Entries about beach

We took a vacation from our trip today, and spent the day at one of Jesolo's beaches. However, getting there was another thing. We drove around looking for a beach and a parking spot for over an hour before we finally found a couple that weren't private or too expensive. One of the beaches charged twenty euros per umbrella, which you couldn't sit on the beach without. Another only had seats for those who were staying at a nearby hotel. We eventually found one that "only" charged twelve euros, and collapsed panting underneath the shade of the umbrellas. The beach was crowded with locals and tourists alike, as well as vendors weaving their way through the lounge chairs, trying to sell us everything from sunglasses to Chinese massages.

It was blisteringly hot at 32 °C, and the sea felt unbelievably warm. Still, it was a relief after baking in the sun and burning our toes on the sand. It seems that there is less discrimination about swimsuit wearing here in Italy. Old or young, big or small, anyone can wear a bikini or a Speedo. There were even a few women that had decided to go topless. It might be partially due to the fact that it's so incredibly warm, but I think it's refreshing to see this freedom to bare all. It just takes a little getting used to.

When we got home, we were greeted with an air-conditioned house and our hosts' friendly dog, Leo. We all got a little bit burnt, even Abby and Mom, who had slathered themselves in sunscreen. Dad and I are the lucky ones, as any time we burn it tends to turn into a tan. Mom usually retains a slightly red glow, while poor Abby blisters and peels. In any case, we all look sun-kissed.

We visited Juno Beach Centre today, and remembered the war a little earlier than usual. As we approached the centre, we saw several large concrete blocks covered in plaques standing out front. Each one held the name of a soldier, and each one had been paid for by family members, friends, schools, and organizations that wished to commemorate those who had fought for our country. We saw numerous names and dates and hometowns, as well as the wars they had fought in. There were many for WWII, of course, especially for those that had fought or died on D-Day. But there were plaques for those who had fought in the first world war as well, and even for some who had fought in both. More recently, there were the names of those who were and perhaps are in Afghanistan.

Inside the centre, we were greeted by a couple friendly Canadians. It turns out that all six of the staff working at the Juno Beach Centre are Canadian, and that every four months another six come in from across the pond to replace them. One of the girls was even from Victoria. It seems like a pretty great university summer job, if you ask me.

The museum was laid out in such a way that you walked through the events leading up to, during, and after the war chronologically, so that the story of World War II unfolded as you progressed. Uniforms, guns, canteens, mess tins, and other possessions belonging to soldiers, marines and pilots fighting in the war were dotted along the exhibition. Propaganda posters with loud colours and enthusiastic slogans intermingled with accounts of training camps, sailing over the Atlantic, and manning the front line.

There were a number of videos playing, each one of Canadian veterans, both English and French, telling their stories and sharing the lessons they had learned. A couple of their tales made me laugh, including the one where a shipment of rubber boots had come in, and the soldiers found that they were all left footed. Some of the others were more sober, to say the least. Each veteran had something important to say about what they had gleaned from their time fighting in the war, and in the years that followed. Don't go back to war. Remember that ours is not a militant country. Life is beautiful and worth preserving.

After the museum, we took a brief tour of the underground bunker and Juno Beach. Our tour guide was perhaps less than dazzling in his delivery, but I'm pegging that down to the fact that he'd just started the job a week ago. Plus he gave it in two languages, which is impressive. Juno Beach is eight kilometres long, though we could only see four from where we stood. Apparently when the first soldiers had landed on the beach, the tide had been way out as well, so they had to cover a considerable amount of ground before they had any hope of avoided the bullets hailing down on them. It didn't feel like a place where hundreds of people had been brutally injured or lost their lives.

Before we headed back home, we stopped at a WWII cemetery where over 2000 Canadian soldiers had been buried. There are also four British graves and one French one. The site was beautiful, set next to a small greenspace where six towering maple trees stood. The headstones were clean and well kept up, and each one was engraved with a maple leaf. Many had personalised messages and Bible verses as well. We could tell that some of the graves had been visited, as small Canadian flags had been planted next to the markers. It was nice to see the flags and the maple trees and remember Canadians, even though the visit was tinged with the sadness of remembering such a tragedy. Today was a memorable experience, one I'll be sure not to forget whether it's November 11th or not.

Blackpool is most famous for the Pleasure Beach amusement park. It was our plan to spend our second day in town here, taking in as many rides as we could. When we arrived, we found it would be a little while before most of the rides opened up. However, we spotted a roller coaster that was running earlier than the others. We decided to try it out, and found that we had begun with the most intense of all the rides in the park. It wasn't particularly high or spread out, but instead had been twisted and knotted into a small space and suspended over water. Rather than cars, riders sat in padded chairs hanging from the rails with their feet dangling. There were a total of five revolutions, which Abby and Mom counted in order to know how long it would be before they could breath easily again. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best ride to start out with. Some of the coasters we took on afterwards just weren't exciting enough in comparison.

My personal favourite was the roller coaster dubbed "The Big One". It's over a mile long and is currently the UK's tallest and fastest roller coaster. We rode this monster a total of four times. This was the only ride we ever had to wait in line for, though we never had to wait for more than five minutes. To me, it was an example of the quintessential roller coaster. The initial 65° drop from 70 metres in the air was the best part.

