What can I say, I had the best sabbatical!! And I can say that since this is my 3rd one while at Intel so I can compare. 😉
I traveled with the kids, went to new places and met interesting and very nice people. I did a lot of research on the places I visited in Europe and had a blast. For the last month I was able to relax and truly enjoy my downtime. I mastered the skill of doing absolutely nothing while sitting on a beautiful beach for most of the day; I went hiking, saw beautiful ginormous turtles and enjoyed the sunrise and sunset pretty much every day for 30 days! Wow!
After Hawaii I still have a few days free before I have to return to work, so no worries, I have done this before and know you need a transition period before you return. 🙂 I need to wean myself of daily naps and plain idleness.. lol
Just because sabbatical is almost over does not mean my travel and adventures are. 🙂 I will be traveling and still planning to have 1 fun adventure every month. Life is too short to not live it to the max. 🙂
Ok, enough of the blah, blah.. Below are some of my fav pictures I took since my last Hawaii post.
At the Dole PlantationThe colors of the bark of this tree are amazing!I thought this was cute 🙂Best pinnacle fluff!Love the clouds!Another gorgeous sunset at Ko Olina
OMG! Best malasadas. I love too eat and could not say no. #willneverbeskinny
Waikiki Beach.. like the colorful umbrellasWaikiki BayTunnel on the way to Diamond Head
One of my last phone pics at Diamond Head. Phone died near top… 😦 Need to dwnld camera pics!
Ukelele dude❤Goofy, happy me.Yep, I am happy! ❤Fav beach Injured seal in the water.. these are also protected by fed law
Me as a Catrina! Happy Halloween!!!! I went to a street party in downtown Honolulu
So much fun! Some random folks that were dressed as calacas too! 🙂❤#peaceFull rainbow! How cool is that! I am certainly blessed, relaxed and ready to go back to work and see what is next for me. So goodbye Hawaii! 😦
Until my next post, be happy and enjoy life. Much love <3, Ana
I aloha i keia wahi! 😉 I have been in Hawaii now for almost 3 weeks so it is time for a short post. My base has been Oahu for most of the trip with a short escape to the Big Island of Hawaii.
I love the beach so this place suits me to a T. What I love the most is how casual and laid back it is here.
Coffee on the lanai ❤sunrise .. the first one i saw from here!
My view every morning
I get up pretty early everyday, I see the sunrise almost every day from the lanai while I enjoy delicious Hawaiian Kona coffee. And then after meditation time I am ready to basically do nothing other than relax the rest of the day! 😉 Bikini and flip flops is my attire of choice everyday. No makeup, no fuss, totally relaxed.
make up free! yeah
Hawaiian folks are pretty friendly and relaxed. Their food is a cluster of different cultures and flavors. My favorite is poke which is raw fish prepared spicy, not spicy, with onions, you name it. It is delicious and very filing. Below are my pics of food and tropical drinks too! 🙂
buy your poke and take it to the beach! great with Ritz crackersNo power? No problem! i have poke and coronas!
I have been around Oahu checking out the green sea turtles.
Turtle BayTurtle BayCrush!
They are huge and so beautiful. They are a protected species here in Hawaii so you can be in the water with them but can’t approach them and need to keep at least 10 feet distance from them.
I visited the Pearl Harbor memorial too. There was so much about what happened before the attack that I did not know. I recommend you go visit this sacred ground if you have a chance.
wall of remembrance
When I walked into the memorial which is a floating cementery for all that died in the Arizona that day, I was speechless when I saw the wall with everyone’s name on it. So sad. 😦
My favorite beach in Oahu is Kailua. It takes about 75min to get there from my place but everything in Oahu takes about 1 hr to get to anyways. 🙂 below are some pics, tell me it is not gorgeous!
I did a luau when my sister was here. We went to Paradise Cove. The food was good and the show a lot of fun. The place is in Ko’Olina, next to the Disney resort. You have to do this at least one time, that should be enough to satisfy your curiosity.
I have done so much in this 3 weeks that I find it hard to summarize!! Lol
I went to the big island for a few days. I stayed in both Kona and Hilo. Loved Kona, Hilo was not my favorite except for the coquies singing at night. Just like at home in PR.
kona at nightfound a church!
market day when i got there!
In Kona I took a tour to go to the top of Mauna Kea to watch the sunset and stargaze. It was worth every penny. It was beautiful up there and the tour guide company was great. I do not recommend you take your car up the mountain especially if it is as rental. You do that and it voids any insurance you might have. It will cost you thousands of $sto get a tow off the mountain too! So take a tour. Check these guys out: Mauna Kea Adventures.
