the story of the rabbit and the hair

I am sitting here in a small room on a large vessel. 2 days ago after a yummi breakfast of bread butter and cheese, we packed the kids, suitcases and took our not too many , but yet way to many suitcases and tried to uber our way to the port. the 1st car circled around us and didn't find the place, I cancelled it (got an uber refund for clueless driver) and replaced it with a larger car. 20 minutes later with kids crying and running around we were finally settled in a taxi that doubles as uber and we headed to port. the driver asked me for cash payment for the car seat, which is not uber like. i paid and reported him right after, waiting for my other refund... we then said good by to Amit, a short but awesome visit. and proceeded to checkin. 30 minutes later and we were on board the Serenade of the seas and astonished Mattan. Tal just wants to go home...

we toured the ship for a while, had lunch, Mattan went to the pool and all this while we pass the lovely Swedish archipelago - for a few hours we pass many tiny wooded islands. later we went for a trivia game with half the questions on the ship or company. we sucked.. and Tal managed to lose one of his little cars. nothing exciting happened and we turned it early and woke up at 10 am.. super late, we rushed the morning activities and left the ship at 15 minutes after the time we could have.. 15 minutes waste of land time.

it was raining in Helsinki. we took the shuttle to the city and walked for a while sharing the kids excitement, another car, another bus another train.. and reached the city museum for kids land.  both found the train set and began fighting over limited resources.there are about 5-6 rooms in this kids land, one is a finish old style class room and Mattan played with the old style calculator and tal climbed all over the chairs. there was a camera crew and a reporter. they took photos of them, but i dont know if it will be be broadcasted if you have finnish tv, let me know.

but the fun didnt last long, as hunger set in. the museum cafe had open face sandwich with shrimp and caviar for Alla and banana bread for the kids. i saved room for shwarma to be found later. and now fed, the monsters were more behaved. we went to the market and got some awesome apricots and real tasting strawberries ... so good. with no shwarma in sight i got wild salmon and potatoes and some unknown vegetables and devoured it. we took the ferry to the island of summoenlinna - i ma badly misspelling this name. this is an old fort island which is now a park, with wide trails and a few cannons, cafes, a play ground and a great place for the kids to run around in, if it didnt rain. the kids enjoyed it still but we didn't stay too long.

one thing of huge importance for those also addicted. in the world of Pokemon, there are those found ONLY in specific places. there is one only in Europe, one only in Australia. and yes i need to go everywhere to find them all... this is just an excuse. well outside the museum i found the European one... ok back to travel

we took the ferry back and Mattan loved it and asks many questions while Tal sleeps. we get back to shore and the market , get more apricots and strawberries and raspberries and a yummi crepe, we then walk a while in the parks and before you know it, the day is over and we shuttle back to the ship.we dress up for dinner, which means i wear a belt and a grown up shirt. but i wave the tie and jacket (most dont) , but the food in the served area is not good. lucky there is a buffet and i make other choices. we play a little ping with the kids. the pong part does not happen yet, still struggling to hit the ball. we turn in early while there is still light outside at 10 pm.

Yesterday we woke on time, had a quick breakfast, deposited Mattan with Grandma and went to shore, 10-15 minutes in russian passport control and we were on our speedy way to st petersburg. we had a brilliant plan fo using public transport. after 30 minutes of waiting for the 158 bus we started to question this plan. we walked to the port entrance and reached there as the bus finally arrived  and made our slow way to the imprssively deep metro. we stopped for hachi- purry - a Georgian  pitta with cheese and a cookie . the pitta should remain in georgia..

the cookie had nuts in it and was dry but good.

a short metro ride later and we reached the main street of st petersburg, we stopped by various small sites, some statues, some buildings with explanations. Helsinki has all the criteria to be a pretty city, yet something is off. it is the same period houses, parks the sea, but it is not.  it is not ugly by any means and compared with cleveland it is a super model. but not compared with other European cities.  but St petersburg can be on the run way, i liked it from the start. the various colors of the buildings, the artistry found on many building, little statues here and there, just superb. there is a statue of a cat on some corner , pretty hidden.  the locals throw a coin and if it lands on the small statue area you win some luck, my non existing basket ball skills kicked in. very lame three attempts and luck in the 4th... we had a hungry baby with us and we stopped in a super market for yogurts and such. i had something the looks like Milki and was decent. we reached the spectacular church of the spilled blood. it is incredible on the outside and overcrowded and ok on the inside. all its walls are mosaic, but this is an overdose of Jesus. we leave shortly after.   it started raining and we stopped at an ice cream place for a great cone.

the rain didn't last long and we kept our city discovery, we reached the magnificent winter palace and entered the hermitage staff building. this building holds the impressionist period, monet, manet, etc..  really not my style, Alla likes it and tal tries to climb various stools. i want to join him. after a cafe stop for katletka and mashed potatoes we enter the main palace, cut over the lines with our guide and her tickets from the staff building and enter the busy hermitage. the building is spectacular, inside and out and a good chunk of the art is interesting for me. there are droves of tourists , but we were without a group so it wasnt as bed for me as i've been told it might be. tal slept the whole museum ... a plus. i enjoyed this museum much and2 hours plus later we left, mostly out of thirst. you cant bring drinks in.

we stopped at Rasputin cafe . a semi underground location, with old arches for ceiling and what looks likes a mad scientist chemistry experiments as a decoration and then hopped on the river boat tour. the first 15 minutes were boring as it rained again and you cant see much , then it stopped and the city's wonders are revealed. pretty building all over, again hidden statues and small surprises, very pretty churches and army buildings. the 1 hour tour ended and we took a taxi back to the ship. we met the larger group had dinner and tried to convince others to go for a night tour in the city.. none came and i missed the night tour with sweet dreams.