The Big Dipper roller coaster has an ever-growing world record attached to it. American Richard Rodriguez rode the coaster continuously for 549 hours in 1994, 1013 hours in 1998, and then 2000 hours two years later. We've no idea how he did this, especially after finding that the roller coasters here are decidedly more jerky and violent than those of more polished amusement parks.

The oldest ride in the park, Flying Machines, is over a hundred years old. It was built in 1904, and is an original "flying experience" attraction. Although less exciting than the surrounding roller coasters and thrill rides, the fact that you have no idea when the mechanisms and cables holding the ride together were last replaced can boost your adrenaline nearly as effectively.

At the end of the day, we had ridden fifteen separate rides a total of 28 times. We gladly accepted the grey, drizzly weather that the off season brings in exchange for the lack of visitors and lines at the park. Also, Abby and Mom can now say that they are no longer fearful of roller coasters. In fact, Abby is absolutely giddy for them now.

Taking a Break

My parents decided to separate themselves from Abby and I today, and we both enjoyed our breaks from one another. Abby and I rose very late, as the whole family had stayed up past one o'clock the night before, and were up and about for less than an hour before Mom and Dad headed out the door. We enjoyed our lazy start, reading and chatting and eating breakfast, and finally decided to get out and about by taking a look at the pools that are located at the back of the apartment complex. Dipping our fingers in, we found the shallower of the two to be mildly heated, while the other was rather frigid. In the end, we decided to go out on a walk up the cliffs by the beach, and maybe even take a small tour of the town. The view from the top of the bluffs was just as incredible as it had been before, though the sky was a little cloudier, the wind a little nippier. We sat there for awhile, looking down at the grey-blue waves and quiet village below. It's not a view that grows tiresome quickly.

Eventually, we headed back down the cliffs, and meandered for a bit, stopping to watch a sand sculptor and looking for an open shop to take a look inside. The only stores that seemed to be open for business were a pharmacy and a cramped shop selling various odds and ends, like jewelry and hairpieces. On the way back home, we stopped to take pictures of some of the colourful blooms outside people's houses, and only took one wrong turn. When we arrived, we were saddled with the task of preparing dinner, which I think we did well and without complaint. No dishes for us, at least.

By Hannah

Just Kicking Back in Luz

When we first planned to visit the Algarve we were only going to stay for four days, but after having the kids input we decided to extend our stay to a full week—why would we leave sun and luxury prematurely? Today and tomorrow are to be our lazy days. Muriel and I promised to leave the kids to their own devices until dinner today and we would do our own thing. I slept until after 9:00 and enjoyed some coffee on the balcony and then got caught up on some international news. We are on the Sky cable service in our apartment which gives us news channels from around the world and many are in English. I watched Russian News, Chinese News, South African News, French News and British News. It was very interesting to see the differences.

After Muriel got up we had a fruit salad made from fresh pineapples, mangos, and a few other fruits. It seems that frequent trade between Portugal and Brazil make for some very inexpensive prices on mangos and pineapples so we are taking full advantage.

After a leisurely breakfast Muriel and I went to hike up the lower and upper bluffs above Luz, which Hannah and I explored a few days ago. The sun was warm and the view free of any mist. We lingered up top for a long time just sitting on the rocks and enjoying the view. We sauntered down into town to look for a cafe for a lunchtime snack. I was nudged out of my laid back state when I found out I had left my sunglasses on top of the bluff. But since time was not really an issue I just took it as second chance for a work out and jogged up and down in about 20 minutes.

I now felt entitled to a Sagres Beer.
We found a homey looking sidewalk cafe and sat outside. Even though it was getting a little cooler it was still comfortable to sit outside. Muriel had a coconut milk shake and tomato soup complete with an egg floating on top (standard practice for Portuguese soup as we recalled from 20 years ago). The bowl of soup was just 2 euros. I ordered my beer and a bifana, which is a pork sandwich. I remember these sandwiches fondly from visiting Lisbon 20 years ago when every street cafe served them for about a dollar apiece. I was not disappointed, although the price had gone up a fair bit.

We wandered the streets a bit, finding most shops closed for the Christmas season. Muriel talked to a local and found that there will be no increase in tourists here over Christmas vacation and that the area really only fills during the summer months, when the town population increases tenfold. It seems that the price of our accommodation goes up proportionally as well. We are paying 63 dollars Canadian, and in the summer our place goes for about 325 dollars Canadian. We are really enjoying the benefits of the off season.

Abby and Hannah cooked us a salmon dinner with wild rice and sautéed carrots and peas. It was delicious! It is so great having the kids doing their share of the cooking, dishes and shopping. They really are growing up and are great travel companions.

We have made plans for leaving the day after tomorrow. We are heading for Tarifa, Spain for a night and leaving from there the next day for an overnight trip to Tangiers, Morocco. We will leave our car and most of our gear back in Spain. It should be quite an adventure. We will return and spend one more night in Tarifa, head off to visit Gibraltar for half a day and then go to Granada. We will visit the Alhambra there and make for Valencia for a three night stay before we go to Barcelona for a weeklong stay over Christmas.

by Ben