Author: John Cruse

As we drove through the Napa Valley from Mendocino on Day 14 we passed many small wineries so it would not be right to be in the Napa region of California and not go on a wine tour.

We were picked up from our hotel for the tour along with eight others, four of whom were from the UK. Our tour guide told us that we would visit four wineries and taste four wines at each. The wineries were Rutherford, Ghost Block, Cosentino and Fred Razi.

Along the way to the first winery she explained the history of wine making in the Napa Valley which started in the 19th century, the effect prohibition in the 1920s had on the industry and how many wineries were abandoned.

The catalyst that put the Napa Valley wines on the world map was the ‘Judgement of Paris of 1976’ where, in a blind tasting, Napa Valley wines were compared to French wines by a panel of predominantly French judges (9 of 11). The top wine, to the horror of the French judges, was the Napa Valley Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon.

90% of American wines come from California with, surprisingly, only 4% coming from the Napa Valley. This statistic is not so surprising when it was explained that the Napa Valley is only a small part of the wine growing area of California with regions such as Sonoma (which is next door) being much larger.

Now to the wines, we tasted four at each winery and starting with Rutherford.

It was interesting to hear that some of the wineries offered ‘estate bottled’ wines (ie grapes grown, produced and bottled all at the winery) with others buying grapes from other wineries.

The next was Ghost Block. Many of the wineries offered wines under different brand names some of which were the names of the owners’ sons or daughters.

We were told about the fermentation process, how the grape skins were used to make red wine, how French or American oak barrels were used to give the wine a different level of taste and how the length the wine stayed in these barrels made the characteristics of the wine.

The third was Cosentino.

One of our wine hosts said that white wines should be drunk within 1 to 2 years of the production date on the bottle. Red wines, however, mature in the bottle so could be drunk 5 to 6 years after the production date. That is if they last that long.

Our last stop was Fred Razi.

After visiting Fred Razi, it was decided to take another group shot and it is clear that 16 glasses of wine had taken it’s toll.

Day 16 and we make our last drive of the holiday from Napa to San Francisco for our flight back to Seattle. The 60 miles seemed easy compared to the 200 plus miles of other days but going into a major city did involve a lot more traffic, tolls and a 6 car crash (thankfully not involving us) so it took a bit longer than expected. Having spent the best part of 13 days and 1700 miles driving from Seattle to San Francisco, it only took 1 hour and a half flying back on Alaska Airlines.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Seattle and we are going underground. Find out more in our next posting.

We went on the Portland downtown walking tour today which started in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

As our guide said, Portland, the city of roses, is not very innovative in naming its places so, Pioneer Courthouse Square was in front of, you’ve guessed it, the Pioneer Courthouse.

The Square has been a controversial issue in Portland and had only finally been built in the 1980s with the help of public donations. Those donating had their names immortalised on the floor of the square in the bricks.

Unlike most cities in the United States, the blocks of Portland are small so walking from 1st to 10th is not too arduous. The centre of the downtown area was moved from beside the Willamette River, further south and at that time the sidewalks were altered so that they were wider. This gives Portland a feeling of not being crowded even though there were many locals and tourist in the downtown area. Compared to London, it was pleasant not having to dodge around people.

As part of a regeneration plan for the city, builders are charged a 2% levy to support the arts, which has resulted in many sculptures being erected on buildings and along the streets.

We visited the Portland Centre for performing arts, the Oregon Historical Society and the City Hall. In the middle of the downtown area near City Hall are park areas which were originally separated so that the women had a park and the men had a park for recreational purposes. The reason for this was that in 1800 there were 12 men to each woman so this gave the women a bit of breathing space from male harassment.

Around the downtown area are themed litter bins with even a litter bin that has a solar panel to help recycle the trash that is put in it. There were charging points for electric and hybrid cars which were free to charge if you paid to park there.

The area by the river is now the Tom McCall Waterfront Park with the original buildings (that were occupied when the river was used for commerce) having been knocked down. Between 1st Avenue and the waterfront park is Portland’s, and probably the world’s, smallest official National Park which is literally a few feet across called the Mill Ends Park.

Portland downtown is nice and worth visiting although it does seem to have a very high number of homeless people on the streets. The city also stretches across the river and the total population is circa 650,000.

