Prague, Czech Republic

After going to the mother of all Christmas markets in Vienna last year, we decided to see what Prague had to offer this year. Prague's been on our to do list since we got to Europe, so we took a long weekend and checked out the city with Andrew & Jess and Ian & Sarah. Unfortunately Leah was pretty sick for the entire weekend, so she is getting a break from blog writing...

So the logistics planning for this particular trip turned out to be exceptional. We flew out of London City airport, which is a painless tube ride from Ealing, and more importantly, security processing takes about 12 seconds. LCY is pretty much a business airport to serve Canary Wharf and the City, so it was extra quick on Saturday morning. We flew on Swiss Air, which meant being treated far more humanely than we're used to with Ryanair & Co. Assigned seats, free beer and Swiss chocolates, what more could you ask for?

We arrived in Prague on Saturday evening and took the metro to the Hotel City Bell, which was a great find by Jess - huge rooms, a good buffet breakfast and walking distance to the city center. We dropped our bags and met up with Ian & Sarah at the pub across the street, and set about reducing our APB (average price per beer). The Czech Republic brews some excellent beer, and pints are about $1.75, compared to $6.50+ in London.

We headed over to the Christmas markets, which were closed for the evening except for the grog stand. We didn't know what grog was, but decided that everyone had to have one (except Sarah, who's pregnant). Turns out she was the lucky one. Grog is rum & hot water, and it's pretty nasty. We all gave up after a few sips, except Andrew, who easily won Grog. Andrew found us a great restaurant for dinner, we had a night cap at the pub next to the hotel, and then hit the sack.

Sunday we took a 4-hour(!) walking tour around Prague. The city is quite beautiful, particularly the architecture, and the Old Town is in excellent shape. The highlight of the tour was probably the guide, a student-looking guy whose habit of long-winded explanations was pleasantly offset by his general wierdness. His best move was reciting some obscure fact about Prague, and then saying "Yessss" with an arm pump as if he's just scored in sudden death overtime. "Czechs became disenchanted with the church after the 30 Years War, so we're mostly athiest now. Yessss" (arm pump). "Corpses legally belong to the City of Prague, so we can take your organs without your consent. Yessss" (arm pump). We spent our 20 minute lunch break at a traditional Czech restaurant called McDonald's, and then continued the tour up to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, which look down over the city.

We were pretty well frozen by the end of the tour, so we found a cafe in Wenceslas Square to warm up with a coffee. We then headed in to the Old Town Square to check out the Christmas market. It was absolutely packed, and didn't really have the same authentic types of crafts as in Vienna, but it was a really nice atmosphere. We picked up a couple of things, and tried the rolled up sugared bread (called trdelnik we think), before heading for dinner. Dinner was traditional Czech dumplings with meat, sauce, cranberries & cream. After dinner we picked up a few beers at the grocery store and played cards back at the hotel, where Ian destroyed us in his first ever game of Diminishing Whist.

Monday morning we went to the Museum of Communism, one of the attractions that didn't get a "skip it" from Arm Pump the tour guide. I thought this museum was actually really interesting, but I think my travel companions were less impressed. Favourite facts: a) the Prague memorial to Stalin took about 300,000 person days to build in 1955 before being demolished in 1962 after a collective change of heart towards Stalin, and b) the entire national hockey team was tried and imprisoned after the communist takeover (for what exactly, I'm not sure)...

Ian & Sarah had to head back to Bristol, so the rest of us had a leisurely lunch and a final cruise through the Christmas markets. We didn't get any snow unfortunately, but the rain held off until we were enroute to the airport. A few more Swiss chocolates later and we were back in London. All in all a successful trip - beautiful city and great company!

Bled, Slovenia

We still love Slovenia! We went to Slovenia the first time about a year ago and we wanted to go back so we could explore the Lake Bled area and the national park in the Julian Alps. Slovenia is “mini-Europe”. It has beaches on the Adriatic, old castles, historic cities, beautiful churches, caves, and the Alps, all crammed into its tiny borders, and the bonus is that it is still relatively undiscovered and great value for money.

We arrived midday Friday the 9th, and while John had a meeting with the airport I got my weekly Economist reading out of the way and continued devouring The Wolf of the Plains (a great new book about Genghis Khan).

We got to our destination of Bled later in the afternoon. Lake Bled has an island with a church on it and a castle high up on a cliffs of its shore. John found us this great hotel, outside of the town and right on the lake. We had a view of the castle, the church and all the rowers skimming across the water. The hotel was really good – clean, neat atmosphere and delicious local food. Friday evening we bundled up and walked around the lake. That worked up our appetites for a dinner of local food and then we hit the sack very early.

We spent Saturday exploring different sights in the national park, which consumes the northwest corner of the country. My friend Barb was the one that originally recommended hiking in Slovenia. First we went to the famous gorge, but unfortunately, the trail was closed, so we weren’t able to see much of it. The trail was mostly made up of boardwalks along the gorge walls but they were damaged in a big storm.

We took on a tiny gravel road through the park (non stop beautiful scenery) to a waterfall, which we hiked up to, and then we picnicked at the base of some stunning mountains. By mid afternoon, we were at the north end of the park and we thought we would take the only road that went across the park. It looked like a quick cut through, but our map didn’t show elevation. We started to go up and up and then we came across a sign that told us about the road. It is called the “Russian Road” as it was built by Russian prisoners of war in 1916. It goes through a very high mountain pass and it is closed during the winter. The sign advised of the road’s 50 hairpin turns (switchbacks), 25 on either side of the pass. The road, the turns and the spectacular mountain scenery took our breath away. So did the cold air and snow when we got out of the car at the top of the pass. The route certainly exceeded our expectations!

By the time we got to the bottom of the pass, the sun was setting. We flipped a coin to decide our route back to Bled, either around the north end or south end of the park (going back over the Russian Road was not considered). We chose the north route which took us through Italy. The Italian border crossing was really cool. It was at the top of another pass, lower than the Russian Road one, and it had fortresses in ruins on either side. We eventually made it back to our cozy hotel in Bled, where we enjoyed another great dinner and early to bed.

On Sunday, we drove to Bohinj Lake, another beautiful sight. We had the urge to do a bit more physical activity than the day before so we walked around the lake which took about 2.5 hours. The sun was shining, the lake was like a mirror, the air was crisp and the ground was covered in autumn leaves to kick our way through. At the end of the walk, we had a coffee on a café patio over looking the lake.

Driving to the airport on Sunday afternoon, we were talking about how it was such a perfect weekend -- fresh air, amazing scenery, long sleeps, yummy food, good value, and decent flight times. Of course, we jinxed ourselves and our flight was four hours late leaving. Aside from that, it was such a lovely weekend getting back to nature. Slovenia is definitely worth a visit!

Normandy, France

Our latest long weekend away (Nov 2-4) was a patriotic remembrance trip to the Normandy and Picardie regions of France: we visited Canadian World War I and II Memorials. The weekend objective was to cram in as much war history and pastry as possible.

We switched things up a bit transport wise and, we took an overnight ferry over to France, departing from Portsmouth to Caen. After a drink at the bar, we settled into our little cabin. Everything was compact; the upper bunk where I slept pulled out of the ceiling, but we had a private bathroom and shower.

John is ever the good driver, and once in France, he easily transitioned to driving on the right side of the road but from the right side of our English car. We drove to Deauville, a summer beach town for Parisians where John had a business meeting with the airport. The town had some amazing castle like houses. With all those roof angles, we kept thinking that they made construction much more difficult than it needed to be.

We drove south along the coast to Courseulles Sur Mer, better known to Canadians as Juno Beach, where the Canadian troops landed on D-Day to start the battle of Normandy. In the new historic centre on the beach, we learned about the invasion: the preparation, the strategy, how they learned from mistakes at Dieppe, the luck, the successes, the casualties. We learned about how the troops advanced farther into Europe and we gained appreciation for how “all consuming” the war was back in Canada. The little details and the personal stories hit home and made history come to life.

After Juno, we drove further south to the American cemetery at Ohama Beach, where about half of the American troops landed. The cemetery is in a stunning location overlooking the cliffs and the beach, and the sight of 11,000 white crosses marking graves is powerful.

