’m already planning a trip to Stuttgart at the end of January 2026. Bill and I are overdue for dental cleanings. But– I have already found a new hotel with an exciting restaurant to try out in the suburb of Waiblingen, so there will something new in the blog then… and potentially even before then. We’ll see what happens!

Below is a gallery that sums up our year of travel in 2025… (or at least the travel I was part of– Bill went on a few work trips alone). Not bad, eh?

Basel
Gissi, Italy
Vasto, Italy
Vipiteno, Italy
Vilnius
Vilnius
Zürich
Küsnacht
Budapest
Budapest
Budapest
Zürich
Küsnacht
Taksim
Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul
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Champagne Bucket trips, former Soviet Union, Lithuania, short breaks

We’re back from Vilnius, Lithuania…

Featured photo is of Frankfurt as we descended into the city this afternoon.

I had a great time turning 53 in Vilnius, Lithuania. This was the fifth former Soviet country I have visited, the others being: Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, and Estonia. Of course, if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you might know that I lived in Armenia for 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1995-97. I didn’t get a great look at Georgia, Estonia, or Latvia, as I just passed through Georgia on a bus in 1996 and Bill and I visited Tallin, Estonia twice, and Riga and Liepaja, Latvia once each on cruises.

Our visit to Vilnius was a comprehensive and full five night affair, and boy was I impressed with the place. Lithuania was once a Peace Corps country, as were Latvia and Estonia. Their programs ended in 2002. I could hardly believe how upscale Lithuania felt and appeared. It’s hard to imagine that it once hosted Peace Corps Volunteers! Of course, when I visited Armenia in 2023, I was surprised by how far it’s come, too, although it doesn’t look quite as clean and spiffy as Lithuania does… at least not yet.

Anyway, I will be doing my usual series for our trip, which was fairly busy. We didn’t do much on my birthday, because it was pouring rain all day, and because my muscles were extremely sore from climbing the Cathedral Bell Tower. But it still managed to be a memorable birthday for me, as Bill and I enjoyed lots of beers at a really cool pub.

I think I’ll start the series tomorrow morning. I’m kind of tired from our travel today. But I have lots of pictures and stories to share, so I hope a few readers will tune in… For now, here are a few photos…

One thing I learned is that Lithuanians are people of great faith… and I found their faith hopeful and uplifting in these troubling times. Aside from that, Vilnius is literally a cool city. The weather was actually chilly a couple of days. I had to wear a sweater on my birthday! We also enjoyed a lot of really good food. I was surprised by how fresh and delicious everything was. We even tried the famous “Pink Soup”.

So, hopefully tomorrow, I’ll get started on my latest series, and maybe get it finished before this Saturday, when we head to Zurich/Kusnacht, Switzerland for eight nights! For now, I need to relax for a bit and regroup. Traveling is tiring.

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Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland, Nordic

Our first Icelandic adventure: Flying back to Germany! (part thirteen)

Saturday, September 7th got off to an early start. We had a 10:20 AM flight to Frankfurt on Icelandair. Since Reykjavik is about a 45 minute drive from the airport, which is located in Keflavik, Iceland Luxury Tours arranged for a driver to pick us up from the Saga Hotel at 7:30 AM. Breakfast at the hotel starts at 7:00 AM, so we didn’t really have time to eat before we left. Fortunately, because we were flying in Saga Class (business), we had access to the lounge at the airport.

The driver arrived right on time in an immaculate black Audi electric car. She was tall, slim, and dressed all in black. I noticed she had beautifully manicured nails, too. Our drive to the airport was very peaceful, as the car made barely a sound and delivered a extremely smooth and comfortable ride. I found myself thinking I wouldn’t mind owning such a vehicle myself! I got a few shots of the sun peeking through the clouds. We also noticed that the volcano that was active when we arrived on August 29th was no longer spewing lava. Instead, there was just a lot of smoke.

No more lava!
Sunlight!
Strange place for a church!