in the morning we went out to the city, this time with a van and a larger group and drove to peterhoff gardens. these gardens are an attempt to copy versailles gardens in a Russian style. pretty building at the entrance and lovely gardens within with gravity based water fountains. some are spectacular and some are tricky, only function at certain times, or in some rotation. there is a fountain that lets you walk in a covered area and then starts, now you are stuck for a minute. another changes the way it sprays and can soak you. some are just very high , very interesting designs and all with gravity , no mechanics involved. we spent two hours in the gardens including a healthy hot dog/ ice cream stop an drove back. we stopped in a mall for cerenok. a russian chain of pancakes and such that alla really likes, i tried some toasted chicken sandwich which was very good and then ran around the kids in the mall. we then drove through the city and reached peter and paul cathedral. this is a fortress in an inner island caleld the hair island. besides the church where all the Russian tzars are buried, there are lots of statues of hairs (bunnies) all over. there was a big one on a bench and i saw it last second, stumbled and fell behind him, embarrassing... on the way back we sampled more ice cream and had to return to the ship. the ships evening all bland in. we had one night with Abba music and the rest just running around the kids...oh yeh and the whole of Russia makes 65...

next morning we stopped in Tallinn, at 7 am as it was allowed i went out with Moti for a city stroll. 15 minutes or so to the city and a careful walk in pretty Tallinn with its many towers and medieval feel. also a great place for pokemons. we finished our 90 minutes walk feeling a bit cold, it was chilly and beautiful. next to a Russian style church i stumble again i dont know what is wrong with me, i need to check it out, i keep ending up flat on the ground, there is a tiny square with three ghostly monk statues,  monks bow, but these status have no face, hence the ghostly look, it is a bit creepy early in the morning when there is no one but us. we went back, refreshing shower, yummi breakfast and we went out again to the city with the kids.on the way , in the ship Mattan lost his stuffed rabbit from Helsinki, oh the tears.. promises of new toys and stuff, but it took him a while to retain composure.  this was a slower pace trip. in the early morning the city was empty and you can appreciate it. now overloaded by the tourist invaders, it is harder. we just walked around ,seeing interesting  building , ghostly monks statues and later a stop at the schnitzel haus, where the chef went out, found eggs, made them hatch, raised them and then made them into schnitzels, so long of a wait, but yummi food. meanwhile all the cousins played and ran all over the place. the kids loved it. later we walked slowly for an hour through the city and back on board, a short visit to Tallin. but later, we found the rabbit, on the isle next to the room, oh the joy.

evening for us on board were entertainment free. i managed to see one bad ABBA cover band and 10 minutes of a Russian folklore show, the rest was with the kids, just running around and trying to convince them to sleep.

next morning we reached Riga. preciously i liked riga and was looking forward. the prior night we found out the ship lands in a remote port with a paid bus and 45 minutes ride. the info made us upset, its a short visit any way, add to that a long ride, and a paid one. after many passengers complained, the ride became free, and somehow only 25 minutes.. not sure how this change of the laws of traffic occured, but soon we were walking slowly in Riga. we went to the market first which is made for 4 huge old airplane hangers. lots of fruit on display and Alla gets currents, which you cant find here,  they are so sour that i dont know why you would want to, but my strange kids like it too. Alla gets some drink called Kevas, i dont try it. we roam the market, get some good berries and toy cars.

in our last visit we loved a place called lido, now we find its a chain and we go to the one in between all the tourist restaurants. this time it was Ok and they didnt have my Kefir, so i take back my recommendation and am still in search of that great Kefir.

we get some ice cream, walk around the pretty streets and Alla takes the kids to the ship an i take the next two hours to just walking around, walking by the nice city park. even without the kefir, i still like this city very much.i stumbled our our cousins in the city in a little bow and arrow activity and shot some, one hit the center, the rest, kind of on target, not ready for the next robin hood movies just yet. but a bit later next to a strange statue of a rooster sitting on an animal on top of another animal, shocked by this sight i fell over...    i return to the ship on the last bus with happy sore feet.

next day was a sea day. woke up early and went for a walk on deck, just going in circles listening t an audio book. Leaving time, an interesting read. the same big breakfast of omelet with kosher bacon and jelepinios and bread with butter and honey, simple and good.

dinners were not that great. it takes a long time for the food to arrive and it was simply not good the first day or two and slightly got better. in the buffet , not everything was good, but you could sample and find something good. except one lunch with unexceptional great steak,  so they can cook good food when they want to.

on the sea day i climbed the rock wall once and played volleyball for a while. after a few minutes someone launched the ball overboard. we all rushed to look for Wilson, we didnt see it. we asked for a new ball and without one we play with a soccer ball which was heavier of course, but the low level game continued till someone broke an arm. sadly its my mom. she felt pain and left for medical, didn't realize it was broken and came back with a plastic mobilization device, not a cast. and would be in pain for the next week.

before you know it, we returned to Stockholm and lleft the ship after  goodbye breakfast and an uber to the hotel, where we found that Alla forgot her purse and i ubered back to retrieve it. with a full day ahead we went to the astrid park a.k.a 

Junibacken.  

what a charming place. Astrid is the author of pipi long stockings and other children's books known locally. and they made this kids park by the books. i dont know most of these stories but the park is incredible. little houses, stores , planes, filled with ladders and slides, hidden passage ways and discoveries.  the kids could not stops exploring for 2-3 hours.  even the cafeteria inside was all by book design. this place also has a little Disney type ride where you pass various rooms that each is a story scene, very nicely done even for those who do not know these stories. when with kids in stockholm, do not miss this place, when without kids, you can still go.

we walked back to the hotel with winy over tired kids, enjoying a finally warm day. we went to a restaurant in the evening  that is next to an enclosed garden. i was on kids duty and once again they ran around the place with all the cousins, i managed to snick in a bite or two in between playing tag.

