Spain

 At the end of July, I took my first international trip since going to Chile in 2019. I'll be documenting my remembrances after the fact since I didn't keep notes during the trip. 

Before the trip I had a lot of unexpected anxiety around it-would COVID rear its ugly head, would I need to get tested before the trip, what special forms would I need to fill out, would I catch COVID in Spain, would I remember how to travel like this? I decided to stick with carry-ons going there to avoid any baggage issues (which was much in the news). There wasn't much I could do about timeliness of my flights but at least my stuff could stay with me.

Turned out I had no issues at all with flights. TSA pre-check was a breeze again, I had a decent amount of time to hang out in the Club, the flight to Newark took off on time, and while we were delayed getting into the gate, I had enough of a layover to be able to make use of the Club for a snack and bathroom break before catching my next flight. After a short nap, we landed in Barcelona the next morning. 

Before I left, I had found and arranged for a shuttle service that drops off at hotels. If you are going to a private address, they will find the nearest hotel to drop you off. A short stroll from drop off took me to Edie's families' apartment for the month. Everyone was out except Lucy. After I settled in a bit, Lucy and I went to explore some place to get food. We ended up at Burger & Music downstairs from the apartment where I had a breakfast bowl with fruit, grain, etc. which was perfect to give me a little energy.

In the afternoon, I looked up the bus stop for the hop-on hop-off bus that I'd bought tickets for previously. There was a stop at La Pedredra/Casa Mila so I walked over there (thank goodness for Google maps) and toured the house first. It was a great introduction to Antoni Gaudi, great architect of this city because in the attic of the house were several displays that discuss his design, engineering and architecture, including the catenary arch that will be prominently featured in the Sagrada Familia. I then found the bus stop, but accidentally ended up on the other route that I originally planned to take, oh well. Still was a nice way to get introduced to the city.

In the evening, Edie and Bill were going to an art gallery where a friend of theirs was showing a piece. Maia was home by then so I walked with the girls to the gallery. It was a small place with some interesting pieces but super hot inside after awhile. I hung out outside the gallery and had a nice chit cha with Lucy while waiting on Bill, Edie and their friends.

Once everyone was done at the gallery, we all walked to a local tapas place, Betlem for drinks and dinner.

It was nice to be able to leave the ordering to the 'locals' while I got myself a sangria. the food was terrific and the company enjoyable. After, we walked to a local gelato place. I found gelato to be very popular in all the places I went to in Spain. They often called in 'helados Italiano'.

I managed to stay awake until proper bed time and crashed hard.

Holiday season

The year that started moving at a snail's pace now seems to be rushing headlong into 2022. 

It was a very strange year, starting with continuing fear of COVID, which eventually morphed into little bits of hope with the vaccine. I started off wary of the new mRNA technology then couldn't wait until I was eligible.

As the weather warmed, it started to seem like things could slowly open up, and we could slowly all start getting together again. Ballet classes continued with masks, first in small groups and only outside or in the large back studio. Eventually, classes all moved indoors, got bigger and expanded into all of the studios. 

I found myself talking to my fellow students more, including people I'd been in classes with for years and never bothered to say hi. A few of us started going to coffee after class, first at Blueys and then when they became too busy, at Cafe Ruisseau. 

It started to feel safer to meet people for meals, first outside, then slowly indoors. I am so grateful for the creativity it took for my neighbourhood restaurants to stay open. 

I got back on a plane in May to spend the weekend with Mei. We didn't do much but it was mostly about spending time together after over a year of Zoom only. June brought a welcome invitation from Mei to join them on Maui. Again, not a trip full of ticking off things to do, but we were all grateful for time together, eating good food (although super early) and basking in the HI sun. The stress of testing to go there was totally worth it.

My ballet friends and I went to Napa for a Roberto Bolle & Friends performance thanks to Kelly's initiative, driving up together. Another dance focused trip followed to Vail in August. These opportunities to see live dance really felt so special. While the weather in Vail was not great, we rejoiced in being back in a place we all love. 

We were supposed to be going back into the office in September, but Delta put a stop to that. We could choose to go back if we want but we had to be vaccinated to do so. I went back a few times but it was rarely worth the commute and only to see colleagues.

Thanksgiving was a return to the Bay area but without the large family gathering due to a non-vaccinated family member. Most of us got together for an easy outdoor hike followed by tacos, which was a great way to see everyone safely. 

Just when we thought this would be the first 'normal-ish' holiday, along comes Omicron. With all of the stress of worrying about what's happening, I am looking forward to finally seeing Ma and D's family in person. 

