Croatia, etc. Day #8 “Life-Saving Zagreb”

by reissmd, posted in Croatia, Zagreb

After suffering the Croatian heat while walking around seeing some lovely sights the past few days, today we were treated to much cooler weather in Zagreb. There was some slight rain but being outside wearing long pants and my sweatshirt was a welcome relief. This was better than becoming dehydrated each day in spite of wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Enough complaining (Patrice here: “Enough complaining?” I have 42 years of experience to know that he is never done complaining)

We started off with an excellent breakfast which for me included “Eggs Royale” or “Jaja Royale” if you prefer to read it in Croatian. That dish is Eggs Benedict with lox instead of the Canadian bacon. I also tried (at our tour director, Gabby’s suggestion) the Zagorski štrukli. It didn’t look very appetizing but it was delicious.

Zagorski štrukli. Would you want to try this? I know it doesn’t look special but I thought it was fantastic.

After breakfast we heard a lecture from former Minister of Tourism, Pave Rusković. To say she was impressive would be an understatement. Ms. Rusković discussed the developement of modern day Croatia with great detail describing her involvement in tourism in a variety of positions cuminating in her heading the Ministry of Tourism. This was a post she held from January 2000 through December of 2003. A side note of interest is that Ms. Rusković is the mother of the silk worm lady I discussed when we were in Dubrovnik.

After that we had a walking tour of Zagreb armed with hotel provided umbrellas which were needed only briefly. We are staying at the Espanade Zagreb Hotel (Mihanovićeva ul. 1, 10000, Zagreb). The place is gorgeous and our room is spectacular. It is the type of hotel you might expect in a movie like “Murder on the Orient Express”. Actually it is adjacent to the Zagreb train station and that is not by accident. The hotel was built to accomodate the extremely wealthy passengers on the Orient Express traveling through Zagreb. There are all sorts of pictures of the famous rail line scattered around the hotel. We were told a number of celebrities have stayed at the hotel. England’s King Edward the VIII supposedly stayed here and swam naked with his wife Wallis Simpson. I asked Patrice if we could do that royal activity and she said “Have fun, I’ll meet you in the room when you are done.”

Our city tour included all sorts of fun facts and beautiful sights. One of the focal points was Ban Jelačić Square with the main attraction being the statue of
Josip Jelačić. He was a famous guy in these parts in the early 19th century. I won’t bore you with details about him because I don’t remember any. But I will show you his statue and let you know why it was important today. See below.

Statue of Josip Jelačić most important today because he is using his sword to point the direction we need to walk to get back to the hotel.

After the morning tour we had a lovely lunch and then were left to our own desires regarding further sight-seeing. Patrice suggested we go see “The Museum of Broken Relationships” (Ćirilometodska ul. 2, 10000, Zagreb). This museum has a collection of artifacts from emotional relationships that didn’t work out. Do you think Patrice is trying to tell me this will be our last trip together?

Some of the exhibits were funny and clever, like the mobile phone with the description “He gave me his mobile phone so I couldn’t call him anymore”. Or the “Ragged floor lamp” which a woman saw in some sex photos on the internet with her boyfriend with another woman…… Ouch!

Then there were some objects that showed some real pain. Like the exercise bike that one guy donated to the museum saying, “It was not the only thing my girl friend liked to ride”. Or the full length mirror a man said his wife used to spend hours in front of making sure she looked “just right” when she was leaving him at home with their 2 children while she was going out to meet clients. The husband later found out she was meeting other men.

After the museum we headed back to the hotel to rest our weary bodies and get ready for dinner. I am not sure how much I will be able to eat because I am very nervous. I announced to two of our new friends, Steve and Karen, that I will be doing a new magic trick tonight. They were a great audience for my first trick, how could I not perform an encore?

I will report about dinner and magic later. I need to practice my mind reading skills for tonight.

