Guess The Country...

Before I post another real update about my adventures on the road, I thought I'd share a few photos from my trips to various countries around the world. Each stop was VERY different from the next. Can anyone take a guess where these three photos were taken?

#1  Enjoying a view and a glass of wine on the Cricket field

#2  The table and glasses we used for our beverages were carved out of ice...

#3 A great place to end a long trip...

¡Hola! from Quito.

Last Friday we departed LAX around 9am bound for Quito, Ecuador. It was an exciting approach as the pilots navigated through the Andes mountains, finally landing at the airport 9,500 feet above sea level (almost twice as high as Denver)! We flew commercially down to South America to pick up the jet (which was still parked at the airport in Quito) and our passengers who had a week long trip to the Galapagos Islands.

After we got off the long flight, our handler, Ramiro, picked us up at the gate which allowed us to skip the long lines and get through customs. We were exhausted and couldn't wait to go straight to bed. Ramiro drove us to the Marriott and told us some interesting facts about his city. It was fun practicing my Espanol and the people there definitely appreciated the effort.

The next day we woke up early for breakfast and headed back to the airport to check on our airplane. I also ordered our passenger's catering through the restaurant hotel, hoping they could understand through the language barrier. After our trip back to the airport, Ramiro took us to the SuperMaxi (grocery store) where I could get some of the items for my flight back to LA. I needed to get the basic stuff; milk, eggs, paper towels, fruit, etc. We have a little skillet on the plane and I wanted to make eggs and bacon for breakfast. I was surprised at the super market how similar it was to U.S. grocery stores compared to European super markets. I also had no idea that the national currency in Ecuador is the U.S. Dollar. You get a lot more for your money though, because the average monthly wage is about $250.



I really wanted the chance to tour Quito even though we were going to be there for such a short time. Ramiro offered to take us around to see the old city and teach us a bit about the culture. He said that Quito is separated into three areas; the old city, the southern (working class) and the northern part where most of the shopping and businesses are. Ramiro drove us to the Old Town (historical center). We saw the monasteries of San Francisco and Santo Domingo. In the photo below, you can see the El Panecillo, which is a hill within the city at almost 10,000 feet above sea level! You can also see the monument of the Virgin Mary at the top, looking over the city. We drove to the top and from there, we could view about two of the 20 or so volcanos in Ecuador. As you can see, Quito is nestled in a narrow valley and the view from the top of El Panecillo was breathtaking.

A couple of facts that we learned about Quito is that it is the second highest capital city in the world. It is also only about 15 miles away from the Equator. The climate stays about the same all year around (about 75 degrees) and Quito only experiences variations in daylight hours of a few minutes throughout the year. The photo below shows thousands of boxes being loaded onto a 747 full of roses! Roses are one of Ecuadors top exports and sent to countries around the world including Russia, United States, and the Netherlands.

One of the coolest things I saw was the preparations for the New Years Eve traditions (Ano Viejo) just two days away. Ecuadorians celebrate by constructing effigies out of paper mache. I saw them leaned up against storefronts and in piles around light posts. The dummies were at least life size, if not much bigger. There were ones that looked like Bart Simpson, Osama Bin Laden, presidents, bosses, wives, etc. A handwritten note is pinned to the dummy with an explanation why it is being burned and what changes need to happen in the New Year. On New Years Eve, they take the dummies out in a pile to be burned, signifying an end to an old year and a start to a new and better year. I tried to get a photo of the dummies I saw on the side of the street but unfortunately my photo didn't turn out very clear.

I was glad to be able to tour a little bit of Quito during the short trip, but I would love to go back for some hiking and a trip to the Galapagos someday.

La Ville-lumière: The City of Lights

We arrived at Le Bourget in the evening, a little bit past sunset. In Paris this time of year, the sun sets a bit after 4:30pm and doesn’t rise again until almost 8am. It was my first time staying in the city, and I was just as excited to see the sights, as I was to eat crepes, chocolate croissants and enjoy a glass of Beaujolais. I had traveled a bit of Europe, but because of many misconceptions, Paris wasn’t on the top of my list of cities to check out.

