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Waaaay to Close to Home

This is a link to the CNN website. Click on the link... look for the 4 pics on the LEFT hand side of the screen. Click on the LAST pic. Than click on picture #7.

The little boy in the middle is wearing a shirt with the logo of the school I work at.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/19/haiti.earthquake/index.html?hpt=T1

Colder than Normal--what ever cold is.....

As January came to town, so did the cold. For our area, SW FL, it has been quite cold. Ok, most of you are saying how cold can in get in Florida? Well it was below the freezing mark (32F) this morning. Ok, that was with the wind chill, and it was 31F. But it was still below the freezing mark.

My aunt and uncle arrived last week from the snow country of Ohio. They are "snowbirds" here in Florida, and have been making the great migration for about the past 10-15 years or so. As we were leaving their house this past weekend, it was a beautiful sunny day out, but the wind was blowing a good 20-30mph. I think the thermometer registered a high of about 50F. Auntie and I were talking about how much colder 50F is in FL than 50F in Ohio. Well shouldn't 50 be 50 however you look at it. For some reason, it is not. Some people might find that hard to believe, but after living in FL for so many years, it just seems colder. Even Auntie said that when she is out walking in Ohio in 50 weather she is working up a sweat, here she is freezing and putting on more layers. I don't know, all I know that I am freezing, and to me it is just plain cold.

At least we are not knee deep in the snow. I do remember, back on December 23, 1989 it did snow. It was not knee deep, but there was just enough snow on the windshield wipers to make a small snowball. Nonetheless, it was snow. I guess I need to brace myself, because we are in for more cold. This whole next week will be highs of about 50F. That is FL 50, not Ohio 50. I wonder if there is any snow in the forecast??????

Put a smile on a face

I received an email from a friend over the weekend. And this was an attachment in it. It is something that I just had to share since the holidays are approaching and more and more troops are being deployed. It is a very small way to say thanks for doing what you do. Make someone happy with a very small effort.
www.letssaythanks.com

Puglia.... getting ready

Those who know me, are always asking where to next?? Well the answer is the Puglia region of Italy. That would be the SE region, or the heel of the boot.

I have started searching for hotels/apartments in the area and have come across quite a few that look good and are actually priced right. The initial plan so far is to have Bill's parents drive there from Budapest and spend a week with us. We would like to be there for a total of about 2 weeks. We will see how that pans out. The long range plan is to purchase a "retirement" home for us in the area. The main purpose of this trip is to actually see if we like the area or not.

I have signed up for Rosetta Stone to learn some Italian before we actually get there. So far it is going pretty good. Sophie has it found it quite interesting also. So far we are still on lesson one, with a few busy weekends coming up, I hope to at least make it to lesson 2 or 3 before the end of the week. With the trip being planned for March/April of 2011, I hope to be pretty fluent by than.

Travel Channel Fame ?!?!?!?!?!

How, I just want to know how I can get a job like Anthony Bourdain or Samantha Brown (both of Travel Channel fame). What a job, going place to place seeing the most exciting sites, I am sure hopping to the front of every line, and the best part, having the Travel Channel pay for it.

Don't get me wrong, I really do like my job, but come on. It is not a comparison of apples to oranges but sour grapefruit to luscious Asian pears. If the chance arose, I would hop on it in a heartbeat.

How do these people get a job like this? Is it who you know? Or is it what you know? It must be the who, because I feel pretty confident about my knowledge. I have however, entered the Travel Channel give-a-way. I would love to learn how to make/edit travel videos. I would gear my show for the budget traveler. I am meaning budget, not the cheap room at the Four Seasons. It seems most shows offer pricey places. What about us who don't really care whether it is 4* or 1*. My main concern is that it is clean. I don't care about concierge, laundry or even room service. I just want a clean place to lay my head. I want the bedding, room and bathroom to be clean. Sure I can get that at the pricey places, sometimes, but I can also get that at the $29 a night place like we did last weekend in Orlando. I know I would have a market, there are lots of people out there who save all year or two to spend a few weeks in an amazing place, not an amazing room. I would rather spend the $$ saved on seeing and doing things in the places I visit.

My other beef is the expensive restaurant. We don't really frequent them, perhaps it has to do with our 7 year old wanting only mac-n-cheese for dinner. I prefer the out of the way "locals" place. That is where the really good food can be found, not in the restaurants on the tourist walk. (I know this topic one of Anthony Bourdain & Andrew Zimmern favorites) Plus again it is 1/2 to 3/4 of the price. From early days of travel, perhaps it is because of mom's frugalness (ok, she is down right cheap, love you mom) we have always done picnics along the way. When we drove from MI down to FL we always had plenty of sandwiches and sodas packed. Now we do it just a little different. While in the car traveling, we stop at places, usually just the usual places along the interstate. But once the destination has been reached, we buy bread, tomos, cheese, sandwich stuff at the grocery and head to picnic area. When we visited Paris in March, we stocked up on the above mentioned and actually headed to the steps of La Defense and had lunch there. (Just a little travel tip, there is a little grocery store in the metro station just below La Defense. ) There were many others who had the same idea.