Ciao,

Croatia, etc. Day #7 “Let’s Split Then It’s Off to Zagreb”

by reissmd, posted in Split, Croatia

Last night we had a wonderful dinner at Dvor (Put Firula 14, 21000, Split) at the recommendation of our tour director, Gabby. By the way, Gabby has been a true delight on this trip. She is well informed and always looking to make our experience a pleasant journey. Back to Dvor. The restaurant was superb. The food was great in taste and presentation, the service was excellent, and the location ideal (we had a table from where we could see the beach and the Adriatic). I think Dvor caters to rich Americans but unfortunately only one of those adjectives apply to us. Our waiter, Zvone, was great. His English was excellent. He spoke openly about the restaurant, the food, his family, and his experience with customers. It was another one of those interactions with locals that I enjoy so much. Zvone said that he learned a lot of his English from watching movies. When he referred to his father as his “Old Man” it did make me think that television had played a part in his education.

Zvone, our great waiter from Dvor.

Today we had a relaxing start to our day compared to our recent early departures.  At 10:30 we boarded the bus to experience the Krka National Park.  We walked through much of the park seeing lovely waterfalls, vegetation, and wildlife. 

Waterfalls of Krka National Park outside of Split, Croatia. Lovely but it won’t make you forget Niagara, Iguazu, or Victoria Falls.
Water Frog posing for me. I had some trouble getting my camera set but frog was very patient and waited for me to get set.

From the Park we went to lunch at the Roca pig farm. Mr. Roca gave us a tour of the farm showing us his pigs, chickens, and vineyard. We then had a great lunch which included pork ribs, ham, and some other pork dishes.  Everyone enjoyed the meal with the exception of the pigs.  The ambience was beautiful but it was very hot and we were eating outside. We also had some visitors during lunch including this unidentified flying object. See below,

Pretty critter but I would prefer to not to see him around or in my food.

After lunch it was on to the Split airport for an evening flight to the nation’s capital, Zagreb.  As you can see below the airport is quite modern but what is even better there are no hoards of travelers as you battle when in LAX.

Split Airport (SPU) terminal as we prepare to board our flight to Zagreb (ZAG). The woman with the two handbags is out TD (Tour Director), Gabby.

As I said it was very hot today.  So that means no more writing but rather it’s a cool shower then off to bed. See you tomorrow. 

Croatia, etc. Day #6 “A Hot Day of Touring in Split”

by reissmd, posted in Croatia, Split, Croatia

No break from the heat today. After breakfast we boarded the air conditioned bus avoiding the 86 degree temperature while we headed to a museum dedicated to the art of the famous Croatian sculptor, Ivan Meštrović. If you have not heard of him don’t worry you are not alone. None of our fellow tour members knew of the man. We might not have heard of him but others had, enough so to make him a rarity……. a wealthy artist. The works we saw were truly impressive.

Sculptures of Adam and Eve made from Oak (Eve is on the left in case you failed anatomy)
This is our guide (Harry) explaining this depiction of his wife, or was it his girlfriend? The artist’s wife or girlfriend, not the guide’s.

Meštrović’s sculpture entitled “The Great Pieta”

The above work entitled “The Great Pieta” is very impressive but a bit wierd in my viewpoint since the portion that is meant to represent the Virgin Mary is a self-carving of the artist, the Jesus representation is actually his son.

The museum is located in what used to be the artist’s “Summer Villa”. It is huge and absolutely beautiful.

View of the Meštrović gallery as you approach the entrance.

If you walk up those stairs and turn around, this is what you see. See below.

Not a bad view from your entrance, no?

Like I said, this was his summer residence. Apparently he never returned after the Nazis occupied Yugoslavia.

After the museum we headed to what used to be a palace in Split. The tour was informative and interesting but the heat was opressive and I couldn’t wait for it to end. Interestingly, outside the palace we were shown this. See below.

Yes, a sculpture by Ivan Meštrović.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel but we made a stop to buy materials to show my travelmates another magic trick. For the trick I needed to buy a postcard. I found one that would work and it cost .50€. We didn’t have any change and the smallest bill I had was a 10€ note. The woman at the store said she didn’t have change. I was a bit shocked. I definitely would understand if she didn’t want to make change for a 100€ or a 20€ but a 10€? So we went next door to a jewelry store and apologetically asked if the salesperson had change for a 10€ note. She said no initially but after Patrice told her we just needed 50 cents for a postcard the woman went into her purse and gave us .50€ in change. I didn’t want to accept this incredibly kind gesture but preferred to look further for the change but she insisted that we accept. I then reached in my pocket and offered her a USA one dollar bill as a gift from me. She seemed very pleased. It was one of those moments that make travel so very special to me. I have a modest interest in seeing “things”. What really gets me going is interactions with local people.

