Author: ginnyinshanghai

Iceland Ring Road – Seydisfjorduir

by ginnyinshanghai

My previous post described the 30-minute drive away from the ring road to Seydisfjorduir. The drive was made a bit more exciting due to the snow, the curves and the mountain pass. We stayed at Hotel Aldan. They have purchased four individual historic houses and ultimately made them hotel rooms. Everyone stopped at the spot below to check-into their specific lodging.

We were in this building, apartment #3, bottom floor, facing the water – basically the back side of this photo. 🙂

Nice room and even had a bed for one more in the small nook.

This town has become known as an artist enclave. Artwork abounds on houses, on the street and along buildings.

Even in front of our room this tile mosaic existed.

I mentioned there is a weekly Danish ferry. Lucky for us it wasn’t arriving, or lodging would have been hard to come by.

Walking around town was tiring. Really! The wind was blowing a gale and we were the only ones out walking. We needed something to boost our energy. This place had good looking burgers but was going to be too much food since we had a late lunch. We settled on liquid refreshment.

At the Reception House there was a cafe serving dinner with options more suited for our needs this evening. With us traveling in May – the shoulder season – we were prepared for the potential of limited openings but not overly concerned.

I ordered this tuna appetizer – small and delicious. Several of their dishes had an Asian flair. Loved the crunchy pieces on top.

Eric went with the fish of the day – also delicious and he shared. It was sitting on some sautéed veggies and mashed root vegetable. Sorry for the description, that’s the best I can do. The fish was really good.

We both saved room for desserts.

Ginny’s – chocolate lava cake topped with ice cream and cookie crumbles.
Eric’s – raspberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream with cookie crumbles.

Many visitors come to this hamlet for the blue church. It is a well known landmark due to its unique color and architectural style. It’s only open (1) in the summer (2) cruise ship has docked or (3) special events. The photos on-line were great. The church was originally moved from a farm in 1882 before being ruined fourteen years later in a severe storm. It came to the town in 1920. The waters were still the next morning and I was able to capture this photo.

A number of the places we booked had breakfast included. At others you could add it onto your hotel bill the next morning if you so desired. All our breakfasts were good but this ranked near the top of our list.

Along with coffee, tea and several juices you could also make your own waffle – which we did.

We needed to continue our journey around the ring road, but first had to go back over the mountain pass. Funny how blue skies makes the journey a lot more enjoyable and shorter. That’s not fog but clouds.

Someone had fun snowmobiling.

Artwork – you can even find it on the side of their mountain. These huge colored blocks were another great reminder of our visit.

Ginny

Iceland Ring Road – Vik to Hofn

by ginnyinshanghai

I had really planned on walking in Vik to get in some exercise, but……when I finally work up – Eric! We got to get going. Not that this day was going to be a long day in the car, but we wanted plenty of time to stop along the way and not feel rushed.

Shortly leaving Vik, we came across this landscape which were lava rocks covered in moss.

The moss family can be traced back 400 million years and mosses were the first plants to settle on dry land. There are 606 different species of mosses in Iceland. Moss absorbs nutrients and water through its leaves and can colonize rocky surfaces such as lava fields where other plants cannot survive.

We came across this I-information stop and boy did we strike it lucky.

Great info, great location, great facility and great individuals staffing it! Brian and Elina were terrific. Unknowingly we talked with Brian’s wife when we checked-out of our accommodation in Vik that morning.

(I want to apologize if I got the names wrong. I can’t find my note and it was either Elina or Alina that worked with Brian.)

They gave us a map to help with our time along this part of the ring road, along with some suggestions for stops, gas and eating. Thank you!!!!

Speaking of gas………it’s always tricky with a new car in a new country. More often than not, Eric would need to go inside to ask some questions before we could pump. Oops. 😦

I had a DeJa’Vu moment. Adrienne and I stopped at the same gas station in 2019. Great map of Iceland, by the way on the outside of the building,

We made a lot of stops along the way. Iceland has done a g.r.e.a.t job with creating pull-offs for photo spots and picnicking.

