Food, Glorious Food

I have a little family secret to share - my adult children call us snobs.  They make fun of their poor parents and sometimes their younger sisters.  They claim that we make comments like, "I can't eat THAT pizza. Once you've had pizza in Italy its just not the same!" or "I just can't have American Chinese anymore, I've eaten that in China and its just not the same."  

I will neither confirm nor deny the truth of their statements, but I will say, during our recent discussions of our upcoming trip to England, the foods we want to eat did take precedence over the sights we want to see (but decidedly NOT over the people we want to see.)

England

At the top of our list is sticky toffee pudding and scones and clotted cream with jam!  Fish and chips (no photo), English ale, and the assorted desserts are also high on our list!

 England gets a bad rap for their food, but it really is delicious.  Italy on the other hand is known for its food and there's no wonder!!  Yum! Yum! Yum!!

Italy

What's not to love about a country that routinely serves up espresso, homemade pasta, Balsamic vinegar, tiramisu and gelato?!!

Aloha Hawaii!!  

While one may go to feast her eyes on its tropical beauty, a luau provides its own feast and a Dole Whip on a hot sunny day is quite the refreshing delight!!

China

Experiencing the food at any given destination is a part of the cultural experience.  In my opinion, this is more true in China than any place I've ever traveled.  When you enter a truly authentic local establishment where English is not spoken and you have to rely on photos, smiles, nods and pointing of fingers to get your meal, it only adds to the cultural adventure.  We thoroughly enjoyed our meal with another family at a Hot Pot restaurant where plates of meats and vegetables were delivered to our table and we booked them in little pots in front of us.

My favorite cultural experience with food in China - enjoying my specially ordered bowl of longevity noodles in honor of my birthday.  DELICIOUS!

Jasmine tea in a local park as we chilled with the locals and had neck and ear massages.

Romania

And sometimes what you get is definitely not what you pictured when you ordered.  I present to you a "vegetarian pizza" and a "potato" in Romania.  Sometimes it works out in your favor, and well, sometimes, you're just hungry enough to laugh and eat up!

China - Part 2

As promised - PANDAS!!  Aren't they adorable??

Our daughter got to sit with a panda. He's about 1 year old.

I think Day 6 just may have been my favorite day on the tour.  We spent the morning at the Panda Reserve in Chengdu and were able to see many giant pandas in a beautiful park setting.

In the afternoon, we went to a city park to experience the culture.   We drank our jasmine tea, had our ear or neck shoulders massages,watched games of mahjong, ate some beautiful sugar treats and observed the activities of the locals.  I loved it all!

In the evening we attended a traditional Sichuan Mask Changing Opera.

By Day 7 we were exhausted and quite happy to have our day of relaxing  in the "City of Relax" as our guide called it.  We were able to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast and then head into the city of Chengdu before we caught an evening train.  We went to a spa where we all 4 had massages and did some shopping.

Massages are not like they are in America!  Sharing a massage room with another couple gave "couples massage" a whole new meaning. lol   Thankfully all massages were fully clothed.  I opted for just a foot/leg massage.  My husband had 1/2 hour of foot/leg and 1/2 hour of full body.

While shopping I stumbled upon 2 things I love - Pandas and the red phone box that reminds me of my beloved England.

Day 8 was another favorite day.  We took a river cruise on the Li River and saw the beautiful countryside of China.

Our river cruise ended in Yangshuo where we had Tai Chi lessons, the girls had cooking class and we saw a water and light show that was directed by the director of the Beijing Opening Olympics.

I loved that Yangshuo was definitely a Chinese tourist destination, and that while there we had time to truly observe our cultural differences.

Our last day was spent in Guangzhou after the official tour had ended.  It was more of a time of personal memories and sightseeing as Guangzhou is where the American Consulate is and where I had spent time with both girls as babies. I wanted them to see where we had walked together when they were infants. We were blessed to have another family from our trip to share that time with as well.

 We visited the hotels where I had stayed many years ago - the Victory Guangdong Hotel.

And the elegant White Swan hotel which has been remodeled.

We walked to the local park. 

 I adore the sculptures spread throughout Guangzhou.

And I'm pretty sure there were marching drills the day I walked along this promenade on the way to the Consulate both times I was here before.

In my International Travel blog post, I briefly discussed group or individual travel.  While in general, our family style veers more towards individual travel, for China  a group tour was definitely the way to go for us.  We enjoyed the camaraderie of our shared interest in the group (all families who had adopted from China) and the assistance and expertise of all the local tour guides who knew the language and culture.  Both of these aspects added greatly to our enjoyment of and confidence and comfort during a trip to a country with such a vastly different language and culture.  

We have been dreaming about this trip for many, many years and are so happy it is now an incredible memory.