Saturday was our “non war” day. We grabbed some croissants and coffee and started our drive up to the town of Arras. We stopped midday in the city of Rouen, which was where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. We explored the town centre, which is home to several churches, a Cathedral and wall to wall half timbered buildings.

It was dark when we arrived in Arras and our first impressions that it was a bleak and industrial city. But, once we navigated our way to the centre of town, we were pleasantly surprised to find two large squares buzzing with activity and surrounded by well restored historical buildings. Our hotel was right on the main square.

The night before in Deauville, we got ripped off with a tourist meal for dinner. Feeling very upset about this rookie travel mistake, we bought a baguette, cheese, meat, tomatoes and olives and enjoyed a homemade dinner in our hotel room. We also bought four bottles of wine and beer because it was so cheap, and played a few games of crib.

Sunday we went to Vimy Ridge for the Canadian Remembrance Day ceremony. The formal ceremony took place in front of the impressive monument, with the bugle and bagpipes, veterans and dignitaries and laying of wreaths. Restoration of the monument was completed in the Spring of 2007, in time for the 90th year anniversary of the battle that took place on the ridge, when four Canadian divisions working together for the first time were successful in taking the ridge. Interesting fact - Hitler was at the inauguration of the Vimy Memorial in 1936. During WWII, he stationed guards at the site to protect it.

The Vimy memorial is 110 acres of land that the French gifted to Canada after WWI, and includes the memorial itself, two cemeteries, the trenches and tunnels, a museum and lots of forest. It is a beautiful plot of land with a great view and lots of maple tress. The ground is covered in bumps and craters from all the trenches and explosions. It looks like a mogul course on a ski hill. You can’t walk on most of it due to un-detonated explosives.

Canadian University students work at the site and run tours/provide info. We started talking to a student from Steinbach and he gave us a personal tour of the trenches – amazing that the Canadian and German front lines were only 25 metres apart. Trench warfare sounded grim but the tactics used were very interesting. We were able to tour the ten kms of tunnels run that under the Canadian trenches, which were used to bring troops to the front for the battle of Vimy.

After Vimy, we drove up to Calais and then took the quick ferry back over to England. My brief descriptions of the history of the events don’t do them justice. To visit these sites and learn more about what happened in the Wars was a very powerful experience. We really recommend it.

Venice, Italy

A year after doing our first weekend trip, to Carcassonne, France, we did our first day trip to Europe, to Venice. John found Ryanair flights for 4 pence all in (about 10 cents), so how could we not go? We took the first flight out in the morning and the last flight home at night.

It was such a treat to suddenly find myself, in the middle of the week when we would have normally been working, in a vaporetta (transit boat) going down the Grand Canal. The sun was shining, the water was sparkling and the buildings were stunning! I was pleasantly surprised by the magical feel to the city. What they say about Venice is true.

We cruised down the Grand Canal taking in all the classic Venice sights. We ended up at Piazza San Marco, where we weaved our way through the crowds of people and pigeons, past the Doge’s palace and into the Basilica. The Basilica’s ceiling was covered in gold but what we found most fascinating was the floor. It was covered in intricate stone mosaics but due to subsidence it was extremely wavy. Next, we went up the bell tower which gave us a great view of the city and water.

To see as much of the city as possible we followed parts of three walking tours in our guide book. We walked along the big canals, through back streets and squares, past docks with gondolas departing full of passengers, into the shopping districts, and over big bridges and quaint bridges.

We sat at a café in a sunny square and enjoyed bicerin, a Venetian specialty drink of coffee, chocolate and very rich thick cream. The bill was EUR 13, which is cheaper than if we had had them in Piazza San Marco. We went to the old Jewish ghetto which used to house 4,000 people on an island the space of two city blocks. The buildings were the same height as buildings in the rest of the city but they had extra stories crammed into them. About four hours after the bicerin, we finally had enough room in our bellies for some Italian gelato. We strolled to the end of a canal with our gelato and sat and watched the sun set (how romantic). After stopping for a glass of prosecco at a bar we headed back to the Grand Canal and saw Venice lit up at night.

We had a lovely day in the magical city of Venice and we got everything done that we wanted to do – pics are posted on the website. The one day timing was perfect and it prevented us from spending an crazy amount of money, ‘cause Venice ain’t cheap baby!

Stockholm

This past weekend, we zipped over to Stockholm, Sweden, birthplace of Ikea, H&M, Pippy Long Stockings and half of the Vancouver Canucks. It was a quick trip for me, just Saturday and Sunday, but John stayed into the week for a conference. The conference was one excuse to go, the really cheap flights another, and the best reason was my good friend from growing up at West Hawk Lake, Caroline Hyslop, moved to Stockholm three months ago.

Given that we had got back from Canada on Monday, and my Mom and Grandpa were in town for a quick visit Thursday and Friday, we didn’t get to read the guide book so we had no expectations...

We had a 1.5 hour bus ride from the airport into Stockholm to check out the scenery. Forests, lakes, farms, cottages – were we back in Canada? It looked exactly like driving from WH to Kenora...

Right after we arrived at our hotel, Caroline and Pelle, her Swedish boyfriend, met us in the lobby. We walked through the shopping and financial district of downtown to get to their beautifully appointed apartment for drinks. Pelle chose traditional Swedish restaurant for dinner: it was a great place and he made delicious food recommendations. Over dinner we got to hear the full story of how they met and had a whirlwind romance in New Zealand before Caroline decided to make the big move.

After dinner, they walked us along the rest of the main harbour and through the old town. There was a wildlife photo exhibit open to the public which we meandered through. It had some amazing shots of African animals, eagles soaring, sharks hunting, and even polar bears from Churchill, Manitoba romping in the snow. Continuing on, we passed the opera house, parliament, a huge palace, grand museums, and quaint shops and cafes. We loved Stockholm instantly and couldn’t wait to go back in the daylight.

We met back up with Caroline and Pelle on Sunday. We lucked out with sunny weather, but it was crisp. We cruised the harbour by day and wow, was it ever beautiful! The leaves on the trees in the parks were turning orange, the water was sparkling in the sun, and attractive, colourful buildings surrounded the water’s edge. Any pictures we have, don’t do it justice. As we walked, Pelle told us great stories of Stockholm and Sweden’s history. We sure picked the right tour guide.

We enjoyed coffees on our walk which took us through a lovely park, before John left for his conference. Instead of walking back, he took a ferry through the water ways. Pelle, Caroline and I ate shrimp, egg and mayo sandwiches outside at a restaurant. The restaurants and cafes all had blankets in their outdoor seating areas, which I thought was a great idea. I’m so cold all the time, I need them in the restaurants. Pelle left us girls to chat and we walked through the old town and then hiked up the stairs of a look out tower to get a full view of the city.

It was a lovely weekend. Thanks Caroline and Pelle for the great visit and for touring us around Stockholm. Caroline, you sure picked a charming city to live in, and a charming man to share it with.

Canada

Our trip home to Canada…

John left England 1.5 weeks before me. In honour of our 4th anniversary on Aug. 23, John went to a stag party in Vegas with 10 other guys. So we delayed our celebration until the lake, and John had a great opportunity to catch up with Kristian and the guys.

I arrived in Winnipeg on September 1st. I took a cab from the airport to my sister’s house and enroute got in a four car minor accident, caused by the driver behind my cab looking at another four car accident on the side of the road. Once my shaking stopped, I laughed that one off.

Sarah left a car for me at her house, my brother-in-law’s BMW. I had a sweet drive out to the lake with the tunes cranked. Before long I was at the Lake!!! It was hot and the cottage looked amazing. Mom had a new deck put in. I had fun exploring all the familiar parts of the cottage and seeing what was new.

Sarah and Kevin bought a new cottage this past winter, just down the bay from Mom’s. I called Sarah for a pick up. She hopped in her boat and about 15 seconds later was buzzing around the cliff, baby on her back. I was thrilled to see them, I had been so excited for the whole week before. Sarah and Kev’s new cabin is fantastic! They have done so much work on it and it looks amazing.

It was a big change going from densely populated London to the Canadian wilderness with no one around. I’d never been at the lake so late in the season. The leaves were holding their colour, the air temperature was still warm, but the lake was quite cool. I did manage four swims during the week though.

