Singing Dalmatians on my b day

Sorry, no photos, we haven't been able to upload our photos off the camera. (photos added on Oct 7th) But, I will help you imagine what it looks like here in Hvar. The sea is blue, very very clear, and warm. The town wraps around a harbor and up the hills. There are no cars allowed on most of the streets around the harbor so except for the sounds of the cafes and clubs after dark it is a lovely quiet town. It is a more upscale vacation town then anywhere else we've been in Croatia. Yachts are moored along the waterfront and fancy cafes and bars with new minimalist decor keep watch. It won't be long before P. Diddy is mooring his yacht here.



On on first night in town we saw a poster for a concert, the top vocal group on the Dalmation Coast was performing in the 17th century monastery cloister. I know, visions of singing dalmatian dogs danced in my mind too, but it was a group of three tenors, two baritones, and three bass singers, all male. Two of the bass singers had the deepest bass voices I'd ever heard. They sang unaccompanied for the first half, then with only a guitar. All Dalmatian folk songs.



It was dark and the monastery was lit up, underlighting the bats which flew overhead. The songs were wonderful, even without understanding any of the words we enjoyed them. The group is called a Klappa, we means they are a group of friends who sing for fun together. As one of the bass singers translated for the audience, it is all about wine, friends, and singing. They do it not because they are professionals, but because they love it. I teased Rich on the walk over that they were most likely the Tom Jones of the Dalmatian Coast, the darlings of the Croatian housewives, who would scream and throw panties on the stage. Any panty chucking and I'm out of here, Rich said.

No panties were thrown, the concert was great, and we have spent the rest of our time walking around and swimming. We are staying up the hill a bit in a room with a terrace and a view of the harbor and the islands. Today we catch the ferry to Split.

Catch up to Croatia

We are now in Croatia, on the Island of Korčula.



We went from Montenegro to Dubrovnik (photo above) on the bus, stayed in a nice little apartment close to the beach in the Lapa neighborhood, which was a short bus ride from the old city of Dubrovnik. The rain finally let up our second day in Dubrovnik (we resisted buying an umbrella) and we got to walk the city walls in sunshine and without crowds. We discovered that as long as you get where you want to be before about 9:30 the hoards of bus tourists will not be there yet. The walls around the old city are 2 km long and six meters thick on parts of the land side. We visited the musuem where I was, frankly, disappointed by the dungeon. It is called the dragon dungeon, and was a real active dungeon. I turned to Rich and said, it's not very cold in here. I always thought dungeons were really cold, and damp. It's not very damp either. So, Rich said, you're saying that the dungeon is a disappointment.

Here in Croatia the monetary unit is the Kuna. The exchange rate is about 6 kuna to the dollar. Knowing my off the cuff math skills as most of you probably do, you can imagine how much fun I am having trying to calculate things into dollars. For example, we walked down to the beach from our apartment and decided to sit for a while. You can rent beach chairs and umbrellas which are controlled by the various cafes. Our two beach chairs cost 20 Kuna, which my brain registers as a lot of money. Yeah, not really.

Here's a photo for the cat people, cats in Split.

Mostar club maddness

So Rich and I? We like stayed out until like 2? And then we like, were so late for the bus? We had to run, and we're so hung over ...



Ok, that wasn't us, but it seemed to have happened to some kids who were on our bus from Mostar to Dubrovnik. And I have embellished, they were British, not valley girls. Rich and I stayed out until a whopping 9:30 on our second night in Mostar. How quickly a routine develops. We scope out the town on our first evening, Rich agonizes over which resturant to eat at, while I keep saying "oh, this looks good, let's eat here!" Rich then comes up with one of his many reasons why that resturant is surely inferior to ten other resturants that may be around the corner and are vastly better. I teased him that there is one big kitchen under Mostar with pnuematic tubes delivering the food (I think that was in an Augustine Burroughs book, referring to Chinese food in NYC, and our friend Naomi claims it about the Indian resturants on a street in NYC, minus the pnuematic tubes.)

