A quick jaunt to Istanbul… (part six)

Featured photo is of the Istanbul Airport area as we flew over it.

Finally, Friday morning arrived, and it was time to go back to Germany. Specifically, we were going to be flying to Frankfurt, which is about a twenty minute drive from our house. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was a little worried about traffic getting to the airport, so I encouraged Bill to check us out of the hotel by about 9:00 AM for our 12:45 flight. Although the traffic wasn’t that bad going to the airport, it turned out to be a good call to get to the airport early, especially since Istanbul is not in the European Union.

On our last morning, a harpist came in and played soothing music. It was very pleasant. She played beautifully, and chose selections that were decidedly less weird than Bossa Nova versions of “Like A Virgin” and “Beat It”.

After breakfast, we went back to room 1711, packed up our bags and went back down to the reception. Bill swiftly settled up, and we were lucky enough that a cabbie was already waiting out front for a new fare, so we didn’t even have to wait for a taxi. The taxi driver was the only one of the three we used in Istanbul who was willing to take Turkish Lira. Well… the other two probably would have, too, but they clearly preferred euros.

A couple of views of the huge airport below… Technically, it’s still in Istanbul, but a good distance away from downtown.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Istanbul’s airport is quite new and HUGE, located about 30 minutes away from our hotel in Maslak. It’s not even fully built yet, either. When you enter the building, you have to go through a metal detector and put your bags through a scanner. This is in addition to the usual security procedures that you go through when you have a boarding pass. I probably need to read up more on security issues in the Republic of Türkiye.

We got through the first layer of security, and then had to find our respective baggage drops. Because I was flying business, I had to go to a separate counter in a different area than the economy bag drop. I don’t know how Bill’s experience was, but mine was impressive. I had to ask someone where the business class drop was, and he said it was section “L”. I wonder if the “L” was for luxe… Bill’s drop was in section “B”, I think.

Anyway, the Turkish Airlines business class counter is in its own area that sort of has its own lounge before you even get to the business class lounge! I walked right up to a man who spoke English, noticing that there was no red carpet in the Istanbul Airport for business class passengers. 😉 The guy patiently waited a few minutes while I found my Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles number. He entered the data for me, tagged my bag, and directed me to the business class lounge, which I opted not to use. Bill would not be able to go in there with me.

We made our way through the second layer of security, which involved the usual metal detector and putting our carry on stuff through an x-ray scanner. Then we walked through the first of many shopping venues. Istanbul Airport has a lot of really high end shops, but also plenty of places to get souvenirs and a bite to eat. I was impressed by the number of restaurants. They kind of put Frankfurt Airport to shame.

One thing I noticed in the airport, as well as in Istanbul in general, was a lack of seating in public areas. Because there weren’t many places to sit and we had some time before our flight, Bill and I decided to have something at an Italian cafe. I ended up having avocado toast on sourdough with two poached eggs, salad, and a big glass of orange juice. Bill had a latte. The lady who waited on us invited us to sit at a four top table, rather than the two top we’d originally chosen. I appreciated that very much! It was considerate of her to do that for us.

*This was 9 euros, but it was fresh, satisfying, and delicious!*

After we had our break at the Italian cafe, enough time had passed for us to make our way to the gate. But as we headed over there, we stopped at a store to pick up some Turkish Delight, magnets, and dried apricots for Bill’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids, and a couple of boxes of chocolate and a magnet for us.

While Bill was making his purchases, I was noticing some really interesting looking restaurants, a couple of which were U.S. based and not available in Germany! But there was also a place that had what appeared to have Anatolian cuisine. If we go back through Istanbul by plane, we’ll have to check it out.

After a lengthy and somewhat confusing walk to Gate 9 AB, Bill and I waited until it was time to board. This time, the plane was there on time, and boarding was relatively easy. I had chosen seat 5F, a change from my original choice of 2E. I wanted to sit by a window, and it looked like no one was sitting in seat 5E. Of course, it turned out that a married couple had taken the aisle seats in row 5. That was no big deal at all. There was so much room on the plane! I was, once again, simply amazed by it! Between my seat and the other seat was a large console. And, on this flight, we had entertainment monitors on the seat backs in front of us.

*You can’t tell, but my foot is NOT touching that seat in front of me. I have my leg fully extended. I’m about 5’2″ tall.*

Unfortunately, the service on this flight was not as good as it was on the flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul. It was competent enough, I guess… but noticeably less warm and attentive. It’s probably best to write about this in a list form… and I might sound a bit difficult. But, keep in mind that we spent $1500 on my round trip short haul ticket. For that amount of money, I do expect good service, rather than just competent service. So, here’s my list of complaints.

Pre-departure drinks

Once again, the flight attendant, a rather young and cocky looking male, came around with juices. He didn’t immediately offer the same selection of juices as the flight attendant did on the way to Istanbul. He did have all of the same juices available, but he didn’t initially offer all of them, nor did he identify them. And my orange juice didn’t have a slice of orange in it, as it did on the way down. It’s not a big deal at all, but I did notice it.