The first night jet lag kicked in and I woke up a few times. I was all alone in the “penthouse” of the new guest cabin and I had the windows and door to the screen porch wide open. The wind was howling. I was awakened the first time by some guys on the road behind the cabin shining their flash lights in my window. That scared the crap out of me. They went away when I turned my light on and hopefully they were just some of my brother’s friends. Then the wind started slamming the screen door, which I was too scared to get up and close, then chipmunks were walking through the forest scaring the crap out of me. Why couldn’t I just fall asleep! Where was John when I needed him?

On Sunday, as she did every morning at 8:00, Sarah called, to wake me up for our morning walk. She had been doing it every day in the summer with Mom and the other lake ladies, Cole on her back. We enjoyed the day in the sun on the dock and John arrived with his Grandma in the afternoon. John and Kev watched some football at Mark’s place and then S&K hosted a delicious dinner with a bunch of friends.

We had a perfect and relaxing week at the lake. A few cloudy days but most were nice and warm. We spent our days hanging out, doing lake things, playing with Cole, visiting with Sarah, hearing about her summer, playing cribbage. We had dinner one night over at John’s Grandma’s, we circumnavigated the lake in the boat, we tested out Mom’s cool new pedal kayak and we played a round of golf. It was just the down time we needed and we got our lake fix for the year.

After the lake, John flew back to Van and went to see his sister on Vancouver Island. Sarah, Cole and I flew to Calgary to see Mom and Stan. I couldn’t get enough of playing with Cole, he was so cute, especially on the plane ride. On the ride to Mom’s from the airport I was reminded of how magnificent the prairie skies are. It is so beautiful there; I love the rolling fields and hills and the white mountains on the horizon.

On Saturday, Sarah went horse back riding and helped Stan moved cows while Mom and I babysat Cole. We had a lovely day going to the farmer’s market in Cochrane, working in Mom’s beautiful garden, flower arranging, and making dinner for Mom’s birthday party that night. A big crew of family came over, which included lots of blond kids, four under six. That added a whole new dynamic to the evening. After a big walk through Church Ranches on Sunday, I flew to Vancouver. I left Mom on her birthday again: sorry Mom.

Vancouver was hot and sunny the whole week we were there – we sure lucked out. It was a busy week with lots of errands to run but did manage to fit in several hours in the sun in Lindsay’s exquisite garden. One day, John’s Mom and I spent an afternoon speed gardening at our house. It was so great back the blackberry bushes, tidying things up and seeing how much things had grown. I miss working in our garden.

One evening, I met my friend Vanessa for a walk on Kits Beach along my old walking route. As we approached the shore, the scene took by breath away! I had forgotten how stunning it was there. Mountains, water, city. What an incredible place to live.

We had a few nights enjoying long dinners and conversations with Ken and Lindsay, and we had a few nights visiting with friends at pre-wedding events, Joy’s girls night and the “out of towners” get together.

Joy and Kristian’s wedding was on Saturday night and it was amazing! Every detail was so beautiful, ingenious, and well planned. The dinner was delicious, the speeches were funny and sweet and the company was second to none. We were so happy we could be there to celebrate with them. Seeing all our friends having so much fun was the perfect way to cap off the trip.

Our departure on Sunday wasn’t too sad because we had staggered the goodbyes, and we would be seeing Mom and Gramps in a week and Lindsay and Ken at Christmas. It helped to know we would be arriving in a familiar place with jobs, friends and place to live, as opposed to last year.

What a wonderful visit back to Canada. We had such a feeling of home every place we went. Thank you to all our family and friends for your hospitality. We loved our visits with you and we miss you! Dan, sorry for the delay in getting this blog posted.

Denmark

We love going to visit my Aunt Carla and Uncle Poul in Denmark because it feels like home. We love staying at their beautiful home and farm, we love exploring the rocky beaches, picturesque countryside and quaint villages, and we love just hanging out with Carla and Poul, especially while enjoying one of Carla’s excellent dinners. This trip was 10 years since my first trip to Denmark.

We arrived at London’s Stansted airport Friday evening and while we waited for our flight, John efficiently made calls regarding the rental of our house. Unfortunately, our lovely upstairs tenants are moving out, but with the help of our friend Mike, we were able to find a new tenant quickly. John made a few more calls when we got to Denmark and when we woke up it was all sorted. Thanks Mike!

We didn’t get to Carla and Poul’s (C&P) until the wee hours of the morning but it was worth it to be able to have three full days there, and Carla let us sleep in. Once we finally got up on Saturday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast with C&P, which included cream for our coffee and home made butter tarts! Carla, you know the way to our hearts.

Carla then took us on a 14km bike ride to the harbour town of Kerteminde. She had a route all planned out, which took us through classic old Danish towns and we had a few stops along the way. The first stop was at Carla’s friend Alexandra’s house, where we toured Alexandra’s art gallery and ate pears in her orchard. The second stop was Elizabeth, Anders and Anna’s house, where we went on Christmas day. Elizabeth and baby Anna greeted us with coffee and cookies which we enjoyed in their perfect garden.

We eventually made it to Kerteminde where Carla took us straight to the harbour to see their new sailboat, called the Feel Good. C&P bought it last autumn and spent the winter fixing it up. It is an impressive vessel. Poul is out seveat least once a week racing it. Poul biked down to meet us and we all enjoyed a beer sitting on the boat in the harbour. The bike ride back along the coast, while beautiful, was agonizing for me. I haven’t ridden a bike for a while and my butt was not up for the challenge. I think it’s still sore! Good thing we weren’t on a week long bike trip somewhere.

We had a warped concept of time that day and we didn’t end up sitting down for dinner until 10ish. We filled ourselves on delicious steaks, Polish onions, garden potatoes and beats, accompanied by Carla’s secret sauce. Yum! C&P entertained us with stories of their adventures, which included making their own hot tub out of a large cement livestock feeding drum. They balanced the large cement pot on rocks, built a fire underneath, put a tarp on the inside so they wouldn’t scrape their bums and filled it with water. Very ingenious but it looked like a human cauldron.

On Sunday morning, Carla had breakfast and lunch packed when we got up and we headed straight to the Feel Good for a day of sailing. We got the sails up and headed out of the harbour (when I say we, I really mean, Carla and Poul). As we cruised to the Island of Romso the sun came out. We got off the boat at Romso and walked around the island before getting back on the boat for more food and drink. We thought we would sail around the island before heading back and we got the spinnaker up, both of which seemed a good idea but then the wind died. At that point, I had a nap in the cozy cabin. When I arose we were motoring back and John and I got to spend some time cuddled up on the bow. C&P, thanks for taking us out on the boat; it was a pleasure to watch you skillfully sail it (and thanks for letting us try too).

That evening we opted to have dinner at the restaurant at the harbour (no dishes to clean up after). We also walked through Kerteminde to see a house C&P just bought and are redoing. Renovating houses that date back hundreds of years sure makes any renos we did back in Vancouver look easy.

Back at the house, once it was dark enough, we lay outside and watched the meteor shower. It was like being at the lake watching the shooting stars, and it was quite different from London where we can’t really see stars. We saw lots of little shooting stars and even a few big bright ones with long tails.

It was cool and slightly overcast on Monday morning, but Carla and I were on a mission to go for pre-breakfast swim in the ocean. When I was there in August ten years before there was a heat wave, and Carla and I would go down to the sea every morning for dip. It wasn’t as easy on Monday, but we braved it anyway.

The sun came out midday and Carla took us to Den Fynske Landsby. It’s an open air museum, a recreated Danish farming village with restored original structures from various parts of the island of Fyn. The visit tied in nicely with the “old Danish town” bike tour Carla took us on on Saturday.

From Den Fynske Landsby, we made a beeline to a Danish Hot Dog stand so John wouldn’t get hangry (a great term we learned from my Aunt Barbara, a combo of hungry and angry). As we drove back towards C&Ps it started to pour rain, but that didn’t stop us from getting ice cream enroute in Kerteminde. The homemade waffle cones were irresistible.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and reading. John managed to find a hammock. I was engrossed in a Daphne De Maurier short story book (The Birds, Don’t Look Now - too good). We ate another delicious dinner in the sunshine in the garden before having to leave for the airport.

Thanks for having us again C&P!
Our next trip is to Canada and we can’t wait!

Malta

We finally got a taste of summer!

