In May, Holly had an ICU nursing conference in Houston, Texas (NTI for her CCRN certification). We took the opportunity to visit with my parents just outside of Houston. We had a wonderful visit, seeing their new home in Fulshear.
After our visit, we checked into our hotel downtown (Hilton Americas) and Holly commenced with her conference. We were, however, able to squeeze in a visit to the Houston Space Center. We booked a VIP tour and my parents were able to join us for the tour.
We stumbled onto the VIP tour by accident, but couldn't have been more pleased. Rather than joining the masses (including lots and lots of school children) and piling into a crowded, open-air tram - we were part of a group of 9 people that had a nice, air-conditioned coach and a private guide for nearly five hours.
The tour started in a hanger in which a full-size Apollo Rocket was on display. After this we traveled off-property to the underwater training facility. Interestingly, there were two astronauts training in the water while we were there! It was a great experience.
Next we went to the current day Mission Control, where the were monitoring the space station. We were told that one of the astronauts had just completed an unplanned space walk to fix a faulty device outside the station. We then went to the historic, 1960's Mission Control area, replete with the exact equipment used in the 60's to monitor and control the Apollo missions.
Finally, we were treated to a rare chance to visit the Shuttle Simulator. It was an actual-size, fully functional Shuttle in a hanger. If it had wheels, it could fly. We were told that every astronaut had to train on this device prior to going into space. Also, when a shuttle was in space this simulator had a crew operating the entire time, mimicking the actions and trying solutions prior to the actual shuttle in space trying them. We were able to sit in the cockpit and see all the controls used to fly the shuttle!
I was born in Houston. I have visited my parents many, many times. This is the first time we had visited the Space Center. A great trip!!
Here is a slideshow I made of our trip, including footage of the Apollo missions from the 60's to start it off.......
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Sunday, April 30, 2017
2017 - Desert RV Trip
2017 - Desert Trip
Day 2 - Friday April 14, 2017
360 Videos out back with poodles (click and drag on video to look around):
Day 4 - Sunday April 16, 2017 (Easter Sunday)
We set out relatively early to head east to New Mexico. We gassed up in Flagstaff and braved the windy desert freeway for 6 hours. When we arrived in Albuquerque, our hotel was near the airport. In fact, you had to actually enter the airport property to get to the hotel. When we checked in we asked where to put the RV (as it takes a lot of space). I was surprised when they told me to park it up front under the check-in awning for safety. I asked if I should be concerned and was told that they had an attempted break-in involving a moving trailer and a sign at the desk mentioned the same issue. We were a little road weary and didn't have interest in trying to shop around Albuquerque. We found that a pizza place would deliver and we took advantage.
Day 5 - Monday April 17, 2017
We took the relatively short drive to Santa Fe, taking the back road on the "Turquoise Trail". Our hope was to see something worth stopping for along the route to perhaps find some jewelry. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything that didn't look like a tourist trap and continued to Santa Fe. Our hotel was about 15 minutes north of Santa Fe at the Buffalo Thunder Casino property (Homewood Suites). We had lunch waiting for our room to be ready, settled in, left the dogs in the room, and headed to downtown Santa Fe. Two things became painfully clear. First, there was little to no parking downtown for a large RV. We had a few tight spots in which I had to learn quickly how to maneuver a 30' RV in tight spots. Second - we found that on Monday (the day we planned to shop) the main attraction we sought was closed (Palace of the Governors). We decided to find parking for the next day and do our shopping then. But - parking was the problem. We would later find that perhaps we could park at the cathedral, but the convention center had nothing but a parking garage much too small for us. We returned to the hotel property in low spirits. We then found that the hotel had a shuttle going downtown!! Problem solved. We had a nice dinner at the casino, Holly won about $60 on a slot machine and we packed it in for the night.
Day 6 - Tuesday April 18, 2017
We caught the shuttle to the downtown area. We were a little early and shops didn't open for an hour (10am). We walked around window shopping and getting a lay of the land. When shops were open we perused the jewelry offerings and other shopping opportunities. We came away empty handed but were able to at least see what was available. Instead of waiting for the shuttle, we used Uber to get back to our hotel. We checked out and started on our next leg of the trip - heading to Monument Valley, Utah.
We took the scenic route through North West New Mexico, passing over a small dam. We had the option of seeing the Four Corners monument but decided not to stop but power through. The last 100 miles was tough. That little leg on the map that goes straight north was painful. It was about 96 miles in high winds on a 2-lane highway in disrepair. After watching me white-knuckled, trying to keep the RV on the road in the wind, Holly mentioned I should have driving gloves. As luck would have it, one of the jackets I brought had finger-less work gloves. I put them on and didn't have to wipe the sweat from my palms anymore. We arrived in the dark to the Goulding's RV park in Monument Valley, Utah. This was our first, true RV experience. We checked in, pulled into our spot, hooked up to power, and settled in for the night. In the morning, I dumped the black water and we hit the road for our next destination.
Day 7 - Wednesday April 19, 2017
We saw the most unique and beautiful mountain scenery as we drove through the middle of Utah. We saw all the monuments, arches, and formations despite the windy mountain passes (the gloves made all the difference). We stopped in Moab for lunch and continued on through endless mountains, still capped with snow. We finally arrived in Salt Lake City during 5 o'clock traffic. We made our way to our hotel and settled down for the final night on our trip.
