Not missing Turks & Caicos this time of year

Hurricane Earl bears down on Turks & Caicos

Last night in Italy

A Tita Bar in Lake Como? No lap dances allowed

Good food, new friends, and the obligatory grappa (quite a pour they give you in these parts)

Smooooth

Chico met his namesake - who looks decidedly not like a Chico

Our  new friends, the owners - Whatshisname-o and his brother Guiseppe

I'm tired of driving

With Chico as my co-pilot, I fear nothing but get lost frequently

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN MILAN and MARSEILLE -- It's been a lot of driving and we already are hugely indebted to Hubert and Elisabeth for letting us use their car. So far we have gone from Brussels to the South of France, over to Barcelona and back, on to the north of Italy, and now we are getting ready to head  to France. I lost track of the miles - never mind the toll charges (good thing they take credit cards at the toll booths).

Highway driving is fine, and even fun as 100 mph is about average on the long open stretches. But many of the roads along the coast of France and Italy are windy mountain stretches, through tunnels and blind curves so you have to stay on your toes and you lose a lot of time.

I kind of like the challenge of city driving and in the small towns, especially around Lake Como. But the BMW is a big beast and I wonder what would it would be like to have a Mini around town. Certainly would make parking a lot easier!

Life is so much better under a white tent on the Lake

That's what I'm talkin' about

No parking on land, so take the ferry

On the ferry between Bellagio & Varenna

Waiting to drive off ferry at Varenna
(Texas license plate- is that legal?)

BELLAGIO & VARENNA, Italy - A frustrating day trying to find parking in Bellagio, the most popular village on Lake Como, and even more popular on a gorgeous sunny day on the last weekend in August. After 20 minutes or so of driving around town unsuccessfully trying to find a spot, we decided to go to Plan B: drive on one of the ferries that criss-crosses the lake and head to another town. Luckily, one was due in a matter of minutes and headed to Varenna, another one of our favorite towns in northern Italy.

Parking wasn't much better in Varenna but we finally found a spot and wandered around town, re-living our past visit there and enjoying the scenery from this vantage point on the Lake.

Our friend Carla

Carla is our good friend whom we first me doing a home exchange several years ago. She is a classy lady and the girls love her!

CARVEGNANA, Italy - Carla is our dear friend who owns the house on Lake Como where we have stayed now 3 times. The house is an amazing old (probably 700 years at least) cottage perched at the top of a steep hil overlooking the Lake. It's in a tiny, tiny village called Carvegnana, which is part of the town of Lezzeno. It's on the eastern side of the Lake, which we prefer for its charm and slower pace (although Bellagio, the 'jewel of Lake Como' is just 10 minutes away and Como, the main city at the base of the lake, about 20). We stayed one year in Argeneno on the western side and it was fantastic, too, but it's a bit more touristy and more of a celebrity magnet ever since George Clooney bought a villa there.

It's a workout to get to Carla's

Carla met us at the house on Friday night (she lives and works in Milan, about an hour south) and we let the girls cook a pasta meal for us. The house is small but reeks of charm and it was great to catch up with Carla. She speaks some English and I can speak to her in French, and Toni can manage a bit of Italian (she stayed with Carla in Milan last year and took Italian lessons) -- but somehow it all works. She told us about her job at the leading cosmetic company in Italy and her plans to retire. Carla loves to travel and had just got back from Elba, and was planning on going to the Venice Film Festival next week, and the Africa in November. So she thinks she's ready for retirement just to get all her travel in.

On Saturday we went out to dinner on a restaurant right on the Lake, which was fun, especially watching Carla in her native environment. She knew the Sicilian chef and we had fresh lake fish of various varieties. That's where these picture are from. On Saturday we drive up to the top of the mountain above Bellagio - about 6,000 feet - to the town of Civenna - great views of both lake Como and Lake Lecco which connects to it.

 All in all the Lake is a truly relaxing place to spend time and get away from the world. Carla's has no phone or Internet, which is a bit challenging (or course we found the Internet Cafe in Bellagio - free WiFi if you drink wine - not a bad deal) and it's one of the most peaceful place I have ever been. The roads are great, too - very, very narrow so it's like a constant Formual One race to get around. There is very special feel to the place, different than any other place we have visited. We joke with our friends Jacquie and Sherri that we are "People of the Lake: and I believe it is true - it's probably not a place for everyone and doesn't get the exposure of Tuscany or Florence or Rome, but for us, it's our 'home in Italy, thanks in large part to Carla's hospitality.

Carla loves "Linzzie"

Chico Goes Italian

The Italian national team could use a good striker

Chico (aka Lupo) strikes his best Bad Ass Italian Guy look. 

