Well, dear friends, it’s been 10 years since I last posted about my travels and I am sure you have been on the edge of your seat, wondering “WTF? I haven’t heard a word from this nut job in 10 years!” Don’t give up the ship! I’m still here. A little older, a little grayer but still compos mentis. Pretty much.
I will tell you what I have been up to since 2013- and no, I have not joined the convent. Mr. Large and I bought a vacation cottage in North Carolina in 2013. I use the word “vacation” loosely since all we ever did was drive 750 miles from New Jersey and 750 miles back and use our vacation time to work on the house. Endless, endless, endless repairs in this 1970s version of the Love Shack. Sinking floors, new appliances, rotting wood, ant infestation, flying squirrels nesting in the attic, biblical at best, just plain annoying and expensive at worst.
Then along came a good old pandemic. Covid 19 brought us all to our knees and had us working remotely. Off we went to the Love Shack to look at the forest, and work on the house, and, oh yes, attend ZOOM meetings all day. But! Real Estate prices went off the charts and we wound up selling our scenic "vacation place," and in 2023 we retired and decided to start traveling and LIVING! Dream big for you too can go on a 90-day sojourn to the Schengen countries if you put your mind to it! Mr. Large and I are calling it our victory lap.
Let me give you an idea of the scope of this pilgrimage to Western and Central Europe.
Lisbon (Portugal), Bilbao (Spain), San Sebastian (Spain), Bordeaux, Sarlat and St. Emilion (France), Paris (2 weeks!), Munich (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Trieste (Italy), Treviso (Italy), Treiso (Italy) and last, but not least even a teeny, tiny bit- Barcelona (Spain). Since we are only on Day 3 in Bilbao- the wonders await!
Newark to Lisbon. One question for TAP- Air Portugal. Why are your seats so darn hard and uncomfortable? Is it too much to ask for a bit of padding on the hard, hard chair, and a couple of inches of leg room for our 7-hour flight? Ugghhh…it’s torture…and that’s only the so-called meal they served us. I will spare you the pain of hearing about the chair that came flying backwards and jammed right into my knees. Thank goodness for my new IPad and my Netflix subscription. I downloaded movies to watch all night, and watch I did. The 40-year old Version (five-star), Persuasion (meh) and North Country with the heroic and beautiful Charlize Theron fighting for her right to work in a mine in the hideous north country of Minnesota. Not exactly a glamour role Ms. Charlize- but YOU GO GIRL!!! Made it to Lisbon at 6:30am and as soon as we possibly could get into our room took a big, big nap. The most we could manage afterwards was a long walk along the city coast and beach and and an amazing dinner.
Lisbon to Bilbao, Spain – another early morning flight. Thankfully, much shorter than yesterday’s marathon. We arrived in Bilbao early-ish- around noon and took a bus to the city and, after much walking around the Old Town, arrived at our hotel. Another nap ensued….then walking.
Bilbao is a lovely small city, very livable with a river through the center where the city planners created a wide walkway, and parks on both sides. It’s filled with people walking, jogging and out with their families. Surrounded by mountains there is a lush greenness that reminds us of Asheville.
The nightlife is big here and people put tables in the side streets and enjoy the summer evenings with pintxos and wine or cider. The pintxos are Basque appetizers will all kinds of delicious and different sandwich trappings on a big chunk of grilled bread. Iberian ham, white anchovies on fish salad, Brie and ham, grilled squid, croquettes. It’s a grazer’s dream come true. We stayed up late to enjoy the nightlife, and wine, and whiled the evening away. The vacation has begun! The next day we found a lovely coffee shop/bakery right down the street from our hotel and had a leisurely breakfast of chocolate croissant and Spanish “tortilla,” a big egg/potato pancake.
Today was “Guggenheim” day and we were off to see what was inside the gorgeous stainless steel building on the river. After a good walk on the riverside, we arrived at this bastion of iconic design and modern art. Mr. Large had many “comments” about how I was forcing him into a march for physical fitness. Well, yes! We both need to walk for miles every day to burn off the calories already imbibed, and soon to come our way. There is nothing but extremely great food and wine around here. So, we will “march” and try to keep ourselves in reasonable limits of calorie consumption.
Back to the Guggenheim. The exhibits were interesting, though neither one of us is a modern art aficionado, but we enjoyed our time there and marveled at the sculptural huge steel installation on the inside of the building. It was a labyrinth we walked through and around, and it made us ponder the nature of art in all its forms. Bilbao is known for its steel industry and this building is a beautiful homage to the story of this charming city.
**The photos are usually slideshows so look for the arrows on the right to navigate. I will take lots of photos and do my best to post every few days.
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