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  • Day 2: A hike, Punakha Dzong, lunch with a view

    Day 2: A hike, Punakha Dzong, lunch with a view

    This entry is for Monday, May 25.

    We got decent sleep yesterday between the before dinner naps and another 6 hours at night. But we gave up about 3am and got up for coffee in the room.

    We left a little after 5am for our morning walk.

    Beautiful vistas everywhere you look.

    We are in Punakha. Elevation is about 4000 feet, population around 20.000 we think; it was hard to find a reliable number.

    And since I haven’t said it yet, the population of Bhutan is just about 800k. It is just under 15k square miles. It is a little bigger than Massachusetts and a little smaller than the upper peninsula of Michigan.

    Punakha was the capital from 1907 to 1955 when it was moved to Thiumpu, where we were the first night and will return tomorrow.

    Beautiful bridge over the Puna Tsang Chu River. It was just completed about 2 months ago.

    Looking up at our hotel on our way back. We have the corner room on the first floor on the left – the one with the curtains open. We are sitting as I type on that balcony on the right.

    The name of our hotel is Zen Punakha.

    That’s Ash standing at the entrance.

    You see this detail everywhere and I wanted to capture a closeup of it.

    Current situation. Love the terraces on the left, growing rice probably. It is almost 7am when breakfast will be ready. The room to the left of Ash’s head is ours. We are leaving at 8am but staying here one more night. More when are day is done.

    More views from the dining room balcony.

    ————

    Breakfast was served at 7am.

    Omelette with fried rice, a spicy potato dish, and puri which is another kind of fried bread.

    We left the hotel about 8am and stopped about 15 minutes away for what would be a fairly rigorous hike.

    It started with a walk across a wobbly suspension. Yay, my favorite! (Not…)

    Surrounded by beautiful farm land dotted with cows.

    We stopped to rest after the first steep climb, which in hindsight was nothing compared to what lay ahead.

    I deleted more than I will add to the blog, but there will be more beautiful landscape photos coming.

    With a little bit of forest…

    …and of course more climbing.

    Wow

    Notice the terraces through the trees in the background.

    The destination: Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten, a stupa built in 2004 by the queen mother. It serves as a spiritual monument designed to ward off negative forces and bring peace and harmony to the world.

    The tree is a bodhi, the same kind of tree Siddhartha sat under until he became the Buddha. In the Buddhist tradition, bodhi means awakening or enlightenment.

    Photos aren’t allowed in any of these so I will just say this: The Sistine Chapel has got nothing on what we’ve seen today. A completely different kind of art of course but beautiful and intricate in its own right.

    Views from the 4th level which was essentially the roof.

    Our guide, Dorji, took this of us on our way out.

    Above and below: making our way back down. Photos courtesy of Melanie, a member of our group.

    A woman weeding a rice paddy. And a dog. Could be hers, probably stray. They are everywhere. And kept well fed by the locals. Like the cats in Istanbul, although not nearly as many.

    We bought fresh roasted peanuts from a monk sitting on the side of the trail. Oh and Melanie is in the orange shoes.

    I just couldn’t get over how green everything was.

    One more walk over the shaky bridge.

    We were done just after 10:30am and made our way to Punakha Dzong, a fortress built in 1637. It is now used for administrative offices for the country of Bhutan as Punakha still serves as the administrative capital. It is shared with monks who live and study here.

    Remember this from our arrival in Paro on Saturday? I said then we would probably figure out what it was sometime on the trip. And this is it.

    Punakha Dzong is a fortress built in 1637 to protect Bhutan from Tibetan invasions and serve as an administrative and religious hub. The fortress objective is no longer true but the rest remains the same. Punakha is still the administrative capital of Bhutan and many offices are here. And monks also use it as a monastery, a place to live and study.

    The photo below is taken from the bridge in the photo above. I love the jacaranda everywhere.

    Above and below: courtyard of the administrative side. That’s another bodhi tree.

    Above and below: the courtyard on the monk’s side. The only building we entered was the one above which was essentially a temple. I’m bummed photos aren’t allowed. The colors, details, and stories that go with the images are incredible.

    At this point it was approaching Noon and we made our way to lunch. And thank goodness because I was feeling weak. The hike was a workout on top of the 4 mile walk we did this morning (I’m showing 8.4 miles for the day as I type at 6:15pm). Plus it was way hotter than we expected, and most of these places you have to wear long pants. So food was a very good idea.

    The restaurant was Siddi Darma at the top of a hill.

    Our view at lunch.

    That’s Dorji on the left. She’s been wonderful. Super sweet and knows her stuff. She took the photo below.

    Everyone agreed this meal rivaled last night’s in quality, although nothing beats this atmosphere. The cabbage salad was flavored with a chili that had a numbing effect on your tongue. Another chicken dish over rice but the best one so far. The hit was the cauliflower which was breaded and fried and served with a kind of sweet and sour sauce.

    After lunch was another hanging bridge. We only walked a bit of it then opted to go back to the van.

    Have I mentioned the cows? Not as plentiful as the dogs but they can show up anywhere.

    We stopped at a place along the river for tea and a rest. Still the nunnery to go but we asked to get dropped at the hotel on the way. We were done.

    We had 90 minute massages scheduled for 4pm. Just what we needed. Hoping that will help us sleep through the night.

    Dinner was at 6:30pm.

    Ash had requested pakora – breaded and fried vegetables- there on the left. And probably the best thing on the plate tonight. Definitely not as good as last night’s.

    And with that we are done. It’s too early to go to bed, even for us, so will try to stay up at least another hour. It’s not even 7:30 yet but we are exhausted.

    Totally worth it though. This was one of those “this is why we travel” days. Stunning views, beautiful art and architecture, interesting history and culture.

    Tomorrow we pack up and head to another destination.

  • Day 1: A Fertility Temple on our way to Punakha

    Day 1: A Fertility Temple on our way to Punakha

    This entry is for Sunday, May 24.

    We didn’t have great sleep and gave up about 4am. We had coffee in the room and caught up with things on our phones and then went out for a walk where we logged 4 miles before breakfast.

    There are no traffic signals in Bhutan. But lots of roundabouts, often with beautiful art in the middle.

    We walked along the river for a good while. On a hill in the distance sits a huge Buddha.

    We will get up there when we come back to Thimphu later this week.

    We came across a park that was behind walls which had a rose garden we had seen on the drive in yesterday.

