Ponderings from Europe Trip

 

 

 

I really enjoyed our 3 weeks of playing the carefree vagabonds. Europe wasn't on my top 3 locations to visit, but the friends and family located there were. Now that I have returned, I realize the visit was made even more special because I'd traveled in Europe before. There wasn't a rush to see the 'must see' things. We can buy so many European items in the states, I focused on what I couldn't get at home. This trip was also a bit different because of the dollar devaluation to the Euro. Everything was expensive.

People - 30 years ago, one of my strongest memories was how different people were in Germany, France, Ireland from each other and from what I knew. How they dressed, ate and lived was foreign to how I lived and quite distinctive from each other. This trip showed me that the world really has become smaller. People in all countries were suffering from the economic collapse and it was a universal discussion point. In the past, I would find an angry attitude toward the US. But in this trip, it was interesting to hear the seemingly universal support for the US which originated strongly from their attitudes toward Obama.

Lifestyle - US fast food restaurants were common to see. Music I hear in the states was common. After all, we listen to 'world' music these days. Though we did enjoy the traditional Irish music especially after a music pub crawl in Dublin. In Killorglin though, Mark's comment on a traditional music singer was 'the singer's tone kills my donkey'.
Movies, clothes, TV shows, groceries (Aldi was popular and we have them in Florida!)were all familiar. The euro has definitely created a commonality between these countries and with my EU passport, traveling between them was effortless. No incidents of border police getting on the train to check passports as you cross borders. Homes were more similar than dissimilar to homes in the states. Still, kitchens are much smaller and compact. IKEA is the great equalizer.

Food - My favorite subject! I found fewer unfamiliar foods in this trip. Maybe a bit of this is because I've traveled, but I also think there has been a lot of growth in food distribution globally. That said, this is the area where we found the most diversity, thank goodness!
In Germany, the variety of scrumptious breads was a joy to find. I think that and the variety of beers stood out. My favorite bread is the pretzel bun topped with crunchy salt. Topped with fresh butter and honey it is unmatched joy. YUM!!
What is really 'hot' throughout Europe these days is 'organic' food. It was amazing how much the term 'organic' was used in packaged food. This struck me as odd since 30 years ago, I'm pretty sure the local farmers were organic. I remember people being interested in growing their own fruit and vegetables and this has not decreased. We enjoyed organic veggies in Germany that made us smile just talking about it (thanks Angi!).
We enjoyed the importance of chocolate in the Netherlands (thanks Rita & Kees) and chips of all kinds seem to occupy most of the grocery shelves in Ireland. Lettuce however was in hiding.

In Ireland, the food in Dublin restaurants was wonderful. I've read that the Irish are discovering cuisine and Irish chefs are quite popular. This was apparent in Dublin. We discovered how seafood chowder SHOULD taste in the port towns in County Kerry. A symphony of flavors in a light cream base, often with a touch of fennel, really made the chowders a highlight of our food experience. We enjoyed the soda bread, and Maureen, cousin Jamesy's wife, made an outstanding Porter Cake (made with Guinness) which we decided was really bread, so we could eat it for breakfast.

The Drink - it seems a theme of this trip was alcohol. In fact, the purchases we brought back home were almost all food and alcohol. We rediscovered a liquor made and sold only in Etten-Leur, a small Dutch town near the Belgium border. That came back with us. I enjoy gin and brought back Bokma gin which I discovered 9 years ago in Amsterdam. Our other imbibing enjoyments included Jameson whiskey- especially after visiting their museum in Dublin, and Heneken which is Mark's fave. And yes, we spent a bit of time in the Heneken brewery in Amsterdam. We discovered fruit flavored beers in Germany which are heavily marketed to 'young professionals'. Very refreshing!

Marketing - I pay attention to this since my business is marketing. I found it interesting that the marketing was quite similar to what we know in the US, while 30 years ago I thought it quite different. I felt like Europeans had become like Americans in some respects when seeing the similarities in marketing. Not sure it went the other way around. Note that we didn't watch much TV, so this may be a skewed view based on print media. People were very interested in home improvement shows and magazines.