The airport was a bit of a madhouse, as there were many people wanting to catch flights. We managed to find the Icelandair baggage drop off. I got lectured by the woman who took our bags because my SOFA card and COVID vaccination card were loose in my passport. She told me I shouldn’t keep the SOFA card there because it could fall out. I quickly, but politely, corrected her, mainly because I was a little pissy and not in the mood for a lecture from someone who obviously didn’t know that the SOFA card is basically akin to my visa. Yes, it should have ideally been taped or paper clipped in there, but it also really does need to stay with my passport.

As for the COVID card, there was a time not long ago when that was an essential travel document. Most professional people can handle looking at a passport and not losing any loose documents that are kept within it. Anyway, I wasn’t in the mood for her shit. I just wanted to get on with the transit part of the trip. She made Bill drop off one of his bags at the oversized luggage desk, not because it was oversized, but because it had straps that couldn’t be removed. In the process of dropping off that bag, we got stuck behind some guy who had a big case (either some kind of musical instrument or a firearm) that blocked the way. He kept having to stop and maneuver the case through the awkward line.

Finally, with the bags dropped off, we headed for security, which was also annoying. The airport in Keflavik doesn’t have sophisticated screening machines. You just walk through a metal detector. Naturally, I forgot to take off my watch, and my shoes set off the detector. There weren’t enough bins to put stuff in, either. But finally, we were through that nut roll, and on our way to the Icelandair lounge.

I had heard the lounge in Reykjavik was nice. I would say that it wasn’t a bad place to spend some time. There was plenty of seating and a breakfast buffet, as well as the usual drinks. Bill and I had a small breakfast. Then he decided to try one last thing before we left… a parting shot, if you will. When Bill was in Iceland for the first time, he had the opportunity to taste Brennivín, which is Iceland’s signature distilled spirit. I remember he brought some home, and I hadn’t liked it. Although the hour was early, he decided to try it one more time before we left the island. I tried it, too, and liked it somewhat better.

We didn’t bring any back with us this time…

Finally, it was time to board the aircraft. We were in seats 2D and 2 F. Saga Class wasn’t full on our return to Germany. In retrospect, I wish we’d asked to move back a row, since no one was sitting in row three, and the people in front of us were shameless recliners. I know they had the right, and all, but the guy sitting in front of Bill slammed his seat back as soon as we were in the air and left it that way the whole flight, even when we were eating.

Even in business class, reclined seats make it a lot harder to get in and out of the seat to get to the bathroom. At one point, I had to contort my body such that I lost my balance and fell over. The woman with the guy, who sat in front of me, was at least polite when she reclined. The guy in front of Bill was a total jerk, as was evidenced when it came time to disembark. He had a bunch of airline privilege cards openly displayed on his carry on bag, at least one of which showing his name. So not only was he an inconsiderate clod, he was also kind of stupid. He probably gave me COVID, too… or maybe I gave it to him. 😉

Below are some photos from the flight:

Too funny!
I tried the Lundey Gin…
It starts off blue, but when you pour it into tonic water…
It turns pink!
Decent food. Open faced sandwich with warm camembert for dessert. I skipped the cheese.

The flight was very smooth and uneventful, except for the guy in front of us. I was very pleased with Icelandair and would happily book them again. The only thing I don’t like is that I signed up for Saga Points and they haven’t been awarded yet. And when I tried to add them manually, my request was automatically rejected. Oh well… I probably won’t have much occasion to fly Icelandair much, anyway. It’s still irritating, though, when these things don’t work properly. Below are a few sky photos… I think these are actually backwards. The ones at the bottom are of Iceland and the ones directly below are Germany and continental Europe.

Once we landed in Frankfurt, we had a short walk to baggage claim (for once!) and then a short wait for our bags. I was a little nervous, because we still had to pick up the dogs and, because of the two hour time difference between Iceland and Germany, we arrived back in the middle of the afternoon. But it all turned out okay… we quickly found a cabbie who got us home speedily, and with no trouble. Then, after we started the first of a few loads of laundry, we headed off to the Hundepension to get Charlie and Noyzi.

