http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/ The Andrews' family website en-us Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:44:05 MST chris.j.andrews@gmail.com chris.j.andrews@gmail.com Copyright (c) 2007 www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews. All rights reserved. http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-33.html#33 We started out bright and early so that we could drop off Milo at his favorite temporary residence, Shylo Country Club for Dogs. He seemed as happy as ever to be there and we headed back to the airport. It was easy enough to get through check in and we stopped for our customary breakfast burrito before getting on the plane. The plane rides were uneventful except that Jeanette lost her Blackberry getting off the plane in Philadelphia. Well... I guess that's what her work gets for wanting her... 39.7257 -104.959 Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:00:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-33.html#33 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-32.html#32 We arrived into a Madrid morning after an uneventful, but fairly restless flight where neither of us slept very well. The flight over the countryside was pretty and we did see glimpses of Portugal and miles of olive trees and other agriculture. The cities seem fairly concentrated in contrast to the U.S. The airport was easy to navigate and baggage claim and customs proved to be no problem at all. We had arranged a rental car from Hertz, found it, and it turned out to be a cute little Peugeot wi... 40.45 -3.7167 Sun, 12 Mar 2006 12:43:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-32.html#32 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-31.html#31 We had no watchtokeep timeon our trip because mine had broken a few weeks before andI ran out of chances tobuy a cheap one before we left. Consequently, we had no idea what time it was when we awoke on our first full day 'in country.' We got out of bed and asked the hotel clerk and were quite surprised to find that it was noon. We had probably slept about 12 hours... and I needed it! We headed out so as not to waste more of the day and found our way back to thepedestrian walking malla... 40.55 -3.7167 Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:44:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-31.html#31 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-30.html#30 We awoke reasonably early and left the hotel. We drove to the large Parque del Retiro in the center of Madrid, where we parked and walked around a bit. The morning was cool, but we enjoyed the sun and found the park to be quite beautiful, with a large variety of trees and flowers and some very interesting statues and fountains. Amusingly, we spotted some feral kittens on top of one of the large bronzes, but when we approached, they scooted away and into the bronze. Pretty cute. We found break... 39.5 -2.1 Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:47:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-30.html#30 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-29.html#29 We woke and checked out of the Reina Sofia hotel in favor of the cheaper, but just as nice Hotel Continental which was going to be 74 for the second night in Valencia. We dropped our bags off at the second hotel, then headed out to find breakfast and the car. Where the car was parked, next to an El Corte Ingles, we also found a small breakfast shop where Jeanette was able to get a tortilla espagnola andI had a couple of pastries. We headed out to find LOceanogrfic, the new aquarium in Valenci... 39.5 -0.3833 Wed, 15 Mar 2006 12:48:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-29.html#29 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-28.html#28 We awoke around 8-ish in Valencia and packed up and left the hotel, heading for El Corte Ingles to get some food for the road. After waiting a bit outside because it was not yet open, we entered the superstore and headed for the bakery counter. We bought some interesting sandwiches / savory pastries, including a salmon roll that was tasty, but loaded with mayonnaise. We also bought some tuna sandwiches and a couple of different kinds of sweet pastries, including one with chocolate, of course. ... 41.28 2.07 Thu, 16 Mar 2006 12:50:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-28.html#28 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-27.html#27 I woke early in our tiny, but cheap room at the Hotel Ingles in Barcelona, and let Jeanette sleep. I actually did a bit of laundry in the shower, attempting to be more expedient than thrifty! I had decided that I would return the car a day early, so I went out and got the car, stopping along Las Ramblas to get ripped off on two pastries and a soda for 11. Whoever said Spain was cheap was not paying close attention! I drove to the airport and stopped at an old cemetery along the way to snack o... 41.28 2.07 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:53:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-27.html#27 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-26.html#26 We awoke early in Barcelona, a theme of the trip to be sure, so that we could catch the early train to Nice. We took the metro to Barcelonetta Station, wheeling our bags and hefting our backpacks the whole way. Upon arrival at the station, we were able to more-or-less follow the directions I had obtained the day before to reach the Estation Frana which happened to be up at street level and a couple of blocks around the corner. When I went up to the ticket