Day 8 - Thursday April 20, 2017
We loaded up early and hit the road. It was our longest leg (618 miles) of the entire trip. We fought through the wind all the way through Nevada. Once past Reno, the wind was gone and we enjoyed going through our home-state mountains with which we were very familiar. There was still lots of snow on the mountains and the relief with pulling into Roseville was palpable. We unloaded and went straight to our much-missed bed. The next day we cleaned up the RV, gassed it, emptied the tanks, and returned it.
RV the life for us?
We found very early on in the trip that we REALLY like this. Not this particular RV (too big, unwieldy) but rather the concept of being self-contained. Having a toilet on the road and a place to sit and eat or stretch out for a few minutes made the long drives more tolerable. No longer did we have to stop to use the bathroom (even when we had to fuel). There were stretches in which I drove for nearly three hours without stopping. Plus - the poodles had room to stretch out.
We are still in the evaluation stage of which RV is for us. We know that the larger Class A are too big. The Class C are probably not for us either (don't really need the overhang sleeping area). Next trip we will rent a Class B and try the Mercedes chassis to see how the handling compares to the Ford chassis we rented (we suspect the results will be obvious).
Then will come the decision to rent or buy. A good, recent used Mercedes model runs about $85k. We would have to RV at least 3 times a year to make buying better than renting. Then there is storage. If we can't park it at home, the costs go even higher. More to come after our next trip to the Oregon Coast this fall.
Renting an RV
When we decided to rent we researched our options. There seem to be only two nationwide companies that rent RVs: El Monte and Cruise America. While they have some actual company locations, most seem to be similar to U-Haul in which they franchise to local businesses that have other operations (such as a service station). In the greater Sacramento area there was one El Monte franchise and two Cruise America franchises. Let's start with the El Monte franchise.
El Monte
The location was in the southern industrial area of Sacramento. We knew from the address it was going to be interesting. We stopped by on a Saturday a while back to check it out. It was in an industrial park as part of an antique car business. I entered the facility and Holly stayed in the car as we had groceries and the area was a little sketchy. I was greeted by an older lady and could see a man attending to a young family who was renting an RV. She showed me the antique cars while I waited and then took me out to look at some RVs. When the man was finished, Holly joined me. We looked over the RVs and had no issues. One problem we did have was the non-refundable rental deposit of $150. No matter what, if we cancelled we lost the deposit (more of a rental fee than a deposit). The larger problem was regarding which model year we would get when the time came to pickup the rental. Their fleet has some older models and our research showed that some reviews stated that at the time of rental the reviewer was presented with an old model with no recourse. With this in mind, we asked if we could reserve a newer model (3 years old or newer). We were told that we would have to reserve it. Then we could call to see which model was assigned and see if we could get a newer one. What?? Why should we have to do the leg work??? We moved on to Cruise America.
Cruise America
There were two locations, one of which was much closer than the El Monte, located in Citrus Heights at Pastor's service shop. We stopped by and the owner was manning the counter. He showed us the 30' and smaller model. For the price we had decided that the 30' would be a better value. There was a deposit that was refundable (yea!). The attitude of the proprietor wasn't that great however. Even though their fleet was newer overall (3 years old or newer, Holly asked if we could reserve a newer model. He flat-out said "we don't do that" and continued to state that even customers renting for long periods and long miles (i.e. more money for them) he didn't do that. When we said it was a reasonable question he retorted "and I gave you a reasonable answer". Despite getting off on the wrong foot, we had little choice but to rent from him. We did get a little satisfaction, however. I asked if we could rent online or directly from him. He said that either is possible but if we rent directly from him they get a better commission. We rented online.
We had a wonderful trip. It was a grueling 2600 miles and 43 hours of driving through mountains and high winds but we were able to see the desert regions in all of its glory.
One last video clip of the late Robin Williams and the trials of using a rental RV
As we are now both officially in our 50's, we have been contemplating whether we are "RV" people Our neighbor has a large RV and uses it prolifically (sometimes for 6 months out of the year). To avoid the mistake of buying an RV only to find out we made a mistake, we decided we would rent to see if we like it. At the end of this blog I will write about our adventures in finding a rental RV.
We also wanted to visit my mother in Arizona so we decided to make a road trip with the RV through the deserts of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Holly has always wanted to visit New Mexico to hunt for turquoise and liquid silver jewelry. After reserving the RV and some hotels along the route - our trip began on our 9th anniversary (and Holly's birthday).
As you will read near the end, we rented a Class C from Cruise America. We picked up the 30' RV that sleeps 7. Probably over-kill (definitely over-kill), but it gave us an idea of the concept of RV-ing.
Overview of Route
Day 1 - Thursday April 13, 2017
Today was one of two, very long driving legs of the trip. We drove from our home in Roseville to Henderson, NV. The route was 575 miles and drive time was slated for 8 hours 16 minutes. Coming into Nevada we encountered our first experience with wind and a high-profile vehicle. The RV's steering had a little play and for the last 2 hours of the trip I was white-knuckled keeping the RV from being blown into the adjacent lane or shoulder.