Normally, Bill handles picking up the dogs by himself, but Charlie isn’t very comfortable with car rides yet. He plants his feet and backpedals, and Bill was worried he might need help. So I went with him to get the dogs, and I made a video of our reunion!

Excuse my laugh…

As you can see, they both did fine at the Hundepension. Natascha, who takes good care of our boys, said Charlie was so cute! His helicopter tail was going full blast. I would have liked to have let them get acquainted with a shorter visit before our Iceland trip, but there simply wasn’t time for it. Fortunately, there were no issues, and Charlie did brilliantly. He also didn’t have trouble getting into the car. I think maybe he’s afraid he’s going to be dumped when he goes in the car. Noyzi used to be afraid of the car, too. Now, he LOVES car rides. Hopefully, Charlie will get there, too.

Well… that about does it for my “blow by blow” account of our Iceland trip. I will write my usual “ten things I learned” post next, and then perhaps it’ll be time to move on from Iceland. I’m not sure where our next trip will be. At this point, we’re thinking about Spain, but that’s not definite yet. We’ll see.

In other news, as of yesterday, I am now COVID free! 😀

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Champagne Bucket trips, churches, Iceland

Our first Icelandic adventure: Another “free” day in Reykjavik… (part twelve)

Finally, we arrived at Friday, September 6th, our second “free” day in Reykjavik. Originally, we were going to fly home on that day, but when I started researching flights, I realized it was a lot more expensive to fly home on Friday than Saturday. So Bill had Iceland Luxury Tours to add a day to our itinerary, and we planned Friday as a day to go souvenir shopping and rest up a bit.

In retrospect, it wasn’t a bad idea to schedule a day to relax, even though I was already getting a bit antsy to go home. I missed Charlie and Noyzi and clean laundry, and I was itching to write and make videos. I don’t know why… It’s not as if people are that interested in these blog posts. I do take pleasure in writing them, though, and I have so many beautiful photos that I was dying to edit and arrange.

We tried to make good use of our last full day in Reykjavik, starting with breakfast in the Saga Hotel. It was just as noisy and crowded as ever. 😉

After breakfast, we took a walk back toward Lake Tjörnin, a small lake right next to the Saga Hotel, at the entrance of downtown Reykjavik. We spent a few minutes there watching the ducks. The lake isn’t super exciting, but I do like to watch water fowl.

Next we walked back to the Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland’s largest church, which looms over the city. When we were there a week prior, the nave was closed to the public. I was hoping to go inside and get some photos and, perhaps, take the elevator up the church tower and get some photos. We were successful in that endeavor. In fact, we were able to sit in the sanctuary for a short time and listen to the organist play. That was a treat for me. I liked that the benches were turned toward the organist and the instrument itself. They were movable, so I guess when they need more seating for actual church services, they can turn them around. I was glad we went back to the church so I could get photos of the organ.

It was nice to see a somewhat young person playing this instrument so well. Church organists are a dying breed!

I was especially happy that the church tower has an elevator, which makes sense, since the church dates from 1986. Most of the churches in Europe that allow people to climb towers involve going up lots of steps. I know it’s good for me to climb steps, but the older and fatter I get, the harder it is. You can climb a few flights at the church in Iceland, but it’s only a few, and not in a tight place. And yes, we did go up the flights of stairs to get the best possible views. I often suffer for this blog, you know…

Going up the tower does involve a small fee, which you pay in the church’s gift shop before taking the elevator up. It appeared to me that the tickets were on your honor. There was no one there checking them. Below are some shots from our walk, an the church and its tower…

A gift from the people of the USA!

By the time we finished visiting the church, it was about time for lunch. We headed down the main thoroughfare by the church and walked until my nose picked up the smell of something appetizing. A small restaurant called Salka Valka was putting off the pleasant aromas, so we went inside for lunch. When we arrived, the place was almost full, so we sat next to a an older woman who was sitting alone, reading a book. While we were deciding on lunch, she offered an unsolicited opinion, saying that all of the fish dishes at the restaurant were “amazing.”