To further expand on this concept, an interesting thing happened at lunch. We were sitting at a window table and a young man sat just outside and for some reason I wondered where he was from. Patrice and I talked about it and I said, I am quite sure he is from Germany. I have no idea what made me think that but once we had the discussion I had to find out. I asked the waiter who I saw talking to him if he knew but he just gave me a shrug of his shoulders. Finally my curiosity forced me to act. I went outside and told the gentleman that my wife said what he ordered looked really good and we wanted to know what it was. He said the homemade pasta. I then asked “Where are you from?” To which, he replied, “Germany”, “Munich, Germany”. Now that is what I call magic.

I would write more, but I need to work on my magic trick. We are having a group dinner tomorrow and I don’t want to disappoint my audience.

Croatia, etc. Day #5 “Time to Split”

by reissmd, posted in Croatia, Mostar, Bosnia Herzesgovina, Split, Croatia

Today we had an early departure from the hotel in Dubrovnik on our way to Split, Croatia.  I’m embarrassed to admit I had never heard of this city. 

Recently I was talking to a patient about our upcoming trip to Croatia. He asked me “Are you going to split”? I said “No, this is just a vacation. I love my work and plan to work it as long as I can”.  When he explained that Split was a city in Croatia and he wasn’t asking if I was planning to retire soon, I had to confess my ignorance.  
Prior to arriving at Split we stopped at a farm just outside of Dubrovnik where we saw a local olive farmer named Mato Dubelj.  Mr. Dubelj taught us how olive oil was made prior to the advent of high tech machinery.  In part this involved a horse pulling two huge stone wheels to crush the olives and express the oil. He was extremely affable but his command of English made understanding his presentation a bit challenging.  I think I understood most of what he said but some of the details might have been missed.  Here’s a picture of Mr. Dubelj with his work-horse Perla. 

Mr. Dubelj and his horse, Perla. Perla is on the right.

We then got back on the bus and crossed the border to Bosnia Herzesgovina on our way to the town of Mostar. Unlike yesterday, this border crossing went very smoothly and shortly thereafter we arrived at our destination.  There we were given a tour of the market place and shown a museum dedicated to remembering the tragedy of the war that gripped this region in the early 90s. This is when Yugoslavia ceased to exist and the countries we are visiting on this trip came into existence. We saw pictures of the bombed buildings and the rubble left behind.

Then we heard a gentleman named Mustafa talk about life in Mostar during the war.  At times it was difficult to listen to what Mustafa was saying and I don’t mean because of his accent or the volume of his voice but rather because of the heartbreaking human tragedies he described.

It must seem like an odd segway but after this sobering talk, we then headed for lunch. I saw this sign on our way.

No dogs, no kissing, no alcohol, no music, no laughing (really? No laughing?), and no bathing suits.

I warned Patrice not to kiss me since it would be breaking the rules. Hard to imagine she could go throughout our visit without a burning desire to kiss me a time or two. As difficult as this would be she will have to suffer since we are not rule breakers (Patrice here: Is this man deluded?)

After lunch we headed back to Croatia and to the city of Split. Today was another hot day so after arriving at the hotel I just wanted to chill (literally) in our room. Soon it was time for dinner. In case I hadn’t mention this before, we are on a Tauck tour. This is our first trip with this company but my mother used them extensively and always spoke highly of their trips. One thing I like about their trip style is the opportunity to meet some other travelers. Tonight we had dinner with Steve and his wife, Karen who are from Boston. Steve is a big Celtic fan so he was immediately put on “friend probation”. I am not sure I can be friends with a Celtic fan. After dinner I told Steve that I have been taking magic lessons and offered to show him a trick. I explained I am new at this. I had him tap a card from the deck but I never showed it to him making it impossible for him to know if I found the correct card. Like I said, I am just learning. So I tried it again and this time it worked perfectly. Steve seemed very impressed and wanted to see more tricks. Being a Celtic fan is no longer a problem.

