Travel
Travel Photography Class
I love to travel. I love to take photos. I love to take photos when I travel. So this year, before I go on another trip, I thought it would be a good idea to take a Travel Photography class. The continuing education arm of the local university has a wonderful program and I finally found the time for this class. So this past weekend, we had our first photo shoot. We were supposed to see the city as if we’re travelers here and discover something new or different. Of course, like any class, we had a specific set of things we needed to capture. Here are a few photos from that photo shoot. I love the early spring, when the trees are just coming into...
Read MoreSan Antonio Weekend
This past weekend I took a little trip to San Antonio, Texas. I’ve never been there before and heard great things about the city so thought I’d check it out. Even with everything I read, I was still surprised by the city. It’s compact, lovely, easy to navigate, and with tons to see and do. I arrived at my hotel, Crockett Hotel, a bit after midnight and the check-in process couldn’t have been more painless. The hotel has a continental breakfast and it was enough for me to hold me over till lunch (I just had some toast and jam). After some sightseeing, lunch was at Azuca, a great restaurant with a lively decor and fantastic food. I had Roasted...
Read MoreSeville, Spain – Day 6
Oh what a magnificent city! It’s sophisticated, romantic, passionate, modern, and ancient at the same time, and all these things seem to fit together perfectly. Though I’ve visited this city (does one day count as “visiting”?), it’s still on my list to visit again, and definitely spend more time here. This is the city where Flamenco reigns supreme, history goes back more than two thousand years, and architecture never fails to take your breath away. And since this is a food blog, I have to mention the oranges. You’ve heard of Seville oranges, right? No? Then let me tell you about them. They’re bitter. That’s it. ...
Stay tuned for the rest from Seville!
Codroba, Seville, Spain – Day 5
Well, it’s been a while since my last post about Spain, so I thought it’s time to get back to that. (Otherwise, at this rate, I’ll finish up Spain after my next vacation, which isn’t even anywhere on the horizon.) Puerto Lapice Today, we had an early wake-up call. We typically have an early wake-up call, so it wasn’t anything new. Our first stop was in a tiny little village called Puerto Lapice. If you’ve read Cervantes, you’d recognize this location as he tended to use real places. This is where the fictional Don Quixote was knighted by the innkeeper. Today, this is a good roadway stop where we used the lavatories and...
Read MoreDoor County Cherries
Look at these gorgeous rubies! In the years we’ve lived here, I’ve forgotten how much I like cherries (vishnya, in Russian). You see, we had a cherry tree in the yard when I was little, but it had to be cut down (don’t remember the reason). But we always bought both kinds of cherries (sweet and sour) at the market after letting go of the tree, but not really since we moved here. Strangely enough, we had a cherry tree in our first house here too. But that tree also had to be cut down; it was pretty sick. It’s safe to say that I haven’t had sour cherries, directly from the tree in more than 25 years. So it was definitely a treat...
Read MoreCedarburg Strawberry Festival
Don’t these look like they’d be the most delicious, most perfect strawberries you’ve ever tasted? Can’t you just imagine the sweet juice running down your chin? No? You must be more coordinated than I am. This weekend was the 26th Annual Cedarburg Strawberry Festival and the weather was perfect; not a cloud in the sky and a gentle breeze helped relieve the heat of the sun. This family-friendly event had lots of bands, food vendors, crafts vendors, and artists. Lots of interesting things, like hand-made wooden toys. Great for developing kids’ imaginations, and definitely a throwback to a simpler time. They also had hay rides,...
Read MoreToledo, Madrid, Spain – Day 4
Toledo Today is the first day of the actual tour (the group and tour director got together for introductions, explanations, and drinks the evening before). After a decent breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way to Toledo. The city sits on a hill, and is generally hilly, and affords amazing views all around. Here, we had different tour guide. She knew quite a lot about Toledo and delivered the information in a conversational, easy manner so it didn’t feel like a class. She also told us of real estate problems; it’s hard to sell/buy apartments in the center of the city because of so many hills and young families don’t want to schlep strollers,...