Lunch was our next order of business and was one of their recommended stops – loved the sandwiches. It was situated with one of the gas stations in the area.

Loved the quirkiness.

There was a canyon they recommended that would be a nice hike.

For anyone that knows us, we’re not ‘hiking’ people, but hey, we’re in Iceland. About 10 minutes later, we were like who are we kidding? Yep, turned around.

We’re much better at pulling off at the side of the road, taking a photo, then keep going.

Our next stop on this leg was something we were both looking forward to, Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon. It is not ‘the glacier lagoon’ that most visit but smaller and we were told much prettier. We have to agree.

I read about it after my other visit in 2019, after we drove past it. History repeated itself. We drove past it – but this time we turned around.

It was a short walk from the parking lot…….

………..until we saw this.

Eric picked up a floating piece of ice along the rocky beach, quick photo before it went back into the lagoon.

Here’s a short video clip of this glacier lagoon.

On to the nearby Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon – which is widely visited, and parking was a bit challenging with all of the tourists.

While I always like to do the ‘selfies’ a couple walking past offered to take our photo.

The ice was fantastic looking, so pretty and white and blue. Only 10% is visible above the water. The icebergs here melt rapidly because warm seawater enters the lake. The blue color of the ice is due to the fact that it absorbs all colors of the spectrum, except blue, which is reflected.

While we didn’t see any of the ice break off from the glacier in the background, a piece broke off a nearby iceberg and floated towards the sea.

See the bridge at the top of the video? One lane bridge – they are all over. The diamond beach where this ice would reach shortly was disappointing – no photo. When I visited in November 2019, it was absolutely fabulous and stunning. Definitely not the same in May. On to our accommodations in Hofn, Hotel Hofn to be exact.

It was nice – but boy, our room was HOT. We opened the window as soon as we stepped in and it was open most of the evening. This was our view – fantastic.

Dinner was at Pakkhus in Hofn.

This will probably be our BEST meal in Iceland.

I’m giving everyone fair warning now.

>>One of our dinner selections may be offensive to some.<<

It was originally built in 1932 as a warehouse, using scrap wood from other houses. We could easily walk to the establishment since it was by the harbor.

Started with a bit of local liquid refreshment. I had the Icelandic toasted porter on the right.

They specialize in local ingredients from both the land and the sea. Hofn is known for langoustines, also called the Icelandic lobster – but much smaller. Eric started with the cream of Langoustine soup with a drizzle of herb oil. He let me dip some of his bread in the soup – delicious.

I selected Langoustines for my meal. My dish had langoustine tails and whole langoustine oven grilled in Icelandic butter, garlic and parsley, served with a side salad and fried potatoes with tzatziki sauce. O.M.G. I did not leave any of the langoustine on my plate!

Eric was debating between the Cod (locally fished) or another item, not seen in the states. The recommendation from our waitress was the second item, horse tenderloin, grilled with onion jam and chili bearnaise sauce and potatoes. Yes, I tried it and really enjoyed the pieces that Eric shared.

Then came dessert – O.M.G!!!

I chose the Home made ice cream parfait. Didn’t sound like much on the menu, but it was heaven. The ice cream was served inside the chocolate globe and on the side and then hot caramel sauce was poured over the top – at the table. It was delicious, sweet & gooey yet had some crunch with the ground nuts sprinkled around the plate.

Eric chose the Skyr Volcano. Icelandic skyr mousse with Tahiti vanilla, lava, ash, pop rocks and caramel. It was also a gooey delicious bowl of goodness.

I don’t believe we will have a meal that good anywhere else in Iceland. Enough said.

Ginny

Iceland’s Ring Road – Vik 2.0

by ginnyinshanghai

Here is the second part of Day 1 on the Ring Road – still driving to Vik.

Finding the black sand beach required turning off road 1. The church was one of the first sites seen.

The church was locked, as most are. Unfortuantely vandalism occurred with all of the multitude of visitors coming to Iceland and unless their is a service going on, prior arrangements have to be made to go inside. Everything I read said that a few visitors ruined it for all of us. How true.

