Europe and Africa Spring 2024

San Francisco to Oslo

We are off on our next big adventure! About one o’clock on Monday Allison gave us a ride to the Lafayette BART station. BART is a convenient, cheap, and easy way to get to the airport. For seniors the fare is around $5.

All was going well until we got to MacArthur BART station in Oakland. First they told us there would be a delay because of a problem ahead. Then they said it was a fire ahead. Then they said they were taking our train out of service and we should get off the train. Then the fire department said we should leave the platform. Then they told us the station was being closed and we should leave the station. There were a lot of fire trucks outside the station.

Fire engines outside MacArthur BART station

We ordered an Uber and got to San Francisco airport with no problem. The Uber cost us $100!

The rest of the trip was as uneventful and exhausting. It’s about 11 hours to Copenhagen. We were a bit late but SAS quickly booked us on a later flight to Oslo.

Duke getting off the plane in Copenhagen

In Oslo we took the Flytoget AirPort Express into the center. Roger and Gayle had already arrived. It was great to see them.

We are staying at the Thon Opera House Hotel. We went to a very good Indian Restaurant, Der Peppern Gror for dinner. It was raining a bit as we walked back to the hotel but we benefitted from the long northern days. It was still light at 8:30.

Barcelona, Spain to Reno, Nevada

We made it home! Sunday morning in Barcelona we went out for our last European breakfast.

Then we packed, checked out of our hotel and took the Metro to Barcelona airport.

A bit over two weeks ago Level Airlines cancelled our original flight and we had to get a flight two days earlier and cut our trip short. When we got to the airport in Barcelona we found out they had overbooked our new flight and bumped us from Premium Economy to seats in Tourist class next to the bathrooms. Although it was a pretty miserable 12 hour flight, the good news is that we are supposed to get a 75% refund.

And the best news is that we made it home. We took BART to Lafayette and Allison picked us up. We spent the night, played a bit with the grandkids then drove home to Reno this morning.

Sweet Pea Restaurant in Auburn where we stopped for lunch.

The view from our room at Casa Vermazen where we are tonight

Bucharest, Romania to Barcelona, Spain

I set my alarm for 4:20 this morning because we had a 7:40 flight to Barcelona. All went smoothly and the next thing you know we were on the Metro to central Barcelona.

Bucharest Arc de Triumph from our taxi on the way to the airport

Barceloba Arc de Triumph near our hotel.

We checked in to our hotel but it was too early to get our room so we had fun wandering around and enjoying the incredible street life of Barcelona.

A brand of women’s clothes, Sorellas, that does a pop up store tour. There was a very long line to get in.

For dinner we had tapas at a place we ate ate and loved another time we were in Barcelona

For desert we had a omething like a donut with a liguid liquor center

It was so great to enjoy the energy and street vibe of Barcelona as we walked back to the hotel

Bucharest Day 2

It was beautiful day today and we had fun exploring Bucharest. We started with a tour of The House of Ceaușescu. It is the mansion where Nicolas Ceaușescu, the communist president of Romania lived. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures inside the mansion but it was a very interesting tour of the opulent residence.

Next we walked through the park to the National Village museum. They have moved old typical building from regions all over Romania to this park. It was well maintained, large and very interesting.

We were very lucky that they happened to be filming some kind of a traditional festivity and dance while we were there. The traditional dress was beautiful and it was a lot of fun to watch the dancing.

When we had finished exploring the park we took a Uber back to our hotel. For dinner we walked to a nearby restaurant. I think tonight may have been the first time on this trip that it was warm enough to sit outside for dinner.

Tomorrow we start our trip home. We have a 7:40 flight to Barcelona where we will spend the night.

Fǎgǎraș to Bucharest, Romania

Today we turned in the last of the 8 rental cars that we drove on this trip. We drove for 4 hours back to Bucharest where we turned in the car.

When we got to Bucharest we drove straight to our hotel and checked in. We dropped off our bags and then drove about a mile away to turn in the car. After leaving the car we walked back to our hotel.

We wanted to find a place to have beers and a snack to celebrate the end of driving. We found a Tex Mex restaurant quite near the hotel!

For dinner we went to a nearby Turkish restaurant

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

	beautiful030f64feaf on Puerto Madryn Day 3
	beautiful030f64feaf on Trevelin Day 2
	lindalovesbooksblog on Tandi to Buenos Aires
	lindalovesbooksblog on Tandi Day 2
	lindalovesbooksblog on Reta to Tandi