    We made our way back for breakfast. The hotel had a pretty typical buffet.

    At 8:30 we met with a Buddhist monk who talked to us about the history of Bhutan and how Buddhism is woven into the structure of the country. He also explained how Gross National Happiness works, which measure 9 domains such as health, living standards, psychological well being, and education using periodic surveys. Governance through policy and programs then works to make improvements based on how the people are doing. It was pretty interesting and made a lot of sense.

    We left Thimphu around 10:15. Our first stop was Dochula Pass, at about 10k feet. It is decorated with 108 stupas, built in 2003 to honor Bhutanese soldiers killed during military operations against insurgents.

    The panoramic views are supposed to be stunning but we just had clouds this morning.

    Next stop was lunch, a buffet nearly identical to our dinner yesterday so I didn’t take photos. So far the food has been pretty uninteresting. Good though. Just basic.

    On our way to the next place we stopped at a little vegetable stand where they were roasting corn on coals.

    Yummy!

    The big outing today was a hike up to a fertility temple, Chimi Lhakhang.

    The landscape on the way was beautiful.

    Rice farming.

    The final ascent.

    Lama Drukpa Kunley, aka Divine Madman because of his unconventional and outrageous style of teaching. He referred to his phallus as a flaming thunderbolt and used the symbolism to point out hypocrisy and discomfort society experiences when facing the truth.

    The phallus become something to worship as a way to increase fertility and couples having trouble conceiving make pilgrimages here to receive blessings which result in children.

    The temple was built in 1499 by his cousin.

    The views looking out from the temple were stunning.

    Remnants of the fertility festival happening here this weekend which we caught the very end of.

    There were several shops on the way up selling all kinds and sizes of phalluses.

    We made it to our hotel in Panukha about 3:30. This is the view from the balcony at the restaurant.

    Our room has its own nice views. We quickly settled in for much needed naps. It is approaching 6:30pm and will make our way down to dinner.

    ————

    It had rained a bit while we were napping. The air was cooler and had that great after-rain smell to it.

    Everyone agreed this was our best meal so far. A chicken stew over white rice, noodles in a creamy garlic sauce, roasted vegetables, green beans in spicy black bean sauce.

    We are back in our room before 7:30 and are done. 13 hour jet lag is a bitch and we are both feeling it. The nap helped. Hopefully that won’t interfere with our sleep too much.

    (Update)

  • Departure: San Francisco to Thimphu

    Departure: San Francisco to Thimphu

    This entry starts Thursday, May 21.

    ————

    Whenever we are in San Francisco, we have a standing 5:30am coffee date with some friends. We got up in time to do that. Then another friend dropped us at the airport around 8am for a 10:22am flight to JFK.

    We made a stop at a Priority Pass lounge for breakfast…

    …then over to an American lounge for showers.

    We had a nice, uneventful flight in Economy Plus. We watched the first season of A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, a Game of Thrones prequel. I finished it; Ash has one episode to go.

    As I type we are in the SoHo Lounge at JFK.

    Ash LOVES watching the planes.

    They have quite a spread. We had a little to eat since we didn’t get much on the first leg given the class we were in. For the next flight we will be in Premium Economy so the food should be better. Which is good since it’s like a 14 hour flight.

    Delhi is 12.5 hours ahead of home.

    The flight info essentially says that we leave at 9pm and arrive at 9pm. So I want to sleep some on the plane but not a lot because we will have to go to bed again once we land. Thankfully our next flight isn’t until Noon so we won’t have to get up too early.

    ————

    Friday, May 21

    It is now approaching 10pm in Delhi. As a point of comparison, it is approaching 9:30am at home in California. Friday in both cases. We had an easy flight and landed almost an hour early. But still almost a 13.5 hour flight. Ash slept for a lot of it. I tried to stay awake so that I would be tired now when it’s time to go to bed. And I am! Mostly I watched some documentaries and listened to music. It was pretty relaxing.

    And I updated my country count in the Been app. 32 isn’t bad considering my first international trip was just in 2013. Ash’s count is 76.

    Other photos along the way…

    The last bit of sunset at JFK as we were headed to our gate. 
    For some reason, it felt a little strange flying over all the “Stan” countries. Just because there’s always so much going on there.
    Heading to immigration at the deli airport. We were done in less than 45 minutes.
    Elephant statues in the airport 

    We are staying at a Holiday Inn Express at the airport just for one night.

    Current situation. Getting a bite to eat before bed and Ash can watch the plane activity behind me. 

    Funny: Ash gets a club sandwich and I get a traditional Indian dish. In this case aloo gobhi, a spicy potato and cauliflower dish which I know well and love.

    ————-

    Saturday, May 22

    We were up about 5am so maybe 6 hours sleep. Went over for breakfast, same guys working as the night before. It’s a 24 hour restaurant.

    Mostly ate fruit and stuff from the buffet. Ash ordered me dosa, this fried bread served with coconut and tomato chutney. How can you go wrong with fried bread?

    The window in our room looked out into the airport.

    It took 90 minutes to check our bags and get through immigration.

    We were on Drukair – Royal Bhutan Airlines. Druk means dragon – which explains what’s on the tail of the plane.

    It was less than 2 hours to Paro.

    We deplaned on the tarmac and got through immigration pretty easily.

    The baggage carousel had a model in the middle of it. In assuming a monastery and figure we will find out.

    The airport was beautiful. Behind that bush on the left Ash is at an ATM getting cash.

    It was about an hour drive through mountains to Thimphu.

    We are staying at The Capital Hotel. That’s our driver and guide standing in front.

    It’s a simple room but certainly adequate. We are just here one night but then come back later in the week.

    We met the group at 6pm for the intro meeting. Just 6 people total: in addition to us, a woman from Philadelphia and a family of 3 from Vancouver.

    After we had a family style dinner. Pretty basic but good: red rice, rice noodles, chicken, vegetables. And this chili cheese sauce they apparently eat with everything which we all agreed was too hot. It tasted good though – reminded me of Texas.

    It is now approaching 8:30pm. Ash is already asleep and I will be any moment. But very glad we are here.

    Let the adventure begin!

    Test: updating to upload photos. V2

  • 2026 Bhutan & Delhi: Pre-Departure

    2026 Bhutan & Delhi: Pre-Departure

    Tomorrow, Thursday, May 21. 2026, we start a 16 day adventure, most of it with National Geographic. We first booked this tour shortly after we completed our first NatGeo experience in June, 2023, for a year later.