We also ran across these escaped sheep on the ‘wrong’ side of the fence. A few hundred yards back we saw a farmer repairing the fence – he hadn’t gotten to this spot yet. They could enjoy their last minutes of freedom. The grass is always greener on the other side – just saying.

We made it! This spot always freaked Eric out. He made Adrienne promise to keep an eye on me during our visit in November 2019. Why so dangerous?

Sneaker waves – a.k.a. killer waves, are extremely dangerous and occur without warning and can easily sweep an adult out to sea in a matter of seconds. They can occur every 10-20 minutes and will reach much higher up the beach than previous waves, catching visitors off guard. BTW – we were under ‘yellow’ when we visited.

The basalt formations are splintered columns of volcanic rock from long, long ago – opposite the black sand beach.

The jagged Reynisdrangar sea stacks were also formed by volcanic activity.

This part of the ring road had another famous waterfall, Skogasfoss. It is situated on the River Skoga with the water originating from two separate glaciers. It is broader and more powerful than the first waterfall we saw on this journey.

14 meter wide and 62 meter tall is imposing and while you can hear the thunderous water pooling at the bottom, you can’t walk behind it.

You can’t see it in my photos, but to the right of the waterfall are 500+ steps leading to the top and a hiking trail that continues inward into the middle of Iceland. In 2019 I did this (the steps) with Adrienne, but at a much slower pace than her.

We continued to Vik, checking into Hotel Kria.

Very nice with a restaurant and bar part of the building with breakfast buffet included. The gentleman upgraded our room.

There was a sitting area outside – we lasted only a few minutes. Yep, kind of windy.

Let’s explore…………..I’m driving! Yes, I can drive on vacation.

What got me there was our stick shift, manual transmission rental. It was an option at the airport rental and since we had both driven these types of vehicles in our youth, we thought we’d give it a try. Loved it! I had forgotten how many fun it was to shift. Man! I never had six shifts in any of my vehicles. Reverse was a bit tricky until you got the hang of is. How many times did I kill it – none. Eric – once, thus far.

Drove around to see get another view of the sea stacks from the Vik viewpoint.

Next stop was the Vik church, one of the highest points and most photographed. Also discovered that it is the meeting point for the people of Vik if a volcano erupts. It is the ice melt that would be one of their biggest dangers.

Not quite hungry yet so we continued driving – and turned down a side road. Fairly quickly it became a gravel road.

Went around the bend and the viewpoint widened quite a bit.

Until we got stopped by this. No fences, just free range sheep.

And then we got stopped by this. Our off-roading adventure was stopped.

Okay, now we’re hungry and I had requested dinner be at this joint, a brewery.

Although I was still driving, we both knew Eric would be drinking most of my selection, a toasted porter, which you can just barely see in the photo.

My next selection was not something typically poured in a beer glass, orange soda.

This was one of the few places I had seen a BBQ pork sandwich, topped with cole slaw.

Eric chose well when he got the Icelandic lamb tomahawk, gently smoked and finished on the grill with cowboy butter. He was generous and shared as many bites as I wanted.

Truly, we were too full for dessert, but one of the waitresses brought out a sampling of their dessert, wishing us a happy anniversary. It was just enough for both of us – perfect.

The lupines were just beginning to bloom. This one spike had the most color. I had seen Icelandic photos of lupine meadows that were gorgeous. I’m guessing in 2-3 weeks from now they would be in full bloom.

Breakfast photos can get kind of boring, but since it was included and since one of us had an interesting combination……………

My breakfast, fruit, meat, cheese and veggies.
Eric’s breakfast, skyr with chocolate breakfast cereal.

Really? Really. So ended the adventures going from Reykjavik to Vik on the ring road. More ring road traveling.

Ginny

Iceland’s Ring Road – Vik 1.0

by ginnyinshanghai

We are starting our journey around the Ring Road in Iceland, Road 1. I was still thrown off my sleep pattern so when I woke up at 6am their time, I went for a walk to one of their most recognized spots – Hallgrimskirkja Church. Just don’t ask me to pronounce it.