Rich has resturant radar. I don't. I wanted the one that had the cutest stray cats slinking around the tables. Or the one that is closest to where I am standing. So, we circle and circle and circle, and end up going back to the second one we saw. It's kind of like what happened on family camping trips when I was young. Dad would drop off a child at each possible campsite as he drove through the campground, to save the spot. You'd sit on the picnic table and wait, and wait, and wait. Eventually the station wagon or Chevy Surburban would come back and we'd set up camp, or a sibling would come back to fetch you. But, every campsite must be viewed and judged compared to the other sites. Wait a minute, Rich does that too.

As much as I tease him, Rich does have good resturant radar. He usually settles on a good one, and Mostar was no exception. Veal Kabobs while sitting on a terrace above a creek burbling down to the river, a swirling symphony of bats wheeling overhead. Perfection.

Mostar is quickly becoming a tourist destination/Disney-fied version of itself. The rebuilt bridge has launched a slew of new resturants and clubs. Bus loads of tourists arrive morning noon and evening, but most leave before nightfall, leaving the town a little emptier. New clubs and bars opening up. All in all, a fascinating place and well worth a visit.

The day of religion.

On our last full day in Sarajevo we went to the Greek Othodox Church and Musuem, the Jewish Museum, and the Muslim Mosque. You have to be pretty proactive when attempting to find and visit the various musuems, signage is not good, and then figuring out where you buy tickets is not easy.



The Mosque is beautiful. As long as you are modestly dressed, and remove your shoes, and for women have a headscarf, you can walk around and look at the amazing detail. The Mosque suffered about 100 direct hits during the siege but the walls are 3 meters thick so it was damaged but not destroyed.

The food has been great. Yesterday was lunch at Sarajevo's brewery, and dinner was at a little resturant in the old quarter. The range of our meal costs have been about $37 for a nice dinner with wine, appetizers, entree, and after dinner drink, to last night and our $10 dinner for a huge plate of grilled lamp in pita with onions and mineral water. Followed by ice cream, which is hugely popular and costs .50 KM, which is about 35 cents. So, Rich is not having withdrawls from my home made ice cream. At 35 cents he can eat all he wants. Sometimes it a bit of mystery if you choose a flavor you don't recogize.

We are packing to leave for Mostar today, so more when we find another internet connection. And one more photo, of Rich with a map!

The Hills of Sarajevo

As Rich tells me, we have uphill and we have downhill, and on some walks we are all out of down. But, in Sarajevo, our hotel is not very far up the hill, so when we walk up, we must come down. It is a city of hills and a river valley.



We arrived at the Sarajevo airport on Monday Sept 11th. To see the war scars on the buildings near the airport, and on many other buildings in the City, is a grim reminder of what Sarajevo went through, and what other cities and towns are going through in the Middle East because of my country and our mis guided war on an abstract notion.



There is a long pedestrian street which is crowded with shoppers and strollers. It starts in the old town with narrow streets and cobblestones. Young muslim women wearing headscarves and modest clothing also wear make up and carry handbags. The young muslim men blend right in with everyone else. Yesterday evening we heard the evening call to prayers broadcast over a loudspeaker from a mosque, and then as we were walking by the mosque we saw teenage boys running, late for prayers, pulling off their shoes at the entrance and getting inside as fast as they could. On the old street shoppers walked eating ice cream cones. It is an amazing City.

Haute Savior

That's France to you and me.



We are with our good friends Hannah and Erik, and their two boys Finn and Frank in the Vallee Verte. It has been wonderful to see them all again, it's been about five years since we've seen them all, they were in Norway the last time. New country, new language.

Great cycling, easy trip over. Cyclists, fly Luftansa. So simple with the bikes.

One more photo and a promise of more later. This is everything that went with us. Oh, and Rich as well.

Dancing

Dancing together for 9 years.


Dancing together for 50 years.



That's my Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary.