woke up early the next morning and went on a walk with Moti once again and tried to discover a new area. a lovely walk in the morning and actually saw a deer in a park. I didnt think such a large city would have them.

later in the morning we went to the amusement park. good amount of kids ride, but even a 10 minute line for some is too much for kids patience, well our kids.. they had lots of fun on the rides but too much wait in between. oh, the lasagna was good after a 20 minutes wait.

we returned for a hotel rest and went in the afternoon once again to the urban deli for early dinner and ended up giving hot dogs to the kids.  late in the day i took my one handed mom for a last walk in pretty Stockholm and headed for an early night only where Mattan is watching cartoons in Swedish. we woke up at three am packed and took the shuttle to the airport with a decent behaving kids, airport breakfast and the 1st leg of the flight passed ok. this is iceland air. and on arrival you each get a water bottle and a kids bags with head sets, colors and a little work book. also ,even with no food on this flight, the kids get a little sandwich and juice box. very good company for kids travel. next time no matter where the destination, alla wants iceland air.

on the lay over in Iceland, we had a short break and i found my Icelandic hot dogs and bought the appropriate mustard as well. we wait inline to board right next to an escalator, Mattan with a little kinder egg car and with tal both wanting to ride it and cant, there is a security rope. Mattan places his car on the stair and it goes for a ride, I hold mattan back from a rescue attempt and everyone is curious what will happen to the little car., a minute passes and nothing, it didn't go around and no shreds , meanwhile Tal gets a fit and does not stop crying, he knows what he wants and now a security rope is in his way .. finally the rope is removed and we proceed to board where we find the car safely at the top. Tal finally relaxes and both flights pass relatively well.  once again both Iceland and Sweden with the airport strollers are the best. so continent and great family considerations.

now in Canada, where there are no roaming strollers, we gather our things, the passport check just flows by and i go get the car out of parking. i dont have a discount code but the clerks say, "he, i cant use this, just 100$ off": with a nonchalant tone, i take it for sure. parking here is significantly cheaper then cleveland airport parking. we make our way slowly out of Toronto. we find a shwarma place, this place has no running water, problems with the main. this was ok, but since i was lafa deprived for a long time , i enjoy it much. but there is no kids food in this place and somehow we end up in the worse pace of all. the big M.  there is a play area here and kids run around while we get something that is supposed to be food. i dont know why this is the most successful restaurant in the world. that tasted so horrible , yuck.kids kind of fed. and now Alla needs to eat, so to Chipotle we go and finally we manage to leave Toronto and begin the long drive back, no lines at the border and the kids dose in and out and wine on occasion even in sleep, we stop twice for  a wake up rest stop and make it home by 8 30 PM, pretty much exhausted.

by 9 i am asleep.

1 new country for me, 5 new countries for the kids. none new for Alla. a lot of decent food and a bit very good. one broken hand and very good time with the family. not too mention 1 rabbit, 1 owl and a few toy cars.

till we meet again...

the 2nd half is written after the fact on the home couch, pics will be arriving this weekend

on fevers, niceness and hotdogs

I am sitting here in a dark hotel room while the kids and Alla sleep. all curtains are down since the sun rises at 3 am here in Stockholm.

the last or so proved challenging. it all started with wonder woman. Alla and i went on a date night, with little time to prep we had a cheese cake factory  early dinner followed by wonder woman. about half way in, alla gets a text that Tal threw up on the sitter, so  we left the movie. it was good but we didn't get to the wonder part. Tal caught a virus and would be home for a few days with fever. 24-48 hours and Mattan gets the same symptoms, then Alla...  next week i leave on a work trip to Wisconsin. I leave healthy , but early next morning the dizziness hits first and fever quickly follows. fever is rare for me and semi clue less i am working everyday and go for walks in the evening under fever removing medicine. after 3 such days i fly back and this is when the real fun begins, it starts with pressure in the diaphragm area and asthma like symptoms, but i shrug it off, the next day it gets worse, i am tired with very little exertion. this is after walking everyday, 8000 steps plus for over a month and now after 1 diaper change and i am breathless. i go to urgent care, get a breathing treatment and they send me to the ER, they want to send me by ambulance... since they dont want me to drive , but my neighbor Lisa gives me a ride and stays on during the ER visit. . blood work m EKG and CT later and i am released home with suspicion of an asthma attack, a first for me. i have it with exertion but not just out of no where and not this hard and long. a beautiful weekend  passed, not a drop of rain, perfect hiking weather. july 4th passes as well and i am stuck home doing nothing fun, not even a short walk outside.the next day, symptoms remain and i spent it at the cleveland clinic, now echo cardiogram and anything heart related is excluded. the next day with the pulmonalagistm who is nice but feels stumped but gives me inhalation and after 10 minutes i feel reborn, went from 60% to 80. ohh the relief. recovery has been slow. got just a tiny bit better everyday, i resume walking 3 days later and felt tiered after my usual walk, better with each passing day.

the pressure to get better was on with the upcoming trip. on Thursday we drove to hamilton Ontario and spent the night there with Tal wanting to go home and in the morning went to the airport, 5 hour flight to Iceland where Talziila is restless, finally he sleeps for the last minutes.  in the short layover is Iceland i manage to explore the hot dog conundrum. in my visit here a few years ago i stumbled on the most amazing hot dog in the main gas station stop, just superb i bought some and when i tried them on, they were terrible.. bad light/good light situation. i thought i may have gotten the wrong brand or something. but here i saw them in an airport store and spoke with the clerks. they knew about it. they do something to them, when they make it home it does not taste the same. i was told to cook it in a broth, and also use their specific mustered. armored with good advice i left this store with snacks for the kids and turned around to see the same hotdog in a cafeteria on the other side.. i rushed over and enjoyed a yummi dog.

