We arrived - Spain

We have arrived in Spain, actually we've been here for a few days now. We are intentionally mixing seeing the sights with taking some time off. Unfortunately, we are a bit sad that we don't have anyone to visit while we are here. We definitely like the visiting and hanging out with friends when we travel and we were both a bit disappointed when we realized we would be missing that in Spain. Although, the weather is gorgeous and we are still enjoying ourselves. 

We landed in Malaga after another uneventful flight. Picking up the car from the rental place was a bit of an adventure. I didn't download the itinerary before we left and so we ended up trying out each of the rental counters looking for our rental :-) ... Thankfully I did get the map on how to get to Nerja (the town we were booked to stay at for a week). We wanted to stop off to see if we could buy a sim card for our iPad (for maps) and to grab something to eat. There was a shopping mall right off the main freeway. Convenient eh? ... not so much. It was one of those I can see it but I can't get there challenges. After 45 min of driving around Malaga we finally managed to get there. Fortunately the man at the mobile phone store spoke perfect English and was able to help us out. It made all the driving worth it! Having the internet for maps as we drive is fantastic. 

Driving in Spain is pretty straight forward. We got to Nerja without incident. It is a wonderful little town (thanks Peter for the suggestion). The guidebook says it has the perfect balance between tourists and locals - we didn't realize how true this was until we left and headed to Granada, but we will say it is definitely true. The place we are staying is interesting. The easiest way to explain it is as the Europe/Spain version of an "all inclusive". We (thankfully) didn't get the all inclusive package, but instead just got breakfast. Breakfast is nice enough, but the one (and ONLY) dinner we had here left quite a bit to be desired. The room is really big. It has a kitchenette and a lounge area separate from the bedroom so it has worked out really nice. And a balcony with a view of the ocean! The weather is beautiful, but it is INCREDIBLY windy. It is still warm so we don't mind too much, but it does prevent too many beach activities. 

We spent the first day here relaxing and walking along the beach in the AM. We headed into town for lunch and had some delicious tapas at a wonderful little place. After a nice walk we headed home for a short rest before we headed back to town to watch England play Montenegro at a nice little pub. First half was good, second half was a bit of a snoozer and resulted in an England tie (Mark was not happy). 

Some pics...

Emily sitting up while we enjoy some coffee

Dad and Emily on the beach

Mark showing off his awesome hair do - compliments of the wind

Delicious lunch!

Brrrr.... England Update

The flight from Istanbul to Manchester was much like the rest of them. We did get an extra seat in our row, so that made things nicer. Emily cried (screamed actually) as we boarded the plane... then was a superstar. The 5 hour flight during the day was a bit more challenging than expected. It is difficult to keep a baby occupied for a long period of time when you can't move. Having said that, it is a million times better (I am guessing) than if she could move so I am not really complaining. 

We landed in Manchester, got through border control (after a number of questions from the guard about why Mark left England), got our luggage and the car and headed on the road to Crowle. The big news on the radio was how England was about to get a big dump of snow that night! We were not impressed. 

The highlight of the trip was definitely for Emily to meet Grandma (Jean) and Granddad (Trev). The weather was cold and we definitely did not pack for the weather. Friday we headed into Scunthorpe and did a bit of shopping. Emily got a bunch of new outfits and Mark a bunch of new shirts... I got a sweater. Saturday we headed out to Stuart and Sue's (Mark's Uncle and Aunt). The drive there was an adventure when we got stuck in a snow drift! Thankfully there were a few others around and with Mark and Trev pushing and me driving we got out of it. First time we have been stuck in snow in 3 years! It definitely felt like Canada, snow and the Alberta flag to greet us at Cliff House (Thanks Stuart)! We had a lovely day hanging out with family. We had a delicious meal and it was so great to see the cousins and their families. 

On Sunday we were back to packing... again. First we got to visit Shelley, Lee, Anna and Joe (Jean's wonderful neighbours). Then Grandma and Granddad took Emily for a really long walk and we got to the task. After a delicious Sunday dinner complete with Yorkshire pudding (yum!) we hit the road for Manchester. We ended up staying the night at a hotel at the airport as our flight left super early. 

Cliff House - Complete with Snow and Alberta Flag to welcome us!