Cars - I know that there are car models manufactured only for the European market, but it seemed to me that fewer cars were unique from what we have in the states. Over 10 years ago, we drove a SMART car. Now they are sold in the states. In Germany, there was an abundance of mercedes and BMWs. It felt like silicon valley!

Trains - I used trains as my main mode of transportation for a number of years while traveling around Europe. It is still the most economical. Of course, now you may have internet connection on the 'fast' trains. I did find the Deutsch Bahn to be incredibly confusing. The ticket machines claimed to have an English version and in our attempt to be self supporting we tried this option. Only German was provided! And the cities we were looking for weren't necessarily on the ticket options. I think DB realized their equipment did not communicate well because we found at least one live person in every train station ready to help even the Germans figure out the
'self service' ticket opportunities.

Language - I'm not sure if I've become more comfortable with German, or if Mark's Turkish and German was the saving grace. But language wasn't an issue for us. It was apparent that more Europeans speak English, but also that those who didn't were very interested in communicating with us using a few key words... much like my few key German words. Note that most workers we interacted with in Germany were Turkish. So, Mark's Turkish was very handy. His German resurfaced only after a beer. So the mornings were definitely in Turkish.

In my three weeks, I think I was just getting into travel mode. The suitcase seemed to hold enough clothes, and I wanted to jump on more trains and see more towns and countryside. I guess that means we'll be going on more adventures, even in the states there is so much still to see! And I'll always enjoy the differences I get to see, hear, taste and feel...no matter how subtle they seem to become.

Drama in Istanbul

Big vacation for Tulin this year. She flew out to Turkey to visit her dad's family and was meeting Mark in Istanbul so they could fly the final leg of the trip together. But this turned out to be more difficult than we anticipated.

Tulin was flying from LA to Chicago through Madrid to Istanbul. Mark was going from Tampa to NY though Paris to Istanbul. They were to land within 30 minutes of each other and meet at the Turkish Airline counter where they would check in for their last leg to Izmir get to Mark's family.

Mark's flight to NY was severely delayed due to weather, so he missed all of his international connections and would arrive 7 hours late, at midnight. He called me in a panic about how to let Tulin know. All I could think of was Tulin standing in Istanbul Airport, quite excited to be on this adventure with her dad, and he doesnt show up even though his flights did. And that no one could tell her what happened. Thus began my 3 hours of international calls between the evening and early morning hours.

Without going into great details, which I can easily do, the highlights are: I called Delta, Istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines, American Express. Delta gave me the Istanbul Airport number and said good luck. The Airport kept sending me to odd offices (lost and found, reservations, parking) instead of to a paging office. Note that language was clearly an issue.
Turkish Airlines helped me change the connecting flights so that Tulin and Mark had tickets on the 7am flight the next day. This made me sure Tulin wouldnt be trying to fly out herself when she couldnt find her dad. But they could not assure me that they would pass the information to Tulin that her dad wasn't coming in until midnight.
I called American Express, their global assist number is just for things like this. So I was sure they could help, and they were quite sure they could as well. Their idea was to page tulin before she got to customs. The desk she would go to for the call was staffed by a woman who spoke good english, understood the issue and the task and was willing to help. And, Amex would provide a toll free number for Tulin to call me. This sounded good. But I still wasnt comfortable that I had covered all the bases.
I called Turkish Airlines again and asked to speak to the manager. I told him the story and that I was dependent upon him and his people to make sure this girl knew that her dad was coming, but 7 hours late. I pleaded with him and spoke as if she were his daughter, waiting for him without knowing where he was. He finally said Ok, that he would try to get her the message.
At this point, I figured I had done all that I could. Now I had to wait for her to land in Istanbul.
An hour after she landed, no calls. two hours, no calls. I contacted AmEx and they said they'd not heard from Tulin. Almost three hours after she landed I get her call!
She's crying and I'm crying - both with relief. She had wondered where her dad was, but proceeded to the Turkish Airlines counter to check in. They told her she had no ticket. Not that the ticket had been changed! When she asked about her dad's ticket, she got the same answer. Confused, she walked away to think about what to do. Her emotions were starting to run high as she returned and demanded to talk with the manager. She told him she and her dad had tickets and he needed to find them. They checked the rest of that day's flights - no tickets. Then she said to check for the next day. He did and said - I have a message for you! Your ticket is now 7am and your dad will be coming in at midnight. Call Kathy.
After that, Tulin was quite fine. She changed her clothes and got comfortable for the long wait (5 more hours). She sat in a cafe near where her dad would arrive and that is where they found each other at midnight - when they both called me to say everything was good.
WHEW!!!

