Summer Splurge : Gaining Pounds, Expending Europhia

So we finally managed to get out for our annual July 4th vacation after a couple year hiatus, when life seemingly had taken over.

These vacations are special time with family, pointing the idiosyncrasies, discovering a few new ones and having a good laugh, discovering hidden latent talents on the R&R path– and above all finding a few teachable moments that vacation seemingly offer as we tryst with the unknown, and the ongoing empowering-uplifting moments. Our July vacations in the past had taken us to National Parks like Banff, Jasper, Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Acadia and some pretty incredible European locales in London, Paris, Scotland and more ...creating wonderful memories. This one turned out special also, as we hit the much heard of Mediterranean coast of Europe.

The blog link is here, that was written hastily while waiting for the flight out at Barcelona airport; a brain dump of sorts before memories/details evaporate. So excuse the brevity as I brace for the mad scramble of the real world tomorrow.http://vacation2go.blogspot.com/2014/07/summer-splurge-gaining-pounds-expending.html

Time has been a precious commodity lately, and unlike our previous years, we did not have the luxury of planning out this one to the prior detail. We booked our cruise through cheapcruises.com almost three months prior. NOTE: Costco prices were not as good – almost $2500 more. The prices though kept dropping after, but we didn’t have that priceline type price protection. Our airline was booked after price check via Google flights and we then called Sunnyvale travel to book our tickets. Our Rome hotel was booked by looking over blogs, which recommended Campo Di Fiori location. We found our hotel CASO BLANCO based on a Lonely Planet recommendation – and we booked it by calling the hotel directly. For Barcelona we honed upon the La Ramba street happening area based on a friend’s recommendation, Hotel ORIENT ATIRAM – which worked out very well for us. AirBnB is a great option too worth exploring, but we haven’t had the mind shift yet to adopting this new approach. That was enough work already.

We were looking for a cruise vacation to make it easy for us; packaged excursions, food and room taken care off. Italy, France, Spain here we come….our first foray into the Mediterranean! We had a choice to go Norwegian Cruiseline or with Celebrity Cruises. Based on the reviews, the rating, we picked Celebrity for our 7 night cruise. There are many blog sites by cruise aficionadas, and based on reviews we decided to pick the cruisingexcursions.com day excursion package, instead of the celebrity packages that were way more expensive. We booked our day excursion package a couple weeks prior to our flight out from SFO. The few negative reviews for crusingexcursions.com at the blog were overrated – we didn’t have any issues with the excursion company – everything was managed well. Now Norwegian Cruise hits some fairly large cities in their 7 day cruise, whereas Celebrity hits the smaller ports; but the quality of the Celebrity cruise experience is so much better with Celebrity – you get the absolute 5 star experience. We actually saw the Norwegian cruise ship and Celebrity side by side and we were happy we had booked on Celebrity. It was advised to carry Euros with us (as against travelers check) – and that may not have been necessary in retrospect, as mostly everyone takes credit cards. But do brace yourself, it ain’t the Italian Liras anymore – this place is super expensive for the US $. The cheapest place on earth is now America. What!

We land in Rome jet lagged and sleep deprived. Rome has a special fascination after watching the HBO series Rome and those weekends at Bellagio and Venetian. They were a total fake, and this was the real deal. It was blazing hot – the sun beat down hard. The cobblestones all over the city radiates the heat back into our faces – and the one thing we discovered, our skins started peeling within a few days of our stay (tip – use sun screen). We had been advised to be careful with pick pockets – so we were ultra careful with our passport, wallet, luggage everything – staying away from crowded areas all through our European trip. After a quick taxi ride to the hotel we were checked-in into our bed & breakfast room @ 10 in the morning – an option that may not have been possible with a regular hotel….and we were out and about. Rome is definitely fascinating with so much history all over the city. We had only 24 hours to wrap our excursion – and our bed and breakfast location was ideal. We did get the 24 hour hop on, hop off pass – but that may have been not necessary, as this b&b is so ideally located. Our first stop was the coliseum – the inspiration for all stadiums across the world. Hard to imagine that in 20AD these magnificent monuments had been constructed. The grandeur the vision was mind-boggling. The tourists from all over the world had descended upon Europe now – people from Australia, India, America, parts of Europe enjoying the splendor of a Rome vacation. Excavations still uncover buried ruins that continue to pop up all over the city. The summer time ambiance in Rome was very special in spite of the heat. After the Coliseum, we made a trip to the St Peters Basilica / Vatican which was eye popping. Back to our BnB, we went for a stroll to our targeted dinner at the restaurant that Justina from CASO BLANCO had recommended. The bridge over the river Tiber was a very nice walk – with a mela going on under the bridge. We enjoyed the evening dinner in the “ghetto area” right across the bridge – which was actually a hotbed of happening. Tourist and locals, walking together, people dining outside - just a fabulous summer evening in Rome. The pizzas were special and the food was just enjoyable fare. We took a walk after dinner and discovered a concert going out door with hundreds sitting and enjoying late evening after diner (What no dancing?). Most European cities are designed with a town square in mind – where grotesque heads would be hung up for days as a lesson in those times bygone. But now they have become a place where the locals, tourist, circus acts, musicians, peddlers, hang out – creating this fantastic ambiance. The next day we visited the Forum and Pantheon. We walked a lot, but the views were spectacular and the pictures delightful. Romans in general are a friendly bunch and readily accept the “foreigners” who descend like wave upon their city.

