Mom, Pop, and Erics Blog on RealTravel

Cinque Terre journal: Cinque Terre--Italy's Grand Canyon

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:45:34 GMT

We arrived in Cinque Terre on Tuesday, July 10, amidst the throng of tourists and parked our rental car in the long-term parking area by the beach in the main town of Monterosso al Mare. This is the most easily accessible of the five towns and thus a tourist haven. We rented an apartment for two nights just behind all the action on the waterfront. It was typically Italian—two bedrooms, a kitchenette and a bathroom, plus a small terrace just outside the entrance with olive and pine trees surrounding it. The added feature was the plum tree with yellow plums. And it was dead ripe. Yum! All ...

Milano journal: Bella Bellagio

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:09:28 GMT

Mom, Pop and Eric arrived in Bellagio on Friday, July 6, by train from Milan and by ferry from Verenna. This gorgeous town is located on Lake Como just north of Milan. It’s actually in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Fortunately, for Bud and Kathy, this was Eric’s day off from his opera rehearsals. He decided to come along to be our personal translator and make sure the old folks get a proper tour of the place.

Think of Lake Como as an upside down “Y.” The left and right forks form a triangular peninsula, and at the very apex of the triangle is located Bellagio.

The lake is ...

Phoenix journal: Bumpy Beginnings

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:21:04 GMT

International travel is not for the faint of heart. One should always be prepared for the unforseen. On Tuesday, July 3, Bud and Kathy were scheduled to fly out of Sky Harbor and head for Heathrow Airport in London. But someone on the British side of the pond left a suspicious package in terminal 4 alerting the already stressed-out security people. The Heathrow terminal was evacuated and shut down to all incoming flights, including the one the Downs duo was to fly on. That meant we would lose the first day of our trip, including a reserved hotel room in Milan. Here is where our trip ...

London journal: Downs Family Road Trip

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:33:27 GMT

Three members of the Downs family will be traveling through Europe for three weeks beginning July 3 through July 27. Bud and Kathy (Mom and Pop in the blog) will join their son Eric in Milan as he finishes up a month long opera gig with Yale University School of Opera as they perform operas with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano di Giuseppe Verdi. They are singing operas in Russian, French, German and Italian.

On July 10 Eric will be ready to hit the road with Mom and Pop as they travel to Cinque Terre, Venezia and then on to Austria, Germany, Switzerland and back to Milan. Mom and Pop ...

London journal: Memories

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:12:58 GMT

Europe is a special place for both of us. We have been there several times before and we both have different memories that we take home with us. This time was no different. Here are some of them, in random order.

The Food. Why does this subject come up first, especially for two regular dieters? Well, here is our philosophy. We diet and work out regularly at home in order to prepare for the trip. But when we actually arrive in Europe there is no way that “the diet” is going to interfere with the great food you will find everywhere, especially in Italy. It’s in Italian restaurants where ...

London journal: Our Final Day

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:40:18 GMT

On Thursday, July 26, we prepared to say goodbye again to the beautiful country we’ve always enjoyed so much. We started the day early by helping Eric get packed and by driving him to Milano’s “Stazione Centrale” to catch the bus to Malpensa Airport. His flight back to the states preceded ours by several hours since his return flight was planned by Yale University’s Opera Staff separately from the arrangements Kathy and I made for ourselves. Everything had worked so well with the car…..so far. All we had to do was drive the car back to the Central train Station and return it to “Europe by ...

Lauterbrunnen journal: One More View

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:31:47 GMT

The main thing we wanted to do yesterday that didn’t get accomplished was to ascend via the cable car from Wengen to Mannlichen. This was our day to pack up and drive back to Milano. But Kathy said, “Not so fast. I want to see the view from up there.” We had to admit that the heavy clouds that kept us from about doing this yesterday were not around on this day. So we took the car up, up, and up until we reached the high ridge above Wengen. There are stupendous views from up here. You can look way down into the beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley or you can look over the other side of the ridge and ...

Lauterbrunnen journal: Lauterbrunnen--Our Favorite Place

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:35:55 GMT

On Sunday, July 22, we finally arrived in Lauterbrunnen. We were here two years ago researching Kathy’s family tree, since she had a great, great grandfather who was a mountain guide and lived in this town. Maybe it’s the family connection but it has become our favorite place in Europe. The town is very small—just one main street which is about three blocks long but the scenery is spectacular, whether you are up looking down or down looking up. There are trails that lead everywhere in this valley and they always seem to provide great views. Dominating the entire town are the three great Alpine ...