John spent last week leading an air service development workshop at the airport in Malta, a small island country in the Mediterranean. It wasn’t a place we would have thought to go to but given that John was there for work, it was a good excuse for me to go for the weekend. I had two goals: enjoy the heat and go swimming in the Med. We did that and much more, and really enjoyed ourselves.

I left cool and soggy England on Friday night and arrived in Malta at 9:00 p.m. A wave of heat hit me as I walked off the plane, causing a large grin to spread across my face. John picked me up in the rental car; I blissfully navigated while “I can see clearly now the rain is gone” appropriately played on the radio, and John struggled with the counterintuitive left handed stick shift and kept turning on the windshield wipers every time he went for the turning signal (he got the hang of the backwards car the next day).

The country of Malta consists of two islands, Malta and Gozo. Malta is about 30 km in length and Gozo about 10km. Despite being tiny, Malta is full of ancient temples and ruins and it has an impressive history due to its strategic position. There are great tales of the Knights of Malta, Napoleon, the Great Siege, being the most bombed place in WWII, and gaining independence from Britain.

During the week, John stayed in a nice hotel in a trendy area known as St. Julian’s. For the weekend we had hastily booked a hotel in the Bugibba area without doing any research. We were a bit concerned because whenever John asked one of his colleagues about the area the response was, “Oh...Bugibba”. It was dark when we arrived but luckily all of the neon tourist signs lit our way (please note my sarcasm). We found our hotel in the maze of one way streets jammed with very touristy accommodation. The hotel was decent, like a Mexico all inclusive but not right on the beach. Unfortunately, we got a room on level -1, yes, the basement. Once in the room, we read the tour book description of Bugibba and had a good chuckle at ourselves.

“During the 1970s and 1980s, Maltese speculators, bewitched by the lucrative earnings from early tourism, developed Bugibba with heady recklessness. There was no unified vision and little cohesive planning to the building programme, with multistorey apartment blocks and hotels erected in the shortest time possible to monumentally ugly effect.”

Despite the British couple in the room next door having a screaming match until the wee hours of the morning, we both slept well and awoke to sunshine, 35 degrees, a good breakfast and upgrade to a room on the 5th floor with an ocean view. We quickly left Bugibba in pursuit of Malta’s more attractive attributes.

One of the guys in John’s workshop was Maltese Canadian. Jason was born on Gozo, lived in Ontario growing up, went to UBC and worked in Vancouver, and now works in Malta. He kindly offered to tour us around Gozo on Saturday. He did a fantastic job zipping us around the whole island and giving us tons of local Maltese knowledge which we wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

Jason picked us up at the ferry port and started the tour by taking us through the town his parents live in and also the highest point on Gozo. Like his parents, many Gozonians left Gozo, lived abroad, and have moved back to Gozo. The ties to North America were very apparent as Canadian and American flags were flying and the houses were named things like Oh Canada, God Bless America, The Maple Leaf, American Eagle, Sky Dome. We felt quite at home.

Our next stop was Ggantija, the oldest free standing stone temple in the world (5,000 years give or take). We were sufficiently hot by that point so we went back to the southeast part of the island for a swim. We swam and snorkeled for ages in the beautiful waters. Across from us was the blue lagoon of Comino and in it was anchored a very large private yacht with a helicopter on board! The swim worked up our appetites so we drove to a small harbour in the north part of the island for a leisurely two hour lunch. We ate a delicious Italian meal on the restaurant patio overlooking the water and learned about the Maltese people from Jason. After lunch, Jason showed us the salt pans: pans carved into the shore line where sea water evaporates to leave salt for collection.

Next up was Victoria, the capital of Gozo. Victoria is home to a citadel (fortress) with a great view of the whole island, a cute market, and two rivaling Catholic churches. As we walked along one street, we approached a young boy holding a bottle of Windex, suspiciously like it was a water gun. As John walked by, the boy sprayed John’s legs with Windex! We had a good laugh over that.

We went back out to the northwest coast of the island (that only took a few minutes) to check out the Azur Window. Enroute to the next swimming hole we drove through a town getting ready for their town Feast. The majority of Maltese are practicing Catholics. The population of Malta is 400,000 and there are 365 churches, some of which are very impressive. Each church has an annual feast (festival) to celebrate its patron saint. The centres of the towns are decorated with colourful banners and statues of the saints, the town congregates to celebrate and the evening is capped off with fireworks. We saw many different feast preparations on our short stay in Malta.

Our second and last swim on Saturday was in a very deep bay off the cliffs on the northwestern shore. After a quick beer overlooking the cove, we sped back to the ferry terminal. We were just in time for the next ferry and as it sailed back over to Malta, we watched the sun set over Gozo.

We were exhausted after our fun filled day of touring Gozo. Despite that, on Jason’s recommendation we went to Mdina, the former capital in central Malta (only 8 km away) for dinner. Mdina is a walled town (Medina means walled village in Arabic, to which Maltese is related), very well restored, at a high point on Malta. It was beautifully lit up at night. We wandered the confusing streets (designed that way so invaders would get lost) and found a lovely restaurant. After dinner we went to the Fort’s look out and watched some Feast fireworks go off across the island and admired all of the glowing blue lights in the towns perched on top of flag poles (symbols of the Virgin Mary).

Sunday was a scorcher but we vowed not to complain about the heat. From Bugibba, we drove along the seaside, through the main cities of Malta and through more feast decorations. Our destination was Valletta, Malta’s main city. We followed a walking tour in our guide book and saw the highlights which included beautiful gardens, a waterfront fortress and the Grand Harbour. We were absolutely drenched in sweat by the end. Originally we thought we would go and see some of Malta’s ancient ruins but given the sweat situation we decided it was definitely time for a swim!

We drove across the dry island to Ghar Lapsi, a swimming hole recommended by Jason. Ghar Lapsi was an adorable local swimming hole. It was the most beautiful water for swimming yet. All the locals set up in the caves around the water and the rocks form sheltered swimming pools. Boat houses serve as day cabins where people congregate. I was blissfully swimming through the clear water but it was cut short as I got stung on the foot by a jelly fish. (Nothing serious, but it sure stung. No, John did not pee on my foot.)

We then drove along the Dingli Cliffs on the west coast. The sheer drop beside the road took my breath away. We attempted to go to another recommended swimming hole but it was the end of the day and everyone was coming the opposite direction out of the one way road to get there. Instead we went to Marsaxlokk harbour, full of colourful fishing boats. The town was getting ready for its feast, and we had gelato on the waterfront. It wouldn’t be a hot holiday without gelato.

We headed back to the airport and begrudgingly put our jeans on. It was 12 degrees when we landed at 11:30 in Luton, quite the shock to the system! Unfortunately, we had our longest customs line up yet, 2 hours! We were in bed by 3:00 and ready for another week at work.

Thanks Jason for touring us around on Saturday. That made the trip!

Berlin, Germany

Since we got back from Berlin, we have done a few fun London/England things worth noting.

Thursday was our friend Phil’s 30th Birthday so we went to help him celebrate on a bar/restaurant on a boat on the Thames. It was right across the river from the London Eye and right down the river from Parliament and Big Ben. Great scenery, great atmosphere, great conversations with friends!

Friday night, we joined our friends Nick and Kath at the opening night of the Ealing Comedy Festival. It was set up in a tent in the park not too far from our flat that I like to go walking in. There were eight acts, all very different and all hilarious! We were very impressed.

Saturday, we decided to go back to Snowshill, a small town in the Cotswolds which we drove through when we were there in April. To our surprise, the town was having its Summer Fete that day (it was very quaint). We wandered the town and admired the adorable stone cottages with perfect gardens. Then we went walking on the surrounding public footpaths. Eventually we made it onto the Cotswold Way, a famous walking path. We followed it into another quaint town called Stanton, where we ate our picnic lunch before heading back. We lucked out with the sunny weather and thoroughly enjoyed the English countryside. Ok - on to Berlin!

Berlin, Germany: July 6-9

Last weekend we did our first trip to Germany, Berlin to be exact. We were looking forward to immersing ourselves in history and learning a lot, but we did not expect to like the city as much as we did. It was big and spread out, had so many different elements and such a variety of architecture. We were glad we had three days to explore it all. We were also glad to have two nights in a really nice hotel, a 30th birthday present for John from Suze and Stan; quite the contrast from the tent and outdoor bathrooms of Sardinia two weeks before.

