Court of the Lions. The Alhambra, Granada Spain

A number of years ago, when I was in Grad School, my in-laws returned from Spain and brought me a book by Washington Irving titled "Tales of  the Alhambra". Irving had spent a good block of time there. When you are done with the book you have learned a great deal about the Alhambra, its history, and the lovely gardens. It became part of the bucket list and we went out of our way on a road trip of Spain to make a visit. It was worth it. But having read the book made it feel like it was a second visit. If you read Dan Brown's "The Di Vinci Code" and go to Paris or read his "Secret of Secrets" and go to Prague it makes a difference. Even if you read them when home it puts flesh on the bones. I remember reading "City of Fallen Angels" and it made a priority for me to visit the opera house in Venice. I would not otherwise seen La Fenice, and was glad I read it the book.

 

Neuschwanstein - just a little cabin in the woods

If you find yourself in Munich you will be fairly close to Neuschwanstein the famous castle that some say was the model for the castle in Disneyland. If it were in Disneyland people would only visit once. In the heart of Bavaria it is the project of a man with too much money. It is worth the trip. It is the destination of a bus which leaves from the Munich Train Terminal. Once there you realize that it on top of a very high hill (I'd say mountain but not one compared to the Alps).  You can ride in a horse drawn cart, ride an overstuffed bus, or walk to get to the top. The bus is the better of the three. Now, you get to the top and you want to take a tour of the castle. Fine. There  are hundreds of steps inside. Because I am lucky to walk, I waited while my wife went in. We have had a long marriage where she climbed things or went somewhere and I waited at the bottom.

        When done you can take the bus which goes better down hill or you can do what we did and that is hike down. Remarkably it is as far down as up.
 

Angels in hiking bootd

 

 I have often talked about the fact that we do not worry about getting lost. We do get lost often, but our experiences have been good. We were on a walk in Seville. There are wonderful parks and interesting places. But as it was getting late we wanted to get back to the center of the tourist area so we might take the tram back to or hotel. First off we came to this (we think) beautiful structure. We found amazing. While looking  around we saw a likely helper and asked how to get where we wanted to go using mostly our hands to communicate. Surprisingly he was an American Expat living in Spain. He said  follow me. Around corners through narrow passages and streets away we went to our desired destination. Very grateful to our guide.

Venice Italy

 

This was taken from our hotel window. It shows some of what Venice looks like.

We enjoyed long walks after the tourists went back to their ships.

It is quiet even romantic. The thing that strikes you is the vast number of visitors in Venice and the burden it places on space. They have issued day passes to help but when we were there the crowds during the day were large.

Hint: great little cafe in the Ghetto.

Cheetah Reserve, South Africa

The Cheetah is related to the Leopard. It is smaller but one of the fastest land animals. It is built for speed and for capturing its prey.

Beautiful, they're not something I would try to outrun.

Then again, I cannot outrun most animals. 

 

Union Square San Francisco

            We live within the Great California Valley, but we are close to Yosemite and San Francisco. SF is known as "The City" around here and we go in several times a year. We volunteered in China Town, ran the Bay to Breakers, gone shopping, walked the Goldengate Bridge, visited many world-class museums and so much more there. Due to the high cost of housing, it is great to visit taking rapid transit and living in the valley.
 

Choosing an Airline

Air France at SFO

            We are frequent flyers on Air France and Alaska Airlines. We have flown many others. One outstanding airline that we only flew once was South African.

            The flight may not be the deciding factor for you, but a good flight helps make it a good trip. We have flown long haul from San Francisco on several  carriers and Air France stands out for us.  Some of the others were fine, one or two made a 12 hour flight seem  like a 12 day flight. Because of where you are going, sometimes you do not get a choice. We are fortunate in that we often choose carrier over price.  One surprise was flying Jet Blue across the U.S. It was both lower cost and an excellent flight. Ask your friends.  Look at reviews. Study their website. Choose your carrier.   For example, I did not expect much from Virgin to London and was pleasantly surprised. I also have been disappointed in Delta. Maybe one flight is not enough to judge, but it is for me.