I also did some holiday baking for gifts. Since one of my ballet teachers is vegan, I set a challenge to find recipes with those limitations but which were just as tasty. The first one I tried was from LA Times recipe writer Ben Mims. His cherry-walnut fudge looked really good. However I used an old candy thermometer which caused the fudge to not set. After an informative Insta message exchange, I redid it and it worked like a charm! Super delicious, too! Definitely worth doing again, although expensive with Luxardo cherries. The second recipe I found was for lemon sugar cookies. I had a bunch of lemons left from various HelloFresh meals so wanted to use them up. The recipe called for vegan butter and silken tofu, which didn't feel like too much of a stretch (since I love tofu). These turned out so delicious! The texture is light but flavourful and definitely better than regular sugar cookies. I love that these experiments led to two new recipes to add to my collection.

Thanksgiving Returns

After last year's Thanksgiving forcibly spent alone (well, with neighbours who had plans cancelled), I spent the week up at Mei's and seeing family. It's been the first time seeing the cousins in a couple of years.

Mei, the kids and I had dinner with the 3's at Hong Kong restaurant in Palo Alto on Monday night. Delicious sticky rice chicken, crab and a bunch of other dishes. 

We also were able to check out Shu Shu's new electric Mustang SUV. Fancy! 

On Tuesday, Gugu picked me up for ballet class at Western Ballet. The teacher was Andre Reyes, who apparently danced at SFB with Mark Lopez (who teaches at Westside). The class was Intermediate/Advanced but I feel like after Chasen's Wed evening class, I'm better at picking up complicated choreography. Still stepped out of grand allegro though. After, we had lunch at a little strip mall place called Chef Zhao Kitchen. Food was pretty good, with XLB, shen jiang bao and walnut shrimp. We talked quite a bit about various and sundry things, which was nice to have that opportunity.

Later I started a couple of batches of chocolate chip cookies. I use Tara O'Brady's basic great chocolate chip cookies recipe. We found Guittard chips for the nut-free version for the family and Valrhona bars for our family. Neve helped with making the dough and we let them sit in the fridge before baking up. 

Tuesday night was Mason's birthday dinner. Mei made prime rib, new potatoes and bok choy, and his cake was a vanilla strawberry cream cake.

Wednesday we went to check out a new place in Sunnyvale that made souffle pancakes. We were told it would take an hour to be ready so we left to grab lunch at Dishdash, on a walk street. By the time we got back, the pancakes were just about ready. They are quite puffy, with a choice of whip cream, chocolate sauce or matcha (we got whip cream and chocolate). They are mostly air and took us all of 5 minutes to eat. Not bad and worth trying once, but very expensive and I don't need to go back.

On Thanksgiving, we did the local Turkey Trot 5k, walking the whole way. It was a cold but sunny morning and they adjusted the route to be a full lap instead of repeating a 1k lap as in the past. It made for a nice start to the day.

The rest of the day was making the dinner (small turkey, roast potatoes, air fried Brussels sprouts with bacon, cranberry sauce with orange, sourdough bread, kale onion stuffing, cheesecake bars) interspersed with playing Scrabble. Dinner was delicious. The cranberry, stuffing and cheesecake bar recipes were particularly good.

On Friday, I had arranged for the family to meet for a hike. Sandy suggested Stulsaft park so the dogs could join. Almost everyone was able to make it, including Foster from LA and Hunter visiting from college. Again, a beautiful morning, everyone could be outside, we got a nice family picture and then Shu shu treated us to fish tacos at Sancho's. I brought the nut-free cookies. Some people had one before the hike, some after lunch, some both times. 

In the afternoon, we visited Boba Pup, which is known for their corgi mason jar cups. Their selection turned out to be Totoro Xmas themed but I got a corgi one for extra. I wanted to give it to Kelly who is a huge corgi fan and has been so generous with her post-ballet treats all year. 

Neve drove us everywhere all day and did pretty well as a new driver. 

Then it was time to head to the airport for home. It was a great visit but I'm always happy to return home. 

Upcountry

On our last full day on Maui, Mei, the kids and I headed upcountry to Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm. We didn't know quite what to expect but figured an excursion away from the beach on our last full day wouldn't be all bad. 

As we headed up the slopes of Haleakala, the temperature drops and the skies turn grey as we get closer to the permanent cloud that sits on the mountain. It starts to remind us of Scotland or Ireland as it's greener up here too. 