    We have lost count of the number of times we have had to change the dates of this trip but think this is the 4th version. So we are excited to finally be on our way.

    When we say we are going to Bhutan, the vast majority of people respond with “where’s that?”

    It sits at about 8000 feet in the Himalayas, nestled between India and China.

    Here is how NatGeo introduces this trip:

    “Set out on an adventure through the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the only country in the world that measures its progress in terms of happiness. Explore timeless mountain villages, spectacular fortresses, and ornate shrines as you travel across this bastion of Buddhist culture, and meet local people from different walks of life to gain insights into the secrets of Bhutan’s wellbeing.”

    That’s about as much as we know about what we are getting into, other than some hiking and touring old Buddhist monasteries. But we love learning about new and interesting cultures and this will certainly be both of those things.

    Today we traveled to San Francisco where we are spending the night at friends’ house (who happen to be in Puerto Vallarta right now!). Tomorrow we fly from here to New York City, then to Delhi. We spend one night there then fly to Paro, and get driven to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.

    That’s about 44 hours to get there. They are 13 hours ahead of us. It will be chilly and wet for much of the trip. Temps like 50-65 and we will see how much it actually rains but the forecast doesn’t look great.

    We will be in Bhutan for 10 days, then spend a couple of days in Delhi on our way home. That is Ash’s birthplace and he is excited/scared about me experiencing it for the first time. I do understand India is a whole different ballgame and am ready for all of it.

    We do plan on getting to Agra on our last day so we can see the Taj Mahal.

    That’s about it for now. Given the 2day trek to get there and the half a day time difference, I’m not sure when I will get the first post up. Should be some time Saturday evening for us which will be maybe Saturday morning for you depending on where you are! 

    Whenever it is, we look forward to you coming along as always…this one will be new for all of us!

  • New House: Before & After

    New House: Before & After

    Warning: if you follow me for travel blogs but are not interested in a house remodel, feel free to move on. This is for the “Adventures in Real Estate” portion of my website, which hasn’t had any activity in a while. Somehow, I never did an entry about the 1912 Craftsman we lived in for 4 years – which was a beauty – but that opportunity has passed.

    This post is about a remodel of our newest home, which we moved into on 11/19/2025. Moving in 2025 was not even on our bingo card, but a variety of things influenced that decision and we found ourselves speeding up a decision we had made a couple of years back: to end up in a 55+ community.

    Specifically, Heritage Park. For the locals, this is in very North Natomas, butting up against Elkhorn Blvd for the most part. Folks who have known me for a long time may recall I lived not too far from here – about a mile east – in 2010-2012. I’d only lived “on the grid” for the last 10 years because I kept marrying these men who loved vintage homes. Never in a million years would I have picked that for myself. So, this has been very much like going home for me.

    We entered escrow on this house on 9/17/25, after less than 2 weeks of looking. Ash was actually in Europe at the time. The night before he left, he sent me the link for this house while he was already on the road in San Francisco, flying to NYC the next day and to Europe that night. It was bigger than we’d been looking at – I was hoping to downsize but no dice. For the way we like to live – each needing their own workspace away from each other, and still have room for guests, we needed to go with a full 3-bedroom house instead of the “2 bedrooms with an office” we had been looking at, where the “office” was mostly just an alcove.

    I made arrangements to see the house on Monday afternoon, 9/15, and he called me from Central Park while he was walking Zeus so he could see it through Facetime. We agreed to put an offer on it that afternoon and 2 days later we were in escrow.

    The above photo was taken on 2/28/2026, when I started writing this entry. We are pretty settled in and I felt it was finally time to share the work we did. And there was some work. Will get to that in a moment.

    While it’s a 2 story house – of which there are relatively few in the community – it is designed to be primarily lived in on the first floor. Of 2830 square feet, roughly 2000 of it is on the first floor. The 2nd floor has the guest bedroom and full bathroom, a sunroom that will eventually become Ash’s office, and an open loft area that we’re not quite sure what to do with.

    Far left: We are on the corner so have a nice side front yard. Notice the park in the background on the right. The next two photos are of that park. There are a couple like it in our part of the community and a handful of others like it in the other areas. There are 3 distinct gated areas within the entire community, and we are in one of the smaller ones, which we like.

    An interesting thing I’ve never experienced before is how friendly everyone is. Everyone says “hi” all the time whether you’ve met or not, and more than likely will stop and introduce if you haven’t met yet. Our street has a standing Friday afternoon gathering in that little park. Just a check-in if you will, that started during the pandemic, and they just decided to keep it going. So, we’d actually met most of our direct neighbors before we even moved in. Everyone had been watching the workers be here every day for long days and were curious about what we were doing to the house. Because, of course, they all knew the previous owners so had been in it before.

    To satisfy their curiosity, they were the first group we hosted the Sunday after we moved in – just a little open house before the Friendsgiving we also hosted that afternoon. Fourteen of them showed up! We’ve enjoyed getting to know everyone and they all live great examples of active, healthy retirements, and are very encouraging of all of our travel: do it now, they always say. So, we do. (As if we needed that push, but it’s validating!)

    I had returned to the house several times for various reasons such as inspections, etc. I’d met our next door neighbor on that inspection visit and that’s when I learned about the Friday thing.

    But Ash didn’t seen the house in person until the day after we got back from Paris on 10/26/2025 – for our final walk through, the day before we were to sign all the paperwork. I knew within the first 60 seconds that he was not happy. I had known that it would need some work but hadn’t imagined we would put into what Ash imagined while he was thinking through what he would want to do to be happy with it.

    In short, it was a pretty significant remodel: full interior paint job, mostly new flooring, taking out a wall, adding a wall. This post documents that process. I decided to go room by room. In most cases you’ll get before, during, and after. If you’ve been through a remodel, you know the “during” part is the most challenging because it can be hard to maintain the vision while things are in such disarray.

    Ready? Let’s go.

    A couple of random photos for fun before we get into the heavy work.

    On the left: this is how much paint you need to repaint 2830 square feet.

    On the right: a beautiful floral arrangement sat at the front door when we arrived with the movers on 11/19, from our dear friend Shelley.