the next leg was also a bit restless for both kids,  2 flight is above capacity. we landed in stockhol at 6 am, had a decent arrival and got a shuttle with sleeping kids to the hotel. the kids and alla Crashed right away and i managed to survive and go for breakfast with the family.

my friend Amit came over to me me from Berlin and yesterday we had a wonderfull walking day.

this city is not breathtaking , but it is very nice every where. nice palace, nice harbor, great weather, nice old town, nice food, nice people, very pleasant we walked to Gamla stan the old town. had below nice ice cream and had a nice time at noon i returned to the hotel for a little rest and in the after noon ,we went to  an urban deli where the kids after eating, just ran around and around the place, then we went to a lovely park with trains. and a carousel where the riders pedal, the parks here seem more thought out. we waled for 30 minutes to the restaurant. this place was not equipped for a large party and they limited our choices. but Hemma visistan - had very good bread, decent cod, great mash potatoes and good Halumi. much stuffed we went to another nearby park. this one had trampolines, slides where you climb a fake hill to get to, climbing wall, soccer fields, track, ping pong and mini golf. again a very well designed park for all ages. the kids ran up and down the slides, carousel and the small hills made of some soft material at around 10 PM we walked back to the hotel and crashed...

this morning at six, i walked up, snuck out of the room  and went for a walk with Amit and Moti and lots of Pokemon. the city is peaceful, hardly a soul in sight on this Sunday morning. we do 5-6 k to one of the many islands that make this city and back, taking in the scenery and taking photos. at one point i was very distracted by a new Pokemon, that i fell and nearly went overboard to the shallow waters. nearby a mother swan hissed at us as we approached an then we saw her 3 teen age gray feathered kids.

i returned to the hotel to find them all still napping and my breathing almost back to normal. i still feel the residue of what was probably a nasty virus, but i am at 90+ % now, so expecting lots of city walks in the upcoming week. we are boarding in a few hours. cheers from nice stockholm

on reports, Komodo and plans

I am sitting here in a Hampton inn in Bolton Ontario. The outlet is US style, nice since I did not bring a converter. It would be odd for Canadian to come here and have to look for an adapter tough.

While the little ones are fast asleep, it is time for a year and decade summary.

Ever since the last yearly report, I have taken on a new unplanned hobby. Cooking. We had several services bringing supplies and recipes and I find that I enjoy following it and trying out new things. I say things because some of these were not "food" for me before. Alla is the beneficiary of these meals, but I also enjoyed adding these mysteries to the food list. Broccoli, is probably the biggest addition, it has become edible, but others as well. Last week it was colored greens (why are they called colored greens, is this a racial thing?), Artichokes in the form of crème, cabbage! , the red kind (not a racial thing), dates (yes, I never likes dates… but in last week recipe, they were a nice sweet addition), snap peas, bok choy, ginger, capers, kale, blood orange (was never a fan of), quinoa (still not a fan of), figs and jam (yes jam! … as you can see, my culinary journey is quite intense. Looking ahead on what is yet on the menu scares the hek out of me … need another decade to process them (mushrooms, zucchini, eggplants…), shudder the thought

I also made first ever pumpkin bread and chocolate balls. The chocolate balls were devoured...

The next hobby last few months has been Pokémon go. Some people are early adopters. I am on the late adopters list, somewhere in the back of that list. As a kid, I once won some large Pokémon stuffed animals in a theme park and since then had no Pokémon interaction whatsoever. I saw someone using it on a plane and was intrigued, at first, it was just casual, catch a Pokémon here and there, and now it is a commitment. This app was made for me, it fits my nature.

As you may have observed I enjoy making lists of things. The app lets me track which Pokémon's were caught.  There are 248 of them , I have about 130+ so still ways away (caught a new one here in Canada, yesterday) . The app lets me hatch eggs when I walk. It prompts walking. And so do I.  Late last year I finished the Akron section of the buckeye trail and now working on the burton section, which will be my third, I am more than half way done with this section, but the buck eye trail is huge still years away from completion...  Notice the list aspect?   The app lets me experience new things. They have common creatures and on occasion, they will issue our rare once, and the hunt is on.

See, perfect app for me.

I have an addictive personality, lucky I dislike cigarettes and alcohol. Sometimes my addiction drive Alla insane, but if you take my addiction away I will have to find another, there are worse possibilities.

Kids have definitely been a major part of last year; most of my free time goes to them and lots of my not free time. However, this blog is about me… kids, better stay a sleep upstairs…

Travel, my favorite category saw the addition of 2 new destinations, Corsica and sardegna. While they are not formal countries. They both want to be, they both had been and they are both distinctly unique, so I decided to make them countries in my list.  This means that I need to get to much more that 206 formal countries or more… not sure how big the list truly ease, but I am sure going to love finding out. #65 is rapidly approaching…

I did my first duathlon- run 2.5m bike 10m, run 2.5m.  The third running part was deadly and filled with cramps.  Finished dead last, but finished without stopping (Except to undo cramps). Did a few 5Ks, not very fast this year. A canoe ride, some orienteering and that is it on the adventure part in the last year.  I do have something exciting and new in the adventure works upcoming.

For my late 39 birthday just a while ago, I got a few nice gifts. A puzzle with two friends, a photo from Iceland, the puzzle is done, but not yet hanging and a book of movie riddles.  Each unique and creative, had fun cracking almost all of them.  I also failed the second time to crack an escape room, help a private escape room for Alla's birthday, bought a van, drove a van and accepted that I am the main van driver

 

This sums my last year and now it is time to move to the decade report, reporting on major life changes.

 

Single > engaged > legally Married > ceremonially married > A father> a father x2 … short summery of demographic changes. Relocated to Cleveland, moved from the closed MDG medical to Philips.