Well perhaps if I am lucky, I might win the Travel Channel offer. If not, I guess I will just keep my day job, and share my adventures via blog.

Shoes

This past weekend we decided to head over to Orlando again. Since Universal Studios was kind enough to give all FL school board employees a free summer pass, we took advantage of it for the second time this summer. We drove up early Saturday morning, headed to the park and than spent the night up there. Waking up early again on Sunday to have breakfast and head back over to Universal again.

Saturday was great, the weather was wonderful and so were the crowds, or lack there of. Don't get me wrong, of course there were still plenty of people. This gave me the opportunity to fulfill one of my favorite past times. People watching. Don't get me wrong, I did ride plenty of rides, I love the roller coasters. But when my neck and back get bounced around, forget it. I would rather sit on the sidelines and enjoy the free show. Sophie and I sat for a bit and watched from our "Kritika pad" (critics bench). It was easy to tell the "locals" from the foreigners. The dead give-a-way, believe it or not, the footwear.

The "locals" had on mostly Crocs, as did we. IMHO, they are one of the most ugly, however, most comfortable shoe that I have ever owned. Imagine being on your feet in the parks all day long, and at the end of the day. No pain. I have 4 or 5 pair of them, as does Bill, Sophie outgrew hers. Time to get some new ones for her. There were a ton of people also wearing flip-flops. I can't even wear those to the grocery store without my feet being in agony the next day.

The parks were filled with lots and lots of British tourists. They are easy to spot, as metnioned above by their shoes. They wear some very unique shoes. Most of the women wear very very flat shoes. No arch support, no heels. Very similar to ballet slippers. How can they walk around in those all day?? If I did that, the next morning I would not even be able to stand on my feet. The mens shoes are mostly sneakers, but sort of pointy toed high tops, that have a velcro strap around them. Now these are not so bad, but they still stick out.

My all time favorite... the sandles with socks. What is up with that?? This is a theory that I have never understood. I would assume most people would wear sandles for the reason that they are OPEN and their feet can breathe and are kept cooler. Wearing socks with them seems to defeat the purpose. If your feet are cold and you are wearing socks with them, why not just put on a pair of sneakers. Who knows maybe I am confused about the whole subject. But for me, it is just such a contridiction in terms. I guess when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Oh yes, this is Rome. (Well sort of)

To view the pictures we took at Universal, from the first visit, in June check out my photo web site. We did not take the camera for the 2nd trip. http://mydreams.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php?page=1

Irony

I opened my emails this morning, one came from Lonely Planet. As I click on it and start reading the title "The happiest places on earth..." the first place mentioned, Bhutan. Imagine that. Just 3 days after I post my blog on Bhutan. I didn't get a chance to read the whole thing, to many things going on here this morning. But what I did read, sounded pretty interesting. Check it out www.lonelyplanet.com/bhutan

GNH

What you ask is GNH? It is Gross National Happiness. Seriously. This is how one country measures their quality of life. Not GNP (gross national product) like we do in the US. Where you ask is such a place? The little country of Bhutan located between the giants of India and China, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas lies this Happy little country. In this country the word "to help" actually means to "be a friend". Sounds hard to believe that in this day and time such a place exists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness

I came upon GNH in show I saw a few weeks ago. It was titled "Michael J Fox, Adventures of an Incurable Optimist". Yes, the same Michael J Fox from the 1980 fame. For those who don't know, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Dz about 15 years ago. He has difficulty walking, his L foot at times having a mind of it's own. He also has the ticks/tremors that are associated with this "old persons" dz. When the show first started, I felt sad and sorry for him. To be dealt such a hand at such a young age. (He is only 1 year older than I.) As the show progressed, I was like wait a minute, this guy has it together. By the end of the show I understood why such a hand was dealt him. I also understood why he titled the show by such a name. While watching the show, I was writing down quotes he said, I am like wow this guy is amazing. One scene shows him playing golf with Bill Murray (Caddyshack) and they are walking along the course and talking. I don't recall what exactly they where talking about at the time, but Michael said "If I can do everything, than I have no reason for hope." Hope, hope for joy hope for happiness, hope for a cure, just plain hope. Hope for happiness.

Michael J. Fox actually traveled to the country of Bhutan, clips where shown during the TV show of his visit there. He stated and it was noticeably visible that while being there his symptoms of Parkinson's where diminished. He had less trouble walking and his tremors where also less noticeable. Could this really be? The faces of the Bhutanese looked like they had seen their fare share of hard work. But they also showed a sort of peace and happiness. As I researched Bhutan further, I came across a speech made by Bhutan's Minister of Home and Cultural Affairs in June 2005 at a University in Nova Scotia. This paragraph seems to explain it:
"Our King was clear that happiness is the ultimate end desired, but not necessarily pursued by every Bhutanese and indeed, every human being. All else for which we labour are but means to fulfilling this wish. Yet it is ironic that human society is pervasively susceptible to confusion between this simple end and the complexity of means. "

Happiness being the ultimate end desired. Is that not what we all strive for? For everyone, happiness is measured differently. Is it a new pair of shoes, is it an exotic vacation, is it simply just having enough food to eat and a shelter over your head?

