Dovidenia

It has been 4 years since we returned from Bratislava. I had some time today (May 30th of 2016) and thought I would go ahead and complete this blog. It was short two blog posts: one of our visit to Barcelona and a final post to wrap it all up. I had already started this in draft 4 years ago. I took what was already there and finished it up. It is hard to believe it has been 4 years since we got back to the US. We really miss our time there. We would happily pack our bags and go abroad again, even now that we have a child. We would love for him to experience living and traveling internationally.

-------------------------------

I sit in a half empty flat (with only the furniture that was here when we arrived two years ago) waiting for the car service to pick us up and take us for the all too familiar ride into Vienna. To me, the flat is empty. Besides the few kitchen and other household items that we're leaving, there is no real mark that we were ever here. There are two years of memories and a king size mattress pad that says "Jenn and Joey were here". To our landlords, they probably have a more positive view. There is hope that the flat will be filled with new tenants who will bring new energy and make new memories here.

As we depart Bratislava and head back to the US, I've been thinking a lot about my world view. I don't think I'm a negative person, but I'm definitely not overly or proactively positive. I'm pessimistic, generally looking at why things won't work rather than how they will. I want to attribute part of that to my job as an auditor because I'm paid to look at things and identify risks, weaknesses, and failures, but in a conversation last week, my boss reminded me not too subtlely that maybe this is my personality more than it is the job. I know he's right.

We've had an amazing two years. We've gotten to do things that most people don't get to do in the lifetime. We've hiked the Great Wall of China, stood in awe of Da Vinci's the Last Supper, strolled past the Roman Coliseum and Forum, skied in the Austrian Alps, ate our way through Provence, walked on the D-Day beaches in Normandy, hung around in Red Square, I went to a British Open at St Andrews (the home of golf), and we were in the grounds at Wimbledon. None of these moments or experiences did we take for granted. We know we are lucky, and I would like to think we took advantage of that luck. It's a lot like taking advantage of a good run in blackjack. You try not to think about why the cards are coming your way and just get as much money on the table as possible to capitalize.

We had a great going away party at a restaurant overlooking the Danube the other night. It was very cool to look around and see all the new faces and personalities that are now a part of our lives. We made a lot of new friends, learned a lot about ourselves individually and as a couple, and expanded our world view. We leave Slovakia as better people.

Given all of this, I don't know if I'll turn into a more optimistic person, but I hope to do a better job of at least acknowledging the positive outcomes and aspects of a situation. There is always going to be a downside risk or possibility, but there is upside too.

So, we leave behind the furnished apartment on Gorkeho exactly as we found it when we arrived, as if untouched for two years. Besides a few minor things we picked up along the way, we really are only going back with what we brought. This chapter closes and another begins as we make our way back to Austin.

We will continue to seek out opportunities for new and different experiences and take advantage when we can. We will travel and expose ourselves to new things.

We will live life to the absolute fullest and leave no room for regret.

Volver

It took us two years, but with one last weekend before we were to move back to the US, we took a return trip to Barcelona. It has been almost seven years since we lived in Barcelona for four wonderful months during my last semester of business school. There was a lot familiar as we walked the streets of the city we used to know very well, but it still took us a day or so to get comfortable again and know our way around.

We were bothered by rain for only a short amount of time and had beautiful weather the rest of the weekend. We focused our time on doing what we love best when returning to a city we've been to, which is just walking around, eating good food, and taking it easy. In other words, we've already done all the touristy stuff, so we didn't waste our time.

WIA: We wanted to go to the much talked about Tickets from Ferran Adria of the world famous El Bulli, but we ended up at Ciudad Condal because it was the only place we could find that was still open at around midnight when we sat down to eat. We'd eaten there before when we lived in Barcelona. It's a bit touristy, but there is a large selection of tapas and everything tastes really good. We had huevos estrellados, which is basically a fried egg over french fries, with some bacon thrown in for good measure. It's a fantastic late night dish. We also had patatas bravas and a crema catalana for dessert.

