Islands have Beaches

Today was a beach day. We were celebrating a white Christmas on the white sands of Anse Chastenet Beach. However, due to Volcanic activity many years ago, the sand is mostly gray. The beach is at the end of a 2 mile road that goes over a mountain and then down a mountain. The road reminds me of an old fishing road in Island Park, only wide enough for one car and very rough with many potholes. The beach is a few hundred yards wide and is down the mountain from a posh resort called Jade Mountain. Most of the chairs and umbrellas are for resort guests but there were a few for rental by outside guests. So glad it was just the two of us ...because it was pricey!

Much like yesterday it was overcast most of the day. We used the umbrella more for rain than for sun protection. It rained pretty hard for five minutes, but mostly it was just mists here and there - but the sun rarely shone, shoe or shined....I'm not sure which to use. Needless to say - it didn't come out. After we got settled, I went snorkeling. Kristy didn't want to get in the water until the sun came out. Of course she didn't know at the time that it wasn't coming out. It was a pretty good place for snorkeling. A number of boats would come in from other parts of the island with passengers to snorkel. The coral reef was large with a good number of fish to observe. The water was pretty much that of the air temperature. After lunch delivered to our chairs from the restaurant on the beach we read for a while and then we went out snorkeling together. Even though it never got sunny , Kristy got in the water - though I almost had to drag her in. The water is very clear and has a turquoise cast to it. A lot of the fish are rock colored and so they blend in ....you have to watch for movement to see them. We saw blue fish, striped fish and a lot hanging out in schools. Mom insists she saw sharks . . .dozens of them.

 

There are no waves at any beaches on this island - so we will spend most of our time relaxing and reading. It is a beautiful peaceful place

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Lazy Island Life

After breakfast this morning we visited the town of Soufries to get some provisions like fresh fruit, sandwich ingredients and a SIM card for the I-pad. The town is only a couple of miles away and we were there in a moment. As we descended the road we saw the town in a beautiful overlook. The colored roofs of the houses reminded me of the Cinque Terre. Once we arrived our first priority was to find a place to park. The roads are narrow, crowded with people, crowded with vehicles and we drive on the opposite side of the road than we are used to. All those things contributed to the urgency of our parking. We had been advised by the hotel concierge that the best market was across from the fire station. We decided we would explore on our way to the fire station. As we walked a few blocks it was confirmed that we were the only white people in a sea of black. This is not something familiar to us. People were everywhere. They were selling in the street, sitting on the sidewalks, sitting looking out of open windows that were so close to the street, standing around in clusters visiting. The Western Union office and the little grocery stores seemed to be the only businesses in town that were busy. We found an ATM and removed some Caribbean dollars. We quickly learned that we would not be able to buy a SIMM card for the Ipad. No such network existed on the island we were told. We would have to be happy with the internet provided in our hotel lobby and restaurant. The outdoor market was deserted but we found people all over the place on the side of the road selling little bits of fruit. Like ..take off your t-shirt, place it on the ground and put some produce on it and you are in business. They were selling yucca, yams, parsley, chives and some sort of citrus - probably lemons and limes- but they were different in size shape and color than would be typical. I was in search of portable fruit that could be taken on a picnic, some nice slices of sandwich meat, whole grain rolls etc. We gave up on the roadside vendors as they had nothing we were buying. The three grocery stores in town were tiny and it appeared that if such items were to be had at all we would have to pay dearly for them as they were a delicacy. Most items we searched for were not to be had. We purchased a little broccoli, celery, pears and apples. In the prepared foods aisle we found a few British products and so Ron selected a package of chocolate covered McVites digestive biscuits (relieved I think that he wouldn't go without a cookie all week). We also found some trail bars and insect repellent (we forgot to pack our Deep Woods OFF and so ended up with only 15% DEET). We couldn't find any acceptable sandwich ingredients or substitutes for picnic lunches. When we checked out that all added up to $127 Caribbean dollars. Even with the exchange rate at about 37 cents to the American dollar it was a hefty grocery bill for so little. The entire time we explored the town I found myself filled with gratitude for the things we take for granted. I didn't take any pictures because it didn't occur to me to at the time. In retrospect though I don't know when I would have taken one wthout feeling like I was intruding so intimate did tneir little town feel.

The weather has gone from overcast to sprinkles of rain to sunshine in a matter of 15 minutes. Down pours are mild and brief but frequent. As there seemed to be a break in the weather pattern we decided to return to our hotel. We ordered a lunch from the restaurant and took it to our Villa where we planned to spend the rest of the afternoon lounging both in and around the pool. By the time we had eaten lunch, put on our sunscreen and placed our bodies on the lounge chairs the weather turned to clouds and rain - only this time the weather stayed for a while. We pulled our chairs up on to our covered porch and have spent the past couple of hours dozing in and out of sleep. This is really a lazy day. In a couple of hours we will have dinner at Dasheen - a restaurant at a nearby resort.

