First night in Belgrade, one of our colleagues who works for the UN here as a human rights specialist took us to a very nice restaurant up on the hills. The atmosphere was great with a large outside seating area. Lots of families were there. I have heard that you can have great meat dishes in Serbia, so I had a high expectation… and I was not disappointed!!
The roasted meat dish we had was great – the right hand side in the picture is lamb, the middle is potatoes and the left side is veal. I ate too much! It came with green marinated chili peppers, which added nice spiciness to the dish. We finished off the meal with “Turkish” coffee – here they don’t call it Turkish apparently because they don’t really like to be reminded that they were under Turkish rule (Ottoman) for 500 years… The same Serbian colleague said she could take us to another restaurant which serves national food tomorrow night. I’m curious!
It has been a while ..
and it has even been longer that we have seen Lucy … and they were big sister – little brother all over again, down to helping him buttoning up his pants after he went to the bathroom ..
Food was great as usual …
Always fun to look back at our first time we visited this place …
After some very strenuous 24h we made it back safe and sound to Turin … all bags accounted for (though they made a fuzz about the weight) no broken planes this time and overall it went pretty well.
I will need some more time to sort out the last few days … we had a lot of fun (and never enough sleep) in a mountain cabin in New Hampshire, 10 adults and 6 kids, all under 4 … you can imagine the chaos …
Check back later for belated updates
First we are in dire need of recharging our batteries …
The day started early at 5 AM, packing and then a loooong 7 h drive back to NYC … we ran into the US border patrol (since Lincoln, NH is only 40 miles south from the Canadian border) and the officers must have giggled when they heard we were German, Japanese and Italian (‘the axis of evil is back!’) … but we had all our documents and were allowed to pass.
Francesco turned out to be an excellent driver as I felt too tired and we shared driving duties.
Once we had returned the car we found a taxi big enough to stow all our luggage and the ride to EWR airport was faster than we thought …
The check in lady was not happy with our luggage, claiming that 2 of the 3 suitcases were above the 23kg limit, of which I had never heard … I told her that it was my understanding that we have 20+20+30=70kg allowance, and when she added it all up we were right at 70.5kg, so she let us slide, but still making it a big deal.
We had time to spare until the flight and Ritsu managed to smuggle Julius into the Business Class lounge, while I did some duty free shopping and enjoyed one last Budweiser.
Boarding went fast and the flight was pretty ok .. Julius slept most of the time … we had some fun neighbours, who basically ordered the guy in front of them not to recline his seat … cat fight ensued …
We landed in Frankfurt in time and went through multiple checkpoints, found out that the business class lounge is yet somewhere else, again, Ritsu managed to get Julius is (though this time they made a fuzz) and whil I went out of the airport to spend some of the five hour waiting time (and had to hop through even more controls .. I think one passport check guy saw me 3 times) Ritsu tried to convince stinky Julius to take a shower.
Finally our plane to Turin was ready, another flight without problems, all our luggage showed up in Turin and a short taxi ride later we were back home.
A collection of pictures of the kids playing over the weekend .. it was wild ..
Julius was very happy with all those new toys (but he figured he had to share, which was tricky at times) … and those pens you can use to draw on the window … fantastic …
This is what you get when you throw 6 kids below age 4 together for a weekend:
After our big shopping spree (no sales tax in NH .. and memorial day sales being on) we were hungry and drove up the main stretch to find some nice food.
We found the usual offerings of fast food places and were somewhat ready to go to pizza hut, when Ritsu spotted a sign offering Lobster !!!
To save me some typing time … here is what I submitted to tripadvisor.com (it might make more sense if one reads the previous, very mixed, reviews)
| North Conway: Homestead Restaurant: “Welcome alternative to all the fast food joints along the same road”
I said to my wife, while in this restaurant and before being aware of the below reviews ‘i think this waitress had a bit too much of their home made sangria’ .. and it was lunch time .. I overheard her later talking to other patrons that she has been working at that place for 25 years .. and i think the reviews all talk about the same lady .. but .. overall we had a fairly good experience .. along that road are many fast food joints and seeing a homely restaurant with a sign ‘lobster roll and chowder 8.95$’ was very welcome. The roll is small-ish, an extra buttered hot dog bun with a scoop of lobster salad. The chowder, while tasty, is heavy on the potatoe side. The seafood bisque was excellent and so were the ribs my wife had. The waitress forgot our kid’s ice-cream (claiming that she only brings it when parents specifically ask for it) and I also noticed that she forgot another table’s chowder. Sounds bad, I know . but still .. i liked the place and would eat there again! We had no hair in our food and while a bit over the top, the service was friendly and the food was nice. |
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If this pops up, that means we are lost somewhere in the woods of New Hampshire without online connection, and I will not get to post any updates until we are back in Italy …
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Lunch today was at the super classic Sunny Day Diner. According to David’s friends, they make the best Reuben sandwich.
