OUR RECENT TRIP
Karen
and I recently returned from a two month trip, abroad, as they used
to say. Of course from the Hawaiian
Islands everything is abroad. We began our trip in late November with
a visit to Nicole and Steve in San Anselmo. A dinner on their patio included
my cousin Marcus (see photo). Nicole let us know, to our delight, that she
was pregnant, due in March. We were also treated to a great Elton John play
Aida, and a Asian-Fusion meal at one of San Francisco's great
eateries.
We
next flew to JFK, where Max, in the totally crazed confusion of America's
premier gateway, picked us up and drove us to his condo in Old Greenwich
Connecticut for a few days. He and the beautiful Lynnette were getting
married in two weeks, and our trip had been timed for this auspicious event.
We were to stay with the gracious Cohens (see photo) until a few days after
the wedding, when we would leave for London. The Cohens are in Georgetown,
near Damien's home in Wilton and close to where the wedding was to happen.
We took every opportunity to visit with son
Damien and his willowy wife Hilary, (doesn't that sound nice) and their
daughter, our grand daughter, the gorgeous Lillian. The photos below show
mama with child and papa, far right, Joel and his grandchild Julian, in the
Cohen's pool, and us doing our grand parenting. Hilary gave us the good news
that she's pregnant again, expecting in March.
The
feature event was the wedding of Lynnette and Maximillian held in the
Lounsbury House, an elegant mansion donated to the town of Ridgefield by a
wealthy benefactor. The pupus and drinks were chattily eaten on the wrap
around lanai. The ceremony then unfolded on the front lawn. Mutual vows were
exchanged, the glass broken and a kiss enjoyed to the applause of all.
Family photos were taken and dinner was served in the grand ballroom. Toasts
were made and everyone boogied till late into the night to the groovy sounds
of a great band. Great good fortune bless both of you in the lifetime you'll
have together.
We
were to fly out of JFK at 11:30 pm on the tenth of September. Our plane was
delayed an hour. We flew out at 12:30 am on September Eleventh. We landed in
London and checked into our Kensington hotel, went for a walk and a coffee
and returned to be told by the concierge that a plane had hit the World
Trade Center. We went to our room and watched the events on CNN and the BBC.
We were dazed and forlorn. We didn't like our hotel so we were relieved to
get out into the London streets and walk for miles. Heightened security was
evident. But the London streets fascinated us both and we managed to carry
on. We had our Euro-outfits, good walking shoes, our travel purses, and
grateful curiosity. We spent three days ogling London.
We
took a train to the town of Gleneagles, above Edinburgh in Scotland and
visited with Norm and Mame Best. Norm, now retired, was my client for many
years during a large Hong Kong project, and we grew to be good friends.
There's a picture of Norm, Mama and Karen with the rolling hills of that
beautiful countryside in the background. From there we took a train to Hull,
an overnight "ferry", and what a "ferry" it was, to
Rotterdam and a bus to Amsterdam.
Aahh,
Amsterdam, a great city for walking, looking, eating, shopping, and hanging
out, especially the cafes, the cannabis cafes were a treat... so civilized.
Our hotel, booked by Karen over the internet, and guaranteed by a pound of
Kona coffee shipped there beforehand, was a beautiful old hotel, on the
Singel canal, a block from the Dam. We spent three days exploring,
wandering, sipping coffee and wine, eating, smoking and having a ball.
We
took a train across the Dutch and French countryside, to Paris, arriving in
the evening at our hotel, another gem booked by Karen with another coffee
bribe. We went out after dark, passing the Madelaine, and walking the few
blocks to the Place de la Concorde. Karen almost cried. She said it knocked
her socks off. The monuments were lighted, all aglow. From this busy square
we saw the Obelisk, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, the Arc de
Triomphe, the Louvre, and the bridges over the Seinne. We crossed the bridge
and walked up Boulevard St. Michelle. Except for sleeping, eating and
sitting in sidewalk cafes with pastry and coffee, we walked the city for
four days, covering Montmartre and Sacre
Couer, The Louvre, Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe,
Place Vendome, Le Opera, the Eiffel Tower, Luxembourgh Gardens, the
Moulin Rouge, the Jewish Quarter, the Left Bank, the Bastille, and all the
places in between. The food was great, the air crisp and the city glorious.