The view up here is spectacular. This is the northern coast of Maui. The lavender field itself is unimpressive and quite small. However there is a flower garden with some unusual and gorgeous plants. A meandering path takes you down the hill past ferns, jacaranda trees, bromeliads and so many different proteas. 

We picked up some lavender souvenirs and a couple of lavender scones on our way out. 

Down the road a bit from the lavender farm is the historic town of Makawao. We stopped on their main shopping street for a look-see. This is a rustic street with a slightly hippy vibe. The stores tend to be local artists or mom-and-pops. There are chickens everywhere including on top of cars.

I bought a t-shirt from a watercolour artist and we snacked from a food truck in between meandering through the various unusual stores. I quite enjoyed seeing this different side of Maui.

After a brief rest, Mei, Stephen and I headed to Whaler's Village to hunt down a dinner reservation. We lucked out at Leilani's. Their calamari appetizer and parmesan crusted mahi mahi were quite good. We didn't partake of a third hula pie since we were saving up for one last shave ice.

And one last sunset.

Last beach day

Today we stayed close to home base. Stephen rented an umbrella and chairs at the beach outside the resort and we basically hung out there all day. It was a really hot day. I spent the morning people watching- families getting their gear and bickering about where to sit, friends heading to the beach in their stylish swimsuits. The outrigger canoe groups were going gangbusters with several boats heading out full of people. 

A trio of three young men came down laden with snorkel gear but also with gloves, wetsuits and spears. They headed out into the water with their red buoy, going deeper and deeper. 

I took a break mid-day to go back to the room, heat up leftover fish taco for lunch and get a break from the mid-day heat.

In the afternoon, back at the beach and the spear fishing guys were still out there. New families replaced the morning group. The water got rougher but a large cloud lingered overhead to cool us down a bit.

There were a lot of mynas out and they seemed to know who had food and who didn't. This one seemed to be giving me the side-eye.

I went out with Mei for a short snorkel. The usual assortment of colourful fish, joined by a black and white striped one and school of smaller silvery yellow fish. We didn't stay out for long as the rough surf made us a little motion sick. 

After a quick shower back at the room and a short rest, Mei made a delicious fish dinner with Opah and Ling from Costco, with broccoli and potatoes on the side. It was nice to have a lighter meal. 

The evenings entertainment was The Iron Giant, which none of us had seen. 

Napili beach and extraordinary pancakes

Today we headed up to Napili Beach for some different scenery. It's a short drive north from Ka'anapali. Parking is just in the neighbourhood and a short walk to a beach access path. This beach is gorgeous and I realized once I got there that I've been here every time I've visited Maui.

The surf is quite a bit rougher which was fun for the kids to boogie board. We went out for some snorkeling and saw a variety of different fish: another view of the super long named fish which is the state fish, some different triggerfish and butterfly fish, and the reef here is more alive with different anemone. 

When we were ready for lunch we decided to stop at The Gazebo, which my neighbours the Gorens told me about. It's a shack in back of a condo complex. They don't take reservations and they have an insanely good mac nut pancake. Mei, the kids and I waited in line, but Stephen wasn't interested. It took maybe 45 min to get an outside table under some big umbrellas looking out over the water. Mei and I got the combo banana and white chocolate mac nut pancakes. The kids got a club sandwich and an omelette. All of the food was really good. The pancakes though, were out of this world!

They are topped with a butterscotch and maple syrup cream and served with coconut syrup. The pancakes themselves were big and fluffy. Super delicious and totally worth the wait! Plus service was great. 

We took a rest on the afternoon before heading to Whaler's Village to get on the wait list for Hula Grill. The food there is decent but service was terrific. I was full from lunch still so had half of a fish taco meal and saved the rest for tomorrow.

Of course we had to have another Hula pie! We finished dinner in time to catch the sunset, along with practically everyone else at the mall. 😎 

Massage and blowhole excursion

This morning the adults all had massage appointments. Mei and I did a short walk first. We were a little later than previous walks and it was quite crowded! We made it to Black Rock and turned around.

I chose a therepeutic massage and the masseuse was quite good although talkative. He really worked on some of my super tight spots but suggested some options that I should look into continuing at home-Rolfing and theragun type devices. 

In the afternoon we drove up to Kapalua to find Nakalele blowhole that Mei had heard about. It was along a twisty narrow road. Lots of people were parked along various parts of the road to access who knows what-beaches? trails?