counter, I found out that all the tra... 43.61 3.87 Sat, 18 Mar 2006 12:53:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-26.html#26 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-25.html#25 We awoke a little late on our first morning in Marseilles, then headed out to find breakfast. Sunday morning turned out to be very quiet, but we browsed around and decided to buysome pastries and panaches (small round puff pastries with a spot of olive, anchovy, marinara, or fruit on top) from a patisserie. We then walked around the area with the open air restaurants we had seen the evening before and found a restaurant / creprie and sat down. The creprie had some egg breakfasts, so I tried t... 43.45 5.2333 Sun, 19 Mar 2006 12:57:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-25.html#25 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-24.html#24 On the second Monday of our trip we awoke very early in Marseilles, around 5:30 AM, and I tried to go out for pastries, but unfortunately none of the shops opened till 7:00 AM. We left the hotel and hopped the metro to the train station (only two stops back) and bought some panini from the bar, which seemed to have been open all night and had people drinking beer at 6:00 in the morning! We boarded the train and Jeanette was tired out, but thoroughly annoyed by a man in the car who had the wor... 43.7833 7.6 Mon, 20 Mar 2006 12:58:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-24.html#24 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-23.html#23 I woke early to move the car so that we didn't get a parking ticket. I hadparked it in a square that turned very busy in the morning and it took me longer to cross traffic on foot than in the car. We got going quickly, had breakfast of muffins and coffee at the hotel intheir pretty dining room, then went out to stroll. We took our time enjoying theviews of the Arno as we walked along. The bridges were very pretty against the river and theold cityscape behind. Because we had arrived into t... 43.7833 11.2167 Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:59:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-23.html#23 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-22.html#22 On our second morning in Florence, I awoke early and let Jeanette sleep while I took a shower. When I finished, I drewJeanette a bath, which she loved, and then I headed downstairs to get her a coffee. While down there, Imade myself a hot chocolate and relaxed for a sec in thebreakfast room, but I went light on the food as I knew we'd have another day of culinary exploration ahead of us. We got ready and checked out of our room, but left the car at the hotel so that we could explore a bit... 45.41 11.87 Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:59:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-22.html#22 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-21.html#21 After a decent night's sleep in Casa de Pellegrino, we woke relatively early and headed out to look for pastries and breakfast. While Jeanette was finishing up in the room, I went down and moved the car into the hotel's parking lot (5 /day). Most of what we found, besides pastries, were ham, salami, and mayonnaise sandwiches on wonder bread. No joke. We tried a couple, and they tasted OK, but overall... too much mayo! We had asked for directions by bus to the train station and found... 45.4333 12.3167 Thu, 23 Mar 2006 13:00:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-21.html#21 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-20.html#20 We woke up a bit late, finished packing, and headed out to get some quick breakfast and take a quick look at the cathedral. We thought we had plenty of time... however we promptly got lost when we headed down to check out a park area with a ton of statues, got a coffee, took a right and then thought we were taking another right to head back to the hotel. We were wrong. After about 15 minutes of hastily walking in circles, we asked a woman where the hotel was, she pointed us in the general di... 43.33 11.32 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:00:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-20.html#20 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-19.html#19 I awoke a bit before Jeanette, but let her sleep because she had such a hard time the night before. She didn't sleep too much longer, but even an extra 15 minutes would help. We got up and out of the crappy Hotel Duomo pretty quickly. The aroma of dishonesty goes a long way toward getting me moving. Fortunately, we had no trouble at the front desk and checked out with no fuss. We walked the bags to the car and then decided to poke around a little for breakfast and a hotel, hopefully comb... 43.47 11.43 Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:00:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-19.html#19 US europe-trip-2006 http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-18.html#18 I set the alarm the night before to wake us at 4:30 AM so that we could get going to the airport. We had packed pretty well, so it didn't take us long to get up and out. We tried being quiet, but probably woke at least our downstairs neighbors, if we had any! Jeanette paused for a few minutes to appreciate the view outside the window. In the early morning, the fog appeared as thick smoke and obscured much of the landscape. The knowledge that she was looking at her last cityscape in Siena... 44.5354 11.2887 Sun, 26 Mar 2006 00:00:00 MST http://www.yakjive.com/TheAndrews/europe-trip-2006-18.html#18 US europe-trip-2006