Another month, another country. Or two.

When Kate and I first moved to Europe, we decided (mostly for financial reasons) that we’d limit ourselves to one trip by plane per month. Well I’m currently in the US writing about our trip to Portugal earlier this month. So it seems we slipped up.

Other than the microcountry of San Marino, I had been to every country in Western Europe except Norway (which we’ll see this May and again in July) and Portugal. So there was obviously some personal motivation there. But our good friends and award winners for most relaxed couple – Heidi and Ryan – provided motivation too, as they wanted to see what Lisbon had to offer. So off we went.

Our trip started with the realization that right outside our doorstep (literally) was Tram #28, a historic tramline that offers riders an educational trip up and down Lisbon’s most notable areas, including the Alfama, Bairro Alto, and St. George’s castle.
Nah. We have a map. We’ll walk and figure it out.

Here we are taking a picture in the wrong direction, with the beautiful and formerly steam-powered Santa Justa Elevator in the background.

Then, after 45 minutes of getting lost and exhausted hiking up to the wrong entrance of the castle, we were able to watch Kate let a cannon babysit her daughter at one of the castle’s lookout terraces.And then here’s me and Elizabeth getting distracted with botany at the base of the castle.
We then walked around the historic Alfama district for a bit, had lunch, and smartly decided to take Tram #28 back. Our 1.5 hours of heaving and getting lost turned into 10 minutes of tranquil but bumpy transportation bliss. With the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, I was reflective enough for a moment to come to the realization that, across the world, public transportation riders are consistently a little peculiar, be it in their dress, attitude, or genetic anomalies. Here rode the freaks of Lisbon.

Here’s me looking at a freak now. Actually it was a doggy. A cute one too if I remember right. We’re in Belem – Portuguese for Bethlehem. From here many explorers set off to make discoveries. And it’s here that they brought back those discoveries and turned them into money which built things like the palace in the background.
And this plaza, from which Kate’s fly-aways are charmingly posing while her face indicates that she just recognized some Peruvian pan-flute campadres playing in the background.
And this monument, in front of which a truly awesome dude and his unconvinced daughter are posing.The next day brought fog and a car trip to some places the awesome dude really wanted to go to. Here’s the Castle of the Moors at Sintra, which, as you might be able to see in the background, has castle walls that skirt some smooth and truly neat stone formations.
Here are the most relaxed couple in the world celebrating after having taken over the castle.And here are two kool kats at the Westernmost point in Europe. Elizabeth is pointing West, toward Brooklyn, actually. That girl knows her geography.

And finally we went to the second largest aquarium in the world (Atlanta has #1), where Elizabeth made the fishy sound, oh, about 1,000 times. She’s a cutey.

Elizabeth prepares for airport travel

The LUXury of living in Europe

Sometimes I forget how good we have it here.

Earlier this month, Edward and Stephanie came for a visit – ostensibly to see our little family here, but I suspected they were almost as excited that they were going to spend some time in Central Europe versus, let’s say, Central Texas.We had a lot of family moments that could have happened anywhere, such as this devilish secret Elizabeth is whispering to her pet raccoon, instructing him to bite her father as soon as he leaves the room.

Or this tender moment caught on celluloid of Edward engaging a sloppy act of mutual adoration. Canine camaraderie. Passionate puppy love. (Yes, Pecos is a mutt slut!)But what added to their trip, I think, were things like sampling a few good beers at a real German restaurant (the man behind them has no face!).Or spending sometime in beautiful places.In particular, Stephanie got to revisit a place (and a person) that was incredibly important to her and no doubt helped shape who she is. And Edward got to scratch two more countries off his list (Luxembourg and Belgium) and enjoy the beauty of Central Europe in the winter … beautiful small towns, lightly falling snow, quiet town squares with hauntingly illuminated baroque churches.
It’s not every day we can see the world – and our charmed lives here – through others’ eyes; after all, in April we hit year five of living in Europe and have kind of gotten used to the privilege of being here. But it’s wonderful when it happens.

So thank you for visiting, Edward and Stephanie. Not only was it great to see you two, catch up, and make some great memories together, but it was also wonderful to be reminded of how much of a gift it is to be here. Thanks for making that clear.