When we finally reached the blowhole, we almost missed the parking. The blowhole itself is visible by a short rocky trail but you could also hike down to be right next to it. I wasn't prepared for this and had worn my maxi dress but my Jambu shoes ended up having some pretty good traction and while there were challenging sections, it was not difficult. Very cool to see close up (but not too close as the warning signs attest).

When we got back, we were hungry and exhausted and snacked and rested a bit. Late afternoon, we drove into Lahaina to find early dinner. Tonight ended up being at Cheeseburger In Paradise. It was a long wait but we got a nice table by the water.

Another tiring but fun day!

Snorkeling and eating

We took our newly acquired snorkel gear down to the beach. After getting used to the water and the gear, we spent almost an hour in the water. We saw the famous Hawaiian fish with the super long name, plus a bunch of yellow tangs and some trigger fish. They were not plentiful however it was great to be able to walk right out from the hotel and see them. 

Lunch was homemade turkey sandwiches, Hawaiian style chips, grapes and more Mac nuts. 

After a rest back in our rooms, we headed to Whaler's Village to see if we could get a table at Monkeypod for early dinner. Mei had heard about this place, which is farm-to-table restaurant that only does walk-ins. We lucked out in our timing. We had 45 minutes to walk around but were seated by 4:30 and the food was fantastic! I shared a delicious Mac nut mahi mahi with Neve, we had a great pizza, Mei and Stephen enjoyed the fish sandwich. We shared a strawberry cheesecake pie which was so good! Like whipped cheesecake! 

Back at the hotel, we watched In The Heights before bed.

Hitting the beach

On our first full day, the adults got up quite early so we headed out for a walk along the boardwalk and back. We then did a quick grocery store run to fill in the gaps from Costco. Mei had a Pilates class mid-day so the rest of us headed to the beach while she took class. It was really warm out and the water was quite cool. The kids spent most of the time in the water. I dunked myself in for a bit but spent most of my time on the sand.

Lunch was at the hotel's outdoor grill. Later in the afternoon we drove into Lahaina for shave ice at Ululani's, our favourite! The line was long, and in fact everything is quite crowded with people right now! I got guava, blueberry and melona (honeydew). 

We noticed quite a few empty store fronts on the main street. On the way back to the car we stopped at Honolulu Cookie Company to pick up some souvenirs and stopped at Boss Frog's to get snorkel and other water gear.

Dinner was grilled steak, corn, fries from the hotel grill restaurant. It was a delicious meal. 

Maui! Finally!

This was a long time coming! My first post-pandemic vacation and it's to Maui, joining Mei's family. 

Hawaii still has some strict testing rules to get here which made it super stressful leading up to the trip (due to confusing language, uninformed staff and overall lack of coordination). Luckily I found a FB group devoted to helping people understand and get the process. 

Once I arrived on the island and was dropped off at Mei's timeshares complex (lots of traffic!), we immediately walked over to Duke's to join the rest of her family who had snagged a table for an early dinner. It's been hard to get reservations and this seems to be what we will have to do to eat out. Starting off the trip with a daiquiri and a Hula pie ain't bad.

We watched the sun go down for a bit, then headed back to the rooms so I could settle in. 

First trip in 1.5 yrs!

I took my first plane trip since Dec 2019, first overnight away from home since Feb 2020, visiting Mei and family over Memorial weekend.

The TSA line in Southwest's terminal was deserted when I was there. I got in the wrong line and had to be redirected to pre-check. They have new ID scanners and don't even care about your boarding pass now. I had to remind myself about what to do going through the scanner. 🙄

It was so great to see Mei, Neve and Mason after so much time. Mason has grown so much, he's almost as tall as me! We had planned a potluck lunch on Saturday with Gugu, Al and Da Bo Mu. Bing was added at the last minute, since he's not around/caring for unvaccinated children. It was so great to see everyone and the weather was perfect. 

Aside from that one event, we didn't have much planned. We had a couple of nice meals out in Mei's new backyard seating area, did some shopping, talked a bit about our Hawaii trip, watched a bunch of movies together at home (The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Impossible, The Witches) which we all enjoyed, ate a little too much, played with Indy. 

Stephen came home on Sunday after a short visit with his dad and we had smoked tri tip, homemade french fries and ice cream.

Before you know it, it was Monday and time to go home. Both times, the TSA was fast but airplanes were full. There are still people who don't understand how to wear a mask after a year, and more things are touchless than before. 

It was a really good weekend. 

Santa Fe

Edie invited a few close friends and family to join her in Santa Fe over President's weekend and Mei and I were able to join her.