2. No Menus

On the flight to Istanbul, the flight attendants handed out printed menus that explained everything that was going to be offered with the in flight meals. There was a list of available drinks, and each meal choice was described, although not very thoroughly. I appreciate menu descriptions, because there are a few things I can’t eat. On this flight, I only saw a few people up front get menus.

3. No verbal description of the meal

When it came time to place my order, the same male flight attendant asked me if I wanted fish or beef, or one of the meals offered to the economy class, chicken or pasta. There were no descriptions. He didn’t even tell me what kind of fish was being offered. I did end up selecting the fish, while the people next to me both had the pasta, which I noticed they nicely plated for business class, rather than just giving them the plastic containers that the people in economy got.

The meal itself was okay. The starter was smoked salmon with some kind of slaw and a single shrimp on it. There was also cheese, eggplant salad, bread and butter, and a delicious chocolate eclair. The fish turned out to be some kind of dense fleshy variety– maybe swordfish or shark. It might have been sea bass. I honestly don’t know, because the flight attendant didn’t bother to tell me, or apologize for the lack of a menu. There’s a big difference between trout, salmon, and tuna, you know.

4. Bread service and wine

The same flight attendant brought around a bread basket with warm breads. He barely showed me what was in the basket and asked me to point to which roll I wanted. I tried to point to the one I preferred, but he just gave me a random one. It was pretty perfunctory and not impressive at all. He brought me some wine, but never bothered to ask if I wanted water or something else.

Again, not anything earth shatteringly bad, but it was noticeably poorer service than his colleagues on the other flight, who were obviously more interested in doing their jobs properly. And when I finished the wine, it took him a long time to come back and collect the empty glass. He picked it up when he brought out the bags of hazelnuts.

5. Attitude

That particular male flight attendant seemed pretty much over his job. He was outwardly a bit rude to me. When we were descending into Frankfurt, I was leaning forward in my seat and he demanded, “Madame, do you have your seat belt on?” I assured him I did, and instead of smiling, saying “thank you”, and being friendly, he just sort of smirked at me and almost rolled his eyes. By that point, I was getting pretty exasperated with his not too subtly concealed asshole behavior.

His colleague seemed much friendlier and more sympathetic, but she spent a long time assisting a gentleman a couple of rows in front of me. I wondered what her male colleague’s problem was. Was it me? Did I specifically do something to offend him? Or does he just want the perks of being a flight attendant, without actually doing his job properly?

Maybe he doesn’t like fat, middle-aged, American women traveling alone in business class. Perhaps I should have heeded Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s advice to dress up for my flight. Or maybe he just isn’t generally suited to the service oriented jobs that require interacting with the public with kindness and consideration. I’ll bet he would never take it upon himself to pre-emptively clean and deodorize the lavatory for me after a windy fellow passenger had used it, though, as his colleague did for me on the way to Istanbul.

I busied myself taking more pictures of the clouds… I liked that the airline’s WiFi worked, as did the monitors showing our progress from Istanbul to Frankfurt.

Overall

I thought it was a good flight and I am impressed by Turkish Airlines. I would definitely fly them again, if the opportunity arises. Their business class product is mostly better than Lufthansa’s– at least when it comes to the actual seat and leg room. But that flight attendant who was looking after me was a bit of an asshole, in my opinion. I don’t think I did anything to warrant his snarky, inattentive, half-assed behavior. And at $1500 for a ticket, I do expect better service than what he delivered… even if it does make me sound like a high maintenance prima donna.

We landed in Frankfurt about 20 or 30 minutes early, so we had to wait about ten minutes before we could park the plane and disembark. Once we did that, I got off the plane as quickly as I could. I needed to find a loo. But first, I had to go through passport control. The young German police officer sitting in the booth asked me what I was doing in Germany. I said, “I live here. There’s a SOFA card at the back of my passport.” He quickly found the card and waved me through, but not before giving me a charming smile when I said “Dankeschön” to him. The cocky flight attendant could take a lesson from the passport control guy. 😉

I felt a little sorry for the guy who was on the other side of the booth. He was getting the third degree from passport control about his decision to enter the European Union. They were asking him about his profession and his citizenship status. Yikes!

It took some time to get our bags. Mine came out early, but Bill’s was not removed from the aircraft until near the end of the line. But then, he WAS in the cheap seats.

We got a taxi home, and I was soon left sitting there bewildered at our whirlwind trip to the Middle East. I’m now especially glad I went with Bill, even though we didn’t do as much as I had hoped we would. It turns out he has to leave again on Sunday. He’s got to fly to the United States and work there next week. I’ll be all alone, buying Christmas presents. I wish I’d had a chance to buy some art in Türkiye, but maybe another opportunity will arise and we can do some proper shopping. And maybe next time, Bill can join me in business class. I’ll bet that cocky twerp flight attendant would not have acted the way he did if Bill had been with me. 🤨

Anyway, so ends the “blow by blow” account of my quick trip to Istanbul. I’ll soon do my usual “ten things I learned” post to end this series. Stay tuned!

anecdotes, videos

Irish kids say the darnedest things!