While our hotel had a buffet breakfast, I had read about a local bakery that was fantastic and walked to find it. I did! BRAUD & Co (translation Bread & company) Ha!

Their organic sourdough breads are made on-site and are at the opposite end of the commercial ones found elsewhere. Pastries are made with local high-fat butter and they are known for their cinnamon rolls, having a number of flavors. Yes, I got one, the traditional cinnamon roll. Yum.

They opened their doors in March 2016 and immediately sprung to the top of artisanal baking in Reykjavik guided by their Danish owner, baker & pastry-maker, Agust Einporsson. Since I found my destination, I’m ready to start driving. Let’s go find Eric at the hotel!

Any trip around the ring road has to have a starting point and the Sun Voyager sculpture was ours. The artwork is located straight down from the city center, along the bay. The temps weren’t too bad for a quick photo, especially with the sun shining. 🙂

We were driving counterclockwise and Ohhhh, the traffic. Now let’s be real…….we were in morning rush-hour traffic in the city early on, but very quickly this became our norm. There are a few tiny cars to the right of my photo below.

I mentioned the temps, what were they mid-morning? Not bad for Iceland in May.

Our first destination was……..Seljalandsfoss Falls.

The wind and spray were blowing quite a bit. Most visitors purchase some type of rain gear or poncho for their Iceland visit. Not us.

This waterfall was known for the ability to walk behind the waterfalls. We started to, then stopped. No sense in starting this trip with a twisted ankle from the (very) slippery rocks.

Here’s a short clip. The little spots of color behind the water – people.

If time allows for a 30-minute side trip, there was a small waterfall within a cave which needless to say not all visit since depending upon the water depth, you could be trekking through the stream. I did not visit Gljufrabui on my first trip, so it was my goal if possible. This waterfall is much smaller, drops into a hollow within the rock and then exits as a stream under a tall, narrow, natural archway. Did it and not too wet! Yeah!

Here is another short video clip from that waterfall.

Eric really wanted to make it, truly was a bit nervous about my intended goal and yes, he did it also. It was pretty tight and basically you had to wait to enter/exit when the rocky path was clear of other adventuresome souls.

For those not wanting to make the adventure trek, parts of the waterfall could be seen from outside.

Walking back to the car one of the side streams had these vivid yellow flowers. You know me and flowers – they pull me. 🙂

Our destination for that evening was Vik, pronounced ‘Veek’. This part of the ring road has quite a number of stops. I ultimately decided to break this post down into two parts otherwise it would be realllllly long.

As you might expect from the deserted road seen above in one of my shots, eating establishments were not plentiful. They exist, but you have to hunt them down. Gas stations have filled this void with local cafes that have been quite good. Such was the case for lunch today.

Eric started with a bowl of mushroom soup (he let me dunk some delicious bread to taste it – oops no photo) and I ordered the fish & chips. It was a big hunk of fish – cod I think. Plenty of fish and chips to share, which was the plan!

There was one advantage (for me only) by renting a car………………I can sample the Icelandic beers – Eric cannot since he’s driving. Sorry hon. This was a nice lager to accompany my meal.

Driving the ring road, lends itself to some interesting sites – like this land-locked boat. I’m sure there was a story, but it was on private property and no info seen nearby.

Then you have the bra-fence. Actually, when googling it there’s a number of them around the world. Who knew? Eric asked if I had one to add to the collection. Not with me, but dang, I had some at home that I could have contributed.

Then we came across this wooden fence where another vehicle had stopped – so we stopped: Steinahellir Cave:

For centuries this cave was used by farmers to house sheep. In the early 1800s it became the areas’ parliamentary assembly site. The cave is believed to be a naturally occurring feature but deepened and broadened over time with human intervention. There are many stories of supernatural happenings and enchantments connected with this cave. I peeked inside the doorway.

One tale warns not to pick the enchanted ferns in the cave or bad luck will befall anyone who does. Good thing I only got a photo!

There were still a number of sites we visited prior to getting into Vik. Hence, I made these two posts.

