Author: richardrainey

This trip had been in the works for a few years.  Our friend Torben is the baby of our group and finally turns 50 this year.  Some time ago, it was decided that we’d all go back to his home in Denmark to celebrate.  Never ones to turn down a good party …The plan was to start in Paris, then head to Venice and Florence, then to Prague and finally to meet up with the group in Copenhagen.  A few days in Copenhagen then we’d all go to Torben’s town, Silkeborg before flying back home.

First stop Paris.  We had a direct, flight on Air France that left Vancouver at 1 pm and arrived at CDG at 9:30 in the morning.  Had about an hour or so to kill in the Skyteam lounge at YVR – very good selection of food (mostly asian) and drinks.   Flight was painless.  Great service, good food and we both watched Deadpool 2 and got a decent sleep (thanks to the champagne and sleeping pills).

Charles de Gaulle Airport is a gong show, but we managed to get through it fairly quickly.  We’d arranged a driver to get us into town which was nice – we were out of the airport and on the road within about 45 mins.

We stayed at the Maison Albar Champs d’Elysee hotel on Ave. Mac Mahon.  About a block from the Arc de Triomphe.  Great location.  Hotel was nice but a bit over the top weird – such as the murals on the bedroom wall, and the Rhino head in the lobby bar.

Had a few hours before we could get our room, so we dropped our bags and went for a walk down to the Eiffel Tower.  Uber works wonderfully well in Paris, so we mixed it up a lot between walking, Ubering and taking the metro.  The tower was pretty much as we’d remembered it, except that the entire area was surrounded by security fencing, and you can’t get into the actual tower area without paying an admission (which we didn’t want to do, as we’d been there and done that a few times before).  But honestly, all the fencing took a lot away from the atmosphere of the area – didn’t seem like a park anymore.  Shame,

Had a pastry, coffee and juice at a cafe close to the tower, and then headed back to the hotel to check in.

After we got our room, we met my aunt Roz  and her friend Madelaine at the Cafe de la Paix across from the Opera house.  Had our first (of many) Aperol Spritz, and a 22 Euro bowl of onion soup (which was actually fantastic).

We then went for a walk through Les Halles and Ile de la Cite, and then took the metro back to the hotel.  Quick name and change and then we walked back to the Eiffel Tower to meet Roz and Madelaine.   We all Ubered to the Latin Quarter where we had a serious run with the Aperol spritz’s at a really nice cafe (the name of which escapes me), followed by dinner at the oldest restaurant in Paris, Le Procope (http://www.procope.com), where I had my second french onion soup of the day).  Walked back to Isle de la Cite after dinner to see Notre Dame at night (which was beautiful except for the massive rats running around!), and then metro back to the hotel.

Day 2 in Paris.  Beautiful sunny day.  Had coffee and pastries on the Champs d’Elysee and then walked down through the Tullieries towards the Louvre.  Skipped the Louvre (been there, done that) and instead went back to Notre Dame and had lunch at the same cafe in the Latin Quarter.  Then back to the Tulleries to see the Monets at L’Orangerie.

I was actually a bit underwhelmed with L’Orangerie.  The Monets were beautiful but I didn’t think that they were perfect, like they are (in my view) at the Musee Marmottan.  And the rooms were filled with people who were there to just take a bunch of pictures to prove that they were there.

That evening we met Roz at our hotel and Ubered to Montmartre for dinner at Coq au Rico (yes, it literally means Richard’s cock – but get your mind out of the gutter – its a chicken restaurant).   First, toured around Sacre Cour with its amazing view of the city, and then had more Aperol spritzs at a little wine bar perched precariously at the top of a very steep street with a great view and the constant fear of our table and drinks falling off the “cliff”.  Had a great dinner with Roz, and then had a great chat at another cafe in Montmartre before heading back to the hotel.

Sharon decided that she needed a beret.  It’s complicated.  There was (of course) Aperol Spritz involved.

 

 

Day 3, still in Paris.   The big event today was not until later in the evening, when we boarded our night train to Venice (at seven).  So we had pretty much the whole day in Paris.  Our main objective for the day was to get snacks for the train, and we’d wanted to do this at the food and wine halls at Galleries Lafayette.   First though we wandered down a few streets to our hotel and checked out the street markets, and had a bite to eat at Paul’s (a pastry shop that seemed to be everwhere in Paris, and in Prague for some some reason).

Next stop was the Musee Marmottan, which has the largest collection of Monets in the world.  There are some other artists exhibited, but people come here for the Monets.  it is magnificent.  Most of the collection was gifted to the museum by Monet’s son, who died without leaving an heir (and was therefore the last descendant of the artist.  The collection must be worth somewhere near a billion dollars.