She and Bill booked a room at Inn of the Turquoise Bear so we chose to do the same. We flew into Albuquerque airport on Friday afternoon. The airport (they call it a 'sunport') feels VERY southwest, with Saltillo tile floors, Pueblo style pots and decor all around. It's about an hour drive to Santa Fe. We arrived to find a walled compound with luminarias all around the top of the walls. It was dinner time when we got in so after finding our cozy room, we headed out to the main plaza to find some food.

All the trees in the plaza are lit up so at night it looks beautiful. The weather is cold and clear. We stopped at Thunderbird Bar for some shrimp and Frito pie (which is a New Mexico specialty). We managed to get a quick stop into the Five & Dime for some souvenirs before it closed and then headed back to the hotel and bed.

In the morning, we went to the main building to check in and get breakfast. They had a big table with a great spread of yogurt, fruit, breads, and cereals, as well as a daily special. Today was frittata, chicken sausage and tomato salad. The food was delicious. The rooms are wonderfully decorated with local art and prints. Edie's family had arrived quite late last night so we greeted each other over breakfast.

We all set out for the day to walk to the Georgia O'Keefe museum with a detour at the state capital building. Again we found local art liberally displayed throughout. It seems New Mexicans are proud to show off their local artists at every opportunity. The O'Keefe museum is small but has a wide variety of styles of her art.

After the museum, we walked back to the Inn to drive to a local donut shop, Whoo's. We met up with Vid and his daughter Mira. Next to the donut shop is a chocolate place called ChocolateSmith. From the doughnut shop, we made a brief pit stop at a local market for some more substantial eats and then headed to Canyon Rd for some gallery hopping.

The variety of art styles on display in the galleries on this street is remarkable. We stopped at about 5 galleries and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. By this time, we were all pooped out so we headed to Vid's AirBnB to rest. Eventually, Russell's family arrived to make the party complete.

Dinner that night was at Sazon. This turned out to be a remarkable meal. The restaurant is decorated (again) with art. The food is Mexican inspired but with fine dining level creativity. We started with small samples of 6 moles served with mini tortillas (which were soft and delicious). The black bean soup of the day was one of the best things I've ever eaten. The chef came to say hello to our table after our starters. We all thoroughly enjoyed our mains. Mine was duck with a rich poblano mole (not too spicy). Mei had salmon with a different sauce. The chef's special dessert was a creation that revealed different flavours as it melted on your tongue from ginger to avocado ice cream to chili. Really remarkable. The volcano cake and pastry cream with berries were both excellent as well.

We finished the night back at the BnB with whiskey and girl scout cookies.

The next morning, after another delicious breakfast of blue corn pinon pancakes and maple bacon, Mei and I said goodbye to Edie, Bill and the girls for our drive back to ABQ and flight to LAX. We had a short visit but we both decided Santa Fe is worth returning to again, but maybe in warmer weather!

2018 in a nutshell

I've been really remiss about posting this year! This was a stressful year at work, with a couple of tough projects, my boss leaving for another department (and essentially distancing herself for months beforehand) and getting a new boss and learning his ways. While I didn't have any major travel, I was able to squeeze in some fun along the way. Here's a brief summary with some picture links.

March ended up being quite busy. Edie paid a short visit (she was here for work) and we went to a Yuval Sharon opera at Disney Hall (innovative and fun!) and spent time with Foster and Jess. I then visited Ma in Toronto. I timed the visit to overlap with a quick weekend visit by D and family who were coming for D's friend Sheldon's wedding. We met up in downtown as Ma and I were heading to the ballet and they were just arriving.Ma and I checked out Nathan Phillips Square, visited Casa Loma (we loved it), had afternoon tea, and I had a chance to enjoy a night out with my elementary school friends.

Photos from Toronto: https://flic.kr/s/aHskJhHdWZ

 In May, I took advantage of Memorial weekend and Sandy's birthday celebration to spend some time with Mei and family. I also visited the Marciano Art Foundation for the first time and enjoyed the art as well as how they've renovated the old Mason building.

Some photos of the Marciano: https://www.flickr.com/gp/pc_photo/f4W5i6

I went back to Vail with Joyce, Joel and Suzanne and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves again. This time we stayed at The Austria House hotel, which had a wonderful breakfast every day, comfortable room and great service. The Dance Festival was another wonderful set of performances and we found some old favourite dining options from last year and new ones as well.

Here are photos of Vail: https://flic.kr/s/aHskMBRRKq

In September, my ballet teacher Joan Bayley Weamer was honoured along with Margaret Hills at the Westside Ballet fundraiser. Joan is 95 and Margaret is 92 and are inspirations to all of us who take their classes.

