Venice Beach, California, United States

Monday, September 29, 2014

Today was the last day of our USA vacation as we’re leaving tomorrow morning. The Sandman Inn kept providing positive surprises still today. The breakfast was well better than our expectations. We thought we’d get just some cereals and toast but there was everything from different fruits, lots of breads, eggs, yoghurt, muffins etc. So for once we got a really good breakfast to start the day. After checking out we drove to the Santa Barbara beach to enjoy the nice weather. It was once again sunny with about 20°C. 

After a few hours of walking we jumped again into our Jeep and drove south for a while to Montecito. We found ourselves again on the beach because there were some picnic tables and we had a little snack. During the day we drove in several stages. After the snack we drove to Oxnard, then to Malibu. We thought to find a place to eat there but it was not made for our student wallets.
 









We had the same problem in Santa Monica too so we decided to drive to our next hotel in Los Angeles and look there for a restaurant. That proved to be an excellent decision because we found a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant. We asked our waiter to help us to choose a tasty meal and he proposed us to take some egg rolls as appetizers and a noodle soup with a lot of well-done beef. We had no clue how to eat the soup as we got also some salad and sprouts on the table.
 

pictures of venice beach ca. Venice Beach Boardwalk

pictures of venice beach ca. Venice Beach Ca
Man hat Lust auf Urlaub, sollte stattdessen aber eigentlich lernen? Warum nicht Nützliches mit Angenehmen verbinden? Eine EnglischSprachreise in die USA zum Beispiel macht das möglich. Mit seinem Surfboard unter dem Arm und den Badesachen im Koffer auf an die Westküste Amerikas um gleichzeitig die schönen Strände, Sonne und Meer zu genießen und mit den Locals sein Englisch aufzubessern. Klingt einfach? Ist aber so.
Eine Sprachreise Los Angeles wäre eine Möglichkeit von vielen, wenn es darum geht den geliebten Sport in seinen Auslandsaufenthalt mit einzubauen. Mit knapp 4 Millionen Einwohnern ist Los Angeles nach New York die zweitgrößte Stadt in den Vereinigten Staaten. Alleine deswegen lohnt sich schon ein Besuch der Weltmetropole an der hippen Westküste im sonnigen Kalifornien. Doch das ist noch nicht alles, denn Los Angeles hat natürlich noch einiges mehr zu bieten, als nur Meer!



Entscheidet man sich bei seiner Englisch Sprachreise für Los Angeles, so spielen da sicherlich viele Gründe mit rein außer nur das tolle Wetter und die viele Strände, wie der bekannte Venice Beach. LA ist nämlich auch noch für Sehenswürdigkeiten bekannt, die keine andere Stadt zu bieten hat. In der Westmetropole ranken sich bekanntlich die Stars und Sternchen der Filmindustrie. So muss man nicht nur die Villensiedlung Beverly Hills besucht haben, nein auch ein Foto mit dem berühmten Hollywood Zeichen gehört zum Pflichtprogramm. Außerdem muss man mindestens einmal über den Wolk of Fame laufen, um sagen zu können LA wirklich gesehen zu haben.
Für die richtigen Film Fans ist bei einer Sprachreise Los Angeles ein Besuch der Universal Studios  unvermeidlich. Und wer es gerne noch asiatisch mag, der sollte auch im Viertel Little Tokio vorbeischauen. Hier leben die meisten eingewanderten amerikanischen Japaner und so kann man hier am besten japanische Kunst bewundern und kaufen, sowie die zahlreichen Sushi Restaurants testen oder das Kulturzentrum besuchen. Auch das  Man’s Chinese Theater ist sehenswert. Es ist das Gebäude vor welchem Hollywoods Creme de la Creme mit Auszeichnungen und ihrem Stern auf dem Walk of Fame geehrt werden. Also nicht zu übersehen, wenn man über diesen läuft.
So ist Los Angeles definitiv nicht nur einen Strandurlaub wert, sondern ein spannender und abwechslungsreicher Aufenthaltsort, wenn man darüber nachdenkt seine Sprachkenntnisse aufzubessern. Und wer weiß, vielleicht hat man Glück und trifft auch noch Johnny Depp oder Angelina Jolie, wenn man gerade unterwegs ist. Man sollte bei seinen Strandbesuchen auf jeden Fall die Augen offen halten.
pictures of venice beach ca. Venice Beach, California,

Plage de Piémanson, France

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Con el Océano Atlántico al oeste, el Mediterráneo hacia el sur y el Canal Inglés al norte, Francia cuenta con numerosas playas pintorescas.