We leave tonight for Geneva, as excited as I am it's difficult to realize I won't see my family and friends for 10 months. We will miss so much in their lives; happiness, sadness, babies arriving and kids growing up. I know it's only a year, less really, but for such a homebody like me, it's a lot.

The next post will be from an internet cafe somewhere in France.

The cyclist went over the mountains...

Thoughts while riding my bicycle (Precious) over the Rockies:

Day one, Glenwood Springs to Edwards, 45 miles, average speed 10.4 MPH. Boy, I should have done some training for this ride. Oh yeah, I was going to lose 10 pounds before doing this - yup - would have been easier. Glenwood Canyon is beautiful, out of the canyon - very dry and sunny.

Day two, Edwards to Frisco, over Vail Pass, 42 miles, average speed 8 MPH. Nice bus driver in Vail - no, I didn't cheat and take the bus, he saw us looking for a bike shop (I left my helmet on the train so I had to buy one before we hit the downhill side of Vail Pass) and gave us a deli recommendation. The climb up the pass is tough, but it's all on separated bike path. I can go very slowly without falling over. How slow? 3.2 MPH. I can't take my hands off the handlebars at that speed, but I'm still moving. Down to Frisco rocked, downhill almost all the way.



Day three, Frisco to Idaho Springs, about 50 miles, average speed 8.7 MPH. We had hoped to get all the way to Golden, but called my brother and he picked us up in Idaho Springs. Loveland Pass kicked my tushy. Ouch ouch ouch. 3 1/2 hours to go up, 10 minutes to come down.



And why do Colorado cyclists seem to all be kinda rude? Barely a good morning or hey how 'ya doing? out of them. When my friend Nancy and I ride in the Bay Area with just one pannier each, to carry our lunches and extra clothing, we get so many people asking where we're going, what we're doing etc, that it's funny. We joke that we should just start saying "We're going to Canada." no matter what.

In Colorado we had only two other cyclists ask us where we were going, one was from Wyoming, one was from Idaho I think. The Colorado cyclists just whizzed on by. They are a fit bunch, we figure they must all be training for triathalons or whatever and are in super competitive mode. But brother, when I'm suffering up Loveland Pass at 3.4 MPH and you go by doing 8 or 9, the least you could do is say "hi". No camaraderie of the road. So, kudos to the nice Bay Area cyclists.

This train is bound for...where?

We took Amtrack to Colorado on Thursday 17th and were lucky enough to be on the same train as our friend Josh, who is headed to Britain for grad school - read his blog at: http://web.mac.com/joshuahart



The train was fun, but slow. My sister Kathy picked us up at the Grand Junction train station so we could spend two nights with her and her husband, Chris, and their two girls. The nieces view Rich as an exotic climbing wall, which is fun to watch. We ate, swam in the creek, rode in the pony cart, ate, had a blast, ate some more, played with the girls, and then ate again. Chris is a wonderful cook.



We are headed to Longmont, where my brother Steve and his wife Claire live. My parents are already there, we are all gathering to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We are getting to Longmont via bicycles over the Rockies. Yes, ouch. That's next.

Adult swim!

Hmm...we thought the kids would like the pool, so why are the adults in the pool and the kids not? Moses and I were chillin' our ankles, Naomi and Owen were happy to throw the toys in. They did go in later.

East Coast Wrap up.

After our time in Boston we went up to New Hampshire to see Moses and Rebecca and the two cutest kids in all of New England. Rich and Moses grew up together in Hingham. Food, talking, trip to the beach, picking veggies and blueberries in the garden, it was a blast.

Then, off to see Craig and Lisa on the farm.



We were a little lazy about photos on this trip, but here is Yankee Village - actually Old Sturbridge Village, but I prefer Yankee Village. I'm a sucker for the living history stuff and the buildings at Old Sturbridge are great.



Favorite New York activities: A bike ride with Naomi, we went out to Orchard Beach, about 45 miles round trip. The guy in the bike rental store was a bit shocked, I don't think his rental bikes ever went further then Central Park before. Blue Pig Ice Cream in Brooklyn, the Doughnut Plant, and the Tenement museum in the Lower East Side. Yum, yum, and wow.