The other day I was talking with my cousin, who is trying full fill her dream so she can attain her happiness. As the conversation progressed, she mentioned that I needed to stay optimistic about the whole situation. I said yes, but you also have to be realistic. Now I consider myself one of the most optimistic people around. I have had my fair share of downs in life, and looked at each situation as "it could have been worse." I think that is optimism to it's fullest. But when does being realistic turn into being pessimistic? Or does it. Being realistic just means having a plan B if A does not work out. I would actually consider that as double optisim. When things are not within your control reality has to be part of the whole picture. You can hope that everything goes according to plan, but when it is not under your control, all you really have is hope and perhaps a prayer. I hope with all my heart that her dreams do happen and that it will be her happiness.

Hopes and dreams, we all have them. Add a little optimism, and than you have the whole package.

May 14, 2009 America's Newest Citizen

It seems that all the journey's of life start in a different way. This one for Bill started almost 7 years to the day, the day we arrived in America. We arrived into the ever famous JFK to spend a few days with my sister she was living on Long Island, (now in Pensacola). We wanted to spend some time seeing the sights of NY again. We saw the Statue of Liberty, went out to Ellis Island. Took photo's in the exact same spot we had back April 2001, the skyline of the city had since changed dramatically. The Twin Towers where missing. Those 2 pictures hang side by side on the wall at our house, one with the Towers and the other without. It hangs there so we will never forget. Never forget what an amazing country we now live in. Never forget what it means to be an American. I know I previously said that my heart is in Hungary, but I am still American. It is home, it is where we come back to. On my travels when people ask, where I am from, I am proud to say I am from America. (I can now say that in louder voice thanks to Pres. Obama. During the W years, I don't think I was so proud). As I mentioned before, I am glad that my parents made the bold move and "escaped" from Hungary to come here.

We made the move back to the states to give Sophie a better home, a better place to live and play. I know we have accomplished that. If we would have stayed in HU, I don't think we would be able to go and see the places we have seen and to be able to continue on our Road to Shangri La.

There were 347 people who became US Citizens at the ceremony in Tampa yesterday. They came from 79 different countries. It was a moving ceremony, with lots of laughter and applause and also some tears, happy tears. The participants all seemed so proud, and with every right. I just want my hubby to know that I am proud of him. He did it.

Now we can all use the "US Citizen" line at the airport. As Sophie would say, Good job Daddy!!

Wednesday April 8th Back to Tampa

It is hard to believe that it is our last day in London. I had packed the morning before, so there were just a few things to cram into the suitcase. We went down and had our last pieces of toast and tea. We decided that we might as well head for the airport early so we would not have to rush and since we did not want to drag our luggage around London. Our flight actually did not leave until 11:25 but we headed to the airport at around 7:30 ish or so.

We took the Tube from Bayswater and changed at Piccadilly Circus. There was some sort of power outage happening somewhere along the line, so they said our line was closed for the time being. We ran into a local couple who were also heading to Heathrow so we stuck by them. The Tube finally re-opened after about 5 minutes. We hopped on and headed west. We ended up having to change trains 2 stops before, since the one we where stopped at all the terminals but ours (4). Not a big problem we still had time to spare.

We arrived at the airport and checked in. We again, as on the way over only had carry-ons. It was not a problem packing. In fact, Bill and I each had a pair of pants that we did not wear. I did do a little washing of socks and undies in the hotel sink. But we managed just fine. In fact most of Sophie's clothes I gave to Dori for the girls, she was thrilled and I was thrilled they where going to be worn again. After going through customs and security, we finally made to the gate area. We decided to spend the last few pounds we had and opted for a nice meal. I had the traditional English breakfast with coffee, Bill opted for fish and chips and a beer.

Our flight finally boarded, and we took off on time. It was a full and very uneventful flight. We arrived in Atlanta around 4:00pm our next flight not leaving until 10:30 pm. I tried to get us on an earlier flight, but that was going to run us $50 per person. We decided to nix that idea and found a quiet place to sit, watch people and rest. Sophie layed down and was out cold in about 2 minutes. Bill and I took turns walking around grabbing something for dinner and just stretching our legs. We had a hard time waking Ms. Cranky-Pants for the last leg home. We finally boarded that flight too, and headed to Tampa. I know I slept the whole flight as did Sophie, Bill on the other hand opted for the Coke and lovely bag of peanuts. We arrived into TPA at 12:01 am Thursday morning. By the time we took the shuttle back to long-term parking and got on the road, I was believe it or not ready to roll. I was afraid that I was going to fall asleep at the wheel but managed just fine. We arrived home, dropped the suitcases by the front door, changed Sophie into pajamas, showered and fell into bed at 2:15 am. Ahhh it was good to be home!

