Author: wanderinglefebers

About a year ago I bumped into my friend Debbie at a blood drive.  She asked if we had any upcoming travel plans.  I mentioned Spain, but admitted I knew nothing about Spain and didn’t know where to go.  Her face lit up as she said, “You must go to Lanzarote.”  “Lanza-what?” I asked. “Lanzarote,” she replied happily.  “It’s one of the Canary Islands.  You will love it.”

I went home, looked up Lanzarote, and was intrigued.  It looked warm and casual, the perfect interlude between our urban destinations of Paris and Lisbon.  Better yet, Debbie recommended a place to stay and offered loads of books and maps for planning.  Itinerary complete.  Thank you, Debbie!

We arrived on the island intending simply to recover from Paris and soak up some sun.  But Lanzarote had other plans for us.  We were lured out of our beach chairs when we discovered the island’s variety of landscape and activities.  We spent a fascinating week driving Lanzarote’s excellent roads, enthusiastically discovering spectacular scenery and captivating art.  We discovered there is something here for everyone.  From geologists to artists, anyone can find a “happy place.”

If you are a geology enthusiast, you can study Lanzarote’s volcanic landscape.  Major eruptions occurred in 1730 and 1736, leaving parts of the island dotted with reddish cinder cones, jagged black lava fields, interesting rock formations, and occasional intrepid plants. The earth is still so hot from the eruptions that a restaurant in the Timanfaya National Park serves chicken grilled over a volcanic hot spot.

If you enjoy art, you can seek out the art and architecture of Cesar Manrique.  Born on Lanzarote, Manrique achieved international recognition and lived in New York before returning to his home to encourage careful development of the island.  He specialized in integrating Lanzarote’s natural features into fascinating “structures” that highlight the colors, textures, scenery, and shapes of his homeland.  He created his home and a large auditorium in underground lava bubbles (Fundacion Cesar Manrique, Jameos del Agua).  This could be a claustrophobe’s nightmare, but he carefully uses natural light and color to replace gloom with glory.  You can also see his art in other installations throughout the island, including a fantastic scenic lookout hidden in a cliff on northern Lanzarote (Mirador del Rio).  (Manrique labeled bathrooms uniquely at each site.  I spared you the more graphic signs.)

Sun worshippers can increase their vitamin D levels near sandy beaches, swimming pools, and café-laced seaside promenades.  Even the rocky beaches are perfect for picnics, and many beaches have ready-made windbreaks constructed of stacked volcanic stone.  Entertainment is provided by frolicking families on vacation (we were here during England’s Easter Holiday, lots of burned Brits), kite surfers, and perfect scenery.

Perhaps you have a soft spot for cacti, succulents, or lichen.  Lanzarote is your perfect destination, as there is a magnificent cactus garden (created by Cesar Manrique), tiny succulents, and over 100 species of lichen to discover.

Do you like simply driving around, looking at pretty scenery and stopping for espresso in welcoming little villages?  Consider spending a week here.  As Debbie said, you will love it.

Last but not least, if you like goofy tourist activities, you can ride a camel in Lanzarote.  Camels were originally used here for agriculture and transportation of goods (an average camel can carry up to 600 pounds).  But today they are a tourist attraction, and we fell right into the trap.  In my defense, when else will I ride a camel?

In the end, Debbie was right:  we loved Lanzarote.  Thank you, Debbie, for planning our retreat!

Sally

 

Sally and I are SO fortunate to have spent the month of March in and around Paris.  We did a few day trips – Versailles, Disney Paris (don’t laugh, it was fun!), the Champagne region and an overnight to Normandy, and who can forget “museum week,” but we mostly just explored and enjoyed this GREAT city.

It is a bustling city of 10 million people with 2.2 million living in the City center.  They claim to be the densest city in Europe and denser than anything in the US.  It is divided into 20 districts called arrondissements (ours was the 12^th) and is split by the Seine River into Right and Left Banks.  It is a city of neighborhoods centered around civic places like museums, train stations, parks, grand boulevards, churches, rivers & canals, shopping streets, open air markets or islands.  Our neighborhood was the Bastille, where the old prison used to be before it was disassembled by the citizens during their first revolution.  Add to the population around 40 million visitors a year and you can imagine the bustle.

 

We loved their Metro subway system.  The Metro has 16 different lines, 300 stations and carries 5 million passengers per day.  Within the City center there is a station within a 10 minute walk wherever you are.