These are pictures of our Villa here at the Stonefield Estates:

The entrance to our villa - the Frangipani.

Now you are inside the Frangipani . ...This is where we will live for the next week.

 

 

The above picture is of the Petit Pinon. We are going to climb the Grand PIton on Wednesday. Ron wanted me to be sure that you noticed it ...so he had me take this picture of him. I know that Lauren and Colby will get his message. We're having a little laugh as we type this ..because my finger is also in the photo.

Tropical flowers in every spot they could put them. I think we have about four boquets in our room...nice touch. We feel quite secluded and laziness actually feels good. Ron will be going nuts in the next 24 hours ...he can't sit this still for very long. For now though ....we are enjoying it.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Island Living

 We arrived last night with a 3 hours of daylight left to go.  It took us 2 of the 3 hours to get through immigration and rent a car.  We had rented a car from a local agency and felt like they took advantage of us.  When we finally pulled out of the airport in our bright red Mitsubishi Lancer (an upgrade! lol) we immediately saw a sea vista and felt like we had arrived.  Then we started our 45 minute drive through winding roads and mountainous terrain to our resort.  There were lots of people along the roadside....which meant we not only needed to avoid the potholes but the people too.  As it got darker we became less and less surprised to make out a human being on the side of the road as we made our turn.  The population here is predominantly black and beautiful.  The British and the French fought over the island 14 times and each one 7 times.  There are lots of British and French influences here.  Most of the people are descendants from the slaves that they brought to run the sugar plantations.  I'm interested in learning more of the history of the people.

We were greeted with a refreshing glass of limeade upon arrival and was escorted to our villa. We were pleased with what we saw. After we unpacked ...we enjoyed a dinner at the Mango Tree - the resort restaurant. It was beautifully lit up with large paper balls - we had a view of the ocean and the pitons and for a time had the place to ourselves. Dinner that night was a buffet. "Yikes!" I thought in anticipation...but it was quite good. The best part of my meal was the mahi mahi - so fresh and so tender. We tried some of the local bread casserols and the fish with yams was the winner. Mostly we ate the fresh fish, vegetables and salad. We were satisfied.

We went to our room after dinner and closed all the shutters against the light ....then we vowed to sleep until we could sleep no more. We broke the vow at 9:30am when we realized that we could sleep past the 11:00am breakfast deadline. We are now enjoying a breakfast of omelette and fresh fruit served again overlooking the ocean. Today we get a better look at the surrounding rainforest which was blackened by the night at our meal yesterday.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cinque Terre

An early morning train ride from Florence brought us to La Spezia, where we connected to a train taking us to Monterosso. On the train we sat near a couple who upon overhearing our American English asked us where we were from. Houston was our reply and they said they were from Dallas. He said that he had a sister in Katy. We replied that we actually were from Katy and asked the name of his sister. We immediately responded that we knew her and all her family as they had been patient's of ours for many years. Another feeling of living in a small world. He wanted a picture with Ron in the background so he could show his sister he had travelled in Florence with her dentist.

The Cinque is North of Florence along the coast overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. There are 5 (cinque) villages along the coast. each with a very Italian look with buildings constructed on the hillside and painted in several pastel colors which has a charmig effect. After three days of museums and churches it was time for a break. We had anticipated this and so had planned the next two days for the beach and hiking. We were all pretty tired from early morning travel and worn down from touring so a relaxing day at the beach was just what the doctor ordered. Colby stayed in the room and slept for 3 hours before he came to the beach. The rest of us got under the rented beach umbrellas and dozed for most of the day. The beach is mostly small pebbles rather than sand so it can be rough on your feet. The water is refreshing and Colby and I (Ron) swam out to a gigantic boulder we could jump off, it was the only activity we could do in the water as there are no waves to ride.

Lauren and Kristy found the best pesto they have ever eaten, so we had pesto on foccacio for lunch it was very good. We are now carrying 6 jars of pesto home. After our day on the beach we headed to the old part of town and had pretty good meal at Il Casello where we had pesto on pasta with shrimp and salmon. We mis-judged the portions so we were a little hungry after the meal. which necessitated two servings of gelato that night. We have gelato each day trying new flavors each time evaluating which flavor is the best. We did a little shopping that night. Kristy acquired a marcasite ring and Lauren a scarf. Both at the shop of an Indian woman whom we met on the train coming in the day. She was transporting her baby in a stroller and Colby had given her assistance in getting it of the train. We saw her in the shop and enjoyed visiting with her for a couple of minutes.