For once, I didn’t mind that someone offered an opinion I never asked for, because I was having trouble deciding what I wanted. I settled on the fish soup, which was rich and satisfying, with a chickpea base and a delightful zing. It came with a slice of fresh sourdough bread, slathered in butter. Bill went for the catch of the day, which was probably cod again. I don’t remember! Anyway, the food was excellent and healthy, and the music was great. The lady sitting next to us had a very nice looking chocolate cake for dessert. I was tempted by it, but decided my gut didn’t need any enlarging.

I would go back for sure!

After lunch, we walked a little bit further down the street and found one of the many souvenir shops in Reykjavik. We stopped in and bought some gifts for Bill’s grandchildren, as well as a mug and a magnet (or two) for us. I saw a few things I liked, but decided I didn’t want to carry anything more in my bag. The new rain jacket and hiking boots were already taking up precious space in my bags. The book I saw that tempted me could probably be found somewhere online. Now I wish I’d bought it, of course…

On our way back to the hotel, we passed through an area we hadn’t yet explored. I looked up and noticed a cafe that had a strange looking “airlock” set up at its door. It turned out to be a “cat cafe” called Kattakaffihúsið, where people can enjoy or even adopt the resident cats. It was really cool! I would have gone in, but Bill is very allergic to cats. I’m sure my mother-in-law would love that place!

We decided to go back to the hotel for a short while to work on packing everything, since we had an early wake up call for our ride to the airport on Saturday morning. So we spent time doing that, and wondered if we wanted to venture out again for dinner, later. The weather was looking pretty grim. As it turned out, we did go out for dinner, at a place called Duck & Rose. I had duck two ways, and Bill had more fish! It was a good place to people watch. At one point, a goth looking couple walked by. The guy half was wearing a weird looking mask that covered his whole face. His woman was dressed in straight up goth ware.

Duck with sweet potatoes and oranges!
More fish for Bill.
Nice place. Good service and decent food.

I think it was pretty safe to say that we were both pretty much ready to call our vacation done by the time we had dinner. It was time to go home and get back to normal living. But we really had a good time in Iceland… and before we said goodnight to the city of Reykjavik for the last time, we stopped by the store and picked up some Icelandic candies for Bill’s grandchildren. I’m sure at least some of it has liquorice in it.

Now… there will be one last post in this series… an exciting description of our flight back to Germany. I hope you’ll join me for that! Then, it’ll be time for my much anticipated “ten things I learned post…” which no one ever wants to miss. Bwahahahahahaha!

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adventure, Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland, Nordic

Our first Icelandic adventure: How did we end up there? (part one)

Bill and I just got home from Iceland yesterday afternoon. I’ve been itching to write about our visit to the mysterious island nation for days now, but have held off on starting the series until we got home. Although I sometimes start writing before trips end, this time, this time I decided I needed to wait. I wanted to be near my desktop computer, where I have more tools to edit photos and make videos. I also find writing on the desktop much easier than writing on the laptop; that’s important, because I have a lot of ground to cover.

But, really, the main reason I waited was because we have been VERY busy. Seriously… it seems like we’ve been gone a month, even though our trip was only for about ten days. One of our drivers estimated we saw about 30 percent of Iceland on our trip. My guess is that we saw less than that, mainly because Bill and I are older and less willing to traipse through the wilderness. There’s a lot of wild country in Iceland, and the weather can be brutal, especially if you’re not adequately prepared.

I’m sorry to report, I was not quite ready for Iceland’s hostile climate. Bill had, at least, done some shopping on Bergfreunde.de for new shoes and a hat. Luckily, there are businesspeople in Iceland who anticipate tourists like me, and there are quite a few Icewear stores scattered about the more populated areas. When we stopped by Icewear, we saw many other people who were in the same situation we were… buying raincoats, shoes, beanies… and the smarter ones probably invested in waterproof pants. I sure wish I had!