It works with an equally effective bus system above ground, an RER train system that connects the outlying areas to the City and, at the train stations, grand lines that connect you to other cities and the rest of Europe.  Our monthly transit pass was the BEST investment of our trip (although I am surprised they did not tail us given our pictures on our passes).

The mostly underground stations are well-signed showing you how to connect to connecting lines.  There are also neighborhood maps showing where different exits would daylight.

Most also have an attendant to answer questions or hand you a map.  I can’t imagine the kind of investment they had to make to install the system and that they continue to make to update and operate it.  They apparently started planning it in 1900.  You have to be crazy to drive in Paris, and from what I saw of the drivers they ARE crazy.  Sally and I marveled at how they would use every last inch of parking space.

Their well-established subway system allows the City to function with many fewer cars and all the infrastructure needed to support those cars, like highways and parking lots.  We saw a fair amount of bikers in Paris but they too were crazy, often zipping down narrow roads and weaving among the cars and buses, usually without helmets.

Paris has great central city architecture.  Like so many cities in Europe Paris was an old Roman city.  It used to have a lot more narrow, winding streets until Baron Haussman oversaw a modernization in the mid-19^th century that cleared medieval roads and buildings to create broad boulevards.  He could have been a bit more flexible with his design criteria but it is beautiful to see block after block of almost identical five-story buildings with angled, black slate, mansard roofs and formal facades with balconies at every window.  The City to this day maintains strict height limits in most areas of the central city and requires developers to dedicate 2% of their construction costs to art.

One area on the edge of the central city where the design criteria was dramatically revised is called La Defence.  The City planned for taller buildings to house approximately 150,000 employees and 55,000 residents conveniently accessible to the rest of the City.  The buildings appear to house many multi-national firms in the types of offices they are used to elsewhere in the world.

There is a large shopping mall among the buildings, lots of active park spaces and water features, and all the transportation functions (roads, parking, bus routes and Metro stops) are below ground.  It is less charming compared to the rest of Paris but very effective master-planning.

Paris has a great system of parks throughout the City.  We were fortunate to have a notable one, Promenade Plantee, right in our neighborhood.  It is a former railroad viaduct converted to a park and was the model for the High Line in NYC.

Sally and I loved going to the City’s many parks.  Their trees were just beginning to bud.  It was fun watching the Parisian families enjoying their parks in the Spring weather with their well-dressed children.

One last thing I loved was the café culture.  There are thousands of cafés all over the City.  The cafés are mostly along very wide sidewalks sometimes with wind screens, heaters and/or overhead covers.  The corner cafes with their better views of all the activity are generally more crowded.  Sometimes they are right in their parks and make for a great spot to sit and watch all the activity.

Probably 2-3 times a day we would stop at one for our morning espresso (sometimes with a pastry), lunch while wandering (our big meal of the day) then our afternoon espresso to wake us up from our big lunch (sometimes with a pastry).

We loved to sit and share – what we liked about our day, about the fashion we were seeing, about the pastry we were eating.  Did I mention their pastries are very good too?

We LOVED Paris!

Bob

We have not posted for a while, and that is because we have been immersed in, or recovering from, MUSEUM WEEK.   It was exhausting, but an economical and up-close method of attending a Western Civilization survey course in just six days.

We decided to stay in Paris for a month so we could visit museums at a leisurely pace.  I envisioned waking up, stretching, and nonchalantly asking Bob, “Do you feel like an art museum today?  Or perhaps an historic chateau?  Or are you more in the mood to just relax and do a little shopping?” 

These idyllic plans were dashed when we learned about Paris’s Museum Pass.

This nifty, economical pass allows visitors to skip lines and experience over fifty museums for one low price.  The catch?  The pass expires six days after the purchase date!  We dislike lines but love bargains, so we launched into full museum mode and planned our attack.  Goodbye leisurely mornings, hello French culture.  Game on!

My lofty ambition of two museums a day dissolved the first day.  It took us all day to see one part of one wing at the Louvre.  Time to recalibrate!  We shifted from quantity to quality. We chose interesting sites then explored them at our own pace. (We consistently doubled the time our guidebook suggested.)  We visited ten locations:  Louvre, Orsay, Sainte-Chapelle, Pompidou, Rodin, Versailles, Orangerie, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and the Army Museum/ Napoléon’s Tomb.

I loved this history/culture immersion—it was a vivid, memorable way to scan Western European history.  Every day I marveled at what humans accomplish (good and bad), and what drives those accomplishments.  Painting, sculpting, building, conquering, making peace—our Museum Pass covered it all.  I can’t summarize all we experienced (and that would bore you which I want to avoid.)  Instead, I will share a few observations with a lot of photos.

