Sao Tome Weekend

I apologize for the inconsistency in my posting lately. Frankly, we haven't travelled as much in 2016 as we did in 2015 so I find that our day to day life is somewhat uneventful. However, this past Monday was May Day in Ghana so Dan had a three day weekend. This calls for a weekend getaway... Enter: Sao Tome and Principe. A small country of two islands in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Gabon.

We learned of Sao Tome back in October 2014 when we spent a weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. The board listed our flight's destination as Sao Tome so we thought we were at the wrong gate. Come to find out the flight from Lisbon to Sao Tome stops briefly in Accra... so there you have it. It's by far the cheapest flight we've booked while living in Africa and we booked a hotel in Sao Tome using points from the chain that we "lived in" while in Maputo, Mozambique last year. Such a deal!

Our flight left late afternoon on Friday, getting us into Sao Tome around 5pm. We actually buzzed the tower on the landing, which prompted a good Top Gun reference. Turns out the runway is not very long and we didn't come down at the right angle in order to be able to stop in time so Mr. Pilot had to pull back up, circle around and try again. Success on attempt number two, followed by immigration, a quick shuttle ride to the hotel and a sprint off the bus to check in before the masses. Our vacation was underway. We changed clothes and went down to the bar to watch some soccer and have an appetizer before dinner. There was a barbeque buffet at the hotel so we sat outside with the ocean breeze and had dinner and some Portuguese Douro wine, and then we cried in remembrance of what good wine tastes like. We got tired (actually I got tired) so we went to sleep at a reasonable hour after a long day of work and travel.

View from our room

Saturday morning, we woke up and went down for breakfast. Found some pool chairs on the ledge of the pool... the ones that when you sit down, your bum is actually in the water. Ah, yes, this is the life. Busted out our books, slathered on the sunscreen and just relaxed. A few hours later, we went in for a quick nap, showered, and decided to venture out for some lunch and a walk into town. We found a place that got good reviews, and the name Papa Figo has a soft spot in our hearts. Back in Maputo, we used to visit a tapas place called A Esquina. The first time we went, we ordered a nice bottle of red called Papa Figos. This became our wine of choice at the restaurant, which resulted in Dan being dubbed "Papa Figo" by the waiters.

We ordered one plate of "frango" (chicken), a "peixe grelhado" (grilled Joe Pesci.. wait, no, grilled fish) and beers and took a seat at an outdoor table. Lunch was tasty and after paying, we headed out for a post-lunch jaunt into town. Town was... disappointing. Surprisingly, nothing was open on a Saturday afternoon. We wandered for awhile, eventually gave up and took a different walking route back to the hotel.

For dinner, Dan had a crab salad appetizer and we both had some steak. After dinner, we sat outside for a bit and then walked to the "Beach Club", a nightclub/bar that is adjacent to the Pestana Sao Tome hotel. They had a nice outdoor patio, so we sat, listened to the waves, completely lost track of time... all the things you should do on a vacation.

Sunday morning, we reunited with our pool chairs and soaked up more of the Sao Tomean sun. The hotel granted us a late checkout, so we lounged until we needed to go get cleaned up and pack. After checking out, we found a table in front of a soccer match and ordered two prego no pao (steak sandwiches) and some white wine. After indulging in the last of our good beef and wine, we boarded the shuttle back to the airport for the flight home.

On Monday, I planned to work a half day... which somehow turned into a full day. Dan ran some errands for me and brought home some tasty lunch takeout. And just like that... the calendar flipped to May. 20 months down on this crazy adventure, 4 remaining...

Karibu Kenya! - Giraffe Manor & Nairobi Part 1

Welcome to Kenya! Dan and I arrived reallllllly early on Good Friday on very little sleep courtesy of yet another red eye flight. We were picked up at the airport and driven out to Giraffe Manor. To backtrack a bit: I found photos of this place on Pinterest awhile back and was absolutely dying to go. That said, it is not cheap so I mentioned it to Dan and then let it percolate for awhile. Upon the culmination of NFL season, we managed to win the fantasy football league and the winnings promptly burnt a hole in our pockets. Dan suggested Nairobi for Easter weekend and I was wavering on the idea until he promised me a night at Giraffe Manor. Well, twist my arm why don't you. (Side bar: giraffes are kinda my favorite.)