It was an amazing trip. We saw and did so much that I am not sure if I manged to cover everything. I know I am sad that I did not get to see my friend Hajni, but unfortunately her work schedule did not work well with our play schedule. Maybe next time. I am quite sure there will be a next time for London. I however, did NOT find the Shangri-La for which I was searching. There is to much hustle to find the peace and tranquility for which I am seeking. The 2 sides to that coin are, it was great fun trying to find it, and hopefully finding it will be even better.

Tuesday April 7th

For starters today is our 8th wedding anniversary. We woke with just enough time to have some of that wonderful toast downstairs. I also managed to pack all our suitcases before we headed for our tour. We had a few things planned for today before we met up with Dori and family late in day. It turned out to be our coldest day in London. The sun was shining, but the wind was howling. It was probably just about 50ish F with the wind. We bundled up the best we could with the clothing we had bought with us and headed out. (Unfortunately Sophie had lost one of her mittens in Paris).

Stop number one was Westminster Abbey, first coronation 1066. I had purchased the London Pass tickets, these tickets included admission to over 50 different places. I had thought that the Abbey was one of them, I was wrong. The line was quite long,and it was quite expensive, so we just walked around a bit and headed towards the river. There was a monument to the Armed Services that I wanted to photograph so headed to that. On the way there, we passed the little park next to Westminster Abbey, where the Churchill statue is. There was some sort of demonstration against the war in Iran going on. The park was full of police officers and police cars surrounded the park. We walked down along the Thames I took my pictures of the monument. We than looked for the nearest tube station to head over to The Tower.

Once we got to The Tower, I realized that our London pass covered this site, we where able to skip the ticket purchase line, and go straight to the gate line. This moved quite fast, well if you consider 20 minutes fast. Once through the gate the crowd dispersed some, we decided not to take the Yeomen Warders tour, since there were about 100 people per guide. We walked around the grounds took a tour of a military museum on the grounds. It was nothing very exciting, but since you had to pay extra, it was pretty quiet. It did however show some of the Queens dinner ware, it was exciting to find out that my mom has the same pattern, minus the Queens stamp in the middle of the plates. The ones that mom has is actually Zsolnay from Hungary.

The whole Tower area was packed as everything else we had seen in London and Paris. From the museum we headed over to see something I really did not want to miss. It was the "Henry VIII Dressed to Kill" exhibit. It showed all the different suites of armor that he/they wore back in the days of Knights. It was quite impressive, what fascinated me even more, was once again the building in which it was held. All the things that happened behind those walls. Who sat there, who visited there. How cool. Sophie was thrilled to learn that Henry VIII died on January 28th, her birthday. We did not see the torture tower, the jewels, or the prison, or much more of The Tower. (I had actually seen these on my first visit with Raeanne and Duncan in 2000.) We ended our visit to The Tower and moved on to The Tower Bridge. This was also included in our pass price.

It was an amazing day to get some pictures of Tower Bridge, the clouds and sun ratio was just
right. There really was no line go up to the top of the bridge. Hard to believe. It was nice, interesting to walk across the span of the bridge and see the sights from up there. We snapped some more pictures and than walked back to see the engine room of the bridge. That was quite interesting to see how they opened the bridge in the old days. They used coal furnaces that would produce steam connected to pulley's and the bridge would open like that.

By now we where all cold and miserable. Sophie had woken with a mild temp and felt awful. This was only day that she ever complained and said she was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel to lay down. Well being the good parents we are, we bribed her to the best of our ability. She made out like a bandit wit toys and such. It was again time for lunch so headed back to Victoria Station for one last time, to get some good old English cooking at McDonald's. (ha ha) We also stopped along the way to pick up some ibuprofen, this time for Sophie. She took that ate lunch and was feeling much better. Ready to continue with the "tour."

We still had a little time before it was time to meet up Dori, so we went to check a few more things off the list. We headed over towards Buckingham Palace, since we had not taken good pictures of the guards on our earlier visit. After that we went to see the Royal Mews. It is where they first Mewed the Royal Falcons. Than eventually they put the Royal carriages and cars there. This again was included in the Pass. The line was not very long, but seemed to move quite slowly. Once through the gate, we where actually in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Kind of cool, too bad we could not have tea with the Queen. We however did use her "WC" (water closet) it was quite nice, also it was warm in the building. The carriages where really interesting to see. I was amazed that they let us get that close. There was one carriage in particular that was amazing. I don't recall which King had it commissioned, but it was made of solid gold. (I also don't know if it was the real thing or just a replica of it... to expensive to leave out like that.) Even the wheels were made of gold. Come to think of it, kind of frivolous spending if you ask me. It was an interesting visit. Something I never would have thought would have interested me. But it did. We did stop at the gift shop to buy Sophie "just one toy..." I bought my sister some English Lavender soap and myself a wind/rain jacket with Buckingham Palace and the Queen's crown in gold embroidery. It came in handy, I was quite cold by now.