Plage de Piémanson se encuentra entre los mejores playas casi vírgenes y desiertas. Es parte del Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue, esta playa de arena oscura rojiza que se extiende por sus dominios desplegando toda su belleza.



Las olas del Mediterráneo se mecen en la arena de Plage de Piémanson. Los turistas se broncean bajo el sol, muchos de ellos franceses y alemanes, algunos desnudos.

Para llegar a Plage de Piémanson, tendrás que conducir a través de las colonias de flamencos. También puedes ver caballos de Camargue,una antigua raza de caballo blanco nativo de la región que vaga salvaje por todo el territorio de la reserva

Fox Glacier Village

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Bush walk in the rain
A day of rest.  The expected drizzle started at breakfast but it wasn’t heavy so we decided to go on our planned walk around Lake Matheson, rain or no rain.  The lake was only a few km away, pictured in all the brochures showing brilliant reflections of snow-covered glacial peaks.  There was of course no snow on the visible peaks, cloud covering most of the mountains and raindrops spoiling the reflections but it was quite atmospheric.  A nature trail (I mean a bush walk) under umbrella, a fine day for the ducks.  With stops for photos, the walk took a couple of hours and was finished off with coffee in the lake’s up-market restaurant.  The remainder of the day really was rest (well rest for John, that was): washing and ironing (guess who did that), editing pictures, sending some e-mails (another motel with dire internet connection) and a good meal out in the evening.
Lake Matheson
View of views, Lake Matheson



Ducks in a row

Skagen Beach, Denmark

Friday, September 19, 2014


(The lighthouse, the trademark of Hirtshals, Jutland, North Denmark)

For our summer vacation this year Per and I decided to make a road trip into the European continent and the trip was totally great, exhausting, but great. It was an adult trip and we were on our own for ten days, circulating around some very special corners of this old continent.

First I must confess that it was not easy to have fun without our kids, we missed them so much that I dare to say it is almost boring to live without the kids. For this adult trip we prioritized some small villages and towns of Central Europe and tried hard to keep the larger towns at a good distance. We wanted peace and quite, what doesn't mean that we were able to keep ourselves completely away from the big cities of Europe. Not at all! Specially because Amsterdam was an obligatory stop in our journey.






The highlights of our trip:

* The experience to travel with our own car to distant and different countries was amazing, it was all so comfortable and exciting, we loved it. It was an extra fun to put our car on ferries and boats to cross some seas around Europe.

* Arriving by land is just fantastic, it offers the traveler a totally different perspective of the place, the arrival takes place slowing and continuously while we can take our time to see whatever pleases us more, to find our own way into the country, to identify things and slowly connect with the place where we are. I just loved the whole driving experience...

* We traveled with Bob, our friend GPS without whom this car trip would not have been possible.

* We crossed six countries (Norway not included in this account) and we fell completely in love with Switzerland, specially the cantons of FribourgNeuchâteland Bern. We drove thousands of kilometers to get to Switzerland where we had "deposit" our highest expectations in this trip and the country didn't disappoint. I definitely must come back with a post exclusively about Switzerland.


* But before that I want to write about something else. About my certainty that the best travels are made out of unexpected situations and this trip wasn't different. We didn't plan it but we ended our trip in Denmark. This country was not in our map this time and do you want know something ? We loved it...



(Beach in front of the camping site in Hirtshals, North of Jutland, Denmark) 

* Hirtshals in Denmark was definitely an amazing surprise and it turned out to be one of our favorite places in this trip. It was a totally unexpected place. I am more, and more, convinced that some of the most amazing things happen when we lower our expectations or, better, when we are able to just go through life without any expectations at all. Let me explain.