Ginny

The Anniversary in Iceland

by ginnyinshanghai

I alluded to it earlier, we were here for a special anniversary milestone – 30 years. WOW!

Never crossed my mind 30 years ago that we would be celebrating this together, in Iceland – but here we are. 🙂

Our restaurant of choice for our anniversary meal is TIDES, part of the Edition Hotel, one of Reykjavik’s newest. On our last visit in 2019, it was still under construction.

Their guiding principle is to serve the best seafood from the pristine waters of Iceland,along with locally-sourced meat and ingredients. All was cooked to perfection on their Josper charcoal grill – smoke being their specialty. Josper? What is a Josper charcoal grill you ask?

Had to search the internet. Josper was born in 1969 in Barcelona when innovative technology and tradition joined hands. With over 40,000 clients, their grills are the perfect partner for the most demanding chefs wanting high quality grilling over charcoal. There you have it. No idea what model was being used here in this restaurant but I found some stock photos. As you might imagine there are a number of models and price points.

Let’s get back to the food………

Wine and a cocktail started the meal. White wine for me. No, I didn’t drink the entire bottle, just one glass.

Eric’s cocktail was the first introduction to ‘smoke’, their signature cocktail ‘Ice & Fire’.

It contained gin, honey, ginger, lime and bitters, oh yeah, and smoke. Eric said it went down very smooth. I had a sip, not bad.

Since he was getting lamb, he ordered red wine for his meal.

Bread followed our drinks, getting us ready for the meal. Very tasty cheese popovers (?) with salt-topped Icelandic butter.

We ordered a starter, Mediterranean Tuna Crudo: tuna with blueberries, orange puree, sunchokes, coconut-almond leche de tigre. Quite frankly I was a little skeptical when I saw it on the menu. Boy was I wrong. We were both reaching for the last morsel.

My selection was the Braised Icelandic Lamb Gnocchi: potato gnocchi, braised lamb sauce, roasted tomatoes and Feykir cheese. It was enjoyable, a hearty selection that filled me up quickly.

Eric ordered the North Icelandic Lamb Fillet: lamb with caramelized celeriac puree, pickled burnt shallots and red currant jus. It was great. He shared some of the lamb and that’s the reason I started eating lamb – just saying.

Naturally we had to celebrate with desserts. My selection was the Omnom Chocolate Banoffee: chocolate cake, caramelized bananas, chocolate cream and crunchy coffee phyllo dough. Desserts are always a winner!

If an ice cream option is available, 9 times out of 10, that will be Eric’s selection, and this was one of those times. Berry Sorbet: mixed berries, mint marinated strawberries and roasted chocolate. The berry sorbet had some of the most intense berry flavor than anything we’ve ever tasted. Excellent!

Two young kids, starting a life together in 1994, not know what was going to happen, but going to do it together – hitting the 30 year mark.

Here’s hoping we make it another 30 years. Happy Anniversary hon! Thanks for Iceland. 🙂

Ginny

Iceland’s Sky Lagoon

by ginnyinshanghai

This had been on my list once I heard it was built in 2021. Most visitors stop at The Blue Lagoon for their Icelandic thermal experience. Nothing wrong with that, they’ve built a solid business model – everyone knows about it. Most visitors stop there after landing or before getting on the plane to leave. We are not most visitors. 🙂

As the owners were building they took a holistic approach to sustainability for themselves and when selecting materials and construciton partners. Soaking in warm, healing mineral-rich geothermal water is a beloved Icelandic tradition being a part of most communities. It’s where you meet your neighbors and hear the latest goings-on.

This place is ……..

……..a journey of the senses, powered by the elements. LOVE it!

This was exactly what we needed after the ‘angst’ of getting to Iceland. There are a few different packages that can be booked (a reservation is a must – we had a hard time finding one) with the SKY package being our selection.

