Christmas in Sicily, 2006

Fogged in at Heathrow, with a prediction for fog through the weekend…that’s what we had had for the 3 days prior to our Saturday departure to Catania, Sicily for Christmas through New Year’s. Mt Etna is the backdrop of Catania.

However, whatcha gonna do, so off we go on Friday, via train, to London to spend a day at a lunchtime concert at St Martins-in-the-Fields, the afternoon at the National Gallery, and a nice dinner at a Covent Garden eatery. Up at 4:30AM on Saturday morning to catch our 6:40 flight, we woke to no fog (must be living right) and minimal crowds. So, off we go to Rome, and then to Catania, Sicily.

As planned, we met our travel buddies Ric and Jane at the Rome airport, we traveled with them last Christmas to Albertville, France, part of the French Alps Haut Savoie region, but that’s a whole nother story…suffice it to say we took the warm clothes on that trip. Well, wouldn’t you know, the one time we took absolutely nothing on the plane, our bags go missing (maybe we’re not living right). It’s a boring travel story but on the 3rd day, I feel like I’m telling a resurrection story here, our bags rose from the dead and appeared in Catania. Woowee…let the fun start!

Highlights of our trip included a Christmas day trip to Taormina for lunch at the beautiful Hotel Timeo (Jim and I managed, just barely, to look presentable with our clothes we had been wearing for 4 days), a trip to the top of Mt Etna (its an active volcano folks…but we braved it…not too scary in the winter with all the snow on top…lots of people skiing), a trip to Syracuse to see the Greek ruins and its old-town on the island of Ortygia (voted by all of us as a wonderful place to visit…the Piazza del Duomo was beautiful), and some of the best seafood meals we’ve ever eaten.

To top it off, the house we rented was great, it had beautiful terraces looking out over the Ionian Sea (excellent for al fresco breakfasts), was surrounded by fruit orchards (lemons, grapefruit, tangerine, orange, kumkwat, avocado – all shamelessly plundered by our group – fresh squeezed juice every morning), was within an easy walk to Acireale for shopping and exploring, and had a sweet fishing village that was located down the hill, accessible via a footpath that was an old Roman road. All in all, just what we had wanted for our winterbreak.

see ya,

b'bu

English country side and other differences

This time last year we were getting our heads around the many differences this place the UK presented. There are many more than I thought. Last year we toured the dales of Yorkshire, beautiful stretches of farm land barely populated with people. The rolling hills were filled with sheep and subdivided by century old hand stacked stone walls. We walked around in awe. This year our UK treks took us to the Cotswolds sort of west side of London in the country alright. Below are flowers I encountered there one American and the other English.

First off we rented a car and headed off to Chipping Camden, sounds foreign to me too. On this day, dawn brought rain, dark clouds, and little to no sun. We had a car full Bet, Susie, Rose and driver boy, me. Everything is a little tense since we are on English roads, which since we are Americans, we require a navigator. The Bet and Susie took turns navigating. I think they enjoyed telling me what to do. You get the picture, I can’t push my smart ass attitude too much. The Cotswolds is as good of country side as I’ve seen. It is a completely different place then the Yorkshire dales not better than but different in a more stately way. It is very different than say Alabama, Mississippi or Georgia. We got large expanses of country side but not like these. Beauty wise the same, but the feel is just different. One thing that jumps out at me is the concept of public right of ways. In the UK, there are public paths just about everywhere. The paths are fairly marked and they crisscross private property all about. We pretty much don’t have a similar concept, maybe roads, but not pedestrian walk and bike paths. So the UK provides access to much of it’s country side, which is a pretty interesting concept. So when we go to an area like the dales, vales, moors or the Cotswolds we’re talking about miles, and miles or walking paths that go every which way. I like that a lot but its’ a pretty different concept for me to get my head around. Even though you can walk around rivers and creeks, they are not public. You can’t just fish where ever you please, that must be a throw back to the old Lord and serf thing. You know where the King owned everything.

Our base camp was established in a hotel in Chipping Camden. A English village which was a market town. So people from smaller villages would come here. There were a lot of people with money here. The housing of stone and mortar abounds. We found large expansive grounds and structures which I equate to castles, manors, and monasteries. The area supported huge gardens maintained by the UK’s historic trusts.

… see ya, j'bu

Bond fire Day is the fifth day of November in the UK, we dawgs had our day today!