    Entry, Living Room, Staircase

    The living room is a small-ish room just to the left of the entry. The tapestry on the wall there on the left the owner left behind; we’ve since moved it up to the loft. The next two photos represent what I said earlier: the entire house was painted, and we replaced all of the flooring except for the tile that was in the 3 bathrooms and the laundry room. The entry way and kitchen were the same tile, and everything else was carpet.

    We got the keys around Noon on Thursday, 10/30, and by 1pm our contractor, Jeff, started the work. By Friday the wall we wanted removed was gone, painting prep started on Saturday, and by Monday most of the painting was done because he wanted that finished before he started on the floors.

    All of the flooring was delivered at once from Home Depot, 3/4-inch maple hardwood. It had to sit in the house for 3 days to adjust to the climate. The first floor had to be moisture sealed since it is concrete slab and they would have to glue the wood down, where all of upstairs is nailed. Everything except the front hallway and office was done by the time we moved in on 11/19. Jeff and his crew worked their asses off.

    The entry had the potential to be dramatic, and we wanted to exploit that. Ash says, “what about a marble medallion on the entry?” I had no idea what he was talking about. “Look it up on Amazon.”

    It arrived in 4 boxes in carefully wrapped paint–by-numbers pieces. Jeff put it together in the garage initially.

    To continue with the dramatic theme, we changed the light fixture to something that would inhabit the space more fully and was also more modern. The overall design idea came from a house in the neighborhood we’d seen which inspired this “rings” motif, so you’ll see that a couple of more times.

    The stairs were carpet, also, and we changed that out for the hardwood maple. The darker banister was already there, and it would have been just too much work (and $$) to change it so we decided it would have to stay. We made it work. One of our decorating philosophies is “color goes with color” and that applies to different wood tones as well. It’s not necessary for everything to match.

    The black on the floor is the sealant that had to go down first which I mentioned earlier.

    On the left: the finished look. With a lot of help, actually. The prior owner had asked us if we wanted any of the furniture he wasn’t taking. We said: just leave whatever you don’t want and if we can’t use it, we’ll get rid of it. So that’s where the couch and the rug came from. The Chagall print in the center came from a neighbor across the street who was getting rid of things so he could prep the house for sale after his mother went into memory care. (It’s on the market now.) Although you can’t really see it in this photo, we had Jeff lay the wood perpendicular to the entry instead of the same flow. You can sort of see that in the next photo.

    On the right: looking back sitting on the couch. Pretty happy with this look.

    One of the things that we are very happy about – and that several visitors have already commented on – is how much better this house shows off our art than the other one did. In that period piece, the house WAS the art, and it sort of overwhelmed anything else we might add to it. Especially with all the dark wood. But this is like a blank canvas so we’re having fun taking advantage of that.

    These pieces Ash had stored away in a cylinder and are two of many we’ve had framed since we moved in. We should’ve bought stock in Michael’s – all the framing staff there know us when they see us coming for sure. At any rate, these were on the left and right in the first photo before these and I wanted to point them out. Ash got these on one of his Egypt trips and they’re pretty cool. Papyrus both of them.

    On the left: this was just a hole that looked into what was the den, now the dining room. We added the shelf and the lighting.

    On the right: the finished stairs. The art we placed at the top helps bring together the darker banister.

    And finally: my favorite before and after comparison of the entry. Enough said.

    Dining Room

    The thing to understand about the dining room is that is started out as two rooms.

    On the left: Just past the entry on the right was a den with a large entry and no door. The owner left 1 bookcase and 2 cabinets behind; we’ve kept one of the cabinets and a friend took the other two items.

    Center: this is the dining room. Definitely smaller than what we had. The owner left the China cabinet and we’ve made good use of it. The oddest thing to us about this room is that internal window on the left, with shutters.

    On the right: It looked into the family room next door.

    This whole setup was odd to us, so we knocked the wall out between the 2 rooms to make it one nice sized dining room. And walled up that window so we could add more art to both sides.

    On the right: all the flooring that needed to go was gone the first day pretty much, that Thursday afternoon. By Friday, the wall between the den and the dining room was gone as well.

    The next two photos: that’s Jeff, our contractor. This is when Ash was talking him through the design he wanted in the dining room so the floor would pop: an outline against the regular flow of the grain that would frame a diagonal cut. It was a lot of extra work – lots of cuts one piece of wood at a time – but Jeff was game.

    Once the slats were laid, they would weight them down so the glue would seal properly.

    The finished look shows off the design well. Notice how the wood in the back flows the same as the entry, and along the far wall as well. A LOT of work.

    The China cabinet there in the corner of the 2nd photo is the one the owner left. And of course, new modern light fixtures. All of these new ones come with remote controls that change both the brightness and the tone of the light. We’ve mostly landed on the warmer options, especially in the dining room.

    On the left: we host my team every year at Christmas and this year was no exception. I spent the weekend before getting some art up so that the house looked more finished! This was mid-December.

    On the right: You see why we needed that internal window filled in! The Paris print on the left is new, another that Ash had stored away and was one of the first things we had framed. If you’ve been any place I’ve lived since 2010 you are very familiar with the tryptic which are the 3 pieces in the center. The piece on the far right I had never seen before moving into this house.

    Close-ups of the art on the far left and right. Super happy with the way the Paris framing came out and how the colors work with the blue. red, and green of the tryptic. I also like the mixed media aspect of the Japanese art. You can’t really tell here but there are different fabrics there along with other materials. Ash got this piece on his second trip to Tokyo in 1996, at a Madame Butterfly opera. It had been in a box stored underneath the front porch of the other house. Here we have the room for all kinds of stuff to now see the light of day.

    Family Room

    This was the family room when we bought the house.

    All we did here was replace the carpet with hardwood and wall up that internal window.

    New fan and lighting with the rings of course.

    Flooring done. When we walled up the internal window we left a ledge for art…

    …and added shelves to the whole thing.

    The display wall complete. Lots of new things there, including baby photos of us.

    Close-up: this is on the left wall in the photo to the left. This is a self-portrait sketch of a friend of Ash’s from like the 80’s. Again, something I’d never seen that got a visit to Michael’s because it wasn’t mounted properly so it got a new frame as well.

    On the left: the finished look. We mounted the TV and will eventually replace the stand underneath with a cabinet of some kind. The mantle will get more things at some point as well. The purple flowers on the far left I purchased in Mendocino around 2013.