Not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow but I sure hope it is cooler.

Croatia, etc. Day #4. “Montenegro”

by reissmd, posted in Montenegro

Today we went to the neighboring country of Montenegro, but first I have to tell you about the dinner we had yesterday evening.

Last night we went to “Restaurant 360” (Address: Sv.Dominka bb, 20000 Dubrovnik), a Michelin star rated restaurant. The restaurant was recommended by our tour company (Tauck). We had a sense that this was going to be a special evening because we were unable to get dinner reservation before 9:15 pm. Since my body still seems to be on LA time, a 9:15 pm dinner would be 12:15 PM in Los Angeles so it would be like we were having lunch. My brilliant wife suggested that we go to the restaurant early to see if they could seat us and sure enough we arrived at 8:35 and they immediate brought us to our table for dinner (or early lunch).

The restaurant has ordering rules. They divide the menu into 3 groups. Group I is the cold appetizers. Group II is the hot appetizers. Group III is the entrees. You must order one item from Group III and either one or two items from the other two groups.

We made our choices and what followed was an incredible array of foods that would have been at home in any gourmet magazine.

Toast with goodies on it. I couldn’t understand the waiter but it really tasted good.
Ahi on a bed of raw lentils. The lentils are just for show. The 3 half footballs on the left are exotic types of butter.
Foie Gras. In the back ground was a bread that might have been the best bread I have ever tasted in my life.

The above items were not ordered by us. As the waiter put it, “These are some food items to get you ready for the meal”. Then we received:

Another form of Foie Gras. I know it is not politically correct to eat this but it was amazing. I might be eating foie gras now but I didn’t eat grapes in the 60s. That’s why I think it is appropriate for me to take off from work on Cesar Chavez holiday. “¡Sí se puede!”
Veal tortellini was Patrice’s appetizer
Sea Bass was my main course. It was tiny but VERY GOOD.
Patrice’s cod. Also tiny but she said it was terrific.

Then finally.

We didn’t order dessert but they brought this array of tasty morsels.

As you might have guessed the cost of the meal was a bit pricey. So if you are expecting us to be bringing you home a souvenir from this trip, we are bringing you the above pictures. Enjoy.

Now let’s focus on today’s visit to Montenegro. Montenegro is south and east of Croatia. It was about a 1 hour drive to the border and close to the same amount of time to cross the border. I think the Montenegras border agents were trained by the US agents at our Canadian border. We crossed from the USA into Canada years ago in about 5 minutes and about 50 minutes the other direction.

After the trauma at the border we continued on to the towns of Perast and Kotor. Perast is a small town with only 200 residents and 19 churches (that is not a misprint). I am sure you realize this is not my kind of place. The main attraction in Perast is a church on a small island called the Our Lady of the Rocks. We waited in the hot sun to enter the church. It was cute and modestly interesting but not my thing. My takeaway lesson about Perast is that it is very hot. There is another island nearby called St. George. It is a private location where some priests live. Here is a shot of Patrice and me with St. George in the background.

Patrice was more impressed with the church than I was. As you can see it made her hair stand on end.

Then it was a short drive to another port city called Kotor. This is a walled city up against a mountain. We went to the Maritime Museum and a church. During the walk our guide told us the history of the town. My takeaway lesson was that it was, like Perast, very hot.

In Kotor, we were told the major passions of the visitors is the pizza and the gelato I tried the pizza and it was delicious and inexpensive.

Delicious Margherita pizza. Cost: 9.70 Euros ($10.50 usd)

The return to Dubrovnik was uneventful until we got to the border and again had to wait about an hour to cross. Tomorrow we leave Dubrovnik but to be honest I don’t know where we are going. I do know I need to be on the bus by 7:30 AM. So, good night for now.

Croatia, etc. Day #3 “The Boy Needs Some Sleep”

by reissmd, posted in Dubrovnik

This morning we awoke, sleep-deprived but ready for our first full day of the tour. 