We arrived to the property around 7am and all seemed quiet... which was mildly disappointing in my comatose state. Then, we saw a baby giraffe when we were walking in. As we walked past the baby, a big one came around the corner and the gentleman carrying our bags said we must hurry and get inside because that is the momma. They brought us some coffee and told us that there currently weren't any tables available for breakfast but we were welcome to go out back and have a seat and watch the giraffes. Now, you see these photos online and you're thinking "that's amazing, but there's no way that's actually what it looks like"... oh, yes. yes it is. It is everything it looks like and more. So I spent a little bit on the back patio feeding Kelly the Giraffe. Ho hum, nothing to see here.

A breakfast table opened up and we were seated by the window. It didn't take long for Kelly to realize that we were going to eat without her so she shoved her head in the window and made herself at home on my plate. Once finished, she raised her head up a little too quickly and drooled on my head. Thanks, Kelly, love you too. Breakfast for the humans consisted of scones, fruit kebabs, granola with yogurt, eggs, sausage/bacon, toast with coffee and juice. No shortage of food for these weary travelers. After breakfast, we went to our room for a very quick nap as we were being picked up at 10:30am for an excursion to a local elephant orphanage.

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is open to the public for one hour each day. They have private appointments but they require reservations and I screwed that up so we went to the public showing. My main reason for wanting to come was to pick out a baby elephant to foster. A year of fostering is $50 and they send you monthly updates via email with what your elephant has been up to. The public "show" on Friday was absolutely packed. Given that it was a public holiday and holiday weekend, there were people everywhere. Much of the show was watching the babies be bottle fed and roll around in the mud while the trainer explained how they find the orphans, their plan for growing them and releasing them back into the wild. Dan and I have played with elephants of varying size in South Africa and Thailand so we didn't need to pet them and all that. We really just wanted to pick out one we liked and learn his or her story. We decided on a 22month old boy named Murit who was rescued after falling down a well. His little ears fold over at the top which we thought was cute so he won. While everyone was swooning over the baby elephants, I went up to fill out the paperwork to foster Murit. Murit's photo now graces our fridge in Accra alongside our family and friends.

Feeling warm and fuzzy about our good deed, we headed back to Giraffe Manor for some lunch. The giraffes were over at the giraffe center (a public viewing place where you can see and feed giraffes), which shares property with the manor. We had some soup and some really good fish skewers and then headed up for a nap. We were told to be downstairs by 5 for sundowners and more giraffe time. And here's a few of photos from that:

After the giraffes wandered off for bedtime, everyone went in for dinner. Dinner was a halloumi and red pepper starter, steak and potatoes, and dessert. They also brought a small chocolate cake with a candle for my belated birthday. After dinner, everyone went to the sitting room by the fire for more wine/cocktails and chatted. There was a couple from DC, a group of friends from London, a couple from Germany, a family from Denmark, and a family from Oman. Everyone was really nice and it was a pleasure chatting about what people's plans were around Kenya, where they have been or where they are going. We eventually went to sleep and set the alarm for breakfast the next morning. At around 7am, I scooted to the restroom and when I returned, Dan was laughing. I asked what was so funny and he told me to pull back the curtain. I left the windows open all night as there's no AC and the air is cool. I pulled back the curtain to find... Betty.

We spent the next half hour or so feeding Betty from our room, through the window. Seriously. Is this real life? Someone pinch me. When we ran out of pellets, we went downstairs for one last breakfast with the giraffes. It was drool-free and uneventful. We checked out and waited on my friend, Sarah, to arrive and pick us up for a local's guide to Nairobi. More on that next time.

2nd Annual Valentine's Day Fort-Build

Valentine's Day weekend was surprisingly busy, despite not having any concrete plans ahead of time. Friday night, Dan and I went to dinner with Robin. It was his last night here in Accra before going back to the UK for a few weeks. They are currently in the process of moving up to Akosombo so the house here is pretty much empty and certainly without food.

We went to a South African restaurant that is in a hotel/apartment complex that looked new. The menu was pretty robust for a "hotel restaurant". We got some chicken and seafood skewers to share as starters and a bottle of wine. For mains, Robin got short ribs, Dan got the pork chop and I had a steak. Few places here have steak, and even fewer have good South African beef so I figured I'd give it a shot. My steak was actually really good, the best I've had in Ghana for sure. The guys seemed lukewarm about their choices. Robin's ribs were not braised the way we would have expected short ribs to be, so he gave the chef a hard time (which he always gets a kick out of doing).