My career growth graph in the last 10 years can be describe with the following image __________________________(4 months in 2011) _________________________________________

 

Travel- reached South America and Africa, leaving only 1 missing continent. New Countries in this decade are numerous, should I list them…. Of course… Kenya, Tanzania, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Denmark, Norway, the Galapagos, costa Rica, Ecuador, Belize, Corsica , sardegna, The canary islands , Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam , Cambodia .  Is that is?  Am I missing a few? I knew I should be travelling more

 

Had 1 surgery, 2 capped teeth , too many sprains, a blood clot, a P.E, 1 code blue event ( I wasn't truly dying, it just felt that way), witnessed 2 caesarians sections, been pooped on  peed on vomited on , boogered on  slobbered on, spitted upon and enough bodily functions…

Had many 5Ks, 8k, duathlon, few triathlons, one half marathon, regular orienteering, Rogaine orienteering, (I was last year actually ranked somewhere way down on the national orienteering list). Did and arrange scavenger hunts. Ran a half marathon (the trigger to some of the issues in the above paragraph) raise 3000+ dollars for chron's  (thanks to all of you who have donated or even reached this spot), played dungeons and dragons, flew a plane (even solo for 30 seconds). Drew chalk art on the side walk, wore freaky Halloween customs (African warrior, zombie, alligator king and some mixes of various things. Prepped scary things for Halloween, completed 2.5 sections of the buckeye trail, went snorkeling, and chased an iguana and silver eagle rays. Swam with dolphins, went fishing, played disk golf, went mountain biking, mountain biking orienteering, rode the valley train, did about 50-60 k on the bike. Almost was arrested for indecent exposure of a minor. Had 2 speeding tickets and a few parking ones\ missing tags. Sat on a pretrial jury (damn bias), shot bows and arrows, threw axes and actually hit the target…well some of the times, Ate a large roasted turkey thigh.  Sheltered from a tornado. Watched lightning storms. Kept a well bird feeders for the squirrels, went rafting. Kayaking, canoeing, cruise shipping, learned a little bit surfing, ran warrior dash, ran climb the tower, went to haunted houses and corn mazes, had a monkey climb all over me, went zip lining, wakeboarding  became a US citizen, voted for the popular majority candidate. drank kefir , acted as Hadrian in a self-made play,  climbed mount Washington, climb gladpeaken (highest point in Norway), reached the highest point in Indiana.  got drunk (1^st and only time… schnapps), rode a horse, saw a fainting goat, got a selfie with a Llama, a selfie with beauty queen contestant. Swam in one of the five great lakes (yes-new list). Swam in the Baltic sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, the med sea, the Atlantic, the pacific, Lake Victoria, the Gulf of Mexico and the South China Sea.

Watched Cambodian New Year's Eve. Shot and was shot at in paintball. Mowed the lawn, ate two bites of a mystery cookie. Almost became a distinguished toastmaster (in a few months). Shook off my crowd fear, spoke many times in public. Started my first toast master club. Buried my first toast master club. Mentored people, finished my MBA, summa cum laude, watch my first (and last so far) baseball game, and football game, watched a few Cavs games. Watch a euro semifinal (two off them). Took a selfie with a president (now ex), kicked off my coke addiction (sober for 5+ years), found out I am sensitive to garlic (makes me drowsy), ate flavored popcorn, swam a volcano in the buff and went to lots of local festivals and bought a house

I also maintained this blog

Is this a busy decade? I learnt that I must keep busy to maintain my sanity.

 

What does the next decade has in store? Lots of fantasy plans and possibilities

Many trips… finishing all 50 states, 10 countries would be a shameful list. Possibly a world cup game (2022?), another continent, see a komodo dragon in the wild, passing the half way mark on the buckeye trail. Hot air balloon, helicopter ride, invent something. Write something, find all Pokémon's.. . In short, go places and do things

That is it for very late 39…

Cheers from Bolton Ontario (now a new province for me, but yes for both kids and 3^rd country for them both…. Honey festival today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on beaches, antique sites and missing flight details

hwe Left Sassari bright and early and headed south. Sardinia is known for its nouraghi , these are ancient villages of people long gone there are 8000 or so of these structures here, but we didn't see any so far.

our first stop was one of the bigger sites. and as expected, it was closed… we hopped a small fence and took a private tour of the impressive all rock and no cement structure from around 1800 before jesus

we took a detour towards the pretty town of Bosa, with its pastel houses beneath a castle. we had hot chocolate / coffee and here i went up the hill to the castle and met them there

we visited the medieval castle and enjoyed the town and sea pretty views

we kept driving along the coastal roads, passing many small towns and the striking views of cliff, sea and green fields.

shay, aka, low blood sugar boy, must eat at 12:30 and as it happens we arrived at a fairly big city of oristano and to my horror he found a place to eat there.  instead of pasta , i had some macchicken ,,  oh the horror

we also stopped for shoe shopping.

we kept going to the village of barman for the biggest nuraghi site and the only unesco site on this island. this place used to be a tower surrounded by 4 towers surrounded by 11 towers, kA built without cement .

an impressive place and the local tour guide gave a lot of theories on the place, but sine there are no written records  much of it is guess work

we kept heading south amongst pretty green hills and stopped at an outlet, since this was shay's last day  

shay went shopping and i went ice creaming. after getting it, i gave my card and they said cash only.  no cash…

the ice dude told me to pay later… nice    … and i did.

we reached our cagliari hotel a bit later, and headed for the town for dinner. we reached a good place  early and were told we can come in but must vacate the place by 9 :30   when the true locals come to eat. the food was good here, i had ravioli in tomato source and creme catalan

in the morning we drove shy to the airport. later i would learn that shay''s ticket was for May 18…

after some ground ticketing turbulence , he made it to the flight and upgraded to business…

we drove on to Iglesias, where julio was no where to be found. it is a small town with a saturday morning market- for books records and assorted crap

we stopped for breakfast and walked a bit in this medieval cities.  this island has lost f medieval cities and they are all pleasant to walk around in..

we drove to an island, there is a bridge and spent the day passing towns and beaches and enjoying the amazing contrast of coast sea and mountains.

this was the prettiest day,  all week had amazing weather but the incredible series on small amazing beaches one after the next made it especially nice.

