The End

Blogging in Cambodia

My six-month sabbatical has come to an end.  I have been back at work for a month now, and struggling to find the time to sit and type my final blogs from our last trip.

I can't say that I am excited about the office.  However, I think I am good at what I do and am happy to share my twenty-five years of legal experience with clients that appreciate my skills and dedication.

I must praise my partners at Peacock Keller for the sabbatical program which has been in place for over a decade now.  Chuck Keller, a former president of Rotary International, told me how he had met a lawyer from a small firm out west that was committed to allowing its partners to perform mission work.  The remaining partners would pay the salary of the partner who took a leave of absence for service, knowing that the other partners would support him when it was his turn.  From that concept, our sabbatical program was born.

Each partner in our firm tailored his or her sabbatical to meet their individual needs.  Since my husband and I were recent "empty nesters" and he travels frequently for business reasons, it made sense for me to fill my sabbatical with travel.  I think my husband enjoyed my company and I know I enjoyed seeing firsthand what he does for a living.

Our travels also afforded me the opportunity to learn about new cultures and see famous destinations and important sites.  I made it to the top ten art museums in the world (See my blog about Madrid and Los Angeles), one of the best beaches in the world (See my blog on Culebra) and I loved Siem Reap which was recently voted the second best travel destination in the world by Trip Advisor.Top Travel Destinations 2015

Sabbatical was also a time for me to see family and friends in faraway places.  I was overwhelmed by the generosity of all of those whom we went to visit.  In six months I felt like I had a lifetime of catching up with acquaintances old and new.

Finally, my sabbatical was a time for me to be myself.  For once I wasn't a lawyer, a mother or even a community volunteer.  I had no responsibilities and was just a happy, free-spirited individual who didn't even bother to blow-dry her curly hair.  Here is a picture of me prior to sabbatical, and then Sabbatical Sue snorkeling in the Florida Keys.  It was a glorious six months that I will never forget!

Camping in Culebra, Take Two

Earlier in my sabbatical, my husband took me to the beautiful island of Culebra, Puerto Rico…to go camping.  Without much of a grumble, I survived.  (See my blog on camping in Culebra.)

Since that time, the rankings were published and Culebra's Flamenco Beach was voted one of the top ten beaches in the World!  Since we decided to return to Puerto Rico for our couples trip, it was agreed that we had to take the gang to this remote island and newly famous beach which was the only beach in U.S. territories to make the top ten.Best Beaches in the World

Our numbers were constantly changing, but at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning 10 brave and slightly hungover souls embarked on the journey from Isla Verde to Flamenco Beach.  With one rental minivan and one cabbie van, we made the one hour trek to the town of Fajardo.  At the port, we purchased our $2.25 tickets for the ferry ride to Culebra.  The ferry has no open-air seating and we could not all find seats to sit together in the cabin.  Some complained that the ride was a little rough and had witnessed several around them getting sick.  Although I am prone to motion sickness, I was luckily seated in a steadier area where the waves lulled us gently back and forth until just about every passenger had fallen asleep.

The trip lasted a little over an hour and we were all happy to disembark at the tiny little village in Culebra.  As we tried to make a plan, a low hanging cloud burst into a downpour.  Some of us dashed for a cab while the others waited for our detailed organizer, Mark, to retrieve our rental six-passenger deluxe golf cart as our mode of island transportation.

By the time we arrived at our Flamenco Beach villa, the rain subsided and everyone was happy to put their toes in the sand.  We walked to the beach kiosks for some sandwiches and then spent the afternoon soaking up the sun and marveling at how different Flamenco Beach was from Isla Verde beach across the way.  Flamenco Beach is a half moon bay with beautiful white sand and rolling waves made for bodysurfing.  Our villa wasn't grand, but we had the penthouse condo that slept eight and had a wraparound deck with amazing ocean views.  (Plus, it had many more amenities than the tent that I slept in the last time I was on the island!  

                                                                                      

                                                                                        

There is not much to do on the island, especially after dark.  We spent our days at the beach, and our nights grilling out and playing card games.  If you surround yourself with quality people, it doesn't matter where you are in the world or what luxuries you have at your disposal…you can and will have a great time.