Saturday morning, we lounged around the house. Francis, the head security guy, had been bugging me about washing our windows. I held him off for awhile with the good ol' "it's harmattan, let's wait til April" spiel, but he was growing impatient. As I'm certain he needed extra money, and we genuinely like him the most of the staff, we said ok. We did, however, choose to limit his access to just the living room and kitchen. We rarely open the windows in any of the bedrooms anyway.

He came at 10:05 (impressively punctual for a Ghanaian) and got started. When he finished with the patio, I was really grateful. Mostly because I had been dreading cleaning the deck after harmattan and trying to de-dust our patio furniture and the grill. He did all of that and washed the screens/sliding glass doors. We had agreed on 75ghs but we were so blown away by the job he did that we gave him 100 (which is still only $25, to keep things in perspective). I might have him do it again in August right before the patio furniture gets packed onto the shipping container.

Saturday afternoon was spent by the pool, with a side of naps. We got cleaned up and went to our favorite restaurant, Bistro 22, for Valentine's Day dinner. They had red lights throughout the restaurant with silk flower petals and heart confetti on the tables. There was a live band playing "love tunes" on a guitar, saxophone and a strangely high-pitched male vocalist. We ate a lot, enjoyed playing a mildly successful version of Name That Tune and got carrot cake to go. Came home and watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith whilst fork-fighting over the slice of cake.

Sunday was equally as relaxing (read as: lazy) while we watched a triple-header of soccer games. Last Valentine's Day, we were living in Mozambique. To refresh your memory... or mine, since I don't recall whether this story was told at the time... Dan offered to plan the activities for the day. When we left the hotel it was humid and over 100 degrees and felt like a sauna. By 4pm the sky turned black and was about to dump. We stopped off at the store for snacks and gave up on dinner reservations. Good thing we did because it was hurricane-worthy. Cars were stuck in the flooded streets, rain was blowing sideways, it was crazy. We took the mattresses and couch cushions onto the floor and built a fort of bedsheets and blankets, created a makeshift charcuterie plate and watched movies.

It was such a spontaneous but fun night that we decided to make it a tradition. So, this year was the 2nd annual fort-build-movie-watching Valentine's Day. We put together some snacks, built a fort with the sofa cushions and dining chairs and climbed in. We watched Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks and then cleaned up and crashed. Still fun the second time around so I suspect it will continue.

Things have calmed down a lot on this end now that the weddings and things have passed. I expect the next couple of weeks to be pretty uneventful... which is just fine. :)

Ghanaian Wedding Numero Dos - Gabby and Rosemary

Last Saturday, we went to our second wedding in as many weeks. This one, while taking place in Accra, was much more multicultural. Rosemary, the bride, is Ghanaian from the village of Ho (see Dan's post from Sunday about the Ho festivities... it's not what it sounds like, I promise). Gabby, the groom, is Kenyan on secondment in Ghana from PwC Nairobi... though he's been here three years now. Pierre, the best man, is Cameroonian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but now is on rotation in London. Jonia, the maid of honor, is Tanzanian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but is now on rotation in Dubai. And then there's me, Dan, Janni (Danish), and White Joe (English) rounding out the cast of pale folk. Yes, we have multiple friends named Joe so we do actually call him White Joe to his face.

The wedding was set to start at 10am "prompt". We left the house at 9:35 expecting to arrive around 10:15. We got lost... very lost. In Dan's defense, he knew where he was going, but there was a service road on the right of the highway. He didn't know he needed to be on the service road so when our turn came up, we couldn't make it through the cement barrier. We finally arrived at the church at 11:05 and were sat in the front row by the usher. Rosemary had walked down the aisle but, considering the priest was giving the "please silence your cell phone" spiel, we realized we actually were right on Ghana time.

The ceremony was a Catholic one with lots of standing and sitting but the service was very nice. The priest did well to try to merge the West African/East African cultures and made everyone feel welcome regardless of their personal beliefs.