Before stepping outside the hotel, we headed down for breakfast. As promised yesterday, here are some photos.  The buffet had a variety of offerings,

Scrambled eggs
Sauteed mushrooms.
Grilled tomatoes.
Choice of meats
Juices
Pork or Chicken Sausage
Lucious pastries

We were also given some menu item choices IN ADDITION TO THE BUFFET.

Patrice ordered an omlette with mushrooms and cheese (I had that yesterday).
I had the Eggs Benedict. They use toast instead of an English Muffin.

After breakfast we were on our way to discover Dubrovnik.  We toured the town with our local guide, Petra, and learned all sorts of interesting facts that promptly entered one of my ears and flew out the other side.  I did retain one fact, how to identify a Croatian woman. Here are the simple steps. 

  1. Beautiful 
  2. Wears sunglasses over the eyes or on top of their head. 
  3. They don’t smile 

With that in mind I spent the majority of the day deciding if the women we saw were Croatian or not. Patrice got annoyed that I was looking at all the women but I explained this was just scientific research. 

We took a cable car to the top of the local mountain to see a spectacular view of the town. 

View of the Old Town from the mountaintop cable car station.
At the mountaintop with Lokrum Island in the background

We then took a walking tour of the Old Town which we learned if you call it “Old Town” it’s because you are a tourist.  Locals merely refer to it as “The Town”.  It was very hot in Town  today and I still hadn’t adjusted to the time change so I was exhausted.  We then had some relief in the form of a boat ride up and down the coast. We saw some people sunbathing but it was hard to tell if the women were locals. (Patrice here:  Yes it was hard to tell if the women were smiling because he was too busy looking at their butts.  He will pay!)

Next we took the air conditioned bus to lunch. Food was great plus there was some traditional dance and music supplied as entertainment.  

Finally we took a ride to hear a woman talk about cultivating worms in order to make silk. I have to admit I don’t remember much of what she said because I kept dozing off. I did grab a couples of photos.

Globs of silk produced by the worms.
The little worms hard at work.

I only caught bits and pieces of the talk but the work sounded quite involved. She talked about feeding mulberry ever few hours and needing to change the sheets where they are housed every day. It sounded like having a newborn.

After the talk we headed back to the hotel where I needed a nap. I am writing now pre-nap. If I wake up in time I will send you some notes about dinner but I think it is more likely that that won’t happen until tomorrow.

Pleasant dreams.

Croatia, etc. Day #2 “Perfect First Day”

by reissmd, posted in Dubrovnik, Lokrum Island

Last night we settled into our hotel and then took a walk around the “Old Town”. This is a portion of Dubrovnik that is surounded by Medieval walls and has a number of historic buildings. The city dates back to the 7th Century and is an architectural gem. In 1979 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of this portion of the city.

Yesterday we had been quite well fed during the day having stayed at the various airport lounges and receiving food on both airplanes. In addition we started the day with breakfast at home.

So last night we weren’t interested in dinner but we did have a yearning for some gelato. Patrice spoke to the concierge who recommended Gianni Ice Cream Shop (UI, kneza Damjana Jude bb, 20000, Dubrovnik. I know that doesn’t seem like a real address but Apple Maps used it and we found the place). Apparently the owner, Đani, previously worked at a Michelin star restaurant in Dubrovnik (“Restaurant 360”). I mention him not because of his association with this restaurant or the ice cream (which was terrific) but rather the unique first letter of his name. Đ is used in a variety of languages. It looks cool but would be a pain trying to print using a standard keyboard.

While trying to find the ice cream shop we passed at least 6 other ice cream or gelato stores. The only thing outnumbering these types of establishments in the Old Town were the number of ATM machines. We saw no less than 10 in about 2 blocks. Many places had two ATMs at the same location. Have these people not heard about credit cards?

This morning we awoke after sleeping well and headed down for breakfast. Sorry no pictures. I promise I will take some tomorrow. But I will say the offerings were plentiful and the quality was superb.

