Category: Europe

My Reasons to Travel….As Often As Possible – Number 3 – The Food

Insalata caprese, made from mozzarella, tomato...
Caprese Salad

Let’s face facts, we all love to eat.  As Canadians, we are very lucky in the variety and styles of cooking that one can sample without leaving the country. Having said that, I find it far more exciting to actually eat an Italian dish when in Italy.  Seems more logical to eat a Caprese salad in Capri than to pick one up at the local Sobeys.  I have yet to find buffalo mozzarella, olive oil or roma tomatoes that are even close to what we ate in Italy,  the same yet vastly different.  Eating catfish in New Orleans, English breakfast in England, pannenkoek in Holland, Belgian chocolate in Belgium, pasta in Sorrento, pizza in Rome.  I could go on, as both Lori and I have no issue whatsoever sampling what is local, and jump at the chance to try new foods.  Here are some of our prize meals.

Breakfast in Brighton, UK
Lunch in Cosat Maya, Mexico
Lunch in Rome
Supper in Sorrento, Italy
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Europe’s Picturesque Towns

Brugges, the "Venice of the North" i...
Brugges - Venice of the North

Ran across this article a few weeks ago and wanted to share.  The gist is a rating of the 9 most picturesque towns in Europe.  I found it interesting as I had actually been to two of them, Bath, UK and Brugges, Belgium.  They were definitely impressive.  The Roman Baths in Bath were worth the trip and Brugges, what can you say.  Sitting along the square, drinking a Zot beer or a devilishly good hit chocolate is etched in my memory, not to mention thinking of Colin Farrell’s scene in “In Bruges” with the large American about to climb the tower.

Check it out, how many have you been to.

Brugges
Roman Baths in Bath, UK

Rome, Italy – September 13, 2010

Our second day in Rome.  We woke up, oddly refreshed.  I put the coffee on and checked out the window.  Pretty nice looking day.  Grabbed my phone and checked the time.  Two o’clock PM.  That would explain the oddly refreshed part.  Stupid jet lag nailed us.  Nailed us good.  Oh well, we shall make the best of it.  And we did.  A full day in Rome.  First stop lunch (breakfast).  We stopped at a spot on the way to the Trevi Fountain and had a pizza.  What else.  Looked great, tasted great.  The ambience of the place was great, Al Presidente Restaurant.

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Rome, Italy – September 12, 2010 – Getting There

Let’s face it, travel to Europe from Calgary, Alberta, Canada can be a gruelling exercise.  In the past we have only flown into London, an 8.5 hour flight.  We have left in the afternoon from home, landing in London in the morning their time, but pushing midnight Calgary time.  Late enough to start being tired, but not a good thing with the full day ahead and no sleep on the plane.  We kind of figured out last time to stay up for a few hours, have a 3 hour nap, then get up, have a bit of lunch and then, start drinking and continue until you pass out mid-evening.  You wake up with a bit of a hangover, but have made the transition to GMT.

This trip would be a 14 hour plain, train and automobile thing, as there are no direct flights out of Calgary to Rome.  We flew British Airways to Heathrow in London, with a 2 hour layover to Rome.  We went this route to try something different on departure time.  This flight departed at 9:30 in the evening, meaning it would be midnight over Hudson Bay and maybe sleep would come.  For the first time in a zillion flights, I actually did fall asleep.  I think for a good 4 hours or so.  We got into Heathrow, easily making our connection into Rome and settled in for the last part of the trip in.

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Places We Have Been – Brighton, UK

On our very first trip of this magnitude (as in leaving North America), we chose to travel to the UK.  This was an easy decision as Lori’s mother was born there, and emigrated to Canada in 1948 as a war bride.  She had never been back.  We decided to take her and anyone that could come from Lori’s family could come if they could.  As it turned out, two of her brothers came along.  They had cousins in the UK, who we reached out to and were ecstatic to have us come.  As a result of this, we have established a strong bond with the UK group and we see them all on a regular basis, either them coming here, us going there or meeting up with them somewhere. This particular post comes from that first trip and highlights a run we made into Brighton, with Peter, Lori’s cousin, as our guide.  Once there we met up with Lori’s mothers friends from the old days, Don and Margaret.

We drove down from East Grinstead and found a spot to park fairly close to where we wanted to be.  We started to walk through the city towards the ocean.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=50.842941,-0.131312&spn=0.1,0.1&q=50.842941,-0.131312%20%28Brighton%29&t=h

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I Drove This Road – Turners Hill, UK

I drove this road multiple times when we visited our friends and family in the UK.  The first time, a little shaky, driving a seven passenger fan on the other side of the road, on the wrong side of the vehicle.  The best part was signalling, I continually turned on the windshield wiper.  That is the only thing different, all the pedals are the same as what we are used to.  Eventually got used to it, but never got used to Cec and Lori screaming in the back seat.