Later in the month, I rode the Ciclavia LA Phil Centennial 8 mile ride from Hollywood to Disney Hall with Amy and Laura. My bike is heavy and slow so I was left in the dust but we all made it to downtown and enjoyed some of the festivities before grabbing lunch and taking the Metro home. In the evening, Amy and I took in the free Bowl concert that I won tickets to.

Photos from the day: https://www.flickr.com/gp/pc_photo/mT612w

In October, I met Mei and Neve in Vancouver Canada to take in The Thank You Canada Tour put on by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, along with the Canadian figure skating team that won the team gold at the Olympics. It was a terrific show and we also had a chance to meet up with Bryan and his family who showed us around Granville Market. We loved Vancouver and definitely want to return for a longer visit.

Photos from the visit: https://flic.kr/s/aHskJjZoTP

Around Thanksgiving, I went up to Silicon Valley to help celebrate Shu shu's 80th birthday and stayed through Thanksgiving at Gugu and Al's. Ma was in town as well. D came just for the birthday weekend.

Photos from the week: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmrVBqVq

I will be staying in LA for a quiet end of year holiday.

Last day in England

In the morning, we headed to Sherwood Forest to take a nice walk to Major Oak, which is a giant oak tree which is supposed to have been a hiding place for Robin Hood. The tree is massive, with a lot of supports needed to hold up it's branches and is supposed to be almost 1000 years old!

After a long day of driving it was nice to take a quiet stroll through this famous forest and get our picture taken with the famous tree and hear more about the Robin Hood legend. Mei and I did our best imitations of the Robin Hood characters from the Disney animated movie.

On our drive south, we stopped at a rest stop for a quick lunch. Meanwhile, we also checked into our flights the next day, and at Stephen's suggestion, I was able to book myself on a non-stop flight to LA for a change fee.

Continuing south, we stopped at Bletchley Park, which is where Alan Turing worked on the first modern computer to break the German Enigma code during WW2. While the originals were all destroyed after the war, there is a recreation of Turing's office and of the famous computer.

Our last stop is at a hotel near Heathrow. Dinner ended up at a hotel next door where we could get our final English meal.

Back to England

The next day, after a very short visit in Scotland, we drove back towards Edinburgh, to the suburb of Leith. Stephen was told of a bakery, Mimi's Bakehouse, that we wanted to pick up some pastries at. The selections were all very tempting. We got a giant pavlova and a few other things. I picked a jammy dodger slice, which I had no idea what it was, but it looked good. Turns out 'jammy dodger' is what the English call sandwich cookies. While Mei was settling up, I took the kids outside (the restaurant was very cramped) and we found there were swans in the river, including a mama with some babies! There were also two swans in the distance doing some kind of spinning dance. Turns out they were males doing a territorial display. Leave it to swans to turn fights into a dance!

We headed out a ways on the road before pulling over to eat our treats. They were all ridiculously good, and the pavlova may have been one of the best I've had. We all really liked the jammy dodger slice too!

We crossed back into England shortly after, taking a detour to get our pictures taken with the signs. Our first stop in England is Alnwick Castle, pronounced 'ah-nick'. This castle is the home of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, who still lives here in winter. It is also the site of filming for the broomstick training scenes for Harry Potter and played Brancaster Castle in Downton Abbey! We didn't have nearly enough time to explore the castle, and had to skip the gardens entirely. They had a whole lot of activities on site, including several HP themed events (broomstick training, owls), several medieval themed (pillories, knights activities, dragon quest, archery) in addition to seeing the palace rooms where the family actually lives. Their artwork included paintings of the children (now adults) and their main sitting room is a library with very old books but also a flat screen TV and a foozball table! I'd been wanting to visit a lived in castle so this fulfilled my final check list for this trip. We all had a great time, and I hope to some day come back to visit the gardens.

We continued our drive south passing by English countryside that looked like it hadn't changed in hundreds of years, if you ignore the power lines and the modern windmills. We saw mostly rolling hills, lots of sheep, stone walls, no modern buildings. Our stop for the evening is in Nottingham. The main entry to the hotel were guarded by a flock of Canada geese, so we had to gingerly step around goose droppings. We found a local pub, The Nuthall, for a nice dinner.