Nevertheless, in spite of being somewhat underprepared, Bill and I managed to enjoy our visit unscathed. Neither of us got sick or injured. And… according to the pedometer app on my iPhone, we covered about 17 miles walking… which may not seem like a lot to younger, fitter people, but for a fatass housewife like me, it’s a pretty good deal. Especially when one considers the weather! It wasn’t super cold, but the rain and wind were incredible; I had never experienced anything like it before. I wasn’t prepared for that on this visit, but if we manage to go to Iceland again, I will definitely be more ready for it.

So how did we end up going to Iceland in the first place?

Bill and I have a ritual of choosing our vacations by luck. We used to be fans of Eurowings’ “blind booking” program, in which you book a flight somewhere, but don’t know where you’re going until after you’ve paid. We did that a few times when Eurowings was still called Germanwings. But then we later had more money, and less desire to fly places on the cheap. I’m sure my expanding ass had a lot to do with that. 😉

We also have two dogs who have to be accommodated by the local Hundpension, which makes it harder for us to be too spontaneous. When we still had our comparatively small beagles, Zane and Arran, it was sometimes easier to just take them with us when we went places. But now we have Noyzi, who takes up all the cargo space in the back of the Volvo. And we have Charlie, who is still kind of afraid of riding in the car. It’s better to board them when we go places.

We started planning trips with the same “surprise” idea of blind bookings, only instead of letting the airline decide, we let the champagne bucket choose. We put scraps of paper in the bucket and Bill picks one. If the selection is feasible for when we want to travel, we book it. At some point in the spring, he picked Iceland. We were delighted with that result, because Iceland was a place we both really wanted to visit before we shove off the mortal coil. Iceland isn’t cheap, so it’s good to go there when the cash flow is good… and it’s also potentially physically challenging, so it’s best to visit when one has the stamina and ability to get around somewhat easily.

I did have some worries about the weather, even though we were technically visiting in the summer… but then I saw memes like the one below…

Don’t let that “green land” fool you… Bring a jacket!

I got fooled into thinking Iceland is more temperate than it is. I mean, it is temperate, considering where it’s located, but it’s certainly not temperate like Germany is. When we left Germany, it was hot as the dickens! The funny thing is, when Bill went to Reykjavik in 2009, it was around the time of my June birthday. He brought me a wool scarf and a CD of Icelandic folk tunes sung acapella by people with very ordinary voices. I was confused by the wool scarf in June… until now. 😉

Finding Iceland Luxury Tours…

So anyway, Bill picked Iceland out of the bucket, and the responsibility came down to me to plan the trip. I don’t know why I was inspired to hire a guide for our visit to Iceland. We’ve never done a private tour before, although we have done at least one group tour together (which I’m not very good at). I guess, somewhere in my brain, I realized that visiting rugged Iceland, with its unpredictable weather and rough roads, might go better if we had a local doing the driving. I wasn’t as wise about the weather in terms of dressing, but I did at least have enough common sense to look into finding us a guide/driver. Somehow, in the process of planning, I came across Iceland Luxury Tours.

I’m a big believer in reading reviews, although I do realize that a lot of people tend to write them when they’re either pissed off or very happy. I found many positive reviews of Iceland Luxury Tours on multiple sources, including Trip Advisor, which in my experience, often turns out to be the most accurate source of all. I review most of our travel experiences, and I try to be as honest as possible, even if I’ve had a mediocre time. I was impressed that Iceland Luxury Tours had many five star reviews and glowing comments, and only three four star ratings. It had not been rated lower by anyone. On Google, there were far fewer reviews, but the ones they had were all raving. So I asked Bill to contact them to see what they could do for us.

Bill sent an inquiry to Iceland Luxury Tours, and the owner, Sveinn Sigurður Kjartansson, was quick to respond. After Bill offered a budget, Sveinn proposed some itineraries. Then we tweaked the trip to suit our interests. For example, I am a big time horse lover. Iceland is famous for its Icelandic horses (and they are horses– not ponies). Sveinn added a visit to a horse farm to our trip. We like spas, so he added a visit to the Sky Lagoon. We’re not super fit or thrill seeking, so those kinds of activities were omitted. Later, when I realized that flying home on Friday, as we’d planned, would be significantly more expensive, we added a day. Sveinn added activities for that extra day.

