Tag: Plans

Back to Berlin!

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn BerlinLeave a comment
Antelope house in Berlin zoo in winter
The Antelope House at the Berlin Zoo in December

We are going back to Berlin! I didn’t think we would return so soon to a city we’ve already visited, but an opportunity arose that we couldn’t resist. A bucket list item for most opera lovers is the Wagner Ring Cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, and when we heard that Deutsche Oper Berlin would be performing all four operas this week, we booked our tickets. We also booked tickets for a couple concerts while we were at it.

We’re looking forward to seeing Berlin again. In December it was very cold, snowy, and icy but so beautiful and full of history, art, and music (and Christmas Markets). One week was not nearly enough, so we appreciate the opportunity to explore this city and nearby areas some more and to enjoy springtime in Berlin. (Ear worm alert! Now that I’ve typed that sentence, I can’t get this song out of my head.)

Once again, I’ll be posting daily (hotel wi-fi permitting) on this blog so you can visit Germany vicariously through us. If you have recommendations for stuff we should do in Berlin, please leave a comment.

See you on the interwebs!

Back to Europe at Last!

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn Planning1 Comment

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog. When we took our last European trip, to England and Scotland, the idea that we wouldn’t travel abroad again for four years was unthinkable. But that was the fall of 2019, and you know what happened in 2020.

We had booked a Viking Cruise in Russia for the spring of 2020, and we were really excited about it. The cruise was supposed to go along the Volga, from St. Petersburg to Moscow. We were looking forward to visiting the Hermitage and seeing the Bolshoi ballet, and a river cruise seemed like an easy an safe way to go. Then came the pandemic, and of course, the cruise was canceled. We rebooked for the fall of 2021, but Viking canceled again and rescheduled us for May 2022 (with a couple days in Helsinki thrown in). Then came the Russia invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and we decided we would not go, even before Viking canceled the trip.

Although we are septuagenarians, we’re both relatively healthy, so we did not stay home these last four years. We’ve taken several trips to New York and Boston by bus and train, and we’ve flown to Los Angeles and Chicago to see our son. We’ve been Covid vaxxed (I think it’s five times so far) and we took precautions during our trips including masking and, until recently, not eating in restaurants or bars. We’re still careful, but we’re feeling pretty confident about taking a trip abroad.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when we were all locked down, we coped, as many folks did, by subscribing to more streaming services. One of our favorites is Berliner Philharmoniker, and we fell in love with this orchestra. It made us think about how much we’d like to visit Berlin, and now we’re finally going. I intend to write daily posts on this blog so friends and family can travel with us vicariously and share our adventures.

We leave today from Boston on Icelandair for an overnight trip with a stopover in Reykjavik. If you only see Iceland from the airport, can you add it to your list of countries visited? (Asking for a friend.)

We’ve done our homework.

Here We Go Again

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn PlanningLeave a comment

Terminal E at Logan Airport

Fall seems to be a good time for us to travel, so we’re off again. We’re flying back to London, but then venturing on (by train) to Glasgow and Edinburgh for a few days before returning to London. We left home well before the crack of dawn this morning to catch the bus to Boston where we’re now waiting for our Virgin Atlantic flight to Heathrow. Neither of us has been to Scotland, so we’re really looking forward to this. In Glasgow we’ll hear the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Opera. In Edinburgh we’ll see castles and do a whiskey tour and whatever else catches our fancy. Then it will be back to London for two shows and a ballet.

You can follow our adventures here, on this blog, or catch my posts on Facebook. I’ll try to post daily and include lots of pictures.

See you on the Interwebs!

Off on a New Adventure

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn London1 Comment

Tower Bridge in London
Tower Bridge Image from Pixabay, CC0

Paul and I are off on a new adventure today, so I’m returning to this blog to share it with family and friends. This time we’re on a group tour to London with folks from the Maine State Music Theater. This isn’t our first trip to London. We visited about 20 years ago, but we had our then 12-year-old son with us, so we planned our vacation around activities we thought he would enjoy. This time, our focus is on musical theater with a few other artsy and touristy activities thrown in.

The advantage to traveling with a group is that most of the planning has been done for us, and we don’t have to worry about transportation, hotels, or luggage. We’ll be staying for a week at the Royal Horseguards Hotel and attending five shows with the MSMT group. We’ve also booked some shows, musical events, and tours on our own, so it should be a fun-filled, action-packed trip.

If you want to enjoy London vicariously through us, you can follow this blog and receive emails each time I post, or watch for updates on Facebook. Facebook has changed its policy about automatically posting to timelines, so I’ll try to remember to manually add the post each day.

I’m off now to do some last minute packing and organizing. See you on the interwebs!

Best Laid Plans

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn Planning2 Comments

Pine Limb
Limb from one of our pine trees in the back yard. We were lucky it didn’t hit the house or the cars.

No matter how well I think I’ve planned, something always seems to happen to throw me off. This time it was a major storm that blew down a lot of trees and knocked out our power early Monday morning. We left this morning (Thursday) at around 10:00 and the power still had not been restored. For the last four days, just carrying out our normal routine was a challenge, let alone organizing and packing for a three-week trip. We managed somehow, and now we’re sitting in Terminal E at Logan, waiting for our flight. When we left the power had not been restored, but we cleaned out the refrigerator, unplugged everything, and walked away. Our kind neighbors will keep an eye out and let us know if the house explodes when the power comes back. On the upside, we went to the Merrill Auditorium in Portland last night, where it was light and warm, and heard Yo Yo Ma give an extrordinary concert. We considered that the beginning of our amazing musical vacation.

So, we’re on our way. Here’s our itinerary (roughly):

11/3-11/ – 11/6 Rome

11/7 – 11/10 Florence

11/11 – 11/12 – Milan

11/13 – Zurich

11/14 – 11/15 – Salzburg

11/16 – Vienna

11/17 – 11/24 – Viking River Cruise on Danube from Budapest to Nuremberg

Question of the day: Does the TSA give security exemptions to old people just because it takes us so long to put our shoes back on?