Positively Porto

“The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and the memories we’ve made along the way.”

I would say these are “tiles” that we saw everywhere in Porto but in Portuguese they’re azulejos.

JK Rowling worked in Porto for a couple of years and the story goes that this book store was her inspiration for Hogwarts.
That seems about right – it’s so beautiful.
I took this pic for my Frodo fans (you know who you are 😉).
This is Luis and he was such a delightful kid that I wanted to include him in the blog. He works at the Guest House Douro where we stayed and he was so sweet and helpful. He is going to go a long way with his positive outlook on life!
University of Porto
What did we think of Porto? My shirt says it all!!!

Pretty, Unpolished – Porto, Portugal

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walachia

Absolutely gorgeous at night
Looking across the River Douro at Porto from Gaia
I loved the “tiled” homes (more on that later)
Porto is a working city, giving us a glimpse of the citizens who live there.
There are trolleys that run down to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean and around the city center.
While getting off the trolley I caught this young man’s eye and he subtly shook his head, signally me not to “blow his cover”. When the trolley pulled away I spotted another kid clinging on the other side. 😂
The beach
Once the Imperial Café and now the fanciest McDonalds we’ve ever seen.
Complete with stained glass windows and chandeliers – and yet we weren’t tempted to eat there.
Pretty
Unpolished
Conflicting architecture
Typical city scene

Beautiful mural

Paris — City of Light

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller

A fountain at Versailles – we went on an evening the fountains were lit,
and they also had fireworks. Quite beautiful!
Saint-Eustache Cathedral
Church of Sainte-Chapelle
We were walking through the Tuileries early one morning, on way to the Museé d’ Orsay, when we noticed the sun hitting the very top of this Egyptian obelisk. It was stunning!
The Arc de Triomphe
Looking west from the top of the Arc that evening
This is the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Imagine all the chandeliers candlelit. The king had the walls of this ballroom lined with 24’ mirrors installed to reflect the light.
This mural has nothing to do with light other than it lit up my world when I spotted it! It’s a little hard to tell because it’s on a huge building, but the window in her painting is an actual window.
Our last evening in Paris we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower for one more visit.

That was also the night the Tower went dark in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II – very powerful experience.

Art aplenty in Paris

It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.

Of course, we visited the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa.
And also saw Michelangelo’s sculpture – “Enslaved” – one of four originals. (Remember this guy?)
And this dedicated employee – ever vigilant – assuring that nothing goes awry at the Louvre!
Out walking, we spotted this Jeff Koons sculpture – Bouquet of Tulips
Musee d’Orsay – This gorgeous, former train station was saved from the wrecking ball in the 1970s and now houses a wonderful collection of Impressionist paintings and many other works of art.
Like this wonderful Renoir
And this Claude Monet
Speaking of Monet, we trained and then biked out to Claude Monet’s home in Giverny. Here I am, on his porch!
The gardens around his home were amazing, even though it’s getting late in the season!
Trying to restrain myself – but so beautiful!
We’ve all seen Monet’s water lily paintings with this bridge, right?
These are the boats that he used to putter around – observing the flowers he’d paint.
I love seeing these old kitchens. They had 8 children so I’m assuming this was a well used room of the house.
I also like to imagine that all of this blue tile came from Delft in the Netherlands.
We visited Rodin’s house (in the background) and walked around his gardens where some of his sculptures were scattered. This is The Burghers of Calais.

And of course, The Kiss

Ahhhh, Paris!

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world” – Gustave Flaubert

I literally could have sat and watched the activity at this fountain in a Parisian neighborhood ALL day long!

What? A Roman arena in our very own neighborhood? Complete with a vineyard – nice!
Beautiful murals.
Colourful markets.
Glorious art & flowers.
Fountains with plantings.
Architecture that is both integrated and harmonious.

And the occasional urinal!

From pedaling to Paris!

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us!” – Oscar Ntuli

We are staying very close to Jardin des Plantes – colorful garden, lined with museums.
We particularly liked these blue morning glories.
One of our goals on this day was to see this lovely pathway. Promenade Planteé – a 2.5 mile walkway, much of it high above the streets on a former railway viaduct. Built in 1993 – The 1st of it’s kind in the world. NYC has their “High Line” completed in 2014.
I found this to be fascinating – do you see the “statues” at the top of this building? They are representative of Michelangelo’s Slaves (Enslaves) – there will be a test later.
But see the misshapen triangles cut out of his back? This enables some light to get through to the balconies the figures surround.
Pére Lachaise Cemetery is a must see. Enclosed by a massive wall and lined with 5,000 trees – peaceful and car free. Opened in 1804, 100 acres, “population” 70,000 – tightly crammed together.
Many famous people reside here, such as Gioacchino Rossini (1792 – 1868) who composed the William Tell Overture a.k.a. the Lone Ranger theme.
Frederic Chopin (1810 – 1849). A muse sorrows atop the tomb, and a carved relief of Chopin in profile captures the delicate features of this young artist. The 21 year old Polish pianist arrived in Paris, fell in love with the city, and never returned to his homeland. Hmmm, easy to imagine 😊
A cartoonist for the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Tignous was one of 12 people assassinated by terrorists at the magazine’s office in January 2015.
Jim Morrison (1943 – 1971) Perhaps the most visited tomb in the cemetery belongs to this American rock star — lead singer for the Doors, named for the “Doors of Perception” they aimed to open. In the wee hours of July 3, he died in his bathtub at age 27, officially of a heart attack, but likely from an overdose. Jim’s friends approached Pére Lachaise Cemetery about burying the famous rock star there, per his wishes. The director refused to admit him, until they mentioned that Jim was a writer. “A writer?” he said, and found a spot.
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) The writer and martyr to the gay community is mourned by “outcast men” (as the inscription on his tombstone reads).