In Britain, they have Guy Fawkes day which is, some say, a celebration for the man who tried unsuccessfully to blowup parliament. From what I can tell they really love the day here. This is a regular guys’ event. You get to burn up things, blow things up and consume large quantities of alcohol. Evidently, the UK folks are the fireworks champs of the world at least by my measurement. The general population has been actively celebrating for the whole week prior to Sunday’s festivities by shooting up fireworks from all the surrounding communities. Yorkshire folks practice by blowing up fireworks as dark falls. You know we have the forth of July, our own little fireworks show. Here everyone gets into the act big time. From our Westgate sixth floor structure where we live, we had a 180 degree view of the horizon. On this Saturday night for a solid four and a half hours the sky was ablaze and thunder could be heard all around. Even the Royal York Hotel provided a professional show for 20 minutes. Their staging area was less than a 100 yards away. Their show sent my doggie boy George to the shower to escape the noise and sights.

This has been one of the most memorable Saturday’s to date. During the all night light show, I listened via the internets to the greatest “Mississippi State” game ever. Our boys have been close but no cigar for the past couple of weeks. They just haven’t been on the same page. But not tonight, they played some good football and won a big one. Alabama fell on their home field.

Alcohol may have impaired many of my memories of great ball games played over the years at Bama. But I will always remember this night when we beat them good.

You just don’t get many victories over there. These boys deserved a victory they earned through their efforts as a team. Everyone involved deserved this taste of victory. Hail dear old state. I know there are some mighty happy bulldogs around the world tonight. … see ya,

j'bu

Our friends Susie and Rose from Marietta, Georgia

They ventured across the pond, landed in Manchester, then took the train to the medieval city of York. Our first day we took them to our favorite pizza joint, which is located in a grand old building from the 1700’s, and then by our local - the Maltings. Pictures were taken and pints of ale & cider drank.

After a day of sightseeing in York, the girls headed to Scotland on the train - Betty, Susie and Rose embarked on the train trip to Edinburgh and then through the Scottish highlands to Fort William. I missed them on their weekend trip. They played hard in Edinburgh: took in the Benson photography exhibit at the Royal Portrait gallery, toured Edinburgh castle, walked the Royal Mile, and had a great dinner at The Creel restaurant.
A highlight of the train trip from Edinburgh to Ft William was when they passed the Mallaig steam train on its last run of the season. At Fort William they walked the town and, in honor of Rose’s birthday, dined at the number one hotel in Europe, Castle Interlochy Hotel. I’ve never been to such. A good time was had by all even though the birthday girl Rose could not attend the b’day dinner, too much fun the night before? Of course, this was made up for later on return to York ....
see ya,

j'bu

Musicmen’s bench of fame in Spain

While wandering around Vitoria Spain, we found ourselves in a beautiful park. There were so many enjoyable sights about but I enjoyed these the best.

It was warm and sunny; it reminded me of a fall day in the redclay state but without the footballs in the air. There in the park for everyone’s enjoyment was a couple slated benches with the names of many noted music men. I captured a small view of a couple of my favorites’ names. While I sat on those benches, I thought of all those times, music, joints and venues from growing up in the south. The UK and evidently Spain have a great appreciation for these blues and jazzmen.

Speaking of footballs, my bad doggies won a game number two. I listened to my internet link at “State”. This ability makes the world so much smaller. They deserved the win. Our boys have been playing very hard this year and needed some payback for their efforts. Well we got there work cut out for us this weekend when these State bulldogs meet those other bulldogs from the redclay state. It’s only been a half a hundred years since we wiped up on those dogs in Athens, Ga. My good buddy judge jim says this may be our best chance. That’s why they play the games. That’s what I always say. Hopefully I’ll be a happy puppy come Saturday night. Go dawgs!!!! ....
see ya,

j'bu

Northern Spain - Basque country .... we love it!

Life in the north of Spain seemed luscious. We left Laguardia and drove across the mountain range north. We snaked around for sixty miles or so. The roads were great almost like new. It took a couple of hours to get to San Sebastian where we stayed for a couple of nights before heading for Bilboa.

San Sebastian and playa de la Concha, that’s the ticket. We stayed right at the midway point of this half moon bay at the Hotel Niza. The perimeter of the bay was bordered by a huge pedestrian and bike path. I was about four miles end to end. The weather consisted of intermittent bursts of rain and sun shine. The sun, blue sky and clouds dominated the day. None of this seems to bother the locals. They walked, ran, surfed, and played on the beaches day and nights. Late September was a good time for us and the locals it seemed.