Read MoreMadrid, Spain – Day 3
This morning was a little slower than I had hoped. I did get up on time but packing the suitcase took longer than I had anticipated. Somehow, the same amount of stuff didn’t want to be confined in the same amount of space as previously. I don’t really understand it, but it all worked out. So once I checked out of my non-tour hotel, I went to my tour hotel (the hotel where the tour participants assemble and where the tour begins). When I got to the hotel, my room wasn’t ready which I expected, since I arrived around 9:30, so I left my luggage in the luggage room and left on my city exploration. I decided to go to the Prado museum, as was per my original...
Read MoreSegovia, Spain – Day 2
I got up bright and early today, hoping to get an early start and see as much as I can. One of the things that was recommended to me was to try “churros con chocolate” at Chocolateria San Gines. This being a very famous chocolateria, I was able to find it online and checked the hours (open all day). So when I got there at around 7:15 am and they had their metal gate almost all the way down, I got a little suspicious. I asked a person who was walking out if they’re closed and he said that they close between 7 am and 9 am to clean. Oh well, it will have to wait. On to the train station I proceeded. (The Spanish public transportation within the...
Read MoreMadrid – Finally! – Day 1
I finally made it! It took a few miracles, for which I’m quite grateful, but I’m finally in Spain! In Madrid, to be precise. I got in somewhat early in the morning, around 9 AM and by the time I double-checked all the directions on how to get to the hotel and made my way there, it was past 10. My hotel (Hostal Las Fuentes) was near Puerta del Sol, so that’s the metro stop I used as my orientation point. Once there, I saw a phone store and went to see if I can purchase more minutes for my phone. Turned out that this particular store wasn’t going to work and they directed me to another, where I was able to purchase a new sim card with 20 minutes on...
Read MorePacking for a trip – some tips
It’s been a while since I posted a recipe and there probably won’t be a new one till sometime in June. But there’s a really good reason for it. I’m not in my kitchen at the moment and plan on not being there for a little bit. And as the heading of this post suggests, I have some tips for you about packing bags for a trip. When I travel, I really don’t like to check-in my bag. It might get lost, items could get damaged, or things could get stolen. As a result, I’ve been traveling only with a carry-on suite case for the last 4 years. During that time, I’ve also increased the duration of my trips from barely 10 days to a...
Read MoreYork and Leeds – Day 9
Today we left Edinburgh and were on our way to York and Leeds. But after breakfast, we had yet another “coffee” stop. Out tour director decided to make 45-60 minute stops about an hour after breakfast so people could get coffee. I don’t know anyone who needs 45 minutes for coffee an hour after breakfast. And these stops were generally at gas stations that also had a Woolen Mill (a chain store). By this day, I was positively livid about this. I’d rather spend more time sight seeing and not shopping at a gas station! So, I decided to go for a walk, even though it was a little drizzly out. I noticed a lovely garden and spent most of...
Read MoreEdinburgh and Rosslyn Chapel – Day 8
This is Allan, our tour guide for a few hours in Edinburgh. Oh how I wished he were our tour guide the entire tour as opposed to the few hours in the morning in Edinburgh. Several people shared my sentiments. We were so sad to see him go. This guy was informative, interesting, coherent, engaging, enthusiastic to share the beauty of his city, helpful, genuinely interested to be here and share his knowledge and just delightful; in essence, everything our guide wasn’t. [Oh don't get me started; I wrote a 3-page, single-spaced, letter to the tour company describing all the shortcomings of the tour guide.] Our tour started with a drive which saw us disembark at...