Lauterbrunnen journal: The Final Case For Sherlock Holmes

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:14:54 GMT

I realize the title of this blog is a little weird but hang on and we’ll explain it. The next morning, Sunday, July 22, was a lot better than the night before but the clouds were still hanging low over the mountains. But we decided to attempt the cable car ride up Mt. Rigi anyway. That is until we learned what it cost for three round trip tickets! Did we really want to spend that much and then see nothing from up there but the inside of clouds? Nah…..not this time. So we packed it up and continued our trip southward.

Now on the map it doesn’t look all that far from Luzern to ...

O ...

Schaffhausen journal: On A More Personal Note

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:06:14 GMT

Kathy says I’m being far too historical in this blog, as if I am trying to write a history of Europe. So, maybe its time to just talk about the more personal things we are doing. We left the beautiful Bavarian countryside around Fussen without an itinerary for the next two days (20th and 21st) and no reserved lodging. We decided to enter Switzerland at the far northeast and travel along the Boden See to Schaffhausen. There is a beautiful falls there which we saw many years before in pouring down rain. This time we wanted to see it in the sunlight. Well, it was still threatening rain this time ...

Fussen journal: Who’s the King of the Castle?

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:44:21 GMT

In Bavaria his name would be Ludwig II. And his castles would be called Hohenschwangau, Herrenchiemsee, Linderhof, and, the most famous of all, Neuschwanstein. We saw them all. Linderhof is the smallest but the most ornate. Built in the Baroque and Rococco styles it is like someone who was trying to decorate a wedding cake and didn’t know when to stop. He used 10 lbs. of gold leaf per room. Kathy noted that it didn’t even have a guest room because he wanted to be there alone. And the dining room table was only large enough for one person. The table also had another feature. It had a trap door ...

Fussen journal: Wunderbar!!

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:59:08 GMT

Nice view of Newschwanstein and a great location for seeing all the sights in the area.

Dachau journal: Dachau—The Death Camp

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:46:18 GMT

We came to Munich for only one thing: to see the infamous death camp of Dachau (both Kathy and Bud have interests in the history of World War 2). The Germans have many things to be proud in this beautiful land but Dachau is not one of them. They would just as soon be rid of this remnant of their Nazi past. But Dachau and all the dozens of other concentration camps are an undeniable part of history. The camp we visited was the very first one built when Hitler was elected Chancellor in 1933. He filled the jails so full of his political opponents that he had to devise another way of keeping them ...

Salzburg journal: Salzburg—The City of Mozart

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:32:46 GMT

Salzburg, Austria has got to be one of the cleanest cities in Europe. In spite of all the “messy tourists” who regularly visit this place you seldom see even a scrap of paper lying around. The downtown area is the oldest part of the city and yet every building appears freshly painted and the many open squares are as clean as a whistle. We visited the Mozart house not far from the Mozart Platz and the statue of Mozart (he is obviously their favorite son, since his early days were spent in this city). Another visit was made to a place Eric was especially interested in seeing—the Opera complex, ...

Venice journal: Venice--A Church On Every Corner

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 02:40:01 GMT

You will never see as many old churches per square foot as you will in Venice. And not just “church buildings,” but ornate structures, beautifully decorated with museum quality sculptures, and eye-popping marble work. We couldn’t get over the fact that around nearly every corner and in all the quarters in the commune of Venezia church buildings abound. The sad thing is that today most of them have either been turned into performance centers, museums or abandoned completely. Eric suggested that their existence may stem from the fact that when the plague devastated Europe in the Middle Ages it ...

Cinque Terre journal: Opera is over--we are taking our show on the road!

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:53:20 GMT

The opera was great! Italians love to applaud. They did it for about ten minutes. Lots of bowing and flowers and shouts! After the performance the Dean of the Music School took everyone involved in the performance (and us) out for a 12 course meal!!!! We finished eating at 2:30 a.m. (Yes, we were hungry the next morning!)

We picked up our Fiat Punto and drove to Cinque Terre in about 2 1/2 hours from Milan. We are presently walking the quaint streets of Monterosso al Mare.

We have rented a small apartment for two days. We have our own kitchen, terrace, and plum tree with fresh, ...