We checked into our hotel, the Concorde La Fayette, and found that I had a room on the 15th floor with a great view of the city and the Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart). It was beautifully lit on a hillside in the distance. I could also see from my window, glistening Christmas lights that lined the streets below. Earlier that day we flew up from the Bordeaux area, and by 9pm, we were all starving. We decided to go to the little French restaurant down the street which looked warm and cozy on a rainy and cold evening.
We ordered filets, wine and French fries, of course. I also tried escargot for the first time. I have to admit that I actually liked it – it was flavored with a lot of garlic and pesto, and the texture didn’t bother me at all. I also had a bowl of French Onion soup, which was everything I thought it would be. YUM! We finished dinner around 1am and were completely exhausted. We headed back to the hotel and promised we wouldn't wake eachother up before Noon.

The next day, we decided to see some of the most important, not to be missed sights in Paris. First, we took a taxi to the Sacre-Coeur, which was beautiful but unfortunately no photos were allowed. Below is a photo of me on the steps looking back towards the city. From there, we then headed over to Notre Dame where they had just finished putting up a large Christmas tree outside. It was pretty spectacular walking into the church - burning candles lined the walkways, the chants from the choir echoed throughout the stone walls. The catherdral was absolutely massive. They think the construction started around 1150, which was hard to wrap my mind around because of its size and lack of tools and machinery during that time. The details of the architecture were extremely intricate and I spent quite some time marveling at everything from the floors to the ceilings, including the 47 foot long stained glass windows on the walls of the church. One of the best surprises of Notre Dame was being able to climb the 386 spiral stairs to the top (to the wooden belltower) and discovering the spectacular views of the city and seeing the Gargoyles!! Each one had a different expression and one was even feasting on a cat!



After our visit to Notre Dame, we planned to head over to the Eiffel Tower. It begain to rain and we decided it would be a perfect time to stop in the brassiere for a cup of hot chocolate and to warm up a bit. From the windows we could see Notre Dame and the Lourve lit up at night, as well as the River Seine. It was then that I realized why Paris was nicknamed The City of Lights. The city was transformed and no matter how hard I tried, my photos could not do justice.


When we finished our beverages, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. We walked down the street next to the Seine and watched the river boats that were all lit up with Christmas lights, gliding down the canal. We could see some views of the tower during our walk there, but I had no idea just how ENORMOUS it was until I stood underneath it. I knew I wouldn't go to the top without Eric, but just standing near the tower was an experience of its own. I cannot wait to go back!

By this time it was getting late and it began to rain. We headed over to a restaurant that one of the pilots used to frequent. It was a small French Bar-Restaurant with only a few tables. Inside, we sat next to the window and the area reminded me of the upper East Side near Central Park in New York City. We had had a really busy day, so it felt great to sit down and enjoy a glass of Bordeaux and a good meal.

On Friday, I woke up and headed straight over to the boulangerie! There were so many great looking creations that I couldn't decide what I wanted to buy, so I bought a few things. I ordered a ham quiche, chocolate croissants and other pasteries that were delicious, but unfortunately I couldn't pronounce. The woman behind the counter was very helpful and allowed me to take a photo inside. The sun hadn't risen yet, and there were already tons of Parisians stopping in for baguets, pasteries and quiches. I decided that I would spend the day shopping, particularly looking for some special wines and chocolates to bring home. I was definitely planning on taking advantage of being on a private jet, not having to worry about checking luggage or having bottles of liquid with me! I headed over to Champs Elysees, just to check out one of the most famous shopping streets in the world. There were lots of expensive shops and the streets were lined with white Christmas lights. I also walked around the Arc de Triomphe, which was quite impressive.

There was a lot more I wanted to do in Paris during my few days there but it was too hard to fit it all in. I had a great experience, but just not enough time. Like Venice, there were too many good photos to choose just a few to post on this blog, so copy and paste the URL below into your browser to view them all on Snapfish.