How much did it cost?

Well, folks… I’ll be honest. This was a very expensive trip. Iceland Luxury Tours planned everything for us, to include our luxury hotels, breakfasts, private tours/tickets to several attractions, transfers to and from the airport, transportation to the Sky Lagoon, and five full days with our guide, Ivar, and a very capable Toyota Land Cruiser. I think Bill said it all came to about $17,300 or so… And then I booked round trip Saga Class (business) tickets on Icelandair, which was well worth doing, but not a cheap endeavor. I think the tickets were about $2500 for the two of us, give or take $100. Fortunately, we had the money to cover it, and a new travel credit card from PenFed that offers generous travel benefits.

Now, I do realize we could have done this trip much more cheaply, even with a guide. We could have scaled down the budget significantly and still had a memorable experience. But these days, I like to travel in comfort. I’ve had my fill of traveling cheaply… and believe me, I’ve done plenty of that in my lifetime! Luckily, Bill doesn’t mind being more comfortable, and we currently have the means to travel that way.

Although we don’t usually spend that much on our trips, it did occur to me that last year, we spent a couple of weeks in Scandinavia and spent well over $20,000. That trip included about a week on our own in Norway, a week on the Regent Splendor, and then a couple of nights in Denmark. So, this trip to Iceland, which is probably going to be our one big vacation this year, isn’t that far out of line for us. But I do want to reiterate– you don’t have to spend that much yourself. You can do fewer days with a guide, concentrate in a smaller area, do group tours instead of private ones, eat cheaper food… and avoid drinking alcohol. 😉

I do recommend hiring a guide, though, especially if you want to go to any rugged parts of the country. There will be more on that in the coming posts. When I start sharing photos and videos, you’ll certainly see why!

So… now it’s time to write the story of our first trip to Iceland. I hope you’ll join me on this very bumpy but exhilarating ride!

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Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland

So long, Iceland… it’s been a real trip!

We’re headed back to Frankfurt this morning. I woke up at about 4:30 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. It’s now 6:30 AM, and in an hour, we will be picked up and shuttled to the airport, which is about 45 minutes away from Reykjavik.

Hopefully the flight will be smooth and painless, and we’ll arrive home safely. I’m ready to do laundry and start writing about this amazing vacation we’ve had in Iceland. It really has been an incredible experience, especially when we were out in the “country”. We had a great experience with Iceland Luxury Tours, so I can’t wait to add a positive review on Trip Advisor for them. I also really want to get back to creating song parodies and other videos. Most of the next week, I suspect, will be spent writing the story of this trip and making travel videos.

I love traveling, but after awhile, it’s just time to go home. But there were a lot of things we didn’t manage to do on this trip, so maybe we’ll have a reason to come back to Iceland. And if we do, I will come better prepared, with at least one pair of waterproof pants! I can see why Iceland’s sporting goods chain, Icewear, is everywhere in this country.

Here are a few more photos before I head off into the friendly skies… These were taken yesterday, as we walked back to the big church (proper name forthcoming) and took the elevator up to get a view of the city.

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Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland

Still more photos before I go home tomorrow…

Today is our last full day in Iceland. We’ve had a really good time over the past eight days. I’m a little sad to be leaving, yet I’m also glad to be going home. I have a lot of laundry to do, plus I’ve missed my dogs. I also have big plans to write up this trip, making some videos– travel and musical– and perhaps reconsider some of my lifestyle habits. 😉

Overall, Iceland has been fantastic, though. The people are very nice; they have great taste in music; and the scenery is stunning, even if the weather often sucks. Bill has especially enjoyed himself. I think he’s going to be talking about this vacation for a very long time. It goes down as one of our best… at least as I write this. We still have tomorrow’s flight and transfer to the airport to consider.

Below are a few more photos from our vacation to Iceland. I truly do hope we can come back.