    On the right: the Liz Collins over the fireplace, a favorite artist of mine out of Grass Valley. A friend of mine bought this when we were art shopping together in like 1999; then she needed to get rid of it and shipped it to me around 2013. This also desperately needed to be reframed and was with the Paris print on the first trip to Michael’s. Super happy with this way this turned out, including the purple and orange matting – favorite colors of me and Ash respectively.

    Kitchen 

    This is what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house. We didn’t do much except change the flooring and the light fixture over the nook area there on the right of the 2nd photo, which we are leaving open. And of course, paint – so that brown under the island is gone.

    The photos I think speak for themselves. The only thing I’ll point out is we added a small fridge under what had been a desk. We’re using this area to duplicate the “drink station” we had at the other house, and that has gone well. And more rings in the new light fixture.

    Master Bedroom 

    All we did in here was new flooring and paint in the bedroom. The bathroom got painted but we kept the tile floor. Eventually we will do more work in here, but it works for the moment.

    A nice sized master closet. The owner left a safe which we did not need, so Jeff took it. We replaced the carpet that was in there with a remnant just to freshen it up. Originally, we were going to put the hardwood in there as well but decided that was too much.

    The color is “mint parfait” thank you very much :) It was a lot at first, but I knew it would work in the end.

    I love how the floor shined before we covered it all up with rugs (mostly due to Zeus).

    See, that green’s not so bad! As soon as we moved in, we were surprised how much bigger this bedroom was than our previous. We didn’t notice it until we saw how much more furniture we could fit in it.

    No way Zeus’s crate or the hope chest would have fit in the prior bedroom. Plus, there’s still all this walking space.

    The art on the left is one of the newly framed items, whose previous home was a cylinder. The sunrise on the right was left behind by the owner. We love that we’ve incorporated a few of their things.

    In the photo on the left, notice also the family room in the background on the right. So you walk out and you’re essentially in the kitchen and main living area. We are loving this. Ash even said the other day “I’m loving not having to use the 2nd floor for anything really.” It’s kinda the point in these communities: a place where it’s easier to age-in-place.

    We added some shelving, shoe racks, and a dresser to the closet. Still some organizing to do but we are happy with the progress and that everything is in one place. (Especially the shoes!)

    Backyard

    There’s a built-in stucco patio cover that runs the length of the house. Most of this furniture was left for us, except for the black table and chairs in the left photo.

    A stream-like fountain that has a lovely sound – sucks the stress out of me every time I walk outside. And koi! Also left for us. On the far right, the items we brought from our previous yard.

    The photo below shows the whole thing. About 1/10 of the size of what we had but still lots of room to entertain. And easier to maintain.

    Front hall and Office 

    You may have noticed from the living room photos that there’s a doorway immediately to the right of the entrance. This leads to this hallway, which results in another bedroom, which we are using as the (my!) office. There’s a bathroom there on the left of the hall as well.

    There was a built-in desk in the hall that we ripped out. And of course, painted and new flooring. Two of the walls in the office I had painted yellow, the rest the same white we used everywhere else.

    The first part of the hall is intended for guests to remove shoes, jackets, etc. The photos below show the length from both directions.

    I’ve had an office in every place I’ve lived since 1992. This is my favorite. Those 3 windows are east facing so it gets lovely sun in the morning, but no direct heat later as it warms up. The south window in the 2nd photo is protected by the garage so even that heat is minimized. And the yellow on the 2 walls did exactly what I wanted it to.

    The Upstairs  

    All we did up here was paint and replace the carpet with hardwood, so I’m not even bothering with the before shots. On the left is that loft area we are still figuring out. With the tapestry and one of the cabinets left behind by the prior owner.

    Guest room in the middle. We had overnight guests our first weekend here!

    The sunroom, game room, call it what you want – it will eventually be Ash’s office or whatever he wants to do with it. Can also serve as an extra guest room since that couch pulls out into a nice bed. Still, obviously, needs a lot of work.

    And that, my friends, is all we did :)

    Ash is still adjusting to the neighborhood after decades of very urban living but is loving the house as do I. Thanks for coming along and I hope you enjoyed reading about the process as much as we enjoyed living it.

  • Day 12: The Way Home & Final Thoughts

    Day 12: The Way Home & Final Thoughts

    We were up just after 5am as usual despite being up after midnight for what Guinness has now dubbed the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration in the world. The official party count was 2.5million. It was fun to be part of all that. See prior entry if you haven’t read it!

    We had coffee in the room then went out for our morning walk.

    Street cleaners were out en masse. Brooms, hoses and sometimes even soap, as seen below. It was impressive actually.

    It was approaching 7am but MANY people were just now shutting down the party. Sidewalks near bus stops were full because they hadn’t started running yet.

    And the traffic getting out of Copacabana was horrendous. Which sort of blocked our ingenious idea which was to get out early while everyone was recovering from a hangover and go up to the Christ the Redeemer statue. It never occurred to us the party would just now be shutting down.

    Although that was high on my list for this trip, I may have let it go. We will be back, preferably during the winter here and a non-holiday, which will be an easier time to get up there. When I checked the website, the only remaining tickets for official entry times were when we will be on our way to the airport.

    The point of this photo is the trees. I’ve been meaning to mention how many trees have been planted in these neighborhoods in order to help combat the heat. This being the beginning of summer, the heat has been formidable along with the humidity. Even though it’s only been 90° it somehow feels hotter. Maybe it has to do with being closer to the equator. 90° is clearly not the same here as it is at home. 

    We walked a different direction this morning, going north into Leme, the beach neighborhood just above Copacabana. These were the steps only a hotel in that neighborhood.

    After our walk, we had breakfast in the lounge as usual. Then went back to the room to veg a little. We later went for lunch at the same Chinese place we were at yesterday.

    We had arranged for a late check out at 4pm. We had continued reading about going to Christ the Redeemer and came across some entries that suggested you could just drive up there and buy tickets on the spot. We decided since we had a lot of time to kill before our 10:30pm flight that we would go there first before heading to the airport and just see what happens.

    We got there a little after 5 PM, and paid a random dude wearing a badge $5 to park just because it was easier and it was a pretty sweet space close to where we needed to enter. There were long waits for either the train or the vans that would take you up to the top. So we decided to walk it.

    Ash at the start of our walk. The sign said it was 1.15 km. No way. We think it was at least 2 miles. And most of it uphill. In a rainforest.

    One of the beautiful vistas on the way up.