The next day we took the famous 7 mile hike from Monteresso to Riomaggiore visiting each of the five villages along the way. The hike is fairly strenuous with some pretty good uphills and downhills along the way. The temperature was pretty warm but most of the trail was covered by trees offering shade along the way, though each of us worked up a pretty good sweat. We would stop in each town to cool down. In Veranazzaa we tried a fresh squeezed lemonade (the area is famous for lemons) however that only means lemons and no sugar, we had to add our own sugar to make it drinkable. Sidebar: Their lemons are enormous .. about as big as a medium-large organge only in the shape of a lemon. One section of the trail was closed due to a landslide. Rather than walk 3 hours around the landslide we took the train to the next village. The train station was beyond the village and so we didn't enter it. Instead we picked up a paved pathway called the dell Amore. Along the way is a chain link fence where people have attached padlocks to the fence. It a symbol of love and locking your love together. Lauren had a luggage lock so she scratched in our 6 initials and we locked it on the fence 4th panel from the end closest to the sea. This symbolized the union (or future as in the case of Colby and Talyn) of our individual families and also our Crabtree family....which by August will have increased in size by 50%. We felt as if we had left a little of ourselves in the Cinque Terre. At the end of the hike we took the boat back to Montoresso after a quick lunch of foccacia and fruit though we were mostly too hot to eat very much. We had dinner at a very nice place called Miky. The food was very good, we had a Sea Bass with potates and couple of baked pasta dishes with a very thin bread crust used to cover the pan - more like a cross between flour tortilla and thin crust pizza. It was used as a covering for the dishes which were baked. The food was exquisite . . the sea bass so fresh your imagined it had been caught the moment before it went in the bakeware. The service was unusual with all the food arriving at the same time. Salads and pasta and Lauren's and Colby's main dishes and all but one dish for Kristy and I and then we got that dish at the conclusion of the meal just when we thought they had forgotten about it. Again we went out for Gelato rather than have dessert there.

We discovered trofie pasta at one of the seaside restaurants we dined at .. . this pasta is designed to be served with pesto. It is made with a little bit of potatoe and this enables the pesto to cling to it. Delicious! Both pesto and foccacia originated in this region of Italy. We are now also carrying home a few bags of trofie pasta.

 

Firenze Day 3

This morning we slept in . . .not leaving our hotel rooms until 10:00am. After having breakfast in our hotel we decided to take the Rick Steve's renaissance walk. Using a combination of Iphone, Itouch and Kindle Fire we followed the guided walk. Much of it we had already seen . ...except that we did get to see the Triumphal Arch in the Piazza Della Repubblica. We also went to the Orsan Michelle. This church was unique in many ways, but a unique item of interest was the fact that it was originally built as a loggia (covered courtyard) home of a market for selling grain. It was later closed in to make a church. You could see the grain chutes and the rings used to hoist the product up into the storage areas. Ron enjoyed the statues in the niches outside. His favorite was a bronze statue of doubting Thomas touching the wound in the side of Christ. One of his feet was clearly inside the niche with another foot outside of the niche in our world . . symbolizing how Thomas was one of us.

We had a 2pm appointment with a guide for a 5 hour tour so we stopped into a self serve spot for lunch. Worst meal of our trip. Not to be repeated we hope.

Before we left the U.S. we had contracted with Simone Gaddini founder of www.Florentia.com. We had asked for a guide that could give us a greater appreciation for and understanding of the renaissance period, with a special focus on Michelangelo. He arranged for a custom private tour with Olivera as our able guide. Our tour was to focus on the social, political, economic and cultural context of the Renaissance in which Michelangelo was able to flourish. Olivera had a degree in art history and had spent 22 years enjoying and working in Florence surrounded by world class art. She reminded everyone of my dear friend Gwen Anderson in her mannerisms . We met her at the Medici chapel an extension of the Church of San Lorenzo. (Whenever meeting someone we can be quckly identified by explaining that our son is extremely tall. Once spotted... our guide instantly knew she had found us.) We marvelled at the inlaid marble work in this building. Precious and semi precious stones inlaid in marble to create beautiful art. This chapel was designed to house the tombs of one of Florence's great ruling families. This building also includes the Crypt and the all-Michelangelo Sacristy. This was a wonderful treat as I was able to see the Day and Night, Dawn and Dusk statues that he had created for this tomb. Michelangelo had a great love for the Medici family who had housed him during his teen years. He was especially influenced by Lorenzo Medici also known as "Il Magnifico". It was a good history lesson to learn more about this Medici family (the same family that Catherine Medici the Queen of France was to come from) The family line died out I believe by the 17th century. The interior of the chapel was never finished an most of them were not buried there .. . but it is a monument to their family influence just the same.

