France 2023 – Weekend in Paris!

Posted on September 20, 2023 by herktrav

A good night’s sleep is the perfect way to start off the weekend and banish the jet lag.

Jan and Dave were meeting up with a travel friend of theirs and going to have lunch at Bouillon Racine. It’s a very nice restaurant located near our hotel.

Sue and I went to lunch at a small restaurant called Chez Germain. It had been recommended as a charming place with really good food that was frequented by neighborhood people. Well, that recommendation was spot on.

Sue had a delicious Sole Meunière lunch special, while I went with the old dependable Duck Confit with potatoes fried in the duck fat. It may not have been the healthiest choice on the menu, but it was oh so good! For dessert, I ordered a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream – and two spoons! Two thumbs up for Chez Germain.

We had taken the Metro to get there, then to see some sights around the area, we walked back to the hotel.

Our walk just so happened to take us by the shop of Jacques Genin. You mean Jacques Genin the master of chocolate and caramels and fruit pastes? Yes, that’s the one!

We stopped in and bought a selection of caramels and some chocolates to sample. I promise to let you know what they were all like along the way. For now, I can report that the mango and pistachio caramels were incredible.

Fruit Pastis

It was a nice walk, though it was also humid, so it felt good to get back to the hotel to cool down. Sue even managed to sneak in a little nap.

Our lunch was enough to carry us through, so we opted to skip having dinner. Instead, we snacked on granola bars before getting ready to go out.

Tonight we were going to the Church of Saint Germain des Prés for a chamber music concert featuring ‘Orchestre Hélios’. We were looking forward to going, as the sound is so good inside of the big old churches. For this concert, they were playing various selections from several different composers.

The quartet of three violins and a cello were joined by a virtuoso violinist after playing three selections. They were very good and seemed to be enjoying themselves. A stirring rendition of Pachabel’s Canon and equally rousing Habanera from Carmin by Bizet were early highlights.

Mozart or Charlie Daniels?

Later, when joined by virtuoso Glen Rouxel, they soared playing Vivaldi’s Winter and Les Airs Bohemians by de Sarasate. It was a wonderful evening of beautiful music. Though off to the side, we were seated in the first row of this inspirational church and with your eyes closed you were transported back to the 1500’s – minus the plague.

Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel, with Sue and I stopping off at Le Pres de Clercs for a nightcap. It was a nice night to be outside and people watching while sipping a nice glass of Saint Veran.

A slow stroll back to the hotel was a perfect end to the evening.

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Sunday morning saw us enjoying a light breakfast with Jan before going out for a walk. David, our early riser, had already been out and about for an hour or so.

Our walk took us through a little more of Saint Germain des Prés before veering off towards the Seine. We crossed over the Pont des Arts and when we reached the other side, we were greeted by a peculiar orchestra of brass instruments.

Art on the Pont des Arts

We ducked into the Samartaine department store to check it out. In all the years we’ve been traveling to Paris, it has never been open, but we always saw the sign shining at night. So after years of rehab work, we finally saw the inside. The refurbished store was quite beautiful and the little details were done quite well. It’s an upscale store that I hope will have a long life.

Happy little croissants.

As we were exiting the store, there seemed to be a ruckus on the side street. The band was still playing their slightly off key tunes as a cavalcade of skate boarders were ending a fun run. Dressed in costumes and weaving down the street, long boards, skateboards even a couple of uni boards went whizzing by.

We watched for a few minutes, before heading in the opposite direction. We ended up going around the store and up Rue Rivoli before cutting through the Louvre’s military courtyard. We continued on until we reached the exit, which pointed us back to the Pont des Arts and our return across the river.

Returning to the hotel, we sat and rested for a while – both feeling warm and sweaty due to the humidity. We went in after a little bit and both took a nice refreshing shower to cool off before cleaning up for dinner.

Dinner was at Le Train Bleu. It’s an iconic restaurant located in the Gare d’Lyon train station. The Gare d’Lyon was the train station that the rich folks would use for their travels to the south of France, so the decor was quite elaborate and the food was top notch as they prepared for their journeys.

Our cab arrived and we were off. There were still many people out and about, though the squeaky band from earlier wasn’t following us. The area around the station was busy with cabs dropping folks off and picking people up.

We had a little time before our reservation and used it to wander around and to verify our metro passes. We then looked around for the restaurants grand staircase. A little walk to the left, then a little walk to the right and we couldn’t locate it. It turned out that we were standing in front of it the entire time. Unfortunately, it was hidden behind a temporary wall and scaffolding. Our grand entrance ended up being metal stairs in a dull walkway. C’est la vie!