The other highlight of my time in the big island was the visit to the Botanical Gardens. WOW! beautiful place. Below are my favorite pics of that day. This is just a sample! I took over 100 pics here alone. 🙂
Lastly I visited the Volcano park in Hilo. It was an awful day for a visit but the only free time I had so I sucked up and went anyways. I got soaked and visibility was not the best but I saw lava oozing from the volcano that is currently active over there.
Hilo Farmers Market
astronomy center in Hilo
Lave from 1974
I can’t close this post without telling you about the sunsets here I hawaii. They are amazing and every single one of them is different. Here are a few favs. I am making a picture book with all the sunset pics I have taken!
I am back in Oahu now to finish the rest of my time here. Plan to do a few more hikes and of course continue to work on my tan. 😉
This was my favorite day in London. I decided to go visit Greenwich, which is where Prime Meridian is. I found this link while doing research on this place. It has a brief history on how Prime Meridian came to be and it argues the actual line i took my picture at is not zero degrees. lol. Anyways, Greenwich is east of London and about 1 hr via boat from the city. I rode the Tube down to Embankment station and outside was the boat dock that would take me to Greenwich. It was a gorgeous morning!
Took the wrong exit and went to the street instead of the pier. But it was beautiful!
On the Thames
I took one of those boats you see
London Eye
I bought the tickets at the pier, not the tour ticket they try to sell you that is 3x more expensive. I paid 8 pounds each way. Don’t buy the day ticket unless you are going to be hoping on/off from the boat. This was a great way to see a lot of the historic sites from the water.
Traitors Gate at the Tower of London
LOVE this bridge! Tower of London Bridge
We finally made it to Greenwich! It was close to noon or so. I did not know the Cutty Sark Clipperwas here. This is the last tea clipper that is still in existence. There is a museum you can tour. I recognized the name because my parents liked to drink Cutty Sark whiskey. haha! I ran out of time so could not do the tour. Next time!
Cutty Sark clipper is parked here!
It is a museum now for you to tour
There is a tunnel that crosses the Thames to the other side…
I wanted to see the red time ball drop at the Prime Meridian location. It drops every day at 1pm and it was signal of time for all. Well, it has been broken for the past 3 months. I must have missed that on the website when i was reading about this. I ran up the hill – its a pretty steep hill – to make it on time and then found out. 😦 Oh well! I was so excited to be a Prime Meridian that i did not care much.
I’m at Prime Meridian!!
🙂 East/West
I love astronomy and i learned a lot more in this visit to the Royal Observatory. Astronomy, navigation and time are all connected. People had a way of telling time since the before they knew the world was round. They did it based on the position of the sun, moon cycles, etc. It is a fascinating topic. You can read more at the royal observatory site or do a google search.
Planetarium! I was so happy.After the visit to The Royal Observatory I went down the hill to the Maritime Museum. What a beautiful place! Below are some of the pics I took.
This is actually a HUGE ship in a bottle. It sits on top of a cement cinder
lights used on some of the ships
Figure heads…Some of these are VERY old.
The Great Map. I am pointing to PR. ❤
Happy girl!
I walked around the town of Greenwich after the Maritime Museum. It is a beautiful place. It is actually a bit of a college town. There is a University right in the middle of town. It was getting late by the time i was back in town so i grabbed another warm beer 🙂 and took the 5:20pm boat back to London.
This means it is an intersection with a pedestrian light system sitting on a speed bump
My warm beer of the day…
Best pic of the bridge.. again from the boar on the return trip
It was close to 6:15pm by the time i made it back to London and I still had to grab dinner before going to the Theatre. I walked past Trafalgar Square again and could not resist taking pics of the sunset and then went to find food.
Some random place i walked thru on my way to Trafalgar Square
Big Ben on the background… From Trafalgar Square
Me.. i was tired and hungry and in need of a drink!
Theatre night! The Libertine opening night.
So old and so beautiful.
The play – The Libertine – was fantastic and the venue was beautiful. It was a great end to my time in London.
Next day it was time to come home. 😦 I had the best 3 weeks in Europe and can’t wait to go back. I got up very early on Friday to walk to the train station to catch the train to the airport. So convenient..
I welcomed the day in London and ended it in Seattle. Blessed beyond words… Much love, Ana ❤
Day 3 in London was a bit of a slow start… Decided to sleep in and go out a bit later than normal. I have been averaging ~ 6-7 miles walking every day so I was a bit tired. 🙂
I took the tube down to Westminster station with the intention of going straight to the Churchill War Rooms. Well, I got somewhat lost and headed in the wrong direction and stumbled upon the UK Supreme Court building. Hmm.. Interesting. Decided to check it out and see if they would let me view the different court rooms. This is a newly remodeled building, very nice. There are 3 court rooms in this building . One of them only hears the cases of the different UK commonwealth countries – like BVI, etc. The other 2 courts are to hear the cases for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. I was in courtroom 2 where I met this security guy that apparently moonlights as a tour guide. He was very gracious and explained how the supreme court works and the meaning of the symbols in the room.