Gouda, Netherlands (I’ve heard the Dutch say “hoe da”, “who da”, “how da” and, I swear -“ yoda”)

“People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinbeck

Gouda is celebrating 750 years as a town!
Their town hall is in the center of the square, built in the 16th century.
Complete with it’s very own glockenspiel.
Typical street scene.
Love this old Dutch building but you may be surprised by what’s on the first floor…
Yup, a little disturbing to me!
We’re staying in a very beautiful, old château and we’ve been storing our bikes overnight in the chapel.
And FINALLY we have good bikes. This is our last town in the Netherlands and we obtained bikes that have a few gears (3) and hand brakes. We have been pedaling bikes for the last week or so that simply did not coast. Either we constantly rotated our wheels or the bike stops. It’s so nice to have comfortable rides!
While riding through the countryside of Gouda I spotted this piece of “art” – no wait, I spotted a man hanging up clothes – no wait, I spotted a chicken helping with the laundry. You can be the judge as to what first caught my attention.
Very pretty scenery in every direction. Our heads swiveling back and forth as we ride along. So much to see – so much beauty.
Sigh – so serene.
So stuff happens when you’re riding rented bikes – while going along the polders Murph had a flat tire. (I know Casey, we DO have a lot of tire problems.) We were about 10 miles from Gouda and along comes another guardian angel – John! After attempting to pump up the tire we realized it was a valve problem. So, the guys loaded the bike into John’s car and he drove me back to the rental shop. Meanwhile, Murph rode my bike back. Once we were all together John said tot ziens (goodbye) and a bike exchange was made. Murph and I headed back out for another enjoyable afternoon. Once again we realize that people everywhere are pretty much the same – very lovely and anxious to lend a hand!
Can’t get enough of these pastoral views.
Art imitating life!

And picturesque towns to visit.

We think maybe all the water in the farmer’s fields make it even more beautiful.
Well, look what we found out in the middle of nowhere! Think we should support the locals?
But, of course!
The end of a lovely day.

Oooooo Utrecht!

“Jobs fill your pocket. Adventures fill your soul.” Jaimie Lyn Beatty

On our bike ride out to Breukelen we saw gorgeous pear orchards. When the Dutch settled New Amsterdam (New York City) they named part of it Brooklyn.
Family fun!
Just like home – a flea market.
When you only pack carry on luggage the temptation to buy things is just about non existent.
The “end of summer” block party.
When I took this pic I thought the house boat looked scary but now it just looks quirky!
That evening this was the restaurant we decided on.
Chose an aassortment of dishes to share. We were not disappointed. So good!
In the town center of Utrecht many of the retail shops are on the street level, in old mansions. And down below, along the canal, is where many restaurants are located. Boats float by the candlelit scene.
Sunday morning the town felt entirely different. Quiet and serene.
At first I thought this was a sculpture, but in reality it was created by nature.
There’s some fun art around the city – like this flying saucer perched on a building.
Or this teapot atop a parking structure.
This long colourful (nod to Nathan & Alison) building is where our hotel was located.
Being a golfer, Murph just had to step off the long hallway on the way to our room – 146 yards – a 6 iron for him. (a nod to Roy, John, Casey, Brittany, Dan, Laurie and anyone else out there that “get” this) More like a driver for me 😊

Utrecht (ooo trekt)

Always say yes to new adventures

I found this draw bridge fascinating, in that, instead of one side lifting up on an angle, the road lifts straight up. We saw a rather low boat go under it and they barely had to lift the bridge at all. Seems more efficient.
Lots of trains go in and out of Utrecht every hour, every day.
So it was understandable that sometimes we had to go over the tracks!
All that heavy lifting makes a person hungry so we shared a cone of frites. Soooo good 😊
I especially liked the flowers at their bustling market.
When we went out for dinner that evening we passed the train station again. Very vibrant & pretty!
Chose a Turkish place for dinner.
Patiently waiting for our dinner.
A vegetarian tagine over saffron rice for me – really worth the time it took to prepare.

The restaurants with their lights along the canal reflect such a beautiful ambience at night.