Tyler and I have inadvertently begun a tradition of having an island Christmas. It started with the idea of taking a trip somewhere new over the holidays. On our first Christmas trip we went to New Mexico where we had snow, breathtaking scenery and lots and lots of green chilies. The following year we went to The Big Island of Hawaii where we exchanged snow for sand and Portuguese sausage for green chilies (we kept the stunning scenery though). It’s hard to say no to surf and sun so last year found us in the Caribbean on the island of St. John. This year the cold and dark Swiss winter had us googling “sunniest place in Europe December”. The results were The Canary Islands, a place that had been in the back of my mind since my first visit to Spain in 1994. If you don’t know, The Canary Islands have been a part of Spain since the early 1400’s and are located in the Atlantic ocean directly off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara. After further research we learned that the Canary Islands are a popular tourist destination for British and German tourists and can be a bit of a party scene. There was however one island that stood out from the rest as the quietest and least developed; La Palma. La Palma is known for it’s recent volcanic activity (last eruption was in 1971), unique and diverse geography, agriculture (primarily wine and bananas) and wonderful hiking opportunities. Sold!

We booked a traditional Canarian stone house located in the very small town of Las Indias on the southern tip of the Island.

As you can see we had a lovely sea view and a small vineyard next door. Each evening the workers (usually 3 or 4) would gather for an outdoor meal and to play dominoes.

It was raining when we arrived but we had variable weather throughout the week with some days of perfect, tropical sun and others that were cloudy and overcast. The temperature ranged from low 60’s to high 70’s. The wind was the only constant.

On our first full day we explored the main city of Santa Cruz. It’s known for it’s traditional Canarian architecture, especially for the ornate wooden balconies.

We visited a very good museum (housed in a scale replica of Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria) which told the maritime history of The Canary Islands. It was fascinating to learn just how important these islands have been throughout history.

We got a two-fer and visited another smaller museum which was just bizarre. It focused on Santa Cruz’ Ascension celebrations held every 5 years. It’s a huge bash that includes lots of historical reenactments and features dancing dwarfs which are the city’s de facto mascots.

The dwarfs appear everywhere from manhole covers to t-shirts to various statues around town.

The following day Tyler and I got up before the sun to catch a cab that would take us to the trail head for a hike along the spine of the island called the Ruta de los Volcanes. It’s a 12 mile journey that is supposed to have extraordinary views but unfortunately for us the weather was not on our side for the first half of the hike. It was cloudy and incredibly windy. Like scary windy. I had to take my glasses off because I was afraid they would blow off my face. We hiked over jagged volcanic rock and up a grueling sandy trail without being able to see more that a few feet in front of us. We made he most of it and were laughing our asses off at the sight of us.

It was literally raining inside of one of my lenses.

Eventually the clouds lifted and we came out of the worst of it and were treated to the spectacular views we were hoping for.

Totally worth it but man we were sore the next day. The second half of the hike was nearly all down a steep rocky grade and our calves got a real work out. The rest of the week found us taking things a bit easier. We took a day trip on an old fishing boat one day and visited a black sand beach another.

We also ate a lot. Typical Canarian food is simple. A grilled meat or fish served with “papas arrugadas” or wrinkly potatoes. These are small waxy potatoes cooked in heavily salted water (sometimes sea water is used) until it evaporates and served whole in their skin. They also make a lot of goat cheese and this is served fried or baked until brown on the outside and topped with either red or green mojo sauce and perhaps some local honey. Mojos are ubiquitous and served with every meal. The most unique national dish is gofio and is really only eaten in The Canary Islands. It is a hold over from the native tribes and is a toasted grain meal to which hot broth is added. It looks like refried beans but is very thick and starchy in texture. It took some getting used to but we really enjoyed it!

gofio with green mojo sauce.

I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to visit this unique place. Back in 1994 when I had first heard of The Canary Islands it seemed incredibly exotic, far-flung and out of reach. Now that we are living in Europe we are able to explore these types of places with surprising ease: A direct flight from Zurich to Madrid and then a short jump from there to La Palma. Everything was relatively inexpensive, including the flights (of course compared to Zurich, anything seems inexpensive!). Even so, it still has the charm of the exotic and remote. The day before we left all flights off of La Palma were grounded because high winds in Western Sahara were blowing too much sand in the air. What a world!