COMO, Italy - When in in Rome...

Skype - a lifeline back to the rest of world

The girls huddle around the laptop at an Internet cafe to video conference with their cousin. Check out the guys on the wall trying to listen in!

Back at the Lake

Lake Como, Italy

LEZZENO, Italy - After the journey from Barcelona back to Aix, and then another 5 hours into Italy, it was pure bliss to arrive back at Lake Como, one of our all time favorite places in the world. Our good friend Carla offered her lake home for us to use for the next several days, and she came up to visit us for the weekend.

Lake Como is truly a magical places and a well kept secret from most of the maddening crowds that visit the more popular places in the more southern parts of Italy, like Florence, Rome and Tuscany...

European beaches suck

St. Barthelemy, Italy - We're not in Provo anymore!

ST. BARTHELEMY, Italy -- OK so they don't suck that bad, but when you come from a place like Turks & Caicos, they certainly are different. Crowded, rocky, the water is and less clear, and there is a whole different vibe to the beaches along the Italian, French and Spanish coasts of the Med. They are more like beaches in the Northeast US actually, what with the honky-tonk beachfront bars and restaurants. Oh, there are nice places and high end hotels, too, but for the most part the smaller beach towns seem to tend to cater to the masses. There is certainly more to do off the beach than a place Turks & Caicos, and Europeans seem quite happy making a two week family holiday out of most beach visits.

Physically, the beaches are quite different. The girls already miss the soft white sands and crystal clear waters of the TCI, which you just don't see near where we are. Europeans defend their beaches adamantly, acknowledging only that the Caribbean beaches are "plus differentes."  We probably won't be spending much time at the beach anyway, but lying on bunch of rocks to bathe in cold water is not my idea of a great beach experience anyway.

Barcelona Breakdown

BARCELONA -- I can't think of many worse places to have breakdown than the tunnel of a major city highway. During afternoon rush hour. On the day of major sporting event. Where you don't speak the language. I am sure there are worse places - I just can't think of any at the moment.

Toni had tunnel vision waiting for the tow truck

But there we were - a blow out in the dead middle depths of some critical underground traffic artery as we left Barcelona. Scraps of tire blowing off into the on coming lane, sending motorists swerving and honking (many presumably  heading to the Barcelona- AC Milan soccer match, which despite being a pre-season game had the town fully energized). Cars and the ever present motor scooter whizzing by within inches of our door. The sweet smell of gas and diesel exhaust rising up through the air...

We pulled over in the non-existent breakdown lane in a panic, not knowing what we would do even if something similar happened in the US (but at least we'd be able to explain our position to potential rescuers - something we quickly realized we were unable to do a the moment when we looked at "Mitch" our GPS and he only returned a blank, tunnel-hazed look at us). My first oxygen-deprived thoughts turned to Chilean mine workers...OK, I'll spare the dramatics. But is was fairly hairy for about two and half minutes. Then, in an unbelievable departure from Southern European inefficiency - while we were still on the (remarkably still functioning) phone to Gary and Karen to explain our predicament - a highway service crew appeared, calmly picked up the tire scraps in on-coming traffic, shut down our lane, and called for a tow truck.

Less than ten minutes later the flat bed had deposited the fully loaded vehicle (including wife, kids, dog and luggage - I rode shotgun with the non English speaking driver cuz I had never been in a big flat bed tow truck before..except for that time I put gas in a diesel car in France three year ago, but I digress) at the other end of the tunnel at a gas station.

Our heroes

The boys in the rescue truck followed to make sure we could take care of ourselves from there, which of course we could not. The 20 Euro tip in the tunnel (despite their insistances that this was a free service provided by the local authorities) paid off. As me and the driver of the rescue truck debated over where and how to find someone to take us the rest of the way to a solution to our problem - a conversation that included a phone call to the local BMW dealer, a radio dispatch to Spanish Highway Department HQ, and several text exchanges with Karen - the guy's partner calmly located the spare tire of the car in the trunk. After unloading all the luggage to get at the spare, the Spanish dudes quickly changed the tire in the baking heat, while the ugly (but appreciative) Americans sipped iced tea and ate chocolate bars (we eased our guilt by slipping them another 50 for the extra effort). In short order, we were on our way, less than an hour delayed in total.

Another disaster avoided, plus a new found appreciation for the efficiency and service of the Spanish highway department..and somewhere a lesson learned, but don't ask me what it is.

Monkeying around at the Barcelona Zoo

The girls set a Barcelona Zoo record by viewing all 67 animal exhibits, plus seeing the dolphin show, in a single afternoon. The Dads failed to keep pace.