What happened with the seemingly good idea by Amex? The paging system is so bad at Istanbul airport that Tulin couldnt understand anything they were saying. I did let Amex know what happened - and they were very interested to 'close' the incident. They are reviewing their paging idea for airports where this is not a good option.

Festimorial Celebration

Mark's and my annual hosted family holiday is one we made up. NOTE: each O'Leary has a hosted family holiday, but they are typically Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving. Making up our own holiday gives us flexibility in planning the date - but we've decided its a summer thing- scheduled sometime between May and August. This year, to beat the heat, we tried Memorial weekend, and adjusted the name of the celebration to Festimorial.

There was a quorum of family attendees, and we had lots of food. The rainy weather cleared and it was beautiful for going to the beach and for feasting. The obligatory telling of jokes and feats of strength were a bit more competitive with awards for the best (decided by me). While the feat of strength last year was arm wrestling, this year we had one legged, intertwined arm wrestling. And the winner was....MOM! This feat required lots of hopping and upper body strength, topped off with strong core strength. Mom's pilates paid off!

The hands down highlight of the day was watching the baby doves, literally inches from where we were wrestling and eating. Their mother decided it was time to learn to fly. So we watched the process which was uncannily like teaching a baby person how to take their first steps. And like humans, each baby bird needed motivating by mom, was clumsy when they tried to fly, and had a protective mother taking care of them along the way. It was like having our own personalized National Geographic episode.

Kitchen Awakening

We are almost done with the kitchen!! With water now running, it is functional. Originally, the kitchen was a separate room. The previous owner removed part of the kitchen-dining room wall and made an penisnula/bar between the rooms. While this was an improvement, it made for an awkward kitchen with minimal counter space for the size of the room, and a door to the patio that took up most of the counter when it was in use. The only lighting was from the ceiling fan which made any meal a surprise.

Ultimately, we: Opened the kitchen to the patio with french doors, closing the single door in front of the counter. Removed the peninsula/bar with the tongue shaped counter. Added lighting - can lights, LED under-counter lights, spotlights with new ceiling fan. New maple cabinets with rollout bottom shelves and drawers for pots and pans. Black granite composite sink. Stainless hood and wall guard for the stove, gas stove...and gas to the house. New stainless ceiling fan. Stainless shelf microwave to replace the over-the-stove microwave that was too low for the gas stove. New faucet.

Mark did the demolition and the construction, including cabinet installation. We did spring for counter-top installers, plumbers and electricians though! There were a few surprises along the way - which is typical. But none were show stoppers. I did however learn a dictionary worth of new and excited Turkish words that seemed to address each and every one of the challenges along the way.

Mark and I are really enjoying the larger, more efficient space, especially since we seem to be sure to be in the kitchen at the same time. As one can imagine, even though we have a BIG island, we end up working in the same corner - go figure!

Spring in the Yard

We are in the dusty, messy midst of kitchen rehab right now. Notice there are no photos yet. Due to stress of seeing it constantly, I dont want to see this mess anymore than I already have to. Mark has 4 more weeks to get it all done before he goes on his vacation.
So, I look outside and see lots of very pleasant things. Roses, hibiscus and plumerias blooming, tomatoes ripening and... a bird nesting. The theme for this spring has apparently been 'birds'. A dove decided to nest in the soap dish of our outdoor shower. It didnt take long for her to settle in to her resort condo. Her biggest protector is the Turk.
I await with great anticipation the birthing of the siblings (2 eggs) and their rapid progression to flight. You see, I really LIKE our outdoor shower, especially when I'm working in the yard or just back from a bike ride. And, with the condo soap dish occupied, the Turk wont let me near it!