The family... well most of us - Unfortunately Sarah, Jim and Oliver had left by then... Oh and Mark is taking the photo (Tanya - yes, we know there is another shadow... Mark figured out the problem *after* this was taken)

Anna and Emily

Emily, Grandma and Dad - Everyone is smiling (and looking at the camera!)

Blog post instead of soccer and disc golf interwebs

Jill is rationing my internet usage so instead of keeping up to date with important matters on goal.com and dgcoursereview.com I am writing my first blog post.  I must admit that it is a little late...but this is the first time I've been able to get to the blog in something other than Hungarian or Turkish (something that foiled my prior attempts).  In this post I'll add some editorial to Jill's numerous previous entries.

Emily and plane melt downs

To be fair to little Emmabooboo she has been an absolute trooper given the 4 countries and 5 plane rides.  She has developed a pattern. A) scare the poop out of all the other passengers by freaking out as we board (tears and screaming will do that) B) settle down, C) sleep, D) wake, eat, smile and play, E) get compliments from the flight staff about how good she was.  Hopefully this keeps up for the remaining 2 flights.

I am become pack mule

Seriously!

Pannonhalma

The restaurant is as good as ever. We didn't get to eat outside this time due to the weather which is too bad as the views across the valley when it is sunny and warm outside are wonderful.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) we didn't get a repeat of Jeff's performance art piece "pea soup on white table cloth" primarily because Jeff wasn't there.  Next time Sill's!!!  Given our lack of time we were unable to tour the monastery and winery.  So I have 2 regrets: 1) I wasn't able to get pictures of the "graffiti" from the 1500s and 2) we weren't able to do the wine tasting.

If you get a chance to go to Hungary do yourself a favour and take a trip to Pannonhalma to take in the tour, wine tasting and restaurant.  They have great wines.

Budapest

There's lots to say about this city but this post is about Spiritus Disc Golf Course.  It was a bit of a hike from the Pest side to the Buda side to get to the course and then to actually find the course on the unmarked streets.  It was fun to play, great land with great potential for a good course and some really good holes playing up and down a fairly wooded hill.  Thankfully Emily's stroller is all terrain!  Although it was quite tiring pushing her around.  The course does need a bit of a redesign.  There are only 7 baskets and the designer tried to make 14 continuous holes.  The result is a lack of flow and some hikes between holes.  If it was two 7 holes loops it would probably work better.

Wet shave

In one word - awesomesauce!  I went for this on Mike's recommendation.  Thanks Mike!  

This was a great experience.  I must admit to being nervous at first.  The place was really just a hole in the wall and I think I interrupted the owner's smoke break (although my shave didn't seem to prevent him from continuing his talk with his buddies).

I was lathered up and my stubble (I hadn't shaved for 3 or 4 days) vigorously rubbed to soften it, followed by the straight razor shave.  But it didn't end there.  After the wet shave there was a dry shave with an electric razor.  The whole event culminated in the following massage: forehead, temples, scalp, neck and shoulders.  The massage part must have been 15 to 20 minutes.  I couldn't believe it when he told me 7 Lira.  I had to ask 3 times.  I would have given the guy 50 lira, best shave ever, so close, and I felt so good after.  If you find yourself in Turkey go get this done.

Istanbul Update #2

As you can tell, I am behind again. Time flies when you are having fun on vacation. I have 2 countries to update on! Quickly, we arrived safe and sound in Spain today (well, by the time this gets posted it will be yesterday).... More on that in a bit (and by bit I might mean a few days). 

First, I have to finish the Turkey posts. Monday-Wednesday was busy in Istanbul as we had to make up for a few days missed due to bad weather. On Monday we headed out with Mel for her Turkish lessons. She dropped us off near there and we headed to this gorgeous little place called menagerie for breakfast. We ordered a Turkish breakfast and had some delicious food. Fresh tomatoes, olives (my fav), cheese, fresh honey (with the honey comb) and more delicious food. It was made even better by the amazing view of the Bosphorus. It was a chilly morning, but we sat inside and enjoyed the view. 

Mark and Emily enjoying the meal. Know we know where Emily gets her finger sucking from. 

Here is a neat picture Mark took from the patio. 

After breakfast we walked along the Bosphorus. It was a beautiful morning. We saw the boats and fisherman. We caught the boat back to Kabatas and hopped on a quick Bosphorus tour. Our tour was only an hour, but you can do a much longer one that goes all the way out to the Black Sea (something to add to the list to do next time). Still we got to see some great sites from the Boat. 