Inside the restaurant, it shined in all it’s glory: beautiful paintings, chandeliers and ornate decorations throughout the dining room. Crushed velvet chairs and banquets in the sitting rooms had your eyes darting all over the rooms to find the next appealing feature.

We sat in one of the lounges and had a pre-dinner drink, then headed to our table for dinner.

Dinner was not a rushed affair by any means. The menu allowed choices of designed meals – both small or elaborate, plus a la carte options. It turned out that we had three ‘roasted leg of lamb’ and one ‘chicken fricassée’. The lamb was tender and delicious, the chicken was not as good a choice.

Dessert time came and Sue went with the Chocolate soufflé, Dave had a strawberry charlotte, and I wanted a show, so I ordered the crepes Suzette.

Bah! Who needs eyebrows anyway.
Mmm…. Grand Marnier

And yes, we did have wine. Started with a bottle of Domaine Olivieri Chablis, followed by a bottle of Aloxe-Corton. Both were excellent.

Unbeknownst to us, it had been raining pretty hard while we dined. Add to the rain a full train had just arrived so taxis were a short commodity. We decided to take the metro back to the hotel and made it back pretty quickly. Two trains over a total of eight stops, plus the rain was over before we came back to topside.

In summation, we had another nice day in Paris.

Double summation, the weekend was busy in the city. People were out in force and having a grand time in the museums, parks and streets. No fireworks and free wine, but Heritage Days were a success.

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France 2023 – Au Revoir Summer… Bonjour Paris!

Posted on September 17, 2023 by herktrav

The end of summer is sneaking up on us, but we won’t be home to see it. After months of planning, the time has arrived to enjoy our vacation in France. We made some minor tweaks to the itinerary and now we’ll see how all that effort works out.

With the excitement skyrocketing, we were brought back to earth with news of a strike by the French Air Traffic Controllers on the day of our arrival. So right off the bat, we had a lingering dark cloud. There’s a Bart Simpson quote that immediately came to mind, but we tried to stay positive.

On Wednesday, the news came out that the strike had been averted as the result of an agreement that had been agreed upon by the parties. Mini high-fives were exchanged, via telephone, and we were back on track. Yay!

So with the excitement building once again, our friends arrived to pick us up to head to the airport in Toronto. We were able to book a direct flight from Toronto’s Pearson Airport to Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport at a good fare; couple that with a nice exchange rate and it was an excellent deal. After sliding the luggage into the trunk, the four of us set off to begin our adventure.

With the afternoon traffic, it took us a little over two hours to arrive at the car park. The shuttle dropped us off at the terminal to complete our check-in and drop off our bags. Next came the security line, which is always a pain, but it actually moved along fairly quickly.

Since we were flying business class, we were able to take advantage of the lounge before our flight. This is a really nice bonus from Air Canada. We’re not talking a couple of cookies and a coke, we’re talking full entrees complete with wine or drinks. It was delicious, but we tried not to overdo it since there is a meal served on the flight.

The flight from Toronto to Paris went well. Air Canada’s business class is nice. The seats are comfortable and the area around the seat doesn’t feel confining. The have good entertainment selections and the flight attendants were friendly and attentive.

The food service was also good. It’s a shame we had the bigger meal at the airport lounge because our meal was very good. The wine selections were also nice. No complaints from me!

As for the flight, it was smooth most of the way with just a few minutes of light turbulence. We had a tail wind, which made the already fast feeling flight be literally faster. We arrived in Paris about thirty-five minutes early.

We have arrived!

Image from Willi’s Wine Bar email

Once we deplaned, we were transported to passport control where, amazingly, we breezed through in less than five minutes. It only took another ten minutes to gather our luggage and pass through customs. Wow!

We snagged a taxi that could take all four of us and we headed to the city. Since it was early, we were caught in some commuter traffic and the beginning of a lot of construction. It took a little over an hour, but it was nice to arrive at the hotel.

Our first hotel of the trip was located in Paris’ 6th arrondisement, the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area to be more exact. The Hôtel des Marronniers is an inviting hotel, tucked away in a courtyard off of Rue Jacob. Stepping through the entrance, you’re greeted by their garden walkway. Unfortunately, since it was a bit too early to check-in, we could only drop off our luggage.

An overnight flight and the time change does create a disturbance in the force, so the first day is always a ‘take it easy’ kind of day. We went for a little walk around the neighborhood to get the lay of the land. There are quite a few art and antique galleries in the area, a couple of close by restaurants, a few hotels and some other small businesses. We ended up trying one of the cafes – Cafe Bonaparte for a quick bite.