* As I mentioned before, we did not plan to cross the entire Jylland in Norwegian or Jutland in English by car to get to Hirtshals. It all happened after Estela's arrival was delayed and we had to stay some extra days in Amsterdam. The unexpected delay forced us to change our trip plans since we would not have time enough to get the boat from Kiel (Germany) to Oslo, the boat we had booked and paid for some months in advance. Isn't it amazing how things happen?


(Per was really brave to step his feet in the cold waters of the North Sea!)

* Once we found ourselves "boatless", we were forced to find another route to get home from The Netherlands. We immediately rushed and booked places in the ferry between Hirtshals and Larvik, South of Oslo because it was the only boat with places available in the midst of the high summer season. It turned out that our new slightly longer trip became a more beautiful and pleasurable one, as we definitely enjoyed our days driving around the Jutland.


* Once we got to Hirtshals we immediately fell forthe place and its amazing camping site. Located in front of one of the most amazing sandy beach on the North Sea, the camping is located literally below the lighthouse, a trademark of the small village.



* The entire North coast of Denmark is surrounded by beautiful, endless sandy beaches which includes the coast of Hirthals, Skagen and Frederikshavn, some of the Northernmost towns on the Danish territory.


(The delicious little museum where a visit offers you the chance to enjoy a fish meal served by voluntary senior citizens happy to receive their guests in the garden of the museum).

* Life in this small town goes around the port, the fishing industry and tourism. Who needs more? The front of the small museum exhibit a line of salted fish hanged there to dry on the wind, reminding the visitors where we are...



(Estela accompanied us on the last days of our trip and had a lot of fun exploring the area outside the camping site in Hirtshals).

Hawkes Bay Winery Tour

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Mission Estate

Woke to grey skies and rain so took the opportunity to catch up on laundry and writing the blog. Picked up at noon by Grape Escape, the winery tour company. Just six other people, in addition to ourselves and Dave, the guide, so a nice small group. First stop was the Mission Estate. This is one of New Zealand's largest and oldest wineries, founded by missionaries in 1850 ­to make sacramental wine. Originally on the coast, the missionaries got fed up of being flooded, so dismantled their mission building into several chunks, towed them to higher ground, and rebuilt the mission there. It's a nice, old characterful wooden building, set in fine grounds. Here we had our first samples, tasting 1 sparkling, 3 white and 3 red wines from their range. Bought a bottle each of the sparkling wine and the Semillon dessert wine.

Then it was on to the Elephant Hill Estate and Winery. In contrast to the Mission, this is a very modern looking estate - all glass and stainless steel - on the Te Awanga coast. Established by a German businessman, who fell in love wirth the area in 2001. Had an excellent lunch here in their stylish restaurant as well as tasting a selection of 6 of their good wines. Bought a bottle of Sauvingnon Blanc and Syrah.
Elephant Hill wine tasting


Third visit was to Black Barn Vineyards. This is a smaller estate, in the hillsides south of Havelock North. Unlike the Mission and Elephant Hill, they don't export their wine, but concentrate on the home market. Tasted another six wines here and bought a bottle of Pinot Gris.

The fourth and final visit was to Askerne Vineyards, in the same area as Black Barn. Askerne is a single estate winery, committed to producing elegant fine wines. Here the host was as much of a star turn as the wines. He talked us through 13 different wines, describing their nature, comparing them with same grape wines made in other countries, and providing lots of details on taste and appropriate foods to accompany the wines.

Wine tasting at the Black Barn

Our host and sample bottles at the Askerne winery

All this was peppered with jokes and anecdotes, making this the most amusing and enjoyable of our four visits. Bought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

All told we sampled over 30 wines and chose what we thought were the best in each estate. We seemed to be remarkably sober at the end of it but we'll see if it catches up with us in the evening.  We'd cooked enough food on Saturday to have an evening in, so no driving at all today.