From
Paris we took the train, the TGV, to Montpellier, spent the night, and went
on to Barcelona the next day. Our hotel in Barcelona was a block off the
Ramblas. The sidewalks of Barcelona are teaming with people, reminding me of
New York City. Imaginative buildings line the busy boulevards, interrupted
by statue filled plazas. And, of course, there's Gaudi's works, the
cathedral, the park, the apartment buildings... just unbelievable. I had
last been in Barcelona in 1963 when Franco was still in charge and life was
a little grim. Now 
life
was overflowing. It overflowed the great Barcelona marketplace, the
Ramblas, and the entire network of streets, avenues and boulevards that
stretch across this great city.
At
the end of three days we had a rental car waiting for us and we started our
car trip down the Mediterranean Coast. From this point on we had no
reservations, no particular destinations and no time constraints except for
a hotel and departing flight out of Madrid some three weeks away. We went
down the coast for a way, taking the scenic small roads and diverting off to
small beach towns and sea front promenades. Building is everywhere with many
tower cranes silhouetted against the blue sky.
We
spent two days in the mountains, the road snaking through olive groves as
far as the eye could see, and then headed back to the coast where we found
the small town of Almuņecar. The town and the hotel we chose were perfect.
We were on a point, with an old fort in front of us, a castle behind us,
miles of beach and seafront restaurants to either side, an old walled town
with narrow pedestrian streets a block away. The seafood was great and Karen
fell in love with the 
mejillones
(mussels), the aceitunas (olives) and the wonderful Spanish olive oil. We
stayed for six sun-filled days and nights, with a day trip to Granada to
visit the great Moorish castle of Alhambra.
We continued our trip down the coast, past Gibraltar, with
the mountains of Africa looming over the straights, and on to the Atlantic
coast where we crossed into Portugal, all this time encountering lovely
small hotels, restaurants, pastry shops, markets and cafes. We bought
cheeses and wines and olives and picnicked along spectacular oceanfront
vistas. Castles in Spain are everywhere, around bends in the road, on
seafront promontories, on mountaintops, in the center of walled towns.
O
ur
oceanfront drive took us along a sandy spit of land with dunes on either
side. We were headed toward Lisboa. This lonely little road, flanked by
scrub oaks, a little like Cape Cod, suddenly opened to an enclave of four
high rise buildings, parking lots, restaurants and boardwalks. We pulled in
and got an apartment suite on the fifteenth floor for $40 a night, with a
glass bubble elevator overlooking the nature preserve running up the side of
the building. We were to learn that this was a convention center used by
corporations for workshops and retreats. The next morning we took a car
ferry across the inlet to Setubal and from there we drove the forty minutes
into Lisboa where we spent the day sightseeing. We returned that evening to
our fifteenth floor apartment and the next day started our trip toward
Madrid.
We
crossed back into Spain and stopped for an overnight stay in Trujillo, where
we sampled some great aged Spanish jambon (4 year old ham sliced from a leg
bone held in a special fixture), one of the few times we sampled meat. The
next day we headed for the great city of Toledo, leaving time to explore
this old walled masterpiece. Karen found the one piece she promised herself,
a hand painted covered soup tureen and underliner, in a fine shop in Toledo.
We had these pieces along with two candle sticks, a wine pitcher and an
aceituna dish sent by the shop back to Kona where it presently sits next to
our dining table.
The
next day we drove into Madrid, returned the car and enjoyed that great city
for two days of sightseeing. On October 18th we flew to Montreal via Paris,
rented a car, and spent two days touring that lovely city. We drove down to
Burlington Vermont, through the Autumn colors of New England, to attend the
wedding of Stan and Helen Gold's daughter Jennifer. Stan and Helen are dear
old friends of Karen and dear new friends of mine. The wedding was glorious,
the weather perfect, the scene spectacular, the food excellent, the guests
gregarious. We stayed overnight at a hotel in Burlington, drove back to
Montreal and the next morning took a flight back to Kona through L.A..
On Friday evening, the twenty first of December, we held our
annual Solstice party. Karen set a spectacular table and the sixteen of us
spent a wonderful evening partying together (see photos below). It was also
the days of Chanukah which we celebrated at the Highkins and with the Kona
Beth Shalom congregation.
We
had Christmas eve with New Thought Center and afterward at home with Saya, Tim, Rya and Gary helping stack the
presents under the tree. Christmas day we spent with Saya, Tim, Tim's
children Katrina and Cody, and Karen's parents, Jeannie and Noah. New Years
eve we spent with Nicole and Steve and Noah and Jeannie.
And of course, BuhBuh.
Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2002