Buenos Aires ... Six Weeks Later

I can't believe that it was more than 6 weeks ago when Gavin and I boarded our United Airline's flight from Washington DC to Buenos Aires. The time sure has flown by! Three visitors and a month and a half later, I find myself wondering where the time went.

I will attempt to blog and bring you up to date on all of the adventures that we have had in this great city.


The view from our fabulous apartment.


One of the city's many dog walkers (this city is filled with dog poo! who has time to pick up after 8 dogs?) 

Pyromaniacs!

In between Europe and South America, we sandwiched a trip back to Virginia to regroup (that's what Gavin calls it) and to visit the family.

On one chilly Fall evening in Norfolk, Gavin's dad fired up the bbq pit affectionaly named "The Log Waster."

Why do boys love fire so much?


Don't get too close Gav. The fire might singe your manicured eyebrows!


Beer and fire. Grunt Grunt!


Hot Stuff! 

Fall in Washington DC with Rich and Leaf Peeping in Shenandoah National Park

Back in October, Gavin and I spent the Halloween weekend in Washington DC with our good friend Rich who braved a bus ride down from New York City.

We had a great time exploring the city and although we didn't dress up in costume, this was definitely a Halloween to remember.


Rich S and I sitting pretty in our Nation's Capital.


Democracy in action!

Before leaving for Buenos Aires, we took a drive to Shenandoah National Park to check out the fall foliage. I've never done "Leaf Peeping" before, and I was very excited!


My hands are in my pockets because it was freezing cold!

Leaf Peeping

 

Buenos Aires

I'm guilty of it again.

I've managed to let a month pass by and not post a single blog.

We've been in Buenos Aires and it has been nothing short of amazing! I promise to blog about it soon, but we've been busy visitors (Jeff come back soon!).

Promise to blog soon!

Cute Babies, A visit from Jeff and sitting on baskets!

There are few things that I love more than meeting up with friends in new cities. (My mom & brother flew out to NYC to visit and we met up with John L in NYC & London, among others). So you can imagine how excited we were when we found out that Jeff H was going to be in DC the same time we! How bout that?

Check out the pics from our date with Jeff in Washington DC.



Jeff H in leather at the Ethiopian Restaurant. (That's a bottle of mead in my hands!)


Communal eating at its finest.


Gav ate a chili pepper! Gah!

For more pictures, check out my Picasa Web Album below:

Capital Antics

 

Back in the U-S-A

After almost two months in Europe, I was about ready to come home to something familiar. Don't get me wrong, Europe was amazing and I can't wait to go back, but it's only natural for you to miss "home". (Techincally, Gav and I are still homeless, since we don't really have a "home.")

Our flight back home was almost as great as the trip over, and we landed in Washington DC feeling rested and ready to take on the USA!

We spent a few days in Falls Church, VA with Valy, Pink & Keira before going south to Norfolk to visit Gav's fam.

Here are a few pics from the first few days back in the US.


Stars & Stripes


Monkey business at the Washington Monument


Push this button and you'll be added to the "No Fly List".

For more picture, click the picture below!

Back in America

 

Eating Our Way Across the Iberian Penisula

I started doing my blog about a year ago and the number one comment I get from people is that they absolutely love it when I talk about the meals I've had and take pictures of the delicious items that I devour!

We ate really really well while visiting Spain and Portugal. Gavin and I have an uncanny ability to pick out restaurants while we visit new places that end up being fantastic! Nothing gets me more excited than a hole in the wall place where Gav and I are the only ones speaking English. So hot!

This blog entry goes out to all of the people who read my blog and love food!


Finger licking pastries in Porto, Portugal.


Ice cold Spanish beer with a Boca del Rey Burger (hamburger, egg, ham, bacon., lettuce and just a touch of mayo!).


Fresh clamari with herbs and salad in Porto, Portugal.


For more food, check out my Picasa Web Album:

Eating Our Way across the Iberian Peninsula

 

Who ever knew the mid-term elections could be so much fun?

I don't know about you, but I can't get enough coverage of the upcoming mid-term elections! I'm trying not to get too excited about everything, but when CNN and MSNBC both have non-stop stories about how the Dems are poised to take over the House and possibly the Senate (plus some key Governorships around the nation). We're in the home-stretch now. Tuesday will be very interesting!