Next on the list was The Queen's Gallery, also included in the Pass. (Most people I chatted with stated the Pass was a rip-off, but we managed to save quite a bit of money with it just this one day, again, worth it to us. Use your own judgement.)

The Queen's Gallery was also quite lavish. It made me feel kind of "Royal" being able to go into the Palace (ok, so it was only one wing of the place). The walls where all painted a nice deep rich color green, burgundy, dk blue. As we entered the Gallery, we had to turn off our cell phones, and we where running late already, but had to go finish the Gallery. So of course we had missed Dori's phone call. We saw all the things that were on Sophie's treasure hunt sheet and a few other rooms full of some very ornate furniture and fixtures and paintings. Than of course one more stop at the gift store. I have to give Sophie credit, she was always beaming at the Swarovski crystal, and the bling bling stuff. She even went as far as stating that Swarovski was her favorite store. I think we opted for some colored pencils and that was it. We headed back to the hotel to drop our loot and than out again to Hyde Park to meet up with Dori and family.

I felt bad since we were about an hour late for our last meeting with Dori. We finally found the spot, which happened to be the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park. The girls ran around a bit, watched the ducks and than we headed for the playground. Easier said than done. We walked all over Hyde Park sort of following the Princess Diana Memorial Walk. We made it to the far end to a small museum of sorts, which of course was closed. We than headed back up the other side of the Park to the playground nearest Lancaster Gate. The girls played and we did some final chatting, the hubbies where busy trading camera tips. It turned out to be a wonderful end to a long and exhausting trip. If only it would have been warmer, it would have been 100% perfect. This way it was only 98%. But some things we just can't control.

We said our sad goodbyes and we headed to the underground at Lancaster Gate and Dori, Zsolt, Bori and Kami headed up the street to their hotel. We stopped at the local Tesco to pick up something for dinner and than headed back to the hotel for our last night there.

Monday April 6 -- A Day in Paris

After waking even earlier than what we are used too, we took a Black Cab to St. Pancras station for our 0525 Eurostar to Paris, Gare du Nord. The train was full, but the 2 hour 25 minute ride was quick. Perhaps the nap we took helped make the trip fly by. We traveled under the Chunnel, pretty much unaware, other than our ears popping. We pulled in Paris as I woke Sophie, she was insistent that we where not in Paris, but that we where in Budapest. The similarity was actually quite amazing. In fact later in the day we say a building that looked exactly like on in Budapest.

Our first stop was to change dollars into euros. After that, we headed to the line for the tickets to the metro. We purchased the Mobilis ticket, which was good for all day in the districts which we were interested in seeing. There were many other options, but this worked best for us.
We hopped on the metro and headed to our first "touristy" stop. Notre Dame.

We walked up to Notre Dame which was amazing. The grandour, the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris
We took the tour of the inside which just as stunning as the outside. What I found most amazing was that construction on it began in the year 1163. I kept thinking what was it like for the people who first attended this beautiful church. What were their lives like. What was life like in general in that time. Unfortunately we could not contemplate history for to long, our time was very limited. From here we crossed the River Seine back to the mainland. (Notre Dame is actually located on an island in the middle of the Seine.) We hopped on another metro and headed for the Eiffel Tower. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower

We exited the metro and walked around the corner and there it was. We had seen bits of it from the metro, it was amazing. As we came around the corner, I had covered Sophie's eyes so she could get the full effect. It worked. She removed her hands and yelled "Oh my gosh" pretty much as loud as she could. Everyone around us got a smile on their face. It was a short 4-5 minute walk from the metro to the Tower. We cut along a side path since the crowds where already growing. We shot about 20 pics or so from that angle and headed for the line to go up the tower. It was a really hard decision to choose which line to stand in, since they were all curving around like a snake. The one we picked was a mere 2.5 hour wait to get to the elevator to take us up. When we first stood in line, the top floor of the tower was not opened, ha, we stood there long enough and the marquis flashed it was finally open. So opted for the top floor. The price was not to bad, if I recall correctly adults were 18Euros and children where 7 Euros. I figured what the heck. We rode the elevator to the first level , walked all around, looked out and looked down. It felt like my stomach was flip-flopping while looking down. It is quite a was up there. All I kept thinking about was how do we get down if there is an emergency, typical mom.

We than stood in line for level 3. That was probably another 45 minute wait. Took the elevator to the top, talk about your stomach rising up, wow. The third level is all glass enclosed, I guess that would make a huge splat from way up there. The view however was amazing. We walked around, looked in all directions and headed back down. By now, we were starving. We had spent about 4 hours total at the Eiffel Tower. That was not really in the schedule, but we made do. Time for some lunch.