I arrived late on Friday night at Schoenefeld and was greeted by John. He had arrived earlier in the day for a meeting. The crop smells and flat land around Schoenefeld (southeast of Berlin) reminded us of Winnipeg. We stayed near the airport that night and took the train into Berlin on Saturday morning. The train into town gave us a glimpse of all the neat buildings to visit. The Spree River runs through the city and man made beaches, beach volleyball courts and sand castles lined the shores. The weather that weekend did not warrant the beach; as soon as we got off the train we bought an umbrella to shield us from the pouring rain.

We dropped our bags off at the Palace Hotel, near the impressive/ominous Kaiser Wilhelm Church which has not been restored since it was bombed in WWII, grabbed a Starbucks and took the bus through Tiergarten (big central park) to the Reichstag (German Parliament). The line up to get in the Reichstag was just as we heard/read about, so we admired it from the outside. The wind was howling which enabled us to get some good shots of the German flags blowing. We walked to Brandenburg Gate and took note of the new US embassy being built next to it.

On Stan’s recommendation, we visited the Holocaust memorial. The memorial is the size of about a city block, beside the new US Embassy. It is covered in big, cement rectangular blocks (called stelae) of different sizes and heights in a grid pattern. Underneath (underground) the field of stelae is an information centre about the victims of the Holocaust. The exhibits brought the people and experiences to life for us.

From the memorial, we followed the Berlin wall, now marked with a double line of bricks in the cement, to Potsdammer Platz and then onto a segment of the wall still standing and housing the Topography of Terror, an exhibit about the history of the Nazis in Germany and located on the site of their old headquarters. The big umbrella we bought was coming in very handy as it was pouring rain while we walked. Potsdammer Platz is a square of very modern buildings and a mall. The location is part of what used to be the “death strip” (the empty space on the East Berlin side of the wall) and has only recently been built up. Given the rain, we decided to put off the outdoor Topography of Terror until Sunday.

Instead, we took shelter in a Balzac Coffee shop across from Checkpoint Charlie and ate some sweets (Balzac is a small town in Alberta where Stan was born so we got a kick out of the Balzac Coffee chain). Checkpoint Charlie was the famous US border crossing from East to West Berlin. We checked out the museum which documented all of the different kinds of daring escapes from East to West; tunneling under, driving across in inventive hiding places, ballooning over. We were pooped after so we went to our hotel to relax and enjoy some of its amenities.

On Sunday, we stuffed ourselves with the hotel’s breakfast before taking the bus back to the Topography of Terror. The sun was shining so we left the umbrella behind. We adorned our headphones for the next 1.5 hours and learned all about the history of the Nazi party. It took us through the chronology of events and focused on specific party leaders and people who opposed them (who then became prisoners/victims). One opposer, a pastor who helped several Jews and prayed for them, stood out for us as he had the same name as my Mom’s cousin’s husband, Helmut Hesse.

From the T of T we took the subway to the Berlin Wall Memorial in northeast Berlin. The train line ran from West through East and back into West Berlin, and during the time of the German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany) it didn’t stop at the East Berlin stations. They became ghost stations. From the Wall Memorial we walked back into central Berlin through a very nicely restored part of East Berlin, past two grand museums (which we didn’t go in), and then past the beautiful Berliner Dom (big church). We ate outside on a restaurant patio overlooking the Dom and the Spree River. It was lovely.

Next up, the GDR Museum. This museum was interactive and filled with various artifacts from the GDR; the Trabant (the only car that people had or could get), a road atlas for only communist countries, clothing, and a full scale apartment. We found the exhibit on the housing very interesting. They mass produced huge concrete apartment blocks, all the same, with same cookie cutter apartments inside. They could construct an 11 storey building in 100 days!

From the GDR Museum, we walked along East Berlin’s main street, the grand Unter Den Linden. It was a stretch of huge, impressive buildings; the university, government buildings, art galleries, and embassies, leading to the Brandenburg gate. We walked by the Reichstag again to see if the line up was any shorter. It wasn’t, so we stretched out on the Reichstag front lawn for a while and watched some guys doing freestyle Frisbee (the closest comparison I can think of is like hackey sack but with a spinning Frisbee). With sore feet and backs from all the standing and walking, we bussed back to Kaiser Wilhelm Church/square and enjoyed a very large sundae at La Fontana, beside a big fountain, as recommended by Suze and Stan.

After a brief relax at the hotel, we went to Potsdammer Platz on the bus. We drove by the Reichstag enroute; it was 9:00 pm and there was still a line up at the Reichstag! We ate dinner in a big pedestrian square, which enabled us to people watch and check out the surrounding modern buildings.

We slept in on Monday and had another big breakfast. We had done all of the museums that we wanted and felt like we had gained a good knowledge of Berlin’s history over the past 80 years. So we went for a bus ride through the former East Berlin. I wanted to see some of the old GDR cement apartment blocks and boy did we ever! In some parts of town they are becoming quite trendy to live in. To cap off our Berlin experience, we went into the Berliner Dom and climbed up the many stairs to the top viewing area. We got a great 360 degree view of the city.

We stopped off for a quick lunch of Berlin currywurst, which capped off a weekend of surprisingly good food, and caught the train to the airport.

We would highly recommend Berlin to anyone - we found it a fascinating city. Thank you Mom and Stan for the nice hotel treat!

Sardinia, Italy

I’m back to the blog after our four week travel hiatus. The weekend after our wonderful week in Spain, we had Sarah, Kevin and Cole back with us in London after their cruise through the Med. They were exhausted and it was cold and rainy here so we were all happy to hang out in the flat playing games and playing with Cole the whole time. We did venture out to browse the shops in Ealing and we drove to Windsor Castle. Sarah and I didn’t think it was possible but we managed to lose every cribbage game we played against the guys.

We were very sad to see them go at the end of May; they were the last of our steady string of visitors until September. It took me a few weeks to get over it.

Over the past three weeks, John has been playing hockey, including a tournament in the Isle of Wight, we started our summer league of Ultimate Frisbee and our team is doing well so far, I ran a 5km for Cancer (slowly, but I did it!), with the help and hard work of John’s Dad we found new tenants for our basement suite in Vancouver, we visited Hampton Court Palace, and hit up several pubs throughout London with our friends. Pics of our recent London activities are on the website in the London 2006/07 set...

Last year, when we were doing research on moving to London and possible traveling opportunities, we came across a water sports all inclusive getaway in Sardinia, Italy on http://www.activitybreaks.com/. It looked like the perfect trip for us; fun in the sun (and water). Back in April, together with Andrew and Jess, we tried to get into a beach Ultimate tournament in Portugal for the weekend of June 23rd and 24th. We didn’t get in so instead we booked the Sardinia activity break. We took the Friday and Monday off to make it a nice long weekend.

We left our place at 3:00a.m. last Friday morning to pick up A&J and head to Stansted airport for our 6:15 departure. It had been (and still is) cold and rainy in London so we were all looking forward to the sun and heat of Sardinia. Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica. The island is hot, rugged and dry with beautiful beaches and rocky coastlines. We flew into Alghero, on the west side of the island and then drove our rental car two hours to the east side of the island where we were staying. (John had a much easier time driving compared to Sorrento, Italy).

We stayed just outside the small coastal town of Santa Lucia in a big group campground, called Amfibi Treks, owned and run by a Dutch family. Our accommodation consisted of a tent and mattress (we brought sleeping bags), toilets and showers were outside, as was the big group dining area. There was a bar and games area, and a place to snooze in hammocks known as “chill hill”. About a 5 minute walk away was the beach with snorkel gear, windsurfers, kayaks and beach umbrellas included for our use. Our friend Denise said it sounded like Club Med but with Canadian National Parks bathrooms – that’s about right.

We had just missed lunch when we arrived so after moving into our tents we found a little restaurant and had some good Italian fare in Santa Lucia. We were all moving very slowly, partly due to the lack of sleep and partly due to the heat. It was over 30 degrees and sunny every day! Then we headed straight to the beach. John and I don’t always shy away from the sun as we should so it was good to have some Aussie influence to make sure we had plenty of shade and plenty of sunscreen. The Amfibi gear hut on the beach supplied us with umbrellas, and as we set up our little lounging area, Jess and I started singing Rihanna’s new song, Umbrella (pronounced in the song as umbarella). That became our song of the weekend. I don’t think it ever left our brains. I’m still singing it now back in London but for different reasons; to quote the song “now that it’s raining more than ever”.