Here’s a video about our train trip from Dublin to Kilkenny, back in November 2016. We met a group of hilarious Irish lads who kept us in stitches during our ride to see the Smithwick’s Brewery. I hope someday we can enjoy another fun filled trip to Ireland, even if the lads advised us how “awful” Ireland is.

These kids gave us the best kind of souvenir from Ireland!

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…

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.

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.

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!

art, Bulgaria, Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe, short breaks

Our Monday in Sofia, June 10, 2024…

I woke up feeling significantly better on Monday, June 10th. Bill and I decided to walk back down to the centrum and pick up some new art and souvenirs for his grandchildren. But first, we needed breakfast. So down we went to the big restaurant on the third floor of Grand Hotel Millennium, where we had our usual room temperature repast.

While we were having breakfast, I couldn’t help but overhear two American men talking. I mean, everybody in the vicinity who didn’t have hearing problems could hear these guys… One of them was talking about his diabetes and how he takes Ozempic to control his blood sugar. The other guy was talking about similarly personal stuff. It always amazes me how completely unaware some people are when they’re in public. I see it most often with my fellow Americans, who speak loudly enough for everyone to hear what they say. It’s kind of obnoxious behavior… and trust me, I know all about being obnoxious.

After breakfast, we went to the room to prepare for the day. We ran into our very nice housekeeper, who asked us if we were checking out the next morning. We said we were, and gave her the approximate time we thought we’d be leaving. She said if she didn’t see us, that we had safe and pleasant travels. I was very impressed by how kind she was during our stay.

I put on a pair of shorts so I wouldn’t get so hot and sweaty during the day’s walk. Then we got going, and made our way to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where I knew we could find art for the house. We made one stop at a Coffee Brothers for some fresh orange juice and a potty break. While we were there, we saw two more Bulgarian women passing us who were having very loud conversations, seemingly on the phone as they charged down Vitosha Boulevard at top speed. The women weren’t with each other. They were going in different directions, several minutes apart. One of them carried a ladle as she screamed into her cellphone and walked very fast down the crowded shopping district. I’m not sure what was going on with them.

We also saw the lovely violinist again. The same young woman who played so beautifully on Saturday came back on Monday to busk. I definitely liked her music better than the saxophonist who kept playing the same thing over and over again while we were at the Vitosha Street Bar & Dinner on Saturday afternoon. I love listening to talented musicians play music on the street. It adds so much character to European cities. I especially like buying their CDs. Unfortunately, the violinist didn’t seem to have any for sale.

Because we were going to buy some art, Bill decided to stop at an ATM. We went back the Ivan Vazov National Theater again, and I got a few more photos of the iconic building. This time, no one was playing basketball in front of it. There is a handy cash machine in the park like area around the theater.

We finally made it to the cathedral, where I noticed there weren’t as many people selling art as there had been on Saturday. We went to one stand when I noticed art that caught my eye. The colorful paintings were mostly of florals, but I noticed a couple of landscape paintings that reminded me of Sozopol, a Black Sea beach town Elaine and I visited in 1996. As soon as we approached the art, an elderly gentleman came around to speak to us. He spoke some English, although not as well as the much younger man who was with him.

It turned out the paintings that had caught my attention were of a different Black Sea town called Nesebar, which isn’t far from Sozopol. I’ve never been to Nesebar, but like Sozopol, it’s near Burgas and Varna, and is now a major resort town. The younger man told us that the paintings we were interested in were done by an artist named Violeta Stanoeva. She is an accomplished Bulgarian artist who has shown her work in France. Here is a link to her Instagram.

Bill had to go get some Bulgarian lev, so I stayed and talked to the younger guy, who kept singing the praises of the artist and the Black Sea coast. I was struck by how friendly he was, and I didn’t get the sense it was just because we were buying two paintings. I promised him that we would give a good home to Violeta’s paintings. Now that they’re hanging in my dining room, I kind of wish I’d bought another one. I really like her use of colors. I saw a few paintings on her Web site that I think are magical.

*This one wasn’t done by Violeta. I spotted it in a gift shop and decided I needed it.*

After we bought the paintings, we decided to have lunch. I noticed there was an Armenian restaurant called Egur Egur, very close to the cathedral. It’s not very often that I get to have Armenian food anymore, so we decided to go there for lunch. The restaurant is located in what used to be a music conservatory. There is even framed sheet music by the front door.

When we approached, a rather unfriendly waitress who didn’t seem to speak English pointed to a table. I would have tried Armenian with her, but she appeared to be a local, and I think she was the only one we encountered who didn’t speak English to us. I actually found it kind of refreshing… at least until she started yelling at one of the other servers, a very thin, Slavic looking young woman who managed to stay stoic. I’m not sure what the yelling was about, but it definitely changed the ambiance a bit.