*For those interested, here is a link to my full album of photos from La Palma. Enjoy!

Just a short post to update everybody on our trip to Rome. We had a fabulous time exploring the city and the sights. Even better, we had the opportunity to reunite with my dear friends Pam and Kim and meet their dad and step-mom. Tyler and I stayed in the Campo de Fiori neighborhood and walked our butts off seeing all the Rome biggies (Vatican, Colosseum, The Forum, the Parthanon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps etc). Of course we also ate amazing food. Hello truffle rigatoni carbonara, will you marry us!?

Here are a few shots from our trip and a link to my photo album!

Our super cozy rental.

Dinner with friends!

St. Peter’s Basilica

At the newly (2 year project finished just a week ago) restored Trevi Fountain.

ARE YOU NOT AMUSED?

Drooooooooooooollll.

On a more somber note, the terror attacks in Paris occurred during our stay. Tyler and I were out walking around the city when they happened. We had no idea until I read about it on Facebook the next morning. Our rental was located next to the French Embassy and we watched the flowers, candles, notes and outpouring of support grow throughout the day and into the next night. I was deeply moved.

Our trip back to Zurich was uneventful (though the airport security was marginally beefed up). Not really knowing any Swiss people here yet it’s hard to gauge the effects of that act of terror on the local population. It still feels incredibly safe here despite our proximity to France and Belgium; a benefit of strident neutrality I guess.

Yesterday was Tyler’s birthday. He spent it in an airplane flying to The Bay Area for work. But before that, we did something just a little special. We celebrated by having a short one night getaway to Lucerne. Turns our this famous little city is only an hour away from Zurich by train. We left on Friday evening after Tyler got home from work and hopped on a train for a bit of adventure. I had booked us a room at the very old and unique Hotel Winden Mann that started as a tavern in 1517. After checking in we walked the old town and had dinner in a classic French brasserie. Here are some shots of Lucerne. I’m going to link the entire photo album from this trip at the end so these are just a taster.

Lucerne at night.

Stairway kdjfkdjkfdfin Wilden Mann hotel.

This outdoor restaurant had a rack of fur coats for guests to use.

The next morning we decided to take a hike to one the alpine mountain areas near Lucerne. We didn’t really do any research before we left so we were winging it. We decided to try Mount Pilatius mainly because we could start and end our journey at the main train station where I wanted to leave my luggage. We took a bus to the outskirts of town and were then told we had to take a gondola up and then a different type of gondola to the summit. Like I said, we really knew nothing about what we were going to see. We just went with it. The weather was not great but it wasn’t raining. Visibility was quite limited and it was very foggy. The first gondola ride took us up over many green pastures and wooded areas. Then we started to see some snow on the ground. When we reached the end of that gondola line we were flabbergasted to see the snowy expanse we had entered. This is us at the (almost) top.

The second conveyance was called a aerial cableway. They look like this.

Pilatus Bahnen AG | Switzerland

We piled on with about 40 Korean tourists and were stunned as we rose into the white, snow bound void. We were literally in the clouds and then all of a sudden we were at the top of a huge mountain with expansive views of the alps. It was incredible. Awe inspiring. Breathtaking. Humbling. And it was COLD! It was snowing and windy as hell. We walked through a cave that had icicles hanging from the ceiling. We came out the other side of the mountain and were treated to even more mind-boggling vistas. We hiked about 40 minutes along the ridge of the mountain and hiked back, all the while marveling at what we had stumbled upon. Here is a glimpse.

The pictures really don’t do the scale justice. It was something I will remember forever. I said “OMG, we really DO live in Switzerland!”. I can’t wait to take visitors here and share with them this special, special experience. And there is so much more to explore! This trip was a last minute whim that came up with huge rewards. If we continue to experience extreme moments of grace like this my heart may explode.

Here is my photo album of this trip. Enjoy!

Lucerne & Mount Pilatus

After a cozy (if short) night’s sleep at The Draycott hotel I headed out at 7:00 to catch my train to Glasgow scheduled to leave at 7:40. I wrongly thought 40 minutes would be enough time but it turns out I had to hustle all the way, picking up tickets at one station and leaving from another. I made it to my train and found my seat with just 5 minutes to spare! Since it was my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a first class coach for the 5 hour journey so I was served a full English breakfast as I trundled through the English countryside.