This package included private changing & showering, direct stairs to the lagoon and the 7-step Ritual. More on that in a bit. But in case you get stuck on the word private? You might think – huh? Isn’t everything private? Think of your gym class. Yep, locker-type changing rooms, communal locker showers BEFORE putting on your swimsuit and stepping into the lagoon. That is the norm around here. We’ve got no problem with that and have done it in Iceland previously. The only way to get the 7-step Ritual was through the SKY package. But enough of that. Let’s get into the water.

Instant warmth, I’m going to love this. Eric, he’s not the biggest fan of the thermal water, but there are pockets where cooler water prevails – he has to hunt for them, ha!

We haven’t even gotten to the best part yet and it’s heaven.

We went straight for the waterfall. Wellllll, maybe not me.

Time for a bit of refreshment.

And just in case there is some unsafe behavior…

The sea meets the sky at the edge of their infinity pool.

So I mentioned this 7-step Ritual.

With a map included below. All of my photos thus far are part of number 1, the lagoon, begging your body to slow down.

Number 2 the cold plunge – no way. Heartier souls than me were getting in and getting out extremely fast. Entering this portal started the rest of your Ritual.

Number 3 the Sauna was okay for about 1 minute – maybe.

Jumped into Number 4 the cold mist – just to cool down and man – I needed it. Number 5 the body scrub – undoubtedly the best step for me.

I was able to stay in longer for Number 6, the steam room. but showering off in Number 7 was bittersweet.

You’re done. At this point, Eric was very excited to get back into the main lagoon.

It was time to slowly make our way back to the shower & changing area.

Total time was about 1.5 hours. It was relaxing and everything I wanted it to be. I would definitely do it again!

No lie, was a little shaky getting out. All the relaxing thermal water (and possibly the lack of sleep) had an effect. Stopping at their cafe for a little refreshment did wonders for the body.

Ginny

Iceland 2024

by ginnyinshanghai

We came back!!!!!

We hit another anniversary milestone and I couldn’t believe that Eric offered this option to celebrate the years. I’ve always known I would be going back but had no plans formulated. But even before we left the states, we had some ‘angst’. Really?

We booked our flights on Icelandair, but we had a layover in Boston, with the first leg being served by JetBlue. Okay, no problem, until we couldn’t check-in online and get our boarding passes for the first leg. Okay. We got to Terminal C and the service desk for JetBlue could check us in – but no boarding passes yet. Aarrgghh. Okay, she assured us we had seats, but still had to go to the gate for our seats. Okay. I’m not liking the sound of this but there’s nothing we can do at this point.

Being in Terminal C gave us the chance to try out their new lounge. The bar was on the 4th floor and overlooked the other arriving passengers.

Very nice and obviously very new.

There were a few differences between the one we normally visit in Terminal B. All the drinks and food was complimentary in Terminal B. Here there were comp options and other things had small surcharges. I couldn’t resist ordering these fried cheese sticks – very 1980s – good, hot and tasty.

Okay, got to the gate, got our seats……..the absolute, v.e.r.y last row in the plane. We’re smiling only because we’re on the plane.

Plenty of time for our layover and the next flight was again, v.e.r.y different, luckily in the opposite way. We were some of the first to board and were given an option of prosecco while the remainder were boarding. I’m liking this! Eric stuck with the Icelandic water since he would be driving after landing.

Our flight and temps when we land.

This flight was such a difference. Almost made up for the earlier flight – almost. Eric slept 3+ hours of the 4.5 hour flight. He felt somewhat refreshed, I did not.

Not too often do we walk off the plane onto the tarmac.

Since our bags were carry-on size, no waiting at the baggage claim. We walked outside towards the Blue Car Rental Service area and got our wheels for the next 9 days.

Next up? Storm Hotel in Reykjavik.

Adrienne and I stayed there in 2019 and were quite happy with the location, the accommodations AND the included (help yourself breakfast) before crashing. Similar to the past, we paid for the room the night prior and could instantly get into it.

That extra expense is sooooooo worth it. I would advise anyone coming from the states to do it. All of our American flights get in super early. Our flight was on-time at 5:30am, their time. We got a few bites of breakfast then I got almost 4 hours of sleep before our next adventure. Which I know will be one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Ginny

I’m apologizing in advance………I was so very tired when writing this, I kept going over and over and over everything I wrote. Undoubtedly there are some wrong words used, but I needed to posted.