Our unanimous choice for
"Animal we'd most like to be on a hot afternoon at the zoo"
  

   Lindsey waiting for an ostrich egg to happen...
or maybe a pair of shoes?

No Shit...

Actual street banner on Le Rambla

Or piss, for that matter. They take public cleanliness pretty seriously in Barcelona!

Blogging 24 x 7

A good blogger is dedicated, even when a piano is about to fall on his head (or so the guy behind me thinks)

Rambling on the Rambla

Tourist alert! Sottaks and Greenwoods on the Rambla

The girls getting their portrait done

Columbus slept here

You can take the girls out of the Caribbean but you can't tale the Caribbean out of the girls!

BARCELONA, Spain -- We finally made it to Gary and Karen's today after a scenic drive from the French coast. The kids immediately loved it here, largely because they got to re-unite with their friends Emma and Abby, but the energy and sites of the city are a dramatic change to what we have experienced so far on our European adventure.

Barcelona is a big city (4 million?), with lots to see and do, especially compared to our little Aix en Provence. It's world class by any definition.

Gary and Karen live in a very nice townhouse just outside the city, a short bus ride into the central part of Barcelona. The classic ancient architecture blends with the modern buildings here quite gracefully, and even though I am not a big architecture person, the Gothic buildings are quite impressive. The Spanish women aren't too hard on the eye either.


El Rambla is the main tourist thoroughfare that stretches for a couple miles through the center of the city, culminating at the port (where had dinner our first night here - tapas, of course). There are street vendors and performers and lots of exotic sits and smells. Even though it's very touristsy, it's still an eyeful and I must say the creativity of the street entertainers surpasses what we saw in NYC!

The girls particularly enjoyed getting their photos taken with various entertainers and performers, and even got their caricature done.

WTF - Kent J in Spain???

Kent Jaeger makes a cameo in Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain - File this under "You never know who you are going to meet while traveling through Europe."

KJ was winding up his personal Tour de Spain, having traveled the Mediterranean Coast and as far as the Canary Island in search of the ever evasive Mrs.Jaeger. Despite the luxurious white linen shirt he is sporting, he has failed the mission.

The coast between France and Spain

BANYULS sur le MER -- What a drive from Collioure, where we spent the night last night, to Barcelona. The winding roads through the mountains connected quaint seaside villages, each one more picturesque than the next. This is France's answer to Cinque Terre in Italy, although the towns are further apart and the views only slightly less dramatic.

The beaches leave a little to be desired by our island standards, but we all noted how much recreation and activities the French can cram into a small stretch of greyish sand . It's the high season here, too, so the beaches, restaurants and well maintained streets and plazas are all crowded. One would guess these towns are quite different in the winter, returning to their roots as fishing villages and artist enclaves (in fact Collioure has a very colorful - pun intended - artistic past as Matisse spent a lot of time here and did some of his best work inspired by the dramatic scenery).

I am on the verge of culture overload and we still have Barcelona ahead of us.

Collioure, France

COLLIOURE - On our way from Aix to Barcelona to visit the Greenwoods we stopped in the seaside town of Collioure. A truly postcard like setting that inspired the likes of Matisse, this is some of the best France has to offer in seaside resorts (with all due respect to the more famous Cote D'Azur)
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Drive by in St Remy de Provence

SAINT REMY de PROVENCE - A very cool town to which we did not do nearly enough justice, at least in this first drive by. We are headed to Barcelona and stopped here for lunch. Quaint town dripping with history, most notably where Van Gough went nuts. It is the quintessential Provencal town...we'll be back..

The best pizza in Aix

Pizza, in France? You bet

AIX en PROVENCE -- Le Cours Mirabeau is the main drag through X and I directed the girls to the best pizza in town - a little stand that serves it up all day and night. They munched on on it while a street performer played American music to the delight of the summer crowds.

Of course, Chico (bottom of photo) mooched...

Cafe living in Aix

One of a zillion little cafes in Aix that serve up the best Rose

AIX en PROVENCE -- The girls are already getting used to the lifestyle.

Turks and Caicos reunion in Burgundy

Isabel with Havana (right) and the girls (and Chico, of course)

A traditional  Borguoyne lunch whipped up by Isabel

SEVIGNY de ROSENVORT -- We met up with Isabel, who was Savannah's baby sitter when she was just one year old! A random Facebook connection the day before alerted us to the fact that Isabel lives only about an hour form Dijon so we had to stop in for a visit. It turned out to be an over-nighter as we settled in comfortably to her beautiful country house (an old mill) and the girls enjoyed the company of her five year old Havana, as well as numerous goats, chickens and Che the fat cat. It was a perfect stop over and great to catch up with our old TCI friend

Isabel moved to this little town in Burgundy from Hong Kong, where she lived for several years with her husband Perry, a pilot for Cathay Pacific (whom she met in TCI when he was flying for Sky King). Perry still lives there but gets to France about once a month. She is originally from Quebec so speaks fluent French and has made quite a life for herself, including running the 'jite' (sort alike a B&B) upstairs in the two bedroom apartment they renovated beautifully. Havana even has her own business, selling the eggs her chickens produce (1 euro for half dozen and Hubert gave them two thumbs up).