However, if  you are looking to get away from it all, Culebra is definitely the place for you.  It is a little difficult to get to Culebra with the car ride and ferry, but our over-achiever leader surprised us all by booking a charter flight back to SJU airport.  We dropped off our golf cart at the rental shop which just happened to be directly across from the airport.  With no security gates to go through, we walked out onto the runway and boarded our private plane.

 I was lucky enough to sit in the co-pilot's seat and saw some spectacular sunrise views of the islands.   After a short 15 minute flight, we landed at SJU and one couple walked directly to boarding for their U.S. Airways flight back home. Four of us, however, still had three more days of vacation and were headed to Rincon for one final adventure!

Puerto Rico for Couples

I was down to my last ten days of my six month sabbatical and had planned a Caribbean getaway.  Originally, we hoped to travel to one of our favorite islands, Antigua.  We made an open invitation to all of our friends to join us.  Due to flight availability, cost and everyone's vacation schedules, we couldn't fit in a week in Antigua so we compromised with a long weekend in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We decided on the El San Juan Hotel on Isla Verde Beach which is a Hilton property.  It is near the airport, on a  lively beach, and has the best lobby bar in town where all the locals come out for salsa dancing on Friday nights.  With two swimming pools, hot tubs, shopping promenade, rooftop barbecue joint and lobby casino, this hotel offers something for everyone.  We had our own newly renovated casita by the tropical gardens and our casita patio was a great spot for the gang to converge.

We've stayed on Isla Verde several times and enjoyed being able to take our friends to our favorite beachfront restaurant, the Intercontinental's Mediterranean.   It is a short walk along the beach from the El San Juan and Friday night we had 14 people gathered for Happy Hour on the beach.

 After lounging by the pool all day Saturday, we all climbed into cabs for the ride into enchanting Old San Juan for dinner at a traditional Puerto Rican restaurant, La Raices.  After dinner,  we strolled the narrow cobblestone streets of what is considered the oldest continuously inhabited U.S. city… stopping for a Pina Colada at the place that invented them, La Barrachina.

While in San Juan, we also made time to see Castillo de San Felipe del Morro aka El Morro with its breathtaking ocean views.   Of course, like all of the cruise ship passengers that pass through each day, we couldn't resist the urge to window shop the numerous boutiques in town.

Our group included several couples from our hometown, my husband's fraternity brother and his wife, and our brother and sister-in-law (a happy surprise for me.)  We left home on what was the coldest day of the season, with temperature readings of -11° and a windchill even lower.  Our local newspaper, the Observer-Reporter, publishes photos of readers that take the newspaper with them.  We snapped a photo of our group holding a paper that headlined the arctic temperatures while we were missing.  It was a great weekend with family and friends, but the fact that our timing was perfect to miss the arctic blast made the trip even more worthwhile.

Rincon, Puerto Rico

Rincon is the surf capital of Puerto Rico and possibly of the entire Northern Hemisphere. This laid-back island surf town is located on the west coast of Puerto Rico. I have been on the island at least a dozen times but never found my way to this hippie, ex-pat filled, edge of the island.
My last week of sabbatical I found myself in Puerto Rico with our group of friends. After a few days of fun with the group in San Juan and a ferry trip over to Culebra, our group was down to just four with a few extra days and nothing to do but explore…so we headed for Rincon.

It is at least a two and one-half hour drive from the San Juan airport to Rincon. We encountered a short detour due to road construction and our GPS took us up and down the narrow, winding roads through the hills of Rincon until the road leveled out by the ocean and Pelican Point, our condominium for the next two nights. We were located on the strip known for its bars, restaurants and shops…situated next door to Tamboo, with its beautiful roof-top deck where we watched the sun set our first night.

 
Immediately it was apparent that this was a surf town. Our bedroom had a rack for surfboards above the bed. Outside, cars rumbled past with boards on the roof or hanging out the back. On the beach, surfers bobbed up and down in the surf waiting to catch a wave. As we walked around that evening it became obvious that we heard nothing but American accents, making us forget that we were still in Puerto Rico.