Oh yeah, we're in Buenos Aires now. I have a bunch of blogs to write and then I'll get to South America!

Oh London

After leaving cozy Porto, we flew back to London via Ryanair on a One Euro fare. Can you believe that? Can it get any cheaper? With fares that low, it's really easy to never use the train again ... until the oil runs out, that is.

So we flew Ryanair for the 3rd time and it was a bit more pleasant than flying before. I used to be a junior airline snob since I had friends like Joe and Ross who the only people they were monogamous to were their respective airline and their loyalty scheme. (Zinger!) The thought of flying Southwest was worse than wearing a brown belt with black shoes. This one time Joe joked about wearing a big hat and sunglasses when we had fly Southwest from Chicago-Midway to Columbus. (Thankfully to Joe we were prepared. He brought on a couon book and practically threw it at the flight attendant when she brought the drink cart down the aisle.) Back to Ryanair ... its safe and clean. Its no frills to the extreme. Their seats don't recline, the rarely have seat backs pouches and you are bombarded by advertising every turn you make. They are an extreme cost cutting baraccuda that has brought tourism to small European cities (Porto, anyone?).

So we flew back to London-Stansted and landed around 11:30pm then flying through customs and rushing to catch an hour long train back to Liverpool Station. Gav and I got into what I call an "Amazing Voyage Fight", and didn't make it to Ryan's house until well past 1:30am. We were so exhausted from our full day that we promptly fell asleep and missed out on a Saturday night that featured Jason E's birthday and Graham's P's going away party. (Check out his website and blog. He's fab.) We got a good night's sleep and went to the Columbia Road market on Sunday with Ryan and let me tell you ... I was in hog heaven. There are few things in life I enjoy more than a real town street market. My love affair with the bazaar must have happened back when, as a 17 year old, Chaired the South Hilo 4-H Federation Country Store and oversaw and orchestrated a multi thousand sale of pies, cookies, breads, crafts, plants, preserves, sushi game and much more. I love myself a street fair! Ryan and Gav drank fabulous coffee as I made small talk (and attempted to use my French learned) with a nice French girl who was selling fresh oysters on the half shell from England. For one pound, she would grab an oyster out of a bucket, clean it off, pull out her knife and schuck the thing for you! Squeeze a fresh lemon and add a bit of tobasco and I was in HEAVEN. Yum!

Oh London ... I love you so!

You really look like ....

Has anyone ever come up to you and tell you that you look like a celebrity or someone famous?

I've found this website that takes a photo of you and matches it up with celebrities to see who you most look like. Check out MyHeritage.com

After doing it, I don't think I completely agree. Why don't you give it a shot and see what happens.

Porto - Day 2

In my mind, Porto went from obscure destination to my favorite part of the entire European trip in just two days.

Gav and I were treated to two wonderful early fall days in this beautiful city in Northeast Portugal. Great food and wine, friendly people and a part of Western Europe that wasn't overly-touristy or as Gavin says, "picked-over".

We decided to spend our last day in Portugal by doing a little more exploring, a little more eating and a little more port wine tasting! Blessed with another sunny day, we checked out of out hotel and shared a delicious meal of a whole roasted chicken on the outside terrace of a nearby restaurant. After that, we stopped off at a bakery and picked up a few goodies to enjoy down near the river.

The ride down to the Riberia on the furnicular was even more spectacular during the day than the night before. I was a bit trigger happy with the camera as we slowly went down the hill, but if you were there, you would understand why!

The riverfront was alive with people enjoying the sun, street vendors and the outdoor cafes were buzzing with activity. We shared our yummy nibbly bits from the bakery and enjoyed a glass of port wine at one cafes with an outdoor terrace. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon on our last day in Portugal.

When it was time to head to the airport, we jumped on the metro (how convenient!) and were wisked away to Porto's brand new airport facility.

Goodbye Portugal! I'm sure I'll be back sometime soon.


The view of the Douro River from The Funicular dos Guindais.


Going up the hill on the furnicular.


Buildings lining the waterfrong on the Ribeira.


Porto's brand-spankin new airport.

More Pictures!

Porto Day 2

 

Port tasting!