Savannah was the goat feeder

Baume Les Messieurs

BAUME les MESSIEURS - Isabel took us to a very cool place near her house. It's kind of like France's version of the Grand Canyon, on a much smaller scale. This picture shows us looking down into the canyon, which literally reveals the generations of evolution in the earth's history on the stone walls on either side.

Barely visible at the very top of the picture is a town called called Baume les Messieuers which is nestled in the base of the canyon. It's a tiny town and you have to wind down a narrow road to get to it. We enjoyed a traditional local meal there, including local trout that populate the cold water streams which run through the canyon.

A day trip to Beaune

BEAUNE - Beaune (pronounced bone) is a quaint little town in the heart of burgundy, one of the premier wine producing regions in France. It's a prototypical small France town with lots of old buildings, narrows streets and great cafes. The main attraction there is an old hospital, now a museum,  called the Hopices de Beanue. It was built by Belgians (according to Hubert) under direction from the Dukes of Burgundy who had re-located from the region to Bruges, Belgium where a similar hospital existed.

We had intended to spend the night in Beuane, or close by, but we got word that Elisabeth's wedding ring, which she had lost that morning at the Hotel Wilson, had been found, so we headed back to Dijon for the night. Needless to say Elisabeth was relieved and happy to go back.

Deja Vu in Dijon

Caveua de Mosigny. Chico was unimpressed - he crapped in the wine cellar

DIJON -- We pulled into Dijon late Tuesday afternoon and went straight to a hotel Toni and I had stayed in years ago - the Hotel Wilson (named for US President Woodrow and located conveniently on Place de Wilson - apparently the good people of the land of mustard have an enduring admiration and appreciation for our 28th president).

We enjoyed Dijon back then, and found it just as enjoyable and attractive this time around. It's in the heart of Burgundy, which is prime wine producing region and we sampled the local fare extensively, even stopping at a vineyard called Caveau de Mosigny, which Hubert highly recommend (he even thought he might know someone who used to work there but the manager on duty surmised the guy must have died years ago since Hubert met him in the 1970s and he was pushing 70 then). Dinner that night at an aptly-named place called L'escargot, which is another staple of the Burgundy economy, and we feasted on that local delicacy as well.

If it's Tuesday, it must be...

BRUSSELS, Belgium - We arrived this morning in Belgium and after only a slight bit of panic retrieved our luggage and Chico. Chico was only casually examined by the friendly customs people (more for their amusement than any real regulatory issues), and his paperwork checked out fine.

After clearing customs, we were promptly met by Hubert and Elizabeth - with two cars! One of them, a BMW SUV is to be ours for the year, and after a quick breakfast at the airport hotel, we loaded her up and hit the road. Our target destination: Dijon, home of the famous mustard

Check in at JFK

That's Toni behind the mountain of bags. Actually, not too bad all things considered. Chico is banished from the cabin and will ride underneath with the unwashed masses of other canines.

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Rotary meeting in NYC

My good friend and fellow Rotarian 'New York' Steve hosted me at his club's meeting. Held at the posh Harvard Club, the New York club is the 6th oldest in the world and a eclectic bunch of wily old timers and feisty up and comer New Yorkers. The guest speakers on this day thrilled the crowd with their story of starting a company that develops a product to address sexual satisfaction in women. Steve and I both volunteered to perform field testing on their behalf.

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Giusti girls at the Plaza

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Worcester boys trek to NYC for the send off

Good to see the boys from Worcester in the Big Apple

NEW YORK, NY - The home boys from Worcester made the trip to the Big Apple for our final weekend in the US. Wentz and Moses - never ones to shy away from a memorable drinking experience - took the opportunity to crash with Wentz's nephew Garrett. The three of them managed to help me high jack Ed from Philly, who was also in town with his wife and kids for the send off (much to Kathy's chagrin) for a tour of the city, culminating with a strong session at McSorley's.
Garrett couldn't answer the bell for Round Two on Sunday and Ed judiciously decided at day in Central Park with his wife and son was a prudent move. So the Worcester boys carried on as a trio...

Worcester meets Philly in NYC

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