Stockholm - wow

Well, so far, Stockholm is my favorite city. Norway is my favorite
country (in beauty - not in price), but Stockholm is gorgeous. It's
clean, there is water everywhere, the architecture is beautiful. It
consists of 14 islands connected with 50+ bridges. Some of the water
in the city is a big lake, other parts are the Baltic Sea. We didn't
have much time in Stockholm, but I hope to go back during the holidays
this year. It's health friendly and veggie friendly and a little
nicer on the pocket-book instead of Norway. However, it's still not
very cheap. Since we had limited time there, we did one of those city
bus tours to try to get a picture of the city and then we went to
their city hall, which is where the Nobel Prize banquets are every
year. I did not know that Alfred Nobel was Swedish, but alas he was
and that explains why the prize ceremonies and events are in Stockholm.

From what we've been able to tell, the swedish countryside is much
less varying than Norway. It is more like rolling hills and farmland
with lakes and trees sprinkled in frequently. Again, everyone speaks
English as a second language, so getting around was there was also
easy. I think we will be in trouble when we hit Poland. We've gotten
used to the English thing. Stockholm is much more touristy (or at
least has a much larger touristy section) than Oslo, but it is a
large city that has much more to offer and do. Similar to New York
having Time Square or San Francisco having Pier 39 or Fisherman's
Wharf - all touristy sections that you kind of have to go to if you've
never been, but if you care to get away from that and see the actual
city, then it's possible. As is the situation with most of these
cities we've been to or are going to, Andy and I quickly get through
the tourist sections and then move to the authentic city as soon as
possible.

Oslo in a Nutshell. We love Norway

Oslo was a really beautiful city. It's has a shore line for ships and
boats, etc. but most of it is off of the water. During our time
there, we were able to wonder around on foot quite a bit. It's
becoming a spread-out city as a lot of people are moving into the city
from the country and there is currently a building height limit in
Oslo. It's so expensive it, it's unbelievable. We had a medium
cheese pizza for $30, a smaller bag of chips for $7. The average
entree price was well into $25 (for like a salad) and then just went
up. It's not just Oslo, though. The whole country was expensive. As
we traveled to the west coast to Bergen and back, we stopped at many
small towns along the way and the prices were basically the same. The
cheapest glass of wine was $12. It's crazy.

However, aside from the expense, the country itself is really
spectacular. There was so much variation just in the parts we
traveled in, it was unbelievable. We were in farm land for parts of
it, cold mountainous areas with snow still around in other parts and
tons of waterfalls and water. There are many fjords in Norway and the
size of them is hard to comprehend. The general population looked
like an ad for REI. I think if you live there, you are raised outside
primarily. It's gorgeous.

In Oslo, we were able to walk around to various parks and go to some
museums. We enjoy walking around the cities to different places since
you can see so much more of the color of a city and get away from all
the touristy places. Oslo is touristy, but much less so than any of
the other places we've been to so far. People there are friendly and
helpful and everyone speaks English. So, getting around was pretty
easy. Although most restaurants aren't terribly veggie friendly in
dishes they offer on the menu, I had no problems what-so-ever in
eating establishments when I told the waiter/waitress I was
vegetarian. They were always more than ready to make me anything I
wanted within their ability. It was very nice. The city was very
clean. No smog, no bad car exhaust (unlike Madrid), clean sidewalks
and hardly any graffiti anywhere. There are flowers everywhere and
the buildings are very baroque in style (at least that's the style I
think they are). Overall, I would recommend visiting Norway - Oslo
itself, but also go see the countryside and the fjords - that is where
so much of the beauty and character of the country is.

Sushi Wok Chinese in Eurolandia

Wok Thai Restaurant

Wok Sushi

Sushi Thai Food

Indian Thai Wok

Hmmmr. Do any of these sound familiar? If you live in the CET, I dare
say they do. Perhaps you are not fully aware that there are different
countries over there in Oriental-land.

Mayhaps, you can't tell a Japanese Man, from a Chinese Man, and as for
Thai's, India's or Hong Kong, forget it.

In the "Good Ole, US of A" certain types of different cuisines can be
mixed. Tex-Mex is a good example of this. They fit, and they work
together. Part of the issue is that the preparation of such food does
not take an inherent, genetic disposition to doing it right. Like say,
sushi rice. If you ain't Japanese, you can't do it right.