For those who saw the recent BBC show by Louis Theroux about polyamory, our walking tour guide was surprised that Portland was such a hotspot and thought that this was more likely to be practiced down the coast in Los Angeles or San Francisco. We were kept well away from the strip clubs, mentioned yesterday, on this tour. In fact the town has a very pleasant look and feel about it. There is also quite a lot to do on the outskirts, but we must move on. Tomorrow we are on the road again on our way to Depoe Bay on the Pacific Coast.

We were up early this morning mainly due to the effects of -8 hours time difference.

As we are in the home town of the US aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, we had booked a Boeing Factory tour to the nearby Paine Field. The tour consists of firstly visiting the ‘Future of Flight’ building next to the Boeing facility and then going with a guide to the largest building by volume in the world, where four types of Boeing aircraft are assembled.

The ‘Future of Flight’ exhibition tracks Boeing’s roots from 1916 all the way through to their more recent space work.

We then went on the 11am tour with 49 other people in our coach and another coach with the same number. We did not expect that the Boeing Factory tour would be so popular with more than 100 people going on just the 11am tour in two groups. Tours ran through the day.

Unfortunately, for health and safety reasons, Boeing does not allow any personal items such a phones and cameras to be taken on the tour so no pictures.

We visited the B767 and B747 assembly lines first. To get there, we all got off the bus at one end of the assembly building and walked through part of the many miles of tunnels Boeing has underneath and then went up in a lift to a viewing gallery overlooking the assembly line.

The B747-8 and B767 aircraft are now only made in freighter configuration which is no doubt very useful for one of Seattle’s other major residents, Amazon.

We then got back on the coach to travel to the far end of the world’s biggest building by volume, to visit the B787 and B777 assembly lines. Our guide extolled the environmental virtues of the B787, Boeing’s aircraft made of composite materials rather than aluminium, and we saw some freighter versions of the B777 on the assembly line.

Our guide had mentioned that Boeing was currently testing the new B777x and we were lucky enough that it was on the Paine Field runway right outside the Future of Flight building when we got back from the tour.

I bet some of you are wondering what our Boeing guide said about the recently grounded B737 Max aircraft. For those unaware of the story, the ‘Max’ is a new version of the very successful B737 aircraft for which Boeing currently has hundreds of orders but tragically two have crashed over the last few years and the aircraft type is currently grounded by the US Federal Aviation Authority.

Our guide, right at the beginning, said that there may be some things he was not allowed to talk about, so he didn’t. The only thing he said about the Max was that it was not assembled at this facility but at Renton, nearby.

If you are in Seattle, the Boeing Factory tour is worth going on and we were informed that it started when the first aircraft was made in 1916.

In the afternoon we walked to Chihuly Gardens next to the Space Needle viewing platform. We had heard of Dale Chihuly because of his exhibition of glassworks currently running at Kew Gardens (until 27 October). As we were in Seattle it would be an opportunity to see some of his diverse fine artworks at his own venue. These are exhibited both inside the buildings and in the gardens. Highly complex procedures are used to create his works, and it is testament to his skill and creativity that his glass installations are exhibited in more than 200 museums worldwide. We will let a few photos do the talking.

And we could not go to these gardens without visiting the viewing decks of the Space Needle. Built in the 1960s, it was well worth the visit as it gave quite a different impression of Seattle. From the ground the view is of busy roads, high buildings and ongoing construction, but from the tower much water can be seen at Lake Union and Elliott Bay, and there is much more greenery than imagined at street level.

Tomorrow we go on the ‘Food Tour’ around Pikes Place Market to sample the best of Seattle’s cuisine.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse

Our last full day in Padstow before we move on tomorrow to Devon.

We decided to explore Padstow and find out what it had to offer, as we had not had much opportunity to see the town yesterday or on Friday when we arrived. The town is quaint and picturesque with the harbour, the river Camel and the houses set up the hill along narrow streets.

The town has an eclectic mixture of small shops including a deli, fish and chip shop and gift shop owned by Rick Stein and with his other businesses, the Cookery School, Seafood Restaurant, St Petroc’ Hotel and Bistro, St Edmunds House, Prospect House, Bryan Cottage, The Cafe, Fisheries and Seafood Bar, he seems to own a lot of Padstow and with that providing many jobs for the local community.

