Before we had to head to the airport Dan and I had a bit of free time, so after our breakfast, and a bit of organizing of our stuff we went to Central Park and walked for about three miles. The weather has changed and it was quite cold, but of course nothing like the year I was freezing no matter how much I bundled up!
Coming back to the hotel we packed and prepared for the long trek home.
We opted for a Lyft ride to the airport. NOT CHEAP! I think next time we might do the train and just accept that it will take longer. At the airport security was extremely speedy, and the airport wasn’t as crowded as usual. We went to the United restaurant “Classified” that is hidden and quiet, and there were only a few other people there.
Then on to the gate to board.
Now of course there isn’t any need to write about the flight except at one point an attendant came over to me and asked if I had just had a birthday. He then proceeded to to bring two desserts, asking which I’d like, but then gave me both! Of course I shared with Dan.
We started somewhat late this morning, getting breakfast after 10:00. We were not moving quickly until Jameson texted to suggest we meet up at a park, at which point we first headed to an ATM (for some reason I can’t find the $60 I thought I had! I’m hoping I somehow left it at home, but who knows?!*), and then took the 1 to 215th St. I must say it’s so darn easy to take the subway here, and I’m sorry California never has managed to do well with public transportation!
Meeting up with Jameson, we first headed to a local bakery to get some snacks and coffee, and then walked through the Inwood (?) park. Sitting on a bench in the sun we enjoyed our snacks, and then we walked more. SUCH a beautiful spot! Jameson mentioned that it really was what helped get them through the pandemic and I can see why!
From there we went to a local pub and had snacks (yes, we ate too much today!) and beers, and Meghan met up with us.
Then we went to grab more food and wine to take to Brandon & Lia’s where we were to meet up soon.
Getting a Lyft we headed to their place. Traffic was pretty horrendous, but of course one eventually gets to the destination. Then it was more food … as if we hadn’t had enough already. (please excuse the blurry photos. I just did quick iPhone shots) and a fun game called “Confident?” and while Dan usually doesn’t like games he won so I think he liked this one. Hah!
Romy was quite entertaining, too.
Then back home to post my Daily Flora and this (although of course not publicly until we arrived back home).
This trip has gone by so very quickly. One more full day and then we fly back home and I get back to reality.
Except not really: we have Thanksgiving coming right up, and Kelsey & Mel will be with us!
*Update: No $60 at our house, so somehow I lost that money. Oh well. So it goes!
Yesterday we woke early and headed to SFO. We weren’t sure if we’d hit traffic or long lines for security since APEC is going on. Nope. No issues. Thankfully Dan had two passes for the United lounge so we enjoyed the slightly less noisy area (but it sure was crowded).
Then it was board the plane and fly off to New York!
We arrived at our hotel (The Hotel Belleclaire, to be precise), enjoyed okay glasses of wine offered to us there, and met up with Jameson. I had been in contact with the hotel because it seemed each time we came here we’d get a smaller and smaller room. My “friend” (well, he seems like one by now) Benedict assured me he’d give us a nice room and, indeed, it was exactly like the very first one we stayed in. It might be, in fact, the same one. We can’t tell for sure — the first time we stayed here was shortly after the pandemic had lightened up and the hotel had only just been refurbished after housing homeless during the worst of the pandemic times and the room had one table and chair, the bed, and not much else. Now it does have art on the walls. But the bathroom door sticks and Dan and I both remember that so we are thinking it’s the same room.
Anyway, I ramble. As always. About nothing!
So … getting to this room that might be the same as before … we were greeted by a bottle of wine and some macarons, and a Happy Birthday to me. Yes, we came here so I can celebrate my birthday with some of our kids. How sweet is that?! I must, I’m sure, credit Benedict for the treat as well.
After dropping off our luggage Dan, Jameson, and I headed to Amsterdam Ale House. We grabbed some appetizers and beers, and yakked away. A bit later my brother Timothy and sister-in-law Margaret also arrived and we had dinner. Sadly the place got extremely noisy which made hearing pretty difficult for me. (We really need to search for quiet restaurants now. Sigh.) What a fun night, though, despite the noise.
Then we walked back to our hotel and hit the hay.