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=176601594/a=25333817_25333817/t_=25333817

Sushi, Bagels, & Rabat

We arrived in the capital city in the early afternoon, landing at the small airport outside of town. Things went surprisingly well as our handler came aboard to welcome us to Morocco and let us know that our car was waiting to take us to our hotel. I still had to order catering for our flight out of Rabat and I was worried that our passenger had ordered fresh sushi of all things. Not only that, he wanted everything organic, including his coffee. I didn’t even know if this would be possible to get in Morocco. I tried explaining to our handler what I needed for our next flight out, but unfortunately he couldn’t understand what I meant by sushi, even when I proceeded to draw my best outline of a fish and a California roll on a piece of paper. Thankfully, the chef was brought on board to speak with me and he told me that the sushi was possible, but he wasn’t so sure what the seventh item down the list was. I then tried to draw the seventh item - my best illustration of a bagel, but could only come up with a large circle with a smaller circle in the center and not to mention, lots of perplexed looks. I continued to draw lots of circles within circles, saying bagels over and over again. Then I had a flashback of my last game of Pictionary where my teammate would start drawing the same image over and over again, only then, I was able to actually say what I was drawing but nobody seemed to understand. Finally, I gave up hope that there would be bagels on our next flight out of Rabat to New York City (Oh and with whipped cream cheese of course, not regular). Between the sushi and bagels, I was glad we had an extra stash of fresh bread and peanut butter on board if all else failed!


We departed the plane, and walked out to the van that was taking us to our hotel. The environment was much different than any country I had been to in the past. It wasn’t like Tokyo, or Hong Kong, but seemed much more remote, even though it is the capital city of Morocco. We arrived at our hotel – the Hilton Rabat. The lobby was beautiful, which ironically made me feel more like I was in Morocco than driving along the city streets. We asked the front desk if we could get a taxi into town and the concierge asked if we would prefer a tour of the city. We figured we had enough time so we booked a 3-hour tour, which cost us a total of about $30! Unfortunately, or driver didn’t speak any English, so he would stop at random places around the city always saying, “YOU GO HERE.” He spoke French, but apparently that was the only English phrase he knew. At the time, we knew we were touring some very important and old landmarks, but had absolutely no idea what we were looking at. A few days later, I did a little Google research and found that our first stop was of the Royal Palace. I honestly wasn't too impressed by the palace, but maybe that was because we only were able to view it from the outside. The next stop were some medieval ruins known as Chellah (which dates back to the third century BC).
Chellah holds the remains of a Roman town called Sala Colonia. Other than the enormous bird nests on top of the old pillars, we noticed an abnormal amount of cats within the Chellah walls. We realized the cats were not only here, but all over the city of Rabat.


Other photos below are of Hassan Tower, which is the minaret of what was supposed to be the worlds largest mosque until the construction ceased when the sultan passed away. In the same vicinity, we also saw the Mausoleum of Mohammed V which contains the tombs of the king and his two sons, King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah.




The building was beautiful and surrounded by royal guards. When we walked inside, we saw the tomb and listened to the chant of the Koran reader who sat in the corner.

I also think we walked through the Kasbah des Oudaias or the 'village within the city.' There were lots of tiny streets with blue paintings along the walls. There was smells in the streets of fresh sweet bread and what looked like peanut brittle covered in honey although I didn't dare to buy any. We did buy a coconut Macaroon from a vendor who seemed to be serving huge trays of desserts to tourists, which I was quite satisfied with! It was getting late and we decided to call it a night. I wished I was able to do a little shopping in the local markets while there, but maybe next time.

When the time came to board the plane for our trip back to the States, I miracuously saw tiny little bagels sitting in a nice wicker basket. Who would have known that I could credit all of those nights honing my Pictionary skills to one day saving my job!! He was actually a very polite and interesting passenger who was going to his new movie premier in New York City. He also gave me the inside scoop about some new movies that he was currently directing that are coming out next year. His newest though, we saw tonight in the theater and it was quite good! In the end, it still amazes me that in this profession, I can spend days getting to a certain country and to a certain city, via many other certain countries and certain cities and I do this all for one 7.5 hour flight to New York City with one passenger.

Slainte!

Today is a very special day because it is the first birthday of my nephew, Max! I can't believe it's been one year already, he's walking now, saying a few words and has the most adorable personality. Below is a photo of him with his new race car. Happy Birthday Maximos!