At the eastern end of the bay, old town laid. Wow what a great place, the atmosphere was alive with easy going people of all ages. Everyone stayed up later than we could. We had a unforgettable time. We’ll probably make a trip back too.

Bilboa, Spain is a big sprawling city. It seemed grey and industrial. Although parts of it were spectacular, the city fathers have made the effort in it’s makeover. We stayed at the reasonable Hotel Arriaga, located in the center of the old city by the river. The Guggenheim Museum has been the catalyst for the renovation for the central area.

The area around our hotel was jammed with people, all enjoying themselves. At least this area was alive with activity all day long. When we headed out for the return trip at 6am people were still in some of the cafes. Viva la basques! . . . .
see ya,

j'bu

Haro a small city in Riojo region, seems like a normal place in Spain

Haro was a very short drive from LaGuardia maybe 20 minutes southwest. The newness and shine was off the city but the people were very down to earth and pleasant. We liked it a lot. We walked, shopped and eased around the parks and narrow streets. Betty bought shoes and picked out the lunch spot of the day. See how our travel always involves eating and drinking. Our sinful behavior occurred at the Mesan Martin café hidden down and around from the city’s main square.

Like most cafés we’ve been to Spain, you enter through the bar area. Mesan Martin café was special. We were the first and it was after 2pm. We ordered from the menu of the day. It’s a two course meal with bottle of wine and desert. We paid about 15 bucks for each of our meals. Each course is a meal in it’s own then you top it off with a substantial desert. As our food was prepared the café filled with patrons and soon there was a buzz about. Service was great and the food was even better. The aromas and tastes of the place still occupy my little memory banks.

It lightly misted through out the day. We walked the old town section of the city. We hiked to the top of the hill for a view of the old church. Each town has one or more. There really were not many tourists in Haro. We spotted another couple. Recognized them by their maps in hand. We sat and waited the mist out while enjoying the regional wine and people . . . .
see ya,

j'bu

Biggest city in Riojo region, going to Logrono, Spain

Logrono is less than an hour away from LaGuardia our homebase. The biggest deal was finding maps, street signs and parking. Once this was accomplished, we spent about six hours shopping, eyeballing the architecture, buildings, churches and enjoying the old downtown.


While bet shopped, I sat having a beer at an outside café in a pedestrian area. Very enjoyable, the Spanish have a very easy going life style. The remaining time bet and I just eased around walking everywhere our feet would carry us. For once we didn’t eat, like we finally skipped a meal.


We returned to LaGuardia and dined on Serrano ham, machenogo and goat cheeses in the plaza of the small town. The plaza was filled with tables provided by the wine shop & corner bar. People of all ages, locals and tourist were gathered just enjoying the gorgeous weather, food and drink.

At dusk the plaza’s clock put on a show for the folks. This clock does a Glockenspiel thingie at 8 pm. The clocks doors swing open and three dancers come out and do some spins and turns.

With this we call it a night and retreat to our quarters at the Marixa and watch the night fall over the Rioja vineyards.

We sipped big red Rioja wine to warm us from the cool of the night .... see ya,

j'bu

Bodegas of the La Rioja region, going to LaGuardia

Just love that word, “Bodegas”. Most Spanish places the word means small shop, wine shop, wine cellar, you get the idea. I just like the way it sounds. Anyway the villa Laguardia Click here for photos!!!! had plenty of them and this little village is our home base for the tour the La Riojo area. Laguardia is a small walled village with the walls varying to about three stories. It pretty much sits on the highest hill in wine country. Inside the walls there are three main drags each about 400 yards long which are a little more than a two car widths wide. These mostly pedestrian ways are spotlessly clean. You can’t image with all the residents and tourist traffic here. All three streets have bars, bodegas, groceries or residences. The buildings are mostly three stories high with either a vendor or a double door entrance hall. They usually butt up to each other and are built right to the edge of the street. All three streets end at an area Click 4 more photos!!!! in front of the church.