Oh, here's Dodger waiting her turn to have her stickers removed. Pecos just got his sticker-dectomy.

Elizabeth takes her doggie for a walk

This was too cute not to share:

Blog about Uncle Edward's visit coming soon. In the meantime...a dancing bear.

Israel with a kid

It’s all about the kid. And the kid is very limiting. That’s one thing we’ve had to learn while traveling around Europe these past 15 months. Car rides must be an hour or less. Plane trips force you to come up with ingenious games to play with drink cups. And no matter how determined the adventurer, no plan is baby proof.

But determined we were – even Indiana Jones would be proud – as we were going to Israel for 10 days with a child. And even though we didn’t get to the Dead Sea, Masada, or a few other locales written up in the bible, we did manage to make the most of a chance work trip – and spend some quality time watching Elizabeth blow bubbles.



Jerusalem:
This video should explain it all.

Actually, we saw most of those sights (except the giant sign, which I couldn’t find anywhere). Here are some pictures to prove it, including Elizabeth standing on a camel.

Although the old city had lots to see – even for secular folks like Elizabeth and her parents – Jerusalem has a new side too, with malls, movie theaters, and restaurants with tongue-in-cheek names like Doggy Style (hot dog joint). Unfortunately, as this is the mecca (sorry!) for monotheistic devotees, even shopping centers were closed on Shabbat. It was worse than Germany on a Sunday.

Around Jerusalem:
Biblical Zoo – Fun, but kind of a gimmicky, this zoo has biblical references to all the animals inside, showing you what line in the Old Testament references monkeys, elephants, and camels. Too bad it also has red pandas from Asia, parrots from South America, and penguins. It’s also laid out so confusingly that we had to ask Elizabeth for directions.

Mini Israel – Like most fans of things miniature, Kate and Elizabeth had a blast here, noting how cute and detailed the people and places were. I, on the other hand, was spending my time imagining myself tackling buildings and kicking cars and people Godzilla-like.

I also noticed a Southwest plane at the mini airport. I’m pretty sure that would qualify as long haul.

Bethlehem – Pronounced “Bethlem” by my father, the little town of Bethlehem was, in fact, little, with one main church next to the town square that followers of Constantine’s mother’s detective work decreed "THE”spot that Jesua ben Josef (as he was known at the time) was born. Actually, this nice old Asian lady is touching the EXACT spot on which Jesus and his placenta plopped before being put into a warm, hay-filled manger. Thanks Asian lady!

Herzliya:
The Beverly Hills of Israel, Herzliya is a sunny beach town with a lot of money that bursts with Israel’s prettiest during the summer months. Good thing we were here in the winter, when it was still sunny and warm (but unfortunately not acceptable for me to wear a Borat mankini).

Be’ersheva:
Now we were really in the desert. I saw a camel-crossing sign, some Bedouins with their goats, an actual tumbleweed drifting across the road (it almost hit our car), and whole throngs of boys and girls just out of high school in olive-green fatigues, low-rise pants, and Uzis nonchalantly draped across their backs.

We actually have no pictures of this incredibly ugly town, but we do have a nice video of Elizabeth in one of the posh local malls.

Season's Greetings

Ho ho ho!

‘Tis the season to start posting some more pictures of Elizabeth, I was sternly instructed. So here you are. It’s a veritable medley of images from the past month including:

Elizabeth with Santa Claus (Der Weihnachtsmann if you’re German. Baba Noel if you’re Turkish) at my office’s “Kids Holiday Party” on Dec. 14. That's almost as precious as....

Elizabeth and her new table and chairs that she got from Old St. Nick this year (yes, Kris Kringle came early to the Ward household). Elizabeth’s new favorite trick is to climb on top of the table…which is why she also got….

A helmet. Yes, it’s a bike helmet. And no she doesn’t ride a bike. But you never can be too sure. Lots of things happen when preparing for the arrival of Sinterklas (Holland/Indonesia). Including this….

A naked monkey baby playing with a pile of Elizabeth’s books that will surely grow in number and difficulty when Dyed Moroz (Russia) comes for a visit. But the best gift that Svaty Miklas (Czech) could give us this year….