From Marmottan, we took the metro to what we though was the Galleries Lafayette.  Well, it was.  But what we didn’t realize was that the GF has a number of locations.  We picked the shittiest one – can’t even really remember where it was.  There was something on me, or my bag, that set off all the security alarms at GF which meant having my bag searched every time I went through a door.

Once we realized we were  at the wrong GF and that we needed to be at the “big” one near Paris Opera, we were back on the metro.   We finally found GF, but it was huge and we were getting tired so we didn’t muck around too much.   We found the food hall and the wine hall – the wine hall was amazing and we got some Bordeaux and champagne for the train trip.  We decided that we’d get our food back at the market near our hotel.

We met Roz one last time at the Cafe de la Paix (had to have another onion soup!), then Sharon was captured in a tractor beam that dragged her across the street to shop.

Then off to the market.   When we had been at the market previously, we had noticed that there was a chicken vendor who had a huge line in front.  When we got there, there was no line, and I stumbled through ordering a half chicken.   Then got some bread and other snacks, including some cheese.  Funny story here – the cheese place had loads of different types, including one that was labelled “Richard Renee”.  I though that was pretty funny, and of course I bought one.  I told the vendor that this was my name,  He said “vous vous appelez Richard?” (or whatever the proper french is).  I said,   “my nom es Richard Rainey” (or whatever the mangled improper french is).  He thought that was pretty funny, and went about telling everyone in the shop that I am Richard Renee and this was my cheese.

Grabbed our bags and took a taxi to Gare de Lyon to get out train.  The Thello train is a pretty run-of-the-mill Italian train that goes from Paris to Venice overnight.  The trip is supposed to take fourteen hours.  The trick to Thello is to book an entire cabin – of which there aren’t many.   I’d booked months earlier, so we had an entire sleeper cabin to ourselves, including two beds, toilet (which we broke) and shower.  Other than the conductor, we literally didn’t see another person the entire trip.

Our dinner was great (particularly the chicken and the champagne).   We had a few hours of sunlight and dusk, heading through the French countryside.  It was beautiful.   We didn’t even leave the cabin (we’d heard that the food in the food car was shit).

At about 8 in the morning, the conductor came by and told us that there was a 3 hour delay, and we’d be in Vienna at around 12:30.  He was terribly apologetic, but we said “that’s fantastic!”, and went back to sleep.

So on Day 4, we were in Venice.  One of our favourites.  Arriving by train in Venice is a pretty cool experience.  You come out of the train station and, immediately in front of you, the Grand Canal.  It has to be one of the most amazing arrivals in the world.

We stayed at the Ca’ Nigra Lagoon Resort, which was spectacular (and they let us check in early – the staff was fantastic).  Its located across the Grand Canal and about a ten minute walk from the train station.  It is a converted villa, which is beautifully appointed and has a rose garden the back (away from the canal) and another garden in the front (right on the canal).  They had a nice breakfast each morning that we could take at a table in the front garden, literally right on the water.  It has to be the best breakfast vista that I can ever remember.

Venice is a walking city (needless to say, no Uber here).   We headed off in no particular direction and found a nice little square for our first of many fantastic Italian meals.  For me, there’s something special about sitting in an ancient square, with no cars (or roads) in sight, having a few drinks and a good meal.  It was pretty hot, but that’s the way it is.

Spent the afternoon wandering around and getting intentionally, happily, lost.  It’s amazing what a difference it makes to have smart phones with GPS and maps.  I can’t really even remember what it was like to try to navigate around Venice in the “old days” before we had iPhones.

That evening (Wednesday, for those of you counting) we had booked a gondola lesson through a group called Row Venice.  There’s is a very cool story – its a group of women who teach gondolier-ing (I’m sure that’s not the right word to support women rowers in Venice.  Check them out:  http://www.rowvenice.org.

This was definitely a highlight of the trip.  Our instructor, Lisa, was a transplanted Texan who lives in Venice and in addition to being a rowing instructor, is also a sommelier, a music student and an opera singer.  She was fantastic, and very patient with us.   The plan was to do about an hour’s lesson in the canals and lagoons and then spend another hour doing a “ciccetti” tour in our gondola (basically a pub crawl through a very cool part of Venice that we’d never have thought do go to on our own.  The ciccetti are like tapas, with various cheeses, veggies and seafood on bread and polenta.  They are served at these intimate little wine bars and you pick which ones you want, and they are served to you on plates with your wine.  You can eat/drink inside (which we did at the first place), or outside, or you can eat on the canal in your boat.  There was even a place that had an old boat tied up outside that you could sit on if you didn’t have your own boat.