By now we were famished and cranky, getting headaches and being snippy. I had in my mind planned a picnic lunch near the Eiffel Tower. Well that idea got shot down to. We decided to head towards La Defense. It is the major business district for the city of Paris. And OMG it is quite a business district. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_D%C3%A9fense

We headed to La Defense via metro, (leaving out the Trocadero which I had wanted to see, amazing view of the Tower.) We arrived at the metro station to La Defense, and low and behold a grocery store right in the underground. We quick got some lunch meat, melon, cheese, tomatoes and french bread (what else would you in France). We took our lunch outside and looked for grassy spot to sit and eat. Well, it is a business district, there are no grassy spots. We opted to join others on the largest set of stairs we saw. It was the best meal we had on probably the whole vacation. We ate to our hearts content, Sophie chased her pigeons, and we took more pictures. It was nice and relaxing. After being on our feet for what seemed like 10 hours, it was nice to just sit for an hour or so.

Well time was wasting so we headed to our next stop, Avenue des Champs Elysees, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champs-%C3%89lys%C3%A9es and the Arc de Triomphe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe As we emerged from the metro along the Champs Elysees, the traffic was amazing. I had no idea how that many cars could figure out where they where going. The round-a-bout at Arc de Triomphe has 12 different roads leading to it. I sure could picture that happening here in Venice. They would have to have ambulance station right in the center of it all.

Well my list of things to see in Paris was winding down. All that was left was a little museum known as the Louvre. Well ok, so it is not that little. By now it was about 5:00 pm or so, we had to be at the train station no later than 7:00 to catch our 8:25 train back to London.

I had hopes of being able to see the Mona Lisa and the statue of Venus, but time was running out. We again took the metro to The Louvre. We exited the metro at the shopping center underneath the museum. It was a good call, we got to see the glass pyramid from the bottom looking up. Quite a stunning site, the light was hitting it just right and casting prisms all around it. We looked into a few store and of course Sophie had to have "just one toy"... again. We made our way up and out of the shopping area. To a spectacular site.

We entered the main courtyard to the museum, this is where the giant glass pyramid is located. (I looked for signs marking the Rose Line from the DaVinci code, but could not find it.) It is hard to describe, the pyramid is such a contrast to the museum building that it is some sort of way it actually makes sense. If that could be a possibility. Unfortunately we had arrived there so late, that we did not have time to enter and see the few things that were on my "list." We took lots of pictures in the courtyard, sat and rested our extremely tired bones and just took a little quiet time. Sophie made some new friends who where from the Atlanta area. They managed to find some energy to chase a few more pigeons. From where, I have no idea. I found it hard just to put one foot in front of the other. We bid farewell to the new friends and continued our journey.

As we exited the courtyard, across the street we saw some shops and popped in. They were quite expensive and we decided we really did not need anything, than I realized that other than a few toys for Sophie, we had not even purchased a Parisian souvenir. We opted for a sign of the Eiffel Tour (Fr spelling). It looks great out on the porch.

We headed to the metro and back to Gare du Nord to catch the 8:25 pm Eurostar back to London. Sophie made some Brit and Aussie friends, we tried to nap, not much luck there. When we arrived in London, it had that feeling of arriving home after a long trip. I had accidentally left our transport tickets in our hotel room safe, so we had to spring fare back to the hotel on the metro. We stopped for some Chinese food at a small restaurant near the hotel and took it back to eat there. Not as good as I would have liked. But oh well, after a nice hot shower, we headed to bed to get ready for our last full day in London.

All in all, I am glad that we opted for the day trip to Paris. It was better than what I had expected. You hear stories of how rude the French can be. I did make an attempt to learn a few words in French. That must have worked, once they realized that all I knew where a few words, they spoke english quite well. I was however surprised at the number of gypsys in Paris. They were every where, begging for money. Asking if we spoke english? I answered them in Hungarian saying no, and they left us alone. Otherwise, they would stick a piece of paper in your hand stating they need $$. Well, sorry I need my $$ too. I worked and saved to hard to give it away. If I had to choose the worst part of the Paris trip, it would have to be the crowds. Way to over-crowded. When we pulled into St. Pancras station in London there was an ad sign, stating Edinburgh, Scotland 15 pounds-one way. That might have been a bit more relaxing, maybe next time.

Sunday April 5

After what seemed like just a few hours of sleep, we are up and at it again. We manage to get breakfast in at the Hotel. If you want to really call it that, it consists of toast and tea for me, toast and coffee for Bill and Sophie gets to have maple and brown sugar oatmeal brought from home. The hotel serves breakfast from 7:30-9. By 9:03 there was not a crumb to be found in the serving area. Different from the kitchen area, since that was totally disgusting. No clean plates, cups or silver to be found in the kitchen. Thank goodness breakfast was all disposable utensils. From here we headed to the tube station to catch up with Dori and family and off to see Sophie's dream, the London Eye.