The Paris Metro system is fantastic.  Clean, fast and well-marked, we were able to get everywhere inexpensively and quickly. Thank you, Paris!

France has a rich, deep history. Paris has preserved this history beautifully in historic buildings (the Louvre is in a former palace, Orsay is in a former train station). I appreciate the investment Paris makes in preserving and presenting France’s history.  Again, thank you, Paris!

It is important to rest during a Museum Week. There is only so much we could absorb before our heads exploded and our feet rebelled.

It is fun to imitate art. Museum Week made us punchy and we would sometimes entertain (humiliate) ourselves when we could not resist the moment.

Medieval cathedrals are stunning engineering marvels with their stained-glass windows, flying buttresses, and soaring arched ceilings. But the gargoyles sprouting from their sides are a little frightening.

The WWI and WWII wings of the Army museum are devastating. It is hard to comprehend that humans, who can create such beauty in art and architecture, can also destroy tens of  millions humans in six short years (WWII).  And this was shortly after WWI, the “war to end all wars.”

Countering the miseries of war is humanity’s phenomenal ability to create art. Monet could use blobs and scribbles to create wall-sized canvases of beauty. Monet’s enormous Water Lilies in the Orangerie are peaceful, beautifully displayed, and make me wonder HOW DID HE DO THAT???!!!  A non-artist, I wondered that daily as I was lucky enough to view some of the world’s best art.  Likewise, I love how artists capture the emotion and joy of human relationships in stone, metal and on canvas. 

Art demonstrates that dogs have been important human companions for hundreds of years.

Concentrated power is a budget-buster. Versailles, which Louis XVI renovated from a hunting lodge into the grandest palace Europe had ever seen, is so opulent that Bob commented, “No wonder there was a revolution.” While its grand rooms and beautifully planned gardens are fun to admire, their excesses are mind-boggling.

Museum Week took a toll on our bodies:  our feet ached, our knees were sore, our brains were on overdrive. 

But it was exhilarating and I was disappointed when our pass expired.  No problem.  We know where to get another pass.  Museum Week.2, here we come!

Sally

Sally and I ended our month in Italy with a three day visit to Florence.  I had last been there in 1979 and really did not remember it.  What a beautiful place!  We loved the soft colors of the city and the matching tiled roofs.

And of course the great gelato and fantastic deserts!

Ahh the Renaissance.  The time from 1400 to 1550 when the Italians came out of the Dark Ages and embraced the rebirth of Greek and Roman culture.  It was an age of optimism. They explored science and nature and celebrated three-dimensional painting and realism in art.

Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”

Titian’s “Venus”

Ok, so maybe the subjects weren’t actually “real” and maybe they celebrated the human body a little too much.  But they sure knew how to do it beautifully!

The old part of town is centered around a huge cathedral called the Duomo.  It is a Gothic church, with a Renaissance dome and an 1870’s facade.

Its dome was the first dome built since ancient Roman times, but Florence architect Brunelleschi figured out how to do it – part of that optimism!  Michelangelo later used it as a model for St. Peter’s in Rome.

You can see the dome from all over town.  While we did not climb the dome we did enjoy the view over the city from the top of the adjacent campanile (bell tower).

Our necks were a bit sore from always looking up at the paintings on the ceilings.   Here is a partial view of the Byzantine mosaics from the 1200’s on the ceiling of the Baptistery next to the Duomo.

Our time was not only spent looking at art.  We made plenty of espresso and gelato stops and we also bargained for leather goods and scarfs by the Mercado Centrale.

Who wouldn’t want to be a Renaissance man living in Florence surrounded by all this beauty?  On second thought though I would miss out on the gelato.  I would also have to walk barefoot or in sandals on their old cobblestone streets – ouch!  I guess living in the present is right where I am supposed to be (although I would still like to look like David).

Bob  (P.S. Sally says I don’t have to look like David. . . she likes me just the way I am.)

Bob and I are not “partiers.”  We are usually in bed by 9:30 or 10:00.  Splitting a beer leaves us light-headed.  We avoid large crowds.  So when we learned that our planned day in Venice with Lisa fell during Venice’s Carnival (Carnevale di Venezia), we were concerned.  We heard stories of massive crowds.  “Avoid San Marco Square, it will be a madhouse!”  We heard stories of raucous behavior.  “Watch out!  People go crazy!”  We heard stories of navigation nightmares.  “Streets are blocked off or converted to one-way corridors.  It will take hours to get anywhere!”