As I rode I fondly remembered riding the train to Scotland with my mom, nerdily excited to be passing through York, the home of my then favorite author James Harriot of All Creatures Great and Small fame.

After changing trains in Edinburgh I finally arrived in Glasgow and made my way to the ultra hip and modern CitizenM hotel where I met up with my friend Monica.

We had early dinner reservations at a restaurant called Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery (not related to the TV show). Another grand old room, the Buttery is one of the oldest restaurants in Scotland. And yes, our host was wearing a kilt.

After dinner we had a really lovely sunset stroll through the city. Glasgow has a very distinct mixture of architectural styles from medieval, Victorian, Beaux-Arts and Art Deco. Afterfreshening up in our room (and playing with all the cool lights and gadgets in there) we headed out to Glasgow’s premiere karaoke bar because, as you know, I just can’t get enough! I try to karaoke wherever I go. We quickly found out that Glaswegians are some of the friendliest people in the world! I don’t know if it was because Monica and I, being African Americans in Scotland, were so rare and exotic or if it was because I was killing it on the mic, or a combination of both but we had so many people who wanted to kick it with us. We stayed up late and had loads of fun. What a great way to spend my birthday!

The next day Monica and I took a little day tour. We met our small bus (there were about 15 people total) downtown and headed to Loch Lomond. You are probably familiar with the song The Bonnie Banks of Lock Lomond (I’ll take the high road and you’ll take the low …) but if you’re like me you never really knew what the song was about. Well our tour guide (who naturally, wore a kilt) told us the sad, sad truth of it. Apparently a common interpretation is that it was about two brothers, Scottish Jacobites, who were captured by the British. They were told that one of them would be set free and the other would hang and it was up to them to decide which would live. The elder brother sacrificed himself. The high road refers to the physical route to their home on Loch Lomand. The low road is the spirit world, the road of the dead. The brother who was to die would arrive in his beloved Loch Lomand first because his soul would be spirited there immediately while his brother would travel the long way through the temporal world. Our guide played us a beautifully sung rendition of the song and my face started to leak. Gah! Here are some shots from Loch Lomand and the village of Luss.

Our tour next took us to Castle Doune. If it looks familiar to you it may be because it’s a movie star! It was the primary shooting location fro Monty Python and the Holy Grail and has been featured in the Outlander series. It was also the setting for Winterfell in the first season of Game of Thrones. The audio guide to Castle Doune is narrated by Monty Python’s own Terry Jones. It was super fun and a great, majestic piece of business (the castle, not the narration. That was silly yet informative). The setting was also spectacular. I’m going to have to come back because the whole time I was there I was thinking “Tyler has GOT to come here”. The Holy Grail is one of his all time favorite movies.

We then went on to another castle, Sterling castle. Where Castle Doune was raw and untouched by time, Sterling castle had a bit of a Disneyfied vibe to it. You both enter and exit through the gift shop at this castle. Many of the chambers were redone to represent how they might have looked and there were costumed actors/docents in many of the rooms. Mary of Guise (mother to Mary Queen of Scots) had a really appalling French accent and it was all Monica and I could do to keep from having giggle fits every 5 minutes. They also had a lot of period mannequins which we had fun posing with. While we had a great time playing around Stirling castle, I’ll take my castles crumbling and haunted thank you very much.

After we got off our bus in the city center and thanked our tour guide we found ourselves in the midst of a rally in support of an independent Scotland. People everywhere were waving flags (both what would be the new Scottish flag as well as Catalonia flags as they are allies, wanting independence from Spain), had their faces painted, raised signs and sang. There was a big stage which was projected on a large screen and a man was singing The Impossible Dream in a lovely tenor voice. What a great moment to witness!

Considering our age and the late night we had previously Monica and I stayed in for the evening after getting some scrumptious fish and chips at a place called The Chippy Doon the Lane. We watched a bonkers movie, The Guest starring an unrecognizable Matthew Crowley from Down Abbey, and called it a night. It was the perfect end to a perfect birthday weekend. The next morning Monica left for an early flight and I enjoyed my last full English breakfast at the hotel before heading for my train to London and then on to Heathrow. I am so blessed to have been able to travel so much in the past few months. It was so great to see an old friend (two actually!), enjoy great food, outstanding theater and explore (or re-explore) this beautiful world. I sometimes have to pinch myself. If my mom were here she would be so thrilled and I feel as though she’s with me. Happy birthday to me, indeed!

