Category Travel

My First Race – Dragon Boat Racing

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IMG_3594I heard a team captain say they were “short” one woman to be able to form a team for the Dragon Boat races that were coming up, so I shyly raised my hand.  DONE – I was part of the team!

Our day started at 5 AM on Saturday. We had to drive to the location, set up and prepare for the day’s events. A group got there before us and set up our tents. We all brought food for a pot luck and stored our bags, paddle, etc.  FYI: Never forget your towel and change of clothes. You do get wet, it’s fun, but not if you can’t change your clothes on a cold day.

IMG_3601When we practice we do not have a dragon head on our boat, so I was curious to see how this would look.  I didn’t realize that there is a real drum on the boat too. For those of you who do not know much about dragon boat racing I’ll fill you in. There are 20 paddlers to a boat. The first two paddlers at the front of the boat are called, “the strokes,” they set the pace for the boat.

The drummer uses the drum to set the pace of the strokes, so this person must have a loud voice for all of us to hear. When we are paddling it’s easy to get distracted by the boats next to us and their drum beats. I also learned that you lose time if you look up to see “how” you are doing in the race, best to stay focused and give your strokes ALL you’ve got. Finally, there is the steerperson at the back of the boat, who steers the boat and also gives IMG_3609commands to the paddlers. Here is a glossary of Dragon Boat terms.

We raced about 500 meters in 2.5 minutes. There were four boats racing at once and it took a little time to get us ALL lined up. I know 2.5 minutes might not seem long, but imagine how you feel when you are doing “planks” at the gym. You start out strong and then your arms get tired and it takes everything you’ve got to keep in the plank position. Same with paddling, you force yourself to continue paddling through the pain and finish STRONG. That’s where the drum beat comes in, it keeps the team focused.

BAD NEWS – We didn’t win!

GOOD NEWS – We had a lot of fun, we worked as a team and after our 3rd time out, we improved our time, and we finished STRONG!  It was a great day!   GO TRY IT!

Climbing Mount Si

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imageI climbed Mount Si this past weekend. I’m sure you are wondering about it, so I will refer you to Washington Trails Association’s (WTA) website where they have a write up about this climb. WTA is the nation’s largest state-based hiking non-profit organization. They do a great job of promoting all the different hikes in Washington.

Mount Si is a 8 mile hike round trip. I wanted to challenge myself by climbing a mountain, but this was a tough climb. Some of the reviews referred to this hike as a “challenge,” I thought it was more than that, at times, “tortuous.” I guess it depends on what shape you are in, and if your boots are working properly. Some people were whizzing by, obviously having done it before.

The picture I took is of the view from the top. It was spectacular and a perfect day. I even got an interesting bird in the photo.  Anyone know what it is?  There was a cute chipmunk who was running around, not afraid and hoping for food along with some small birds.

chipmunkThe climb took us about 3 hours up the mountain. Going down was tough, because it was steep and my shoes were not cooperating. I didn’t have enough cushion in them and my feet kept moving forward. There were a few times that I hoped a rescue team might come by, my feet were hurting so much, but that miracle did not happen. My friend made a joke that I was not going to be able to manifest it. So, I gave up on the wishing, and focused on getting down.

There were quite a few hikers with dogs and even some who were carrying babies in their packs. I hoped they were in good shape climbing up, because it could get rocky and one stumble and over the cliff you go. One poor dog was so little and panting furiously. I wasn’t sure he/she should have been on the climb. For sure this dog needed some water and “fast.”

Last night, I was sore and stiff and not able to think about my next hike. Now, it is a day later, pain in the legs is subsiding and I am READY for the next challenge. Although, other hikes at 4 miles round trip are going to be easy compared to Mount Si. I hear Rattlesnake Ledge is a good one.

Mount Rainier, the BIG HIKE, that will have to wait!