Next stop Palazzo (palace) Medici-Riccardi. This was the home of Lorenzo the Magnificent built in the 1400's. In the 1700's it became home to the Riccardi family.

Olivera took us through the streets of Florence pointing out the ancient walls and the House of Dante (which wasn't really his house) on our way to Casa Buonarroti which really was the home of Michelangelo. She was delighted that we had chosen to go here as she says that most visitors do not come to see it. His grand nephew (Michelangelo the Younger - more of an art dealer than an artist) had turned the house into a memorial honoring his Great uncle. What a memorial it was . . after viewing all the rooms we all declared of the Younger . . . "mission accomplished". This site only got a two triangle rating from Rick Steve's. . . it deserved a three.

Next stop . . Santa Croce . . the church where Michelangelo's tomb is. His tomb symbolized the marriage of the arts of painting, sculptor, architecture and poetry. There was some controversy over his tomb because the section of the sarcophogus symbolizing sculpture was not front and center. I thought to myself that I would not want to have been the one to sculpt this master's tomb! Galileo is also buried here . . and there is an empty tomb for Dante. Dante was actually in exile the last years of his life . . .so he is not even buried in Italy. Still a magnificent tomb was built to honor their native son.

 

Our final stop was Palazzo Vecchio. This old palace and city hall is a Florentine landmark. It is home to the current Mayor of Florence. This structure is another monument to the Medici influence. It was built for the first Medici . . Cosimo, the father of the Magnificent Lorenzo. While we were touring it there was a function going on in the grand hall. Museum visitors just quietly worked around it. Apparently they were opening some new rooms to the Uffizzi and distinguished guests were listening to the head of the Uffizi introduce them. Following their gathering they all went through the Vasari corridor from the Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi Gallery to see the new rooms. We did not . . but our guide did show us the corridor and explained that it took the Medici from the Uffizi (wich means offices - and was the business area for the Medici) to their palace.

Olivera recommended the Trattoria 4 Loni (4leoni.com) for dinner. This was to be a delightful dining experience. Ron had a pear stuffed cheese pasta that was simply divine. She had described it as a "charming" spot full of ambience and it was. A place where the locals eat off the beaten tourist path.

A couple of side notes . .We have been using the "Crumpled city" maps to find our way around. They are designed in such a way that you can pull them out full size and then screw them up in a ball and stuff them in your pocket. They are designed with English explanations .. but all the streets names and landmarks are in Italian. We also like and have used the Map Easy maps . . but the crumpled city maps help you get around better. We discovered the crumpled city map of Rome in Barnes and Noble and then went to their website to order Florence and Venice maps. Interesting to note that the creator of the maps is based in Florence.

We live in a small world....whilst walking outside the Dumo and in the streets of Florence we have run several times into a family that have been our patients for many years. Who would think that we would run into them in Florence. Lauren has also identified a friend that she went to school with.

 

Firenze Day 2

After our early night the last night, Colby and I had a hard time sleeping in. Since we went to sleep around 7 or 8, Colby woke up around 3 and I woke up around 4. So we hung out in our rooms for awhile. Around 5:30-6:00am, we decided to knock on Mom and Dad's door, because Colby swore that Dad, at least, would be up. He wasn't. So we went out on walk/jog by ourselves. It was a quite a contrast to the crowded Florence streets we had encountered the day before. We got to enjoy sights like the Ponte Vecchio, Pitti Palace, Plaza della Republica, and Piazza Della Signoria without having to dodge people everywhere. It was also nice to see the city start to wake up with trash collectors and street cleaners. We made it back to the hotel around 7 and got ready for the day and had breakfast with Mom and Dad around 8:30am.

Our first stop in the morning was the Uffizi. The Uffizi is home to many famous works of art by Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo daVinci, Raphael, Titian among other famous Renaissance artists. We walked through the museum using Rick Steve's audio guide who led us through the highlights. It was quite a collection. However, after our early morning, I was a little tired. I took a quick nap on Colby's lap while Mom and Dad walked through the museum in a little more detail. It was a perfect power nap. After the Uffizi, we went to the Bargello, which used to be a prison. It is now home to many famous sculptures.

After the museums, we had a lunch at a great little place called Trattoria Pallottino. We all had great pasta, especially Dad, who ordered fresh pasta with a pomodoro sauce, and I had some really great Gnocchi. We had some gelato at a place next door, Il Gelato.