Though check-in time was 3:00 pm, we went back to the hotel a bit past 1:00 pm and our rooms were available, The interior is charming and the rooms, while not huge, are very comfortable and well appointed.

A little nap? Oui!

For our first dinner, we went to Le Bistro de Paris. It was just a ten minute walk from our hotel and it was an interesting place. There has been a restaurant in that location since 1848, with this incarnation having been opened in 1965 by Raymond and Michel Oliver of Le Grand Véfour.

Our first meal in Paris
Dinner @ Le Bistrot de Paris

We had a scrumptious meal featuring Duck Confit for three of us and a Chicken Fricasee, We paired it with a bottle of Givry 1er Cru burgundy that was delightful. We then ordered a Chocolate Mousse with four spoons provided by the waiter. The wait staff were all wonderful. They were very professional, but also fun and kept the evening light and enjoyable.

We took the short stroll back to the hotel and hit the pillows pretty quickly. It didn’t take long to fall asleep after the long day.

Over the weekend, the 40th European Heritage Days celebration will be taking place. I was hoping for fireworks and free wine, but alas, it means free workshops and admission to most of the museums. You may save a few Euros, but you have to deal with mobs of people, especially children. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Stay tuned to see how the weekend turns out.

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France 2023 – Itinerary, tickets and more…

Posted on May 22, 2023 by herktrav

It’s hard to believe how fast the year is going. Just a short while and we’ll be on our way.

Once we had the itinerary firmed up, we were able to purchase tickets and plan tours. Besides just enjoying ourselves in Paris, we will be attending an art exhibit and a chamber music concert.

The art exhibit will be at the Grand Palais Immersif and is called “Eternal Mucha”. It will feature the artwork of Alphonse Mucha, who was a key figure in the Art Nouvelle Movement.

Image from the Grand Palais Immersif website

The concert will be held at the Church of Saint-Germain Des Pres. A beautiful church that was originally built in the 11th century and happens to be about a block away from our hotel. The concert will be a String Quartet playing selections from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”, Caccini’s Ave Maria, Debussy, Mozart, Bizet and Puccini. I love concerts like this, especially when played in a beautiful location.

Image from Eglise Saint-Germain Des Pres

After making arrangements for an automobile, we have our driving plans laid out too. We tried to optimize our driving directions to be able to see some additional small towns and sights as we make our way between locations. Our main routes will be navigating from Èpernay to Chablis, and then from Chablis to Beaune. We’ll also be driving around to visit some wineries, check out some historic locations and seek out fabulous meals.

In Èpernay, we’ll be visiting a few different champagne houses. Small, medium and large houses are located in and around the city, so we’ll have many places to choose from.

Chablis, located in the Yvonne region, offers up a chance to not only visit wineries, but also a couple of nearby towns.

Once we arrive in Beaune, there are so many interesting places to visit. The area has everything you could want and we want to experience as much as possible – while keeping it relaxed.

While we don’t know the exact model of our vehicle, we do know that it will be comfortable enough for four. That’s good, as we’ll definitely be driving the “Route des Grand Crus”. The “Route des Grands Crus” passes through the most prestigious part of Burgundy’s vineyards, and runs from Dijon through Beaune and then on to Santenay. That means we’ll have the opportunity to visit any of the 37 wine villages and the many wineries – both prestigious and the more humble.

I won’t spill the beans on specifics now, as that’s the fun of the blog for me. I will say that my travel mates and I are all looking forward to a wonderful holiday.

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So here are a couple newsworthy items for future planning:

It looks like Americans will need to get an E-Visa to travel to Europe beginning in 2024. The ETIAS program is currently scheduled to go into effect in November 2023, though there is talk of a 6 month grace period. You can check out the requirements at the ETIAS website, where you can also sign-up online and pay your fee using the link on the site. It will cost about $8 and will be good for three years or until your passport expires.

Bad behavior by throngs of tourists are causing many towns to take actions. Popular tourist towns such as Portofino, Sorrento, Venice and Rome are fining people for their behaviors. Not just little fines either, 50 – 500 Euro are shocking tourists into changing their ways. Penalizing stupidity and entitlement is not a bad thing, in my opinion – especially when it makes travel better for everyone else.

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So that’s all for now. The next update will be to say we’re on our way.

Et pour une certaine personne: Pour répondre à ta question. Oui, j’étudie mon français et ça se passe bien.