We left at around 8am and arrived about 10 hours later to the hotel (Hampton Inn & Suites). We encountered the first challenge of our trip - where to park this beast in a hotel parking lot. After talking to the front desk staff, we took four parking spots, unloaded all of our gear (we weren't sure about the safety of the RV overnight and didn't want to risk losing anything valuable), got some dinner (PKWY Tavern), slept, worked out, and hit the road for our second day.
Here is a 360 look at having coffee in the hotel room with the poodles (click and drag on video to look around):
Here is a 360 look at having coffee in the hotel room with the poodles (click and drag on video to look around):
Day 2 - Friday April 14, 2017
After gassing up, we headed to Arizona. Our first stop would be the Hoover Dam. Taking the RV along the winding roads was challenging and the Dam was very (extremely) busy. We are thinking spring break crowds but aren't sure. We did not stop. Once we made it across the Dam and back we had seen enough and could check off this location in our "been there" book.
We continued through the wind toward Williams Arizona to visit my parents.
Day 3 - Saturday April 15, 2017
We had a great visit, just hanging around the house and chatting. I was able to float the drone up in the back yard and get some great video of there place. We had lunch downtown at a nice pizza place on Route 66.
Drone footage:
360 Videos out back with poodles (click and drag on video to look around):
Day 4 - Sunday April 16, 2017 (Easter Sunday)
We set out relatively early to head east to New Mexico. We gassed up in Flagstaff and braved the windy desert freeway for 6 hours. When we arrived in Albuquerque, our hotel was near the airport. In fact, you had to actually enter the airport property to get to the hotel. When we checked in we asked where to put the RV (as it takes a lot of space). I was surprised when they told me to park it up front under the check-in awning for safety. I asked if I should be concerned and was told that they had an attempted break-in involving a moving trailer and a sign at the desk mentioned the same issue. We were a little road weary and didn't have interest in trying to shop around Albuquerque. We found that a pizza place would deliver and we took advantage.
Day 5 - Monday April 17, 2017
We took the relatively short drive to Santa Fe, taking the back road on the "Turquoise Trail". Our hope was to see something worth stopping for along the route to perhaps find some jewelry. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything that didn't look like a tourist trap and continued to Santa Fe. Our hotel was about 15 minutes north of Santa Fe at the Buffalo Thunder Casino property (Homewood Suites). We had lunch waiting for our room to be ready, settled in, left the dogs in the room, and headed to downtown Santa Fe. Two things became painfully clear. First, there was little to no parking downtown for a large RV. We had a few tight spots in which I had to learn quickly how to maneuver a 30' RV in tight spots. Second - we found that on Monday (the day we planned to shop) the main attraction we sought was closed (Palace of the Governors). We decided to find parking for the next day and do our shopping then. But - parking was the problem. We would later find that perhaps we could park at the cathedral, but the convention center had nothing but a parking garage much too small for us. We returned to the hotel property in low spirits. We then found that the hotel had a shuttle going downtown!! Problem solved. We had a nice dinner at the casino, Holly won about $60 on a slot machine and we packed it in for the night.
Day 6 - Tuesday April 18, 2017
We caught the shuttle to the downtown area. We were a little early and shops didn't open for an hour (10am). We walked around window shopping and getting a lay of the land. When shops were open we perused the jewelry offerings and other shopping opportunities. We came away empty handed but were able to at least see what was available. Instead of waiting for the shuttle, we used Uber to get back to our hotel. We checked out and started on our next leg of the trip - heading to Monument Valley, Utah.
We took the scenic route through North West New Mexico, passing over a small dam. We had the option of seeing the Four Corners monument but decided not to stop but power through. The last 100 miles was tough. That little leg on the map that goes straight north was painful. It was about 96 miles in high winds on a 2-lane highway in disrepair. After watching me white-knuckled, trying to keep the RV on the road in the wind, Holly mentioned I should have driving gloves. As luck would have it, one of the jackets I brought had finger-less work gloves. I put them on and didn't have to wipe the sweat from my palms anymore. We arrived in the dark to the Goulding's RV park in Monument Valley, Utah. This was our first, true RV experience. We checked in, pulled into our spot, hooked up to power, and settled in for the night. In the morning, I dumped the black water and we hit the road for our next destination.
Day 7 - Wednesday April 19, 2017
We saw the most unique and beautiful mountain scenery as we drove through the middle of Utah. We saw all the monuments, arches, and formations despite the windy mountain passes (the gloves made all the difference). We stopped in Moab for lunch and continued on through endless mountains, still capped with snow. We finally arrived in Salt Lake City during 5 o'clock traffic. We made our way to our hotel and settled down for the final night on our trip.
Day 8 - Thursday April 20, 2017
We loaded up early and hit the road. It was our longest leg (618 miles) of the entire trip. We fought through the wind all the way through Nevada. Once past Reno, the wind was gone and we enjoyed going through our home-state mountains with which we were very familiar. There was still lots of snow on the mountains and the relief with pulling into Roseville was palpable. We unloaded and went straight to our much-missed bed. The next day we cleaned up the RV, gassed it, emptied the tanks, and returned it.
RV the life for us?