Napier to Wellington

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Napier Rising from the Ashes
Left Napier on the road to Hastings, pausing at a statue symbolising Napier rising from the ashes.  The road to Wellington runs mainly across expansive flat farm land between two mountain ranges.  We stopped at Danevirke, a town curiously sporting Viking figures, but rejected their offering of cafés.  Motored on to Woodville, a smaller place where every second shop was an antique or bric-a-brac emporium.  They had a nicer selection of cafés too. For a late lunch we drew into a picnic area beside the National Wildlife Centre, some 150 km from Napier, and chanced upon one of the couples who was with us in the minibus on yesterday’s wine tour.  Small country, New Zealand.
  
Agapanthus by the roadside
Road remained relatively flat and straight until we reached Featherstone, then it was up and over the Rimutaka Mountains on a twisty road with dramatic views. Once over the mountains the road ran down beside the Hutt river, passing through a series of satellite towns to Wellington.

View from our Wellington motel window

Reached Wellington at about 4 pm and clocked into our 5-storey, city-centre motel.  5-storeys in an earthquake zone?  Hopefully a ‘modern’ building.  The last big quake here was 1851 or so.  We were very pleased to meet John Milne, a former colleague of Aenea at Aberdeen University, who came round and we walked down-town for a beer and introduction to the city sights.

Wellington to Renwick

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Sailing out of Wellington Harbour
Woke to driving rain and gale force winds - ideal for a ferry crossing not! Aenea rather subdued at the prospect. Loaded on to the Interislander ferry and bade farewell to Wellington. Despite the weather, views still impressive as we sailed out of Wellington Harbour and into the Cook Strait. Sea was remarkably mild, given the strength of the wind but we were told this was because wind was northerly. Southerly gales are a different story. Lumpy patch in the middle of the Strait, where the two oceans meet.
Some blinks of sunshine as we neared South Island. Lovely rainbow welcomed us as we entered Tory Channel. Relative shelter of the Channel brought everyone out on deck to snap the stunning scenery. Motored down through the channels of the Marlborough Sound. The mountains drop straight down into the sea but, every here and there, there was a little house, perched on the slopes, accessible only by boat.
Tory Channel in Marlborough Sounds
Patches of sunshine as we disembarked at Picton and headed inland. Road climbed up and over some hills, then down into the sunshine of the plains where the countryside became agricultural and soon we were into the Marlborough wine fields.  Vineyards on the plain as far as the eye could see but set against a backdrop of wrinkled mountains both north and south. Soon reached our B&B in Renwick which is in the heart of the wine fields.

Picton
Borrowed bikes from the B&B and, despite the continuing strong wind, cycled off to visit some of the nearby wine cellars. There was a huge number to choose from. First stop was Georges Michel which, as the name suggests, is owned by a Frenchman. Here we had a delicious lunch in the attached French Bistro, before sampling their wines. All delicious with a definite French influence. Selected a bottle of Rosé (the first NZ Rosé we've really liked) as our purchase here.

Cycling in Bladen Vineyard
Next cellar we visited was Bladen. A small "boutique" winery, owned and run by a couple from Wellington who decided to realise their dreams. Tasting was done by the wife, who recounted the story of how they started up and all the hard work they have had to put in. Nice to have the personal touch. Here we were seduced by one of their red wines, a Merlot/Malbec. The most expensive wine we have bought to date and definitely coming home with us.

Marlborough Vineyard with backdrop of mountains
The third cellar we visited, Gibson Bridge, is the smallest cellar in Marlborough and is also a husband/wife concern. This time it was the husband who was running the tasting (while the wife was doing the books) and he was clearly passionate about the quality and individuality of their wines. Their speciality was Pinot Gris, of which they had multiple versions and vintages and it was hard to decide which we liked best but eventually, a bottle of the 2010 Reserve was added to our bicycle panniers.

Having sampled 6 or 7 wines at each of the cellars, it was fortunate that we were not far from the B&B and a bit of R&R before dinner. It was a wonderful afternoon, cycling in the sunshine from vineyard to vineyard, and we saw and met several other couples doing the same thing. The area is very flat and there are lots of cellars close to one another, so it is ideal for cycling. Had dinner at a restaurant nearby. Our B&B hosts were kind enough to drive us there and then pick us up again, so some more wine could be consumed with dinner.