The next day, September 6, was really hot.   We had breakfast on the back patio of our hotel again and watched the activity on the Canal.  The big event for today was the Venice International Film Festival.  We’d snagged tickets to the gala premiere of Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale.

There was a special water taxi to the Festival leaving right from outside the train station (but we found out a bit too late that it was only for the return trip!). Hot as hell today!

So we took the regular vaporetto from the train station to Lido, where the festival is held.   The trip took around 40 minutes but was a nice trip.   The boat goes past the cruise ship terminal and alongside Piazza San Marco, so we had a beautiful view of it from the canal side.

The vaporetto stop is around 30 minutes by foot from the festival site.  Lido is nice, and has cars and taxis but we were happy to walk.  On the walk from the Venice side of the island to the Mediterranean side, we had lunch at a nice cafe – Aperol Spritz’s again, and I had a grilled fish.  Then a left turn takes us along the Lido beachfront to the festival area.

We had about an hour to kill before we could get into the theatre, so we wandered around a bit and took it all in.   They had the famous red carpet set up outside the theatre, and we watched the paparazzi arrive and get set up.  All very organized – they each seemed to have numbered spot to sit.

When it was time to to into the theatre, there were a few lines.  Sharon noticed that there were a few people who were lining up beside the red carpet, to get a look at the film’s stars as they arrived by car, so we decided to to the same.

Then, to our complete shock and surprise, one of the ushers opened up the gate that we were standing against and shoo’ed us onto the red carpet.  So we got to (or had to) walk across the entire red carpet, with the fans watching us on the right side and the paparazzi staring at us on both sides.  Pretty cool for us, but the paparazzi were a little confused.   You could see that they were asking each other who the hell we were.  Sharon heard one of them say “ahh, publico!”.   And then, we were inside the theatre!

The theatre was really beautiful inside.  The most comfortable theatre seats that I have ever sat in.  And although the Festival is a pretty high society event, to our great surprise the drinks were cheap – 5 Euro for a glass of nice champagne.

 

 

The next day, September 7, the weather was not quite as great.  It was drizzly in the morning and we had to have our breakfast inside rather than out in the garden on the Canal.   We had two goals today:  tour of St Mark’s Basilica in the evening, and walking to this place for no particular reason other than the fact that we’re in Venice and its one of the best place in the world for a walk (in the rain or otherwise:

 

It was a great walk, and we tried our best to get there without using the map on our phone (but we did cheat from time to time).  A few people had recommended the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, and while it was tempting (not just to get out of the rain), we were enjoying the walk too much.  Next time.

We ended up at the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, which is a beautiful domed church across the canal from Piazza san Marco.  We almost had the entire place to ourselves as we toured around.   We made it to our destination and the sun started to come out.   We walked back around the Lido side of the island and passed a gondola repair shop.

It was getting to lunchtime and we found a tiny place that had a couple of tables on a small canal.  What appealed to us was that there was a bunch of city workers having lunch in the back – good sign.  Turned out to be my favourite meal of the whole trip.  I had the fixed price menu, which was an absolutely fantastic seafood spaghetti, followed by perfect calamari, and then a green salad (that I was too full to eat).  It really was totally flawless.   The name of the place was Osteria Da Toni.   https://osteria-da-toni-restaurant.business.site/.

The next challenge (now that we had a few drinks into us) was to get a real Venetian Bellini.  The plan was to go to Harry’s Bar, where they were apparently invented.  But apparently I looked like a bum (wearing shorts), and was kicked out (well it wasn’t quite that dramatic.  So, screw Harry’s Bar.  We walked through Piazza San Marco and found a really nice little hole in the wall bar where we had several great Bellinis, the sum of which probably cost less than one at Harry’s.  We were entertained by this scraggly little dog who seemed to be waiting and waiting for someone.  Every so often he’d think that he’d found who he was looking for, but it wasn’t.   We were convinced that he’d been abandoned (and that he’d fit in our suitcase), but alas, someone eventually walked by and he followed them off down the alley.

That evening we’d booked a tour called Alone in Saint Marks After Dark, or something along those lines.  We were somewhat alone, in the sense that we didn’t have ten trillion other people in there with us, but there were about a dozen folks in our group, and about a dozen groups.  So it was more “Not Particularly Crowded in Saint Marks After Dark”.  It was a good tour – coolest part was that they turned off all the lights in the Basilica, and then turned them all back on slowly, which really highlighted all the gold leaf on the beautiful ceiling.  And the other benefit of being there “alone” was that we could see the amazing marble floors – that would have been impossible during the day.