We found very early on in the trip that we REALLY like this. Not this particular RV (too big, unwieldy) but rather the concept of being self-contained. Having a toilet on the road and a place to sit and eat or stretch out for a few minutes made the long drives more tolerable. No longer did we have to stop to use the bathroom (even when we had to fuel). There were stretches in which I drove for nearly three hours without stopping. Plus - the poodles had room to stretch out.
We are still in the evaluation stage of which RV is for us. We know that the larger Class A are too big. The Class C are probably not for us either (don't really need the overhang sleeping area). Next trip we will rent a Class B and try the Mercedes chassis to see how the handling compares to the Ford chassis we rented (we suspect the results will be obvious).
Then will come the decision to rent or buy. A good, recent used Mercedes model runs about $85k. We would have to RV at least 3 times a year to make buying better than renting. Then there is storage. If we can't park it at home, the costs go even higher. More to come after our next trip to the Oregon Coast this fall.
Renting an RV
When we decided to rent we researched our options. There seem to be only two nationwide companies that rent RVs: El Monte and Cruise America. While they have some actual company locations, most seem to be similar to U-Haul in which they franchise to local businesses that have other operations (such as a service station). In the greater Sacramento area there was one El Monte franchise and two Cruise America franchises. Let's start with the El Monte franchise.
El Monte
The location was in the southern industrial area of Sacramento. We knew from the address it was going to be interesting. We stopped by on a Saturday a while back to check it out. It was in an industrial park as part of an antique car business. I entered the facility and Holly stayed in the car as we had groceries and the area was a little sketchy. I was greeted by an older lady and could see a man attending to a young family who was renting an RV. She showed me the antique cars while I waited and then took me out to look at some RVs. When the man was finished, Holly joined me. We looked over the RVs and had no issues. One problem we did have was the non-refundable rental deposit of $150. No matter what, if we cancelled we lost the deposit (more of a rental fee than a deposit). The larger problem was regarding which model year we would get when the time came to pickup the rental. Their fleet has some older models and our research showed that some reviews stated that at the time of rental the reviewer was presented with an old model with no recourse. With this in mind, we asked if we could reserve a newer model (3 years old or newer). We were told that we would have to reserve it. Then we could call to see which model was assigned and see if we could get a newer one. What?? Why should we have to do the leg work??? We moved on to Cruise America.
Cruise America
There were two locations, one of which was much closer than the El Monte, located in Citrus Heights at Pastor's service shop. We stopped by and the owner was manning the counter. He showed us the 30' and smaller model. For the price we had decided that the 30' would be a better value. There was a deposit that was refundable (yea!). The attitude of the proprietor wasn't that great however. Even though their fleet was newer overall (3 years old or newer, Holly asked if we could reserve a newer model. He flat-out said "we don't do that" and continued to state that even customers renting for long periods and long miles (i.e. more money for them) he didn't do that. When we said it was a reasonable question he retorted "and I gave you a reasonable answer". Despite getting off on the wrong foot, we had little choice but to rent from him. We did get a little satisfaction, however. I asked if we could rent online or directly from him. He said that either is possible but if we rent directly from him they get a better commission. We rented online.
We had a wonderful trip. It was a grueling 2600 miles and 43 hours of driving through mountains and high winds but we were able to see the desert regions in all of its glory.
One last video clip of the late Robin Williams and the trials of using a rental RV
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
2016
This year we decided not to travel abroad due to Holly's BSN program completion and Adrian's hectic schedule at work with a new Medical Fitness Center launch, Imaging Center move, and new PET/CT program.
We celebrated our 8th anniversary 4/13/2016. Here's a video commemorating it:
We celebrated our 8th anniversary 4/13/2016. Here's a video commemorating it:
Oh - and by popular demand, here is the video I shot seven years ago of our house. I need to make a new one as we've updated nearly every room (including a recent kitchen remodel in 2019 - plus, we've had Atticus (not shown) for nearly 6 years).
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Paris & London - April 2015
Our 2015 Trip to Paris (with a day in London)
This year we did something a little different. We have so many places we want to go and some bucket-list places that are more "check off the box" visits than earnest desires. Paris is one of those destinations that has never drawn us but seems a necessity to visit due to its rich history and unique culture. Additionally, my mother turned 70 in 2014 and it has been my childhood dream to take her to Paris. So - Paris for 2015.However - I wanted to make it a surprise for my mom. She has never traveled outside the U.S. (with the exception of an across-the-border visit to Nuevo Loredo from Texas in the 1960's), so I needed her to get a passport to go on a trip with me and Holly (and dad, of course). Another important piece was my mother is deathly afraid of flying. But she was a good sport, got her passport and endured the periodic "clues" I would send her. Finally, on her birthday in November we broke the news that Paris was the destination. They were to board their dog and be at our house the evening of April 13th (my wife's birthday and our anniversary, incidentally - you may notice we like to travel around our birth-a-versary).