Fun Fact: The UK Supreme Court as an independent body is only 7 years old. It was not until 2009 that the Supreme Court became a separate body from Parliament. Before that, the members of the court were actually part of the House of Lords. Basically before 2009 Parliament wrote the laws that the Supreme Court had to interpret….. Hmmmm, talk about a conflict of interest!
the circle that represents the scales of Justice and the Omega symbol that represents finality
In that carpet there are 4 symbols, each representing the 4 nations of the UK. England- the english rose, Scotland -a purple thistle, Ireland – a blue flax flower and Wales – the green leaves of leeks. They all have a meaning associated it with it. If you can tell me what they mean, i will buy you a beer. 🙂
Room #2. Its the smallest of the 2 they have
I asked for directions and finally made it to the Churchill War Rooms. These are the underground bunkers from which Winston Churchill directed WWII. It is very interesting; they had everything down there. Even Churchill’s personal cook moved to the underground rooms to make sure Mr. Churchill ate well. I guess she did a good job since Mr. Churchill was a bit on the robust side.:-) I enjoyed the museum they have in there about the life of Churchill before and after WWII. I did not know that Mr. Churchill was a war reporter before he was Prime Minister. He was magnificent writer, not a very successful politician in his early years and I believe without WWII we would probably not know much about him. He was exactly what Britain needed to successfully navigate thru WWII and defeat Hitler. He never gave up, he had charisma and was a very good orator. Fun Facts: He was Britain’s Prime Minister twice. He won the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1953.
If you are a WWII war buff, you will love this exhibit. My son Francisco would have loved this place. We will come back, don’t worry Bibo.
It was a great place!
This is how they let the people in the bunker know the weather outside.
This is a representation when Mr. Churchill gave the interview to BBC on the high of the war
Love this quote!
This is a pic of one of the “bedrooms” used by Churchill’s aides
This is in the map room. They track movement of the enemy
After touring the war rooms it was time for a late lunch. I found a beautiful spot to eat at St. James Park, which is close to the war rooms and the Prime Minister residence.
I loved that the folks from London take the time to enjoy and actually relax during lunch. No rush. Lots of folks picnicking or just sitting on the lawn.
After lunch, it was a walk-a-thon basically. 🙂 I went to Trafalgar Square first and then did the West End walk on Rick Steves book. I downloaded the app so I was listening as I was walking. It is like having your personal tour guide with you. I will show you now in pics since this was a very long day of walking. I ended the day again at a bookstore. I was in heaven! I picked up a few books and headed back to my hotel. I think this was the day I grabbed dinner at one of the pubs close to my hotel. I was too tired to think much after 10 hrs walking.
Opera House – Could not fit in my schedule. Next time!
Bow Street – Based at Fielding’s house in Bow Street, their job was to locate and arrest serious offenders, and they were entitled to claim the government rewards payable on conviction.
Covent Garden
View from Covent Garden
Antique Scottish dude in Covent Garden
Very cute tiny market in the patio of the church
Of course i had to stop by and go in.. 🙂
Heaven!
Tomorrow is my day trip to Greenwich! Until next blog.
Today was HP day!!! Wohoo! I had booked a “tour” which was really the transportation to the Warner Brother studios outside of London. The pick up station was right there at Victoria Stationso i just walked there from my hotel.
I got there and on the HP line waiting for our tour guide load us on the bus. I wish Giovanna was with me that day 😦 she would have LOVED this experience. While waiting
in line I met this mom and daughter duo from Australia. They were on school break so they were traveling thru europe for a few weeks. London was their first stop. The girl
must have been 10-11 years and reminded me of Giovanna. She knew all the facts about the movies, books and was sooooo giddy with excitement she was going to the studios.
I think i felt the same excitement, but that is not as cute on a older person like me. 🙂
If you are a HP fan, i strongly encourage you to visit the studios if you are in London. They are amazing! All of the original movie sets, costumes, etc are there on display. The day i went it was back to school days so the attendants were wearing some of the original house robes. Here are some – actually a lot – of the pics i took that day. I did some Periscope videos of the studios. You can find them under my twitter account. 🙂
I was able to walk thru Hogwarts entrance door, see the main hall where Harry and his friends had dinner, Dumbledore’s office and Griffyndor common room to name a few. I loved it! I wish i had more than the 3 hours i had to visit all the exhibits
After HP, i went back to the hotel for a power nap since i was going that night to see Les Miserables.