After breakfast we returned to Old Town and went to an exhibit of works by Salvador Dali. Seeing the works of a Spanish artist in Croatia makes total sense don’t you think? It was some of his water colors. A number of the pieces were just copies but we really enjoyed this brief activity. After that we ventured to Lokrum Island which is a short boat ride from Dubrovnik.  The island looks beautiful from the highway and the air (we saw it on our arrival from Frankfurt).  This area’s main attraction is the monastery where a great portion of the HBO show “Game of Thrones” was filmed.  I never watched the show.  Well that’s not totally accurate.  I did watch the first episode and when I saw a man’s head rolling down a hill before the opening credits I decided this is not my kind of program.  

The monastery was interesting. There was a line of people excited about taking their picture while seated on a throne that was apparently part of the set of the show. Being the lemmings that we are we had to follow suit. One thing you can tell from this picture is that the woman who took it is NOT a photographer. See below.

Hilarious picture. My hairy legs look like they are Patrice’s.

The island is inhabited by a large number of peacocks and peahens. They are very loud and the males are quite beautiful when looking for a mate.

Peacock in his mating pose. The only living being in front of him was a female tourist. Hmmm.

Next we decided to visit the Island fire station.  There we found Nino and Niko, two firefighters stationed on the island who shared stories with us. They told us about their jobs and I shared what I know about firefighters in Los Angeles.  They were extremely cordial and even gifted me one of their firefighter patches which says Vatrogasci Lokrum Dubrovnik (which means “Firefighters Lokrum Dubrovnik”). See below. 

Robert showing off his patch with his new BFFs, Niko (left) and Nino (right). 

At night we met our guide, Gabby, and the other travelers on the tour. We spent about 3 hours together and Patrice was very proud of me because I didn’t manage to alienate anyone. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Croatia, etc. Day #1 “On the Road Again”

by reissmd, posted in Croatia, Dubrovnik

Recently my days have been very busy trying to raise money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. The Take Steps Walk was this past Sunday, June 2nd and the Team Reiss team members came through again. As of now they have raised about $115,000 with more still coming in. This is the most the team has ever raised and put us in a great position to next year bring the grand total to over $1,000,000. Our family, and millions of other sufferers, thank you. If you are interested in joining Team Reiss and making a donation, it is not too late. Here is the link.

Join me in helping end Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

https://takesteps.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/participant/TeamReiss

Here I am with my team co-captain, Patrice, at the walk sporting our Team Reiss sweatshirts (thank you Fayla for turning us on to the website where we bought them)

With the Take Steps Walk behind us, Patrice and I could get back to traveling. We are now on our way to Croatia. You might be asking why Croatia and I have to admit it was not our first choice. Originally we planned to go to Norway and Sweden.  The agent we contacted told us that the trip would be expensive because Scandinavia was much in demand with the lessening of travel restrictions enacted during the Covid pandemic.  Even that didn’t prepare us for the quote of $52,000 for a 2 week trip.  Apparently they didn’t realize we just planned to visit the countries.  We didn’t plan to buy them.  

So it’s off to Croatia we are.   Our travel company recommended we arrive at the airport 3 hours early for this international flight.  That seemed a bit excessive but Patrice suggested we even add another 30 minutes and leave 3 and a half hours before departure.  I told her “No way, I’m the man and I decide when we will leave”.  So we had our bags packed this morning and ready to head to the airport 3 AND ONE HALF hours prior to departure.  Patrice can be very scary at times so I do what I am told.

Turns out it was good we got an early start because the taxi was 10 minutes late.  I prefer a cab over Uber because they typically arrive early and know where they are going.  This driver was the exception, plus he didn’t help with our luggage and was on the phone the entire trip to the airport.  That wouldn’t have been so bad if he seemed to know where he was going.  We passed terminal 3 and we were still in the far left lane as we approached the Bradley International Terminal. Getting over to the right was an adventure in that we almost got hit by two different cars.  I don’t want to be melodramatic but, is about 8 inches from another car equivalent to almost getting hit?  

Once we arrived at the airport TSA security was also an adventure.  Prior to going through TSA security we needed to walk past what I assume was a bomb-sniffing dog.  We finally made it through security and after a short rest in the lounge we were ready to board. 

