San Juan Puerto Rico with Starwood

                                 This trip was all about golf and relaxing and enjoying friends. 

                      Jon and I have stayed in this wonderful old hotel many times and it is still cool.
                                    El San Juan Hotel we also like the Monesterio in downtown

2004 Ireland Jon and Brad to play golf

 Ireland is green and lush and has wonderful gardens. Weather was cool, rainy.
Even the guys enjoyed the gardens.  The weather was not great for golf but wonderful for my designated activity, sitting by fire and reading.

The other passion of the trip was for the males to stock up on good fresh draughts of Guiness.  They did a lot of that.

                                  
                                                  AHHHHHHHHHH

                                             Ballybunion

   Traffic jam Irish style.                                          
  Castle hotel we stayed in . More like a great house than a castle.

                                                      Thatched roof houses with loads of flowers.  Quaint

Akumal 2004 Rented a house with 4 other couples for a week

       This wonderful villa on the beach was all ours ..Maids came every A:M for breakfast and made fresh guacamole for happy hour.  Yummmy

                                          Kaye and Kelly....Best friends since first grade

                 Every night happy hour on roof to watch the sunset.  Got too happy sometimes

                               Gary and Charlene at Xcaret...We floated down the underground river.

                                  Years later we saw these birds wild in the Amazon That is better.

                Kelly and Mike and Jon.  don't we all look happy and we did until the captain fell off the boat while we were flying along under full sail.  That was thrilling.

Late in a sunset cruise after we reclaimed the captain.  Lucky that Mike could sail
   
Last night and we hired muscians and a chef and had a dinner dance in our own private place.  Lovely end to this week.

Alsace, Germany and Holland

     Strasbourg France is wonderful European city that is just the right size and lovely. Should be high on the list if you could only see a few cities.  It has wonderful walking street and lots of charm.


Alsace has the premier woman wine maker in France.  Collette Faller.  We got a private wine tasting courtesy of Rick and Glazers. http://www.domaineweinbach.com/presse/winejournal/winejournal.htm

                           Vasserfall in the Black Forest of Germany on the way to Baden Baden

   Baden Baden is where I learned to pay attention to whether a hotel has AC or not. This was the year of the horrible heat wave.  Only time we have stayed in hotel and left the room door open at night.  The street noise from the balcony was the other downside.  Music until 2 in the morning and then garbage trucks at 5 A:M. 

   Weather cooled off and we went to stay in a castle on the Rhine..Nice room at top of the tower.

                                   Cuckoo clocks everywhere

                                                     



View from our room of the river.   Castles have good views.  I think that is how they controlled their small world

                 Outside Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam.  Museum is the only reason to go there.

           Canal in Amesterdam, which is the only place in the world I have been that I would never ever go back to.  Anyone who thinks it is cute to legalize drugs should stroll down the streets lined with drugged out people and go see the big tourist attraction.  The Red Light District.  Ugly.  This place has no character or charm.

                                            Brad's house in Schinen and our favorite cat. Sprout.

Starwood trip to Purto Vallarta long weekend golf relax wonderful resort

2003 Al and Ellen Poisitano and Tuscany

Arriving a day earlier than Al and Ellen, Jon and I stayed in a wonderful Villa hotel in Frascati outside of Rome.  How much fun to have the vision of hindsight and to know that one day I would get a call from Diana asking if we had stayed there as she was doing a translation for an Italian website about this same hotel.

             It is evident they lived well in their time.  Marble door surrounds for example.

 Positano.  Touristy- yes ,beautiful beyond words-yes. It is no wonder people flock here.  The simple act of eating breakfast on a breathtaking terrace elevates living to a new level.

      One must find humor where one can and people watching is the best.  Oh that is Al on right.

                                                   Even an alley is a garden

                Mea Culpa but this is one of my favorite pictures.  Got this family pegged.

                                 There are so many flowers it is hard not to become blase

                                          Brad meets us in Chianti for a wine tasting and lunch at

                         Then lunch with Bunkey and Marco who having been storing our wine.

                    Brad is filling olive oil bottles to bring home.  Best crop they ever had

                    Quite a few lemoncello bottles being packed also.  Homemade is the best.

                 This trip ends in Rome again and it was hot and miserable but still special.