The boys went straight out on the windsurfers while Jess and I lounged and read. Jess devours books and has given me many good recommendations. For John’s birthday she gave him Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I read it during the trip and loved it. Thanks Jess! It was an awesome read. I highly recommend. We all went for a long, late afternoon swim in the Med. I LOVE swimming the Mediterranean. It was so warm and blue and clear. I was in heaven.

Back at the camp, we met up at the bar for Happy Hour and free drinks. We befriended a fun Brit named Andy who was there on his own. He was having a “rediscover windsurfing” weekend away from his wife and three kids.

Given that it was the end of the school year, the camp was filled with a bunch of 16 year olds on a school trip. We had a great time observing them; the suave Italian boys with perfect hair and stylish clothes, and the girls with their outfit coordination, one night seemed to be frilly skirt night, the other short shorts night. Man, those girls sure could move their hips on the dance floor! Their teacher was a huge, solid, bald, tanned former professional rugby player, who wore blue Crocks. Jess and I thought he looked like a pirate.

Friday night was limbo competition night at the bar, organized by one of the Dutch windsurfing employees with dreadlocks. John, Andrew and I entered. I guess John was a bit of a limbo pro back in the day. He was focused but had some stiff competition, including a few young boys who had a definite height advantage (they were short), and the school girls who seemed to have been born without spines (they were bendy). John made it the top ten but in the end a girl with very big hair took the victory and all John got was a sore back. We were all reassured to know that John is not built like a 16 year old Italian school girl – a fact we celebrated with several beers.

We were all in rough shape Saturday morning but we made it up for the 8:00 breakfast call. Then we went straight to the beach and under our umbarellas for a nap. We spent the day there; reading, windsurfing, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, throwing the disc, chatting, backgammoning, snoozing. We didn’t even have to walk back to camp for lunch; it came to us. We knew that there was a lot to see and explore on the island but we were content just to relax and enjoy the heat and the beach.

We had happy hour at the outdoor bar again and John and Andrew played some darts. After dinner we set up at a table in the bar area and played diminishing whist. We taught Andy the Brit how to play and he did very well. Saturday night was Disco night at the bar so, in addition to playing cards, we were further entertained by the dynamics of the 16 year olds dancing and mingling on the dance floor.

Sunday was more of the same at the beach but it was much windier. By the afternoon they had to bring the windsurfers and sailboats in and our umbarella kept blowing away. We cut the beach day short as a result. A&J went back to camp for some hammock time and John and I walked into town for some very delicious gelato. We then set up at Chill Hill for some reading and snooze time.

I guess the Italian school kids partied a bit too hard on Saturday night so they were under strict orders from the Pirate to be well behaved on Sunday night. That made it a lot easier for us to access the beer boat at happy hour. Jess and I read while the boys began the Sardinian Heptathlon. It consisted of ping pong, darts, pool, backgammon, cribbage, pentago, and foosball. The heptathlon turned into a quadathlon because Andrew went undefeated in the first four matches. Too bad limbo wasn’t one of the sports. We ended our last night in Sardinia with a few rounds of diminishing whist and a rousing discussion of time travel theory.

We all wanted a few more days of relaxing beach time so it was tough to get packed up on Monday morning. We decided to leave in good time so we could see more of the island before going to the airport. Andrew scoured the guide book and found us an amazing historical site to visit which was on our route, Nuraghe Santu Antine. It was a stone complex built in 16th century BC (3500 years ago!), consisting of a central palace/fortress and remnants of a surrounding village. We saw several conical stone fortress things across the island but this was much larger. We had so much fun exploring all of the well preserved passageways. Inside the main tower were two domed rooms on top of each other and a stair case spiraled around the outside leading to the top where another domed room used to be. It was so impressive! The site was in the interior of the island and it was very hot and dry. I loved the feeling of the hot wind on my face.

The drive from there back to Alghero was picturesque. We would have liked more time to explore the sites of Alghero; it has Spanish, Catalan and Italian influences. Unfortunately, all we had time to do was devour an amazing Italian lunch before heading to the airport. We frantically managed to fill the car with gas; all of the stations were closed for siesta so we had to make out the Italian auto pay instructions at the pump. It would have been funnier if we weren’t so tight on time.

We made it back to London with no problems, we just missed some severe London traffic jams on the drive home, and then A&J treated us to our first dinner of Portuguese chicken.

Our weekends away are usually go go go, so it was nice to have one that was slower paced. The highlight was being outside all of the time, in the fresh warm air. Another excellent trip. Thanks for the great company A&J!

It’s now been a year since we moved out of our house, finished work in Vancouver and left for Manitoba for our summer at the lake. Wow, how time flies! Last night (Friday, June 29th) we went to Canada Day in London at Trafalgar square. We had some Moosehead beer, took in some Canadian music, and scanned the crowds for familiar faces. The highlight for me was meeting Tanya Kim from CTV’s E Talk! She was emceeing the event and in town for the Princess Diana concert tomorrow. Today, John is away at a hockey tournament in Swindon and I’m at home, free to blog away.

Southern Spain

On Sunday, May 13th, after an action packed few days with the extended Mitchell family in London, Sarah, Kevin, Cole, John and I flew to Malaga, Spain (southern coast of Spain, on the Mediterranean). Back in January when we were planning our European adventure, I suggested southern Spain as there are lots of neat places to visit, plus we could get some beach time in. A colleague of Kevin’s gave us a recommendation on where to stay, where to get our rental car and places to visit. That sure made things easy! Kevin was pleasantly surprised that all of that internet correspondence and booking actually resulted in a rental car and condo waiting for us.

The whole trip exceeded all of our expectations. The highlight for us was getting to spend time with our five month old nephew, Cole. Warning – most of the photos posted will be of him.

Our condo was about an hour southwest of Malaga, just outside the town of Estepona. It is tough to tell where towns end and begin because the coast is all built up with holiday condos. It is a very popular vacation spot for Brits & Germans. There was a lot of development going on; we have never seen so many cranes!

We rented a two bedroom condo in a complex right on the ocean, with a grassy courtyard/pool area where we could lounge. From the beach we could see Gibraltar. Rod Stuart used to own the house next door. There weren’t many other people staying in our complex so we had the pool to ourselves. Later in the afternoons, we usually got an entertaining, leprechaun-like visit from two young resident Irish boys, O’sean (pronounced oh-seen) and Fin.

We quickly settled into a relaxing daily routine. We’d wake up in good time and play with Cole over breakfast. Sarah, the sandwich artist, would make us delicious baguette sandwiches for the day. Then we would do some sort of sight seeing. Upon return, we would hit the pool for some sun tanning, swimming and relaxing, interspersed with playing with Cole, reading magazines, playing backgammon and napping. When we had had enough of the sun (it was brilliantly sunny and hot all week), we would go up to the condo, make dinner and play with Cole some more. The men would begin their San Miguel (beer) consumption for the evening. Our dinners were always casual but tasty. After Cole’s bedtime the men vs women Cribbage games would begin. On average two games a night. The women started the week off strong getting up to a lead of 4 to 2, but unfortunately, by Saturday night, the men were the series champions with a score of 9 to 7. We’d hit the sack and get up to do it all again.

Monday, our first full day, was John’s 30th birthday. We had a very relaxing day of exploring Estepona and hanging out on the beach and by the pool. Sarah and Kevin treated John to a birthday dinner of tapas at the harbour. I surprised John with tickets to Ricky Gervais’ live comedy act at Royal Albert Hall (Ricky Gervais is the creator of the show The Office and the star of the original British version).

Before we left Canada, John’s boss, Martin, and his wife, Leanore, took us out for dinner in Vancouver. They have both done lots of traveling but the recommendation that stuck with us from that night was when Leanore exclaimed that we must visit RRRRRRRonda! So, on Tuesday, we took Leanore’s advice and headed into the steep Spanish hills to see the town of Ronda. Ronda is built on either side of a very steep gorge and it is connected by an impressive bridge. The city and the scenery were breathtaking. We took in the views at various look out spots and wandered the streets before treating ourselves to ice cream and heading back to the pool.