For lunch the next day, we ate at Bo de B, a small, but extremely popular sandwich shop. Jenn had chicken, I had steak. Both were very good, but to be honest, I wasn't blown away. It's definitely good if you're looking for a sandwich when in Barcelona, but there are other things I would rather eat if given the choice. My vote...overrated.

We pulled up to the swanky Hotel Arts for dinner at Arola. As we walked in, we realized after seeing Russell Westbrook waiting for a taxi that the US Olympic basketball team was in town and staying at the hotel. We heard from others that we just missed seeing Lebron and Kobe. We waited around later to see if we could see anyone else from the team, but there was no one around. At dinner, the ambiance of the restaurant was a little strange. It was definitely nice, but we expected more of a trendy crowd. It was more of a touristy family crowd. Either way, the food was good. The make your own bread with tomato was a nice starter. We then had their version of a fancy huevos estrellados. We had a few more small plates and something called a Barceloneta Bomb. The citrus dessert with a nice sweet plate with macaron was a nice way to end it.

We walked up and down the beach several times trying to find Xiringuito Escriba, which was well worth the frustration. It wasn't just that the paella was outstanding (and I mean outstanding), but it was a perfect setting right on the beach.

WIS: We used Starwood points and free suite upgrades to stay at Le Meridien nicely located on La Rambla, right in the middle of the action. The hotel was pretty nice, but being walking distance from everything was great. We stayed in a room facing La Rambla and it was much quieter than I expected. 

WID: We walked a lot through the various neighborhoods and along the beach. Besides eating, we really didn't "do" anything. We did spend some time at La Boqueria which is still going strong as the best market in Europe. We walked over to Sagrada Familia, which holds a special place in my heart, but the line was way too long to go inside. It looked the construction had made some progress, but I'm not sure it will ever actually be completed.

WAM: We stopped in for hard candy at Papabubble. It was right around the corner from Bo de B. We went in while we waited. Barcelona's winding streets didn't come back to me right away, but once we strolled around a bit, it all seemed familiar again. 

WTF: We very rarely go out when we travel, but since we were in Barcelona and our Europe adventure was just a few days from coming to an end, we figured, why not? After dinner Saturday night, we walked down to the complete other end of the beach where the W towers over the beach and ocean. We took the elevator up to the bar, which is on the top floor. It was crowded, hot, and loud, which are all characteristics that many people would find quite appealing in a night club. I am not one of those people. I tried to be a good sport (not one of my strengths) since Jenn was enjoying herself. It was a pretty international group up there, which was kind of cool. The views were also amazing looking out on the beach and the city. After a while, Jenn sensed and succumbed to my misery and we left to head back to the hotel.

Beach Bums

Sardinia is an island near the Mediterranean coast of Italy. It's a popular beach spot for Europeans. It was under Spanish rule for a few hundred years, so while it has an Italian feel to it, there is also a lot of Spanish influence as well. I have become pretty tired of getting nickel and dimed by RyanAir, but they offered good times and somewhat decent fares to fly to Alghero, a small town on the West coast of the island. It was so hot, but we loaded up on sun screen and took to the beaches for the weekend.

