On The Road To Nowhere..... and Very Slowly.

1st Class lounge, Amsterdam Centraal
Train Station

(Written on October 13... but posted October 14)

We started out last night well.  We stayed in the 1st Class lounge at Amsterdam train station (lovely),  and we caught our City Nights sleeper train which was on time.  The porter, who seems very distracted, and speaks perhaps less English than I thought he did, was not very helpful in showing us how to use the things in our room.  He did show us the reading light (about a 15 watt bulb), and how to work the air conditioning.   He didn’t bother to tell us how to turn the water on in the sink, and it wasn’t until the next morning that Becky figured it out. 

Train sleeper with seats up,
Amsterdam to Munich

The beds are quite firm, and the train is extremely rough.  I am rather amazed because I have slept on trains in the past, and they sort of relax you and lull you to sleep.  This shook you awake, and there was really no lulling.  We each fell asleep easily enough, but the trick this time was staying asleep.  There were several times during the night that I thought we were actually making a 90 degree turn (which I know is not possible), and wasn’t sure we weren’t going in a big circle.  The train would speed up rapidly, and then come to a very quick stop. 

(Whoo-hoo….. train moving….more about that in the next paragraph)

The porter told us that a buzzer would go on an hour before we reached Munich, and that they would then bring around breakfast and coffee. We have been concerned because we have less than 10 minutes to transfer trains there.  He said it wasn’t a problem, that there were trains every 30 minutes from Munich to Vienna, but he didn’t know if we had to get another ticket, or if we could use the one we had. 

 I had set the alarm on my phone for 0630 to be sure we got up, but by the time the alarm rang, I realized we had been sitting still for a long time.  This had happened several times during the night, so I thought it was just another stop, and they were waiting for something.  Well, they were. 

I stepped outside the train (in the dark) to talk to two other train employees, since I couldn’t find our porter, but neither of them spoke any English, Spanish, or Italian.  I sort of figured out, though since the train wasn’t moving, it was now 0645, and no one seemed in any hurry to get back on the train, that we were stopped for some other reason other than a regular train stop. 

Finally, I spoke to a woman who was talking to them in German, and in English she told me we were at this time 3 hours late, and would be probably 5 hours late getting into Munich because “a lock was broken”.  Becky and I started to convert our bunks into seating.  We had most of it figured out, and then caught the porter in a moment when he was a little less distracted, and he finished putting the seats up.  

Now back to “Whoo-hoo, we are moving.” It is now 0750 and it looks like we are on our way.  I am still not sure where we are, but at least we are going in the right direction.  I think.   Well, we will get to see a little more of Germany now that it is daytime, and we are sitting up in our little compartment, with 3-5 hours of “free” train time at our disposal.

The other good news is that since we still have the 1500 Munich to Vienna ticket from our earlier purchase, and we were unable to convince Raileurope to take them back, we do have a reservation on  the 1500 train… if we get to Munich by then.   More later…. Oh, and perhaps I need to learn just a little more German than Bitte and Danke.

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1318:   We are now sitting in our first class train to Vienna.  We haven’t started moving, yet, but I do believe we are at least on the right train.  Very nice seats, lots of leg room.  We were indeed five hours late getting in, but the transfer of tickets went fairly well.  We now have a four hour ride through Germany and part of Austria to get to Vienna.  We will be getting in about six hours later than we had originally planned, but still earlier than the day tickets we had purchased before (see prior post).  Now if I can get a cup of coffee, all will be pretty right with the world. 

What About the Food?

So, one of the things that defines a culture is it's food.  We have been trying some different things over the past week, and want to share them.  We will start adding either a separate post, or an insert in the regular posts about new things we have learned about food.

1.  A very popular breakfast item we have found (although we have also found it on lunch menus) is a breakfast egg and bacon, or egg and sausage roll.  The first one I tried was at the Brasserie (see jazz pictures in the prior blog).  This was a wonderful restaurant, and the food was very good.  Becky had a BLT, and I had the breakfast roll. 

 The egg was fresh and cooked perfectly, and the bacon was a cross between Canadian bacon, bacon and ham. Salty and the perfect compliment to the egg and the wonderful soft, seedy roll.

2.  When you order coffee, you will be asked "black or white".  White coffee is hot milk and coffee.  Rather like a latte.  The coffee here in the UK has been very good, although very strong.  An Americano, which in the US is just hot water and coffee, is more like a "shot in the dark" would be in the US:  Regular coffee with a shot of espresso.  Quite strong.  I have decided to order a pot of hot water with my americano to extend the coffee, and not overdose on a straight hit of caffeine.  Oh, and you don't get "free refills" here, at least not anywhere that I have been. 