Right after New York we stayed with Jon and Rachael. Because, you know, getting married isn't enough to think about - let's throw some houseguests in the mix the week before. They were wonderful to have us stay and we are so happy for them. Their wedding was the reason for the entire east coast trip, expanding it to three weeks to see all our friends was just another benefit of being un-employed.



Hopped over to the Hartford area next to see Michelle and Alan, who have just moved from Memphis to Conn. How lazy were we with photos? Not one photo of Michelle and Alan or their little dog, Scout. We went tubing on the Farmington River, Alan took the day off work but Michelle couldn't. We told her it was no fun, but we lied. It was great. A really hot day and nothing to do but float down the river with your butt in cold water. Perfect. Again, digging the un-employment.

The slow road to Boston

Sure we could have taken the turnpike from Northhampton to Boston, but looking at trees and asphalt for the entire drive sounded kind of boring (along with our dislike of large vehicles is a dislike of actual driving), so we took route 9 the entire way. The perfect route it turned out, since it took us right from Northhampton to Jamaica Plain, where we were staying with Jim for two nights. On our route 9 drive we got really good at figuring out which small towns were within spitting distance of a Walmart. The check list goes something like this: Oddly empty downtown? Boarded up shop windows? A grocery store with a going out of business sign?
Ladies and Gentlemen - you are the proud recipients of a huge (negative) tax generator, traffic creating, soul sucking, downtown killing, less then living wage paying - Walmart. (cue the band and the fireworks.)

The old villages and towns that were too far away from a Walmart to reap the benefits of cheap goods from China were a sad sight indeed. I'm not sure how their residents could possibly think that their vibrant little main street with small shops and pedestrians, trees and kids riding bikes, tax revenue generating shops that actually encouraged a driver to stop and walk around could possibly compete with 20 acres of parking lot baking in the sun.



The two things that I want to mention about Boston (besides what a great host Jim was and how much fun we had going out with him, there he is above): the Boston Museum of Fine Arts rocks! What a good collection they have of early American art and furniture, and a good modern collection that they are working to improve with a lot of recent acquisitions. Oh sure, you can build a fancy building and get a lot of press (cough cough de Young), but if the collection isn't great all you have is a fancy building and nice bathrooms. The de Young has great bathrooms.

The piece of art that made the biggest impression on me was an Edward Hopper called A room in Brooklyn. What tickled my fancy was the placard with the description of the piece. The official description said something about depicting the loneliness of Brooklyn..someone had crossed out loneliness and substituted beauty and tranquility. Rich and I laughed at the image of someone from Brooklyn seeing that and thinking - hey! You 'dissing Brooklyn? and pulling out a ball point pen and improving the official version.

The other thing that made us sit up and take notice were the performers at Jacques
http://www.jacquescabaret.com/
and reactions of the audience. Since we live in SF we certainly have the opportunity to see drag performances, they are fun and great to watch. At Jacques it was more interesting to watch the audience then the performers. Jacques seems to have captured the bachelorette party business - I guess the women feel it's a non-threatening environment and the groom is probably happy that the bride isn't at a Chippendale type place with male strippers. So, the next time you're in Boston check out Jacques. We had fun.


When we get back to SF I'll add some photos to the entries.

Hot and humid?

I promise to never again make fun of the phrase people use when it's hot..."Well, at least it's a dry heat..." I know we're spoiled in SF, and in California in general but the past week has really made me appreciate it. We flew into Washington DC and rented a car for the three weeks we're bouncing around New England. Of course the nice man at the car rental counter "hooked us up" with a mid-size car - we reserved a compact - and all who know us know perfectly well that we like our cars small, like our.....oh, tried and failed to think of something cheeky there...like our underwear - no, doesn't work, like our credit card bill? Oh well, if you think of something funny that would have worked, please say it to yourself. Anyway, we held out for a compact, a Chevy Cobalt, better gas mileage, easier to park - all of which I of course explained to the rental car guy, none of which he cared about. Making friends, sharing the gospel of small cars and fuel efficiency.