During the ceremony, we noticed that some people had programs. Dan looked across the aisle to check a woman's program to see where we were in the service. He then whispered to me, "My name is in the program for the reception but I'm not sure why". We asked the usher for a program and she said they had run out. The nice woman across the aisle heard this and gave us one of theirs. Verdict: Dan is a "Popper of Champagne"... along with a few of Rosemary's friends, Gideon, Pierre, Gabby's brother, Dan and Albert. All I can picture in this moment is the scene from Dumb and Dumber when they pop Champagne and kill the endangered species owl. We had a good laugh over this. Thankfully, when that time came at the reception, no humans or owls were hurt in the completion of this task.

After the ceremony, there were multiple photographs taken. A list of the order of photographs was provided in the program just like it was the weekend before. We stayed for the "PwC" photo and the "friends of the groom" photo. Afterwards, we hitched a ride with George to the reception where we were seated and awaited the arrival of the newlyweds.

The reception was very nice and similar to Laura's with the western-ness. They cut the cake, there was a bar, toasts, first dance, etc. There was a buffet of food from both sides of Africa... Ghanaians love spicy food, whereas East African food has no pepper so they accommodated family/friends from both ends. The funniest thing is that our table was selected last to go to the buffet but they had run out of plates. We're not sure how that happened. You have x number of chairs, wouldn't you need at least as many plates and then some for people who come back for seconds or take two? Apparently not. So we had to wait for them to wash some plates. A lot of the food had run out by this point so we took what was still available and went back to the table. After the food was finished, and the drinks were flowing surprisingly heavily, the dance floor opened up. It was everything you'd expect an African wedding's dance floor to be. Best people watching experience I've had in a long time.

 Albert post-Champagne-popping/Dorothy, me and Ayesha

 Dan the Man/Photo with the newly married couple which escalated to...

 

this...

and then this...

As the reception was winding down, Pierre asked Dan and me if the after party could be at our house. Obviously, we said yes. The remaining booze was put into Albert's trunk and he and Dorothy drove us home. We got home around 6pm, took some showers and a quick nap. People started turning up around 8/8:30. At max capacity, there were about 15 of us.

By 1am, Rosemary was asleep on Gabby's lap and I casually started to pick up empty bottles/glasses. You know, the universal sign for "hey it's been fun but please get out of my house so I can go to bed". Everyone was very grateful that we had them over and the troops headed out. Suffice to say we slept very well after a long day in the sun and playing host/hostess.

Another wedding in Ghana complete.

Guest Post - Gabby's Traditional Wedding

Jeopardy Clue: A long handled gardening instrument, a promiscuous woman, and a city in Ghana.
Answer: What is Ho?

It’s wedding season in PwC Ghana.  A number of coworkers are getting married (not to each other).  Jen shared her experiences at a wedding last weekend which was done in the Ghanaian take on western weddings.  During that weekend, I was supporting a good friend with his traditional Ghanaian wedding in Ho (no funny pronunciation, it’s just the way Santa says it).

Cast of characters:

Author: Me
Gabby: (Male) coworker on secondment from Kenya
Pierre: Coworker from Cameroon/Ghana but on secondment in London and Gabby’s good friend.
Albert: Husband of coworker Dorothy
Rosemary: Gabby’s bride-to-be
The Kenyans: Gabby’s friends from Kenya
George: Partner at PwC

Albert, Gabby and I were drinking (juice) together and decided that we needed to have a party, one last hurrah with Gabby before he got married.  Unfortunately, Gabby’s weekends were being occupied by wedding stuff.  Apparently weddings don’t plan themselves. 

However, according to Gabby, he had to attend some traditional thing in Rosemary’s village (Ho) on 30 January.  “It’s in the afternoon and I just have to show up for five minutes, not say anything, and then leave.  We can go up to Ho together and have a good time”

Conveniently, that was also the weekend Pierre was going to be in town – so he’d be able to join us. 

The plan was simple, pick Pierre up from the airport on Friday, head up to Ho, enjoy a night on the town, and head to “this traditional thing” the following morning.  Hangovers be damned.

During the workday on Friday, there are a lot more details surfacing about “some traditional thing.”  It turns out that this is the traditional Ghanaian wedding we’re headed to.  It’s a little more than just going for five minutes and being done.  It seems that since Gabby’s family was in Kenya, he needed someone of stature to speak on his behalf in front of the elders.  Enter: George. 

