Day 25:
Modena to Bologna to Amsterdam to E-ville
POTD: Yes: Sim
Weather: Very dark when we leave Opera02, and still warm. Pleasant in the
Bay Area
Our ride to the airport is on time for
a 3am pick-up at Opera02; we’re first in line to check-in at KLM and easily awaiting
the opening of the business class lounge at 5am. We never get to the lounge: the pile-up at security is so extensive we go through as soon as we realize how many people are on early flights (security is pretty given how many people are being processed).
Free wifi, so THB is following game six
of the W’s vs OKC. W’s down by 7, then by 3, then by 4…and finally…finally…the game is tied with under 3 minutes to go; DAMN! THB
loses connectivity as they use buses to get you to your plane in Bologna.
Several hours later, 700 miles away, in
an Amsterdam biz lounge, the W’s have won! THB will be home to see game 7….if
he can stay awake!
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| Not bad! |
The flight to SFO is delayed by customs
taking over the plane for a thorough search and setting back the cleaning of
the plane. Somehow, and this has happened before in Santiago, they call for
business class boarding and then left us standing in line for well over 10
minutes. Strange way to treat their top customers.
When we arrive, we find that without a
kitchen, missing one of the two bathroom sinks and both bathroom mirrors, and
everything covered with dust or plastic, we’ll be migrating quickly to the
beach.
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| DB's bike is on the right, unstolen |
And, while we were gone pretty much all
the bikes (maybe 30?) in the common area in the garage were stolen: one of the four bikes left is ours. That’s
sort of semi-karma, since THB’s 40 years old 10 speed with saddle bags is now
roaming the streets with someone else in the saddle.
Book
Review #5: Dictator, Robert
Harris (novel, third in a trilogy): In Harris’ own words, this is the story of
the final fifteen years (THB: seems like it covers 30 so much goes on) in the
life of the Roman statesman Cicero, imagined in the form of a biography written
by his secretary, Tiro. Tiro, a slave
made a free man by Cicero, did exist and did write such a book. THB: The book covers
the rise of Caesar, his death, and the immediate years afterward. Published in
2015, THB feels like he read this book before…déjà vu? Another book just like
this one read years earlier? Also consider Fatherland, by Harris: it is a terrific book (THB did read that one years ago, not imagined he read it). Both these books resonate with the idea that you need a strong man to run your country (#donaldcouldbepresident)
Observations:
THB was not making many notes along the
way (actually, THB pretty much never makes notes anymore, it’s 100% winging it
on travelsofthb).
1. Stating the
obvious: SA and DA were wonderful travel companions, as were the YTs in Milan. THB is pretty sure they
are thinking the competition wasn’t too steep after reading about the
Houstonians and Canadians. The moral of the story: you can pick your friends,
you can’t always pick your tour mates.
2.
The Houstonians and
Canadians sure made for some juicy stories in the blog. Most of the time they
were just fine as tour mates. And yet, their sense of entitlement, crassness
and the lack of forcefulness by the co-leaders got to be a regular sub-text of
each day. One co-leader was too gracious and was taken advantage of, the other
basically did squat and also took advantage of the other co-leader. Not debilitating, just worth noting.
3. Overall our hotels were good to terrific. In the week-long stay at Opera02 it felt good to not have to pack
and unpack every few days. We did stay in some over-the-top terrific spots.
4. The rain during the
first half of the trip turned out to be a small impediment to enjoying the
sights; the heat the last few days was more debilitating, especially since we
were eating big meals, including lunches, with a lot of alcohol available.
5.
Italy is an easy
winner in the food stakes, and THB and DB had some terrific meals in Spain and
Portugal. Many of the meals included dishes we had not had before, adding to
the enjoyment. We didn’t have that many noteworthy wines and the
beer was pretty non-descript. In general, the prices for meal were a bit below to well below what we'd pay in the US for a comparable meal.
6. THB could’ve used
more time in the big cities. For sure in Lisboa, which was jumping; in Madrid
THB is not so sure, we weren’t there long enough to get a good vibe on what
else was out there that we didn’t get to; maybe in Porto, where the city life
seemed centered within a short distance of our hotels. Milan was terrific, probably could have managed several more days. Bilbao didn’t have all
that much to offer other than the world's greatest museum, and the day with Gabriela in San Sebastian was just terrific.
7. In all five big cities
we stayed in or near a lively part of town. That was fine in Madrid, Milan and Porto
where the hotels were very nice. In Lisboa and Bilbao, the rooms were very
small. Both of those hotels at least had excellent views from their terraces.
8.
We used a lot of
private guides during the first two weeks, and the tour arranged for a lot of
guided events the last week. Overall, that’s a pretty nice way to travel. It’s
costly, and worth it when you get to something that you couldn’t do on your own,
need a translator, or want to maximize your time because you not in an area
very long. In many cases on this trip,
we hit the trifecta!
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