WIA: We wandered around Thursday night and stopped in at Angedras, which looked nice and had an enviable location along the city wall looking out to the sea. We got a perfect table, right on the edge of the restaurant, with the perfect view of the sunset and also up close and personal for some fantastic people watching. We started with culurgiones, a Sardinia specialty of ravioli stuffed with potato and mint. I can't exactly remember the next dish, but I think it was lobster meat mixed with tomatoes. I will never forget the main course though. We travel a lot, but we still have moments where we make, as Jenn calls them, "rookie mistakes." This was one of those moments. We ordered the lobster served Catalan style with tomatoes and onions. We asked for just one that we would share. We insisted that he not bring too large of a lobster. When he showed us the lobster, it looked fine and not too big, but in retrospect, we probably should have asked. The menu listed the lobster at 10 EUR per 100 grams. We discussed before the bill came what we thought our total bill would be and for some reason, the math never registered with either of us. Maybe we were distracted by the ambiance and the beautiful sunset. It turns out, Jenn and I shared a 1.2 kilo lobster, which is roughly a 2.6 pounder. To save you the effort of doing the math, that is a 120 EUR lobster. We were in shock, but we knew it wasn't worth trying to argue or clarify, because it was our mistake. At least the lobster was good. We learn from these lessons. I will always remember that 120 EUR lobster just as I have never forgotten the 15 EUR slice of pizza from Venice.
We snacked on the beach for lunch the next day and ate dinner at the Michelin starred, but definitely not hoity-toity Andreina. It had a very comfortable feel and the food was excellent. The highlight for me was the tagliolini with a pecorino crust, which the waiter mixed over a huge block of pecorino cheese. It was rich, creamy, and delicious.

Dinner the last night was pizza at Dona Isabel, which was recommended to us by our friend, Charles. Sometimes a simple meal like pizza especially when made with good ingredients, goes a very long way. We had a very tasty paella lunch (which we had to order a day in advance) on the beach at La Conchiglia on the last day.

It wasn't the best paella we had tasted, but it was pretty good. The setting was great though, with our table literally in the sand and the water 20 feet or so away.

WID: If we had had more time, we would have explored more of the island, but since we were only there for the weekend, we stayed in and around Alghero. We spent the first day at the very crowded La Pelosa beach at the Northwestern point of the island. The white sand beaches were nice, but the real gem was the crystal clear blue water. It was like a swimming pool. There were tons of people, which made it a little less relaxing, but we did have a good day.
We started out the second day at Neptune's Grotto, a stalactite cave not too far from the town center. There was a long walk up and down and the inside felt kind of like scenes from the Goonies. It was cool.

We then went to Le Bombarde beach, which is another white sand beach with clear blue water. Sardinia has no shortage of them.

On the last day, we walked about two miles to Maria Pia beach and hung out there for the day. The highlight was walking back to town since we walked through the beautiful clear water almost the entire way back.

WIS: The Villa Mosca is a small B and B with an excellent location, 10 minutes walking distance from the center of town. It's an old, but grand residence that has been updated to accommodate a few guests. We could kind of see the sea from our room, which was simple and very comfortable for us. The breakfast wasn't overly exciting. Our favorite part about staying there was having drinks and sitting out at watching the sunset over the sea each night.

WAM: Alghero isn't known for being the best part of Sardinia, but the water was just as nice as some of the best beaches I've been to in the world. I wouldn't mind going back to see the Emerald Coast on the East coast of the island because it's supposed to be even better.

WTF: After two years, we still both feel pretty conservative at the beach when most women are wearing barely anything. Regardless of age, women only wore bikinis, and tops were optional. Jenn literally was the only person wearing a one piece.

To see more pictures, click here.

London Layover

After a 5 week work trip to the US, we stopped in London on the way back to Bratislava. It was the first weekend of Wimbledon, so we jumped at the chance to go.

WIA: Shortly after arriving and checking in at the hotel, we tubed it to the center of town by St Paul's and shared a burger at Bread Street Kitchen from their late lunch menu. I had a cold beer (I can't remember what kind) and we had an excellent chocolate tart with salt caramel ice cream and honeycomb. While walking around, we stopped at Ottolenghi, which has become one of our must stops when in London. We had a peanut butter s'more cookie thing that was super delicious.