As we are in the home of the Cornish Pasty it was interesting to see three shops next door to each other selling pasties all under slightly different branding.

After walking around the town, and incidentally running into an old work colleague, we went to Prideaux Place which is an historic house only a 10 minute walk from St Edmunds House.

The house had been lived in by the Prideaux-Brune family for over 425 years with the current owner Peter, taking ownership in 1988. As is the case with many historic houses that have been continuously inhabited by the same family, there was an interesting collection of furniture, pictures and documents in its 81 rooms.

The Prideaux-Brune family were (as was the case for Cornwall in general) on the side of the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War, so when Charles II was reinstated to the throne, the family had to marry a daughter to William Morice, Secretary of State to Charles II to be able to secure a Royal Pardon and keep their house and lands. A copy of the Royal Pardon was on show with the original being held in safe keeping.

The house has been modified over the years by different generations and now combines its traditional Elizabethan architecture with the 18th century exuberance of Strawberry Hill gothic.

In 1931 when Aston Martin was in financial difficulties, Lance Prideaux-Brune invested in the company and in effect saved the brand as he liked the cars. He also became a board member and held the London concession to sell the cars. His interest was rallying and he commissioned a one off drop coupe to compete in the RAC rally. He also bankrolled Aston’s three car entry in the 1932 Le Mans race so the family has a long held association with cars and racing which is probably why they have classic car events at the house.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside to protect the owners’ privacy and possessions, but if you are in Padstow, it is definitely worth a visit and it has a good tearoom with light snacks and cakes. They also have 40 acres of landscaped grounds with a deer park.

We are dining again at the Seafood Restaurant tonight before visiting the National Lobster Hatchery tomorrow morning before we leave for the Fisherman’s Nook Cottage in Yelverton, Devon for four days.

Today was a travelling day so we spent the morning on the coach travelling the 340 kilometres between Sibiu and Bucharest.

When we reach our hotel in Bucharest we had the afternoon free before going to the opera that evening for the premiere of La Troubadour at the Bucharest Opera House.

Shortly after we reached our hotel room we heard some chanting outside and a demonstration was passing right under our window. We weren’t sure what they were demonstrating about but our guide advised us that it was about a Romanian child that was being adopted by a Romanian family but was ultimately adopted by a family from the United States after a court case. We do not know the full story but it all seems very sad.

We left for the Opera House at 6pm for the premier of the opera La Troubadour.

As we are not opera buffs we were not aware of the story and were only slightly more enlightened after the event. Some of our fellow travellers had seen it before and explained the plot but always ended up saying, it’s complicated. The opera house had a screen translating the opera from Italian into the Romanian language so this did not help us much.

That said the opera house was very picturesque although very hot. The singing, costumes and acting were all very good. Although not really our cup of tea, it is always interesting to go to something that we would not normally go to.

Tomorrow we have a free morning and then we visit the inside of the Romanian Parliament building before going to the airport for the flight home.

Today was Monastery day. South Bucovina’s 8 painted monasteries were erected in the 15th and 16th centuries at a time when Moldavia was threatened by the Ottermans. The churches have frescoes internally and externally with formal Orthodox iconography. The monasteries were persecuted in Communist times but since 1990 the work has begun in earnest to preserve these important monuments. They have become UNESCO Heritage sites.

We were to visit four of the monasteries, being Voronet, Humor, Sucevita and Moldovita. Unfortunately we were not able to photograph the insides of the churches which were spectacular, but were able to take pictures of the outsides.

There was hardly a space on the external or internal walls of the churches that were not covered with frescoes (or meant to be covered, as some had deteriorated with time). The churches all had four or five sections within and we were told that there were strict rules of what should be shown on the walls of each section, and in what order.

In between visiting the second and third monasteries we had lunch in Gura-Humorului and they had a very novel use for an old, I would assume, Dacia car that was in the middle of the road near a roundabout.

Before we reached the last monastery at Moldovita, we stopped at a very unusual tribute to the builders of the road we were travelling on. It was, we were told, the sort of thing done during the communist times in Romania.

The last monastery at Moldovita was being renovated so outside was not as photogenic as the previous three but was again stunning inside.

If you are ever this way they are definitely worth visiting and you can see why UNESCO values them.

As we left our last monastery the thunder and lighting started and the rain fell in biblical proportions but that was probably fitting after our day’s visits.