It was too late to reschedule our Venice day, so we had one choice:  figure out what this festival was all about, then join the party.  We learned that this annual event began as far back as 1100.  It has come and gone over the years, and in 1979 the Italian government made Carnevale the centerpiece of its efforts to rejuvenate Venice’s history and culture.  Through all its years, the event has featured elaborate masks.  Today as many as three million people come annually to the Carnival, many wearing masks and costumes.  I do not know if this has brought back Venice’s history and culture, but it certainly draws happy crowds!

The crowd warnings were spot on.  We could not believe the numbers of people pouring into St. Mark’s Square (a large plaza by St. Mark’s Basilica).

And there were, indeed, fantastic masks and costumes.  Those in the most elaborate costumes posed for photos.

We decided to follow the adage “When in Venice, do as the Venetians do.”  We went mask shopping and wore masks all day!  Even Bob joined the fun.

The crowds were intense, and occasionally my inner party-pooper emerged.  But along the way we found refuge from the frenzy.  Frari Church was quiet and relaxing with its lovely carvings and paintings.

When our energy flagged, we found that cappuccinos, gelato, and meringues revived our party spirits.

Remarkably, even during this festive and crowded time Venice retained its colorful, watery beauty.

I knew I would learn a lot in Venice—about history, art, human endeavor.  But I did not know I would learn that large crowds and annual festivals are not all bad.  As usual, my initial impression was wrong.  Carnevale di Venezia was worth the party plunge!

Sally

 

 

 

Since life is certainly an adventure (and so is love!) Sally and I decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day by heading off on an all-day ski tour of the famous Sellaronda.  The Sellaronda is a 42 km tour around the Sella massif.

Massif is a French word for “massive” and this chunk of rock is certainly that.  In plate tectonics, a massif is a section of the earth’s crust that moves as a whole; it maintains its structural integrity while the land around it becomes a series of peaks and valleys.  The Teton range in Wyoming is an example in North America.  The Sella massif is plateau-shaped, and lies between 4 valleys.  Its highest point is almost 10,400 ft.  The tour is really a ski lift carousel, requiring you to take 15 different lifts and cross through 4 different ski areas: Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Arabba and Val Di Fassa.

We started our tour in the town of Corvara.  We had to catch an 8 AM bus from Cortina to get started early so we had plenty of time to traverse the last pass before the lifts closed.  You can either take the tour in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction – we chose clockwise to better follow the sun.

 

Each of the four passes provides a unique view of the Sella massif.  I loved all the views and the different lifts we had to take, including five gondolas.

Of course we had to stop at two refugios along the way for food and drink.  This one was particularly lively as the skiers partied in the sun on the outdoor deck.

It was a fun day and I am happy to report we did not get lost and we made it back in time.  We ended the day in a bar in Corvara where we waited for our 6 PM bus back to Cortina.  Audi has advertising throughout all the ski areas, but this bar actually has an Audi R8 mounted on the roof!

We hope you had as much fun on Valentine’s Day as we did.  A belated Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

Bob

Cortina d’Ampezzo is a grande dame of a ski area.  It is huge with 8 different semi-connected areas all of which are connected by a well-run system of ski buses.

The variety of lifts is remarkable.  It has 3 trams, sometimes packed with people, that whisk you to the top of amazing cliffs.   (I prefer not to look down and see the sheer cliffs we are rapidly ascending.)

The chairlifts range from old, slow two-person lifts to modern high speed 6-person lifts.  To top it off, this ski area even has horses!  The horses are at the bottom of a long run down a beautiful valley.  It is rumored to be the longest run in the Dolomites.

The team of horses tow a large sleigh.  Off the back of the sleigh are two long ropes with hand loops knotted into them.  They drag 40 or so skiers through the woods and deposit them at a neighboring area where you can either continue skiing or catch a taxi back to the main ski resort.

She is a classy lady.  She hosted the 1956 Olympics (coincidentally the year I was born) and continues to host some of the best skiers (certainly the best dressed) that I have ever seen.

Unlike in the States, the lifts often serve just one or two runs.  It must be the topography.  The runs typically snake through the rocks like a bobsled run or downhill race course.  The ski area grooms a narrow band in the middle which makes the runs icy and fast.  Most skiers race down the middle.  Sally and I like to ski the softer snow along the sides.  The cliffs at the edge of the runs are fortunately well-blocked with nets to keep you from sailing off to certain death (although we did see a number of crosses).

After 2 snowfalls we finally received enough snow to ski off the groomed trails (“off piste”) and what fun we had bouncing down the powder.