We met my cousin, Jeff, who was in town for work, for dinner at a gastropub in Smithfield called St. John Bread and Wine. It was a quaint and cool little neighborhood. There are so many quaint and cool neighborhoods in London. The menu was a little out there, but we were able to find a few things to eat, all of which was very good. We of course ate strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, which was so so overrated. We had both reached a point of complete an utter exhaustion after the day at Wimbledon, so we had a simple dinner at Wagamama. Coincidentally, it was the same one we had eaten at 6 years on my first trip to London. It was quick and decent, which is all we need. We had a great brunch on the last day at Modern Pantry.

WID: At the National Portrait Gallery, there was an exhibit, which consisted only of pictures of Queen Elizabeth. It was in commemoration of her Diamond Jubilee. We walked through it and it was pretty amusing. We didn't have tickets to Wimbledon, but everyone (literally every single person we spoke to about going) said it wouldn't be a big deal and waiting in the queue for grounds tickets was all "part of the experience."

So, about the "experience." We arrived by tube around 6:30 in the morning and were in line by 6:45, with a bag full of some breakfast pastries, a couple of other snacks, and two bottles of water. We did not have raincoats (or even an umbrella) or a blanket. Any of these would have been helpful. We received our queue cards, which alerted us to the fact that there were 6000 people in front of us in line. We didn't know what that meant and didn't really understand if we'd get in, but over the next few hours as we watched several thousand more people line up behind us, we figured we were in okay shape. After about an hour, Jenn struck up a conversation with a nice, Czech couple in line in front of us. I knew she only started talking to them because she was eyeing their large blanket, which still had plenty of room for additional people to sit. After a while, they did ask us if we would like to sit down, which was a nice because standing was getting tiring and sitting on wet grass wasn't appealing. Jenn eventually bought us ponchos. We were already soaking wet, but it was nice to have some coverage.
After 5 hours, we finally paid for our tickets, went through security, and walked on the Wimbledon grounds. With grounds tickets, individuals have access to all the grounds courts, but there is no open seating on the show courts, except for Court 3. At Court 3, there was a line to wait for those few seats. After waiting in the queue for 5 hours, we were not interested in waiting in another line. The same goes for the line for returned tickets, which had already started. It would be 3 more hours before the ticket window opened to sell these tickets to the show courts, which are literally returned by people who are leaving. So, rather than wait in more lines, we tried to peek over the shoulders of the hundreds of other people standing along the sides of the grounds courts and tried to watch some tennis. We watched the Bryan brothers win their match, but otherwise, we pretty much just sat and watched tennis on the big screen projecting live tennis from the show courts. The multitudes of others sat along Henman Hill with us watching. There are much cheaper ways to watch Wimbledon on TV. It was incredibly frustrating to see how many empty reserved seats there were. We saw the same thing later on that night when we turned on the matches from our hotel room. Walking around the grounds was cool, but it was very crowded and overall, we didn't see much tennis. The museum was kind of cool and we bought a bunch of things at the gift shop including two sweatshirts because we were so cold from the wind.

I would only go back and do it again if we had reserved seats. To give you an idea of how tired we were, we fell asleep around 8pm and slept soundly until the next morning. 

WIS: We used Hilton points for our room at the Park Lane Hilton. It was an older hotel, but in decent shape. Our room was simple, but good enough. The location was perfect though right across the street from Hyde Park and walking distance from the Green Park and Hyde Park Corner tube stops.

WAM: I ran into ESPN personality Dick Vitale on the tube trip back from Wimbledon. I tried to talk to him, but he said he couldn't hear me. It was loud on the train, but I got the idea that he just didn't want to talk to me. He was with his family and he looked incredibly tired, so I didn't feel the need to bother him any further.

WTF: Maybe I am just getting old and more impatient, but I don't understand how anyone could enjoy sitting for 5 hours in the rain and cold simply for the opportunity to sit again and watch tennis on a big television screen. Since I didn't talk to one person who warned me that it isn't even remotely worth it, let me offer some advice anyone reading this who might consider one day getting the "full Wimbledon experience" by waiting in the queue for general admission tickets (or just reminding future me if I decide I want to go again). It's a waste of time and will be 5 hours of your life you never get back. If you can find reasonably priced reserved seats, buy them.