Not only did Gabby need someone to speak to the elders, he also needed to give a gift to the elders and some of Rosemary’s family members.  Specifically, cash.  But not just any cash, new bills.  To assist with this, Gabby and I headed out after work to go to my bank ATM (closer than his) and start to sort through money that I withdrew.  What probably looked like a suspicious exchange was actually completely legitimate.

Gabby and I grabbed dinner while the Kenyans and Albert came to meet us. Pierre was set to arrive at 8PM on Friday.  Planes arriving from the UK or US generally take about an hour longer than other planes because people are always bringing half a dozen bags of goodies for their friends and family.  Pierre’s flight was no different.  About an hour delayed in landing and another 1.5 hours for baggage, Pierre was back in Ghana.  Since Pierre was staying with Jen and me, I was the welcoming committee while Gabby, Albert and the Kenyans were taking care of Gabby.

I get Pierre settled and we meet up with Gabby, Albert and the Kenyans and then we’re off in our caravan to Ho.  Oh, and we’re also informed that this wedding program is supposed to start at 7AM…

A few hours later we arrive in Ho at about 2AM.  Time to hit the town! Unfortunately, the town looks haunted.  You see, this time of year is harmattan.  Sand and dust blows down from the Sahara.  The further north you go, the dustier and sandier it becomes.  As a result, we’re driving through a quiet, poorly lit town with “fog” that restricts distance vision.

Early mornings and quiet villages can’t stop us though.  We arrive at our hotel and wake up the staff who were sleeping on couches and mattresses around the property.  Much to their chagrin, they open the bar for us and our night on the town wraps up around 6AM.  45 minutes of sleep later, we awake to get ready.  Quick showers and a quick breakfast is all we need (when you’re as naturally good looking as us, it doesn’t take much).  George had arrived in Ho and was escorted to meet the elders.  Pierre, Gabby, Albert, the Kenyans and I meet George at one of the elder’s home.

(Left to Right: Gabby, George, Pierre, me)

 

They say a few words and want to validate all of the gifts that Gabby had purchased for Rosemary and her family.  These are separate gifts from the envelopes of fresh cash.  Typically, the traditional gifts are a sewing machine, cloth, kitchen utensils, tobacco, spirits, and a stool (yes, like a small bar stool) among other things. Since we are running late, Gabby has to bring another gift to Rosemary’s family as a token of respect.  The elders recommend a specific brand of whiskey. 

Upon arriving at the venue, we are seated with the other men and listen to the priest and some of the elders say a few things.  The local language there is Ewe, of which I (obviously) and Gabby do not speak.  Luckily, Albert does speak it and is able to translate for the Kenyans, Pierre and me, and the elders translate for Gabby. 

Then the ladies come in bearing the gifts that Gabby had brought. (see Video) Traditionally, the family will accept each gift individually, but the process was sped up a bit with the mother just announcing that everything was accepted. Following the gifts, it was time for the bride to come out.  Except she needs a little extra “motivation” – meaning that the crowd needs to throw in some cash to help convince her. 

 

Rosemary arrives via procession with the ladies of the village, similar to the way the gifts came in.  The rest of the “ceremony” (about another hour) involved people giving speeches and prayers in Ewe.  After which, the father accepted the engagement proposal and both Gabby and Rosemary started to cry. Naturally, Gabby caught a fair share of flak from us.

 

 

After the festivities completed, we went back to the hotel to check out and made our way back to Accra. Due to lots of traffic, and multiple food stops suggested by a very convincing Albert, we finally made it back home around 9pm Saturday night.

My First Ghanaian Wedding

Last Saturday, I attended my first Ghanaian wedding. Friday night, Dan went with a bunch of the guys up to Ho (about 2 hours away) for Gabby's traditional wedding to Rosemary... more on this later as I'm currently negotiating with Dan to write up a post about it.

So Saturday, I was under the assumption that I was waiting for the guys to return and then going with them to Laura's wedding. In reality, Dorothy was coming to pick me up to be her date to the wedding, since Albert was also with Dan. Dorothy told me that the wedding started at 3pm. She picked me up at 3:15 (Ghana time). We got to the venue around 3:45 but a bunch of PwC people pulled in at the same time as us so we walked over together. Laura was already down the aisle and the ceremony was in progress. Everyone was very impressed by this.