I was excited to see that they offered khorovatz (Armenian kebab-shashlik-barbecue). Bill tried it for the first time in November, when we visited Armenia. It’s a very simple dish, but delicious if it’s prepared properly. So we ordered that, along with a couple of Czech beers and San Pellegrino. Bill had chicken and I had pork, and I actually asked for it by its Armenian name, which the waiter then translated for us. I don’t think he was an Armenian speaker, although he definitely looked like he could have been. Lunch was delicious, but more than we could eat! We probably should have just picked one and split it.

My only complaint about our experience at Egur Egur is that the chairs were uncomfortable for those of us wearing shorts. The hard wood dug into the backs of my thighs. A cushion would have been welcome. Otherwise, it was a very nice lunch. The waiter packed up our leftovers, although we ended up discarding them, because we couldn’t get them to refrigeration quickly enough. What you see in the last picture cost about $48.

After lunch, we started to head back toward Vitosha Boulevard, so we could find some gifts for the grandchildren. As we were walking, I noticed the yellow brick road and how striking it is in a city where there are a lot of drab looking communist era buildings. I read up on the history of the yellow brick road last night, and how it was put in to make Sofia look more like a capital city. Sofia is also unusual in that it has a church, a synagogue, and a mosque all within spitting distance of each other, and somehow they manage to coexist peacefully. If only the rest of the world could be like Sofia, when it comes to religion.

We went into a gift shop on Vitosha Boulevard and found some magnets, a mug, and a few little trinkets for the kids. That’s also where I found the wood carving pictured with the art by Violeta Stanoeva. I was lucky to spot it, as it was kind of tucked in a corner in the upstairs of the shop.

After our shopping was done, I was kind of wanting to take a cab back to the hotel, but we ended up walking… All told, it was about five miles. That’s not bad for someone with a cold and a pretty slack fitness routine. Below are a few more photos. I wish we could have seen more during our brief trip, but we have reason to go back. It better be sooner than 28 years, though, because in 28 years, I’ll be 80 years old!

*These fragrant trees were all over Sofia. They smelled heavenly!*

One place I wish we had visited is the TSUM (Central Department Store), which was a government store that used to be THE place for Bulgarians to buy stuff. The outside of the store has an impressive facade that looks like it came straight from the fanciest communist architect, ever. I went there in 1996, when it was still operating more or less the way it did in communist times. Since then, it was renovated and turned into a mall, and right now, the mall is pretty empty. People just go there to use the clean and free bathroom facilities now. But I do remember going there and buying stuff in the 90s… and thinking it was the picture of a communist era shopping mecca.

Armenia had a similar place called GUM, where I bought some things when I lived there. Now, what was once GUM is a regular store where one can buy rugs. There is also a GUM shuka in Yerevan, Armenia that sells fresh food. It’s not the same thing as the GUM store, though. I’m writing of a Soviet era department store.

I read that the architect of the TSUM was Kosta Nikolov, and his son was murdered by the Gestapo in Germany in the 1940s. Nikolov managed to get ahold of his son’s remains and properly bury them. He kept locks of his son’s hair and a finger as keepsakes. Then, as the TSUM building was being constructed, the architect embedded a box with his son’s remains in it within the building. Nikolov was following a Bulgarian folklore tradition that embedding a living person or a shadow of a living person in a building makes it stronger. Many people thought this was an urban legend until 2001, when workers doing the renovation actually discovered the remains. They decided to leave them embedded there.

Anyway… it sounds like TSUM eventually became something that was no longer a store for the people, but rather for people with the most money. That’s too bad. Especially now that it’s basically an empty shell of what it was… and is now owned by investors. At least I got to see it, though… even if it was years ago.

We decided to have room service on Monday night. The hotel makes it easy, by allowing people to order food through the TV. I had a salmon filet with asparagus and salad, while Bill had a club sandwich. We split a bottle of Bulgarian Chardonnay, sparkling water, and a piece of pretzel cheesecake. I think the cheesecake, like the other desserts we had, was the highlight.

One more post ought to do it for this series, then I will write my usual “ten things I learned” post. Stay tuned!

Bulgaria, Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe, short breaks

Enjoying our last full day in Sofia…

My, how the weekend flew by. Unfortunately, we didn’t do much yesterday, because I needed to sleep off this cold I picked up. We did venture out for a very late lunch at a little Italian place near our hotel. Other than that, I’m afraid I spent most of my day in bed. It seems like no matter what, I’m liable to be sick on vacation, or having my period (which, at almost 52 years old, is no longer much of a problem for me anymore).

I am feeling a lot better today, though, so we walked back to the center of Sofia for more photos and to pick up some souvenirs. We bought a few things for our house, as well as gifts for Bill’s grandchildren.

We also found a couple of paintings ear the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is the same place where I bought a painting last time I was here. Of course, it was MUCH cheaper in 1996. But we did end up speaking to a couple of nice men who were selling art on behalf of a female Bulgarian artist. When we get back home tomorrow, I’ll try to find out more about her. I was attracted by a couple of paintings she did that reminded me of Sozopol, where I went last time I was here. But the paintings were actually of another seaside town starting with an N that I can’t remember the name of at the moment.