Renwick to Kaiteriteri

Friday, September 12, 2014

Havelock Harbour
Left the vineyards on Highway 6, heading for Nelson. Road travelled through rural countryside first, with lots of sheep, cattle and some deer, but all against a backdrop of mountains. Paused at Havelock, to wander round the harbour. Havelock is at the end of one of the many inlets that form the Marlborough Sounds and is a centre both for pleasure boating and mussel fishing (it's the Greenshell Mussel Capital of the World). Missed a trick here as, unbeknown the John, Ernest Rutherford went to school in Havelock and there is a memorial to him in the town, which we didn't see.

South Street, Nelson
From Havelock, the road climbed up the Pelorus river valley, over the Rai Saddle and down through forests to the coast on a very steep and twisty road. Drove along the coast and paused in Nelson to look at the Cathedral  (reputedly, but not obviously, art deco in style) and the quaint workers cottages in South Street, billed as the oldest fully intact street in NZ. John phoned the iSite to ask where there was a memorial to Ernest Rutherford, NZ's only Nobel Prize winner, to be told that we'd missed the one in Havelock but that the main one is in Brightwater, just outside Nelson. Added this to our route.

Ernest Rutherford Memorial
After Nelson, we had lunch with Betty Williamson, an old family friend of Aenea's who lives in Richmond, a town just outside Nelson. We had a delightful visit with Betty and it was super to see her two daughters, Fiona and Heather, who called in to say hello. From Richmond we took a detour to Brightwater, to view the aforementioned memorial to Ernest Rutherford. This was in the form of a spiral, with a sequence of information boards, detailing his life and works.

Kaiteriteri Beach
 From Brightwater we rejoined the highway and made our way to Kaiterteri. Checked in to our B&B and were disappointed to find that the private boat trip I had provisionally arranged with the B&B owner was no longer available, since the owners of the B&B had gone away unexpectedly, leaving another couple to hold the fort for them. We were, however,  able to book a trip with the Sea Shuttle, one of several companies that operate water taxis from Kaiteriteri into the Abel Tasman National Park. Dinner in the Beached Whale, with a background of rugby on the TV. (New Zealanders really like their rugby.)

Abel Tasman National Park

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Split Apple Rock
Early start to catch the 9.15am Sea Shuttle from Kaiteriteri. Were able to walk along the beach from our B&B in Little Kaiterteri to the main beach in Kaiteriteri, from which the water taxis operate. It was a lovely sunny morning. We opted to take the shuttle to Torrent Bay and then walk through the park to Bark Bay, where the shuttle would pick us up later in the afternoon. Scenery gorgeous as we motored up the coast towards the park. The boat detoured into a bay to give us a view of the iconic Split Apple Rock.
Torrent Bay

Boat put in at Coquille Bay and Anchorage, to let people off, then the next stop was Torrent Bay where we disembarked. Took a walk along the beautiful sandy beach first, before setting off on the path through the woods to Bark Bay, some 7km further on. Lovely walk through lush green rainforest, with occasional glimpses of the sea. Crossed seven bridges over mountain streams, one of which was a picturesque suspension bridge. 
Abel Tasman track
Torrent Bay
Suspension Bridge
Took a detour labelled Sandfly Beach, down a steep track, only to find that the path ended on rocks, with a view of the on the other side of an estuary. Another detour to a viewpoint at South Head was more rewarding. Finally our path wound back down to Medlands Beach, just a short distance from Bark Bay, the end of our walk. Lunched on the beach at Medlands, then walk over to Bark Bay to relax on the beach until it was time to take the Sea Shuttle Back home. Sun kept popping in and out of the clouds, so wasn't quite hot enough for swimming but we both went in for a paddle.
Bark Bay
Sea Shuttle picked us up from Medlands Beach at 4.30pm and headed back to Kaiteriteri, picking up people from Torrent and Anchorage on the way. It was a fabulous day.