Sooooo, our most recent trip was great because Eric and I were able to spend the entire trip with together! We received a phone call on Monday morning saying that we were flying to Palma de Mallorca! I've always wanted to go to Palma, but the best news was that we were getting a 7 hour layover! I'm not crazy for saying I was actually happy about getting such a long layover, I was estatic because our layover was in Dublin! I was SUPER excited and called my friends from college whom I hadn't seen in about five years! We finally arrived in Dublin around 11am on Tuesday and took a cab into the city centre. We ate at Lemon, a crepe restaurant that I used to frequent during my 6 month stay in Ireland. After breakfast, we headed straight to the pub for a pint of Guinness! It was just as good as I had remembered it. While at the pub, my friends Johnny and Brian stopped by to meet us in the Auld Dubliner! It was so nice to see them again. After some catching up, Johnny took us to see his new home, and also drove by the apartment I used to live in. I was happy that Eric was able to see my old stomping grounds and the college that I went to. On the way back to the airport, we stopped to see my friend Gillian at work. Although the trip was very fast, it was so wonderful to be able to see friends that I hadn't seen in years and to also go back to a place where I had so many wonderful memories.
When I boarded the plane to Palma, I promised myself that I wouldn't wait another five years to get back to Eire for another visit.

We arrived in Palma around 9pm and the handler drove us to our hotel. The hotel was BEAUTIFUL! It was deifnitely one of the nicest hotels I'd ever stayed in. Most of the bathroom was plated with gold, and it had heated towel racks. Even the curtains were powere by a push button and our balcony had a beautiful view of the harbor.













The next morning, we went downstairs for breakfast and the dining room had so many tables filled with amazing pasteries and hot foods that you could basically spend the day eating your way through it. Obviously I didn't have time for that. Eric and I were seated at a table next to some windows overlooking the water. That morning was extremely stormy and there was some very intense thunder and lightening (later on we found out our plane had been hit by lightening, though we didnt know it at the time). Breakfast was cozy, sipping our coffee, eating chocolate croissants and listening to the rain and thunder outside. That afternoon, we were on the plane heading to Rabat, Morocco...

Lisboa: Baixa & Bairro Alto

Last week, I was lucky enough to meet and take care of whom I believe to be one of the most influential persons in the last few decades of American history. I was scheduled for a trip that lasted one week, flying to various destinations around Europe. Unfortunately, the stopover at our first destination was much quicker than I thought it would be. I decided sleep was more imortant than seeing the sights of Amsterdam - plus our accomodations were closer to the airport and I couldn't bring myself to venture out of my hotel room in the rain.








After Amsterdam, we spent a few days in England in both Leeds and Luton, but the BEST part of the trip was ending up in Portugal! The city had amazing culture, interesting history and a beautiful language. We left our hotel for lunch, where we sat at the side of river, with a view of a bridge that looked very similar to the Golden Gate. There was also a view of the Cristo Rei monument (Christ the King) with his arms open, overlooking the city which also looked a lot like the monument in Brazil. We enjoyed some sangria, and a variety of tapas including cheese and crackers and garlic olives. After lunch, we decided to check out the Baixa (downtown) which is full of both older and modern restaurants and shops, built sometime in the 1700's. My favorite part of the city was the Bairro Alto, which is probably the most popular for tourists. It is in a central area of Lisbon and one of the oldest districts in the city. It is particularly known for its Fados, which are traditional Portuguese singing bars. There were also many trendy shops, restaurants, art galleries and clubs. We stopped into a bar called Lgare Cafe , where we tried some traditional Portuguese port wine.


















It was delicious! We were the only people in the bar, and pretty close to the only people walking around the streets. We discovered that the Portuguese don't come out to dinner and drinks until after 10pm! The streets were deserted and it seemed like we were the only ones around. Portugal is definitely a place I would like to go back to spend more time.

A mini vacation to "The Faraway Land"

A few days ago, Eric and I ended up in Nantucket, the little Island off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachussetts. Most of the summer residents had left the island, so it seemed deserted, which was fine with us! We arrived at our hotel - an adorable Cape Cod style building with pine shingles and a beachy, New England feel. That night we decided to go get some lobster at The Lobster Trap in town. We had seared scallops with Ginger, lobster, muscles and clams. yum! It was cozy inside the restaurant where we sat at the bar and enjoyed our seafood and drinks.

Later on, we checked out an old bar called the Club Car. The bar part of the restaurant is actually a train car that was part of the old Nantucket railroad. The town was quaint with cobblestone streets and street lamps glowing in the fog.

The next day, we spent the day in town, grabbed some lunch at the Atlantic Cafe and headed to the beach. Although it wasn't exactly beach weather, we enjoyed hanging out on the sand with a hot cup of coffee. It was a fun relaxing couple of days on the little island. Now, I'm off to Amsterdam and Portugal!