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France 2023 – Paris, Champagne and the Bourgogne

Posted on April 4, 2023 by herktrav

This should be an awesome journey. We’ll be traveling with good friends, visiting some wonderful places, seeing some beautiful sites, eating delicious foods and drinking some terrific wines. If I were to predict the future, I think I would see fun, laughter and a calorie or two!

We will be starting in Paris and will be staying in the 6th arrondissement. The hotel location will be central to the places we want to visit, as well as convenient to the Metro and Taxi stands. We’ll be close to some small museums, a park, churches, restaurants and two chocolate shops – Perfect!

After a few days in the French capitol, we will be grabbing a train and heading to the Champagne region. It may be schmalzy, but Don Ho had it right when he sang: 🎶 “Tiny bubbles, in the wine, make me happy, make me feel fine”. 🎶

Whether celebrating, sharing with friends or just because, it’s hard to not enjoy some bubbly. We’ll be going to the heart of the Champagne region to explore and taste a few different champagnes to see the subtle differences between the champagne houses. Mind you, it’s strictly for research purposes.

Image excerpted from  @wedrinkbubbles website

Once our research is complete, we will be off to the Bourgogne (or Burgundy) and some of the finest white and red wines in the world.

Original image from http://www.chocatine.biz presentation

To learn about and taste some white wines, the town of Chablis will be our first stop. It looks like a perfect place to relax and soak in some culture. The town is surrounded by vineyards and some wonderful wineries are in easy walking distance from our hotel. In fact, we are literally right across the street from Domaine LaRoche.

As with most white wines from the Burgundy region, chardonnay grapes take center stage in the vineyards. The soil and cool climate make the area a perfect place to grow chardonnay grapes. For you history buffs: 150,000,000 years ago, the entire area was an inland sea. There are two main soil types in the area. One is called Kimmeridgian Marl, and is predominantly limestone, clay and fossilized oyster shells. The other type is Portlandian soil, and it is also clay and limestone, but with fewer fossils.

There is no blending of grapes in Chablis or Burgundy. The taste differences are mainly due to the characteristics of the area in which the grapes are grown. This is also called the ‘terroir’. The soil, the slope of the vineyards, the amount of sunshine and the wind all play into the smell and taste of the wines. The winemaking process may be slightly different between wineries, but only slightly.

While visiting Chablis, we will be within easy driving distance of some interesting towns. Perfect for daytime excursions while allowing us to return to Chablis for dinner. We are still deciding, but I would imagine you’ll be reading about Auxerre, Avallon, Saulieu, Noyers-Sur-Serein and the Vezelay Abbey come the fall.

After leaving Chablis, we’ll head southeast to the Cote d’Or where instead of Chablis, we’ll be tasting White Burgundy. Same grape, just a different taste profile. The best white burgundies come from the Cote de Beaune and the Macon in the south of Burgundy. These wines are found under a variety of different names: Bourgogne Blanc, Pouilly-Fuisse, Meursault and Montrachet are just a few of them. Whatever you call them, they are still Chardonnay and they are darn good!

But just to break the rules a little bit, we also plan on tasting at least one or two Aligoté wines while we’re in the area. Aligoté is a cousin to Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, makes delicious wines and usually costs a lot less than White Burgundy.

Original image from http://www.chocatine.biz presentation

Then it will be time to shift our focus to Pinot Noir and the magnificent red wines of the Bourgogne. Once again, the terroir makes all the difference.

High atop the hills in the Côte de Nuit and the Côte de Beaune you will find an area which is considered the perfect spot to grow Pinot Noir grapes. This area has been parceled out to form 33 Grand Cru vineyards. It’s not a large number of hectares or acres that make up these vineyards, This area produces some incredible wines, but in very small quantities.

From my old accounting days, high quality combined with small quantities means high prices. And if my math is correct, that means we will be driving by wondering what the wines taste like rather than tasting them. Sorry, Domaine Romanee-Conte… no inheritance checks are coming my way.

However, there are many more excellent wines without astronomical price tags to be found – and we will find them! Seriously, they can’t hide. Premier Cru, Village wines and plain old Bourgogne are plentiful and I would guess there will be a few of them making their way back home when we leave.

So besides tasting wines, there are many historical and beautiful places to visit and enjoy. The Cluny Abbey, Chateau Cormatin, Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, Hotel-Dieu and Savigny-les-Beaune are all easy drives from Beaune and Chablis. The actual towns of Beaune and Chablis, Auxerre, Dijon and Avallon all come highly recommended. Lest I forget, there are walking paths, driving routes and many other potential things to keep us busy.

