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Our Annual Sister Trip to Ireland

 On Friday, my sister and I are again headed to Ireland. It’s been a long year and much of our time together over the last 12 months has been addressing issues regarding our aging mother and I am looking forward to spending some quality time together. This year, my sister’s friend from graduate school will be joining us and if I remember her correctly (I haven’t seen her in 20 years) she was a lot of fun.  That being said, two issues have already come up between us sisters:  1. The size of my suitcase . I wanted a new, larger suitcase because I was sick of sitting on my old, inadequate one every time I bought too much while traveling—often in the company of my sister. I frankly was sick of worrying about the zipper giving out somewhere over Newfoundland and consequently asked for and received a lovely new LARGE suitcase for my birthday. I am so excited because unless I burn up my credit card with purchases, my butt and the top of the suitcase will no longer need to make c...
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A Tuscan Wedding, Day 3: The Hindu Ceremony, The Return of the Blue Gown and Bob’s Train Track Adventure!

 The third day of our Tuscany wedding started early.  At 9 am, we were to arrive and witness the “Kashi Yatra,” a part of the ceremony during a Hindu wedding. The story, as explained in Wikipedia, is that the groom decides to go on a pilgrimage carrying slippers, an umbrella and fans but the bride’s father tries to persuade his to stay and marry his daughter. As this was my first Hindu wedding, while all beautiful, I thought there were a lot of moving parts and it was difficult to follow, mostly because nearly all of it was in Sanskrit.  But there were some moments that need to be mentioned: 1. The bride looked beautiful in her traditional attire and the altar, with gorgeous pink and white roses and the Tuscan countryside as the backdrop, was nothing short of magnificent.  2. Bob played an impromptu role in the ceremony.  I’m not exactly sure what point of the ceremony we were at, but a member of the groom’s family was supposed to be part of the processional in ...
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A Tuscan Wedding-The Second Day: The “Catholic” Wedding and a Bad 55 Seconds of Dancing!

 The morning of the second day of Wedding Weekend started with breakfast that included salami, prosciutto and regional cheeses—not our usual morning nutritional start, but one I could get used to very easily.  We were all staying in the “Medieval Village” section of Il Borro, which included little artisan shops tucked away between the little streets and the gorgeous vistas.   But really, we had to get ready for the “Catholic wedding.” It was not a Catholic service as the officiant, our niece, had attended law school not the seminary… plus, Rome still is adverse to females running the religious show.  I think because Day 3 included the Hindu Wedding ceremony it was helpful not to confuse the two ceremonies.  It just made sense to call Saturday’s ceremony, the Catholic one.  As there were no priests attending the wedding weekend, I doubt that any of us Catholics would get in trouble—although I think Bob’s Jesuit cousin must have turned over in his grave at ou...
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A Tuscan Wedding, Day 1: Bus Dilemmas and Henna Parties!

 A three day Indian wedding was a first for us all but to attend such a wedding in the Tuscan countryside was more than we could have imagined.  But as usual, things started with a hiccup.   We were told that there would be buses to pick us up outside the Florence bus station at 1:30 pm to bring us to the wedding venue. We had to vacate our Florentine apartment at 10 am and felt that if we arrived at the bus station early (three hours early!) we could just get coffee and read our books. But before we could get to that point, we recognized two things: There was no way we could walk to the bus pick-up location and a cab (or two) was going to be difficult because of Florence’s small cabs and our large suitcases.  Moreover, we never took into account that we would have difficulty calling a cab for two other reasons: We could not communicate with the cab companies because we didn’t speak enough Italian and every time we left our apartment to go downstairs and try to flag ...
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Florence: My Love for Pistachio Cream is Reawakened and Where are All the Toilet Seats?

 After our night flight from Paris to Florence, we arrived at the apartment that the five us would be staying in for the next three nights.  It was great, as it was centrally located and the apartment itself was lovely with plenty of space for us all.  The building however, was likely constructed during the Renaissance and I would bet that the door and its lock were originals.  The key was oddly shaped and I could swear that Professor McGonagall had a similar pair attached to her robe in all the “Harry Potter” movies. After three trips with suitcases up the smallest elevator known to modern man, none of the four 60+ people could open the lock due to diminishing strength and increasing arthritis in our hands.  Fortunately, our young niece was with us and was able to open the door with far less difficulty.  We had a similar problem the next morning, trying to leave the apartment but again, we were saved by the youth of our niece.  I am frankly now, afrai...
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Normandy, Mont St. Michel and Back to Paris: Why is Everything Here in French?

 We have been busy since arriving in Normandy. Yesterday, we spent the entire day visiting the towns and beaches notable for the D-Day invasion. To walk on Utah and Omaha beaches and see the American Cemetery’s flag ceremony while listening to “Taps,” was very moving, even 80 years later.  Thanks to Gold Beach Company, we had a wonderful tour guide, Victor,  who provided us with a wealth of knowledge about those eventful days. We all agreed that upon our return home, watching “Saving Private Ryan” (for the 10th time) and “Band of Brothers” ( me for the third time, Bob for the 150th time) is a must.  The next day, we decided to get up early and head to Mont St. Michel, a huge 8th Century abbey on the west coast of Normandy, located about 1 1/2 hours from Bayeaux.  Unlike the day before when we were expertly chauffeured around Normandy by our man, Victor, we were on our own and that meant the bus was coming out of the hotel garage to get us there.  As we were...
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Paris, Giverny and Normandy: Toilets, Croissants and the Woes of Traveling with Too Many Suitcases!

Just to keep everyone up-to-date: My suitcase weighed in at JFK airport at a lean 48.5 pounds giving me 1.5 pounds lee-way for buying some mementoes.  As we are visiting both France and Italy, that’s not going to work.  Unbeknownst to Bob, sometime between now and our next flight, I will be moving things from my suitcase into his in order to maximize my future buying opportunities.   We landed in Paris and hit the ground running.  As it had been a few years since we have been to “The City of Lights,” and our memories are not what they used to be, we did a morning walking tour to provide us with a review of where the major sights are located. Because we were absolutely exhausted, we then took a tour that can only be described as the “Cliff Notes” version of the Louvre.  For those who have never visited the largest art museum in the world, you need to be prepared upon arrival because it is not for the faint of heart.  The building is massive with multiple win...
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