Can’t say I ever had one before … but what came was fairly delicious, albeit very greasy … I think I can do without any further Reubens in my life.
The root beer float was better than I expected and Julius just loved getting some of my ice-cream from it.
The setting of the place is all that you could want from a classic diner setting .. you just would not expect that in the middle of nowhere … I’d be back there for sure for a yummy breakfast or a burger … too bad that they do not serve beer (a must with burgers) but they waitress was 99% sure that one could bring their own.
While I was very much in the mood for the 9 hour hike that David had suggested, we settled for something more kid friendly … the exploration of the gorge and the caves of “Lost River”
Julius loved it and so did we .. it is an easy hike (nothing compared to that other gorge we did back in Austria) .. the caves are rather small cavities … some of them hard to squeeze through, hence one of them is called the lemon squeezer … they have a wood fence contraption in front of it … the gauge … if you cannot squeeze through that, don’t bother trying that cave .. some of the caves are rather claustrophobic experiences … and some were closed thanks to high water levels …
After 6 nights in this beautiful place it was time to move on.
Glen Cove is really nice and quiet, especially after those 3 hectic days in Manhattan. The mansion claims to be in movies like ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘Sabrina’ .. but besides mentioning of the same street name in Sabrina, I could not verify that.
Despite the gorgeous main building depicted above .. this is not where you’d be sleeping … The main mansion is now all conference rooms, dining area and a pub on the 3rd floor … sleeping happens in newly built extensions (1980?) which somehow remind me of my old school … at least that includes the indoor pool which had been so much fun.
A big plus is the free internet connection .. I cannot say much about the food as I did not eat there (on occasion Ritsu would smuggle us some leftovers, but she said that after 2 days she was kinda bored by the food)
Another rainy day … perfect for ignoring the multitude of signs forbidding diving into the pool:
It has been a while that I wrote a movie review here … in fact, it had been a looong time (since Fiji until just last week) that I went to see a movie in the theater. And today I had the chance to see installment #4 (not really a lucky number) of one of my child/teenhood heroes on opening day: Indiana Jones!
The short version:
I liked the movie a lot .. and is and feels like an Indiana Jones movie (not the sore itch I felt after the Star Wars prequels)
The rambling:
Let me be incoherent here .. The things that worked:
Harrison Ford is once again 110% Indiana Jones. Yes, he is older now, but the story takes care of that .. but it is still amazing, action packed and does not look like some stand in did the muscle work for Ford. Marian Ravenwood (Williams) is just the best counter part lady for Indy … we might not have seen Karen Allen since Raiders … but seeing her again feels very natural … Shia LeBeouf .. well .. can’t say I like him much and I don’t get the hype around him (and I totally did not dig Transformers) .. but he is doing a good job .. he plays off well with Ford and he has some good action scenes and shows initiative.
Cate Blanchett did a good job with her over the top evil character.
Spielberg and Lucas and their henchmen managed to keep the look and feel of the old movies .. though some CGI is too apparent .. or maybe not even that .. maybe more the greenscreen backdrops (not sure if the that counts as CG work)
They also managed to create a fantastic 1950ies atmosphere.
So .. let me get to the stuff I did not like so much …
The story .. it seems like utter patchwork .. but well .. i knew this would be a hard review to write … us fanboys .. we just gobbled up everything when the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies came out .. now we are old farts and important movie critics .. and it is hard to just watch a movie without thinking much …
Anyways .. the flow of the movie .. it seems to hop from action piece to action piece held together by some exposition talky segments …
Can someone tell me what really was the character of professor Oxley was about? It appeared to me that this was a convenient way to get most of Indy’s work done before hand and he just had to guess ..
The character of Mac .. I could not have cared less ..
There are many passages in the movie that just scream ‘I will become a theme park ride’ … ok .. soon we will have the triple waterfall ride of doom at Disney ..
The whole ending .. again .. one should check the brain before entering ..