After the Basilica, we went to a restaurant for dinner that was reasonably close.  Turned out to be one of my least favourite of the trip (gnocchi, which was a bit gummy, but a bad meal in Venice is about par with a reasonably good meal anywhere else).  Highlight was meeting another travelling couple from South Africa at the end of their trip – great conversation, and free lemoncillo from the restaurant.

We then went back to the marina area where we’d had our ciccetti tour.  Was a bit scary because I had about 2 percent battery in my phone, and we were taking a route that was a bit off the beaten track.  But we found it.  We picked one of the places that we’d been to the previous night, and had some (really good) wine, sitting in a boat that was tied up at the side of the canal like a big floating picnic table.  That area is off most people’s tour maps, but really has to be the best place to have a relaxing drink in the whole city.

Next morning, September 8, we headed to Florence.  Last year we’d traveled from Rome to Florence on Ital Rail.   This year we decided to give the competition a chance and traveled on Italo.   We were in the Club section, which was nice but not as over the top luxurious as the Executive Class on Ital Rail last year.  The Italo lounge in Venice was closed, which was not a particularly big deal but we were suffering a bit for some good coffee.

We arrived in Florence around midday.   Last year when we were here we stayed about a 30 minute walk from downtown which was nice, but the walk was a bit of a hassle in the 30+ degree heat.   This year we booked an Air BnB right downtown – the location really couldn’t be any better.   It was directly overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and the Vasari Corridor, at Lungarno degli Archibusieri, 8.   This was the view from our window:

Our hostess came to the apartment to give us a bit of an orientation and some very helpful tips and suggestions.  The apartment was on the fifth floor of a residential building with this really cool old-school elevator where you had to close the doors yourself.  Fun, but it barely fit our suitcases (and we travel fairly lightly).

After we got settled, we did some laundry and went for a walk.  Sandwiches and wine in a little cafe behind the Uffizi, and then a bit of happy wandering around one of our favourite cities.

We ended up on the west side of the river to get some groceries at the local market.   Always fun shopping for groceries in another country.  We found this – prosecco in a Disney bottle (and not intended for kids, to the best of our knowledge):

That evening, we ended up going to a little bar that we’d been to last year where, if you buy something to drink  (not a huge issue for us),  you could have all the free appies you can eat.  Yummy deviled eggs and bruschetta!

The next morning we started at the Uffizi Gallery.   We’d bought a ticket in advance which gave us entrance to the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens – but it was a weird ticket where you got a great deal but you had to be at the Uffizi at 9 am the morning that you chose.  September 9 in our case.  Wasn’t a problem as we were literally staying right around the corner.   It was a good thing that we’d pre-booked the ticket, as the entrance was a gong show (I think it always is).  We got our tickets easily and got into the gallery without any difficulty.

September 9 Uffizi, coffee on deck, best pizza, car show

September 10 Florrence, Zuzu, pitti and boboli

September 11 Florence, shopping

September 12 flew to Rome and Prague.  Crazy Rome airport.  Beer spa, absinthe

September 13 Prague tour, river cruise

September 14 wander Prague, fly to CPG, expensive dinner, air BNB

September 15 Prague, Nygard, boat, Christinoia

September 16 wander Prague, round tower, palace,  Tivoli

September 17 to Silkeborg, car rental, party at Dot’s exhausted

September 18 Silkeborg, dinner at dads, dr nielsens

September 19 (WEds) to beach house, slipped on jetty,nice dinner, wind

September 20 beach house, beautiful drive back, great lunch, great dinner at Inn and wine cellar, handball

September 21 Silkeborg Torben party, driveway, museaum, bunker tour

September 22 morning in town, drive to Billund, nice drive, self serve bag drop, amsterdam, night in Paris,  dog surprise

September 23 home

OK, this is a bit of a mess – its from last year (2017) and I haven’t done much to organize it yet!

 

 

Headed off for a quick solo weekend in Las Vegas, June 16-18 for my cousin, Louise’s wedding (well, sort of).   Great weekend.  But hotter than the surface of the sun (well, sort of).

I flew Allegiant Air out of Bellingham, leaving at 8 in the morning.  Easy trip across the border, and no issues getting on the flight.   It’s actually a great airport.

I’d forgotten that I’d pre-booked my seat in Row 3, which is actually Row 1, directly beside the front door.  Which is great for getting off the plane quickly (plus they  may well be the only seats with legroom), but the seats are so packed together that I’m basically bumping knees with the flight attendant in the jump seat in front of me during takeoff and landing.