After standing in one line to buy tickets, than off to the next line to stand in line to ride the eye, was a total of about 2 hours. I would say it was worth it, mostly to see the look on Sophie's face as we rode ever so slowly higher and higher. You could not feel the movement and it was a nice sunny day the view was amazing.

After a beautiful ride, although cooped up in the capsule, we decided to let the girls run a bit in the adjacent park. They played and the adults ate. Just a nice little snack of some crackers, sausage, tomatoes and the ever present bottle of H2O. We knew better. We where building up our energy for things to come. We headed off to the Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaur bones.

Oh my gosh.... it was so crowded when we got there, it was a straight shuffle through the exhibit to see the bones. After doing the dino-shuffle, I had had enough. I said that I was done with the dinos. Sophie did have to do the potty run, which just happened to take us by the room where the the Blue Whale was. Wowwwie wow wow.... that thing was huge. It is hard to phantom the idea that there could be such an animal on this planet that is that big.

We had a nice sit down adult dinner in a nice restuarant near Leister Sq. We called it an early night, since we had to get up early Monday morning for a 0525 train to Paris.

Saturday Night April 4

After strolling through the park, having dinner and walking along the Thames, the 3 of us headed off to a very special event. The Ceremony of the Keys.

It is a Ceremony that has been going on for over 700 years. Same time, same place every night come rain or snow or whatever the element might be. It takes place at The Tower of London. To get tickets, you have to order them online, I give a good 2-3 months notice, they are free, minus the international postage coupon they require. Order tickets from the site below. http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/ceremonyofthekeys.aspx

Years ago, perhaps 700 or so, it seemed like a good idea to lock up the Tower of London every night. Now I think it is just out of habit that this is performed. What ever the reason they still lock up nightly, it is something that I highly recommend if you can fit it in your schedule.

There are about 50 people who witness this pomp and circumstance nightly. After presenting our ticket, we where ushered into through the West Gate, we waited for the rest to be admitted and gathered at Traitors Gate. From there, the ceremony was explained to us by Allen, our Beefeater guide for the ceremony. He was great, had amazing stories to tell and told them in a way that mesmerized us all. One of things I learned that I never knew is that the Beefeaters actually live on site at the Tower. There are, if I remember correctly 70 families residing there. All this I learned from Allen. If granted special permission by the Queen, is family members may also be married at the Chapel on the grounds of the Tower.

As our tour procedded, Allen kept us laughing and the kids quiet by joking with them. A very nice thing he did was call all the little kids to the front so they could see what was about to happen. (An awesome map of the Tower)
http://www.hrp.org.uk/Resources/Tower%20of%20London.pdf
Once we where all gathered at the Traitors Gate, the ceremony began. We knew what to expect since Allen explained it all to us beforehand. Unfortunately they do NOT allow pictures or video to be made of the ceremony. Once the guards came down the walk with keys in hand and where allowed to pass by the guard on duty the Keys procedded past the Bloody Tower and we where escorted towards the stairs near Coldharbour Gate.

While the Ceremony was happening, everyone was very quiet, waiting in anticipation for the pomp. We where not let down. Seeing something so full of tradition was an experience definately not to be missed. After the Ceremony was over, we took the famous double decker back to Trafalgar Sq and the tube from there back to the hotel. We plopped into bed once again just around midnight.

Saturday April 4

Saturday morning we headed over to The Crypt, near Trafalgar Sq. We went down to the basement and tried our hand at some brass rubbings. They came out quite nice, Sophie opted for the the unicorn and I for Queen Elizabeth I. It was a unique thing to do and made some nice souvenirs. From there we walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral. Since we had not walked enough or climbed enough stairs at the Tube stations, we decided to climb up the 257 steps to the top of St. Paul's dome. The weather up at the top was a bit windy but quite nice and sunny. It was well worth the effort and near coronary to make to the top. Some great pics of the Millenium Bridge. In fact the whole time over there, the weather was wonderful, sun shine every day with it being approx high 60's low 70's. The very last day there the sun still shined, but the wind was cold. Probably reaching to only the high 50's. Not a drop of rain the whole 6 days there.

From St. Paul's we walked and walked some more to The Temple. Yes, the same one made famous in the DaVinci Code. Unfortunately we could not enter the building, but we did spend some time walking the grounds. It was amazing the buildings we passed while walking. The amount of history and stories they hold, if walls could talk. Our stroll took us past St. Clements Church, the old nursery rhyme, Oranges and Lemons ring the bells of St. Clements.... They happened to be ringing as we walked by, very loudly.

We must have had lunch somewhere on the run, it must not have been a very memorable place, because I cannot remember where. We than headed back towards our hotel, dropped off the uncessary items, and headed over to Hyde Park, saw Speakers Corner, and took another nice looooong stroll over to the Marble Arch. Took some available photo ops and headed back to Buckingham Palace to meet up with some very old and dear friends, Dori and Zsolt and their 2 girls, Bori and Kami. We chatted and walked some more through St. James Park and saw the Horse Guards Parade (it is where they keep the horses) had dinner somewhere and chatted for a little with some old friends.