All that said .. it is impossible after 19 years to meet the expectations of the Indiana Jones fellowship .. but at least they did not screw it up .. so .. I am happy … It is in no way the best movie I have seen in, let’s say, the last 5 years .. but it sure is a very good movie .. a very good 4th installment (better than Die Hard 4 last summer) .. but I really wonder about those rumors that they want to go ahead with more Jones movies .. having Shia as a lead and Ford showing up for fatherly advice …
I would rather have more IJ movies staring Sean Patrick Flanery and depict Indy’s adventures from 1929 on …
Long Island’s north shore (also known as the Gold Coast, because of the rich people living here) has many beautiful mansions, and one of them, the Hempstead House is located in the Sand Points Preserve, a wonderful park adjacent to the beach.
Julius had fun running around, filling a discarded plastic bottle with sand over and over again (who needs silly plastic toys when with a bit of imagination everything can be a fun toy), we found a dead horseshoe crab, chatted with a local fisherman, pointed out planes flying overhead and picked flowers for mama.
For lunch we drove to Bayville where I had earlier passed some nice looking waterfront eateries .. one looked very fancy and had an accordingly fancy / pricy menu outside (Shipwreck Tavern) while next door, a place called ‘Breakers‘ had no menu and looked more basic .. so .. we picked that one … They have a very nice seafood selection … I had oysters (has been a long time I had some) which Julius was not too interested in … but then we had ‘Rita’s Sampler’ = a 4oz lobster tail, 10 shrimp on skewer, a Maryland crab cake and fries. Kiddo focused on the fries and the crab cake .. but also ate some of the brocolli ..
The big surprise came with the check .. somehow everything was half price from what I had seen on the menu …Not sure if that was a lunch special, or if we looked so poor … or if it was a mistake … (judging from their website I now think it was lunch special) … Food was nice, the shrimp a bit on the dry side … but overall exactly what I wanted.
Later we explored the mansion we are staying in (Well .. we are not staying IN that mansion … this is all facade, the guest rooms are actually in newly built additions out in the back, but it still is all very pretty)
and Julius was especially attracted by the pool table in the attic.
Well .. there is always the pool … or stealing mommy’s cake …
But nothing beats singing, dancing and bouncing on the bed!
Actually, our main adventure on this very rainy day was driving, through heavy traffic, to New Jersey, where I still have a storage unit (and have not visited in many many years … don’t get me started on the topic) …
I waded through old stuff and found many-a-treasure … like several suits that now fit me again, my beloved Barbour jacket, my Star Trek uniform shirt and my black leather jeans 
Julius, while bored, was pretty ok .. I found some of my old comic books which kept him entertained, I even found my old scooter and we scooted up and down the endless hallways a bit (too bad no one was there to take pics) … we had a bit of a potty situation, but I will spare you the details .. we managed in the end …
The traffic on the way back was even worse and kiddo decided that sleep is the best way to get through this .. I wish I could have joined him.
So glad this place here has a pool:
His first walmart experience.
And yet another 2 beaches to explore … very different compared to the stuff in Italy …
Considering it is Sunday and the weekend before Memorial Day .. I was very surprised that the beach was totally empty … but it was not too warm either, yet.
We checked out Ransom Beach and then a smaller speck of beach in Bayville which had a very nice playground and Julius found play buddies right away. (It turned out later that the parking there was for residents only and the beach patrol guy let me go with a warning, not a ticket)
Here, have some video
Greetings from Glen Cove, NY.
We picked up our rental car today at Alamo’s midtown location (well, actually they were out of cars and sent us to their 12th street shop) and off we went on the congested I-495 to Glen Cove, where we will be staying for a while … away from the hustle-bustle of Manhattan .. very nice.
Once we arrived, Julius had to inspect the room (as usual) and was very happy about the amount and shapes of pillows he found (and could build planes, boats and spaceships with)
Nearly becoming a ritual on our US trips (but also we did not really know about alternatives) we ordered pizza and wings from Dominos … everything arrived piping hot and on time and 3 tummies were happily full later when we went to bed.
On our downtown shopping spree trip just had to stop by New York’s City Hall, where Ritsu and I got married nearly 6 years ago, laying the foundation for our family.
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The weather was the exact opposite compared to yesterday: blue skies, not a cloud in the sky.
After packing and checking out (and leaving the luggage in the storage room) we took the train to re-visit Century 21 … which was one of our favorite department stores way back then (They sell designer and brand name clothing for cheap) .. but we figured out after a while that we were no label queens anymore and really just got some useful, nice and necessary stuff. The place was also packed and there were long lines at the fitting rooms, no fun. So we kept moving with bags not so fully packed. |
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