Onto the cruise ship, docked at the CIVITAVECCHIA port. That is quite a drive from the area – and it took us almost 130 Euros to get to the port. With our luggage, train travel to get to the port seemed cumbersome and we took the easy way out. The cruise ship was just an elegant experience, every minute detail taken care off – daily/weekly maintenance ongoing. As our son pointed out, they even had a guy just for standing and saying “GOOD MORNING, Goooooood Morning, Yoooohooooooooooo” – every morning. This one compared very well with the Disney cruise vacation we had taken a few years ago that had set the bar for us (Blog here) . Celebrity cruise (perhaps like many others) have now started charging for soft drinks – whereas our cruises in the past at least had soft drinks covered. Cruise ships in the past did not have a walking area but this one did and many of us chose to exercise the walking area – 8 loops a mile on the top deck. The cruise experience is definitely evolving. Vegetarian options were extensive yet limited – even though this particular cruise ship had an Indian section available as part of the buffet on the top deck. The evening sit down dining experience – included in our package- also provided a few vegetarian options. Celebrity cruise evening dining has 2 menus – a menu that does not ever change, and then another which changes (left side, right side). There were other sit down restaurants on board that were available for E150 /person/dining and we didn’t feel they were worthwhile. There was constant marketing of these restaurants and not many were going with these “extras”. Silhouette Dining, our package sit down restaurant on deck 4 was where we dined most evenings. The service was great. We had read that folks had actually talked to the Maitre’d and gotten special Indian dinner customized per request (chole baturay, paav bhaji etc). That did not work for us and we got tired of the standing Indian buffet in the OCEAN VIEW restaurant on the top deck – that were sometimes brought down for our sit down dining. The Indian buffet had a couple vegetarian choices but they were standing fare. There wasn’t any dal – but typically canned lentil dal like. The papaddums, raita, aaachar were great and available every single meal. Wi-Fi access is super expensive on board and that leads to families doing things together at times, kindle reading and our boys made friends with 25 other boys on board playing basketball sometimes until 2AM. The food was fabulous mostly. The one suggestion that we have for Celebrity is to cut down the proportion sizes that were served at the buffet. There was so much food wastage it was downright disgusting. Some innovation to reduce proportions and reduce wastage would be very good. For example, dessert containers could be trimmed down to a quarter size, croissants could be reduced to 25% of the size they were being served. With so many choices, the natural inclination is to try out too many things. Unfortunately with a cruise vacation, we stop watching the calories and it starts manifesting quickly into the waist line, before you can say EUROPHIA . The cruise ship formal dinners (two evenings during our 7 day stay) was quite elaborate – best to bring a suit, tie / bow tie along. It is the opportunity to take pictures and preserve the memories. About 50% of the cruise population was retired seniors, another 35% in the 35 to 50 bracket and then a few young couples. There was entertainment every night, sparsely attended due to the morning excursions that typically left shore at 8:30AM or 9am – we usually had to call it an early night. The jet lag also did not help for the first few days.