After Burgundy, our friends will travel further south to enjoy a little bit of Provence. That’s the beauty of the European rail systems…90 minutes by train and voila! We’re going to stay in Beaune for a few extra days before dropping off the car and catching a train.

That train leaving Burgundy will be returning us to Paris, so our holiday won’t be over quite yet. We’ll have a couple more days in Paris and then we’ll meet back up with our friends for the return flight home.

It won’t be long now, so it’s time to enjoy the nice weather here at home while taking care of the small details.

Au revoir, à bientôt!

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France 2023 – Hiccups and Bookings

Posted on March 11, 2023 by herktrav

A few weeks have passed and we are off to a roaring start with reservations. I was able to book all the hotels directly on the hotel websites. Then we decided that we will fly out of Toronto on Air Canada and we were able to secure our reservations for excellent flight times at a really good rate.

I’m generally not fond of having to fly out of Toronto, but between the exchange rate and the actual flight cost, this one was a no-brainer. Even grumpy old me is willing to put the drive to and from aside to save a bunch of dollars.

Next came the car. Yeah, that wasn’t such a rip-roaring good time. The plan was to rent the car in Épernay and then drop it off in Sancerre before taking the train to Paris. Scratch that!

The new plan was to rent the car in Épernay and then we would drive to Bourges or Orléans to drop the car off before taking the train to Paris. Scratch that!

The next new plan was to pick up the car in Reims and then drive back to Reims to drop the car off before taking the train to Paris. Scratch that!

After much aggravation and coordinating, we will now be picking up the car in Reims and driving to Epernay, then dropping it off in Beaune and taking the train to Paris.

The problem was finding a rental car agency in the places we wanted to go to and being able to pick up the car in one location and dropping it off in another location. Oh yeah, and finding a vehicle with an automatic transmission. That was a ‘NO’ from AutoEurope, Sixt and Avis. With a slight change to our itinerary, it was a ‘Yes’ from Hertz. Problem solved!

Remember in the last post when I said I was preparing for hiccups ? Well, this was the first one. Our new itinerary removes Sancerre and adds extra days in Beaune – really, that’s not such a bad swap out. More time in Beaune means more time to enjoy a few more tasty meals with a glass/bottle of Burgundy wine. Who knows, we might even find a bottle or two of good Sancerre wine just for the heck of it.

Plan A – Version 2

The new plan map looks like a math problem from the SAT’s, but there are no square roots or Pi to decipher.

Next on the planning agenda is to look at activities going on while we are there. Surprisingly, we’ll be skipping the Rugby matches and looking at kinder, gentler activities like art exhibitions, visiting chateaux and medieval towns, hilltop castles, and, of course, winery visits and tastings.

Someone asked me about trains. We have to wait to book trains until about 60 days out. I’ve looked at the train schedules for March to get a rough idea of the schedules and we seem to be ok. I usually use Trainline to book the trains, so I already have the info loaded up. Now I just need to wait for a little while.

I hinted last post that we were tossing around some additional travel ideas and I think they may be at least pencilled in on the calendar. We may be joining with friends to visit Portugal in 2024. Port wine and Templar Knights would make for an interesting journey. More on that when we can change the pencil to pen.

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France 2023 – Working out the details

Posted on February 13, 2023 by herktrav

🎶 “Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?” 🎶

I have no idea why that popped into my head, except for the fact that we have decided to return to France in the fall. We’ll be traveling with friends and just taking a relaxing holiday to enjoy the sites, taste a little wine and enjoy some flavorful meals.

I started to look at the places we planned to visit and realized that planning this time around would be more of a challenge.

“How so?” you might ask. Well, France is dealing with some issues regarding their retirement age -causing protests and strikes throughout the country. That’s the first issue. The second issue: France is hosting the Rugby World Cup this year and several places we talked about visiting are host cities. That means lots of people and crowded transportation…not good. So much for “ooh la la – let’s party!”

After perusing the news and checking out a few travel websites, we narrowed down our travel area. This trip will center around Paris, Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Our friends will skip over the Loire and head down to Provence for a few days instead. Afterwards, we meet back up in Paris before heading home.

Plan A
Plan B

In my humble opinion, the wines of Burgundy are some of the best in the world. Before you jump all over me, we love pinot noir and Burgundian style chardonnay. So this trip we intend to taste as many as we can, hoping to find quality wines at reasonable prices.

Now that we know where we’re going and when we’re going, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. Cold winter days are perfect for deciding on flights, travel options and hotels – time to break out the spreadsheets.