   

we stopped for lunch at a small town square, that had 2 restaurants and both loaded with locals, we found life….

this was slow italian food…took a while and was ok not great

we drove back to cagliari, took a little nap and then walked up the hill to the old city center, its castle and medieval streets.  the old town is well preserved 

 

we reached a main street filled with locals, this is saturday night  

we enjoyed a yummy pizza and a really great gelato and walked around the locals till we got too cold and headed back for final packing

this morning was more hectic then planned

there were no open gas stations for the rental car

also my dad ticket was booked by shay, the ticket info was not given, we went to the airport not knowing enough about his ticket.  this is from the same person who booked the wrong month…

should we be surprised that his flight already left…. he told us it was the 8:10 flight  same as mine  but it was the 6 am one…

.. things were sorted out and he boarded the flight after buying another ticket

there is now a contract for shay's head.

i am now in new york, 5 hours wait and already my flight is delayed for an extra hour…. 

at some point i will reach home

and now at home

on whale watching stairs and gnucci

our sunset 1 hour ferry cruise went fast. took some sun set pics and reached Sardinia after dark. we had a fun 2 hour drive on the never ending curvy roads to Sassari,

Hotel pegasus is not the greatest of hotels , decent, except terrible wifi.  come morning with bread butter and honey and then off we went to explore the north west.

we started with Aleghro , found parking and an open tourist info. the professional person there gave us lots of maps on the city, the area, the county , the voting by area map, list of open restaurants in the old city offering local cuisine, map of sewage lines and other valued maps. by his advice we left the city and headed for neptune caves- or nettuno as is known here. 30 minutes of pretty coastal drive led to the edge of a peninsula. where a guide was ready to take us down the 654 steps. the way down was easy... the cave of wonders was nice, not breath taking if you sees more then a few stalagmites caves but not bad. the local guide gave me tips on this area. now it was time to go back up, that took a little while... 

we drove back after a stop for a little bit of cliff climbing and a stop in one of the many very round turrets that are scattered here on hill tops and bay edges. defensive posts. the peninsula and the sea create many photo moments. we returned to Aleghro and stopped for lunch.

for me gnucci is a small past dish and i ordered Sardi gnucci and carbonara.  the carbonara was good, but the gnucci here is basically pasta shaped like sea shells with tomato sauce, and i kind of left it alone.  the waitress explained that in Italy the gnucci is potato based but here (in the other country) in sardinia, it is a type of pasta. live and learn.

now we split up, i went for a historic old town stroll. I began on the out side walls of the medieval city, seeing towers, trebuchet, catapult and cannons facing the sea.  the rocks on the sea side creating a natural defense well before the massive walls. this must have been a well defended place. but the island did change hands several times in it history. Catalonians. Genoas , Italians and now tourists.

unlike what the tourist info guy informed us. all restaurants in the old center were closed. in my wondering, i came across a gelateria anddecided to sample the local flavor. i tried Fundenta and this chocolate was bitter. as you know, i prefer the pure real chocolate that is milk chocolate.... it was still good, but not what i was looking for. hence kept wondering the old city with its narrow passageways, passing an incredible amount of churches in a tiny area. and then found another gelateria. this time i would outsmart them and ordered chocolata...  which was bitter...

i met back with the gang who used the time to sit still in the sunny wifi. we drove north passing lush green hills, sheep and a glorious sunlight towards tistino. where one of the better beaches is found. i loved this drive with its many shades of green.

as we approached the shore we both had an ahh moment. the shallow waters were in various shades of blue, just amazing. the long sandy beach, with rock formations behind it , the bay, the big island just perhaps 300 meters across the channel and the smaller island with the big turret all combined to a beautiful place. we walked a bit on the beach

the warm sun was fighting a cool northern breeze and I debated myself weather to go in for a dip. It took a while for me to convince myself to be stupid. usually it doesn't take me this long. I walked in for a while, the waters here are very shallow and you walk a while and the water is below knee high. the darker blue where it is deep is clearly well ahead. slowly the water pass my knees and i keep going, but it is windy. and at middle height i decide to just dive in. refreshing and cold, i go back dry and change. i look at the map later and find that there is no local sea name here, just the med sea. 

in the evening news it was reported that beached whales were spotted on northern Sardinia.

we passed port town of port torres on our way back to Sassari. this sentence is already enough description about this town.

in Sassai, i went to shower while they shopped and later we all headed for old town Sassari. we parked in the middle of a piazza as the locals do, just under a sign saying no parking anywhere in the piazza. we passed the cathedral and walked the nicely lit old town streets and reach the main attraction. a Zara store where Shay spent a while and we were in the small square listening to a street artist. we kept going to the main city square. a big pretty plazza with a palace and fancy buildings all around.  

we stopped for dinner and here they had Italian style Gnucci. it was salty and delicious, best meal of the trip.

we wondered a bit on the way back to the car and returned for night night.