    At one point, the trail became mostly stairs that ran parallel to the train tracks

    Stops to rest along the way. We got our workout in on this walk. 

    The first sighting. Finally.

    I was pleased to see that there was a little chapel there when she got close. And that people were using it.

    They were kind enough to put in two sets of escalators the closer you got to the top

    It was completed in 1931. It is 92 feet high. The arms stretch about the same distance.

    I am writing this literally as we are standing in line at passport control in the Rio airport. So I’m gonna let all of the following photos speak for themselves for the most part. 

    The hill is Sugarloaf Mountain, which we didn’t get to.

    I found this face to be very peaceful

    Copacabana

    Ipanema

    With that checked off our list, we took the train down to where we parked and made our way to the airport. I am very glad that we did it. When Ash first mentioned going to Rio however many months ago, this is the first thing they came to mind. It’s the number one thing to do for good reason.

    And that, my friends, is the end of this incredible trip. We have a 10 hour flight to DFW and should get to Sacramento about 10:30am Friday, January 2. We are five hours ahead of home so will pick up those extra hours on the way back.

    The earlier photo was the first line we were in. This is the second line we are in on the floor below. At this point, we will be lucky to make it to our flight on time. We board in 90 minutes. We will see.

    ——

    It is now time for my traditional Final Thoughts. In no particular order:

    1. I’ve already said to Ash several times: next time we come to someplace equatorial, let’s NOT come during their summer. Enough said.
    2. The wildlife portion of the Amazon cruise was incredible. Not quite as interesting or exciting as the safaris in Africa we have done, but no regrets on doing it. It remains to be seen if we would do it again. If so, would probably be from Manaus in Brazil, a city we had never even heard of until one of the documentaries we watched on the boat.
    3. I had no idea there were dolphins in the Amazon, much less pink ones! I wish I had captured some with my camera. It will have to be enough that we saw them.
    4. We really lucked out on the weather. In 8 days we essentially had no rain. In a rainforest. During the rainy season. The guides were as thrilled as we were because the wildlife are much more active when it’s not raining.
    5. The primary purpose of the rubber boots is to protect you from snake bites, some of them potentially fatal.
    6. Rio is as beautiful as I imagined it would be. We will be back, but I’d rather not come back during the summer. Participating in the New Year’s Eve event was way out of my comfort zone, but I am glad I did it. For starters, it’s the first time I’ve stayed up past midnight that I can remember. Probably more than 10 years. For as many people as there were, and as loud as it was, there was this other, oddly low-key aspect to it. Everyone was there for a good time, but it wasn’t as chaotic as it could have been for sure. For the most part, the people have all been very kind, and you felt that during the event as well.
    7. The predominance of flip-flops on everyone, and shirtless men, was like nothing I had ever seen.
    8. Same for out gay couples. I swear 50% of the crowd at the event last night was gay. And even during the day, just walking around you see gay couples holding hands everywhere. It’s refreshing. It might not occur to heterosexuals that that’s actually a thing, but it’s very comforting knowing that you’re in a safe place. (Same sex marriage was legalized in Brazil in 2013.)
    9. The primary language of Brazil is Portuguese. And not as many people speak English here as even we experienced in Lima. So there’s been a bit of a language barrier, but we’ve worked through it.
    10. We have really enjoyed the relaxing pace that we took on this trip. Choosing not to participate in some of the activities on the boat was absolutely the right decision. And our time here in Rio has been super chill. Much needed and appreciated.

    As we were standing in that horrific line, Ash noticed that one of the criteria for being in the priority line was being over the age of 60. I was never so happy to be as old as I am as I was at that moment. So we are sitting comfortably in the lounge and have about 40 minutes before we have to board at this point. Both of us had time for a shower, which was much needed after that walk up to Christ the Redeemer. We had packed a change of clothes in our backpacks to prepare for this very thing. 

    Ash has a ridiculous travel schedule this year, with trips to India and Jordan in first quarter. The next trip we do together where I will blog will be in May. That is another National Geographic tour, this time to Bhutan. We will end it with a few days in India, which will be my first time there. We hope to have you along then.

    Thanks for coming along this time and we hope you have an amazing year.

  • Day 11: New Year’s Eve in Rio

    Day 11: New Year’s Eve in Rio

    Rio has a city population of about 6 million and about 13 million in the metro area. They are estimating that 3 million people will show up for the New Year’s Eve party on Copacabana Beach tonight. And they have been preparing for it all day.

    It is approaching 5pm and we are in the hotel lounge taking a break. We have walked over 8 miles today already. (After 8 days on a boat we are trying to catch up a bit!)

    These 2 photos were taken roughly 24 hours apart, the bottom one today. You can see already the difference in the crowds.

    And people are pouring in from every street the police haven’t blocked off. And when it’s open, there’s a search protocol happening.

    This video was taken from the açai place we were at earlier. Gives you a good idea of what every street looks like. This was about 4:15 PM. The party doesn’t even officially start until 8 PM.

     But I am way ahead of myself. 

    We were up about 5am. Had coffee in the room then went out for a walk before breakfast. We walked to the end of Copacabana then followed the beach west into Ipanema. That’s the Ipanema Beach above at about 7am.

    It was a 4 mile walk by the time we got back to the hotel. 

    We went to the lounge for breakfast again.

    This video was taken a little after 9 AM. It shows the barges being set up from which a huge fireworks display will happen tonight, reportedly 12 minutes long.

    We went back to our room for midmorning naps and left again around 11 AM when Housekeeping came. We went for a walk again and as you can see from the photos above, the main drag that runs along the beach is already closed in both directions. And the side streets are blocked off, and police are searching who’s coming in.

    A little thing that has impressed me: they have gas stations in the islands that exist between the main thoroughfares. That just seems so smart to me. Regardless of the direction you are going, it’s an easy stop in and an easy way back onto the road.

    All that walking had made us hungry again so we stopped for lunch at a Chinese place. Brazil has a huge Chinese population so we figured the food would be pretty good and it was.

    Won ton, hot & sour soup, mush-shi pork, and a shrimp dish. Hit the spot.

    Back to the room to watch some TV. A good time to say we had ditched the plans that we had today. One of the top three things to do here is to go up to the top of the Sugarloaf Mountain, which is supposed to have amazing views. We were going to take the cable car up and hike down. But we were tired, the traffic was starting to get stupid, it was hazy so the views wouldn’t be good – every excuse we could think of to just be lazy. So here we are. 