About an hour past Estepona, on the Atlantic side of Spain is a town called Tarifa and a string of beaches famous for the windsurfing and kitesurfing. I got John two days of kitesurfing lessons for his birthday and Wednesday was day one. Windmills covered the range of hills leading into Tarifa. The Spanish coast on the Med side is covered in condos but on the Atlantic side, due to the constant strong winds, there are only a few little hotels and hostels for the windsurfers. We pulled into a hotel parking lot and watched a guy on a 4x4 herd his cows down the road while waiting for the Dragon Kite School instructors to arrive. The lesson was on a huge, windswept, scorching hot beach and Day 1 consisted of learning to fly the kite. A guy in John’s lesson from Switzerland is in the airline industry and knew of John’s company because he is good friends with the guy that now works out of John’s office in Vancouver – small world!

We left John to the kite flying and drove to the first of two recommended beaches along the coast, Bolonia beach. At Bolonia, there were some very well kept Roman columns which we had a quick look at before determining it was far to windy for us to set up camp on the beach. We decided to go to the Canos de Meca beach which the guide book said had beautiful white sand and was sheltered from the wind. It was an interesting but long drive to Canos de Meca, past fields of windmills, a white washed hilltop town and through a forest, but the beach ended up being just as windy. We pulled out our towels and lay out in the sheltered dunes for a while, admiring the kite surfers’ skills, before getting sand blasted and heading back to see how John was doing. John got the hang of the kite flying and was excited to go back on Day 2 to get in the water.

On Thursday, John and I went back to Tarifa for his next lesson. It was another clear day so we could enjoy the views of Gibraltar and Africa enroute. Sarah, Kevin and Cole were going to walk the beach around our place and follow it into Estepona.

As we arrived at the beach, the instructors warned that it might be too windy to go out. Sand was blasting across the beach and stinging our legs. While they got set up on the beach, I explored the parking area. There were several hippy camping vans with wind/kite surfing gear attached to the roofs and there were a few permanent campers. It was quite the contrast to the developed Mediterranean shore line. After about half an hour, the kite surfing group headed up from the beach; unfortunately, it was so windy that it would be too dangerous for them to go out on the water. Sorry John, I owe you another day of kitesurfing lessons. Perhaps in Sardinia in June…

We went back to Estepona to find S, K and C. My sister senses were tingling and they guided us to the right spot on the right beach, right where the Anseeuws had set up camp. It was kind of cool. The beach was sheltered and hot so we decided to hang out there for the afternoon. Poor John; he spent most of that afternoon and some time every other day on his blackberry working. Oh the roaming charges!

On Friday morning we drove through the city of Algeciras, parked at the harbour and walked across the border to the British territory of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a big rock with about 30,000 in habitants and a bunch of apes. The main industry is the military, supplying and repairing ships when they are in the harbour, and tourism. They are working on projects to reclaim some of the land around the rock.


We paid for the tour which took us on some crazy, skinny cliff roads up the mountain. The views of the harbour, Africa and Spain were spectacular! The first stop on the tour was St. Michael’s cave. It had huge caverns and cool stalactites and stalagmites. During WWII, the cave was used as a hospital. We then drove up to the top of Gibraltar to take in the views and check out the apes. There are 5 groups of apes living on Gibraltar and they are very well fed, but super aggressive. Kevin saw one jump on a young girl’s head to steal her food. The last stop was at the Great Siege Tunnels, created in 1782 during the Great Siege. They proved to be a strategic advantage in wars after that as well. From there we had a good view of Gibraltar’s airport runway. Six flights fly out a day, and the runway is split by the main road into Gibraltar so traffic has to stop when the planes take off. Lucky for John one took off just as we were leaving and he was able to get it on video.



Saturday, our last day in Spain, we decided to do a quick road trip so we would have more pool time. We drove inland to the little town of Casares, which is perched atop a hill. All the buildings are white and the roads running throughout are skinny and quaint. At the very top of the hill there was a 14th century castle in ruins.

A few months ago I read a book called The Queen of the South. It was set in Southern Spain (all the places that we were driving around) and it was about a woman who ran a big drug smuggling operation. In her early days, she would run drugs in a small speed boat in the Med around Gibraltar, and she would often be chased by the police in a helicopter. I kept thinking of this book during the week. After we got back from Casares and had a bit of pool time, Sarah, Cole and I decided to go for a walk. We walked by a motor boat run onto shore and a few police officers interviewing people. We didn’t think much of it but on our way back, a police helicopter swooped down into the bay in front of us and there were 6 more police officers on shore. We asked a lady watching the scene from her balcony and she said a drug smuggler ran his boat on shore and then escaped on foot. The police were trying to find him. That added a bit of excitement to our walk and brought to life that book I read.

We had such an awesome time hanging out together, relaxing by the pool and touring the area but we didn’t make it to Marbella (ritzy resort town), or the ferry over to Africa, or to Granada. Wish list for next time I guess.

Cole was a great traveler. He has a wonderfully cheery personality. We loved his dance moves (the crazy eyed Stevie, the prayer, the side slap and the leg kicks). I’m going to miss his smile. Good thing we can web cam.

On our last night, the boys polished off the last of their San Miguel beer and the girls attempted to overtake them in cribbage but to no avail. One of my favourite songs, Dario G’s Sunchyme, came on the radio so we got Cole dancing. We were up early on Sunday morning to get to the Malaga airport. Sarah made her last batch of amazing sandwiches for us to take. S,K and C flew to Barcelona where they started a week long cruise through the Mediterranean, stopping at Nice, Rome, Naples, and Palermo. They are back in London for a few days after the cruise before flying back to Canada. I’m so happy we get to see them again; I’m suffering from Cole withdrawal already...

Thanks Sarah, Kev and Cole for the great time in Spain. Happy 30th Birthday John!

Mitchell Family in London

It all started at Christmas time when Kevin, my brother in law, surprised my sister Sarah with a trip to London and Europe as a Christmas present for their family (including their new son, Cole). After that, Mom and Stan booked their visit timing it with an animal welfare conference in Berlin and with Sarah, Kevin and Cole’s visit. My aunt and uncle in Denmark, Carla and Poul, thought it would be a good chance to see everyone and meet Cole so they booked tickets to London. And then, Carla suggested to my aunt Barbara that she bring her family (uncle Bruce and cousins Eleanor, Margot and Hugh) to London – and they booked tickets too! I couldn’t believe it, all this family converging in London! Needless to say, I was over the top excited.

Barbara and her family arrived on Monday, May 7th and spent the week in Central London visiting all the sights. Carla joined them on Wednesday. Of course the weather had been hot and sunny prior to their arrival and then it turned to rain. On Thursday night they all made their way to the Ealing Ramada in West London, about a 10 minute walk from our flat. I joined them for a late dinner and then walked Carla, Barbara and Margot to our flat in the pouring rain so they could check it out.

John and I were up at 5:30 Friday morning to go to Heathrow to pick up Sarah, Kevin and Cole. I barely slept the night before and the car couldn’t move fast enough to the airport. S&K have discovered the benefits of a traveling with a baby, namely skipping the queues. They made record time getting through Heathrow: they were last off the plane but were ushered right by an hour long wait at Customs and then their bags were waiting for them on the carousel! We made it there in time to greet them as they walked through the gates. Cole had a big grin on his face, he was carried by Sarah in the Baby Bjorn and Kevin had the video camera getting Cole’s arrival in London on tape. I was so happy to see them all.

The sun shone as we drove them to Ealing. Sarah and I were in the back seat with Cole and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. S&K made an adorable baby! We got them back to the flat and settled in for a nap, and I made it to the office in time for my 8:30 Friday morning meeting. It was tough to leave, the flat that is.

When I walked in the door from work later that afternoon, I was greeted to the pleasant sounds of S&K, Cole, Mom and Stan, and John chatting in our living room. I’m usually pretty happy when I get home from work but never as much as on that day. We just hung out for a few hours enjoying each other’s company until the aunts, uncles and cousins arrived from their day of sight seeing. The 14 of us went for a lovely dinner at a local Italian restaurant. As we were leaving, a guy at the table next to us asked Stan about his belt buckle. He was from a ranch in the interior of British Columbia and now lives in Ealing – small world!

