Friends | Peaches Prattlings

{October 26, 2015} Day 10… Adios Sevilla, Hola de Barcelona!

Has it really been ten days? Nah…we just got here!

Nothing much exciting to report today, except we done it right and made it to Barcelona…on the train!

Our tickets this time did not include a change in trains so, only two seats on one train for w hours. The only drawback was we were hoping to be able to take some trains overnight and not take a day traveling, oh well.

We got up too early and headed out in the rain, the funny thing is the hostel was built around a courtyard so it was raining in the vestibule. We took a taxi to Estacion Santa Justa, got a cafe and some snacks and waited for our train.

While we were there, we got smart and booked our next passage on Thursday. Mums the word, tell ya then.

Side note…people in the service industry, especially places like ticket office at the train stations should speak at least a little English, it would help. Thank goodness for Google translate, it picks up most of what I leave off! But PSM says I’m doing alright, I think so too!

We double checked we were in the right place and settled in. It was exciting, we saw a fight, a good send off and running to catch the train, it was like a silent film!

We watched the sun come up and the scenery go by and then we were both asleep, a nice nap. Then we decided to pull out PSM’s iPad and watched Blacklist for the rest of the trip, it definitely made the time go by quicker. Especially when we started going backwards! And we know how much I love riding backwards in vehicles! Not to worry, we faced forward again.

We snacked on junk food, coffee and tea and finally some sandwiches and then…we pulled into Barcelona…Estacion BCN Sants, we’re here!

Now we’re at the hostel we booked when we got off the train, because that’s how we roll, and now we’re waiting for someone to let us in.

I hope you had a fabulous Monday! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.

Buenas Noches

{October 23, 2015} Day 7…Lisbon…A Car Trip…Sevilla, finally!

So…we didn’t get very far on the train…

We were on the train and neither of us heard the stop, the announcements were not loud enough or clear enough and…in Portuguese, and…we’re both used to a conductor, or someone announcing the stops. Oh well…we ended up back in Lisbon for the night.

The room? Well, it was inexpensive…we actually got upgraded because he had just sold the last room. Our upgrade now could sleep four. Two, sort of in the tiny four poster bed and two singles. Then there was the metal black out curtain and it went in from there, but we had a private bathroom and it was clean.

We got up, packed, headed to the Avis counter at the airport, got a car and headed to España. Oh…I have missed a standard transmission! It’s a hybrid so when you put it in neutral and take your foot off the clutch, it appears to die and when you put your foot back on the clutch, it starts up again, odd.

We are on the road, it is a beautiful drive, the Portuguese countryside is charming and we get to Sevilla in about 4/4.5 hours, stopping for potty breaks.

The rest stops in Portugal are really nice. Pastries, wine, cheeses, nice souvenirs, pleasant.

We get to Sevilla and find our hotel down some narrow streets, now I know why we don’t really need a car here. We get settled in to our rim, two double beds, shared WC, meaning, it’s not in the room, a noisy A/C, on the top floor.

When I say top floor, I’m not kidding, you go to the second floor and then when you can’t find your room number, go up to the roof/terrace and around the corner and there you are! I do like the way they have decorated the walls and the building is built around a center “courtyard”, charming.

Let’s get a charge on the devices and ourselves for a few minutes, regroup and headed out into Sevilla. I think it’s time for some grub, bub.

We walked around exploring, taking it in and looking for food. The first veg friendly place we can’t find so we go onto the first place that is serving, most places don’t start serving until 830 and it was only 730.

The place we went was ok, it could have been what we ordered, but there is always the next place. We ordered foods and drink and took it all in.

Sevilla is beautiful, I understand why so many operas were based here! The place was alive with activity while we were walking, kids playing, people walking and talking, enjoying themselves, even a movie being shot.

After a few drinks and tapas, we walked in search of me drink and food, why not! It’s Friday night in España!

So many people enjoying the night, so few spots to sit and drink and eat, but we found one!

The area we found felt like the center of everything, but when we started walking again, activity and energy in every nook and cranny!

We decided to take the car back tonight so we wouldn’t have to get up early and do it, hopped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel. Highway robbery! I know there is an airport pick up charge, but 24.55? The entire trip was only 5 euros, but with the pick up charge, ridiculous!

We got back near the hotel, walked around a bit, climbed the tower to our room and talked about tomorrow.

Now we just need to say gracias instead of obrigado! It’s a challenge!

Buenas noches!