    But not too lazy to go out again in the afternoon for some açaí. You could really start to see the crowds now. Above is the big stage where the performances will be held tonight. 

    Mission accomplished.

    It is now approaching 5:30 PM. We will have dinner in the lounge. We can’t decide if we’re just gonna stay here until midnight and watch the fireworks – above is our viewing window from where I’m sitting as I type. Do we give that up?

    We may try to get a nap in, or go down and participate in some of the festivities. Or both. I will report back once we are all done.

    ——-

    It is now after 1am. After dinner we came back to the room to rest. Ash actually slept but I wasn’t able to. We went back out a little after 11pm.

    There’s a list of things that go with the rituals of New Year’s Eve in Rio:

    • You wear white. See photo above. This is in honor of the sea goddess they will ask for blessings from after midnight.
    • You make an offering to the sea goddess when you ask for your blessings. Flowers is the norm, but can be anything biodegradable.
    • You “jump seven waves” – literally. After midnight you go to the water and as each wave comes in you jump over, more like through, make your wish, throw a flower into the water.

    When in Rome and all that…

    The crowds in the streets.

    The people in the first part of the beach. The middle photo is looking back at the hotels.

    The crowd at the water.

    Mind you, the above 3 collages cover a stretch of land at least one football field and Ash thinks two, from the hotels to the water. That x a 2.5 mile beach. It’s a big party.

    We got our flowers.

    There were a bunch of cruise ships docked out there to watch the fireworks.

    The beginning of a 12 minute show.

    My favorite clip of the many I took.

    The 2 minute finale.

    Wave jumpers.

    We jumped our waves, made our wishes, threw our flowers, and didn’t get as wet as we could have for sure.

    And with that, we made our way back to our room to wash the sand off.

    Happy New Year, everyone! We appreciate having you along for the ride.

  • Day 10: Rio, Part 2 – history tour

    Day 10: Rio, Part 2 – history tour

    I slept until about 5am and Ash was up soon after.

    The photos above are sunrise at 5:11 and 5:42.

    We went for a walk to the south end of the beach and back before breakfast, then had breakfast in the lounge.

    We had booked a tour through Airbnb and this was our meeting spot at 10am. The tour guide was Pericles, a local native, whose father had a love of Greek mythology. He majored in history in college here so this tour is a way to use all of that, and he was great from that perspective. His regular job is managing a studio that produces music for video games.

    Our first big stop was these tiled steps in a crowded neighborhood of narrow streets known as Escadario Selaron. Chilean artist Jorge Selaron lived on this street and starting in 1990, began adding tiles. It became a never ending project, him saying it would be finished when he died. The tiles are some that he himself painted as well as bought from other artists. He also invited people to send tiles from all over the world, and he would photograph them after he placed them and send it back to the owner to know that the tile is now part of the steps.

    The tile in the middle of the yellow stuff is one of his own, a depiction of a pregnant woman that he knew personally. She appears in over 300 tiles on the steps, but he has never disclosed the nature of that relationship. Hercules knew him and said he was a pretty eccentric guy.

    Looking back down the steps. The woman towards the bottom center that’s pointing was with a friend. Together they acted like they owned this section of the staircase and kept yelling at people who were getting in the way of their photos. It was pretty comical if it wasn’t so pathetic. 

    That’s Jorge in the bottom photo. He was pretty depressed the last year or two of his life, attempting suicide a couple of times with pills. He finally succeeded by setting himself on fire and dying in the staircase. That was 2013 and then the stats were considered finished.

    That’s Pericles talking to Ash.

    This is the National Library.

    Beautiful architecture and still a functional library. Built in 1905.

    He gave us a very complete history of how Brazil even came to be about and I won’t bore you with the whole thing. But it was pretty interesting. Short version for my own memories:

    • Portugal colonized in the 1500s
    • Portuguese royal family moved to Rio in 1808 to get away from Napoleon, essentially establishing the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil
    • When the emperor returned to Portugal, Brazil didn’t like feeling like a colony again, so his son became emperor, Pedro I, and established Brazil as an independent country
    • Pedro I returned to Portugal as emperor when his father died
    • His son, who became Pedro II, succeeded him and reigned for 49 years, at which time Brazil became a republic
    • All of that accomplished peacefully with simple paperwork – no wars
    • And yes, that’s the short version 😎

    Their municipal auditorium. Still functioning with regular events, such as concerts and other performances.

    He also gave us a lot of information about hills being removed, lagoons, being filled in, etc., to create the landscape we know today. The lagoons were infested with mosquitoes, and they needed to get rid of that and create more land so their solution was to fill the lagoons with dirt from the hills, which made it easier to build.

    This is the oldest café in the city, functioning for the last 160 years

    We stopped for treats, including a pastel de Nata (top left) that was the best I’ve ever had. Personal opinion of course. Ash didn’t like it as much as the ones he has had. 

    This library has the largest collection of Portuguese books outside of Portugal. 

    An interesting art installation at a building that was the old mint.

    Some close-up of the installation, all of it created from broken glass.

    The oldest church in the city, built in 1750. Called the Merchants Curch, it is one of the few in the world that is not owned by the Vatican. This one was built by the merchants of the neighborhood.

    Masses are still said every day

    This was part of an area that was completely redeveloped for the 2016 Olympics. This is called the Museum of the Future. If it looks familiar, the architect is the same as that of the Oculus in New York City.

    The tour went a little long, and we were done after 1:30. We were going to have a lunch at a restaurant a few blocks from where it ended which Pericles had suggested, but their air-conditioning was broken and we were not gonna stay around for that. It got up to 90° today and it was humid on top of it.

    Instead, we took an Uber to the açai place we saw yesterday.

    It is a pay by weight sort of place so we filled up our cups and made this for lunch.

    We stopped by the lounge on the way back to our room, and the water was looking beautiful.

    We are back in the lounge for dinner, and I am writing this with a view

    We will likely go for another walk before bed, but otherwise our day is done. 

  • Day 9: Rio de Janeiro, Part 1 – Copacabana, and a food tour

    Day 9: Rio de Janeiro, Part 1 – Copacabana, and a food tour

    We landed in Rio a little after 6am, Monday, December 29. Our original plan was we were going to hang out in an airport lounge for a little while and then take a 10 AM flight to Iguazu Falls.