Scottish countryside

The next day was a big castle day. We started out at Stirling Castle, only a short drive from our hotel. The castle is beautifully situated on a hill overlooking Stirling bridge, site of the battle depicted in Braveheart. In fact there is a monument to William Wallace visible from the castle. We had a great guide who told us all about the castle history in his melodious accent. The castle had several fun places to explore, including a great hall, a recreated kitchen, palace rooms with costumed actors telling us about life in the castle as a servant or noble woman, and beautiful unicorn tapestries that had just recently been restored.

The view from the castle is spectacular, and we had the typical crazy Scottish weather (dramatic clouds, wind, occasional rain) to make it even more dramatic.

From Stirling we headed to Doune Castle.This is a very old building, in slightly downtrodden condition but it's been used for filming Monty Python's Life of Brian as well as more recently, Game of Thrones and Outlander. The audio tour is narrated by a Monty Python alum. I loved the ancient feel of the place, with the giant fireplace that could fit many people, to the crumbling stairs and drafty giant rooms. It's hard to imagine people living in these conditions.

After Doune we headed to Loch Lomond for a late lunch. The area of the loch we ended up at turned out to be a little touristy, but we managed to get a hearty meal, friendly service, and I was able to pick up a tartan blanket, which was the one thing I wanted to get for myself.

After lunch, we were able to find another spot, Balmaha, to view the lake that was more picturesque with ducks and a boat launch.

As we headed back to the hotel for dinner, we decided to just stop at whatever pub we could find in Dunblane. I remembered a place called The Riverside on our way out of the town. This turned out to be one of our favourite meals! All of our food was top notch, and they had some fantastic desserts but all in a cozy pub atmosphere.

Exploring Edinburgh

After breakfast at the hotel (where they were a little snooty to be honest), Mei and the kids and I went to Edinburgh Castle while Stephen had a speech to give at The Balmoral hotel. We could've spent much more time here! The outer entrance to the castle was set up with bleachers, which we found out was for the Military Tattoo in August. Apparently this is a major event! As we explored the castle, we found that it was a good idea to ask questions of the red jacketed people stationed around because they had some great stories. One guy told us about a 70 year old man who came to him asking about the prison (which we were also looking for), turned out the old guy had been imprisoned in the castle in WW2, had escaped, got drunk, couldn't climb back in, napped outside the castle, and knocked on the gate to be let in the next day! Told with his expressive face and fantastic accent, the story was captivating! We walked around the battlements (with lots of canons), explored the prison display, a few military museums, and looked out over Edinburgh and into the former gardens.

After our morning at the castle, we headed to The Balmoral to meet Stephen. Instead of going out for lunch we ended up grabbing a light meal of the food provided for the speech attendees! Thanks to Stephen's local contact, we were able to arrange a visit to JK Rowling's suite at the hotel. It's got a purple door with an owl knocker, her books are in the shelves and an old manual typewriter on the desk. This was a very special treat!

In the afternoon, we got tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus to get a view of more of the city. We stopped at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the Queen's official residence in Edinburgh. We lucked out in that she was planning a visit the next week, and we wouldn't have been able to visit. The rooms are of course spectacular, but the palace also has a very old abbey in ruins which was really cool. After our palace visit, we got back on the bus to see the rest of the city, but missed a stop we should've got off on and had to make a mad dash for the hotel for check out! From the hotel, we took a short walk to the tram that would take us to the airport for our third rental car of the trip. This time, a short drive took us to Dunblane, where we stayed at a beautiful old hotel on a hill that used to be a Victorian Spa.

After a long day, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which boasts a celebrity chef (Nick Nairn) and farm-to-table local fare. Stephen and I had old fashioneds with a whiskey, Talisker, that tasted like charcoal! It was delicious!

Heading to Edinburgh

The next day, we drove to Heathrow, returned the rental car, took the tube to Kings Cross station to catch a train to Edinburgh. We had a long wait at Kings Cross, so we grabbed some meat pasties for lunch (really good!), ogled the line at the Platform 9 3/4 display (which we didn't have to wait in having seen the 'real' platform) and finally hopped on the train.

The train was zipping along quite nicely, until we ran into locomotive problems. Unfortunately, we had to transfer trains and we lost a lot of time so didn't end up getting into Edinburgh until quite late. Luckily, it's the solstice and this being a very northerly city, sunset is at 10p. Mei, the kids and I went out to find a bite to eat. We decided on a place called Bread Meats Bread just because it was close to the hotel. We lucked out in that the food was really good! We ordered a plate of poutine (yay, Canadian food has come to Scotland!) and each got a different burger with amazing toppings.