The Dolmabahce Palace from the Bosphorous  

The bridge - well one of them

Emily enjoying the boat cruise

Following the tour we headed down to the old town. Most things are closed on Monday's, but we wanted to check it out for when we returned the following day. We ended up having a delicious lunch and then toured the park between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. We toured inside the Blue Mosque. It was quite beautiful, but it was difficult to get great shots of the blue mosaics because of all the wires hanging from the ceiling. Still it was a neat experience. I was really impressed with how welcoming the mosque is. It is used 5 times a day for prayer, but in between it is open to the public. There are very clear instructions on how to go in to see the mosque, etc. Covering up for women is optional, but preferred. 

The Blue Mosque from the outside

Emily in the Blue Mosque

The inside of the Mosque

Tuesday we headed back to the old town. This time Mel and her Dad (who had stopped in after his trip to Sochi) joined us. Our first stop was the Grand Bazaar. We had planned to purchase just a backgammon board. Mel helped Mark at a neat little place and Mark got a new Board and we felt like we didn't get ripped off to badly. We ended up getting a bunch of things. The time of year was a good time to go as you could tell it wasn't as busy and as a result the prices were better. We had a fantastic meal with Mel and Andre and Andre even took care of Emily for a good part of the meal so we could eat. 

The Grand Bazaar

Fancy tray...

Tada - Turkish Coffee!

Mini fancy tray...

Tada - Turkish Delight!!

After lunch Mel and Andre headed home as the kids get off school early on Tuesdays and we headed back to the old town. We headed into the Hagia Sophia. This was one of the highlights for me. It was so neat to see the old Christian decoration painted over when it converted to a Mosque. Now it is neither a mosque or church, but just a museum. The building as it stands was over 1000 years old! More pics... today I made Mark carry Emily and I played tourist so that we could have a few pics of Emily with her Dad. Besides, Mark was always complaining about carrying all the stuff. 

Hagia Sophia

Emily and Mark in Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Cross painted over with Muslim decoration

Partially uncovered Christian mosaic

We finished off the day by walking through the park for the Castle. It was beautiful (pics below), but it made for a ton of walking. By the time we got home we (or at least I) was exhausted. What better way to spend a Tuesday after walking around Istanbul, by joining Mel and some of her teammates for a "Mel" workout. Given the fact that I am still in "pregnancy shape" it perhaps wasn't the best idea. When I was done, I kept thinking about Mike's blog post on the "binge workout". 

Emily and Dad in gardens by palace

Wednesday was a rough day. I think I overdid it on Tuesday and as a result I was not feeling the greatest. However, we didn't want to waste the day so I sucked it up and we headed to Istanbul Modern. I hadn't been in a Museum since I went to the National Art Museum in Ottawa when I was a kid! (Perhaps I was in some other small museum since then, but it must have not been that exciting as I don't remember it). The Istanbul Modern was really neat. We had a wonderful lunch in the restaurant which also had an amazing (the best yet) view of the city and the Bosphorus. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pics in the Museum, but there are some pics of the view from the restaurant below. 

The "Golden Horn" - view from Istanbul Modern (you can see Haiga Sophia and the Blue Mosque)

Restaurant at Istanbul Modern

We finished off the day by hitting a kufur. This was probably a highlight for Mark. This is the Turkish wet shave. Mark went in while Emily and I sat outside. Needless to say I was feeling ripped off. Emily was the highlight of the street. Every 2 minutes someone else was stopping by to smile and pinch her cheeks. She was quite the hit. Actually, she was the hit in Turkey. I think there are more pictures of Emily taken by strangers than we took (not that this is saying much, we are terrible at taking photos). If we could have charged to take her photo and pinch her cheeks we could have paid for out trip. Emily of course loved it. She smiled and cooed at almost everyone. Quite the hit. While Emily stopped traffic on the street Mark was inside getting his "wet shave" - I put this in quotes, because it seemed more like a 45 minute spa facial/massage than a "wet shave". Every time I looked in he was getting something else - shave, scalp massage, neck massage... needless to say I was jealous. And when it was all said and done it cost him a whopping 7 Turkish Lira - which equates to approximately FOUR DOLLARS! I think I would pay $125 at a good spa in Canada... It was the only time I wished I had a bit more facial hair.