{October 22, 2015} Day 6…Porto…A Tower…Eurorail

No alarms…what? Ahhhh…we got up liesurely…I think 10am is respectable when you’ve been setting the alarm every day.

We got up, motivated and dropped our bags with the hotel, they were going to hold them for us until later, and headed out. Our first stop was the Church of St Catarina, which was around the corner from the hotel and we seemed to miss it every time we tried. The churches, and a lot of businesses close between 12/1230pm and 1530pm. Everyone needs a break, right? I’m glad we went, it was a beautiful church.

After the church, it was time for breakfast at a little place near the church where we enjoyed a snack, watched trees being planted and inhaled plumes of smoke.

[That’s EJS’ turtle she gave me to travel with, you’ll see her again]

Question…does everyone in Europe come out of the womb smoking? C’mon people, I’m eating here! Rant over.

After brunch we headed to the tower, I think I told you about it yesterday, the Tower of the Clergio. I am so proud of PSM, who is not too fond of heights, he made it to the top! On the way up there were some exhibits and we were able to get a great view of the church from above.

At the top of the tower, 75m and 240 steps, the view was amazing. Even the graffiti made it up there. At this point, PSM stayed put and I continued to the next level up. Wow.

The view was fantastic and one of the cool things was that they had plaques showing the different landmarks and where they were as well as comparing the height of the tower to other monuments around the world, like the Eiffel Tower, The Sears Tower, The Empire State Building, very cool.

When we got down to the bottom we realized we had worked up an appetite so…Brick for lunch. Nice healthier sandwiches, all of their sandwiches are served on boards.

After lunch we picked up some part cards, I wonder who they’re going to, wink, wink. PSM also bought a very cool hat, makes him look like a hip cat, not sure if he’s ever taking it off!

And then across the street to a park on top of a parking garage, how ingenious! It was fabulous, with blankets under some of the trees and wine crates with cushions to sit in the grass. They also had tables and chairs. We camped out under a tree.

The view of the street from the park

Where else can you be at a bar in a park and get a beer and a pot of hot tea? Love it!

After a while we decided to hop on the trolley and take it…well, wherever it went! We got off, walked around, mailed my postcards and realized it was time for dinner before the train.

We headed back to the hotel and collected our bags and looked for food. We went back to one if the places we had gone before, PSM was going to treat himself to a franceschina one last time. He was happy.

We headed to the train and hung out until it was time to go and here we are, in the train to Spain!
I’ll talk to you tomorrow from Spain!

Adeus, Portugal! Espana, alla vamos!

{October 20, 2015} Day 4…Eurorail…goodbye Lisbon…hello Porto!

Not again with the alarm!

This morning we were up at 6am because we were going to the train station to get on the Eurorail and headed to Porto, Portugal!

At 645am, we headed towards the train, got some breakfast before we got on and settled in for the three hour ride. It was nice, great scenery, relatively smooth ride and a nap thrown in sounds great!

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto,_Portugal. This is such a beautiful city! Right on the water, classic architecture, sculptures, town squares and home of amazing wineries and where port comes from, imagine that!

We arrived and got our bearings straight on the Metro and found our hotel, dropped our bags and went in search of lunch. PSM had this gastronomic wonder that is a popular item here, called a franceschina. It’s a combination of bread, ham, pork slice, covered in cheese and hot sauce with a fried egg/sunny side up, on top and served with French fries, omg!

I had nothing so extravagant, I had eggs with rice. We are getting better about ordering in Portuguese, it’s cool and exciting!

After lunch, we checked into the hotel then went for a walk about. We found some beautiful squares, buildings, architecture and the information office where we booked a walking tour for the morning and hopped in a cab to head down to the water for a winery tour and tasting.

The cab dropped us off and we wandered. Got our tickets for the tour, then went on a boat your of the river [no problem on this boat! ].

After the cruise we headed to the winery for the tour and tasting and yes, I tasted and no, I did not like it, but I did it. Just like the Jamison in Ireland.

After the tasting we took the cable car or tram up to the bridge so we could walk across and watch the sunset from up there. Stunning!

After the sunset we walked in search of food and finding our options limited by the fact that a lot of places were closing or only open for drinks and pastries, away we went.

In the Metro and back towards the hotel we ate at the restaurant next to the one we ate lunch at, go figure! PSM got his sardines and I had soup and salad, I’m happy.

Back to the hotel with the round bed, one blog post will be dedicated to our hotel rooms, wow. Another will be just tiles and another, the graffiti of Portugal, it’s amazing and abundant.

I hope you had a great day!