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Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland

And here are a few more photos from the past couple of days…

I don’t have much time to write, as we are checking out of our hotel in about twenty minutes. But I did want to put up a few more photos for the curious…

I will definitely have a lot to write about when I get back to Germany! We have seen so many eye popping geological fascinations this week. Yes, this trip is costing a lot, but it is money well spent!

This was from a hot spring…
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Bulgaria, Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe, short breaks

Bulgaria beckons after 28 years…

Featured photo is an aerial view of Sofia, Bulgaria, as we approached courtesy of our Lufthansa flight…

It’s time, once again, for me to write a series about our latest travel adventures. This past trip was short, but very meaningful to me. We visited Sofia, Bulgaria, a place that has stuck in my memories since my first visit, back in 1996. Now… to be frank, it was never my life’s ambition to visit Bulgaria.

As I have explained in other blog posts, I initially visited Bulgaria in 1996, because I was accompanying my friend and Peace Corps colleague, Elaine, on a vacation to Turkey and Bulgaria. I actually had no money for a vacation, so Elaine was kind enough to lend me some cash so I could go with her on our big trip. We traveled via bus from Armenia, which made for big adventures, lots of exhaustion, and many memories that will never be lost.

Armenia was not, and is still not, the easiest country to travel from by land, especially for Americans. The country is surrounded by enemies of Armenia or the United States. In the 90s, flying out of Yerevan was very expensive, kind of scary, and inconvenient. So, as someone who was broke and not particularly travel savvy in the 90s, my choices were pretty limited. In the 90s, lot of us Armenia Peace Corps Volunteers did go to Turkey and Bulgaria. I don’t know if that’s still true today. Today’s Volunteers have more choices when it comes to transportation than we did.

When I went to Bulgaria in 1996, I had just turned 24 years old, and the Iron Curtain had only very recently fallen. Consequently, Sofia was still very “Eastern bloc”. I remember it as “nicer” than Yerevan was, in terms of how the city looked and what was available. Bulgaria wasn’t part of the Soviet Union, after all. But it was still very much emerging from communism, and I don’t remember a lot of businesses or English speakers. I also remember that it was common to see people nodding to say “no”, and shaking their head to say “yes”. While I’m sure this is still a thing in Bulgaria, especially in the countryside, I didn’t see it during this trip as I did in 1996.

In 1996, there was only ONE McDonald’s in Sofia. It was in the center of the city. I used it as a landmark when I took a taxi from some remote part of the city where I’d wandered. The cab driver didn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Bulgarian, but by God, we knew McDonald’s, and that was a good place to meet the guy who was hosting us. Today, that trick wouldn’t work, as Sofia is now littered with McDonald’s restaurants. However, I noticed that almost everyone we spoke to spoke almost perfect English!

Bill went to Sofia in 2008, but he was there for an Army function. Because he was working, he didn’t have much time to check out the city. He brought home an Orthodox icon, which was coupled with the painting I bought on my one trip to Sofia in 1996. Bill said he noticed things were different this visit, too, although maybe the difference wasn’t as striking to him as it was for me.

How did we decide to visit Sofia? It was courtesy of our trusty champagne bucket, which we use when we can’t decide on where to go. This time, we took cities that were offered by Lufthansa’s “surprise flights” option, similar to Eurowings’ (formerly Germanwings) “blind booking” idea, which we’ve done several times.

Instead of booking a surprise flight, and risking weird flight times that would make it hard to board Noyzi reasonably, we just put the city names in the bucket. Initially, Bill drew Dubrovnik, a place I would love to see someday. However, in June, we figured it would be completely overrun with tourists such as ourselves. When Bill made a second draw, Sofia won. So we went to Sofia, from June 7-11. Now, I’m going to write about what happened. I hope you’ll follow along. This series will probably be a short one, since we were only there for a few days, and I spent one of them in bed. More on that later.

Although most of my photos from my Peace Corps days are in storage, I do have a few from that time, including some from Bulgaria. I will try to remember to share them in the coming posts, so readers might get a view of how things have changed… Stay tuned.

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