Friday April 3

Well things have finally settled and are starting to return to "normal" around home. We have been back for almost 2 weeks now and I have to admit it took longer to recover from this trip than most. It could have to do with the fact that we must have put in 5-10 miles of walking daily while in London and Paris. It was worth every ibuprofen that I took. I can't even begin to name all the places we went and saw, but here's a shot at it.

We arrived in at London Heathrow on Friday April 3. From there we used the pre-purchased transport tickets, and took the Tube into London. After checking into our hostel, The Royal Bayswater Hotel, we took our things to our room ( I had booked the 4 beds for the 3 of us, with ensuite bath) to find it still dirty from the previous guests. When I mentioned this to reception, she said they would get to it soon. (Well my parents owned a motel all my childhood life, and you NEVER gave out keys to a dirty room.) The local was excellent, it was right across the street from Hyde Park, with 2 different subway lines within 3 minutes walk. For our first adventure, we headed over to the Beatles Store, from there of course to Abbey Rd. Than for lunch for our first taste of the local fish-n-chips. It was hard to say if it was good or not, since we had only eaten airline food for the past 24 hours. (But it did taste yummy)

We decided to pretty much call it a day, and headed to Tesco (grocery) and than back to our room, which by the way was now cleaned and turned out to not be so bad after all. We each took a nice hot shower and flopped into bed.

From the mouths' of babes

As I sit it in the peace and quiet of a yet sleeping house, I ponder on the chaotic happenings of today. I have 8 more minutes of tranquility before it is time to wake the household.

Sophie still does not know of our plans for the up coming trip. She told me the other day for spring break all she wants to do is go get ice cream, go to the State Park and go to Jungle Gardens. I am quite sure she will be ok with the changes I have made to her plans.

I look forward to today with anticipation, I love the chaos of travel, the craziness of the airports, I actually enjoy waiting in the lines, watching people, sitting on the "bench of criticism" (so named by one of my bestest friends, Szepy it sounds so much better in Hungarian, 'Kritika Pad') But as Sophie put it once when we dropped my parents at the airport, "Ahhhh the sweet smell of jet fuel." From the mouth of babes.

I can feel the adrenaline starting to run through my veins, my heart beating just a little faster, the excitement growing. It is almost time to head to Tampa, or better yet, start down the Road to Shangri La.

Is there such a place.... Join in our journey to see if it exists.

The reason I travel is to experience the differences of other lives and cultures vs my own life and the culture which I was brought up in. Is their life better? Not materialisticly speaking, but the real things in life that matter. Happiness. Love. Family. Does a Shangri La really exist somewhere out there? Or am I actually already living in it? Do I drive on the "Road to Shangri La" before pulling into my driveway or is it somewhere on the other side of the world. In the past 40 or so years of traveling, I have attempted to find this utopia, this permanently happy land. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La. So far, my travels have taken me to 5 of the 7 continents. (Australia and Antartica are on my "to-do" list.)

Is this utopia located in my parents homeland of Hungary. I find it hard to believe that it would be there. After 20 some visits there, and actually living there for about 5 years myself, I realize not in a million years would it be there. (However this is where my heart is drawn, sort of like going home.) Is it in the land of my parents ancestors? My dad is of German descent. The Bavaria area is where his family emigrated to Hungary from back in the 1800's. It could be close to there. The peace and tranquility which I experienced in Bavaria was amazing, the calmness, and the friendliness people is unique to Europe.

Could it be closer to my mothers descendents, the Jasz tribe? Originating from the Iran/Persia area, these nomads moved into Hungary around 1200's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jassic_people. Along the way mixing with many notorious people, the Magyars, the Tatars, the Huns, most famous of those being Atilla the Hun, and also Genghis Khan. (I guess that explains my temper ;>)

After the "draw" I feel in my heart towards Hungary, the next draw I feel is actually to Mongolia. It must that Genghis Khan thing. (I think I might be getting warmer to my utopia.) The warmth, calmness, happiness but most of all the strength of the people who struggle so hard to survive appeals to me. Could there actually be some lineage connection? Why is it that every time I see a picture of the Mongol people, they are smiling and happy? How could people who live in such harsh conditions, have so few belongings be so happy? Perhaps they know the secret? Is there a secret? Is Shangri La just living your life to the fullest? Leaving the earth a better place than you found it? Making a child smile? Helping someone in need?

Join our family, my husband Bill, our 7 year old daughter Sophie and myself as we explore this amazing road of adventure. I realize that is a journey that will not be taken all at once, (unfortunately) it will take many legs and many years to complete our journey. Whether the road will lead us Shangri La is hard to say, perhaps that is all in the eye of the beholder. The first step of our journey will begin in London in just a few weeks.