Our flight was on Lufthansa.  Did you see the recent Lufthansa landing at LAX?  If not, here’s the link. 

Not exactly what you want to see before boarding a Lufthansa flight

With that in mind I was a bit nervous about the flight. One of my patients, Barbara, works for Lufthansa and I told her that the video made me very uneasy about the flight.  Barbara reassured me and even contacted the flight purser, Vera, who welcomed us on the plane and assured us that our pilot was very capable.  

The flight was very smooth with a rare episode of mild turbulence.  I did have a problem getting the headphones out because they were stuck under the remote control. I tried everything I could think of to free the cord.  I then asked the flight attendant who couldn’t possibly weigh more than 110 lbs (oops I forgot we are heading to Europe, I meant 50 kg) and she popped it out like it was a child’s toy.  Oh well, bullied by my wife this morning, now shown up for my weakness by a flight attendant, this trip is off to a great start.  

Next it was time for some food.  The very sweet flight attendant offered me for a starter seared ahi (no, I like my food cooked), vegetarian (maybe), or veal.  When I heard that veal was being offered I jumped at it. I remembered back in 1990 when I was a doctor for the PAC 10 all star basketball team tour of Germany. We were greeted in a variety of cities and almost every night my pregnant wife and I were treated to veal. We were told they wanted us to experience an authentic German meal.  So I told the flight attendant that I’d have the veal, “It’s traditionally German, no?”   She replied “No, it’s a baby calf”. 

Landing in Frankfurt was smooth and we headed to the lounge because we had a 5 hour layover until our next flight. Patrice was able to get some sleep on the plane. She is my idol when it comes to being able to sleep. I, on the other hand, am a horrible sleeper. I was exhausted getting off the plane and was happy to see that the lounge had a sleep area. I headed there and found 1 of the 4 “beds” available. I made myself as comfy as possible and did manage to get about 30 minutes of sleep. There were 3 women in the other cots. One was snoring and another was coughing. It is amazing I got any sleep but what I did get gave me some renewed energy.

We then had a short flight from Frankfurt to Dubrovnik. The plane was not full and both of us had our own row. See below.

Patrice enjoying her own row.
And across the way, I had my own row.

The Dubronik airport had very few passengers when we arrived. Getting through customs was a breeze and at baggage claim I only saw people from our flight and our bags came out very quickly.

Recently we have had some problems with our guides meeting us at the airport. That was not the case today. We quickly found the guide with a Tauck Tour sign, met a few of our fellow travelers and then had a very comfortable bus ride to the hotel. The scenery on the way to the hotel was gorgeous. We are looking forward to starting the tour tomorrow. I hope you will join us for the ride.

Newport Beach “A Weekend in Paradise?”

by reissmd, posted in Newport Beach

As many of you know I have been volunteering at Homeboy Industries since 2020 removing tattoos from the formerly incarcerated and former gang members. Those close to me know I am passionate about this work and have done a number of things to improve the experience. I have read numerous articles about the process, canvassed a number of companies looking for suncreen samples (finally finding L’Oréal and their incredible representative Jan), and even flew to Tampa, Florida to spend time with a tattoo removal expert (thank you Loretta from https://erasablemedspa.com/). This weekend I am once again in search of help for the Homeboy Tattoo removal service.

Patrice and I were invited to attend an educational meeting sponsored by Cutera, the company who makes the laser machine I use at Homeboy. I went to a meeting sponsored by the company two years ago and made some great contacts who have been wonderful resources when it comes to treating my Homeboy patients (thanks once again, Loretta, and also to Shannon). I also tried to make inroads to getting a new machine donated to Homeboy. That is still a work in progress. Two years ago I was offered a new machine that sells for $250,000 for the bargain price of $225,000. I thanked the representative but told him that was about $225,000 more than I was hoping to spend. Unfortunately the prospect of making a tax deductible donation to a wonderful organization like Homeboy fell on deaf ears. I was hopeful that this year might be different. My previous representative is no longer with the company and the new rep offered me the same machine for $300,000. Hmmm, seems like we are going in the wrong direction with this project.