This was to be a bit of a family reunion.  My cousin Louise had been married earlier in the week to Paul (great addition to the family!), in Belfast.  My cousins (her brothers) Richard (see my Dallas post) and Paul were there, the former having flown in the day before from Miami, and the latter having flown in from Auckland, via Hong Kong and London.   Paul and his wife Annike flew to Vegas via Manchester (I can’t imagine a more inebriated flight than a flight from Manchester to Vegas), and Louise and Paul came through London.  Needless to say, that’s a lot of miles to get everyone together, but I was so happy to see everyone and to meet Paul.

My cousins and I were spread all over the place.  Bride and Groom at the Wynn.  Paul and Annike were somewhere else.  I was at my old favourite, the Venetian.

 

 

From my perspective, the Venetian and Palazzo ar the best hotels in Las Vegas.  Great big two-level suites, and never any issue checking in early.  Always spotless, and never a ridiculous wait for the elevators (a pet peeve of mine).  The pools (which I didn’t go to this time – see below) are great – I think there are eleven of them.  I’m not a massive gambler, and one casino is pretty much the same as the next for me, so that’s not the huge draw.

We all met up on Friday afternoon at the best kept secret on the Strip – Casino Royale (right beside the Venetian), with its ice cold $1 Michelobs.

 

Friday night we headed to Fremont Street, which was predictably bizarre, and then dinner at the Golden Nugget where I had the hottest hot wings I have ever had in my life – nearly fatal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday.  One trillion degrees.  Nobody on the Strip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was too hot to do anything other than sit in the pool and drink excessively (staying hydrated was a medical necessity).  We decided to meet at the Wynn pool (well most of us did – Annike apparently had a bit too much fun at Casino Royale the previous night).   In my previous travels, I have collected a nice set of Vegas room cards, including a handful from the Wynn.  My plan was to use them to get into the Wynn pool.   I showed up at the pool desk only to be told that I had to scan my room key.  Shit!!  But … oddly enough, it worked (as did my Wynn WIFI, which gave me some cause to worry that I might still be being charged from my last stay at the Wynn in April!).

Saturday afternoon was the vow renewal at the Graceland Wedding Chapel.  You’ll see from the photos that I, insanely, decided it would be a good idea to wear a (very thick) suit.  Given the temperature, by the time I got to the Wynn to get our ride, I had sweated away 30% of my body weight and my clothes were falling off.

Then things started to get ugly, in true Rainey fashion.   We met up at Casino Royale again on Saturday evening for a few  bevvies, and then headed off to a great dinner at Lavo at the Venetian.

I had promised my cousin Richard that I would get Paul R. on a mechanical bull.   Promise kept.  There is a video of it, but it’s ugly and its not coming on this blog.  We also learned that Annike has a future in bull riding.  Not.

Unsuccessfully tried to bribe the bouncer at Senor Frogs to let us jump the huge lineup to get it.  Didn’t go too well.  But then again, why the hell is there a lineup at Senor Frogs?!?

So …. back to Casino Royale.

 

Apparently, at Casino Royale, $23 buys you 23 beer.  Ouch.

And thanks, Annike, for suggesting vodka shots to round off the evening!

 

Not sure what time things wound up.  Or how I got back to the hotel.  But I conveniently woke up the next morning with all my clothes on.

Sunday morning.  Late start.  No real desire for breakfast.  Sixty four billion million degrees out.   Too hot to take picture on my phones, which kept overheating.  My flight was delayed five hours because of the heat (apparently it was so hot, the planes couldn’t achieve lift).   Bottom line = very tired return to home.

But it was an epic weekend.

This is the first post on my “new” travel blog.

What is Ten Million Miles?  It’s not the circumference of the Earth – that’s only around 25,000 miles.   The moon is around 240,000 miles distant.

The significant of Ten Million Miles is that it was the near-mythical ultimate goal of Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney) in the film Up in the Air.   Bingham, a business traveler, practically lived on airplanes and reaching the ten-mil plateau was the ultimate business traveler goal.   It’s a staggering distance when you think of it.  Mercury is 36 million miles away.

In 2011 a fellow named Tom Stuker managed to join the ten-mil club.  He was in rare company.  Seems only a handful have done it.  United Airlines named a plane after him, and gave him a Titanium Card (whatever that was).

I’ll never hit Ten Million Miles.  But I love traveling and the thought of what I could see along the way, if I was to travel that distance in my lifetime, is pretty cool.