Tuesday April 14, 2015
The creatures of habit that we are, we drove from Roseville to the San Francisco Airport, dropping the poodles at Francesca's in Dixon, parking in long-term (sort-of...it was full and we were re-routed to Lot D - but basically the same thing). We were driving the Navigator due to having my mom & dad and luggage (and poodles half the way). Like last year, I was offered an upgrade to Business Class and jumped at the chance. The great service of Air France was reinforced by another fabulous flight. We modified our normal habit of only bringing carry-on luggage for this trip. Since last year we had to check our larger carry-on (due to the weight restrictions) and since we were staying the entire time in one hotel, we decided to each bring a larger checked bag and one carry-on backpack. It worked great.Wednesday April 15, 2015
We arrived in Paris just before noon. Unlike last year, no connecting flight - just get the luggage, go through border patrol, and meet our transfer that should be holding a sign with our name on it. Luggage, check. Border Patrol, check. Transfer.....not so much. I must admit at this juncture that I did a lot of research on the best way to get from the airport to our hotel. Do a search online for transfer from Charles De Gaulle to downtown Paris and you will see volumes of posts (most on Trip Advisor) regarding this topic. Many people suggest skipping a pre-paid transfer and just getting a taxi. However, I was determined to make it work as we were four travelers, each with a large and small bag and we didn't want to negotiate with broken English regarding the fare, etc, etc. Been there. So - I'm looking at all of the drivers holding signs, looking for my name. There are lots of them. I review my email from Discovery Mundo which was good enough to tell me exactly where to meet after exiting the airport (I was there). Still no driver. I called the numbers given by Discovery Mundo (to their partner company in Paris) and neither worked. I emailed them hoping that someone might be watching the email. This, or fate, or just waiting did the trick. A frantic young man came running up with my name on a sign. Crisis averted. Sort of. We had to drag our bags quite a distance to where the driver had been relegated to park. He was pleasant and loaded us up. As we were navigating our of the airport, he stopped at one point to say "hello" to a fellow driver. Not a problem if it was a "bonjour" and move on. He talked for five minutes. Then, after we were on the way again he turned to me and asked if it was o.k. if he stopped for fuel (I was sitting in front). Really? I looked at the gauge and saw he wasn't joking. What could I say "no....you go without fuel"? So, we stop for gas. Eventually, we were back on the road and less than an hour later we were at our hotel.
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| Outside Hotel Ares |
We stayed at the Hotel Ares Paris. I have to start by saying what a wonderful hotel this ended up being. More about that later, but we would seek this place out in the unlikely event we went to Paris
again. We didn't have anything planned this evening (due to the travel) but settled in, wandered out for some dinner (had a burger at Les Burgers du Pere Claude), and went to bed.
Thursday April 16, 2015
We learned something very important on our first morning in Paris. Nothing opens until 7am (at the earliest). The only (and I mean ONLY) negative I had to report about our hotel was that c
offee was not available until 7am. I wrote a review (a glowing one) but mentioned the coffee. The management reminded me that I could have had the night desk person get us some. True....the first morning. Gorges was great. He got me some coffee and I sat waiting for the others (this is after I walked out to see if a cafe was open at 6am). More on the coffee later. We had breakfast at the hotel, but for the 18 Euro per person price tag it was the only time we ate here. Decent food, but nothing special for being 5 Euro more than the other regular cafes.
We had booked a walking tour at 9am with Wego Walking tours (ranked #1 on the travel site). It started at the Notre Dame Cathedral so we took the metro for the first time (nothing exciting). After
the Notre Dame, we walked along the river (La Seine) and saw the interesting bridges (pont neuf, etc) and made our way to the Louvre. We walked around it and then back to the river area. Next stop was the Invalides area (more on that later). We finally wound our way between the Eiffel Tower and the Military Academy. The tour was absolutely wonderful. The best way to start our visit in Paris and see the areas we wanted to focus on later.
We spent the afternoon wandering the city, finding the grocery store (Monoprix), and eating some great food (had dinner at La Gauloise.
Friday April 17, 2015
This morning is when the coffee thing really came home. Georges was off and another guy (honestly I didn't get his name and after a few nights didn't want it. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't as attentive as Georges. He literally slept on the floor behind the front desk). My dad and I went to Le Suffren for breakfast at 7am but they weren't ready to seat anyone at 7:10am. We went next door to Cafe le Piquet and ordered breakfast. Apparently they weren't serving eggs yet so we had the breakfast francais (as opposed to anglais which includes eggs). It was a lovely slice of baguette, buttered; a delicious croissant; some coffee and juice.
Eiffel Tower Day! Our tour on the previous day ended at the Eiffel Tower which was 5 minutes from our hotel. We had booked a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the tower and it worked very well. We met by Mr. Eiffel's statue and there were about a dozen in our group. The tour guide was o.k., nothing to write home about, but adequate. Our first stop was to walk away from the Tower and go into an underground bunker to learn more history about the Tower and its role since being built.
Coffee - solved! I went to the Starbucks (I know....) to see if they had those little freeze-dried, instant packets to make a cup of coffee. The did not. So, I went to the supermarket and voila! I bought an electric kettle, instant coffee, and individual creamers. We now had our own in-room coffee service. The kettle was only 30 Euros and I would have paid $100. My initial thought was to get a Verissimo from Starbucks like I have at home (they sold the pods) but they didn't have one and I couldn't find where to get it. The kettle worked just as well and was far cheaper.
Saturday April 18, 2015
Breakfast at Le Suffren at 7:30am. Best breakfast and only 13 Euros (just give them time to open up).