(No photos … didn’t even think to take any, silly me!)
I’m attempting to look back at photos from the trip that I took using my Fuji camera. Unlike Dan, I really don’t find it easy to do that: the trip is over, and that’s that. But … well … I’m going to work hard and doing a better job of looking at them and perhaps posting things now and then.
These are from our stay in Hotel Torre de Villademoros in Valdes-Luarca, Asturias, Spain.
This first image is at our lodging … just a look at the lovely wall and the beautiful agapanthus:
I took a walk and looked back at our place. If you look at the building to the right of the red roof, our window is the upper right one. I remember texting Dan to say I could see our place from the path I was on. I also said I was returning to change shoes. He then came on the walk with me.
We wound up here, looking out at the Bay of Biscay.
I won’t be posting daily, and probably not even weekly, but I’ll post when I get around to looking at more images. I must say it is a joy to look at them!
Side Note: I don’t know why images put up as single ones can’t then be larger if you click on them. Hm. I’ll have to research that. Meanwhile, I will put all three images below as a collage and I’ll bet you can then see them larger if you click on them.
Side Note #2: I do believe I’ve figured it out! Hoping it works for others as well: if you click on an image you are taken to the image larger. Now if I can add a plugin it might be even better, but I’m not sure I can do that on this site. Time will tell.
Slept in yet again, wouldn’t you know? But so it goes. We do end up staying up much later than we would at home, so I guess this is to be expected, but I was hoping we might get on a slightly earlier schedule by now.
After our coffee here at the house (first image below is the view from the bedroom window), we headed out (well, eventually!) and went to get breakfast. We decided to check out A Brasileira do Chiado — an historic coffee house where writers used to meet up.
Then we headed down to find the train station so we could head to Belém. Took us a bit of time, but we managed to get things figured out. I really thought I had prepared things more than I had for this trip, but I honestly enjoy winging it a bit, and we do eventually get to our destinations. Well, most of the time! These shots are on our way to the train station and then finally on the train.
We saw a few famous things in Belém, but neglected some other things that Ana had suggested. Our brains just weren’t quite connected I suppose (and it was quite warm).
We had a lighter lunch (still too much!) before heading back to Chiado.
As is typical, we came back to the house to rest up a bit and cool off. But then we did something that caused me to have to brave it: we went to the top of the “Elevator” to see the view. This is an extremely difficult thing for me, and I continue to experience pain when I go for it, but hey, I did it and I only whimpered a wee bit!
Our dinner was at a place that had been recommended as a spot locals go to. The food was nothing fancy and I suspect it was more like a normal Portuguese dinner. The guys working there (it was a rather small place) were great fun and there was lots of joking and laughter. We managed to eat a bit less for dinner, but … well … then there was dessert! Oops!
From there we headed to get a small glass of Ginjinha at what I believe was the original place. It’s medicinal, after all! (Hah!)
As we walked back we saw both yesterday’s restaurant and today’s, so I snapped photos of both.
And THEN … well … back we went to the top of the elevator. Below there was a movie being shown (no clue what it was which is no surprise since we never go to see movies), and I again whimpered a bit but survived the height. For a short time.
We had thought we’d go to Sintra tomorrow, but it turns out we didn’t get tickets to the Pena Palace in time and nothing is available, so we will do more here in Lisbon. Fine by me. I just love the random walks we can take and I’ll survive missing Sintra … for now. Maybe we’ll have to return!
A week ago Sunday Dan and I headed to Death Valley National Park for four nights. I now have a few photos to go through … or perhaps more.
There were veryfew flowers, so I spent minimal time on the ground, and landscape photography is definitely not my main thing, but I still attempt to shoot landscapes now and then. For those who are wondering, as we were leaving we saw more promise for flowers. It won’t be a superbloom year, but there willbe flowers. I’m sorry to have missed them.
The day we arrived didn’t allow for a lot of photography time: the drive from our place to DEVA takes quite a while. We did head up to a spot we always visit, though, and this shot is from that area. You can see there are a few people on those dunes if you look carefully.
I’m hoping to post more images later, and write a wee bit about the trip, but right now I have to start thinking again about work: Opera San Jose orchestra rehearsals begin on Wednesday and I need to practice!