Tomorrow we have a road trip to Sighisoara with a stop at the Saxon town of Bistrita.

Our first day and what better way to start than a sightseeing tour of the capital city. As today is Saturday the normally busy roads were very empty so a morning tour with the afternoon at leisure was a good start.

Apart from the harrowing pictures of children in orphanages, Romania is probably best known to most of us in the West for events in the final years of communist rule (being 1947 to 1989 in total) which were orchestrated by the last General Secretary of the Communist party, Nicolae Ceausescu, who was deposed in 1989. We visited the building which contained his offices as General Secretary and from where he attempted to escape in a helicopter when he realised that time was up for his brutal regime.

Apparently, 100,000 people demonstrated outside his office and 800 were killed which only added to the determination of the masses to get rid of Ceausescu and his communist cohorts. There are two monuments to the people killed located outside the office with the names of those killed inscribed on a wall of remembrance.

At the time Ceausescu was deposed, his vanity project was being built in another part of Bucharest. Four kilometres of an area of Bucharest had been cleared of houses with people being pushed out so that he could build what is the second biggest building in the world and the heaviest building in the world.

This Building is now home to the Romanian Parliament and has more than 1,000 rooms. The building is not yet finished and is still being worked upon 30 years after Ceausescu’s demise.

Modern Romania is a fairly new nation, was formed in 1859 and only declared independence from the Otterman Empire in 1877. Much of Bucharest was laid out to mimic Paris with wide boulevards and Bucharest’s own Arc de Triomphe.

There are many other fine buildings in Bucharest including churches which are highly painted inside so there is plenty to see for all tastes.

One place to visit in the Old Town, which is more unusual, is what has been called the “World’s prettiest bookshop”. It’s name is Carturesti and its is much nicer than your average Waterstones.

After the city tour had finished at about noon, and the temperature had reached 32 degrees centigrade, we headed off to the Dimitrie Gusti National Village museum which was 3.2 miles away. We decide to take the underground which was just 3 stops rather than walking in the heat. The underground is very easy to use and all journeys seem to be 5 leu. In fact you get 2 journeys for 5 leu (which is roughly GBP 1) whatever the distance you go. Seems a good system as once you had gone through the barriers to catch the train, you did not need a ticket to get out as the barriers opened automatically to let you off the station.

The National Village museum, which serves a similar purpose to our own Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex of preserving important historic buildings, was cheap to get in (only 8 leu for a senior) and has 60 buildings which are either houses, windmills, agricultural buildings from a wealthy family’s abode, to a hovel – literally as they had a Romanian hovel on show.

Definitely worth a visit as the large park area has restaurants and a cold beer was certainly needed today.

By 6pm the heat had got to us so we got the underground back to the hotel and went out to the old town for a bento box meal with some local beer.

Tomorrow we leave at 7.30 am for Sinaia, Bran and Brasov.

Our final full day in Budapest dawned. It was another lovely sunny day with a high of 14 degrees centigrade.

We decided to explore the Buda Castle area on the other side of the river to our hotel.

The Buda side of the river is hilly, unlike the flat Pest side, and with the Castle sitting on the top of a hill. It was used by the Germans in the Second World War as their headquarters and was the last part to fall to the liberating (maybe not quite the right term) Russian troops. The Hungarian Government has recently moved into some of the buildings in the Castle complex and sentries now stand guard.

Our wine tour guide from a few days ago told us that she was not sure if the Government occupying this historic building was a good or popular move so perhaps the politicians do need some protection.

The top of the castle hill also has a very ornate church (Matthias Church), restaurants, cafes, houses and shops and for the lucky residents who live their, spectacular views over both the Buda and Pest sides of the river.

We also visited the “Hospital in the Rock” which was another remnant of the Second World War. Under the Buda Castle hill, caves had formed naturally over many thousands of years and at the outset of the Second World War these were excavated and connected to form a hospital. This was very much like the underground hospitals on the Channel Islands for those who have visited them. After the Second World War they were next used in the 1956 uprising of the Hungarian people against the Soviets. After that they were turned into nuclear bunkers during the Cold War era of the 1960s. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos but the hospital is worth a visit.