The next day we drove around town, stopping for an amazing breakfast with an even more amazing view at the English Rose set up high on a hill above the coast. From there we stopped at one of the many small beaches in town. Back at our condo, I waited for the waves to die down before I waded into the water. I was just beginning to float and enjoy the water when the first big wave knocked me down and carried me out about twenty feet. Panicked, I struggled to get to shore, exhausted and out of breath, I was covered with sand from being thrown about in the surf.

 

I always thought I was a strong swimmer and I aspired to take surfing lessons one day. After my experience at Rincon, however, it was Ocean-1 to Sue-0 and I instantly lost my urge to be a surfer. Rincon, I concluded, is a great place to get away for a few days. However, if you are looking for a place to swim in Rincon, stick to the swimming pools unless you are carrying a surfboard.

Rome. Why not?

Two years ago we went to Rome with four of our neighbors.  Whenever someone in the group suggested something, we all enthusiastically chimed in with "Why not?" and that became the tagline of our trip.  When our good friends The Nicolellas told us their son would be spending a semester abroad in Rome and asked if we wanted to join them on their trip to see him, without hesitation we said "Why not?"

My sabbatical was winding down and we were scheduled to be in Dublin in February so we decided to piggyback the two trips. Another couple, Ed and Stacey, were going as well, and at the last minute our daughter was able to join us and bunk with Abbi Nicolella who had also booked the trip with her parents. 

I was the first one to check-in at our hotel and texted the others that they failed to mention to me that our hotel had a rooftop bar. Turns out that we put that roof to good use, having happy hour there each night while watching the stars come out over our little neighborhood in Trestevere.

As soon as the gang arrived, they shook off their jet lag on a bike tour of Rome. Our guide Francesco took us through back alleys and sidewalks as he tried to keep us away from the motor vehicles. I joked that no one had time to worry about how sleepy they were…they were too busy worrying about being run over.

We covered an impressive amount of Rome during the three hour tour. We started with the Jewish Ghetto. From there we rode up a hill for an amazing view of the Roman Forum. Next was the Colosseum and Circus Maximus. We pedaled up yet another hill (we asked for it, but complained anyway) where Francesco pointed out a magical keyhole which you looked into for a perfect view of St. Peter's Basilica. The rest of the trip was thankfully downhill, but the worst traffic we encountered was the crowd of pedestrians sandwiched between Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiori.

Back at our hotel, we agreed we earned the right to eat some carbs that night. We met Jake at his favorite spot, Tony's, in Trestevere. Jake had been there before because they offer a student special. It was Friday night and we were lucky to get a table as the restaurant filled up with long tables of students. After dinner, the adults returned to the hotel lobby while the three young-adults went looking for a night club. The story is that they found one, but Casey (who speaks Italian) had a little misunderstanding with the bouncer.
Saturday was Valentine's Day and Debi booked another first for me: a tour of a vineyard in Italy. We rode out into the countryside to a castle now used as a winery. After touring the main building and chapel, we stopped for some wine tasting in the wine cellar which is also a retail shop. We saw several customers in line waiting to fill their 5 gallon jugs from the large vat. Next, we were escorted to the estate's trattoria for lunch the Italian way. First we had enough appetizers to feed an army. Next came the pasta, orecchiette with broccoli for the vegetarians in the group. At this point, we were all stuffed but the courses kept coming. Next was the second course…a platter of assorted grilled meats. Dessert was a trio of Italian specialties. Of course all of these were served with the estate wine.

On our return to Rome we all swore that we would never eat again. We hiked for hours all the way from Jake's apartment back to our hotel.  People were out everywhere celebrating Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Carnivals all at once.  By the time we got home, we worked up a thirst and needed some pizza to go along with our beer and wine.  Trestevere is known for its pizza and we found a place nearby filled with locals and we marveled at the wood-fired pizza oven and the skill of the pizza makers.

Sunday was spent exploring the Trestevere street market/antique fair and then strolling the grounds of Villa Borghese. In the evening, we visited our friend Giovanni the owner of the Steelers bar in Rome. We left our hotel at 10:00 a.m. and didn't return for fourteen hours. Exhausted, we returned to our spot on the roof for star-gazing and storytelling because ….why not?