Boa noite!

{October 16, 2015} Up…up…and away…

We go!

This post is coming in super early, especially by my track record, because…

PSM and I are on a plane…

We won’t land for our connecting flight until 9am local time…

I cannot believe it! We are going to…

Portugal!!! (With a wee layover in Paris, sigh)

Three glorious weeks we are going to be traveling in Europe! Can you believe it! We start in Portugal and leave from Budapest, I know, rough life we lead!

And you know I’ll be telling you everything we’re doing while we’re there, so keep checking in with my posts, like you always do! I cannot wait to share everything with you!

Have a great weekend! See you in Portugal! !

{October 15, 2015} Getting in the groove

When I write I have to be in the groove, find my mojo.

That would be why there are some days I don’t post until the wee hours of the morning! Some days it comes to me, others, its excruciating!

I can tell you it’s no different for me writing resumes, dating profiles, training documentation. You name it, whatever it is, the inspiration sometimes hits after everyone has gone to bed, up I stay!

It’s the same way when I write for work. If I have clear direction, I can run with, sometimes, but if I don’t, I have to wait for the muse or inspiration t strike and I can sit and stare at a blank screen for a long time, which is not as much fun as you may think!

Today, I was on that roll, it was awesome! It started yesterday and if the system had been working properly, I could have worked until 10 or 11pm or later, I love those times!

You’re in the zone, you know what you’re doing and what you want to do and you hit it and there’s no stopping you!

{October 11, 2015} Bittersweet

Today was bittersweet, there were good memories and sad moments.

Today the family was together, me, GES, ACS, dad, La La, MGD and EJS. Like I said the family was together, the only one missing was PSM. We are all at the house out on Long Island and the reason we were there was to clear out what we wanted and identify what would be shipped because my dad sold the summer house.

When I was about 10 and GES was about 6, our parents were looking for a summer house and while we were at camp day bought one. We were with them looking at the houses that they were interested in, my favorite had a hammock in the middle of the house but that’s not the house they bought, darn it. The house they bought was nice, it was a ranch, with 3 bedrooms, a back porch and the original owners had enclosed the garage and build up the flooring so that it was one big family room.

The house is about a block and a half from the marina and about a 10 minute drive to the beach. We could bicycle to the library and the grocery store and the beach. What could be better? Not much.

We spent our summers, a few of them in summer camp and then at the summer house and other years just at the summer house, it was awesome, our days consisted of biking to the beach biking to the library biking to the beach. I know it sounds rough but we muddled through.

This house was fabulous, I remember the year my mom and dad made renovations and took the back porch, which was separate, opened it up, connected it to the kitchen, there were skylights a great open space and they even added a deck off some of the bedrooms added sliding doors that open onto the back deck.

One of the coolest things about the house, is that from the outside, it looks like almost any other house, very unassuming but when you opened the front door and walked in it was an oasis.

It had a nice big backyard, and outdoor shower that we built which was the best ever because you had sides on it to keep you covered and you had an open ceiling so you could shower under the sky it was amazing especially after going to the beach then you didn’t have to track stand in the house. Ingenious.

The house was furnished from the Salvation Army and yard sales and things that came from the other house and it was fabulous. It was warm and cozy and open and breezy and perfect. Before the renovation GES and I shared the back bedroom and mom and dad had the front room. After the renovation they installed a bathroom in the larger back bedroom so now the house had two bathrooms, hallelujah.

There were so many weekends during the summer that we had friends come and stay, either families and friends from school or home. We had a little 14 foot motorboat that my parents bought at a yard sale, to start out, it was the only thing I could drive without a license at 11 years old, and as we got older dad bought bigger boat, which are a lot of fun.

When we would go to the beach we would either bicycle, drive the car, or the boat, there were a few beaches that you could only get to by boat, which was fabulous. There are even some restaurants that we could go to just by boat.

It was a fabulous place, a great refuge, a place to refuel, recharge and rejuvenate. Summers on the beach we’re amazing, I remember moving to Atlanta and being landlocked, it was a little disconcerting. When I was in college, I worked in Westhampton Beach common for all the rich folks. It was quite the experience.

After college I move to Georgia but I still came back every year for a few days or a week especially for my dad’s birthday. As the years went on it got tougher and tougher to come out, and admittedly I haven’t been able to come out over the last few years due to work and that was disappointing. Sorry daddy.