For lunch, we had Armenian food. I was excited, obviously, since I used to live in Armenia. I don’t think the waiter was an Armenian speaker, but we did manage to have barbecue (xhorovatz)… It was way too much for us to finish! I wish we’d had some wine, but we stuck with Czech beers.

I’m kind of sorry we have to go tomorrow. I’ve seen some interesting places I’d like to visit that are outside of Sofia. But now that we know how easy it is to fly here from Frankfurt, maybe we can come back and enjoy a longer visit… maybe rent a car and go somewhere out in the country, now that I’ve reacquainted myself with Sofia.

We’ll see…

Anyway, I’ll be writing my usual travel series blow by blow when we get home, so I’ll stop here for now. Here are a few photos:

art, Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe, languages

Eating and shopping in Cesky Krumlov… part six of our 2023 Czech tour!

After a busy morning of visiting museums and climbing the Castle Tower, we were ready for some lunch. I wanted something other than heavy Czech fare, but I didn’t want pizza. We ended up at an Italian restaurant in the middle of town called Pizzeria Latran, which offered pasta dishes as well as pizzas. Looking back on it, I almost wish we had gotten a pizza there, as they looked and smelled great, and I was able to watch a female employee baking them in a wood fired oven that was visible from the dining room. But even when we share a single pizza, Bill and I usually don’t finish them in one sitting. Also, I don’t typically like the cheese used on most of the German pizzas I’ve tried here and I didn’t know if the same cheese would be used in Czechia.

I had a clandestine laugh at the very obviously American party near us. Two people in their party of four had ordered pizzas. When they were brought to their table, I heard one of them exclaim, “Oh, my STARS!” Ha ha ha… such an American thing to say. Naturally, she couldn’t finish the damned thing and had to take it with her!

Our waiter was a tall guy who spoke perfect English and looked a little over things. But I think we might have won him over, because we knew what we wanted and didn’t bother him for anything but more glasses of Montepulciano. 😉 I had a really nice Caserecce con Pollo e Salsa Creola– which was basically a pasta dish with chicken, smoked pancetta, tomato sauce, cream, and fresh orange juice. Bill had spaghetti carbonara. Both dishes were very satisfying and we took our time enjoying them over lovely Italian red wine and sparkling water. I was quite relaxed when we were finished with lunch sometime later.

After lunch we decided to wander around some more and buy a few souvenirs. Before we got too far away from the restaurant, my ears were enchanted by the sound of someone playing the banjo with impressive skill. I don’t like to video buskers directly, so I recorded the river as he played. I felt like I was home in hillbilly Virginia!

This guy was a great player! I wish he’d had a CD.

We rounded a corner and noticed an art gallery. One of my big goals for this particular road trip was finding some new art for our house. When we were in Germany the first time (07-09), we bought some art in Eastern Europe. But so far, during this stint, we haven’t been buying as much art for the house. I wanted to rectify that with this trip. So we went into the art gallery and started looking around… I saw a lot of the usual landscape paintings and modern interpretations. Then I rounded a corner and, sure enough, my eyes landed on a painting I had to have!

I wish I’d thought to take a photo of it before we bought it, as the proprietor rolled it up. We’re going to take it to Wiesbaden to get it framed, hopefully tomorrow, but possibly later. I saw another painting of a silvery winter scene in Cesky Krumlov that I couldn’t live without, so we bought both paintings. The winter scene painting came with a frame and is now hanging in my living room. When we get the other one framed, I will try to remember to share photos of both works of art. I think the proprietor was absolutely delighted. It was the end of her workday and we came in and bought two paintings without batting an eye.

We walked back to the room to put the paintings away and take a short rest, then we went out again. We bought chocolates from a chocolatier and stopped by another gallery, where we bought some handmade Czech toys for Bill’s grandchildren. The woman who helped us in that shop was Greek and she told us she speaks a bunch of languages. It turned out her German was better than her English, so Bill spoke German to her.

*Outside a music shop. They were playing music I loved and I ended up Shazaming it and buying from iTunes.*

We looked around some more for a watering hole but didn’t find anywhere that called out to us, so we headed back to our room. Bill bought a bottle of wine from the honesty bar at Monastery Garden and I reminded one of the workers there what a corkscrew is. It was pretty funny… she kept trying to call it a screwdriver! Bill told her it was a “wine tool”, and I said, “No, that’s a corkscrew!”

The lady laughed and said, “Yes, that’s it! Thank you!”

Sad how Europeans put Americans to shame when it comes to learning languages. I’d be hard pressed to identify a corkscrew in Czech!

We were set to leave the charming town of Cesky Krumlov the next morning, so we decided to get a good night’s rest. I hated to go, although you really can do a proper visit of Cesky Krumlov in a day or two. We didn’t see everything, though, so that means we can come back a third time. If we do, I wouldn’t hesitate to book Monastery Gardens again. Especially now that we know where P2 is.