We all rendezvoused at the flat on Saturday morning. Mom and the Aunts kindly went grocery shopping for our dinner that night, and then they went to Osterley Park and Manor for some sister bonding. John went to play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament for the day. The rest of us all went in to Central London to do the London Eye. I thought it was amazing that we were all able to stick together in the crowded tube stations and the crowded streets of London. London is not wheelchair or stroller friendly so it was nice having all the family members to help S&K with Cole’s stroller. At the London Eye, the men stood in the long line to get us our tickets. We pulled out Cole when we got to the line up to get on the Eye, and all 10 of us got to skip it! I really enjoyed the slow ride on the huge Ferris wheel overlooking London. It gave me a good overview, reminded me that London is not very big, and it was neat to see the sights from above.

After the Eye, we walked along and over the Thames River, and had a bite to eat near Embankment and Charing Cross. We had plans to do a quick walking tour until it started to pour rain. So, we ran into the nearest tube station and headed back to Ealing. From there, Kevin and Poul went exploring in Ealing (and by exploring, I mean finding a pub and having a beer) and Bruce and Hugh went to the temporary amusement park set up in Ealing Common. When the ladies got back from tea at Osterley, Barbara took Margot shopping, Carla, John and Sarah met the boys at the pub, and Mom and I looked after Cole and started making dinner.

John’s 30th Birthday was on Monday, May 14th, so on Saturday night with all of the family present, we had a big birthday dinner and celebration. Our friends Andrew and Jess joined in the fun. We all crammed into our little flat and everyone contributed to the dinner. It was a fun night of eating, chatting, playing games and hanging out together. Of course there was birthday cake and present opening. John thanks everyone for all of the thoughtful gifts.

We did most of the goodbyes on Saturday night but left a few for Sunday morning. SK&C, John and I were leaving for a week in Spain and everyone else was headed back home.

I had such a wonderful time with everyone and still can’t get over what a unique experience it was. Thank you all for coming to London. It made me really happy but of course really sad to say goodbye.

Wales, UK

On Friday night (May 4th), after spending a few days in Berlin at a conference, Mom and Stan arrived in London! I was so excited for their visit that I could barely do anything but be excited all week. Mom and I had a tearful reunion at Heathrow, 8 months after our tearful farewell at Lake O’hara in September. On Saturday, we went to Wales to go walking (British hiking). It was the perfect way to spend the weekend and to catch up with Suze and Stan (S&S); lots of time to visit while driving, walking and dining. We had narrowed our destination down to Newport in north Pembrokeshire because of the coastal walks and the walks through the Preseli Hills which are scattered with ancient pagan standing stones. It turned out to be the perfect place because Newport was a quaint town with lots to offer on its own.

This country is small compared to Canada, but we continue to be amazed at how long it takes to drive places, due to small roads and dense traffic. Many of the country roads in Wales are bordered by high stone walls and shrubs making it difficult to see the countryside as you drive.

After a five hour journey we arrived in St. David’s on the Western tip of Wales and the Pembrokeshire Coast. St. David’s, Britain’s smallest city, is home to a famous Cathedral and a Bishop’s Palace. Stan did not want to spend his vacation in Britain visiting churches and castles so Mom promised him that this would be the only one. Usually cathedrals are built in prominent locations, however this one was built in a gully to attempt to hide it from marauders travelling by sea or land. Unfortunately, this strategy didn’t work that well, as it was attacked several times. The cathedral is impressive and so are the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace.

From St. David’s we did a short drive to the beach and walked along classic Wales’ coastline cliffs to St. David’s head. Our B&B was in Newport, northeast of St. David’s and still on the coast. The B&B was an old house that had been beautifully renovated only a year ago. We had views from our rooms overlooking the sea. Our host spent time telling us about all of Newport’s places of interest: Pentre Ifan (5,000 year old standing stones), the castle, St. Mary’s church, the beach, the mystical forest and the nearby Cwm Gwaun valley, where the community that lives there still follows an ancient calendar. Saturday night, we had a hearty dinner of meat pies and burgers at the Golden Lion pub, a good British experience for S&S. We even got a quarter of a pint of pull ale into Mom.

After a lovely breakfast on Sunday morning we headed out on the short version of the Preseli Hills Circuit (12km). It was sunny for a while, then it turned cloudy with a few drops of rain, and it was constantly windy. We were lucky that we didn’t get poured on. The trail took us up into the bare Preseli Hills, past the steep rock outcrop Carn Ingli, through fields of sheep and then down into the eerie Cwm Gwaun valley. The steep walls of the valley were covered with corkscrew oak trees and carpets of blue bells. It was beautiful but the banjo tune from the movie Deliverance kept running through my head which made me wary.

We found a quaint tea house on a farm in the valley where we could warm up and fill our bellies. The quirky hostess served us and told us about the valley (she said that they are all very “close” there), her farm, and her gardens which she has bus loads of people in to view. I was giving John and hug and asking if he was alright; our hostess picked up on that and comment to John, “Oh, so you’re not used to the walking are you? You must be a townie”. Stan didn’t let that one go for the rest of the weekend.

We finished the walk by going through more fields and by an ancient standing stone. All of the walks are on public footpaths through private land. Stan was baffled by this concept and kept trying to think of ingenious fencing ideas to keep walkers out of the fields.

After our walk, we had a quick warm up at the B&B before heading out in the car to see Pentre Ifan, the impressive 5,000 year old standing stones that used to form a burial mound. A 16 tonne flat stone lies on top of three standing stones. The whole structure looks precarious but I don’t think its going anywhere. The stones from Stonehenge came from the same area. This little jaunt was Stan’s first attempt at driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. It was a good place for a first drive as there was no traffic and the roads were only wide enough for one car so he didn’t have to remember to stay on the left. He did well and managed not to scrape up the left side of the car on any of the stone walls.

After Pentre Ifan, we went back into Cwm Gwuan Valley in order to check out the Duffrin Arms Pub (aka Bessie’s pub). About five different people had told us we had to go see it because it was “an experience”. The rain had set in so the valley was dark and even more eerie. After passing a crowd of locals heading into Church on Sunday evening, we found Bessie’s pub. The pub was a converted sitting room of a house with seating for about 10, with a tiled floor, and a hole in the wall from where you could order Bessie’s home brew beer. A glimpse was all the “experience” we needed as we weren’t sure how friendly the locals would be if we stayed for a beer (again, the banjo tune from Deliverance was running through my head). I’m sure you needed special Cwm Gwuan Valley stomach enzymes to digest the beer as well.

We had another great dinner in Newport and then we strolled down to the beach to burn it off. Of course Mom and I got carried away with the exploring and we didn’t end up getting back until well after dark.

Monday, bank holiday weekend in the UK (ie: a long weekend), we did a shorter walk, only a few hours around Dinas Head. It was a good contrast to the hill walk the day before, giving us steep coastal cliffs (if somewhat in the clouds). We ended at a little beach and a convenient tea house with great cakes. Mom was very impressed with the tea houses.

Instead of taking the main highways to Cheltenham, we took the scenic route through the Brecon Beacons (a famous National Park in Wales). It gave us a great glimpse of more of Wales but it took a long time. On all of our drives, John and I enjoyed listening to S&S’s agriculture commentary as we passed different fields of crops and livestock. It added a new dimension to travel for us. In Cheltenham, John and I caught the train back to London. We left S&S with the rental car and maps so they could make their way to the beautiful Cowley Mannor, their hotel/spa for the night. After Cowley they went to to Bodysgallen Hall in North Wales and then to visit some friends. I was so worried about them on the British roads I had to call every night to check on them, but they did just fine and had a wonderful time.

Our long weekend walking in Wales turned out wonderfully. We did all of the walks and saw all of the sites I had hoped, but it wouldn’t have mattered if we didn’t because it was just so nice to be with Mom and Stan again. It made me sad knowing it was only for a short time. Luckily, I had another weekend with them and 10 other family members to look forward to. My Aunt Barb and Uncle Bruce along with my cousins, Eleanor, Margot and Hugh were arriving in London from Calgary, Aunt Carla and Uncle Poul were arriving from Denmark, and my sister, her husband and new baby, Cole, arrived from Winnipeg. Another weekend I couldn’t wait for!