Newest Neighbor-Baby Bald Eagle

The Turk and I headed out to Honeymoon Island this morning, bikes in the back of the truck. We were on a birding mission - likely influenced by the rescue earlier this week (see earlier entry). Once on island, we hopped on our bikes and peddled the Osprey Trail to check up on our feathery neighbors...and Mark's fishing competition.

The osprey were very active caring for their young chicks, catching fish for breakfast, and renovating their nests. (seems they are always 'adding on'). We saw a bright red cardinal who was brilliant in the pine forest. The cool morning was beautiful as we peddled, stopped, peddled, stopped..our way across the island trail until we reached a net fence. A ranger was there with a couple who had a camera with a very looong lens. Hmmm....we quickly realized that we had come to the bald eagle nest.

Its the first time in 40 years there has been a bald eagle nest on Honeymoon Island - so there is a lot of excitement about it. There have been families on Anclote Key, just north - near Tarpon Springs. And the guess is that this is one of those families who have relocated to Dunedin (just like us!). The ranger said that the county flew a reconnaissance mission over the nest to check for eggs in January, and when they spotted one, the area was fenced off for their protection. Because bald eagles are still protected by the federal government, there are mandatory steps that must be taken to ensure their safety. And any breech of security is a federal crime.

The baby, a month old, is large and dark. There isn't anything 'bald eaglish' about it to the untrained eye (that would be me and mark). It will begin to fly in the next few weeks, but in the meantime one parent is hunting for fish while the other watches from a nearby tree. Perhaps baby's largeness is crowding the nest a bit.

We finished our ride to find a festival of sorts going on, complete with bagpipes (well, it IS Dunedin), a lot of information on nature related activities, recycling, kayaking and biking, along with some history displays of the area. We were quite 'in' with our bikes and didn't admit to anyone that our truck was parked 1/4 mile away.

A great morning! We left just as the masses were arriving to the island via their vehicles - which were backed up to the end of the causeway. I really dont like sharing the island...except with the birds!

Mark's Wildlife Rescue

Mark was hanging around the causeway on Sunday, checking out the fishing action. The woman next to him threw out her fishing line and inadvertently caught an osprey's wing. He was circling low to catch fish and he got caught instead.

The bird was brought down to the water with the fishing line and it appeared its wing was broken. The bird was unable to fly and was being carried away by the current. The disabled osprey floated under the drawbridge and was heading out to Caledesi Island when Mark ran to that side of the causeway to begin the rescue.

With it traveling so quickly beyond the beach, Mark asked some jet skiers to retrieve the bird and bring it to shore. It took several jet skiers to accomplish this as no one wanted to get bitten. The bird was finally laid on a jetski foothold and driven to shore, but it laid motionless. Mark called me and I contacted the Honeymoon Island park ranger station where they prepared a cage for the wounded bird. Mark gently wrapped the osprey in his shirt to keep it contained in case it started fighting, and brought it to the rangers.

The rangers quickly caged the bird and took it to the shelter. Mark was worried all day for that bird. He worried that the bird's spouse would be waiting for the fish it was catching. And when it was clear the mate wasnt returning, they wouldnt be able to leave the nest to hunt food.

So, we went out to Honeymoon Island for sunset and to ask the ranger about the osprey. He sadly said that the vet had to put the bird down. That in addition to a broken wing, it had an illness that was weakening the bird and that it couldnt be cured.

Mark was devastated. But I assured him that since this bird was really sick, it likely didn't have a spouse and a nest to support. So there wouldnt be a waiting spouse.

We watched a wonderful sunset at the beach that evening, while the birds were actively catching dinner, and the dolphins were doing their synchronized sunset dance. And that is the way nature works.