Mark at kufur

Emily waiting for Dad outside kufur - she might have gotten extra attention this day because we put the bow in her hair and put her in the Turkey t-shirt from Mel :-)

We were sad that it was Wednesday night as we had such a great time hanging out with the Wriggs and touring Istanbul. It is such a great city and Mike, Mel and the kids were amazing hosts. Mark played a game of backgammon with Lucy, while Oscar rolled the dice for Mark. Lucy did fantastic and it came down to the last role in which Lucy lost by one. We told her not to be sad as Mark gammoned Mike the first time he played him :-)

Turkey Update - Part 1

If you are reading the blog and not checking the weather in Istanbul you might have been able to guess that the weather has gotten significantly better since the weekend because I have been on a blog post hiatus. We have spent the last 5 days trying to cram in seeing as much of Istanbul as possible. If you do come to visit, give yourself more than one week. As a side note, I have managed to set my google default to English and I have logged Mark in so there is no longer anything stopping him from writing a post except for the following: 1) there is soccer websites to read 2) there is a disc golf website to read 3) he is being lazy.

So the rainy Saturday ended with a bang. Perhaps one of the coolest things we did here was a night out in Asia with a bunch of Mike and Mel's ex-pat friends. Special thanks to Mel who organized the entire night. The night started out in a bit of a blur/rush. Mike and Mel were out all day with kids activities and ended up getting in a car accident! Everyone was OK and the car only had the back windshield damaged (a bread truck door hit them), but they spent a couple of hours dealing with that. They ended up getting home 10 minutes before they had to leave. You could tell they were rushed because all of the stuff ended up dumped in the front entrance and not put away! (The Wriggs are the most tidy family with 3 kids I have ever met, my mom would most definitely be jealous). The restaurant arranged for boats to pick us up on the Europe side and take us across the Bosphorus. Unfortunately it was still rainy and given the time of night it was dark, but it was still super neat. And Emily got another first... first boat ride! Getting there was OK, but on the way back I had to walk across the top of this wet boat then along the narrow slippery pathway to get in the cabin... sketchy! Dinner was amazing. Lots of wine, great food and amazing company. We were 14 (and a half including Emily) for dinner, we had Canadians, Dutch, Germans and a New Zealand couple. Emily was sleeping and good at the start, but once she woke up and saw the excitement she did not want to go back to bed. Everyone there had kids and took turns walking her around the fancy restaurant. It was amazing. In the end, she just wanted to sit up and look around. She was *exhausted* by the end of the night. We finished off the evening by heading back to the Wrigg's house for a few more drinks and great conversation. 

The restaurant

Dinner and great company

The view from the restaurant on Asia side (and some pretty great photography skills by Mark)

Sunday was a slow start given the Saturday night festivities. We didn't want to loose another full day to the weather (it was still cold and rainy) so we headed to the Dolmabahce Palace. Mel, Oscar and Lucy made great guides. Unfortunately there are no pictures from inside the palace as you can't take pictures. Most likely because they want you to have to pay lots from the gift shop. It was an interesting experience, very lavish. We did get some good pics from the outside. 

Outside the palace with the group.... it was *chilly*

Chubby seagull outside the palace

The palace

After Sunday the weather picked up and then the sightseeing kicked into full gear, but more on that in the next post. 

Hungary Part 2

So this post is definitely out of order, but I wanted to get it done. My last Hungary post finished with the Eto football game. The next day we got up and started our journey to Budapest for a couple of days. The trip was full of a number of firsts for Emily: first bus ride, first train ride and first subway ride.

We arrived and checked into our hotel, the Kempinski. I found an amazing deal online as Eniko pointed out the Queen stayed there when she visited. Needless to say it was a very nice treat for us all. Mark, Max, Johnny, Emily and I headed out to play the first and only permanent disc golf course in Budapest. The course definitely has some potential, but the land is perhaps not the best. Mark described it well as "abandoned land". We enjoyed it, we didn't play all the holes as it got a bit late and the course wasn't laid out all that well.

That night Emily had another first. First time swimming! The pool was in the hotel's full service spa. It was very cool, both in terms of the temperature and the layout of the facility. Emily was a little grouchy at first, but ended up loving it. We can't wait to take her again to a slightly warmer pool. We finished off the night with some pizza and of course more beer.