this morning at pegasus hotel lobby, we drive south towards Cagliari

cheers

on ferries ice cream and limoncello

today we stopped at a mall... a mall yes, Shay blood sugar was low on mcFood and we found a mall in Olbia, a fairly major city. he went to Zara and Mc place and i had some ice cream and a crepe we spent an hour or so there and avoided the authentic sardinian old western steak house. today we had a surprise, places are open. we drove by a few towns, and there is some life here. from there we headed to Palau where many celebrities have villas, but now familiar face in sight. after nearly falling off the pier , we boarded a ferry to isola madeline in the archipelago. this village is an old army post. has a very nice city hall, church and colorful building, we didn't spend here long but we all liked the place and had very good ice cream. we took the ferry back, enjoyed archipelego views of islands and clear blue waters in a nice warm day and then looked at our afternoon ferry to corsica  and noticed a "last port check in 90 minutes prior" on the ticket. it was 3:20, the ferry is at 5, we still have to go to the mainland , then drive for 30 minutes +... the math does not work we are late.

the nerves begin,,,

as soon as we leave the ferry from the archipelago, i drive as fast as possible on these curvy roads a police car passes on the other side and nothing happens..sigh  of course there are road works on the way where tractors use big devices to shave off the trees on the side of the road, and busses, trucks and slow drivers, we get there at 4:10 and find that the note was wrong, 30 minutes prior is fine... we breath and board the ferry to Corsica.  now you can see Sardinia and its archipelago in its northern part but corsica is also near by and clearly visible. the voyage is peaceful and on arrival it is striking. old town benefacio and its medieval walls are on the lime stone high cliffs dominating the area, and the harbor is goes behind it, creating a kind of peninsula. it is very impressive to watch. the building on the cliffs edges seems as they could fall in any moment as huge chunks are at the bottom. we all loved this city on 1st sight.  we checked in to a nice best western, recently renovated and headed out for some corsican food. to our not so surprise it was closed... we has a choice of tapas or burgers and tapas it was. definitely exploratory food for me. i sampled cream of artichokes on toast, 1st time for me, it was not bad, tasted like garlic. then some freak soup in a misshaped bear glass , with strange greens i don't want to know what it was. it was nourishing for me and very good for tourguide. i had also linguini langoustine which was good,we tried deserts, i took a safe creme brulle. it came in small bizarre cups. i tried it and disliked it.  turns out the cups are passion fruit, which i don't like and inside there were figs,  which i really dislike. i thought they put beer inside, which you know i dislike, i didn't like the other deserts the others ordered, things with creme and clementine or nutella. the owner gave us free double shot of limoncello, i took mine and shay's shot and felt it right away, strong stuff.  now they both went to the hotel and i took a solo tour up to the old city. the steep path climbs upwards and enters the impressive walls, which were lit in blue soft light. the old town is nice, with narrow passages, it feels similar to old jerusalem at night but scarier. i was almost alone passing many dark stair ways and allies,  felt unsafe, though i was told it was safe. I spent 30 minutes or so walking the square and then returned to the hotel.

now it is night time... tomorrow corsica awaits

cheers from Corsica  country # 64

on blocked road, dry food and nouraghi

I am sitting in here in a nice hotel lobby overlooking mountainous terrain, villages, green scenery and clouds, the sun is making some attempts to warm up, but its early. its Monday morning and all is peaceful in Sardinia.

I left Cleveland on a Saturday noon, the Delta counter had trouble finding my reservation at first , giving me few moments of dread, i gave them my ticket and then they found two invites for me,  i booked via Vayama so  no sure what happened there, but soon i was at the gate where this oversold flight had 5 to many people... they offered 800$ to delay. i was intrigued but would miss my connection so passed on what would pay for most of my stay. 

reached JFK with plenty of time, but you have to switch terminals, go trough security again with long lines. prices here are higher then I recalled and i settled in on a hotdog, 

soon we were off to Rome and i spent my time with Keeping up with Jonses - entertaining, Jack reacher 2 movie- decent - but the books are better, he (Tom Cruise) is to short for the role and played some trivia. slept only an hour. we reached rome 20 minutes a head of time, my connection was decent, but it did take a while to load on the busses and a long transit line for security, a long walk to the other terminal and then passport control.  each by itself was not too bad, but i was pushing it to make my flight and had to run. Breathlessly i reached the gate with a few minutes to spare, joined with my dad and brother as we took the short last leg to Cagliari.

My bag wasn't there! here is there is a separate carrousel for domestic and international, sigh... it was in the other one with a ripped stepped, back pack becomes a shoulder carry.

we got the car and quickly began navigating the cagliary roads. the sun shone, a lovely warm day with clear skies. perfect start.

we stopped at a super marketo for some supplies, water, bread , local cheeses and snacks and headed for the SS125 going north east. the road passes salt lakes and fields of various kinds and then slopes up the mountain range. the granite mountains are striking, there are lops of spurs going up from the top of the mountains creating interesting shapes. the scenery is lovely with assorted trees of oak, pine, olive and others and the sea is visible every now and then for contrast. we took a little detour in the village of bureci and took a road to the top of a mountain. this was a dirt road and we stopped on the sides to examine the newly blooming flowers.

the road was not meant for a regular car and we decided to avoid a flat tire and returned back and continued east and north on the SS125.  we reached the village of Arbatax and stopped at the marina for beautiful rocky shores view.. here we found a little booking mishap. our hotel was an hour south so we waived our booking and booked Dorgali which was an hour to the north- to avoid the need to double back. this village arbatx is a happening place in summer, but now in the off season it is off. no one in sight, this is a sunday and the roads are virtually empty. we decided to keep going to pedra delonga. after driving up the mountain, the roads goes steeply down towards the sea. we spot some goats and our expert zoologist guide declares they are feral goats. i do notice that these feral goats have bells on them. i did manage to get a nice photo of these feral bell goats gazing at me with the sea behind. photo of the day.

we reach the end of the road to the restaurant which is closed!!! at this point i get a 911 call from nature... and i leave my mark on the ground 20 meters from a locked toilet. this is becoming a bad habit.