A standing, walking, destructive baby that pops out of presents left by Babbo Natale (Italy), tears down shelves, and eats just about anything fist-sized or smaller that doesn’t run away. Things like homemade play-do, as seen here:

One thing Joulupukki (Finland) already dropped off this year was a few inches of snow.

Thankfully, that gave Elizabeth time to stay inside and learn animal noises with Mama.

Elizabeth’s first cruise

Seven destinations in seven days. Three different countries. Over 1,000 miles of travel. And a 13-month-old travel companion who requires two naps a day and a solid 12 hours of sleep at night. Oh, and she needs to be carried everywhere because she doesn’t know how to walk yet.

Sounds pretty arduous, huh? Thankfully, because this adventure took place on a cruise ship (motto: “Where naps and buffets are never far away”), it was smooth sailing (pardon the pun).

Although it sounds like a watered down (pun) version of travel, it was anything but. The cruise went to Venice, Ancona, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, Corfu, and Dubrovnik. Fortunately, Kate and I had been to the three most travel intensive of those places (Venice, Athens, and Dubrovnik), which lowered the pressure on us to see those again

I like to think of it as tailorable excitement.

So, with that in mind, we set sail with Jay, Linda, Breanna, and Brian (Breanna’s beau): ready to embrace the Mediterranean.

Venice: I got a new appreciation for Venice on this trip. I’d been there twice before and had always looked at it as a city I should appreciate. Perhaps because of my contrarian nature, I was never impressed. But this time, instead of noticing things like stink, trash, and tourists, I noticed other things, like how pleasant it was to not hear a car, how safe it felt, how many appetizing treats to eat. Aside from the frightening resemblance our hotelier had to Count Dracula (high collar, dark hair, pale skin, a drop of blood on his lips), it was a wonderfully agreeable place.

Ancona: Why have you not heard of Ancona., Italy? Is it because a) the place is in the middle of nowhere, b) the place is very small, c) the place has no historical sights or significance, or d) all of the above? The answer is, of course, D. Although admittedly easy to impress, Elizabeth thought the coolest part of the city was the city walls. Not like the big battlements that protect a city.Ancona didn’t have those! HA! The actual material that make up the walls of the buildings in the city. She wanted to touch the bricks and the polished concrete and the plaster. And, sadly, I agree. That was the best part of this city. The other two couples both went to some spacious caverns called Frasassi Caves and highly recommended it.

Santorini: The disputed home to Atlantis, Santorini is a small island with a lot of history. Unfortunately, we were only there for a about two hours, giving us enough time to rent a car, drive all over the twisting curves, have Elizabeth get motion sickness in the back of the car (ruining her dress), and then wait in line for an hour to take the cable cars back down to the ship. Thankfully, it was warm and beautiful (the island, not the ship or E’s puke or anything else you might think).

Mykonos: Again, we only had a few hours here. And although it wasn’t enough time to appreciate the richness of its culture or magnificence of its scenery, it was enough time to appreciate the richness of its tzatziki and the magnificence of its ouzo.

Athens: A wonderful city, especially in November when the weather is warm and the tourists are absent. We have a few cute shots of E at the Parthenon which speak for themselves. This is the destination on the cruise I’d most like to come back to.

Corfu: The best thing about Corfu is its proximity (2 kilometers!) to the most backwards nation on earth … Albania. So close to crazy land, where they still practice honor killings and where there’s no sewage system in the whole country. That’s also the worst thing about Corfu; Albanian doodies – made mostly of twigs and paper products – probably float ashore every day. Actually, the island was very nice. The main town was very walkable. The weather was warm. The shops were plentiful. The coffee was good and cheap. And they made my favorite food (doughnuts, well, here they call them loukoumades) fresh. It was also here that Elizabeth learned to drink out of a straw (her first sip was cheap, delicious coffee).

Dubrovnik: Easily one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Dubrovnik is also where the Gargurevich name hails. So we made sure Elizabeth got to see and walk around its slick streets. We didn’t do anything here. But it was nice all the same.

Treviso: OK, so the cruise didn’t take us here. But this historical city surrounded (literally) and overrun with canals is where we flew out of. So we spent a few hours here potzing around before our flight. Elizabeth liked the booby lady…as did I.

Sheesh....It's about time we posted more videos

The season's first snow