Southern Hill Farms

by ginnyinshanghai

Located between Orlando and Clermont, this was a great weekend(s) visit. Not too hot – just yet, but bordering on it. We have driven past this when it was a dirt road with citrus groves and cattle ranching on both sides. Now the road was paved – sweet!

S.H.F. became widely known as the Blueberry Farm but they are so much more. First a bit of their history.

It is family owned & operated with the 3rd and 4th generation’s families the current operators. The family originated from the eastern shores of Viginia at the turn of the twentieth century. Mid-century the youngest son made the bold move to bring his family to central Florida near Lake Apopka. After some time, that area was shut down for farming and they landed in their present location near Clermont, growing landscape trees for Florida.

In 2010 they planted 40 acres of commercially harvested blueberries and in 2014 opened the 120-acre farm for the community. You check-in at the blueberry tent, get your bucket, peruse the map to find the blueberry rows that can be picked and start working, I mean start having fun.

We didn’t choose to pick the blueberries but plenty of families did.

They also rent these wagons.

S.H.F. includes u-pick and harvested blueberries, strawberries, peaches and seasonal vegetables. Fields of sunflowers & zinnias are planted for the Spring and Fall. But again, it is so much more. They have a food market store filled with their branded products.

Blueberry donuts – BTW, we ate one of their hot, fresh ones on our first visit but you could bring some home if you so choose.

A covered pavilion housed a number of eating establishments and plenty of seating underneath.

Here were a few of their offerings:

Also have a small train for the kiddos, and the young at heart.

We visited twice and on our last visit, there was live music playing. Sorry no video or sound-bites. 😦

But where are the veggies?

Here you go………

Along with a few more details concerning what is available one of the days we visited, pricing and informational row signs near the bottom of the photo.

squash
jalapeno peppers
zucchini

kale

And here’s the gang in action. Our first visit green beans were available to pick. We had them later that night – now that is fresh!

Second visit was the squash and zucchini as seen below.

THIS was what I was the most excited about.

Fields of sunflowers and zinnias are planted for the Spring and Fall.

One day there was no fee to enter this fenced area (due to the prevalent cloud cover) however our second visit was a beautiful sunny day. Sunny days meant $6 dollars was needed whether you were going to cut some or not. Part of the fee went towards a ‘free’ sunflower. After that each sunflower was $2 and the zinnias were $1 each. Still quite a good deal – just saying.

I’m good with paying. Quite a few people were creating video rolls or posting on social media and not actually getting any flowers. It definitely made sense to charge a fee.

Florida is not really known for growing peaches but there is some small pockets of peaches planted commercially using varieties developed for the Florida climate. They were just starting to harvest the fruit on our visit. We purchased a few – man, they were juicy………but still needed to develop their flavor.

There was one last shot that I couldn’t resist. We need more of these signs. 🙂

Going to have some exciting posts coming soon! At least exciting in my book – V.E.R.Y exciting. Stay tuned.

Ginny

Florida Zip-Lining

by ginnyinshanghai

Have I mentioned I LOVE zip-lining? Have I mentioned I have zip-lined in (1) Florida – 3 times (2) Iceland (3) Phuket, Thailand and (4) Niagara Fall, Canada? I could go zip-lining every weekend if I had the chance. – just saying. Eric, not so much. He did it once with me and after that, he stays on the ground.

This Zip-line experience was fairly close to us, we didn’t have to leave the state or country-just travel a bit to the next county east to Gatorland.

A few fun facts about Gatorland:

~110 acre theme park and wildlife preserve, founded in 1949.

~Site was former cattle land and it is still privately owned by the Godwin family, who founded the park.

~Originally called Florida Wildlife Institute, then changes to Snake Village and Alligator Farm and ultimately in 1954 becomes Gatorland.

Before we even get to the REAL reason we were there, let’s see what else Gatorland had to offer. Birds:

This bird, apparently had lost his fear of gators or was somehow hoping for a free meal or leftovers.