the short path descends to the shore for views of sea and rock formations, including the long rock or Pedra De longa.   i also take the paphto the other side, each path is perhaps 200 meters both ways, but a bit steep, the beach on this end is completely deserted. 

we continue north. the roads here all pass in the towns, in one of them we reach a funeral procession and must go behind the poor soul and half the town on his way to church. we continue slowly on the never ending winding road but with striking views. i fall a sleep here and there in the back, an hour after the funeral we reach a dead end! the road is blocked. I get out to see road work on the other side and a firm blockade on the road, not a gate. time to go around. these are mountain roads, not many off them, we have to drive 20k back then do a huge detour. i take over on the wheel a bit rested after my power nap. Shay is complaining on the constant turning and i laugh when i see a straight stretch of road of about a 100 meters, it is that twisty. for more than an hour we are on this U-turn of a road passing a few small towns, streams, goats and sheep and finally reach a high way, we go north to Nouro, the area capital, it is a city and it is closed! we drive in the center and all stores are closed, and also restaurants and everything. these people take Sunday seriously. we pass a cop and ask for food directions and he guides to the main pedestrian area where we find a couple of sandwich places, we are told that restaurants will open at 8 pm.. and we have a hungry child to feed so we snack on microwave heated pizza or burgers - not gourmet italian food. on the way out another store finally opened and Shay supplements with french fries. all he wants is Mcdonald...

we leave the city and head toward Dorgali the touristic town, center of all activities and we find the road closed. it is dark now and we are tired. another detour.... its a big valley with hills here, hence a few roads to chose from. 30 minutes later , groggy eyed and slapping my face to remain awake we reached the hotel to find it closed! 

we called the hotel and after a few minutes they opened up, we booked this hotel today and the hotel did not get a message somehow, but they were efficient and gave us another room.

i took a shower and was fast asleep.

Day 1 ended where Sardinia makes country #63

woke up before seven and went out to check the beautiful mountain view, green hills vine yards and other fields. we had a great breakfast, with fresh orange juice, good bread, home made cake and other goodies. we went to the super market to grab lunch sandwiches and headed for our first spot. road S46 is closed... a car passes and a nice sardinian lady tells us to follow her on z daetur.  it was a tiny park that seemed devastated by recent floods, i saw a bench on a rock 10-15 meters up, high flood. we saw a sign for a "short nice 20 minute walk" and we took it, the short hike goes in between interesting vegetation and our biological tour guide digs a root from one of plants and shows us its orange root, suppose to make great tea out of it. 

we drove onward on a mountain road towards the hike of the day. we took the wrong path and tried and failed to make it up the mountain, steep roads, we stopped by a group of italian forest workers. they spoke no english but were very friendly, they were having lunch of bread and cheese and wine. we drank some wine, even I, just to be nice took a little sip. they drew us a map and we made it to the starting point where i left tour guide and hungry child in the car, they had lunch and i went up the mountain. 300 meters elevation change, took me 55 minutes to make it up there. the 1st part is just a path becoming steeper and steeper with occasional sounds of feral bell goats and 1 wild cat. the 2nd part of the path becomes a rocky trail, lots of stair type trail and the more you go up the rockier it becomes, with very jagged rocks, i stepped carefully on this part. at one point you have to go through a tunnel between the rocks and use your hands to climb. short of breath i reach the ancient nouraghi village under a collapsed dome. a guide waiting at the top explained bit about the sheep herding village that was discovered about 100 years ago, there is not much to see and i stayed there for a short while, enjoyed the panoramic view and made my way carefully down the mountain.

sour legged, i enjoyed picoreno cheese and bread. very good, we left the park and drove to orgoloso a town known for anti government political drawing. the streets are full of interesting gravity and quality drawing, but it is in italian  ,and we don't stay here long. the way over here 18 k was once again extra twisty. as we leave the town to return to Dorgali, we go by another road , slightly faster and are told to make a right somewhere, i remark that per the onboard nav system, we are about to cross a river, when we get to the bridge. it is rock made, ancient and half demolished, mush have been broken for over 20 years. we debate if we could jump over the gorge and finally decide not to. another blocked road.. but we do find a nice orchid here before we go back to another detour which is our 4th in under 24 hours. we make it back and head for sea town of cala gonona , a happening place in the summer we reach the shore and walk a bit then hungry boy must have dinner and we begin looking for a place. there are lots of closed restaurant here, they have cruises to amazing nearby beaches but not now, not a boat in sight. we scrounge the town and see and open gelateria, finally :)   we go in, and no ice cream, it will start next week the counter guy say in iris Gelateria. i Order hazel nut hot chocolate, it is very thick and and hot , hit the spot. a near by restaurant has lights, but they will open in an hour, we decide to go back to Dorgali, its a bigger place , there must be food there. we drive around for an hour, it is closed, everything.... low blood sugar shay drives around crazed. we finally find a restaurant sign and head up narrow alleyways and find a 1 star michellen place. but closed. google directs us to the garden pizzeria restaurant which was open!!! too bad.

tour guide ordred zuppa di mar, after desperately wanting soup. apparently a plate of sea food is called zuppa,  he sends it back. i ask for black risotto and octopus. it is nourishing. this is our new code word for something not so good. hungry boy gets ribs, they taste like meat but stringy. the carbonara is also nourishing and the chocolate cake is as soft as dry rock.

shay asks for another fork it share the rock cake and gets another cake... we send it back to rolled eyes glares from our waitress. we hear here debating with the angry cook.

we reached the hotel for a show and fast overnight nap.

woke up around seven,  another vey good breakfast, as we raised our glasses we requested open roads...

we checked out and heading north. we passed the town of orosei. the town shocked us, we saw a few open places, we checked out the beach, pretty and not empty , 2 people were sitting on the sand. 

we are now going not still 

cheers from sardinia