The ceremony was nice and everyone was very excited for Laura and her new husband Kplom. After the ceremony, they took pictures. The wedding program has a list on it of the order of the photographs so you know when to be ready. Maybe 5th on the list was PwC, so everyone was congregating around the couple. I told Ayesha that I would wait for them in the back. She said absolutely not, you're part of PwC, so there I was in this photo... and yes, I was the only white person at the wedding.

Wedding program/fan

One interesting fact is that there are people all over the place with cameras. So they look really official but actually it's a ploy. They take your picture and then show it to you and when you say it's nice they go print it out, hand it to you and say 10 cedis. I almost wanted to applaud the mindset... almost.

After the ceremony, we went across to the reception. I didn't know what to expect but all the traditions were very western. The reception was long tables with tablecloths and nice decor. They cut a cake, did a first dance, guest book, etc. There was an open bar and a buffet of traditional Ghanaian food. The firm here is such a close group that everyone stepped up to help Laura on her special day. Ishmael was the photographer. Dzidj was the MC. It was sweet to see everyone support her. There had to have been 40-50 people from the firm there just based on the size of the two reserved tables.

After dinner and dancing, we went up to say our goodbyes. I wasn't sure if Laura even knew who I was but I felt like I should at least thank them for such a nice event and wish them well. I walked up and she said "Jen!" and gave me a big hug, asked Dorothy and I where the guys were and we explained they were stuck in traffic.

Dorothy dropped me off at home and I waited on the Motley Crew to return. When they got back, me, Dan, Pierre and Gabby went to Shisha Lounge for pizzas and drinks and toasted Gabby's married status. Gabby then spent the first night of his marriage sleeping in our guest room with Pierre. We made sure to give him a hard time about this.

Gabby and Rosemary's western/formal wedding is this Saturday so I'm very excited to have another party with everyone.

Christmas Vacation - Part 4 (Final) - Netherlands

On New Year's Eve, we took our final train to Amsterdam. I've been excited about Amsterdam for awhile and, aside from being a little cold, it did not let me down. I am absolutely infatuated with all the canals, and the Dutch houses, and all the bicycles... even though I may have almost gotten run over by several of them in 36 hours.

We got in around lunchtime and went to the Hilton Amsterdam to check in. We took a tram back into the central part of town to look for a restaurant for lunch. It was a place called Metropolitain, and it was recommended by the receptionist at the hotel. It was very cute and they served late breakfast/brunch which might be my favorite thing ever. Upon perusing the menu (and eavesdropping on other diners' conversations), I realized most people speak English. Dutch is the official language and I'm sure most people speak that as well, but the overwhelming majority of speech and menus was English. I loved Amsterdam even more for that after weeks of language barriers and Italian gesticulations trying to get my points across.

At lunch, the gentleman sitting next to Dan struck up a conversation. He was very nice, if not a little weird, but it is Amsterdam. Come to find out he's a musician who was in a famous band back in the 80s and created a keyboard riff that is used in tons of music. He called the rhythm "Daddy's little pension" Haha. After fueling up on some food, we roamed around checking out some potential areas to explore later that night during the festivities. Once we felt like we got a lay of the land, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Normally, New Years Eve is all about getting dressed up and prancing around. Not this year. For me, it was "how many layers of pants do I think I need?". We layered up and went upstairs to the Executive Lounge for some food and drinks before going out on the town. We took one of the last trams before they shut down for the night at 8pm. It was still very early so we went pub hopping from one Heineken-serving bar to the next. We met some very nice/fun people along the way. We unintentionally walked through the Red Light District which was... well, it's everything you read that it is!

Since it was cold, we decided to stay inside as long as possible and then try to find a spot on one of the bridges over the canals to watch the fireworks. Around 11:45pm we got a spot on a bridge and waited. We knew we weren't in the center of one of the main fireworks displays but it was kind of cool because, when they started going off, they went off in every direction around us. Some were the city's shows, others were individuals setting them off. We watched the show and then wandered a bit. It became apparent that drunk people with explosives is not a good combination so we went on a 2am run to Subway (yes, THAT Subway) and walked all the way back to our hotel.