A side note:  It has also been hard to figure out the tipping procedure here. Do you or don't you, and how much? I was just talking with the man who runs the hostel, and he says it is very much up to you.  The tendency is to tip less than in America, he says "usually 12-12 1/2 % is the suggested amount in some restaurants, but there won't be any verbal abuse if you don't."
3.  Spotted Dick:  We were shopping for some bread and cheese in a co-op market in Rothesay, and found a package of "spotted dick" in the mark down bin.  We had just recently seen it on a menu in a nice restaurant we had visited the first night in the town, but didn't quite have the nerve to ask what it was. According to Carol, a woman from Cheshire, England who we met in the hostel, it is a very common dessert on school menues, and is either loved or hated by school children (she hated it) .  It didn't sound particularily appetizing:  Suet sponge with raisins, and a custard sauce.  Well, Becky and I have decided after experimenting with several desserts, that anything with custard sauce is wonderful (see following note), so we decided for 99p that we would take the chance, especially since the package said it was a "co-operative spotted dick".  It was actually pretty good. We also had a good laugh discussing the name, whether the discount would affect the quality of a "spotted dick", what happens to a due-to-expire spotted dick, and would "reducing" the price also reduce the size of the.....  well, you get the idea, and you can take it from there. 

4.  Custard sauce:  I have always said that you could put cream cheese on anything and it would be good.  Likewise, you can put kennel ration on a Ritz cracker, and it would be yummy.  Well, add to these truths one about custard sauce.  It is an amazing creation, and guaranteed to make ANYTHING not only yummy, but incredibly so (see above suet recipe).  It should be packaged and placed on the table along with salt, pepper, and butter so you could put it on whatever you wanted.  Pancakes, check.  Oatmeal, check.  Vegetables, yeh, probably check.  Ice cream, absolutely.  It makes any cake immediately better than on its own.  It is so good, you can eat it with a spoon.  I think it could be produced and sold in cans rather like evaporated or condensed milk.  There could be a real market for it. 

Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard sauce

 This is another wonderful item which on it's own is worth eating.  It is a toffee cake drowning in caramel, and the you have the option (like who wouldn't) of adding the Amazing Custard Sauce (and yes, it should be capitalized).

Becky and I both admitted it was actually better than the cocolate cake below.

Chocolate cake with custard sauce

The chocolate cake was moist and not too sweet, so adding the Amazing Custard Sauce didn't make it sweeter.  That is one of the things about it that makes it Amazing.... it isn't actually overly sweet.  Just rich and creamy.

5.  Last night, we went to a pub to listen to traditional Scottish music (more about that later), and we had dinner there.  For £3.95 I had a toasted cheese sandwich and a wonderful parsnip and honey soup.  It was blended smooth with the consistency of thin applesauce, and had a really wonderful flavor.  Just a hint of sweetness, and a subtle parsnip flavor. It wasn't overly woody tasting, but had the earthiness that parsnip lovers like.

Ok, enough about food.  I hope to post a bit about our pub experience last night last night, and we also have another one planned for tonight.  Were we were lacking in "pubness" in Rothesay, we are making up for it here in Inverness.   

We are going to go out and try to find another interesting breakfast, and will update as needed. 


Dee

Thirty P to Pee

10/2 The biggest event today was that we walked up Serpentine Hill to find the family home - Canada Cottage.  Apart from a tough climb, it was exciting to find the cottage at the end of a short road with a view of the bay from the back of the cottage.   

Front of Cottage and back of cottage.

In the evening, our host Sandy, entertained us with his abilities to play many different instruments.  He gave Dee her first guitar lesson (of sorts). 

Our lovely visit to the Isle of Bute came to an end and we caught the ferry, then the train from Weymss Bay back to Glasgow where after much worry, I was able to find and reclaim my wayward boots. It cost an £18.50 taxi ride but I had a great driver and got a history lesson about Glasgow along the way. From Glasgow, we caught a train to Perth, and then changed trains in Perth to Inverness.  Something we learned in the various train stations led to the title of this post.  It costs you £.30 (thirty P, or Pence) to Pee in a train station. 

BTW - Inverness is wonderful.  The River Ness flows through town and is a beautiful walk.  More from here later.  Love - Becky & Dee 

We Are Here!!