We stayed at a prime location just out side of the walls the Hotel Marixa. Marixa is a 10 room hotel with the best view and the best basque restaurant in Laguardia. Our room had an outdoor patio with bench, table and two wicker chairs that overlooked the whole valley’s vineyard . . . .
see ya,

j'bu

We’re headed to La Rioja region, first stop San Vincente de La Sonsierra

We hit the roadways early maybe 7:30am. Not that much city traffic. You know Spain needs it’s day time for some sleep. Anyway we’re headed to the La Rioja Wine region. First stop a little Spanish truck stop/café about 30 miles out of Vitoria. Wow, one woman operation. We had great café con leche and french bread. Funny, with us ordering food you really never know what you’re going to get. We are learning Spanish and customary behavior as we go. Most of the clientele ordered, ate, drank and paid up all at the counter. We sat at a table. They had to turn the lights on for us after awhile. We got a laugh, then back on the road for our destination town of Laguardia in La Rioja. The highways are outstanding here. No real downsides and the signage was excellent.It was easy driving. As luck would have it, we entered the village of San Vincente de La Sonsierra and discovered a small market opened on this Monday morning. We were in search of cosmetics, bet’s had been confiscated at Stansted Airport by the cracker jack security force. Move along folks and always pack anything you want ( cosmetics ) in your luggage. No luck here.

We began strolling around the maze of cobbled streets and noticed the banners and flags hanging between the buildings which border each side of the streets. Hey, it’s Fiesta, Fiesta time!!!! Little did we know at 10am this fine morning they were barricading all the streets that entering the center of the village square. Yep that’s right, it’s run the bulls around the fountain in the square. It was weird watching young and old taunting these bulls with their horns focused. Damn some of those animals looked like they could easily take out the barricades which separated us. We watched for awhile then walked around the square and climbed to the highest point in the village, a medieval church build at the top of the steep hill ....
see ya,

j'bu

Saturday Morning and we’re headed to Bilboa, Spain!

George to the doggie dude ranch, temporary quarters in the outback dog prison. Off we go to Stansted Airport north of London in our Europcar Rental. Perfect ride, but the Airport is a different story. Stansted is the most modern airport in all the UK. As luck would have it, the Airport computer systems were all shiny side down. This resulted in all airlines processing flights, baggage and customers manually. Delays ensued. We arrive in Bilboa around 9:30 pm. We get the rental car on the road about three hours late headed in the wrong direction from our destination of Vitoria, Spain. Somewhere on the north coast of Spain, we stop at an “autostrada” ( interstate café ). In our broken Spanish and English we get directions to our destination of Vitoria. We got back on the “Camino de Dinero”. Our made up name for the toll road. After a wild night time drive through the mountains we found our way to our destination.

What a trip into Vitoria, we drive around looking for “old town” or “city center” on a Saturday night We stop on a corner in the heart of old town. It’s closing in on midnight and there are thousands of people on the streets. It reminded me of a bourbon street scene. We eventually quizzed some friendlies who played the lead dogs and drove by the Calle de Dato near the train station where our hotel was located. Long story short. We were parked and checked in at the Hotel Dato . By 1am we are dining at the Casa Blanca Café. There are hundreds of people on the wide pedestrian street “Dato”. All ages of people. After ham & egg basque sandwiches, beer and many wines, we’re wore out and asleep at 3am. Good end to this travel day.

Sunday we walked, talked and visited with Spain and concluded the big day in Vitoria at the “XIXILU”, pronounced “see see loo”, it’s a great basque Restaurant. Basque food is very hearty, a lot of it and good. These are manly meals. As far as I can tell, northern Spain life revolves around lots of talking, living, eating and drinking. We can take it. It’s very nice. The life style is totally different than any place we’ve been and we really enjoyed it ....
see ya,

j'bu

York a medieval corner … a tourist destination for UK residents!

Whip Ma Whop Ma Corner, as I call it, is a small piece of landscape in the center of York. It is a very small triangle with a 15th century church set on it. In medieval times it was a common location where public beatings of one’s woman could take place. Here in York they have many laws on the books which thankfully are no longer practiced but are still laws anyway.

On this occasion, our church street pals from Mariettta, Ga gathered for a great visit to our fair city. We had a great time walking, talking and fellowshipping with the locals. They made a drive trip north to Scotland with a St. Andrews round to boot. As you can see, we were all in good form ....
see ya,

j'bu

2006-07 College Football Season Opener

I've spent the summer months reading about Mississippi State's football program, recruits, players, coaches, training camps and NCAA decisions and non-decisions. I've enrolled is a sports Internet service so I could get the whole scope about the state of "STATE" football. Huh. Without this I would be clueless. Maybe it would be better to be clueless. The word "Football" has a complete different meaning outside of the USA. One thing for sure it universally conjures my great emotions most every where in the world. I ordered two "STATE" ballcaps all in preparation for the Mississipi State season opener. Bet brought them back on her return trip from Marietta.

I stayed tuned to the Internet broadcast of the game till four am. on a school night!