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro

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imageNot long ago, I wrote about finding the Dragon Boat Racing group on Meetup.com. Well, a few weeks ago I received a message about a NEW Meetup called, “Climbing Kili.” I immediately knew what that was. I opened the message to learn more about the group. I have always thought of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, so I found it interesting that this message came to my email.  Destiny?  Timing?  I decided to go and find out.

imageIf you haven’t used Meetup.com, you should try it. If you find a Meetup you like, you RSVP that you are attending. Meetup.com sends you a “reminder” message of the meeting date and people comment like they do on Facebook. For example, 12 people scheduled to attend and about 2 hours before the meeting time, people sent messages on “why” they couldn’t come. That was a bit annoying, but I still decided to go hoping a “few people” would make it.

Turns out it was great. The Meetup organizer was a very nice Australian woman who had climbed Kilimanjaro a few years ago and said it was fantastic. She was also a travel agent and has been to Africa many times. She started to fill us in on the trip. She climbed with two ladies who were in their 60s and one woman in her 30s. They ALL made it to the top. They were all in good shape, but not hard core athletes. As they were in different parts of U.S., they communicated by email regarding training. The organizer did long hilly walks on the weekends and in the gym used the stepper a few times a week. She used a normal type of hiking boot, nothing super expensive. She said they didn’t use or take expensive clothes with them either, they get so dirty. At the end of the trip, they left their hiking clothes and boots with the carriers – they appreciated having these things. They don’t have good shoes.

imageThe best time to climb Kili is Sept/Oct, Jan/Feb or early March. This is a 7 night / 8 day package. She said you hike 6-8 hours a day. While you need to be able to hike, Kili is more about acclimating to the altitude. The men in the photo carry your main baggage, the camping equipment and food. You just carry your very personal belongings as you hike. There are different types of packages, so you have to investigate online the cost of what “you” might want to do, i.e extra days, hiking a more secluded trail with less people, etc. She told us about the Machame Route, nicknamed the Whiskey route.

Great group of women at the meeting. One had just climbed Mt. Everest Basecamp, which was exciting. Two others talked about climbing Mt. Rainier in Washington and Machu Picchu (lots of stairs) in Peru. Turns out Mt. Kilimanjaro is one of the Seven Summits. Fun to meet like minded adventurers.

We are considering September 2017, she said there will be a full moon at that time.

If you’ve done the climb, share your story!

The Bridge of Gold

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imageThis week I was talking to a few people about my trip to Italy. They were asking me what I saw and I jokingly said, “Well, I was on the bridge of gold.”  As they have not been to Florence, they did not know about the Ponte Vecchio. This reminded me of my arrival to San Francisco years ago when someone pointed to a reddish/orange bridge and said, “There is the Golden Gate Bridge.”  WHAT?  It’s orange, I thought. I had envisioned something totally different, so it was a bit of a let down for sure.

Luckily, I had a few pictures of gold shops to show them. One was a really good photo of the Rolex store. I had been standing on the Ponte Vecchio watching the tourists go by when I happened to look up and see this little glass window with the Rolex logo. What an elegant and clever marketing idea!

imageRight now, gold is at an all time high at over $1,200 an ounce. It was interesting to compare what they were selling now on the bridge from jewelry styles a few years ago.

I spoke to a German woman who lives in Florence and works at one of the jewelry shops. She said because gold is so expensive right now they have to make what will sell and that means jewelry that is lighter in weight and hollow inside. She had me feel the weight of an older bracelet versus the new styles. There was no comparison. I told her it is the same with clothes and purses. Designers cut corners, so that leather is thinner and clothes have no lining. This is the new way.

Oh, I have to share with you a sculpture of a man riding a turtle. When I walked into the Piazza della Signoria I noticed immediately this gold looking sculpture. It was really beautiful. Sounds like the artist has it on display for a few months. The sculpture is by Jan Fabre, “Searching for Utopia,” silicon bronze, 2003.

I leave you with YOUR thoughts on this sculpture…

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Pasta Galore!

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image1If you like pasta, there is nothing better than going through an Italian super market. I was walking through the isles of the grocery store in Florence, Italy with my Italian mother and we came to the pasta section. As I looked at the choices with amazement, I asked her WHY with ALL the pasta choices she ONLY used spaghetti or penne pasta when we were growing up. She didn’t have a clear answer, she just kept dinner simple.

My mother was not a typical Italian cook. We did not have ravioli or tortellini.  NO — it was image2always spaghetti with bolognese sauce. Nothing wrong with that mind you, but when I went to another Italian’s house for lunch or dinner it was totally different from my house. My Italian girlfriend would cook with different pasta shapes and add vegetables to her pastas.