Thursday 9/29. After first leg of our flight (LAX to Toronto) and finishing up the second leg(Toronto to London), we watched the sun come up from 35,000 feet. No sleep for either of us on the flight as it was too cramped. I sat next to a nice lady from Lebanon who was heading home from Canada. We de-planed around 0900, and caught and underground train from Heathrow to Euston Station (train). We put our bags in lockup and walked to a second station, where we caught the Picadilly train to the Final family home in a small town called Amersham.

We didn't stay long as we had gone virtually 32 hours by that time with no sleep. We headed back to Euston Station and, I'm so proud of Dee, she heard two women across from us on the train who were speaking Italian. She finally spoke to them and ended up having a 1/2 hour conversation with them Just chatted away!! For all her worry, she did GREAT.

Back at Euston Station, we had a light dinner in an American-style diner listening to 60's American music. We still had 5 hours to wait for our sleeper train to Glasgow and it was already 7:00 p.m. A VERY tiring evening. Only thing good was the lounge was air conditioned.

                                                                                                                

Friday 930 - Sleeper train arrived in Glasgow at around 7:25, we de-trained by 7:50. While in Glasgow Central Station, I realized I'd left my boots ON THE SLEEPER TRAIN. The nice ScotRail Duty Manager is tracking them for me and hopefully by the time we hit Glasgow again in two days he will have them. Otherwise I have one pair of shoes for 5 weeks and they are hurting my toes.

Weymss Bay Station

We caught the train from Glasgow Central Station to Weymss (Weems) Bay and then the ferry to the Isle of Bute. It was wonderful seeing the Island come into view and rounding the corner into the Bay that I felt like I knew. 10 years of thinking about it, dreaming and planning and we are here. It's wonderful. We rode a bus to see some of the Island and met Ruthie and Ian who were a wealth of information about the island. Would loved to have spent an hour or two just talking to them. Ian was dressed in green tartan pants, matching tie and some other emblems, pins etc. Very snappy.

Saturday 10/1 Exploring Bute. Writing this while in the local library, after visiting the local museum. This morning we had a really good breakfast in a recommended spot. Tim, the owner is a jazz musician, so we took pics for Kim Davis who is studying Jazz at Sac State.

More later - Becky & Dee

Realtà, ciò che un concetto.... parte due**

Waaaaayyyy back in December, when we were getting ready to turn the calendar page to January and we had to actually committ to the trip by (gasp) buying a plane ticket, I brought up the point in a blog that the fantasy play-planning was easy. And it was, but the real planning has been even more fun. Big decisions (where to fly into), little decisions (the hostel with the cockroaches, or more money for the hotel in the red light district). Little mistakes (meaning a little more money, as in Becky's choice to stay with the MP3 she is used to rather than the smaller LV125 I am taking [oops, did I mention the scooters? Oh, another blog coming, I guess.] vs bigger money mistakes (see prior blogs about Damsterdam). However, overall, we have made very few mistakes on paper, and it will be up to Reality to determine if they were big ones or minor ones.

It brings up the other subject that Rebecca (did I tell you she doesn't want to be "Becky" in Europe?) and I have talked about: Will Reality live up to Fantasy? Well, since it seldom does, I think we are pretty aware that all will not go according to plan. They say one of the ways you can tell something about a person is how they react when they lose their suitcase. Let's hope that doesn't happen, but I really think we could deal with it if it happened. We are realists. We know "life happens" and it is seldom what you expect, or what you want. But I do think we are also both rather fatalistic and look at life with a lemons-to-lemonade attitude, at least by the end of the day.

Packing light has been our goal from the start, and has been a challenge, but an interesting one. We never reached the "toothbrush and an extra pair of knickers" of my friend, Margaret, but I have figured out how to pack seven tops in a tiny little case, how to give things up that we thought we had to have, and how to multi-task other things. We are sharing some things, so we don't have unnecessary duplicates, and yet we each have our own personal items that are important to us (Me: iPod. Rebecca: Sony Reader). We each have places in "our part of the trip" that is something that one person wants to do more than the other, but we have found a way to enjoy the other person's obsession. It has made for an enjoyable process.