On New Year's Day, we walked to the "I amsterdam" sign, ate a pretty tasty breakfast and went to Rijksmuseum. There are LOTS of museums but, supposedly, this was the one that could not be missed. We were unimpressed. We've both been to better museums, so we lost hope in the potential of the others. We made some stops for souvenirs and then Dan wasn't feeling great (he had been fighting off a cough for a few days by this point). He asked if we could go back to the hotel and rest. We had been going, going, going this whole time so, as much as I wanted to see more of Amsterdam, I was exhausted too. We took a nap and ate downstairs at the Italian place in the hotel. Hopefully, we will make it back to Amsterdam as there is so much remaining to see and do. We shall see.

Early Saturday morning, we started the trek back to Accra. We flew a budget Spanish airline called Vueling. The tickets were half the cost of our usual fares, so we overlooked the 7 hour layover in Barcelona. We've been to Barcelona before, 7.5 years ago while on the study abroad trip where we met. So last time we were in Spain, we were more like acquaintances. We took a bus into town, got some tapas and sangria, roamed the Ramblas shopping street and pointed out all the things we remembered from 2008. We hunted and hunted for this place where we watched Spain win the Euro Cup. We recalled in detail what it looked like and where we thought it was but we couldn't find it. I'm convinced it's no longer there. Either way, it was a fun way to spend a layover and enjoyable to roam some of the same places now as husband and wife.

One more long flight and we were home safely on a Saturday night. Sunday was a lot of laundry and football and getting back into the swing of normal life after the craziness of the holidays.

Christmas Vacation - Part 3 - France and Germany

After adventuring around Switzerland, we headed to Strasbourg, France. I'll be honest, the only reason this city made the list is that it is famous for having one of the best Christmas markets. The town itself is really cute and looks a bit German in construction as it is on the border between the two countries. Apparently, the Alsace region was traded back and forth between France and Germany over the course of history until it finally ended up with France in the early 1900s.

Strasbourg has a beautiful cathedral that was a very impressive sight. I have to admit that I was incredibly underwhelmed otherwise. The Christmas market that usually stays open until New Years Eve closed early this year on Christmas Eve so, we had missed it. There were numerous little wood shops with the shutters closed on all of them. We read an article in the paper about the tourists being really upset about the change in closure date. People book their holiday travel so far in advance and it was disappointing for many of us to arrive and realize all the markets were closed. 

We enjoyed a walk around the city and admired the sights but, despite it being a weekend, not a thing was open. We suspect that with Christmas being on a Friday, the shopkeepers just remained closed all weekend. This left us with little to do aside from explore, eat and drink. I remain very disappointed in the experience as I don't see any reason why we would ever go back there. France did not do a good job of scoring points with Dan, so it remains one of his least favorite European countries.

On Monday, we traveled to Stuttgart, Germany. There isn't much in this town either; however, it is famous for two museums: the Porsche Museum and the Mercedes-Benz Museum. On Monday afternoon, we went to the Porsche museum, had lunch there and roamed the exhibits. It was very well laid out and full of fun facts. 

That evening, we went to a sports bar near our hotel for dinner and soccer. We had just finished paying when the fire alarm went off. This was not a good sign since it was attached to our hotel. Turns out, someone's radiator or towel warmer or something had started smoking so everyone in the hotel was confined to the restaurant while the fire department de-smoked the hotel. Always an adventure haha. 

Tuesday morning, we went straight to the Mercedes museum first thing and roamed the 7 floors of cars and information. The museum was also very good, but was different in that it traveled a timeline of Germany and how specific world events (wars, technological advances, etc) impacted the company and its trajectory. Very interesting. After all this car inspiration, we rented a BMW and Dan drove the Autobahn from Stuttgart to Cologne. There was little traffic so Dan was able to explore the "no speed limit" idea. I don't recall how fast his top speed was and it's probably best that I don't. Though I never felt unsafe with him behind the wheel. After driving in Cape Town, with a stick on the left side of the road, the man can do just about anything.

We checked into the Marriott in Cologne and roamed the streets in search of a dinner place. We eventually found the area with all the restaurants and opted for an "American Sports Bar" (shocking). We walked home through the quiet streets and crashed after a long day. 