We finally turned in quite late, the sun was barely setting but the hotels here all have blackout curtains.

Harry Potter Studio Tour London

The next day, after a nice breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Stephen's home town, where the family paid respects to his mom. After a detour through Amersham (from 4 Weddings & a Funeral fame) to stock up on provisions (mostly English biscuits and the like), we headed to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. We got there early for a quick bite at the cafe before heading into the tour. The entire experience was amazing! They did a spectacular job of recreating the feel of the Hogwarts environment while at the same time revealing some of the inner workings of making the movies. We spent almost 5 hours there, and could've spent more! I loved all the recreations of settings like the common rooms, potions class, etc, but I also really loved the piles and piles of props and all the costumes. In an outside area, they had the Knight Bus, Dursley and Potter house and the famous bridge. Of course we had to stop for butter beer, but they also had butter beer ice cream! The train is set up so you can walk through it and see different compartments, as well as take a picture at platform 9 3/4. The newest attraction is Forbidden Forest, where you can bow to a hippogriff and walk through the forest of spiders (or take a detour and just see them from a distance). I absolutely loved the display of cardboard models and I admit to getting all verklempt at the giant Hogwarts model, beautifully lit to show it in various settings.

Of course we spent a good deal of time in the shop but I got a discount to the cafe, shop and for the tickets. For any HP fan, this is definitely worth a trip.

Our evening meal was at Royal Saracens Head in Beaconsfield with Stephen's brother's family. We think they must have forgotten us half way through as there was a long wait for our meals and some of them seemed over done, although the food was delicious despite that. They had a fancy chocolate bomb dessert where the server pours hot sauce on a golden chocolate ball that melts.

Kilkenny and Dunbrody

On our last full day in Ireland, Stephen and the kids and I headed to the Dunbrody Famine Ship & Emigrant experience. They tell the story of the Great Famine in the late 1800s when a disease killed the potato crop and many people died or left Ireland. They do a great job on the tour from the beginning when you get your ticket, which has the names of actual emigrants. A short movie sets the scene and then we are taken on the ship as if we were emigrants. The guide tells us about the kinds of people who emigrated, what the ships were like (they were cargo ships bringing lumber from North America back to Ireland and could carry people back in the empty holds), and the conditions of the crossing. In the hold, actors portray a peasant as well as a more well to-do emigrant to colour in the story. They had fake food laid out on the tables as well as giant rats! As you get off the ship, there is a display of some famous Irish people who had emigrated to America. In the shop, you could have them look up your Irish name to learn a bit about your family history.

As we finished up our tour, Mei arrived with Michael and we all headed to Kilkenny, which is a medieval town. This was a great place to visit, and we probably could've spent more time there. Our first stop was the Visitor Center to get the lay of the land. The tourist part of the town has two main medieval streets with the castle on one end and St Canice Cathedral on the other. First we had lunch at Kytler's Inn, which is famous for a 13th century proprietor who was accused of witchcraft. She was able to escape however her maid was not so lucky.

After lunch, we headed to Smithwick's to get a tour of the brewery. Unluckily, just as we were about to start the tour, the power went out! The entire area was out, so we decided to head to St Canice's to check out the church (no power needed). The church had some beautiful stained glass, a very old cemetary, and a round tower. We headed back to Smithwick's as the power was coming back on. The tour was very informative, although the beer is not brewed at that location anymore. At the end of the tour, we all got a pint or half pint of choice of ale or lager, or non-alcoholic for the kids. The ale was actually not bad, although I'm not a beer drinker. Definitely not as bitter as American beer.

From Smithwick's we headed up the High Street stopping at a few shops and checking out the old medieval lanes. The other end of the street was the Castle. This was quite an impressive structure with one of those giant great halls lined with paintings. There was a small garden next to the castle with roses. After the castle, we popped into an ice cream shop. It was a branch of a shop in Dingle and had just opened here. I had gin ice cream with black current-delicious!

Our drive back wound through some beautiful picturesque countryside with green fields and a lot of very relaxed looking cows. The roads are very narrow, lined with hedges right up against the side of the road, and people drive way too fast! There were a lot of modern wind mills as well. After we left Dublin, the weather had warmed up and every time someone learned we were from California, they thanked us for bringing our sunny weather to Ireland!

Before going back to Michael's we stopped at Stephen's Uncle Pat and Aunt Kathy's place. She served tea and soda bread. Her accent was hard to understand, but I got a kick out of her. She seemed kind of mischievous and a bit of a character. After her soda bread, none of us were very hungry for dinner.