A glass of wine is a must when planning wine travel, at least for me. It helps mellow me out for the inevitable hiccups that lie ahead. Having taken a quick look at a few websites, it will also help with the sticker shock!

Airfares have nudged their way up a bit. We have a few options that we need to take into consideration. We can leave from Buffalo, but then we have to decide which airport we want to make our connection through – JFK, Newark, Washington DC or Detroit are all possibilities. We can also choose to fly out of Toronto, Canada, but there is the commute to and from that is annoying. We’ll keep looking at airfares, while taking a look at hotels.

It isn’t only airfares that have risen; Paris hotel prices have also gone up and they seem pretty busy during the timeframe we are looking at. I suppose many more people are traveling again and those that are in France to watch Rugby, might be staying around to see the sites. Our first hotel choice was not available, so we came up with a couple others to discuss with our friends. The other towns were a bit easier, as we found some nice hotels that are near the attractions we want to see and are all reasonably priced.

Next thing to think about is transportation. Trains, drivers or a car – how do we want to get around? The Burgundy wine region is made up of many small, quaint towns and trains don’t stop in all of them.

For the Paris connections we can take a fast train and cut down the commute time. For the rest, we’ll rent a car. We’ve driven here before and the driving is not bad at all. This time we’ll make sure the GPS speaks English so we can avoid cutting through vineyard roads – but it was fun!

Besides being there, planning the trip details is my favorite part of travel. I’m looking forward to later in the process looking for things to see and do in the various locals. After that – restaurants!

So after a week of planning, most of the major decisions have been made and it’s time to actually make the reservations. We’ve got a few months to take care of the small details. In the meantime, we’re brushing up on a little French.

We are talking about a couple more trips and thinking we should start planning those too, but I’ll tell you about those another time.

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Fall 2022 – Reflections on Seven Weeks in Italy

Posted on December 3, 2022 by herktrav

We’ve been home for a month now and have had some time to reflect on our trip. Aside from getting sick, it really was a special time.

My initial planning grew from four weeks to seven weeks rather quickly. It didn’t make sense to me to skip places we wanted to see, especially since we’d be passing right by them. On prior trips we didn’t stop and just said ‘next time’, so now was ‘next time’.

We love Italy, and thanks to my paternal grandmother, I can claim to have an Italian heritage – even if it is only twenty-five percent. Her family came from Sicily. They were farmers and they even grew grapes. While we’ve not visited Sicily yet, we make sure to honor their memory by drinking the fruit of the vine – especially in Italy!

Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo – No, we didn’t see Clint Eastwood, but we did see, do and experience many things during our time in Italy. I just wanted to reflect on those things and share – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Il Buono – The Good

Every location we visited was different from the others. We saw so many unique things that we never felt bored. Canals, ruins, vineyards, beaches, art, rolling hills, cathedrals or monuments – everything was interesting.

Learning a little Italian before we went. Sue and I had fun with our language lessons and the payoff was immense. Nobody laughed at us; in fact, they encouraged us and helped us along when we got stuck. We got surprised looks and then smiles when we asked for things in Italian. We were treated differently – in a GOOD way.

We interacted with some great people who really helped make the trip special. We had so much fun, learned so much and we were humbled by the various people we encountered. Everyone from our drivers to hotel staff and guides were all great. We cared and they cared right back – it was a beautiful thing.

Making some new friends along the way. It was fun meeting others on tours and at the hotels, especially people with many of the same travel likes. We even met a couple who stayed at a couple of the more obscure places that we have stayed at in our previous travels.

We truly lucked out in that the dollar and the euro were basically at par while we were away. Compared to previous travels, it was a tremendous savings.

Il Brutto – The Bad

For me, it was the crowds. There are so many people traveling and some of them have the manners and intelligence of rocks. Drunk, loud and obnoxious are three words that jump right out. But then again, those people are everywhere.

The frequent strikes are also incredibly annoying. I guess it’s an accepted way of life there, but for an outsider it is a real nuisance. Getting caught up in the rail strike was incredibly frustrating. Customer service was useless, as was the thought of getting a refund for the tickets. I think the rail companies use it as a revenue source. I’m sure my tone would be a lot different had we also gotten hit by the airline strike. That was a near miss that would have tainted the entire vacation.

Il Cattivo – The Ugly

Getting sick while traveling is not fun, especially if it gets to the point where you need medical attention. This was the first time that we reached that point and the language difference is definitely something to be aware of. There may be someone that can help, but don’t count on it being easy.