As time went on, dad also started going out to the house a little less because he was on the road going somewhere traveling visiting just being fabulous. And so as time marches on things change and it was time to sell the house. So that brings us to where we are today, clearing out items picking things that we want smiling and laughing at memories being nostalgia . even a little teary eyed.

But, our memories live on, and one great thing is that all the items that I took today, are going to furnish my new apartment in Boston. So for that thank you very much daddy it is most appreciated.

Smiles all around, fabulous.

{October 10, 2015} 13.1 miles, nailed it!

This morning, I participated in my 4th half marathon [it could be my 5th, but I’m not sure!]!

Wow, did I really just do that this morning? Yes, yes I did! I ended up getting a room near the train station that would take all of us to the start this morning. I got up about 5:30, out the door by 6am, down in the subway by 6:15am. Then I ran into FCD and two of her sisters and a niece.

FCD and I went to high school together and we’ve stayed in touch here and there, through Facebook and saw each other two years ago at our friend, CGS’ son’s bar mitzvah and we’ll see each other again at her daughter’s bat mitzvah in January!

She is the one who talked me into participating, reaching out because she knows I do a few runs here and there and thought I might be interested. You bet! This is my second Rock-n-Roll Marathon series half marathon. I don’t know if you remember me telling you about the half marathon in Las Vegas, same promoters. This happened to be the inaugural Brooklyn half marathon, how cool is that!

We got to the start and had to go through metal detectors, well not in that order. Made it to the corral and waited and waited, the run started about 30 minutes late, the police were delaying things a bit. We finally got started about 7:30am and we were off. We stuck together for a while, then her sisters and niece moved ahead and eventually we were all running solo.

I have to tell you, the first 6 miles were not that bad, it was after about 8, I was kid of done, but not quitting!

There was music along the route, not enough we decided, but it was fun. There were water and Gatorade stations every few miles, which helped keep us hydrated. I did not go to the medical tent because I didn’t!

I actually made pretty good time, considering I haven’t trained for this like I should have and was planning to. 3.29.22, that’s what my watch said and it was actually 13.54 miles, so considering that…

I took my beer ticket into the beer garden and as I was walking back to my friends, I admired a woman’s rose bouquet and after they allowed me to sniff the roses. I offered him my beer, as I had feeling the others would not want more than one.

After the run, we went back to the hotels, the other girls went to their cars and headed home. I took a very cold bath, then a nice hot shower and eventually back to dad’s house where everyone was waiting.

I am a little sore, not horribly, and I think that is due to working out with CG, my personal trainer and some of the physical therapy, which she also puts into our workouts. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow.

Check out my swag, I’m pretty happy.

Ready for the next one!

{October 7, 2015} I ordered straight off the menu!

What? No changes? Nope!

JJ, say it ain’t so! We didn’t even know that was possible! Yes, yes it is, imagine that!

Tonight we went to the Black Rice Bar/Sun Restaurant, a place we went to the last time I was here, it was fabulous! Black rice, or the forbidden rice and so worth it!

We all started with the black rice salad, yum! Everyone else had shrimp on theirs, I didn’t. It was perfect as is.

Next, I had pumpkin stew…vegetarian, and when I asked, not spicy, but I know me, skeptical, but guys…it came in a pumpkin! And…not spicy!!

I also ordered one tomago, egg cake, on black rice, yum!

There was no way I could finish the soup after that giant salad, so I asked for it to-go. I joked and said “maybe he’ll give me the pumpkin”. (The service was terrible, I wouldn’t have put it past him) and guess what!

Lunch tomorrow!

Bottom line…I ordered straight off the menu, no changes! Go me! And it was fabulous!

http://www.suncuisines.com/

{October 3, 2015} Warm wishes this Sukkot

We are in the middle of Sukkot and I send you warm wishes.

Sukkot is a holiday that Jews celebratein the fall, it marks the end of the harvest. It ha been referred to as the Jewish Thanksgiving.

We celebrate by eating outside in buildings or booths constructed in our backyards. It is traditionally made of wood and has a thatched roof, the important part is that even though your head is covered, you can still look up abs see g-d.

This is a joyous holiday and one of the fun traditions is that once the sukkah is built, then you decorate it. Some use vegetation such as leaves and flowers, some use lights and make paper chains, some use fruits and vegetables.

The point is to enjoy it while it’s up, so you decorate it to your liking. If you are more religious or observant, you would eat in it, every meal, maybe even sleep in it.

Tonight, neighbors of GES and ACS hosted in their backyard, it was great. We had friends, family, food, fire andfun, what more could you want!

Warm wishes to you and yours.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukot

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?