We had booked a tour of the Louvre and Orsay museums for Saturday. We met at the Louis 14th statue near the pyramid and met Belen. She was to be our tour guide, just for the four of us. She is an artist that does her own exhibits but just started being a tour guide recently to supplement her income. Lucky us! She was an Argentine-born Italian working in Paris.
Her knowledge was superb and while she took us to the famous exhibits, she made sure to tell us why they were famous (or shouldn't be - like the Mona Lisa) and showed us how to view the art. With sculpture, she showed us the best place to view certain pieces and showed us how the other views detracted from the artist's intended vision. She showed us how the painters used different colors to effectively bend the light to give perceptions at a certain viewing distance. After 3 hours at the Louvre, we were off to the Orsay. Of course, we had a stop at a wonderful patisserie for a snack. We ended up visiting here again later. The Orsay was also divine and not as overwhelming. We spent another 2 hours here before wrapping up the tour.Sunday April 19, 2015
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| Napoleon's Tomb |
lides (or the museum and living quarters for the military wounded/disabled). This is where Napoleon's Tomb is located. It was the largest collection of military artifacts that we have ever seen. The suits of armor, weapons, and everything in between were located in this sprawling museum. Very interesting but exhausting.
Monday April 20, 2015
London! We booked first-class tickets on the EuroStar from Paris to London. We left early and took the metro to the Paris train station. After navigating the station and going through U.K. passport control we boarded our train. It went very fast but we were able to enjoy the countryside of France. 
We went through the tunnel under the English Channel for about 30 minutes at 100 MPH. Once in England, we were at the London station in about 40 minutes from the channel. We had booked a private black taxi tour for 4 hours. The tour was perfect. He took us to all of the major sites, letting us out when we wanted and picking us back up later. We were able to see the 11am changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We were at the Big Ben tower when the clock struck 12 noon. The only part we could have skipped was the drive through the "posh" area where he pointed out nice cars. Other than that - great tour! He dropped us off in a shopping district (tourist trap) and we took the Tube back toward our train station. We had some fish and chips and headed back to Paris later that evening.Tuesday April 21, 2015
Last day in Paris. Our 2nd down-day with nothing planned. We wanted to tour the Notre Dame Cathedral and it was awesome. Then we went our separate ways and walked around the city a lot. We had our final Paris dinner at a great restaurant (La Casse Noix) and prepared to leave the next day.Wednesday April 22, 2015
Departure Day! I had confirmed our transport to the hotel (especially after our incident in arrival). Our flight leaves at 10:40 am and the company suggested picking us up at 7:40am (3 hours before departure). First mistake. Then, the driver was nearly 20 minutes late. Second mistake. Traffic was as I would expect on a Wednesday morning at 8am in a major metropolitan city - busy. But - we made it to the airport by 9am. So far, so good. We made our way to check our bags and the lines were long and the area was confusing. The Air France check in portion had a handful of areas and we were directed to go to areas 3 through 5. We went to 3. As we were in line, we saw the police cordoning off a piece of luggage that looked abandoned. A few minutes later as were were about to check our bags, a military man with a gun started shouting in French. I said "English, please". He said "we are evacuating this area. Move to area 4". We did. Got in line. Then that area was evacuated to area 5. Then to area 7 (apparently there is no area 6). But, area 7 is for priority customers. We weren't flying home business class, so we weren't a priority. Hundreds of us were crowded near area 7 waiting for about 30 minutes until they disposed of the bag. In the meantime I went to a kiosk to print the labels for our luggage. Once it opened back up we went to the self service check in and we were helped by a nice Air France lady. Of course, now we were passed the time to check bags but she overrode this and got our bags through and we rushed off to security. It wasn't bad but it took a bit. When we finally go through and got to our plane, we were the last to board at about 10:30am (yep - 10 minutes before departure - we were the last ones on). We breathed a sigh of relief, hoped our bags made it (they did) and settled in for the nearly 12 hour flight. The flight was uneventful and arrived in San Francisco on time. We picked up our luggage, headed to the shuttle and made our way back to the car.
Epilogue
Now that we've been to Paris, we are so glad we went. As I mentioned before we had never had a personal draw probably because of all of the myths and urban legends you hear from people that have never been. Bottom-line, we really liked it and could have spent a little more time there soaking up the culture. But - on to the next adventure. Where? Not sure yet. We'll keep you posted.
Au Revoir
VIDEO OF OUR TRIP
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Eastern Europe - April 2014
Our 2014 Trip to Eastern Europe
In the second half of April, we traveled to Eastern and Central Europe. We had seen commercials for Viking River cruises over time and thought maybe a river cruise would be great. Talking with our American Express travel agent, we wanted to avoid a cruise with predominantly American tourists. In our previous travels we enjoyed mingling with folks from other countries rather than transporting an American vacation (such as Disney World) to a foreign trip. We were told that Viking mostly advertises in the U.S. so we opted for Avalon. Interestingly, 50% of the passengers were American. Of the non-Americans, 40% were Canadian and the other 10% were Australian, Kiwis and Asian. Our first dinner we were lucky to find one of the few Kiwi couples (Mike and Ann) and quickly found that we liked them a lot.