Next we headed inside of the Duomo and the Baptistry. The Duomo was just as incredible inside as it was outside. For 1600 years the Duomo has been the center of the religious life in Florence. I have been reading The Passion of Artemisia, about Artemisia Gentileschi, the first female painter to be a member of the Academy. She crosses the Ponte Vecchio, frequently visits the Pitti Palace, and receives inspiration from the Mary Magdalen by Donatello in the Baptistry. I have loved seeing the sights while reading about them and their actual place in history.

We took a quick rest at the hotel before we headed to the Pitti Palace. The outside appeared fortress-like, but inside we were blown away by the incredible opulence of the Medici family. The resided at Palazzo Vecchio before moving into the much grander Palazzo Pitti. Mom and I compared it to Versailles in France. It was room after room full of fabulous decoration and art covering nearly every inch of the walls. It was clear how much the Medici family truly valued art. We also wanted to visit the Boboli Gardens, which weren't supposed to close until 730, however, we didn't realize that the last entrance was at 630, right when the palazzo rooms closed, so we missed it by 5 minutes. We were really disappointed

 

We had dinner in a piazza near the Santo Spiritu church. We were enjoying our dinner at a place called Borgo Antico, when a crowd chanting and cheering came walking up. Today was St John the Baptist Day so the town celebrates by playing a game - a team sport played by men, described to as a mixture between football and soccer. It has been played since medieval times. Apparently the team from the Santo Spiritu area won and they had returned to the steps of the local church to celebrate. We enjoyed watching their celebrations and capturing some of it.

We knew there would be fireworks later as well because of the holiday. However, these had been slightly delayed because of the Italy/England Eurocup soccer game. So we headed over to the gelato place we enjoyed earlier and played Phase 10 while we waited. We headed and caught some of the soccer game as well before watching the fireworks. We started watching near a bridge, but we moved to the piazza in front of Santa Croce church, where the medieval game had been played, and were able to enjoy the fireworks right next to the church on the bleachers. The Italians did a first class job on the fireworks . . it would rival most fireworks displays in the U.S.. Afterwards, we heard celebrations from the Italy/England game as Italy won the game 4-2 in overtime.

Lauren

 

 

Firenze: Day 1

We left! We finally left! I have been waiting to go to Italy since I read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown when I was in high school. The descriptions of all the churches and religious history fascinated me and enticed me to come to explore the sites from the book, among other things. It also helped my desire to visit even more because I just took a history class last semester. We took off on Friday afternoon after seeing patients for half of the day for the airport. I actually can say, I didn't mind the flight. Usually, I have to struggle with the lack of leg room and it is a terrible experiece. However, this time i was on the front row of economy and I got as much leg room as I wanted. It made the 8 hour flight manageable and I didn't want to kill myself the whole time. We landed in Amsterdam and then caught a 2 hour flight to Florence (or as the Italians call it Firenze) which didn't have leg room. We all survived and landed in Florence. It was a very small airport with only 3 baggage claims. We grabbed our bags and took off down the street in a cab headed for the Hotel Morandi. It is a quaint, converted convent that definitly had some character. It was a great place of refuge especially because it wan't near all the touristy sites, which gave us peace, solitude and the ability to sleep at night. After dropping our bags off in the hotel room at 1 pm, we assesed what activities we could squeeze in before we fell asleep due to a severe lack of sleep. We chose a visit to the Academia musem (where the famous statue of David is housed) and walked in. I was in awe of the majesty of the sculptures in the room. It starts with "The Prisoners", which were early works of Michelangelo. They are deemed as such because these men are stuck in the stone, unable to be fully uncovered. These sculptures line the corridor on both sides and the end of the corridor is where David is standing.

We were all eager to see the statue of David. Ron had taken a sculpting class in college and had done a report on the statue. He recollected his experience in the class and we were able to discuss his experience in working with clay and marble. Kristy had just read "The Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone. This was a biographical novel, close to 800 pages in length and gave her a more intimate view of the artist Michaelangelo. Lauren was eager to see it because it was famous. The picture shown here was captured by her camera before she learned tht photography was prohibited. We visited the market to look for fresh produce, and also stopped in at Santa Maria Novella. While there we took the crucifixes of Brunelleschi and Giotto, Massaccio's "Trinity" and Ghirlandaio's frescoes. We could not find a place to eat dinner . .. so we settled for Gelatto. We retired to our rooms at Hotel Morandi Alla Crocetta about 7pm...exhausted and in need of sleep! Our hotel used to be a Dominican convent.