Also, some of the countries listed above HATE EACHOTHER, or at least
they used to hate each other. Think Rape of Nanking, and how the
Chinese feel about the Japanese.

I am afraid of eating at these restaurants, and think that I will try
to avoid them.

Perhaps if I have my camera aboust me, I shall snap some photos of
said offenders of culinary propriety.

Gracias y'all.

When in Rome......

Well, we left exactly a week ago for Rome. Rome was so wonderful.....

We arrived late on Thursday night, and since the Italians have a more
typical schedule - finding a place to eat dinner at 11 pm was a little
more challenging then here in Madrid. However, after finally finding
our hotel, we were able to find a local restaurant that was still
welcoming people at that hour. We had a wonderful meal. We had
fabulous bruschette to start with and then I had basic spaghetti
pomodora and Andy had one of his favorite Italian dishes - pasta
carbonara. I was just wonderful and very inexpensive. I was already
much happier there in Rome in one night than in Madrid.

The next day we journeyed into the old part of Rome and wondered
around on our own for several hours. As our pictures indicate, we saw
the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. We saw
other fabulous things and again had a wonderful lunch. We both tried
calzones in a local restaurant. Also, the basic salad in Italy is
actually meat free - no tuna , no jamon, etc. It was sooooooo
wonderful. Eating there was just as easy as finding any place that
served food. Much more like the bay area. It was a welcome break
from Madrid.

Friday afternoon, we took a tour of the ruins - for those of you who
have been there, you know how great and amazing it is. For those of
you who have not made it there, it was amazing. Very surreal,
especially the coliseum. Between hearing what the tour guide was
saying, what I could remember from history in school, and from
movies, it just seemed impossible that a city or a place could be
that old and have so much violence and progression at the same time.
I can't even imagine how difficult life was back then. I'm also
amazed at the amount of wealth and power a few people had in the world
at that time. Anyway, many pictures and very tired legs later, we
went back to our hotel to rest a little before dinner. As for
dinner, we ended up in some small restaurant owned and run by a
family. It was great. The food was good, the service was good, the
price was good, and they had a really bad, unidentifiable Sly Stallone
movie from the 80s on dubbed over in Italian playing in the background.

We tried to get to bed at a decent our as we were to tour the Vatican
in the morning........

So, we arrived Saturday morning outside the Vatican walls around 9 to
meet our tour group by 9:15. By the time we went in, we had all been
waiting for quite a while, but that's okay. The weather was sunny and
mild. We had a group of largely Americans and other ethnicities that
could speak English. I think we were about 30 in all and were only
one of many, many tour groups. Our guide was excellent. We spent
about 4 hours with her in the Vatican between the Vatican Museum, the
Sistine Chapel, and then St. Peter's Basilica. Again, just
breathtaking. So much history and to actually see works by great
Renaissance artists was amazing for me. The history was very
interesting to me and, of course, to Andy who was just thrilled the
whole time in Rome for obvious reasons. I can't even begin to
describe the magnitude of these places. Even the floors were
amazing. I think the pictures are the best way to convey what is
there, but they are a poor substitution for seeing it all in person.
However, they are better than nothing for those who have never been
and may never be able to go.

We wondered around the city that afternoon, went back to the hotel
briefly and then went out for a nice leisurely dinner our last night
in Rome. I had the best Arrabiata sauce ever that night, Andy enjoyed
his food as well. We ate outside right at dusk on a very lovely
street. We ended our dinner with limoncello and then a little later
- gelato. One can never have enough gelato in Rome. Did I mention we
had the best Tiramisu the first night?

Anyway, we flew out early Sunday afternoon to head back to Madrid. I
was sad to leave Rome. I'm still not quite sure why I did....I would
recommend it to anyone. If you have to choose between Rome and Madrid
- um, for me, it's Rome, hands down. We had even done our usual
internet search for veggie places, of which they had many. But, the
happy thing is that we didn't even get that far - we didn't need to.
The normal restaurants were perfectly veggie friendly.

The sheer number of pictures we took should indicate our time in
Rome. I'm impressed that we were able to see all that we did in 2.5
days, but that is not really enough time there. But it's better than
nothing and a great reason to go back.