I sat through the Saturday morning meetings which mostly had to do with products for beautification. The talks were interesting but they were not the reason I came here. Finally we had a very brief talk about tattoo removal which was very helpful. Unfortunately it was much too short for my liking. I did manage to hook up with Steve from Cutera and he promised to get me some helpful information about the company’s machine and sounded much more encouraging about getting a new machine for Homeboy. I showed him a cool magic trick and promised to teach him how it is done once our new machine gets delivered (now that would be some real magic).

Patrice wasn’t very interested in the talks but she did manage to make appearances for breakfast, lunch, and the Saturday evening cocktail hour (actually 2 hours) at which there was ample food for a dinner. We met some great people. In addition to a number of very friendly Cutera employees we met some other interesting attendees. Jill and Celine from Fresh Start in San Diego (https://www.freshstart.org/). I had not heard of their non-profit but they also remove tattoos helping people change their life paths. We shared stories and realized that we have many common experiences with our work.

We also met Dr. Judy Bourget and her co-worker Natasha. Dr. B had a lot of helpful hints about tattoo removal and how we might get some up to date equipment. She also had some great ideas of about how to have a good time.

Patrice and me with our new BFF, Dr. Bourget.

During the cocktail party we noted that Dr. B was not around. She later arrived having just had a sample treatment with one of the Cutera machines called “Tru Flex”. Apparently a 15 treatment with the machine is the equivalent of doing 50,000 sit-ups. The thought of doing that many sit-ups makes me want to take a nap. Dr. B said she was a skeptic at first but found the machine invigorating. She told us more appointments were available with a variety of the Cutera products. Patrice was interested in a treatment with the Cutera Secret RF which apparently can reduce wrinkles and rejuvenate your skin. With that in mind we went in search of a place to sign up for a demo. Patrice signed up but I was not interested because it meant they were going to put needles in my face. I am old and don’t want any needles in my face trying to make me look younger. But to support my wife I agreed to sign up too. On further questioning Patrice uses a facial cream that prevents her from getting the treatment. I was too embarassed to back out so I agreed to proceed but made her promise she would hold my hand if I got scared.

Here is a picture of me before the treatment.

A friendly soul looking forward to a new experience.

Here is a picture of me after getting numbing cream applied.

Greased up and ready for the grill.

Here is a picture of me during the treatment.

What you can’t see in the picture is me clutching Patrice’s hand for support.

This is me post treatment.

Facial redness to match my shirt.

I am told it will take 8-12 weeks to see the full effect of the treatment. I look forward to looking 30 again, very soon.

Looking forward to your blog comments. Remember if you subscribe all you need to do to comment is reply to the email.

Our next trip is coming up very soon when we travel to …………..

North Carolina Baby Visit Day #3 “Bye, Bye, Baby”

by reissmd, posted in Wilmington, North Carolina

We woke early and checked out of the hotel so we could drop Erica off at a meeting spot. She was to be picked up by the bride and groom to whom we are very grateful for bringing our daughter so much closer to us. Much to my surprise I didn’t cry when we said our goodbyes.

After dropping Erica off we headed to ILM (Wilmington, NC airport) our flight home (via Charlotte) and of course it was not a surprise to learn the flight was delayed. At least I had time to write the final entry to my blog for this trip. As usual I like to send some photos of some things that interested me.

Our flight attendant on our flight from LAX to Charlotte gave Patrice this note prior to landing.
On arrival we saw this in the hotel elevator. I suppose you can never have too much toilet paper.
I am not a beer drinker but I don’t recall seeing anyone hawking warm beer for sale.
Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” with a touch of Italy.
Do you think Leonardo would be upset about this gelato addition to his work?
I hate when I roll my ankle.
As tempting as it was to see Alexander Hamilton’s hair we passed on going to the Museum of the Bizarre.

And finally this sign we saw in the Wilmington, NC airport reminding us we were not in Los Angeles.

Do you really need a warning sign to tell you this?

That’s all for this trip. Thank you for all the comments. I really love reading them.

P.S. Eight hour delay for our flight to depart Charlotte for LAX. But we are home and safe.