Rome, feels like home

I have been traveling now for five months. When I boarded the Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino to Termini it felt like I was going home. After having my first trip to Asia, and the even less "Western" countries of Indonesia and Cambodia, Italy seemed so familiar. I've had the pleasure of vacationing in Rome several times in my life and I love everything about the Eternal City, both ancient and modern: vendors hawking their goods on every corner, street pizza, the absence of Starbuck's, the city's walkability (the subway system is limited because every time they start digging they turn up another archeological site), to name a few. 

 I couldn't wait to put my feet on the cobbled streets of Rome once again and was happy to see it was sunny and 55° in February. My memory was pretty good as I found my way from our hotel in Trastevere into the center of town. When I was hungry, I had no problem walking into a neighborhood bar/café' and ordering a Panini at the stand-up counter.

My husband had a business meeting so I had the calmness of strolling the ancient streets at my leisure. Our plan was to meet at the long, oval-shaped Piazza Navona at four o'clock in the afternoon at the Bernini designed Fontana Dei Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). I arrived early and decided to use the extra time to tour the Museo di Roma located at the end of the Piazza.  I must have walked past this museum a hundred times before, never bothering to see the drawings, sculptures and paintings inside.

Museo di Roma

It was my lucky day because a special exhibition of "dream dresses" were on display in the museum along with the art collections. The limited exhibit showcased Italian costume designers and their gowns made for films. The dresses were arranged in the lavish rooms of the gilded museum. While some dresses were made for Italian films that I had never heard of, the majority were American films…..many of which I had seen. I was tickled to be able to see up-close these gorgeous creations worn by starlets such as: Audrey Hepburn in War and Peace, Keira Knightly in Anna Karenina and Kirsten Dunst in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. This included the one-of-a-kind pink, jewel-encrusted Manolo Blahnik mules from Marie Antoinette.

Gowns from War and Peace

Gown and shoes from Marie Antoinette

Another first for me was our visit the following day to the Galleria Borghese. On previous trips I was always busy taking first-timers to see the spectacular outdoor art, like the Roman Forum, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Vatican. Plus, the one day I did try to see this indoor art museum, I found out that you needed advance reservations.
This trip I was prepared and we had a reservation with an admission time of 11:00-1:00 p.m. (They only allow you inside for two hours.) The museum is located in a former palace built by Cardinal Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V, to hold what was probably the world's greatest private art collection. The Villa Borghese is the name for the former family estate which is now an expansive public park in central Rome. It is such a large place, it took us a while to FIND the Galleria Borghese palace and we had to rush through the park filled with joggers, bicycle riders and park bench sitters.

Galleria Borghese

Once we entered the foyer, I was immediately impressed with the amount of marble on the floors and walls and the frescos and mosaics in every room. The ground floor contains the sculptures and the top floor the collection of paintings. However, the rooms themselves are works of art from the floor to the ceiling. Also, it is rather small as galleries go so it is very manageable to see everything in the allotted time.

I have seen a lot of famous art during my sabbatical (visits to the Prado, Guggenheim, and Getty museums), but the Bernini sculptures which reside in the Galleria Borghese may be my favorite. First of all, they are exhibited in the very place where the sculptor intended. Cardinal Borghese, it is said, used his papal connections to employ the greatest artists of his time and commissioned works to fill his grand palace. When Bernini sculpted, he envisioned how the sculpture would fill the room. A centerpiece is his famous Daphne and Apollo. The myth goes that Daphne is being pursued by Apollo and asks her father to turn her into something to save her from this man. Just as Apollo grasps her, Daphne turns into a laurel tree and Bernini immortalizes her as her limbs turn into bark.

Daphne and Apollo

Another work by Bernini is the very sexy sculpture of Napoleon Bonaparte's sister who married a Borghese. The work remains in the Galleria Borghese, but many of the fabulous pieces from the Borghese collection migrated to France (at the hands of Napoleon) and are now housed in the Louvre.

Pauline Bonaparte