I ventured out with plenty of time to find a place to eat. I ended up in Chinatown and found a very nice restaurant.
I wanted Dim Sum but they serve that for breakfast and lunch, not dinner. So after a quick dinner it was time for Les Miserable. Loved it! Theatre in London is reasonably priced and there are a lot of shows to choose from. After Les Mis, i stopped at a pub, had a warm beer, met some friendly londoniers at the pub and then called it a night. 🙂
Day 3 in London was full of sightseeing adventures. Stay tuned!
It has taken me a while to write the last few blogs from London.. Writers block or maybe after coming back from the trip i was too tired to even think…. Probably both I guess but here are my last 4 blog posts from London.
On my last blog post from Bruges, I told you that is was traveling on my own. So here are a couple things I have learned.
When things go wrong, you are it. I need to figure it out on my own. I have my handy smartphone with me so I have info at my finger tips which makes things so much easier. Having an international plan or even a local phone is worth the $.
I can do as much or as little as I want to do that day. I know I am coming back some time soon again so I don’t feel I have to cram everything in one trip
You meet very interesting and nice people but you need to be open to talk to strangers – no problem for me! I talk with everyone. 🙂
Day 1:
I arrived in London via Brussels on Eurostar after spending the weekend in Bruges. It was about 1.5hrs or so from Brussels via the underground channel. I was out as soon as i sat down so i did not see much of the scenery or when we went in the channel. Oops!
I woke up at Kings Cross Station. Yep, this is the place where Harry Potter will leave to go to Hogwarts… They have platform 9 3/4 here. 🙂 I was back on the Tube to go to Victoria Station since my hotel was in the Westminster neighborhood. Awesome location; only 2 blocks from the tube and lots of pubs and places to eat very close. My hotel was called The Beverley. I had the cutest room with a very comfy bed.
After dropping off my bags at the hotel, I decided to walk all the way to Westminster Abbey and do the tour. As i was walking past Victoria Station i stumbled upon the Apollo Theater where they were showing WICKED! So on a whim, i walked to the box office and got tickets for that evening. LOVE that show, one of my favorites.
After getting my tickets, i continued my walk to Westminster Abbey. On the way there i found this cute church – Westminster Cathedral – OMG! the altar was gorgeous. you will not think much of the church looking at the outside.
Westminster Cathedral
They also have a tower from which you can view the city – on a sunny day – which was not the case on the day I was there. 🙂 The gentleman that mans the elevator when he came back up to pick me, asked me: “So did you see EVERYTHING?” Hmmm, Yes, I think so I replied. -Well, I really did not see much – He smiled at me and then told me to follow him and he took me to all 4 viewpoints and showed me the main sites that you could see from there. Haha! Yep, I missed them all. You could see the ET, Wembley stadium and some other places he mentioned and that I can’t remember now.
I missed the Eiffel Tower. 🙂
I chatted with him for a bit longer and then he was satisfied I had seen EVERYTHING he took me back down on the elevator. 🙂 Great start for my adventure of the day.
I walked all the way to Westminster Abbey to find out that the last time to enter was 3:30pm. I think it was close to 4:30 when i arrived. So i decided to stay for the Evensong service. It was what the kids and I did at Notre Dame but this time I could actually understand what they were saying/singing. While I was in line waiting to go in, I met this sweet old lady that was from London. She knew right away I was a “Yankee” – yes, she called me that; not sure what gave me away! haha! Must be my Yankeeish accent. LOL She used to be a University professor in St Louis and was now retired and back home to London. She told me a bit of the history of the Abbey. Pretty cool! So when they finally let us in for the Evensong service, I was able to see the Abbey anyways although did not have the luxury of staying too long doing the oohs, aahs when walking thru.
I had already read the walking tour of the Abbey in Rick Steves guide so I knew what to expect. Wish i could show you pics, but they are prohibited at the Abbey. Here is a link for a short video so you can see the Abbey. This abbey has seen Royal family weddings, coronations, funerals, etc.
After the religious service was over it was time for dinner and Wicked at 7:30pm. I found a cute place to grab some sushi and I headed over to the Theatre. I think Monday was the day of meeting people. Sitting next to me at Wicked was this family from Singapore that were in London dropping off their son at college. How cool is that! Going to college in London. Wicked was amazing as always. After the theatre, i walked back to my hotel and crashed. It was along day and on Tuesday I had to get up early to catch the Harry Potter’s bus to go tour the studio!!
Injured seal in the water.. these are also protected by fed law
I ventured out with plenty of time to find a place to eat. I ended up in Chinatown and found a very nice restaurant.
Adventuring and other travel musings... 