Last year on my birthday I was in Iceland. This year I decided to make a birthday trip a new tradition when my friend of 20+ years Monica told me she was having a work conference in Glasgow over my birthday weekend. Since I don’t currently have a job and a flight from Zurich to London is a mere 1 hour 20 minutes it was an easy decision to join her Friday (my b-day) for the weekend! And since I love musical theater so much, I also chose to sneak in single evening in London to see a West End Show.

I left Zurich on Thursday afternoon and arrived at my hotel in London at about 2:30. I booked early so I got a great rate at the extremely quaint and very London Draycott Hotel in the Kensington neighborhood. My room was the J.M. Barrie room and was decorated in a Peter Pan theme.

After freshening up I set out to walk to the Savoy Theater to pick up my tickets for Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton. I also had made a reservation to eat at Rules, London’s oldest restaurant, before the show. On my walk from the hotel to the theater I passed through some of London’s most famous sites; Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abby, Big Ben and the London Eye.

Before I left I took a picture of a picture of my mom and I in London in 1981 in front of the houses of parliament. As part of a long term project, I plan on trying to revisit as many places around Europe from previous trips as I can. I want to do a photo series of before and afters. The trips I took to Europe with my mom are some of the most precious memories I have. For this short trip, this is the spot and photo I sought out.

Thursday night at rush hour along the Thames was crazy busy! The streets were thronged with tourists and business people alternately standing dumbly or rushing from place to place. But I found the spot! Unfortunately in these post 911 days of heightened security they have build a high and imposing fence around the perimeter of the buildings. You can’t really tell I’m in the same spot until you get across the street. Even if the photo didn’t turn out, it was a great opportunity to revisit and remember walking with my mom, in awe of London, both of us seeing it for the first time.

Moving on I made my way to the box office and my 5:30 dinner reservation. Rules was a very unique dining experience. Pretty stuffy and formal but with a little imagination I could picture sitting across from a drunken Oscar Wilde exchanging barbs or belling up to the bar to eavesdrop on Dickens telling funny stories to a rapt audience. The room is that old and looks as if it hasn’t changed in a century. I ordered wild pheasant since it was in season (and was warned to watch out for buckshot) and it was pretty tasty if a bit dry. I was seated next to two American women, a mother and daughter who were there to celebrate the mom’s 80th birthday and we chatted throughout most of the meal.

After bidding adieu I headed to the historic Savoy Theater to see Gypsy!

I’ve never seen the show before, not even the movie musical starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Woods. The music is by Jules Styne and the lyrics by Sondheim so I couldn’t go wrong. There were so many fantastic numbers I recognized and Imelda Staunton was incredible! What an amazing show.

The cherry on top of my amazing day was that I was able to meet up with my very old friend Polly. Polly and her family moved to Berkeley from London when I was nine and we became fast friends. She only stayed one year and I was heartbroken when they moved back. During that 1981 trip with my mom I got to visit and stay with her for a few days. That is the last time we had seen each other. Through the magic of Facebook we reconnected a few years ago. When she saw that I was going to be in London she asked if I’d like to get together. She met me for a drink after the show and we were able to spend an hour or so catching up on the past 30 odd years. Here’s a picture of us on Walker Street.

I’ll have to get her to send the one the waiter took of us at the bar. Polly had a Polaroid of this same photo plus a couple I hadn’t seen before with her. She also had a copy of a the children’s novels (The Story of the Treasure Seekers: Being the Adventures of the Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune) by British author E. Nesbit that I had inscribed and given to her as a gift. Her 9 year old daughter is currently reading it. Polly is working as the head of communications in the UK for Medecins Sans Frontieres. I also learned that her father, an environmental economist, shares a Nobel Peace prize!

We stayed later than the Underground ran so I hopped in a cab back to my hotel. I had an early morning train to catch to Glasgow the next morning so I went straight to bed, being sure to lock my window in case Peter Pan decided to sneak in and ask me to fly off with him. AS IF!