We drove to Gettysburg PA to spend one night on our way to MA. We had just enough time to check out the battlefields (and sweat), walk around town (yes, more sweat), have a good Italian dinner (AC, now I understand you), and do the cool retro 1950's style electric map in the visitors center. The map is really useful in understanding how the battle of Gettysburg progressed, and why it was such a watershed moment in the Civil War, even though the war went on for another ...3 years I think? Sad to think of how many lives were affected. The display on battlefield medical treatment was gruesome.



It was on to visit Rich's cousin Lori in Northhampton next. Northhampton must be the Berkeley of MA, we felt right at home. Took a nice walk around the town and campus of Smith College and had a great brewpub dinner. Lori has traveled a lot so we had lots of great travel talk. We are now considering re-arranging the itinerary to go to Turkey, both Lori and my brother-in-law Christopher speak very highly of Istanbul, as did a woman we meet last night out with friends. So, who knows....

next entry, Boston and a great night out with Jim. Two words: drag queens. After that, an amazing farm in MA and a hot and humid NYC.

Packing up and saying goodbyes.

Although we don't leave on our big adventure until Sept. 1st, we will be on a 3 week trip to the East Coast starting Wednesday, and then a trip to Colorado for a week. So, not much time left in SF, and not much time to pack up the apartment. We've started to pack up and since we will have house sitters staying at our place we need to leave it neat and tidy. That means the current state of chaos needs to be cleaned up. As we found when we moved into our 600 Sq Ft rental cottage - there isn't much room for boxes! Well, not if you actually want to walk around. So, today will be re-org day. When you live in a small place you spend a lot of time re-orging.

Yesterday Rich's step-mother Julie had a lovely going away party for us. She had a map marked with our stops and solicited travel tips from the guests. We got some great advice and some lovely gifts - a travel clothesline and some soap were my favorite. We intend to be doing a lot of laundry in hotel sinks!

By popular demand....the itinerary.

Rich and Cheryl’s Itinerary, dates are subject to change.
East Coast trip beginning on July 19th.
Colorado trip beginning on Aug 17th.

Leave for Geneva on Sept 1st.

After we return to SF in June 07 we intend to go back to Europe to do some bike touring.

To Munich and on to Geneva:

Flight: LH 459 operated by: LUFTHANSA
from: SAN FRANCISCO CA INTL, TERMINAL INTL
to: MUNICH DE FRANZ J STRAUSS, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 01. September, 21:55 h
Arrival: 02. September, 18:00 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

Flight: LH 3690 operated by: LUFTHANSA CITYLINE
from: MUNICH DE FRANZ J STRAUSS, TERMINAL 2
to: GENEVA CH, TERMINAL M
Departure: 02. September, 18:45 h
Arrival: 02. September, 19:55 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

From Geneva through Vienna and on to Sarajevo:

Flight: OS 572 operated by: TYROLEAN AIRWAYS
from: GENEVA CH, TERMINAL M
to: VIENNA AT VIENNA INTL
Departure: 11. September, 10:35 h
Arrival: 11. September, 12:20 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

Flight: OS 757 operated by: AUSTRIAN
from: VIENNA AT VIENNA INTL
to: SARAJEVO BA BUTMIR
Departure: 11. September, 13:30 h
Arrival: 11. September, 14:40 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

We’ll travel through Eastern Europe, starting south with the good weather and going north back to Vienna and then on to India:

Flight: OS 33 operated by: AUSTRIAN
from: VIENNA AT VIENNA INTL
to: DELHI IN INDIRA GANDHI INTL, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 09. November, 11:10 h
Arrival: 09. November, 23:10 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

We’ll stay in India until Dec 11 then on to Thailand:

Flight: TG 318 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: MUMBAI IN CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI, TERMINAL 2C
to: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 11. December, 23:00 h
Arrival: 12. December, 04:50 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: TG 253 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL DOM
to: SURAT THANI TH
Departure: 12. December, 10:40 h
Arrival: 12. December, 11:55 h
Class: C, confirmed

Then from Thailand to Vietnam:

Flight: TG 697 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: PHNOM PENH KH POCHENTONG, TERMINAL INTL
to: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 01. February, 10:30 h
Arrival: 01. February, 11:35 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: TG 684 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
to: HANOI VN NOIBAI, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 01. February, 17:50 h
Arrival: 01. February, 19:40 h
Class: D, confirmed

On to Hong Kong:

Flight: UA 862 operated by: UNITED AIRLINES
from: HO CHI MINH CITY VN TAN SON NH
to: HONG KONG HK HONG KONG INTL
Departure: 23. February, 06:05 h
Arrival: 23. February, 09:40 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: NZ 38 operated by: AIR NEW ZEALAND
from: HONG KONG HK HONG KONG INTL
to: AUCKLAND NZ, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 01. March, 19:00 h
Arrival: 02. March, 10:45 h
Class: D, confirmed

And on to New Zealand:

Flight: NZ 531 operated by: AIR NEW ZEALAND
from: AUCKLAND NZ, TERMINAL DOM
to: CHRISTCHURCH NZ, TERMINAL M
Departure: 02. March, 12:30 h
Arrival: 02. March, 13:50 h
Class: M, confirmed

Then to Austrailia,

Flight: NZ 793 operated by: FREEDOM AIR / FULL AIRNZ SERVICE
from: CHRISTCHURCH NZ, TERMINAL M
to: MELBOURNE VI TULLAMARINE, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 30. March, 15:35 h
Arrival: 30. March, 17:25 h
Class: D, confirmed

To Singapore:

Flight: SQ 232 operated by: SINGAPORE AIRLINES
from: SYDNEY NS KINGSFORDSMITH, TERMINAL 1
to: SINGAPORE SG CHANGI, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 26. April, 12:55 h
Arrival: 26. April, 17:50 h
Class: D, confirmed

Then to China

Flight: TG 402 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: SINGAPORE SG CHANGI, TERMINAL 1
to: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 04. May, 08:15 h
Arrival: 04. May, 09:35 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: TG 612 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
to: KUNMING CN, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 04. May, 10:50 h
Arrival: 04. May, 14:05 h
Class: D, confirmed

The flight home is open.

from: SHANGHAI CN PU DONG
to: TOKYO JP NARITA
Class: D, open

from: TOKYO JP NARITA
to: SAN FRANCISCO CA INTL
Class: D, open

Who wouldn't miss this crew?

Group photo from my going away lunch of Thai food and chocolate cake. People said nice things, which was sweet. This is why I never aspired to work from home.

Is Rich getting happy? See below for an idea.

Cubicle with a view

I've worked at my current job for five years and 9 months. It's a big company in downtown SF, my cubicle on the 28th floor has a great view down Market Street.



I gave notice Friday the 9th of June. My last day at Big Company will be Thursday July 6th. I haven't dared to start this blog before I gave notice - I didn't want to become one of those internet stories - "Woman loses job by blogging about plans to leave".

Back in August when Rich and I hatched this plan it seemed so far away. Ten months of planning and plotting and not telling. First there was sale of the condo to get through, complete with staging and open houses and keeping the darn place clean during it all. Then the move from a 1,900 sq ft place to a 600 sq ft rental cottage. The getting rid of all the stuff that wouldn't fit in a 600 sq ft cottage. Getting rid of more stuff that fit, but was in the way. And then getting rid of a little more so there would be room to turn around. And of course trying not to accumulate more stuff. It was a good lesson in what's necessary for happiness.

Here we are. 11 more days of work left for me, 12 for Rich. Big Company is more generous with the holidays then his work place. Fourth of July means the Monday and Tuesday off for me, just the Tuesday for him. Until then, I'll continue to enjoy my cubicle with a view and the morning coffee runs with my co-workers.