Somehow all the different mountains with their variety of lifts handle the crowds well.  We have never had any lines.  Often it feels like we are the only skiers on a run.  The skiers and snowboarders with their stylish, brightly-colored European suits are almost uniformly good.  I have rarely seen a fall (not counting our own) and we have never seen a toboggan taking an injured skier down the mountain (that would be a scary ride).

Between the interesting rides up the mountain, thrilling rides down the mountain and all the stopping to take in the scenery, Cortina is sure to romance any skier.

Bob

Like Venice, the Dolomite Mountains left us speechless.  While I will always, overall, favor my hometown mountain ranges (Cascades and Olympics), the Dolomites are the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen.  They are massive, jutting into the sky with sweeping valleys falling away below.  On a clear day they are magnificent.  When clouds billow in the range is even more dramatic.

The view from peaks is unstoppable.  One is surrounded, 360 degrees, with golden cliffs so steep the snow cannot cling to them, so they are dusted with pretty white streaks.  Below the valleys are dotted with settlements that look like toy villages.  Standing in the middle of all this I feel like we are in a bowl of magnificence.  I am including a lot of photos in this post because my words are inadequate.

Despite the rugged terrain, humans have conquered the cliffs in style.  The Dolomiti SuperSki area is twelve interconnected ski areas—745 miles of runs ranging from hairy blacks to peaceful greens.  Runs are serviced by everything from old-style, knee-whacking slow double chairs to super-eights and steep (scary!) gondolas.  And at the top of every lift there are enchanting refugios, small wooden restaurants serving delicious Tirolean cuisine (dumplings, smoked meat, strudel).  These refugios are often perched on cliffs with decks sporting eye-popping views.

Despite this civilized settlement, humans have also brought their brokenness to this region.  Austrians and Italians fought fierce, devastating WWI battles in these mountains.  As we glide peacefully up steep rock faces in speedy gondolas, it is incomprehensible to imagine tunnel warfare among these peaks.  For a chilling description of these battles, learn more in this Smithsonian article here.

OK, enough about the Dolomites.  Bob will post next on our ski adventures.  But first he needs to sort out the maps and bus schedules, which are all in Italian.  Looks like he needs liquid fortification. . . .

What to add to Sally’s enthusiasm about Venice?  She correctly points out its great buildings, architecture and art.  But as a real estate professional I must have something to add.  After all, it was my travels and walks in cities (in addition to lots of Lego free play) that led me to my career in real estate. 

Sure we have our cities with water ways in America.  I remember visiting Florida as a kid and seeing subdivisions with canals running throughout.  You could have a boat in a canal in your own backyard!  And that canal led to a river, and that river led to an ocean and…!!  (You can see how a young boy who loves boats would be excited.)  But those subdivision also had roads and the houses had garages.  In Venice, once you enter the island, there are big public garages where you park your car and that’s it – no more roads.  The remainder of your commute is by boat or walking.

All those different boats are fun to watch.  They have devised unique boats for all city functions – buses, deliveries, trash, taxis, and of course their famous tourist gondolas.  Many residents appear to have their own boats tied up on the canals by their house or apartment, just like we would have our cars in our driveways.  The boats tend to be narrow and low so they can pass under the hundreds of pedestrian bridges and pass each other while navigating the narrow channels.  We wondered what the rules of the water were but we never saw an accident or a traffic jam.

ADA lawyers would have a field day in Venice: the older buildings don’t have elevators; you can barely turn around in a bathroom; the paths are unevenly cobbled; and at the end of every block there are steps up and over a canal.  It is a terrible place to be old, in a wheelchair, pushing a stroller or dragging your darned duffel bags to your hotel.  We even watched with amusement as passing individuals tangled their umbrellas on a narrow walk.  Also making any upgrades to buildings is extremely difficult to do.

Venice does have beautiful large public spaces and they are all over the City. The piazzas usually have a church on them, and are ringed with many small neighborhood shops and restaurants with tables and chairs outside, even in winter.  Planners would love the city’s pedestrian orientation.  They also have a nice outside market selling fish and vegetables.  The busier walkways in the tourist areas are lined with small, high end shops.  I have never seen so many small shops; some micro in scale.  We admired their beautiful leather goods, art glass, linens and books but wondered how can all these small stores survive?  Their prices have to be higher.

So how do I rate Venice’s urban planning?  A crazy idea that is both enduring (it has worked for over a thousand years) and endearing.  But living there is hard on nearly everyone but the wealthy and physically fit.  I give it a solid B and look forward to visiting again.

Bob