Airplane Reviews - To Austin & Back Again

During the little bit of time we had on our layover in London, we ate breakfast at Gordon Ramsey's Plane Food. The only disappointment of the meal was the realization that we should have taken the time to eat there in the past two years of flying through London. I had salmon and eggs and Jenn had delicious (in her words) pancakes and a smoothie.

On the flight, we watched Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The first part of the movie was all in Moscow so it was cool to see all the places we had just been. Seeing the (spoiler alert, but not really) Kremlin blow up was pretty neat. As with most Mission Impossible movies, the action was all very entertaining while the plot was unnecessarily confusing and nonsensical. I had never heard of Paula Patton before, but she's nice to look at for a couple of hours. Simon Pegg is a funny guy, but he doesn't seem to have much range in that he plays the exact same character in every single movie.

On the ride home, we were upgraded to business class, which was a nice surprise. Every time I get to the point where I've lost faith in the American Airlines AAdvantage program, I am pleasantly surprised by something like this. I was debating whether or not to eat dinner in the DFW airport because I didn't want to eat airplane food. I was convinced that once I bought dinner that we would be upgraded, meaning we'd be treated a nicer meal. I was right, but I still was happy to have my bbq beef sandwich. 

Before getting to sleep on an almost fully reclined chair, we watched 21 Jump Street, which I liked a lot more than I expected. It was dumb, but there were some funny things in it. The only question I have is why did the movie have to be called 21 Jump Street? I don't remember the show, but I think besides the premise, there was no real connection between the film and the TV show. It could have just been a movie about cops going undercover back in high school and it still would have worked fine. 

An Aix-traordinary End to our Provence Trip

Our final stop for the week was Aix-en-Provence. We had a hard time figuring how to pronounce many of the cities we visited (even though Jenn supposedly took French in high school), but ultimately it was my boss, who is Italian (but lives in Paris and speaks fluent French), who taught me how to say this one ( it sounds like the letter X).

Aix was bigger than the other cities we went to during the week and it felt like it. If we had started there, we probably wouldn't have felt this way, but in comparison to some of the other towns, this seemed huge. With the look of the city and the shopping, it reminded us of a miniature Paris.

WIA: The well known pastry here is a calisson, which I'd compare to a small shortbread like cookie, but that's not quite it. Jenn tried one, but I wasn't interested. We had terrific Macarons from a modern looking shop called Morosso. I had an apple one that really good. Neither of us was that hungry, so we had a light dinner at the tiny Carton Rouge consisting of a cheese plate and for some reason lentils with salmon roe. I'm not sure why I ordered the second dish, but it was fine.

On the second night, after a very long day, we ate dinner at Auberge du Provencale. They had several set menus to choose from. Jenn went with the lobster menu which included lobster bisque, lobster over pasta with cheese, and some kind of fruit kabob with citrus-y ice cream between shortbread cookies. I had what was called the Gourmet menu and dined on cream of mushroom soup and very rare beef (just the way the French like it) over mashed potatoes. Dessert was chocolate cake with ice cream. 

All of our dishes looked pretty and tasted good, so we were happy. The place was completely empty. We ate by ourselves out on the patio, which was nice, even though the view was of the parking lot. 