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Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part fourteen

And now, we’ve come to the end of my latest series… which I will admit was not long on food and activities, but had plenty of gorgeous scenery and solitude. When I am finished writing this post, I’ll do my usual “ten things I learned post”, but that will probably be done tomorrow, so as not to overwhelm anyone with all the action my travel blog is suddenly getting. 😉

Because we were coming from “high risk” areas– Croatia and Slovenia– we had to upload our vaccination information to officials in Germany. This would absolve us from having to quarantine. But, when we got to the border, they just waved us through, anyway. Maybe because it was Sunday.

Our drive home was mostly uneventful. Salzburg is about six hours or so from where we live, I think… Ray had made it easy to check out. All we had to do, besides take out the trash and make sure we used the toilet brush, was put the 12 euro city tourist tax (three euros per person per night) in the lockbox, along with the key. We got an early start, and, at first, the weather was beautiful.

The nice weather began to change the further north we went. It got cold and decidedly cloudy, then it was raining. At one point, we tried to stop for lunch, but there was no parking in the parking lot. The spots were all taken up by tractor trailers. We eventually ended up at the very same rest stop where we stopped on the way down to Croatia. On that visit, I wore a surgical face mask, as did a lot of other people. Surgical masks are the rule for all of Germany… except hard assed Bavaria, where people are supposed to wear FFP2s, the tighter fitting “coffee filter” masks. I did have a fresh one in my purse, but I really hate wearing them.

Anyway, we walked into the McDonald’s, which was empty. Evidently, the COVID-19 rules changed again, because the cashier pointed to me and said I needed the heavier mask. That pissed me off, so Bill and I left. I ranted about it on my other blog. We went to Burger King and ate lunch in the car. I spent much of the rest of the drive annoyed, since the heavier masks are obviously not curbing the now soaring infection rate in Germany. People need to be vaccinated. But if they’re going to enforce mask mandates, I wish they’d be consistent about it. And I wish they’d show common sense, particularly toward people who have actually done the responsible thing and gotten the vaccine.

I mean, look at this…

This is in Koln, where Carnival is in full swing.

It’s ridiculous. I can’t sit in an empty McDonald’s without being forced to wear a heavy mask, but these fools can party and drink unmasked in huge crowds in Mainz and Cologne! I fear we may be heading for another lockdown soon, which makes me even more glad that we took our trip. As it stands now, James Taylor has postponed his European tour. We have second row tickets to his Frankfurt show, but who knows when it will happen. We still have tickets to see Keb’ Mo’ for a show that was supposed to happen on November 16 (our anniversary) 2020. At this point, it’s been postponed three times, thanks to COVID-19. Maybe we’ll get to see him in May of 2022. This COVID shit really needs to be sorted.

The only other notable thing that happened on the way home was that we passed a van that had a sticker on it that read “Porn casting car”.

*And then, we noticed that the driver had drapes with little gold tassels on them in the front seat. Maybe it really is a porn casting car.*

After we got home, we unpacked and started doing the laundry. Later, we went to get Arran and Noyzi, who I guess could hear and smell us as we approached. They were so excited! Noyzi was even ecstatic to see Bill. He practically dragged me to the car and was delighted to jump in the back all by himself.

When we got home, we discovered that Arran had a couple of swollen flesh wounds on his ears. And the next day, Noyzi had kennel cough. By Tuesday, Arran was coughing too, although they are both okay now. Fortunately, it was a mild case. It was the first time I have ever dealt with kennel cough, which is usually a mild illness that clears up on its own. Our dogs are usually vaccinated against it, but we stopped giving Arran most vaccines because he’s had mast cell tumors. Noyzi is due for his vaccines next month.

Here are a few final pictures of a few things we brought back with us… I wish I had found a few things to put in the house. Oh well. Maybe on the next trip. Bill has to go to Poland on Monday, and he’ll be gone on our 19th wedding anniversary, which is on Tuesday. I’m sure he’ll get some Bison Grass vodka. Just what we need! 😉 We also got jams, honeys, liqueurs, and gin.

Well… that about does it for the series. Stay tuned tomorrow, for my super fun “ten things I learned” post. I actually did learn some new things on this trip. It was one of our better ones, and we’ve been on some great trips. I hope we can do it again, soon.

churches

Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part thirteen

Our last full day of our trip was probably our most touristy-vacation-esque of our trip. We went to Salzburg and walked around, taking in the sights. Once again, I regret not buying any art, since we passed a few galleries which were closed by the time we departed in the late afternoon. Salzburg is a beautiful city, with lots going on, and a lot of photogenic scenery. We mainly walked around, but we also visited St. Peter’s Abbey and, after Bill lit a candle for his late father, who was a Catholic, we had a very expensive but delicious lunch at Peter, one of the restaurants in St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, which was founded in 803 AD. We didn’t know anything about the restaurant when we visited, but it turned out to be a very successful stop.

Below are some photos from our walk around the city before lunch…

We decided to skip the Salzburger Dom, since we’d seen it before.