Day 1 excursion – Port Livorno excursion to Pisa and Florence ITALY Most excursions are made super easy by Celebrity. Take your sea card (no passport required) hop onto the bus waiting outside the cruise ship on the dock and you are off. Our tour guides at every excursion had quite a story to tell – and provide us a cliffs note version of the town, the history and even sprinkled in their personal view points at times. Our first stop was the Leaning Tower of Pisa, where Galileo conducted his gravity experiments. It is still a booming university town. Immigrants from South East Asia – primarily Bangladesh – have taken over the tourist industry all over Europe. You can’t miss them as they seek out and peddle their wares. They have a knack of knowing exactly which country you are from by just looks. They are typically on a mission to get their “green card” which typically takes a few years of “hanging out” and then they start launching their own businesses with their entrepreneurial attitude. The one handicap of taking a cruise ship – is you are time bound with the excursions. We did not have a chance to climb up the leaning tower – just enough time to take a family picture and you are back on the bus. Our expectation was a very sleepy laid back Pisa village with cattle walking the grassy paths and a lonely tower of Pisa. Not quite! This was a touristic town and right next to the tower was a magnificent Cathedral. Yes – this place was throbbing with tourists and activity. A project with every daytime excursion was discovering cafes that provided wi-fi access to download emails, and our boys downloading that new game on their phones they were craving for. Celebrity wifi packages were way too expensive and not worth it. Ordering a cappuchino, sitting down with the cell phone was a great break from the vacation (huh?). For the first time, we did not carry a camera bag, but had cameras stuck inside our back pack – which did make it very convenient. Our camcorder did not get used a whole lot – and methinks a small camera is more than sufficient for our future vacations. The camera with large telephoto lenses – just makes it very cumbersome – we like traveling light.

From Pisa our bus was en route to Florence. The mediaeval renaissance happened here; it was the Athens of the middle ages. Florence is noted for its culture, art, architect and monuments. It was a very nice walk into the heart of Florence. This was urbanity personified, Lots of amazing shopping. Our guide Roza took the excursion team to this amazing lunch experience – 3 different pastas – that our boys thought was the best pasta in the world. Maggianos pasta and Santana Row was long forgotten. Remember to purchase your favorite pasta to bring home – which we seemingly forgot to do. The gelatos were a regular component of our dessert. Lots of amazing cathedrals, renaissance architecture, cheap shopping intermixed with the brand stores – this was a mela happening every single day. We were back to the cruise ship where the crew awaited with iced towels, water / punch and a warm smile.

Day 2 excursion – Villefranche ITALY, plus Monaco and Montecarlo A perfume factory was our first stop. We discovered the details of perfume making – and it was quite fascinating. In particular, our boys wanted the job of the NOSE, who worked only 3 hours a day and got paid the mega bucks to differentiate fragrances. The sleepy town of Tze next was not a big deal. But Monaco, the jewel of French Riveria, became the highlight. Fabulous hillside homes – the weather was perfect and we were getting the California experience in Europe (huh?). No wonder our weather in Silicon Valley was referred to as Mediterranean – picture perfect setting. Our tour guide described the highs and lows experienced by the prince of Monaco in gory details. The changing of guards at the palace at noon was a ho-hum affair with hundreds gathered and flashing cameras. The race track of Monte Carlo were fabulous, the casinos very exclusive and the cars around the casino even more so - an urban skyscraper jungle all around us. We saw the Bugatti Veyron purring around, which truly made it the highlight for our boys. Monaco was Las Vegas on steroids. Made for some very good pictures.

Day 3 – Ajjacio (Corsica) FRANCE The next day we found ourselves at the Ajjacio port in Corsica, heading to Bastica. Train ride into this sleepy town – the population declined from 300,000 to 50,000 with everyone flocking to the big city of Ajjacio to work. Apparently, this town was much bigger than Ajjacio, but Napolean’s special favors upon Ajjacio, turning it the capital of Corsica has now made Ajjacio a thriving town of today. There is always talk of secession by Corsica from France (they are now emphasizing the Corsican language, culture etc) – but that movement is not going anywhere. This was a short excursion – we got back to the ship, quickly leaving our boys on the ship who were very happy to be back onboard and got back to the shore to check out the home where Napolean was born. This is a home that is visited by dignitaries from all over Europe. The audio tour guide was very well done. Interestingly, the last time we were in Europe we were at Napolean’s tomb in Paris, and this time we were at Corsican home where he was born and lived until 9 years of age. Our tour guide was very explicit in talking about the value that Napolean delivered to his hometown of Ajjacio, but not so much to the island of Corsica.