Let's say some of my questions were answered but now I have a whole new set. Our boys did well and we'll even be better when we get finished with that Auburn team next week. I can't remember when we played a whole game and came away with just one penalty.

That morning, casual friday I dressed in my colors ... maroon "STATE" shirt and jeans. A new Expat at work saw me and mentioned the thursday night ESPN disappointment. After much mouthing off, we concluded that we would miss the college footbal season the most of anything during our days in York. I'm pretty sure this boy must have been from the south and after just a month he's already home sick for some football!. see ya,

j'bu

IPADDER dot COM has gone shiny side down!!!!

We are patiently awaiting Bet's return from the USA which is tommorow.Not to worry, we have things to keep us busy. This is the last day of what's known as a "Bank Holiday Weekend". The UK has a number of 3 day weekends in the year. Our time has been spent completing our US tax data spread sheets for the accountants. It's really sad story. It would have been easier and faster to have done it myself in turbo tax like I've done forever but NO. The tax data is now in their hands. Good riddance!

The other big thing story for me. My Blog service provider has gone shiny side down. Whoa ... IPADDER dot COM is no more! That's right no more. I guess?. The really good news is we have most of our posts. The bad news is we have to get 'em in the new box!

If your reading this ... the new Blog service provider is BLOGGOING.COM. I like the service pretty well ... so far. The blog skin plus the advanced functions are super. It works much better than the stuff I did with my training whells on. Oh well, so there you have it. We are now on a quest to get all our goofy stuff back on the net . . . .
see ya,

j'bu

The walk to Beningbrough Hall and Gardens turned into a nine mile excursion

On many occasions, especially on Sundays the family unit will walk west along bike route 65 till it turns south at a paved road. That’s about a four mike hike out. When george walks us it seems much further. This particular summer Sunday, Bet and I planned to walk to Beningbrough Hall and Gardens. With our sights set we took off walking on a well traveled bike/people path through pasture lands and flood control plains. All this lies within four minutes of our Westgate apartment. As we walked, I would sneeze four or five times every 50 yards or so. I forgot to take the ‘what you ma call it drugs!’ to prevent such things. The walk was very pleasing after these sneezing fits subsided. We encountered a couple of dozen bike riders every mile or so. All of the cyclists were headed towards York. There must have been some sort of rally going on. Our foot path ended about five miles out where it dead ended into what we’ll call ‘The Overton/Shipton Road’.

The world, as I know it, where people "stuck on stupid" steal the directional signs. We first started left, then we talked to some parked motorists who sent us in the opposite direction. We walked down a one lane country road to Shipton and the A19 highway. Wrong, so we made our retreat. “ It’s useless to ask a motorist directions to walk somewhere. Chances are they only know how to get to places by car. " Go figure.

The farm road eventually led us to the very small village of Overton. It comprised a one lane road with a spread of English cottages, no more than a couple of dozen of them dotting each side of the road. They appeared to be well kept and manicured. Some had past links to the Church of England, with related names of Vicarage or Parsonage. Many had 8 o 10 foot high hedges that bordered their properties with beautiful gates and or gatehouses. This was a place that got your imagination running. As we continued to walk the lane, we came upon a sign directing us off the lane towards the river. After all we were suppose to be on a river path. The sign proclaimed "Public Path" this way ====>. Obediently following directions we found ourselves in a sea of some farmer's crop. Now we know we're in a death spiral. Help us!Hey, there in the distance, we seek reassurance from three people standing in the middle of some fields. We all seem happy to see each other. At least they knew where they were. They had lost there puppy dog (name?). So we exchange cell numbers and headed off in somewhat the wrong direction. But as luck would have it, Bet found this scruffy little Australian Sheep dog of maybe 12 years. Cute as he could be lying top side down behind a big metal farm gate which blocked his escape. Yep there he was tired and panting away. As modern technology would have it, we're soon all reunited and happy to see each other.

They offer to drive us to Beningbrough Gardens but no we must complete our quest. Boy was that dumb. Basically, we walked the next four miles through head high weeds across farmland that parallels the river Ouse. At one point we find ourselves walking with about a couple of dozen. The only person we encountered was a fisherman who advised to keep walking towards a stand of hardwood trees further down the river.

We may be the only people this century who has walked from York to Beningbrough Hall and Gardens and saw this sign.

The manor house and the heritage gardens were great. Our fatigue took a little of the shine away from the visit to the gardens. We hiked about 50minutes to the "local pub" in Newton-on-the-Ouse where we called our favorite taxi for the after our "pint" trip back to Westgate . . . .
see ya,

j'bu