Mark Long’s Blog

I hope that we can go back to Italy again someday. Visiting Genova was terrific. Like so much of our trip we just let the activities of the day unfold without an agenda. We found many surprises here.

The Childhood Home of Christopher Columbus

One of the biggest surprises of our trip was coming across the home of Christopher Columbus. It was only a block or so off of the street we had been walking. Sonia had overheard someone talking about it and so she asked around where it was. Standing in front of his house and looking at the original gate to Genova was a real experience. It was easy to imagine history as that house being a start point and the history of the new world unfolding from then forward as opposed to my normal view of history of from now backwards.

Original Gate to Genova

Columbus grew up just outside the original walls of the city close to the gate. It is amazing to me that it is still standing and being used. You would think that this would be a historical site with tour guides and admission fees. Maybe one of the most famous people ever in the world was just part of the landscape with little fanfare.

Everyone drove a scooter.

More Scooters than Cars.

First Class Street Musicians

A Street Magician added to the ambience.

We ended the day with a very nice Italian Dinner at our hotel that will not be soon forgotten.

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The drive from Anglet to Madrid took us through the Pyrenees Mountains the natural barrier between Spain and France. This was one of the few spots that the TomTom gave us trouble. They are building a new freeway through the mountains and in one section where the road is not finished the TomTom thought it was. It kept sending around in circles. The funny part was that in this it would send us back through two toll booths that was maybe three miles apart. After we went trough them the second time we asked for directions for the first time on our trip. We took the old road quite a few miles before it connected up with where the freeway had been completed. The new road being constructed is using some fantastically high bridges. The old road took us through Mondragon which is the name of our new neighbor moving in across the street. After noticing that we noticed a lot of “family names” as villages throughout Spain. It is interesting to view history from the point of view of starting there and moving forward to the New World rather than what I am used to which is viewing history from the end backwards.

Madrid is my favorite city in Europe. We stayed at the Hi Tech Hotel in the theater district. The room came with a lap top. The style of the fixtures and and amenities was ultra modern. The front desk had bicycles that you could use for free. The staff was ultra friendly and helpful.

Mondragon

The drive through that part of the Pyrenees reminded me of the Alpine Loop around the back of Timpanogos. It was a very narrow and winding road. There was a few bed and breakfasts and restaurants along the way.

A very stylish restaurant high in the Pyrenees.

One of the things that renting car enabled us to do was stop along the way wherever we wanted (or needed to). Everyday we tried to make it a point to stop for a while at a town or little farming village and check out the life there. We never saw abandoned cars, farm machinery or junk of any type.

A classic vineyard.

Europe is very green oriented. We saw at least a thousand windmills. Spain had some very large wind farms. The blades are at least 50 feet long. In many of the hotels you have to place your card key in a slot by the door to turn on your lights. When you leave the room and take your key all the lights go off. In the hall ways they use motion sensors that turns on the lights if someone is going to their room otherwise the lights are off.

Part of a very large wind farm with 100’s of wind mills.

Madrid is a very active growing city.

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After traveling to Europe it is easier to understand where much of our traditional meals come from. It looks like most all of Pervian food traces their roots back to spain. We didn’t find it hard to find our favorite foods.

Hot Dog in a “Bun Boat”

Lasagna with a fresh salad

Some of the best bread you will ever taste.

The “Nebraska Cafeteria” takes you back to Omaha in 1955

Food at the beach just seems to taste better.

You can find a ham and cheese sandwich almost anywhere.

Estafado - A traditional Spanish - Peruvian dish

Of course there is pizza everywhere.

And you thought Utah was the Jello Capital of the World.

Of course there are McDonalds - just follow one of their

trucks to the nearest McCafe.

My Favorite Dinner

I found my favorite meal in Munich. Sirloin Steak with fried onions on top, roasted potatos, carrots and mushroom soup. It was so good. I asked the front desk to recomend a good tradtional German restaurant. It was about a 15 minute walk but well worth it. The staff wore traditional Bavarian Dress. We ate on the sidewalk. The table next to us was full of a group of older men having a great time. Sonia started up a conversation with them. They were from the Black Forest in the south of Germany where they make CooCoo Clocks. We have found friendly people all over Europe. This was somewhat diferent of what I had expected. I have heard stories that the French were very rude. I won’t be spreading those type of rumors. We are looking forward to eating more good meals before we bid here farewell. Today I had one of the best roasted chickens ever….

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The Beautiful Anglet Golf Club

One of the awesome things about planning your tour on the internet is that you can find good deals on places that you would not normal find or might be out of your price range but you just stumble opon. One of them this trip was the Anglet Country Club. We got a steal of a price and though it was a bit out of our way the atmosphere made up for everything. A short stroll from our hotel was the Atlantic Ocean. Although the waves were small there were plenty of surfers enjoying it right till dark.

The town of Anglet was very scenic. We had dinner in a charming cafe.

Bengi wanted to come to America with US.

The next morning we awoke to a puring rain. It rained much of the way on the drive to Madrid. We got to stay two days in Madrid and we just loved it. It is a very friendly and throughly modern city. We stayed in the Hi Tech Hotel which made it all the better. More on that later….