The following day, we walked to the Hohenzollern bridge with all the love locks on it. You may think this is a silly idea given that Paris just cut all theirs off the bridges. Firstly, I trust German engineering immensely. I mean I did just ride there in a BMW. Lastly, this bridge is the one on which all the passenger trains cross the Rhine.... soooo it can hold some weight. Several thousand metal locks are not going to impact the structural integrity of this thing. We walked and walked trying to scope out a spot for our lock. We eventually managed to find a suitable place, affixed our lock, each took a key and tossed it into the Rhine. There our lock will stay, in the shadow of the Cologne Cathedral.

 It had gotten cold and windy, so we wandered a little more and then picked a warm place for lunch. New Orleans creole food that was very good. A bit more roaming and then we went to a quintessential German beer hall for dinner. The kind of place where they don't ask what you want to drink, they just bring beer.

In conclusion, this portion of the trip was a mixed bag. I suppose that's to be expected. Not every place you visit will be everything you hoped for and you will always love some places more than others.... to each their own.
One more stop til we head home to Ghana (well one and a half... but more on that later.)

Christmas Vacation - Part 2 - Switzerland

We arrived in Geneva and checked into Eastwest hotel. The train ride was quite long so it was already late by the time we got settled at the hotel. We went to a pub to watch the Manchester City match and had a late dinner before going to sleep.

On Tuesday, we got up and walked across the lake to the shopping district. The main language in this part of Switzerland is French so we had a bit of a language barrier to deal with. We waited in line outside the supposed best chocolatier in Geneva and I got a small box of truffles. Dan got a gold star for this considering there are few things he dislikes more than waiting in a line and chocolate. Haha. That night we had dinner at a hotel restaurant which was pretty good, then we walked back to our place to get some rest. We had an early morning wake up call the following morning to take a bus up to Chamonix.

 Geneva's fountain from the Mont Blanc bridge/Dan's true feelings about chocolate

The bus ride up was uneventful. It was unseasonably warm throughout much of Europe so there wasn't much snow. This was obviously disappointing but we dealt with what we had. This was one of the few things that Dan really wanted to do on the trip so I was happy we were able to do it. We skied a bit throughout the afternoon.... Dan skied... very well, as usual. I fell most of the way down. I was much better in Tahoe but I guess that was already 4 years ago so I lost my snow-legs. You can take the girl out of Florida, but you can't take the Florida out of the girl. That said, Dan was incredibly patient with me and my last run of the day was... respectable. (Even that's probably an overstatement but, hey, just let me have this one.)

We got back to the hotel, showered up and went on a hunt for dinner. We found a burger place that was very busy so figured that was a good sign. We ate there and went home to rest after a long day.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we headed off to Zurich. We stayed at Hotel St. Gotthard which was perfectly located right near the train station and on the main shopping street. Unfortunately, everything was already closed for the holiday but the city was very well decorated with Christmas lights almost anywhere you looked. The main street had strands of lights hung vertically from 4-5 stories up the whole way down the street. It was an impressive sight.

Months before we traveled, I contacted the hotel's concierge regarding restaurant recommendations. I suspected many places would be closed for the holiday and I didn't want to wait too long to book a table and find that nothing was available. She helped us book tables for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, we went to a place called Blaue Ente (blue duck in German). What we didn't know was that it was not actually in the city center. So we took the train out to the suburbs and went to a cute little place for dinner. The food was good and it was packed so clearly we made a good selection.

On Christmas Day, we kept the family tradition going of seeing a movie. Any guesses? Yep, Star Wars... again. BUT this time it was in English, thankfully. We laughed on the way home about the bits we had totally wrong or just missed entirely from our first viewing in Italian. We took a nap, facetimed our family to wish everyone Merry Christmas and went off to dinner at Zunfthaus Zur Waag.

The building was beautiful and based on the photos inside, it is quite old. Dinner was really good and the ambiance was nice. We didn't feel rushed at all. I actually didn't see many tables turn over so maybe they only took one reservation per table for the entire night. Lots of families out and about. On the way home, we found a pub that was open and figured it would be a quiet way to wind down. Boy, were we wrong. It was jam-packed. People everywhere at 10pm on Christmas.

We stayed for a bit and then went back to get our things together for the next train ride the following morning. Next stop: France.