Read MoreWinter Scenes
It’s snowing here again. It’s been snowing the whole day. I was so happy last week when spring peeked in and showed us that decent weather is possible and hasn’t forgotten us. And when I awoke today, I saw this out my window. Look at how huge the snowflakes are. They’re more like snow chunks than flakes! But thankfully, it wasn’t too cold out so I decided to take some pictures around the neighborhood and saw a neighbor walking her dog. Maggie, the dog, seemed to enjoy the snow and posing for pictures. She’s a beautiful dog and it was good to see a creature frolicking in the snow. I mean, just look at how much snow there...
Read MoreScottish Highlands – Day 7
Today started out with a promise. We were on out way to visit a shepherd! If you’ve been reading my blog with any regularity, you’ll have noticed my fascination with farms and people who run them and keep some kind of animals for food and profit. Though this particular stop was an optional excursion, in retrospect, this was absolutely, hands-down, the best part of the guided tour (yes, even better than seeing the Magna Carta). This man has 33 dogs, all of which he trains himself. He has special whistles and verbal command and each dog has some commands that are unique to that dog. Oh those dogs! They’re so well-trained, and so...
Read MoreGlasgow, Scottish Highlands – Day 6
Ugh. Today it rained all day, which means the two optional excursions that I purchased (one a boat ride on Lach Lomond and cable car ride to the top of Ben Nevis mountain) were canceled. One would think that there would be a back-up plan of some sort, since this is the first tour of this kind in Scotland, and it’s fall, and it rains in Scotland, especially in the fall. Needless to say, I was very angry about the poor planning. (Still am.) So we drove around and the bus would drop us off in shopping areas. I didn’t come here to shop! I really didn’t like that at all. Trying to make something positive come out of this miserable day, I thought...
Read MoreLake District, Glasgow – Day 5
I was a little disappointed today with the trip. The Lake District is supposedly some of the most gorgeous land in England and it looked like Door County in Wisconsin. Maybe it was just me, but I saw nothing special in the little train ride on a coal engine, nor did I see anything special in a boat ride from the train to where the bus picked us up (which was about halfway up the lake). The train was dirty with worn out seats and the coal produced an unpleasant scent. Had I known, I wouldn’t have purchased this optional excursion. We were on Lake Windemere (or Lach Windemere) and it has some beautiful houses along the shore, just like we do back home. Granted, we...
Read MoreBristol, Chester, Llangollen – Day 4
This morning it rained and was pretty chilly. Despite the weather, hearty Bristol residents ran in some kind of a race. I think it was for charity, but don’t remember. But the main attraction we saw in Bristol was the suspension bridge. And it was a nice bridge. But this is all we saw in Bristol. Don’t get me wrong, I love bridges, it’s when my “inner-geek” feasts. I so wish we could have seen more of the city though. And wish it hadn’t rained quite so much so I could have gotten out of the bus for more than two minutes to snap a picture. But oh well. After seeing the bridge we were off to see a ruin of an abbey. This...
Read MoreStonehenge, Salisbury, Bath – Day 3
This is the first day where I met the rest of the group and the tour guide.Her name is Pamela and she is very nice. The bus driver is Collin and he has a bit of a thicker accent, but still very understandable. Our first stop this morning was Stonehenge. When we drove up, we saw a wire fence around it and it turns you have to pay about 10 pounds to not have the fence in your field of vision. But even if you pay, you still can’t go up to the stones really close, you’re still about ¼ mile off. So, our tour guide told us that we’d get essentially the same view if we just walk up to it and just stand by the fence. So I did that. And found a hole in the fence and...
Read MoreCotswalds – Day 2
The started off too early since I only got about 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep since Wednesday. But it was wonderful to see the English countryside all enveloped in fog with fields and livestock coming into view as if a curtain had be drawn to reveal the hidden gems. After that short drive in the countryside, it was time to catch my train (from Bristol Temple Meads to Cheltenham) where Bob, my private tour guide for the day was waiting. (Before I left home, I did some research and contacted several private and semi-private tour operators and selected Diamond Tours.) Once I arrived at the station, off we went on the tour. The itinerary included the following...