    We had a nice little overnight trip planned that would give us enough time to see the falls from both the Brazilian and Argentinian sides. But the airline kept messing with our flight times and that window kept shortening. At some point on our cruise when we got the last notification that made it even shorter, we decided it wasn’t worth even trying, and we gave all of that up. We were able to book another night in the same hotel here and added a day to the rental car and that became the plan.

    We made it out of the airport about 7:45am – that included immigration, bags and rental car. We of course hit Monday morning rush hour traffic and it took about an hour to get to our hotel.

    We are staying at the JW Marriott on Copacabana Beach.

    It wasn’t even 9am so of course our room wasn’t ready, but they did give us a key to get into the lounge bases on Ash’s status – which is why we will almost always stay at a Marriott if doing a hotel. We hadn’t had any breakfast yet, not even coffee, so were happy to relax here a bit and shift from travel to stay mode.

    But not for long. We hadn’t booked an 11am food tour and walked around a bit before going over to that meeting point, conveniently a 10 minute walk from the hotel along the beach.

    The meeting place was the Aryton Senna statue. Aryton was a Brazilian race car driver who won 3 Formula One World Championship titles between 1984-1994. He died in a car crash while racing the San Marino Grand Prix.

    Our first stop was just a few feet away to start with some fresh coconut juice. That’s Yuri, our guide, on the right. He was born here, moved to Boston as a child through high school, then returned here for college and never left. He is also an actor and brought us up to speed on the theater scene here which is actually pretty robust.

    Next, we walked by the Copacabana Hotel, in 1923 when this was a simple beach neighborhood. That started what would become a world famous destination. This area is on par and probably bigger than South Beach in Miami and Waikiki in Hawaii. 

    This is an açaí place – think frozen yogurt. Never seen this before. We went in for a taste and will probably be back before this trip is done.

    This is Bottles Alley, the birthplace of the Bossanova. Yuri told a told story of musicians from Rio who visited the US in the 50s and fell in love with jazz. The brought it home and mixed it with samba to create a new sound, and called it bossanova. They played it in the bars in this alley, and residents from the apartments above would throw bottles at them to give them to stop. Hence the name. Notice the name of that first bar is Bottles Bar. 

    Requisite selfie at the mural at the end of the alley.

    The next stop was a boteca, a style of eatery which Yuri says is a cross between a bar and a restaurant, often open 24 hours as this one is. Popular places after the bars close. We had a slow cooked pork sandwich with pineapple and cheese. He was vague on the description of the cheese other than they call it yellow cheese. Closest thing at home was probably cheddar. It was a pretty good sandwich.

    Next was a shrimp stew served over coconut rice, and fried cassava flour. Cassava is a type of wheat. It should have been better than it was, but it wasn’t bad. He may have built it up too much as his favorite thing on the tour. It was not ours.

    And speaking of our favorite thing on the tour, it might’ve been here. This was certainly Ash’s favorite. Galeto is grilled young chicken cooked in spices. Notice the Anthony Bourdain endorsement in the second photo above. Somehow, I forgot a photo of the actual food. But we might be back. 

    The last bite was on the beach, a refreshing taste of fresh mango mixed with vanilla ice cream. Very light, very creamy, very flavorful. 

    On our way to the food tour, we had Maid haircut appointment at a place we found along the way. So we returned there for our 2 o’clock haircuts.

    Earlier we had gotten a text that our room was ready so after our haircut, we made it back to the hotel. 

    For tonight at least, we were upgraded to a suite. Tonight is on a different reservation than the other two nights so it’s not likely gonna happen for the rest of the stay. But it was a great place to crash when we were so completely exhausted this afternoon. Photos of the room above, and the of views from the room below.

    We literally crashed and slept for about an hour. Then took showers and made our way out again.

    We are on the 11th floor that had this interesting hallway that looked down into the lounge where we had been before, and where we were headed, on the ninth floor.

    Above and below: They put an amazing spread out so we are just doing dinner here since it’s sort of free. Ash says it’s one of the best he’s seen and he’s been to a lot of Marriott lounges.

    The lovely server who was so helpful. They all were great actually, and there must been 5 of them – unusual for such a small space.

    Above is a lovely array of salad that we started with. Below is a chicken stroganoff with rice and a cabbage, potato, and sausage soup.

    We went for a walk about 6:45 PM, making a right out of the hotel to see new things.

    Above and below: random shots taken with my camera overhead in front of me and behind me. It’s basically this for the 2 1/2 miles up and down Copacabana Beach. LOTS of people, and the highest percentage of shirtless men I’ve ever seen anywhere. 

    The beach curves – as we got to the end and looked back we could see a good portion of the end of it all lit up across the water. 

    We were originally going to go back to the açai place we were at earlier on the food tour, but it was another 6 or 7 blocks on the other side of the hotel. So we decided to look for something else. 

    And just as we said that we looked to our left, and there was a gelateria. Like magic. 

    We shared a berry cheesecake and I already forgot the other flavor. But it was pretty good. 

    And that was our first day in Rio. We have one big thing planned for each of the 4 days we are here, today’s being the food tour. We’ll see what else we come up with.

  • Day 8: Out of the Amazon

    Day 8: Out of the Amazon

    This is for Sunday, December 28. Today is mostly a travel day.

    We got off the boat about 8:30 AM and got on a bus headed towards the airport.

    On our way we stopped at this biopark which is a manatee rescue center.

    All of the critters here are being protected from something – found injured or something and here to recover. This cage was full of macaws and parrots.

    This manatee is 2 years old and being bottle fed milk formula.

    A capybara! The largest rodent on the planet. They can exceed 100 pounds in weight. This one was two years old and about 65 pounds. So the size of Zeus. It’s pretty rare to see them in the wild. Jorge said he hasn’t seen one for a year. 

    These are paiche, a prehistoric looking fish native to the Amazon basin. They can grow 9 to 12 feet long. These were five or six.

    We made it to the Iquitos airport around Noon and boarded our flight to Lima around 1:45.

    It is approaching 5:30 PM and we are sitting in the lobby of the same hotel we started at a week ago enjoying lattes. We have an 11:00 PM flight out to Rio tonight which will be five or six hours long. Hopefully we will sleep some!

    We have a food tour scheduled for tomorrow 11 AM so should be there in plenty of time for that. We will check in again on the other side of all that tomorrow night.

    Happy to be back in civilization 😎