But first - before our cruise we added four days in Poland.
Tuesday April 15, 2014
We began the day driving from Roseville to the San Francisco Airport. We dropped the poodles off at Francesca's Boarding in Dixon. We then parked in the long term parking and headed to our flight. The previous day I was lucky enough to be offered an upgrade to Business Class on our Air France flight to Paris. We've flown internationally before but never Business Class. What a luxury. While we planned to sleep, we enjoyed a customer service long forgotten in even First Class on American carriers. The lay flat seats allowed us to get plenty of sleep and adjust to the 9 hour time difference in Europe. We landed in Paris late the next day. One note: We generally try to only fly with carry-on luggage to avoid having to wait at the carousel for our bags. We didn't realize that Air France actually weighed the carry-on baggage and were were carrying too much weight. We had to check our roller bags.Wednesday April 16, 2014
Just before noon, we landed in Paris. We had less than two hours to navigate the airport, get through passport control, re-check through security (which was much less intrusive than American security lines) and board our 2 hour flight to Warsaw. The difference in the two flights were stark. The plane was much smaller than the international size (more like a domestic flight here). To make matters worse, we were literally surrounded by screaming babies. We put our headsets on and listened to music and tried to sleep. We arrived in Warsaw around 3pm and had a transfer waiting for us with a sign saying "Riggs". The ride to the Warsaw Westin was uneventful and we settled into our hotel for the two night stay. I found an ATM and got some local currency (Polish Zloty, abbreviated PLN - which we promptly created our own term, calling the money "Plins"). 3 Zloty equaled about 1 US dollar so we enjoyed a little bump in our spending ability. We ate dinner at a nearby cafe, wanting to try some local fare. I had some Zurek soup but we found that while this was a local cafe, they had different menus in English and we are sure the prices were adjusted to minimize the currency bump. The hotel room was alright. The cream for coffee was different and didn't settle well.Thursday April 17, 2014
We booked a Segway Tour and had a fabulous time. The weather could not have been more perfect. We walked to the old city square. It was made known to us that many of the cities we were visiting were completely (or nearly) destroyed by Allied bombing at the end of WWII. With the exception of Krakow, all of the cities we visited were rebuilt, trying to recreate the pre-war construction in many places. The Segway tour took us all around the city center, old and new. We learned a lot about the Warsaw uprising and the Ghetto uprising.Friday April 18, 2014
This morning, we checked out and took a taxi to the train station. We had booked first class ticket for the 3 hour rider to Krakow. Holly asked a local on the train platform where to board. The sole first class coach was identified and we found a sitting room that we shared with a local man and his daughter. They were a delight, although we didn't talk much. The countryside was beautiful through Poland. We arrived in Krakow around 11am and took a taxi to the Holiday Inn (this was the only semi-low point in our accommodations. I haven't researched to see if we should have had a nicer hotel, but it was moderately satisfactory in the end.Saturday April 19, 2014
This morning we took a trip to Auschwitz. The scale of the intact death camp was mind boggling. We started in Auschwitz I, the original camp. This housed many barracks and the housing for the Nazis who ran it. There were so many tourists that the lines to go into the baracks were packed. As we went through we couldn't really stop and appreciate the exhibits but had to keep moving to let others through (reminds me of visiting the crown of the Statue of Liberty). From there, we took a shuttle bus to Auschwitz II known as Birkenau. Here was where the majority of Jews arrived by train and were sorted on the Sorting Platform. Only two directions to go. One way - directly to the gas chambers. The other - live to work for a while. But most eventually went to the chambers. When we were waiting for the shuttle, there were scores of people waiting. When the bus came, it filled to standing room only with people lined up at the door. We decided to wait until the next bus. It wasn't any better and we packed ourselves into the bus like sardines.
SLIDESHOW - Auschwitz: Click HERE
We returned to the hotel and checked out around 9pm and took a taxi to the train station. We had a first class sleeper car for the trip to Prague. We slept most of the 8 hours and arrived in Prague around 7am.