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We started Sunday Morning in Paris with a nice free continental breakfast. Everything is very expensive in Paris. Restaurant meals seem outrageously priced. One $80 breakfast stands out in my mind. So a nice free breakfast of fresh orange juics, hot chocolate and croisants was extra delicious.

We conducted anothe self tour via the TomTom and set our sites for Notre Dame Cathederal and Arch de Triumph. The road route took us along the north side of the Siene River and the Louve. We had the unexpected sight of the mini Statue of Liberty that is here in Paris. One of Sonia’s dreams was to buy real French Perfume here and we found a shop.

Seeing Notre Dame is surealistic. I didn’t realize from all the movies that I have seen with it as a backdrop that it was a cathedral. It is really a Bible in Stone. Supposedly Jesus Crown of Thorns is here as well as original pages of the bible and other relics. I have seen more beautiful cathederals but none more unique.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Statue of the Saints above the entrance of Notre Dame

Lady Liberty Walking West to America

The rest of the day was spent driving to the south west coast of France where we stayed at a golf resort. I think I got a couple of tickets along the way. I saw a couple of bright flashes in my face that seemd like picture flashes. I guess I’ll have to wait the outcome of that for when we get back.

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View of the Eiffel Tower from across the Seine.

The first landmark that you see even many kilometers away from Paris is the Eiffel Tower. You can easily make it out from Google Sat Maps. We saw it even before we got to the Charles De Gaulle Airport. The “far off but close to” feeling you used to get of seeing the Twin Towers from Newark International. We stayed at an overrated 2 Star Hotel close to the Pantheon in the North Central part of the city. The first night we had an excellent Authentic Japanese restaurant next door to the hotel.

Saturday Morning we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. We spent most of the whole day there. The atmosphere was very tranquil in comparison to how busy it is. It is the final destination for bicycle races and rallies of all types. The lines are huge to go up the tower with longer lines awaiting you on the second level.

There are beautiful gardens surrounding the tower.

The french fries in France could be called McDonald’s fries because they taste exactly like that plus or minus a little salt depending on the fry cook. The ones at the Eiffel Tower were extremely salty. Ham and Cheese sandwiches are pretty standard fare and most street cafes. There are a few McDonalds and KFC’s around but they are the only franchisee food to be found. Most every thing is small mom and pop affairs.

I Love the French Bus Design - Perfect for a Motor Home!

No Train Ride is Complete Without Music from the Andes.

As in most major cities there are street musicians in the terminals and they are allowed (I suppose) on the Metro. The Sax playing in the station was beautiful. The melody was amplified by the connecting tubes between the different routes as we changed trains. You could hear it for blocks. I thought the Andean music was a bit tired and as you can see no one else on the train paid them any attention.

More about Paris tomorrow…..

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We only spent a few hours in Brussels. We checked into the hotel about lunch time and after getting settled we went for a walk and found a little cafe to eat some sandwiches.

The Four Points Sheraton

Brussels is the Capital of the European Union so we programmed the TomTom for the city center and took off for a drive. We stopped at a shopping center to pick up a voltage converter and was amazed at the number of lap dogs cruising the mall. There were more dogs than teenagers only to be out numbered by old ladies with lots of jewelry. There was a lot of public transportation but the traffic was terrible especially when compared with Amsterdam.

Going for a cruise in the rental car which happened to be a high end SAAB

It was late when we got back from sight seeing and time to find a restaurant. Even though it was Ten PM it still wasn’t dark yet. We walked down the street to an Italian Restaurant. When the waiter came over he asked us if we spoke English and told us to order quickly because the Kitchen closed at 10 PM (it was like 15 minutes after) When he came back Sonia and Kathy split a pizza and I ordered spaghetti. When the food was delivered he didn’t bring an extra plate and the pizza bottom was burnt black and inedible. He was very rude when we asked him to look at it and I had to keep turning it over to show him how burnt it was. He would just turn it right back over pretending it was ok. So I said no problem we would just share my spaghetti. I was really shocked that he didn’t bring us back some plates so we could split it up. Instead we had to pass my plate around. This was the only rude person we have found so far. Otherwise everyone that we have encountered has been friendly and helpful.

The Electric Train was very stylish.

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Amsterdam Canal

I’ve been to several countries in the America’s and though there are varying degrees of levels of ease of entry into diferent coutries in the new world none of them are as easy as getting into Holland (The Netherlands) We did have to have our pasport stamped. There was no waiting line though. We walked up, he stamped it and off we were to baggage claim.

I was expecting to go through some sort of customs check. At least a random one. If you had nothing to declare you just exited. Picking up the rental car was just as easy. In fact it was easier here as we didn’t have to go through all the initialing several times of the diferent contract clauses like you do renting in the US. Just one signature and it was off to pickup the car.

We brought a TOM TOM GPS (Which way STUPID - literally in Spanish) preprogrammed with the hotel addresses with us. We were to the hotel at about 9 AM and they were not booked up so they let us into our room right away. We slept until 4PM and then did a little sight seeing and went to the City Center to exchange some dollars. In all of the America’s you can use dollars as easily as the local currency. Here the Euro is King.

Here are some more of the pics we took:

There are mostly bicycles here but this was one sweet ride.

Traditional Dutch Windmill

Prima Facia Evidence for NOT legalizing POT.

Beautiful Fruit Stands were all over.

On to Brussells…..

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