It also made us think about Travel Insurance. As I mentioned in a prior post, we were extremely disappointed with our insurance – Generali Global Assistance. It wasn’t cheap and when we needed them, they completely let us down with incompetent, useless staff. On top of that, they never followed up with us at all. No call, no email, no text – nothing! We might as well have sent Gift Cards to get extended warranties on vehicles we don’t own. We will definitely not be using Generali again.

In Conclusion:

Would we do it again? Definitely! If the right opportunity presented itself, we know where the luggage is stored.

However…

No matter where we go and how much we enjoy ourselves, it’s always a good feeling to come back home. Being around the people you care for and who care for you is ultimately what life’s all about.

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Fall 2022 – Heading home from Italy

Posted on October 27, 2022 by herktrav

After forty-six days of meandering our way around Italy, it was time to head home. It wasn’t a direct route to home though. We flew from Rome to Washington DC, but due to the schedules, we decided to stay overnight in Washington.

Our driver arrived a little before 6:30 am – Ugh! We checked out of the hotel and we were heading to the airport in the blink of an eye. Our flight doesn’t leave until 10:40 am, but they said you never can tell how busy the airport will be.

The airport was not busy at all. We checked in our bags, went through passport control and security and still had a little over two hours until boarding. We did have access to the lounge, so we had a comfortable place to sit and could at least grab a small bite to eat.

****** UPDATE *******

We left Rome on Thursday morning. On Friday, there was an air traffic controllers strike that caused all sorts of flight cancellations.

***********************

We were looking forward to the flight home. We were flying on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and we had Polaris seating, meaning fold flat seats and a little more room. When we boarded, I was very surprised. The seats fold flat, however the “pods” are pretty tight. Not at all what we expected. We’ve flown Air Canada, Delta, Air France and Swiss Air and they were all much more comfortable.

The important part was that we arrived in Washington Dulles safe and just about on-time.

I remembered why I didn’t want to fly into Dulles on an international flight as soon as we stepped off the flight. First there is a long walk to get to the US Customs. You walk for literally ten minutes down a corridor, then they put you on a bus to go over to the customs building. We are enrolled in the Global Entry Program, so there is a separate area and that went fairly quickly. From there you go to passport control. We lucked out as our luggage was some of the first pieces off of the plane. The entire process took about fifty minutes.

By that time, our original flight would have already started boarding and we would have had to catch the people mover to the proper gate area and then get down to the gate. We’re too old for that nonsense.

Since we knew it would be tight and we knew it would be stressful, we had decided to stay overnight in Washington. We were able to relax, have a decent meal and get a good night’s sleep before heading home. A little extra expense, but mentally worth it. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Dulles and got a good deal on Booking.com for a king family room. The room was really comfortable, decently sized and we had a beautiful sunrise view.

Hyatt Regency Dulles

Our flight to Buffalo was at 12:40 pm, so we did sleep in a little bit. The hotel had a shuttle to the airport, which worked out great. The airport wasn’t too busy, so we were able to scoot through security and head to our gate. We did manage to sneak in a sandwich before the flight and finally find some cough drops.

Once our departure time rolled around, it was only about an hour and fifteen minutes flight. We grabbed a cab at the airport and we were home and shivering just a bit after 3:00 pm.

Why did you guys shut off the sun while we were gone?

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Italy 2022 – Rome: Pt 2

Posted on October 21, 2022 by herktrav

“Holy Cannoli” – seven weeks have passed and we’re heading home in the morning.

When we last left our intrepid travelers on Saturday, they were both feeling better and looking forward to finishing off with a bang. It was more of a loud pop, but a fun finish nonetheless.

On Sunday, we attended a performance of “The Great Opera Arias” at the Palazzo Santa Chiara. Although nobody knew us, we held back on singing along.

We were able to enjoy the show smugly knowing that most of our Opera knowledge came from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. “Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit”.

The show was delightful. There was a string quartet that played classical pieces and then accompanied the singers. It was very enjoyable and we actually did know most of the arias that they sang. Thanks, Bugs!

Monday was an easy day for us. We walked around a little bit then rested in the afternoon. In the evening, we booked a private night tour of the city’s major sites. Our driver, Marco, picked us up at our hotel at 9:00 pm and we were off.

The Pantheon
The Trevi Fountain
St Peter’s Basilica
Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland)
Constantine’s Arch

Rome has some really beautiful architecture and historical sites, but you really have to see them at night for that extra ‘Wow’ factor.

The Colosseum

Our driver gave us a whole new perspective on some of the locations. He also allowed us plenty of time to take pictures and regaled us with tales and insights not often shared in the guidebooks.