For our second day in Budapest we did some touring around the town. We walked along the bank of the Danube and then walked across one of the bridges (the one with the tongueless lions on it) to the Budda side. It was a gorgeous day and a great day for a walk. Max did fantastic and didn't really complain. On the way back we stopped off at St. Stephens - at the request of Max we checked out the mummified hand of St. Stephen. Max was rather happy.

That night when we returned from Budapest Emily and I got a special treat. Emily got to stay home with Eniko (and Max) as babysitters and I got to go to the pub! Johnny arranged to go to the pub with his good friend and play backgammon. Eniko was so gracious to agree to volunteer so I could go too. Until that night Emily had been falling asleep at 8:30 or before (the time we left) and sleeping for 3 hours until she needed to eat. That night she woke up 5 minutes after we left. Max was an awesome cousin and helped take care of Emily (although he was supposed to be in bed because he had school the next day).

The last two days in Gyor were very relaxing. We hung out with the family, did a little shopping and played a lot of Pit and Aquaduct. Johnny and Mark are annoyed because I am the raining Aquaduct champion. In fact, in all the games we played I only lost one... and we played a lot.

We are having a great time in Turkey, but we really miss Hungary... well mostly we miss Maxi, Johnny and Eniko. It is nice to see the family and they were such wonderful hosts. However, I don't think Mark's liver misses Hungary :-)

Emily's first train ride (on our way to Budapest)

Emily's first subway ride (in Budapest)

Buda Castle

The tongueless lion on the bridge

The family crossing the bridge

Parliament Buildings

Eniko and Emily

Max and Emily - Happy cousins

Family...

Libby's post

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I plugged my computer in near the kids play area and forgot about it. Mark walked by this morning and saw Libby typing away. Turns out I had started a blog post and Libby decided to help me out. I thought she did a pretty good job so decided to post it on her behalf.

What to do on a rainy day...

Unfortunately the rain hasn't let up much in Istanbul today. Needless it has been a bit disappointing as it interfered with our plans to head to the old city and do some sightseeing. We contemplated ignoring the bad weather and sticking with our plan, but we figured that might not be the best for Emily. Determined not to stay home for the entire day we bundled up and set out for Ortakoy. We headed down there the day before with Mel so we knew were to go and it wasn't too far of a walk.

Special thanks to the Sills as they gave us a handy rain cover for our stroller. As I was packing it and while carrying it around Hungary I was wondering if I was going to regret lugging it around. After today I can say it was definitely worth it. Emily stayed warm and dry for the entire trip and she could see out. All in all it was a nice trip out. We went down to the Bosphorus (see pick below). We had a delicious lunch. We then adventured back up and did a bit of shopping. We went to this really neat store Mel took us to the day before were they have all natural soaps, nuts and dried fruits. We bought some dried mango and kiwi! On our way home we stopped in a little fresh food market and bought some cucumbers (which Mel wanted to get the day before) and some blood oranges. I can't wait to try them out. We finished off the trip by grabbing some beer (of course) from the local store.

I can now safely say that Mel must be in the most amazing shape. The hill up to her apartment is epic... particularly with a stroller and groceries and I know Mel does it on a regular basis. Apparently the complex has a car with a driver all day and you can just call him to drive you up and down the hill. I agree with Mel it seems rather silly.

Thankfully we managed to get home right before it got *really* stormy. Mike, Mel and the kids are out for the day for the kids activities so we decided to spent a bit of time relaxing on the couch. We wanted to sit upstairs so we could use the internet and decided to try to get some music on the apple TV. Unfortunately it wasn't linked to the sound system (too bad, Mike has a great music collection) so we decided to surf some YouTube instead.

This leads me to an interesting rainy day activity... investigating what others watch on YouTube. Mike and Mel's search history is what you'd expect... lots of Ulty videos and some biking video's. A neat highlight was the guy who made a clock out of lego. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S2DSteBLDY . I don't really check out YouTube lots, but I think if you saw Mark's history you'd see lots of funny kitty videos. We have now overwritten their history with various searches for music. Turns out it is a bit harder than you'd expect. The tunes have improved significantly once Mark took over the video.

A few more pics...

Emily learning to hold things - and chewing on Sofie's bum

Emily bundled up for her adventure out on the cold day. Emily would like to thank her cousins Nadia/Anika for the toque and Zach/Oliver for the mittens!

Jill and Emily in front of the Bosphorus - yes, it was a bit rainy and chilly.