Before we moved on we visited a small coffee shop called the Waltzer Cafe which was novel as it was set out in the entrance to a large old house, presumably where they parked the horses in the old days. As it was open to the elements at the front, although not overhead, each chair had a blanket for the customers to either sit on or wrap around themselves.

The coffee and cake were good, so worth a visit.

After we left the Buda Castle area we walked on to the Jubileumi Park which is also on the Buda side and is another major view point over the city. The park’s main feature, apart from the views, is the Liberty Statue that can be seen from all over Budapest.

After walking back to the Hungarian Restaurant, Alma Korte, that was opposite our hotel for dinner (would recommend this place as the food was very good), we worked out from our Apple watches that over the four days we had walk a few yards short of 29 miles.

Budapest is a nice city and the people are very friendly. English is very widely spoken (which is good for us Brits) so there are no difficulties getting around or eating out. The transport system, trams, buses and metro, are all easy to use although we walked mostly as we prefer the exercise. Apparently travel was free on public transport for EU senior citizens so get here quick if you want to make use of this perk if you hail from the UK.

Definitely a good place for a short break.

Romania next in June.

We went to the central market this morning which was quite close to our hotel.

The construction was impressive and looked like an old building that had been renovated in recent times.

We are going back there tomorrow for a culinary tour with Taste Hungary to experience the Hungarian cuisine so more on the market tomorrow.

We then walked across the Independence bridge which is the most attractive of the bridges notwithstanding the many padlocks that adorn its structure.

We then went back to the hotel to meet out guide for the Etyek Wine Country tour where we visit three small wine producers and sampled three of their wines plus dinner at the last one.

The tour comprised 11 people, 4 from the USA, 3 from Peru/USA and two others from the UK. I was the only male so it was a bit like going to a Pilates class (you will understand if you have been to a Pilates class).

The first vineyard was called Anomie (employing the owner, his wife and one staff member) and produced 25,000 bottles a year, most of which were sold to restaurants in Budapest.

The Etyek region is known for its white wines with the red Hungarian varieties being produced further south, although most vineyards seem also to produce Palinka, the Hungarian version of Grappa (about 45%).

The second vineyard, Vizi, was a two man band of father and son in law who produced 8,000 bottles of wine a year.

The vineyard was surrounded by many other small producers who generally sold their produce to restaurants in Budapest.

The last vineyard, Debreczeni-Ferenczy, produced 75,000 bottles and had vineyards in the Etyek region and further south in the country so producing both red and white wines. We enjoyed a 3 course meal with matched white and red wines with each course that was extremely enjoyable.

By the time that we had drunk 11 glasses of wine/palinka we were friends with all of our group and speaking fluently in Spanish to the lady from Peru.

Tomorrow we are going for our Taste Hungary food tour.

After the Invisible Exhibition yesterday we followed a 3 mile self-guided walking tour of the main sights that included the Hungarian Parliament, St Stephen’s Basilica, Chain Bridge, Freedom Square and the many statues that are dotted around Budapest such as the Fat Policeman and Ronald Reagan.

Part of that walk was The Holocaust Shoe Memorial that is on the bank of the Danube close to the Parliament building.

The Memorial is to remember the Jews and other citizens that we killed by the Nazi secret police group, Arrow Cross, that operated during the Second World War. The victims were shot and pushed into the Danube. All were required to line up and take their shoes off not knowing which of them would be shot. When the Nazis wanted to save bullets they would tie a few people together, shoot one, push the group into the freezing water and watch the dead bodies drag the entire group down.

The Memorial has 60, 1940’s era shoes and represent the shoes left behind by the victims.

Unfortunately people have attached padlocks to the Memorial due to the latest craze to put padlocks in public place (they are all over some of the bridges in Budapest) which rather spoils the Memorial although the chain on the Memorial are authentic.

This was not the last reference we saw to the past history of Hungary in the Second World War.

In Freedom Square, which was named after the Freedom fighters who were executed in the 1840s, their had recently been erected of a new Memorial which was the cause of daily demonstrations.

The Memorial is named “Memorial for the victims of the Nazi occupation ” but the demonstrators say that this is phoney Memorial due to the Hungarian Governments involvement with the Nazis during the Second World War. Their case is set out below.

Recent history still playing out in case we should forget the horrors.

We are off on a wine tour today outside of Budapest and the sun is still shining so more from us later.