Peter is right next to the Abbey. They were decorating it for Christmas and, I have to admit, I was drawn in by how beautiful the restaurant was looking with the Christmas lights, trees, and ornaments. It turned out they have good food, too… for a price. But we didn’t mind, as it was a really nice meal and the only “fancy” one we had on our trip. In fact, we didn’t spend much money on food at all, most days. I wish it showed on my body, but I guess I’d have to give up booze for that to happen…

Peter gets mixed reviews. Some people think it’s an overpriced tourist trap. Personally, I enjoyed it, except for the pop music on the sound system, which didn’t seem to go with the food. Also, we were surprised when we came into the restaurant and the hostess told us we didn’t have to wear masks if we were vaccinated. We weren’t upset about it… just surprised. The restaurant was pretty busy and was doing a brisk business. I had originally wanted to get steak there, but they sold it by the gram and it started at 350 grams, which was way too much food for me. Maybe if Bill and I could have split it. We were happy with what we had, though. The duck was delicious, and Bill always enjoys venison whenever he can get it, since I don’t usually eat it myself. Our bill was about 250 euros, but it was money well spent.

After lunch, we walked around the cemetery, taking notice of how beautiful and ornate the graves were. Some of them had actual well-tended gardens on them. I haven’t even mentioned Mozart, who is everywhere in Salzburg, since it’s where he was born.

And as we came out of the cemetery, we found the Wasserrad, a long running source of power…

It was at about this time that we decided to pick up a few souvenirs, mostly for Bill’s co-workers, who bring us stuff on their travels. I also got a new beer stein for my collection. I now have two from Germany, two from Austria, and one from Switzerland. I tried to talk Bill into getting a hat, like the ones we saw in The Sound of Music. He turned me down.

And finally, we decided to visit the Stieglbrau, a restaurant affiliated with the brewery. It also has a Biergarten/Winter solarium for those of us who just come to drink, as Bill and I did… I think it was worth visiting for the views alone! Last time we were in Salzburg, back in May 2012, the restaurant wasn’t open. I don’t remember why.

I enjoyed this beer… Bill had an IPA, and I had a Hefeweizen… and a Naturtueb.

Bill ducked in to a little gourmet shop to get some Stiegl beer, some deer and antelope sausage, and a new beer mug for me. I was really feeling the urge to shop, since so many places in Croatia and Slovenia were closed.

The sun was sinking as we went back to the garage to get the car. Austrians are so civilized, they had a very clean WC there, which I needed to visit. Unfortunately, I almost walked into the men’s room… a couple of locals laughed about that! Then, on the very short drive back to Ray’s house, we were stopped at a light, and some mean spirited jackass on a bike and carrying a skateboard knocked on the window. When I looked up, he shot me the middle finger while wearing a most hateful expression on his face, which is illegal in Germany and, my German friend Susanne says, is also illegal in Austria. Needless to say, I quickly fired back, and hope he fell off his bike and neutered himself. I don’t know why he flipped us– or really, me– off. I had nothing to do with any traffic offenses, since I was sitting in the passenger seat, minding my own business. Asshole.

We decided to relax on our last night on vacation, though if I’m honest, I was really ready to go home. After awhile, it gets tiresome living out of a bag. I also really missed the dogs. So, although we had a good day in Salzburg and could have seen a lot more, I was ready to go back to normal living.

Stay tuned for the last post in this series, part fourteen.

Champagne Bucket trips

Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part ten

Tuesday afternoon, we decided to go to Lake Bled to see if we could find some lunch. There were some places open, but we were flummoxed because at that point, we hadn’t found the large public parking lot in Bled. I’m not sorry we went, though, because I got more beautiful photos. And then, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes from Ukanc at Lake Bohinj, where our rental house was, we found lunch at Gostilnica Štrudl, a cute little eatery in the touristy town of Bohinjska Bistrica. This restaurant offers local specialties– real “stick to your ribs” food, with lots of beans, cabbage, sausages, and potatoes. We coupled lunch with a couple of excellent locally made craft beers. I loved the dark beer. Should have brought some home! It also has apartments for rent, and sells locally produced gins, jams, and liqueurs. Below are some photos from our Tuesday outing.

*A climbing wall for wouldbe mountaineers. We saw a class being taught there as we left on Friday.*

I was glad to be able to get a few sunny shots of Lake Bled, even though we were passing in the car. We later found the public parking lot for Bled, so we came back on Thursday.

And then we found lunch, which stuck with us for the rest of the day. If only I’d had this lunch before we left Croatia!

There appeared to be several open restaurants in the Bohinjska Bistrica area. That’s also where the Aquapark Bohinj is. We decided not to visit there, mainly because of some poor reviews and concerns about sickness (the reviews mentioned that it wasn’t very clean). But, if we’d wanted to, we also could have gone bowling. We decided to go back to the house and finish watching The Crown instead, as the weather was getting crummy.

Unfortunately, Wednesday, we didn’t do much of anything because of high winds and rain. We did take a short drive, though, and I got some more photos. And we also found where the entrance to Mostnica Gorge is, as well as a few more eateries. One didn’t open until 4:00pm, and the other didn’t open until 1:00pm, so we ate leftover pizza and drank local wines.

Fortunately, even in inclement weather, Slovenia is so beautiful… it’s hard to be bored there. There’s always something to see, even if the weather makes being active more difficult. And the lack of crowds, especially during COVID-19 times is especially appealing.