Day 4 – Sardinia Sardinia had picture perfect weather, great beaches and it was well worth taking the 20 minute hike to the beaches. Day 5 - on sea Time to do your reading, relaxing, working on the laptop – whatever. It was time well spent. Day 6 – Palma De Mallorca (orange blossom wooden train to Sallor) The wooden train ride was definitely worth it into the town of Sallor through 13 tunnels. Lemons and oranges strewn all over town, one big yellow carpet. The narrow streets were nice, the fruits and vegetables being sold in the mom and pop shops (the super markets are seemingly missing in Europe) were very California like. Not much to do in this town – but you get the feel of rural Europe. The next day found us in Barcelona the home of the 1992 Olympics. The long lines for the taxi at the port reminded us of Vegas. The taxi driver decided to play the funky math – and charged us 3 times the fare – from the port to our hotel (about 3 kms); and we didn’t have the heart to complaint as long as the pick pockets stayed away from us. Our hotel on La Ramba street was recommended by a good friend from Saratoga and it was the perfect location for us . We were unusually tired leaving the cruise ship and decided to take it easy on day 1, just exploring the La Ramba street and vicinity. There are quite a few tourist traps very close to the street. Interestingly, through our stay in Barcelona we ventured out to various parts of town, but always ended up coming back to La Ramba for our lunch and dinner. We invariably spotted a few families from our cruise ship too during our time in Barcelona. We met families from other parts of the world who had been vacationing for 5+ weeks; unheard off for Americans. We walked to the beach on Day1, which was packed every inch with people (being a Saturday). That was an experience – as we have never seen beaches packed with sardines like we did here. We ended up watching Argentina play Belgium beachside sitting outdoor in the shade. The local were rooting like crazy for Messi and his Argentina team. Spain had won the last world cup and weren’t too dejected by their early exit this time, and were now rooting hard for Messi’s Argentina. Interestingly both Messi and Nemar play for the local Barcelona club – this club is stacked to win championships. The 8th minute had a goal, and the locals erupted with GOAAAAAAAAL (yes I have that one on video). As we sat watching soccer the Spanish monologue, locals would pop in to check the score on the outdoor TV and walk away. The streets were so wide in the touristy areas, with plenty of wide side walks liberally sprinkled all over the city. We discovered TERESA CHARLES vegetarian restaurant close to La Ramba. It was a very nice sit down experience with some very unique choices. The owner was very happy to find us – chatting about his discovery trip to California – and now his daughter was embarking on creating an elegant vegetarian dining experience for Barcelona based on that learning. Mind boggling to think that he conceived of a vegetarian restaurant in Barcelona (which loves its meat) in 1979.

Day2 in Barcelona. We now purchased the 2 day hop-on, hop-off bus “Barcelona City Bus Tour”. The subway /tube is an option which would be a lot faster, but needs some skillful navigation with the various interchanges and I guess we have to be ready to walk a lot. With our Red bus, taking the green line, we ventured out to the Barcelona stadium. Lots of fancy pictures at the stadium made it the highlight. None of the US stadiums offer a tour like this – they may be missing out on an revenue opportunity. Lots of history was packed into the presentation by the stadium. We had access to video highlights, museum, press box, locker room – the works. Well worth it. Sangria Familia, the top tourist attraction had long lines and we decided to skip it for day 1. NOTE: You are better off making ticket reservations online for attractions that are a must see; otherwise you have to deal with long lines. Day3 – The rain finally hit us on our last day in Barcelona. The peddlers quickly switched over and started selling cheap umbrellas for the tourists….like magic. Today was the day we dedicated to Gaudi, We ventured out to the Sangria Familia. A blend of architecture, geometry, art, imagination, masonry, engineering, lighting, sound, divinity, worship, meditation, history and tourism all intertwined together to make it one fascinating experience. This one will be a high maintenance church once finished; has been under construction for a few decades now, and will take another few decades to finish. The Gaudi garden PARK GUELL was our next stop – but a bit too tiring to finish. We stopped over at the historical Barcelona City museum our last stop of the day. Some fantastic picturesque spots here. The dinner later at LUZIA off La Ramba was quite good. We had found a vegetarian falafel place close to the hotel that was very good too. Souvenir shopping right outside the hotel was great. The location is indeed lively! The next morning found us taking the cab ride to the Europe a short 25 minute ride (40 euros) and a nice honest cab driver. The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we took the short 25 minute cab ride to the Barcelona airport. Our flight took off, as we were checked into United by our Penelope Cruze look alike, and we bid good bye to the deep blue Mediterranean sea with its amazing tapestry of colors. Yes it was an alright vacation!