We picked up food from the market the next day and ate a picnic lunch in the park. We had rotisserie chicken because we saw it at every market and we'd been craving it all week. It was really good and juicy. No French picnic would be complete without bread and cheese and we also had fresh strawberries and raspberries. It doesn't get much better than good, fresh, simple food.
Our last dinner of the trip was a nice one at the Michelin starred Le Clos de La Violette. We tried to keep a balance on the trip between fancy and casual places as well as local eateries versus ones that cater to tourists. We always would like to eat where the locals eat. Often places start out as local hot spots and then get written up in every guidebook and magazine and against their own wills become tourist hangouts. As long as the food is good, we don't really care. The building that houses the restaurant was modern and sleek looking both inside and out. The surrounding garden is pretty and does a nice job of creating a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, almost making one forget that the hustle and bustle of the city is only a few blocks away. As with many of the restaurants during the week, there were very few customers. This was the very beginning of high tourist season, so maybe we caught the calm before the storm, or they are feeling the economic downturn just like everyone else. Everything was prepared beautifully and the portions were much bigger than we expected. After the sardine over polenta amuse bouche, I had the daily market menu: aubergine and rabbit, roasted duck, and a strawberry rhubarb for dessert. Jenn had scallops over risotto, roasted chicken with truffle mac and cheese, and chocolate cake for dessert. It was a really great meal to close out a week of really great meals.

WID: We did a lot of walking. We walked up and down Couers Mirabeau (the main street) and through the winding streets of the city. We did a little bit of shopping. 

We spent a day exploring the awesome Gorge Du Verdon, also known as the French Grand Canyon. We drove through lots of small towns to get there and stopped in Moustiers Ste Maries to grab a sandwich and walk through their market. We drove along the North rim on the Route des Cretes, which had many scenic outlooks with amazing views. It wasn't as grand as the Grand Canyon, but it was very impressive. After driving the loop for a few hours, we got out of the car and hiked the Sentier des Pecheurs trail. It brought us down to the river and then all the way back up. The part along the river was really nice, but there was some tough uphill at the beginning and the last kilometer and a half was all straight uphill back to the parking lot. We then drove around the stunning St Croix Lake. We couldn't get enough of looking at the bright turquoise color. It looked fake, which it kind of is since it's man made.
On Saturday, Aix has several markets market, but as you walk through town, it just feels like it's one long ongoing market with different sections. There were lots of food stands, but also clothing, flowers, and household goods. After our picnic, we walked around a bit. We started to follow the Cezanne walk, which was much like the Van Gogh walk in Arles, but much more boring. We gave up after getting about halfway through it.

WIS: We spent a little more to stay at La Pauline. There wasn't much information about it online, but what we saw looked promising. We were sold the minute we drove up the dramatic entrance through a tree lined path. The estate was originally owned by Napoleon's sister. The property was huge, with a small vineyard in back, a swimming pool (which wasn't functional during our visit), and two smaller guest houses. Our room was the master suite of Jenn's dreams. It was all white with nice antique furniture. We also had a front and back porch with a beautiful view of the countryside. I was disappointed that at a bed and breakfast, they still charged 20 eur per person for breakfast. We didn't want to go into the city the last day because there was a marathon going on, so we did spring for breakfast before heading to the airport.
WAM: On the drive back to Nice, we thought we gave ourselves enough time, but we cut it extremely close. We ran inside with our bags after returning the car (with an empty gas tank) and it ended up not being a big deal. Jenn already likes to be at the airport hours in advance of a flight "just to be safe", so I'll be paying for this in the years to come.

WTF: There are no public toilets in Aix. In Europe, it's rare for stores to have toilets available to customers and hotels don't necessarily love it when you walk in and use their facilities. On one day, we had to walk into a small cafe and buy a bottle of water in order to use their bathrooms and on another, we sat down at the famous cafe, Les Deux Garcons, and bought a 6 euro cup of ice cream just so we could again relieve ourselves. One might ask, why do you two have to go to the bathroom so much, and that would be a very fair question. It's true that the two of us probably are not the best at "holding it", but it is important to note that even if you wanted to go to the bathroom, when you're traveling Europe, in a town where there is no Starbucks or McDonald's, it is hard to find a place to go. Jenn and I are convinced that the bowels and bladders of Americans are trained to go when they have the urge because there are toilets everywhere in the US. Europeans are probably more used to not always having a toilet available to them, so probably have much better control of things. Someone needs to do a study on this.