Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

24 little hours....🎶..... From the empty Christmas Day streets with not a restaurant open, Napier obviously comes alive on Boxing Day. We had booked an architectural walking tour of this Art Deco town of 60,000. To our surprise, many were out in full regalia - clothing and cars from the 1930's, in keeping with the downtown spirit.  In 1931 Napier suffered a huge earthquake, actually two, just seconds apart with both close to an 8.0 on the Richter scale. Not only did they loose all but three buildings in the downtown and 1% of the population, but the surrounding lakes and rivers were sucked out to sea and the earth pushed up meters in their place. Less buildings, less people, but lots more land for the town to grow.  They decided to rebuild the town quickly and in a cohesive plan with new buildings that could not only withstand earthquakes, but were lacking ornamentation that could fall off and injure people. They went for Art Deco architecture, low struct...

Traveling in a far away place is a bit like being a turtle - you carry a lot on your back. But instead of your house, it's your culture. You simply bring it, along with your accent, everywhere you go.  Take today, for instance.  After a day and a half in Wellington, a lovely small city, totally walkable to and from each museum, we awoke to Christmas Day.   Quiet, empty, just like we expected. Lucky for us the biggest museum, Te Papa, was open Christmas Day  at 10 am , perfect for a couple of hours before we started our four hour drive.   I guess we figured it would be empty, just a few non-Christians looking for something to do. Guess we didn't count on all those travelers and tourists just like us.                                                                  ...

Merry Xmas to all our Gentile friends! Hoping everyone found something they wanted under the tree, and can't wait to see you upon our return! Christmas is not nearly as 'showy' here down under - hardly any decorations, no jingles playing, no public displays of the holiday--- and no snow!! Even the shops barely acknowledge the day, but I think we are starting to see the sales that start on Boxing Day ( the 26th ) being prepared in the stores and their windows. We will not have much to report the next day or two, but that's O.K….. So wishing you the very merriest of Christmases, from Wellington, North Island, NZ and from our hearts. And wishing, as always, for great peace and equality in this world.  ALL ABOVE AND BELOW MADE OF LEGOS....... **************May the new year bring you peace & happiness........Steve and Marci.                            ...

....And I've been doing it wrong the whole trip???   Now you finally tell me?? Travel always sounds so exotic, especially when you take a long plane ride to get there. And a two or three week vacation is usually packed so full, long days, lots of activities and moving from place to place. In other words, every day is a day of nothing but highlights...the major museums, the thrill activities and a fancy dinner out. But a two month vacation is quite different. It is closer to regular life with one or two good surprises each day. Like our drive to Blenheim, a sleepover, and a ferry ride from Picton to Wellington  on Tuesday to Wednesday . It was really nice and I could describe what we did, the drive, the vineyards we visited, the dinner, etc. But this blog is meant to be more than just a travelogue. It's about observing and learning, looking at things with distance and perspective.  And traveling to a very far away place that is not so different than where y...

                                                   TYPICAL NEW ZEALAND TOURIST Less than three hours from Carters Beach, but still hard driving over the Lewis Pass, up and down, in and out, poor Steve, we arrived in Nelson. Where???  Nelson, the sunniest town in NZ, with 320 days of sun a year. Easy to find the town and our hotel; not quite as easy to find great things to do. We checked in to The Sails , the #1 accommodation on Tripadviser, aka everyone's new travel bible, especially if you click to sort the reviews best to worst for 'mature couples' ( so sad ). But the room was good and the owners quite helpful with advice, including a dinner reservation on a Sunday, when apparently most of the "good" places are closed.  And speaking of what is open when, it seems that we may not have done quite enough research to understand these ...

Here's our top       fifteen list 15. You constantly forget your room number at the hotel, because you've been in so many 14. You consider making up a new backstory for yourself when people ask you where you are from....because everyone else is so much more interesting 13. You no longer really look at the price of gas, food in restaurants, or even the change you are given in their funny looking money, with pictures of people you never heard of 12. You start using the expressions the locals do 11. You have had at least one dinner with strangers you picked up at a bar or other place 10. You can no longer remember the date 9. You cannot even remember the right day of the week, nor do you care 8. You can't remember where you were two nights ago 7. You have at least one bottle of good red wine every day 6. You have gained at least five pounds  5. You have a picnic lunch at least once every three days 4. You have some kind of boa...