We would definitely recommend a night tour if you have the time. We used the folks at Miles and Miles for our tour since they charge by the group rather than by the person. And ask for Marco – he was a great driver / guide.

On Tuesday we just took a little walk and checked out some of the many piazzas. For lunch, we went to one of our favorite restaurants – Osteria del Sostegno.

They sat us inside and we felt like we were dropped into a scene from “The Sopranos”. Not much English was being spoken by this group and we did our best to not stand out. Sounding more like Harry Hazelnut than Paulie Walnuts, we ordered and nobody snickered.

In fact, an older gentleman turned and asked where we were from and made a little small talk about knowing New York City and San Francisco. We considered that a small victory.

As for lunch, we turned it into an early dinner. We didn’t sneak in pictures of everything, but it was fabulous. We started with a glass of Prosecco, then moved on to a half bottle of Vino Bianco (Trebbiano) and then a half bottle of Vino Rosso (Rosso di Montepulciano).

And then came the meal. We started with a potato, spinach and goat cheese combo that was great. Then Sue had a baked lasagne with asparagus points, while I chose a fusili pasta with artichokes and guanciale. Our main dishes were a thinly sliced roast pork loin with rosemary potatoes for Sue, and veal saltimbocca with the same rosemary potatoes for me. Everything was perfect and paired well with the wines.

Lasagne with asparagus points
Fusilli with artichokes
Roast pork loin with rosemary potatoes
Veal saltimbocca

Oh, yeah…and we snuck in a tiramisu for me and pistachio gelato for Sue.

It’s official…our recovery is complete!

A short walk back to the hotel led to afternoon naps for both of us. We decided that no dinner was needed, so we held our own private ‘Rave’ in our room.

Ok, it was breadsticks and chocolates while listening to Dean Martin tunes – but there was dancing and singing!

Wednesday became a walk-around day. After admiring the Pantheon all week from the outside, we waited for a break in the line and went in.

Piazza della Rotonda frenzy and Pantheon entry line.

It’s such a unique structure, especially with the hole in the dome. On a sunny day, the sunbeams light up the space. On a rainy day – you have to walk around the puddles.

The Pantheon Dome

There are tombs and statues on the perimeter walls, in particular Umberto I & II. Originally a Roman temple to worship ‘All the Gods’, it was ‘repurposed’ by later Roman Catholics. The Pantheon is still used as a place of worship to this day, and has been in continuous use for over two thousand years. It’s dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, and it remains one of the best-preserved of all ancient Roman buildings.

Pantheon Interior

Our last official stop on our Italian Holiday was the hotel’s rooftop bar. The views across the rooftops and of the crowds below were a pleasant way to bid Italy – Arrivederci!

We had a chance to reflect on the trip and wonder just how many pounds of pasta did we actually consume? My guess – a lot!

We leave early tomorrow morning, so we finished the day by packing up everything we could. Buonanotte!

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Fall 2022 – Rome: Pt 1

Posted on October 21, 2022 by herktrav

Our final visit is to the eternal city – Rome. We’ll have seven days to explore and enjoy the sites and tastes of the city.

We are staying at Albergo del Senato. We truly love our hotel. The rooms are comfortable, the staff are all friendly and helpful and the location is wonderful. We are located on the Piazza della Rotonda, about 100 feet from the Pantheon. There are plenty of cafes and restaurants around the piazza and even more within a five minute walk. And yes, there is also a rooftop bar that is a perfect place to rest our weary legs after walking around.

The hotel
Reception
Our room with the balcony
From the lounge
Breakfast room
Inside bar
Albergo del Senato

Our room is perfect. Nicely furnished, comfortable, right across from the elevator and we have a balcony overlooking the piazza.

Our hotel room in Rome

Sue’s favorite thing to do is to look out over the 🏛. That’s how she starts and ends each day. It’s her ‘Happy Place’ each day.

Morning Light
Evening view

We took it easy over the first two days. Short walks and afternoon naps really made a difference. Now that we’re feeling better, the explorations can begin.

We have taken recommendations from folks online and have enjoyed our meals without spending a fortune. Even though the area we’re in is considered touristy, we have gone to restaurants with good food, good prices and lots of Italians. Instead of listing out all the individual restaurants, here’s a little glimpse at what we’ve been eating.

Spaghetti all’Amatriciana
Saltimbocca
Grilled Salmon
Pasta Carbonara
Linguini w/ Artichokes
Cannoli
Tiramisu
The flavors of Rome

Believe me, we are not suffering from malnutrition.

Next up, the finale!

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