I've come to the conclusion that my absolute favorite thing about traveling is tasting the wonderful food and drink from each destination that we visit. (I really love good food and drink!)

No visit to Porto is complete without tasting the dessert wine that has made this region so famous!

After a little research, Gav and I decided to visit Solar Vinho do Porto, which is considered as one of the finest places to taste port wine. Located in a 18th-century villa with stunning views of the Duoro River, Solar Vinho do Porto was almost exactly what we were looking for. The atmosphere and wine were amazing ... we sat and drank 40 year old port wine in a garden overlooking a river ... but the service was horrible! With the help of the wine and cheese, we were able to still enjoy ourselves. :)



We tried a total of 6 different port wines. Two whites and four reds.


Salute!

Port Tasting

From Lisbon to Porto

After two days in Lisbon and a train ride up to Porto, I have been nothing but impressed with Portugal. I have to admit that we planned our trip to Portugal at the last minute and only added it to our itinerary after we found cheap airfare on Vueling (Barcelona to Lisbon) and on Ryanair (Porto to London-Stanted). Not knowing anything about the country, we flew in pretty much blind and relied on our skills as world travelers to get by. What we discovered was a country rich in history, culture and art. A place in Western Europe with friendly people and not priced so it would break our bank account. Throw in delicious food and great wine and you have my favorite destination of our European leg of the trip!

Gav and I booked our train ride from Lisbon to Porto online. We were pleasantly surprised as how easy it was to navigate through the Portuguese rail website (they had an english version). After paying via our credit card, we printed out tickets and we were good to go!

On board the train, we were treated to assigned seats. We had stopped at a bakery before hand and picked up lunch for the three hour train ride, so it was nothing but smooth sailing all the way up the coast.

Upon arrival in Porto, we made our way from the train station to the Metro (subway) stop and discovered a brand-spanking-new rail system that was quite user friendly. We checked into our four star hotel and we were ready to explore Porto!



Boarding the train in Lisbon.


Porto at night.


Porto's city center.


Scenic Porto on the Douro River.

Porto Pictures

 

Adios Barcelona and the “Gavin Roots Tour Part II”

It’s difficult saying what parts of Europe have been my favorite since there is so much difference between cities, but I have to admit that I was extremely happy with our five days in Barcelona. The city’s public transit was top notch and affordable, the food and drink were excellent and it was a very affordable city (esp after our stay in London and Paris!). We were blessed with wonderful weather and the city had a great laid back vibe to it. I definitely would like to visit Barcelona again sometime in the future.

Saying goodbye to Spain was tough, but I was really looking forward to Portugal. I call this the "Gavin Roots Tour Part II" since he's almost half Portuguese. (Part I was when we went to Ireland.)

We had booked our flight from Barcelona to Lisbon on the Spanish low-cost carrier, Vueling, which in my opinion patterned itself after the US low-cost carrier, JetBlue. We were treated to a wonderful two hour flight from Spain to Portugal and landed in Lisbon in the early evening. We decided to treat ourselves to a Four-Star Hotel (we actually got a great rate on the internet) and caught a cab to our hotel, which is something that we never do. We dropped our bags off at the room and took the Lisbon Metro (another great example of a European city’s mass-transit system) to the city center and explored the beautiful, yet hilly, Bairro Alto neighborhood.

If you have been to Lisbon you know what I am talking about when I say that it is one hilly city. Think of San Francisco with cobble stone roads. If I lived in Lisbon, I would have one firm ass from all the climbing that people do! We poked around the Bairro Alto for an hour or so and stumbled upon a small restaurant that was filled with people and run by an older woman who waited on the tables and an older man (her husband?) who ran the grill/kitchen. We were the only ones in the restaurant who wasn’t speaking Portuguese and there was no English Menu (my ideal type of restaurant!) so we tried our best and played “International Charades” and ordered up a storm! We were treated to a hearty Portuguese meal of mean, seafood and bread and shared a two jugs of a great local white wine (the Portuguese really know how to make wine and it’s so affordable!). After stuffing ourselves silly for less than 20 euros, Gav and I rolled out of the restaurant and found our way back to the hotel.

It was the perfect way to end another great day in Europe.






Kids catching a free ride on one of Lisbon's trolleys.

Lisbon

Oct 6, 2006 - 18 Photos