Lasagna was different too. My mother made lasagne with béchamel sauce, while my friend made hers with ricotta cheese. If you’ve ever had lasagne with béchamel sauce you can NEVER eat it with ricotta cheese again — it just tastes wrong! My opinion, of course.

image3As I continued on with my mother, we stopped by the produce section to find some tomatoes. Well, I had to smile… they had all kinds of tomatoes to choose from in big bins and our shopping adventure would not have been complete if we had not bought our parmesan cheese!

I think I was especially happy to see all the pasta, because in America the latest diet trend is “no pasta,” “no rice,” etc. and here I was in Italy, my Italian heritage, seeing all this pasta and thinking it’s not necessary to give up pasta completely.  Clearly, I was missing my “Italian heritage.”

So, here’s to exploring new recipes and going “beyond” the spaghetti style noodles! Changing your noodle shape does change the taste of your pasta.  AND REMEMBER, the pasta MUST be “al dente.”  This trip, I have to say, the pasta was almost “too” al dente.  I imagined the cook with his chef hat crooked trying to get pasta out as fast as possible!

Buon appetito (translation: Enjoy your meal)!

Back in Bavaria

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imageI love Munich. Many years ago, when my ex-husband was working for Siemens, he was given the opportunity to go on a one month assignment to Munich. We jumped at the chance. At that time our older daughter was 2 years old and I was working as a contractor, so we were mobile. What a great experience.

I don’t speak German, but that didn’t matter. Most people speak “some” English, so asking questions and getting around was not an issue. I remember going to Oktoberfest and being really surprised AND not in a good way. I thought Oktoberfest was like the inside of the Hofbräuhaus, instead it was a big outside Fair and the drinking imagewas done in tents and the weather was cold!

That’s Ok, it just wasn’t what I had visualized. There was a ferris wheel, different outdoor games, etc. I felt like I was at an American Fair. However, riding the train to Oktoberfest was fun, because people were dressed in their lederhosen and dirndles with the green hats and feathers. I took a photo today of this street singer dressed in tradtional Bavarian outfit.

It happens that my hotel has a view of the Hofbräuhaus. As I heard the singing, I remembered being in Munich for the World Cup in 2006.  All of the soccer players were coming in town from different countries, they had their jersey’s on and they were excited, the fans were too, so there was a lot of drinking and singing going on.

For those of you who don’t know much about the Bavarian dress, I took a picture of imagethis retail shop’s window, so you could see how the ladies would dress and what the men wear. I highly recommend a trip to Munich. It is so much fun and who knows, like me, ladies you might just go home with a dirndle. I’ve worn my dirndle to holiday cocktail parties many times. The guys would say I looked like a cute “Swedish girl.” So ladies, if you are single, dirndles are a good way to make conversation.

And men, “in Munich,” ALL guys wear ledershosen with bright colored shirts. You can do it too! Make sure you wear the red knee high socks with tassels. Am I scaring you yet?  You gotta dress the part AND don’t go on the ferris wheel if you’ve been drinking!

Museo Stibbert

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Photo of the Museum Courtesy of www.Wikipedia.org.

Yesterday I heard the sound of a freight train and a sudden memory of being at my grandmother’s house in Italy flashed by. She lived close to the train tracks and in the middle of the night very loud freight trains would go by.  At first, it was annoying, but then it became a welcomed hum in the middle of the night. That sound is still a connection to Italy, the memory of “staying at Nonina’s house.”

Another fond memory of being at Nonina’s house was visiting the “Museum Stibbert.” Most people who have visited Florence, Italy do not know about this special museum. When my mother was young she spent many afternoons at the Stibbert gardens and going through the museum. She said that is where her love of travel and seeing the world came from.

Frederick Stibbert was fascinated by antiques, especially military armour (European, Islamic and Japanese), which he collected and staged in battle scenes. In the photo you can see how he staged the armour in life size form, so you could appreciate the armour and the men going into battle. It’s fantastic to see. Frederick spent a lot of time, thought and money into creating each individual room.