Let’s show you more gators. This guy (girl?) was fat and sassy. Probably about 10′ long.

This crocodile was getting a ‘spa treatment’. Can you see the little fishies swimming around him?

Another bird that seems to have lost their fear of these reptiles OR knows they can fly away pretty darn fast.

These gators were a bit friendly, laying on top of each other. Why? No one was moving, just hanging out.

This park has a number of signs that made you chuckle, but still got their message across.

But let’s get to the REAL reason we were visiting………..

Here are a few of the zips.

No lie, I did NOT like this bridge that was part of the adventure course.

While we didn’t buy their photo package deal, we got one photo at the very end of the experience.

Before leaving Gatorland, we visited one more piece of their park: their nature swamp boardwalk.

Walking through the boardwalk, it was hard to believe that a major highway was a short distance away. The cypress trees really block out the noise.

There were a few flowers gamely trying to reach the sunlight.

It was just starting to get muggy and hot. Go figure – Florida in the late spring. Ha!

I’ve found a few more ziplines in the Central Florida area. We discovered last year that a zipline in the summer is no fun – too sweaty. We’ll be making plan for this Fall to go more zipline exploring.

One last photo to commemorate our experience. This was part of the original entrance when the park opened in 1949.

Back to Rome

by ginnyinshanghai

Our time in Italy has truly flown by. We headed back to Rome before catching our flight to the states. One more ‘cool’ thing about those Bologna porticoes…….the sidewalk or terrazza. It was a smooth walk schlepping our bags to the train station.

Really hard to see, but there are a number of us all going in the same direction – to the train station.

Here are a few shots of the Italian countryside. Really hard to get great shots when you’re going +150 mph!

For our last night in Rome, we stayed at a hotel, Hotel Manfredi.

Interesting elevator to get to the 3rd floor for the reception desk. There were rules inside limiting people and/or luggage. FYI – one time another guest, reminded us that if all of us went inside, we would be over the limit. Ok. We followed the rules. One person stayed behind.

It was a very nice hotel, but after staying in AirBNBs the last 2 weeks, the space was a bit of a shock. Poor Adrienne ended up with a cot, a very nice cot, but a cot.

They packed a lot of things in the tiny space – remember there were 3 of us.

We were starving! The desk clerk recommended a walkable place for lunch: Dilla. He tried to make us a reservation, but no one would answer. We walked and got lucky! I believe we were the last ones to be seated with no reservation. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Eric ordered tuna tartare and Roman-braised artichokes.

Our last chance for Buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes.

While the girls ordered cacio pepe (left) and pasta carbonara (right).

Two fabulous desserts were ordered and shared.

While walking off our food intake, we came across this sight……….the eyes were a little strange. No matter, kids were still running up for photos.

Our last dinner in Rome was fabulous. The desk clerk made us reservations and they definitely were needed.

Starting with the bread service, we have definitely elevated our dining.

We shared seafood crudo. OMG! We could have ordered one for each of us. As it was, we each picked items that interested us until all was gone. It was fantastic.

I ordered stuffed ravioli (no, I don’t remember what the stuffing was………..). It was very good – much better than my selection in Florence.

Adrienne ordered the seafood medley – lots of different seafoody things.

Eric was delighted with his whole fried seabass. It was brought to the table to ‘show’ him before she deboned it. It was lying on pan-fried potatoes – which were delicious.

Desserts could not be denied. Adrienne loved her pistachio cake, Eric liked his gelato, and I loved my chocolate cake.

This was one of the few places, we walked down into the restaurant.

This was a totally great way to end our last night and stay in Italy.

We had a fabulous meal, a fabulous vacation and a fabulous time in Italy.

One last note…………….arranging our taxi to the airport proved interesting. Apparently, there was a marathon race in downtown Rome the next morning. We had to leave by 7am or getting out would require walking to a station, transferring to another station that could take us to the airport outside of the city center. We had plenty of time at the Rome airport. 🙂

Ginny