We also have most of the trip pre-paid. We paid for the plane tickets, rail pass, ferry, and train reservations out of pocket. We made a pool in our joint savings account where we would put in equal amounts of agreed upon money, and it is from that pool we will pay for anything that is equal cost, such as hotel rooms, taxis, tips, etc. We have estimated the cost of the rooms and put that much in equally. The only things we have left are the regional trains in Italy, and the occasional taxi ride, admission to an attraction, or.... well, food. Each of us will pay for our own food and drink. We are a little short there, and we figure we can live on bread, cheese, and wine (oh, and gelato). If we are really short on money, we will give up bread and cheese, but we recently had a very nice, very unexpected windfall from our brothers and I think we will actually be able to eat our ways across the island and continent without fear.

So what is next? Well, we have taken $100 each and left it in our Scotaly savings account, and that is our seed money for the next trip. We already have some idea of what it is, and when it will be, but time will tell. It will be a lot less expensive than this one, and not as long, but should be fun anyway. And for now, we are in countdown mode, and waiting for the adventure to continue...into the wardrobe, or down the rabbit hole, or through the looking glass, and into another world.

(** Reality, what a concept, part two)

Dee

14-0-48-15

I know it looks like the combination to a lock, but in reality it is the number of days-hours-minutes-seconds until we leave for Scotaly!! Dee very cleverly added a countdown meter to our site. I have enjoyed paying her back for that by popping the current numbers into a chat or e-mail every so often. Kind of makes one's stomach go 'blurp' and flip over. We both have tasks that need to be accomplished before we go. Some are realistic and some are imagined by both of us, and I guess when d-day comes, we will have done what we have done.

Personally, I have been packing and re-packing my backpack. Even though it's not easy to compress 5 weeks of travel stuff into 1 backpack for the trip, we are both convinced that it is the right thing to do. (My packed backpack below - yep, that's it)

We've decided to spend some time at our first destination, the Isle of Bute in Scotland, researching our ancestory. Our goal will be to find the gravesite of our Great, great, great (I think that's all the greats) grandparents that we believe are on the island. We also will be searching for Roslyn Cottage, an ancestral family cottage which we hope still is standing. One of the family cottages, Canada Cottage, IS still standing we know.

Many many adventures coming our way. Stay tuned for updates as we go :)

Becky

Pot, Pastry, and Pasta

Since the last post, (which was started a week ago, but posted yesterday) some things have changed.  We have gone back to our original plan, and although the tickets we had were non-refundable, non-exchangeable, we ran the numbers and decided we would be out about $50 each if we simply tossed the day train to Vienna, cancelled the room at A-Train, and took the night train.  We won't be missing much time in Amsterdam, because we wouldn't have done any sight seeing after dark anyway, this train leaves at 8:00 pm, and we get access to the First Class Lounge in the Amsterdam station while we wait. Plus we don't have to get up early to catch the morning train.  All in all, we are pretty satisfied with our decision, even with the loss of the money.

So, we leave Newcastle the evening of the 11th, and get into Ijmuiden about 0930 on the 12th.

Continuing Becky's itinerary:

Oct 12  Amsterdam to Munich by night train
Oct 13  Connecting train from Munich to Vienna
Oct 13-15 Vienna
Oct 15  Night train to Venice
Oct 16   Arrive Venice early am.  Explore a bit, then train to Padova.
Oct 16-18  Padova/Venice
Oct 19  Padova to Perugia (see November 16, 2010 post)
Oct 19-20 Perugia
Oct 21  Perugia to Lucca
Oct 21-22 Lucca
Oct 23  Lucca to Viareggio (by Vespa :) )
Oct 23-24 Viareggio
Oct 25  Viareggio to Cinque Terre
Oct 25-28  Cinque Terre

After the 28th, I am not sure where we will be.  We may go to Torino to visit a Facebook friend (April 1, 2011) who is seriously ill.  Or we may stay in CT, or go to Bologna, Parma, and Modeno...three places seriously connected with food (no, not "bologna"...balsamic vinegar, prosciutto, cheeses).

In any case:
Oct 30-Nov1  Milan
Nov 1  Milan-->Zurich-->LA

The only regret I have is that because the euro is so bad right now,  we won't get to be as spontaneous as we wanted to be in Italy.  It would be very difficult to find a cheap place on the fly...it has been hard enough to find a cheap place with planning.  In exchange, we will be staying in each of our places for 2-3 days with few planned activities in each place.  Hopefully, this will allow us to be a little spontaneous, even if it means "spontaneously" sitting in a piazza drinking tea and reading a book in the sun. (yeah, I know....Italy in late October may not be sunny, but give us our Tuscan dreams.)