Stay tuned for part eleven!

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Bill’s birthday in Tübingen

Bill and I had big plans to hit the gastro fest in Tübingen today. However, circumstances kind of got in the way and we never made it to any of the events. Oh well. We managed to have a good time anyway.

On weekends, I frequently have a few ideas of things to do. Sometimes it’s a no brainer which activity to choose, mainly because of the weather. Sometimes we set out to do something and end up doing something entirely different. It turned out the gastro fest was being done in different venues around the city… or, at least that’s what I think happened. If we had gone last weekend, we probably would have run into something of substance. As it was, today we just had a fabulous lunch at Weinstube Forelle and a nice afternoon at the Neckarmüller, which is probably our favorite Biergarten anywhere.

A bonus is that we found a cool new gift/souvenir/craft beer shop that also accepts bottle donations and we picked up a couple more bottles of Georgian wine. I’d say it was a successful day. Below are some photos!

We arrived in town to find someone doing a weird version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet… complete with a guy in drag.

I had visions of trying to find a restaurant we haven’t tried yet, but the call of nature compelled us to stop short of our goals. We ended up having lunch at an old favorite, the historic Weinstube Forelle. We got there at just after one o’clock and our waitress welcomed us, as lunch had already wound down a bit. She was a dead ringer for actress Jamie Lee Curtis. We ate at this restaurant once when we lived here the first time and three times since we’ve been back. Every time, we’ve enjoyed good food and service.

A shot of the dining room.

It’s Bill’s birthday. He looks alright for 54.

Bill ordered one of the specials of the day, wolfbarsch (European sea bass) with spaghetti, cream sauce, and green onions. It was delicious! He paired it with a locally produced gray burgundy.

I had dorade filet with broccoli and potatoes. The broccoli was surprisingly good. I don’t usually like it that much, but they had drenched it in oil and a seasoning I couldn’t place. It tasted almost like it was fried, although it wasn’t. The potatoes were cooked with garlic and green onions; they were also delicious. And the dorade was also excellent, although I couldn’t finish the whole thing.

Since it’s Bill’s birthday, we had dessert. Okay, so it doesn’t have to be a special occasion for me to have dessert… however, it does serve as a great excuse. He had creme brulee with red cassis and chocolate covered ice cream bites (think Bon Bons).

I went with a wonderfully summer friendly lemon sorbet paired with mint and cucumber. Sparkling wine was poured over the sorbet and cucumbers so that it was almost like a float. This was very light, refreshing, and perfect for summer, even though today isn’t that hot.

Here’s a shot of the outside. Yes, you can eat out there if you want to. I guess last night’s sudden rainstorm scared us off.

After lunch, we visited Neckar-Pirat, a very cool shop that sells souvenirs upcycled from random stuff. I enticed Bill in there because they were selling craft beers. We stayed because they had some really interesting stuff.

A list of what’s available…

They had clocks made of old vinyl records and hubcaps, as well as bowls made of vinyl records.

They had lamps made from booze bottles… and apparently, they take donations. Perhaps we should stop in next time we need to dump some of ours.

There were key racks made of old silverware, wallets and eyeglass cases made of cork, and magnets made from beer bottle caps. Not only is the stuff pretty cool to look at, it makes use of what would otherwise be considered trash.

Bill got himself a t-shirt.

Next time you’re in town, stop in!

Next, we dropped by Vinum for a short visit. We wanted to pick up some of our favorite Georgian wines, which we’ve only found locally at Vinum. Then we went to the Neckarmueller for a Biergarten break.

While I was waiting for the restroom, I encountered this microwave oven. Apparently, it’s open to guests. Maybe you prefer a warm pretzel?

Below are some scenes from the Biergarten. I love to come here on a summer Saturday and people watch. There’s always something going on. This particular Biergarten has changed a bit since our last tour, when it was arranged differently.

This station, for instance, used to be in a separate building to the right.

This boat was full of a brass band playing “Memory” by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, Cats.

I have a feeling these guys might be geschmackered by now.

A group of ice cream eating ladies who lunch.

Pretty soon, the place filled up. People wanted to watch football.

This was the scene as we were leaving.

We decided to walk back via the river and woods… Below are photos from our walk back to the parking garage.

This guy and a buddy were playing bocce.

Lovely woods in the city.

And one last shot of the Neckar River.

We walked through the tunnel to get back to the parking area.

This tracks the number of bikers coming through the tunnel every day. It’s sponsored by the university.

Messages of inclusiveness in the tunnel… How refreshing!

And a less inclusive message… or maybe more inclusive, depending on your viewpoint.

But then, back to inclusiveness.

We stopped by Die Kelter for a potty break. I think Tübingen needs Nette Toilette. This can turn into a vicious cycle.

I do like their Campari and soda lamps, though.

All in all, Bill had a lovely birthday, even if we never did find our way to the gastro fest. Oh well. We had a good time together, which is all that matters, really. And a week from now, we’ll be in Dublin, celebrating with another concert.

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: souvenirs