Visit the main website for Museo Stibbert where you can view more photos of the different rooms — you’ll be amazed. Frederick’s father was from England and his mother was from Florence. His father left him very wealthy, so that he could pursue his passion in life. When Frederick died in 1906 he left this museum to the city of Florence. They opened it for visitors in 1909.

Every tourist should have this on their list of sites to see when in Florence. Of course, I am partial to it, because it was about 10 minutes from my grandmother’s house, so I have many memories of visiting this museum and its gardens.

Here’s to special memories that come to us when we least expect them – this time it was the sound of a freight train.

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Photo of the outside of the Museum courtesy of www.Wikipedia.org.

 

Swedish Pancakes

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imageToday I thought of my ex-father/n/law who is in heaven. He was 99 years old just shy of turning 100 when he passed away a few years ago!  He was from Germany and loved breakfast. His favorite place to go for pancakes was “The Original Pancake House.” We would often go every weekend after church. A family ritual for Opa. His favorite pancakes were the 49er pancakes. A nice memory.

Oh, and in case you are wondering HOW I ended up at The Swedish Club, it’s because I received an email from a Midwestern Meetup Group inviting fellow Midwesterners to come out and meet new people while enjoying some Swedish pancakes.

imageUnfortunately, due to tough parking, I was 30 minutes late. The line for being seated was so long that I was too shy to go through the line asking, “Are you a member of the Midwestern Meetup Group?”  It wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if I had had a megaphone and made a Midwestern joke, but I hadn’t been prepared for such a crowd.

Inside they had a small band with the members dressed in traditional Swedish costumes. It reminded me of being in Italy and Munich when the older generation gets up and they know all the ballroom dance steps. It was very nice and felt family oriented. Their traditional outfit style reminded me of pilgrims or the Amish. I wanted to take a picture to share with you, but I did not feel it was appropriate.

imageMore pancakes. I work with two Ukranian Technicians and their mother’s often make crepe style pancakes, but instead of making them sweet, they add chicken or a vegetable and roll it up. Last week one of them shared with me a chicken crepe. He told me when he was young his mother made a lot of dinner dishes using these thin pancakes.

So, here is to pancakes, memories of Opa, AND being open to new adventures!

Travel – 10.5 lb Backpack

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imageIf you are taking a trip around the world, can you travel with only a 10.5 lb backpack? Tynan can and in his Blog “The 2016 Gear Post,” he shares how he does it.

I still don’t know exactly who he is; however, I have learned that he loves to travel around the world, he likes cruises, enjoys tea, has published some books, bought an Island with some friends, is trying to date, and has gotten his backpack for world travel down to 10.5 lbs. YES, he has done it.

Another interesting fact, for the past seven years to simply his life, he has gotten his clothing down to one t-shirt, one dress shirt, one pair of pants, two pair of underwear, one pair of shorts and a few pairs of socks. Now that is simplifying life.

In addition to sharing a clothing review, he shares a technology review on some interesting products I had not heard about, i.e. computer, phone, chargers, etc. Sounds like companies give him products to use and then he reviews them.

If you look at his post and see the photo of everything in his backpack it is hard to believe it is only 10.5 lbs. He’s got some good quality stuff there. I like his ideas.

Well, I agree with Tynan, the lighter the better. It’s easier on the back and shoulders and now with carry on space getting smaller on planes and checked in bags at 50 lbs and often the checked baggage gets lost, life is a lot easier if you just have it ALL in your backpack. However, I am not sure that I can get to 10.5 lbs yet, but as Rick Steve, TV travel host states in many of his books and shows, “If you need something you can always buy it at your destination.”

So, who is up for the 2016 Challenge of traveling on a 10-14 day trip, somewhere in the world, with a 10.5 lb backpack and sharing if it worked.

You will have to be rugged! Tynan says he brings his clothes in the shower, so he can clean them and ladies there will be no extra room for fancy shoes, hair spray, fashion accessories, etc. Time to be a tomboy!

I can already see my Italian mother with her accent saying, “What has happened to you, why are you dressed like that? Where is your scarf, earrings and lipstick? Go home and change…” THAT was a famous line of hers, “Go home and change.”

Mom – It’s 2016!