Avalon Cruise
Our Route
Our Ship
Sunday April 20, 2014 - Day 1 Avalon
We took a taxi to the Hilton Prague, checked our bags with the bell desk, had some breakfast and waited to get a room. It was interesting to see in door smoking areas (which I took advantage of with a cigar). Later we went walking through the shopping area of Prague. This began our formal Avalon cruise trip (which included a few days in Prague. We checked in with the Avalon desk and went to an orientation meeting that evening. We got some local currency from an ATM (Czech Korunas - which we called "Crownies"). We got about 20 Korunas for each US Dollar. Our travel agent booked dinner reservations for us at the Café Imperial. It was perfect. Great atmosphere, service, and above all the food was divine.Monday April 21, 2014 - Day 2 Avalon
We started the day with an included walking tour of the city center. We got to see Prague Castle and the Old Town's Astronomical Clock built in 1410 and visited the Hradcany Castle Grounds. That afternoon we took the optional excursion to the Terezin memorial. It was a Nazi work camp during the war. We also found a nice cigar shop at which I bought a week's supply of Cuban cigars. It cost less for Cuban Cohibas here then the Domincan version I can buy in the States.Tuesday April 22, 2014 - Day 3 Avalon
This day we took the optional tour called "Tasting Bohemian Wines" which took us to the Bohemian countryside to Castle Melnik (the former residence of the queen widows of Bohemia. It was an old, working medieval castle where they produced wine. The wine wasn't that good. Apparently, in the Czech Republic they like "young" wines. Not to our liking, but interesting all the same. Later that afternoon we took the "Prague's Secrets Revealed" walking tour. It was an interesting tour including the St. Charles Bridge but we didn't really see any "Secrets". The bridge was very crowded and we were on high alert for pickpockets.Wednesday April 23, 2014 - Day 4 Avalon
After lunch, we boarded a bus for the 3 hour ride to Nuremberg. Once there, we boarded the ship, had our safety drill and got familiar with our room. We had one of the only two Royal Suites which were 33% larger than the regular suites. The room was fabulous and gave us room to hang out comfortably when we needed to be alone.Thursday April 24, 2014 - Day 5 Avalon
We took the included tour of Nuremberg this day. It ended near a Cuckoo Clock shop and we bought one. It was made in The Back Forest and arrived at our home in late May. Wonderful addition to our home. We were also given a voucher for a beer and sausages at a local eatery. The food/beer was good but the service was bad.Friday April 25, 2014 - Day 6 Avalon
We sailed to Regensburg. We took the optional excursion to the Weltenburg Abbey. It started with a very nice ferry ride up the river. The Abbey was amazing. We also received word that our next Standard Poodle was born this day! Saturday April 26, 2014 - Day 7 Avalon
We sailed to Passau and boarded a bus for the optional, all-day excursion to Salzburg "The Sound of Music", Austria. This was by far our best excursion. Those who didn't go on an excursion sailed on to Linz, where we met them at the end of the day. We took the 90 minute bus ride into Austria and stopped in Salzburg. We hung out in the Mirabell Gardens where the Do-Re-Mi song was filmed (long arch way, steps, etc). We then continued to St. Michael's Church in Mondsee, Austria (where they were married). We then took a scenic drive through the lake areas (90 minutes) to Linz.Sunday April 27, 2014 - Day 8 Avalon
We sailed from Linz to Melk and we opted out of the included tour of the Benedictine Abbey and relaxed all day on the ship. We heard from other passengers that the tour wasn't that great and we made a good decision to relax and recuperate from the traveling. The ship continued on to Vienna. We arrive in the early evening and walked around to get a lay of the land (and find the Metro).Monday April 28, 2014 - Day 9 Avalon
We opted out of the optional guided morning tour in Vienna and struck out on our own. We took the Metro to the Belvedere museum where they were showing the Gustav Klimpt "The Kiss" (of which we have an oil reproduction). Later that afternoon, we took the optional excursion to the Schonbrunn Imperial Palace. The Palace was grand but overrun with tourist groups. Half-way through the tour we left the Palace and visited the vast gardens.Tuesday April 29, 2014 - Day 10 Avalon
We sailed past Bratslava, Slovakia that evening and continued on through the night to Budapest, Hungary. In the morning, we hit an ATM at the Intercontinental hotel and got some local currency. We got 220 Hungarian Florints for each US dollar. It was odd paying 4,500 Florints for $5 worth of goods. In the morning, we opted out of the included bus tour and went walking on our own. We took the tram to the top of the hill and enjoyed stunning views of Budapest. In the afternoon we took an optional tour to Szentendre. We were told it had nice souvenirs and would be a great shopping opportunity. It turned out to be our worst excursion of the trip. The 20 minute bus ride took nearly 90 minutes due to construction being done in anticipation of the May Day celebration. Once there, it was clearly a tourist trap. All of the merchandise was extremely marked up and we were very disappointing. Due to the long trip there, we had little time to look around (which ended up being fortunate). Then the trip back took just as long. We passed on the "Budapest's Night Lights" optional tour that we prepaid. In retrospect, the late tour didn't work well with our early morning departure the next day.Wednesday April 30, 2014
We left the ship very early (in fact, I didn't sleep at all) at around 3:30am by bus to the Budapest airport. We had a 2 hour flight to Amsterdam. We sat on the plane for 45 minutes waiting for clearance due to fog in Amsterdam. We were a little worried about making our connection. Once we were on our way and arrived in Amsterdam, we navigated to passport control and made it to the US security checkpoint. We got through and boarded without an issue. We were in coach for this flight but ended up with the three-seat row to ourselves. We slept periodically and watched movies. After 10.5 hours we landed in San Francisco, retrieve our car ($280 for parking), picked up the dogs and our bird and made it homeMonday, February 13, 2012
2012 Rome, Italy
We just got back from a fabulous trip to Rome. While we wanted to go off-season to avoid the extreme heat and large crowds of tourists (not to mention hoards of pick-pockets), we had know idea it would snow just before we got there. We're told that it was the most snow at once in 26 years. The city literally shut down the morning we arrived. Our airport transfer cancelled and the trains were not running. Fortunately, we found another shuttle and were on our way. Despite the cold weather, we were able to see all of the sites (there were no lines) and we had our scheduled audience with the Pope with no problems (we are blessed.....literally).
SLIDESHOW - Rome: Click HERE
SLIDESHOW - Rome: Click HERE
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