Adventures with Lex!
November 3, 2023 – Bermuda
The rugby classic is once again in Bermuda and we got tickets courtesy of Lothar’s work. We watched the game some but mostly we enjoyed the hospitality tents and atmosphere.
At the end, all the players lined up and stood for a minute of silence for a player who had died this past year.
October 26, 2023 – Bermuda
Every year the Austrian consulate puts on the Austria Day event. There’s yummy Austrian food like schnitzel, and lots of now-familiar folks to socialize with.
The hosts share their fabulous house with infinity pool and ocean view and it’s always at a time of year when the doors are completely open and we’re half in and half outside.
Of course, at the end there are speeches and the singing of the F1 song – oops I mean the Austrian national anthem (I call it the F1 song because Max and Red Bull keep winning races and at every podium, we hear the Dutch and then the Austrian national anthem LOL).
October 14, 2023 – Bermuda
Another lovely Latin dance social at Cocoa Reef. We showed up early for dinner but we were actually the only ones in the whole restaurant they served us dinner anyway! LOL.
Good DJ, good turnout, and fun dancing!
September 29, 2023 – Bermuda
I went to a really nice event on the beach with a small group of ladies. We went in the evening and just celebrated the moon coming up and boy did it ever come up. It was so so beautiful.
September 28, 2023 – Bermuda
We got to do a repeat performance of the Ladies Bachata choreography at Docksiders. It came back to us after a bit of pre-show practice, and we had such great support from the rest of the dance community!
The pro team performed as well. What a night!
September 19, 2023 – Bermuda
Even though we got two hurricanes this year, and one passed pretty much over us…
the only damage we really got was one fallen tree and it got stood back up again. And of course, I had many bags of avocados to give away as usual lol.
Another one later in October just took a peek then turned around. 🙂
September 4, 2023 – Bermuda
We went to a salsa event at the pool! It was hot but it was so much fun and a great turnout, in a beautiful and scenic location.
It was crazy because all we got was cake. Even though we were at a hotel they had absolutely no food or appetizers that we could buy. Only drinks. People left and came back with chips and stuff lol.
I got a few dances in.
Lothar had some fun taking pictures of everyone including some shadow pictures.
August 25, 2023 – Bermuda
Bermuda is back in action! The Latin dance community has grown, thanks in large part to the efforts of Clave – providing informal Salsa and Bachata lessons before social dancing every Thursday, and more recently Tempo – creating and teaching choreography, and organizing a performance Event!
Well, that event was last Friday, and here’s my Ladies Bachata performance. Yes, I’m in it! I’m sure you can find me. Thanks to Lothar for capturing the excellent video!
I managed to wear my contacts all night so I didn’t have to perform in glasses. Yey!!
August 18, 2023 – Serbia
Lothar and I left Zlatar in the morning, stopping in Nova Varoš for a last burek breakfast.
We took a stop in Zlatibor. It’s a bigger town in the same mountain region, and much more touristy. We ran into what looked like a summer camp event for kids. There were hundreds of them, all wearing the same tshirts and they were from all over, and groups of them took turns on stage teaching everyone dances from their region. They were having such a good time! We saw Serbia, Egypt, Greece and Croatia dancing.
We walked around the lake and and enjoyed the fountains.
On the opposite side, we came across a crepe place!! Lothar was very happy and got an ‘apple pie’ crepe. Mine was predictably caramel, with bananas and whipped cream, plus plazma cookie and oreo crumble. I should not have finished all of it but I did.
Once we arrived at Dad’s apartment back in Balgrade, we decided we would walk along the river then find a place to have dinner.
We walked a long way, met up with the Danube, then I remembered that we might be close to Zemun, the next town over, and I remembered visiting a tower there with great views. We located the tower on the map, and this was our walk.
We found a stairway in the back streets that took us all the way up! On the way we saw the market square and pedestrian only zones, shops and restaurants. We earmarked one for the way back.
The views from the tower were as great as expected.
We walked back down a long cobble-stone street that I remembered.
We found the restaurant ‘Veliki Trg’, and had a last great Serbian meal. Lothar had grape vine leaf rolls, and I had chevaps with lepinja bread. Excellent!
Well what a trip!!! We’ll definitely be coming back.
A few hilights from the trip back. We stayed overnight in New York before returning home.
August 16, 2023 – Serbia
After dinner, those of us so inclined, set out for a hike to the creek across the valley. Our trail ended but we managed to backtrack and find where it continues back to the creek on the other side.
This is the first half, ending with all of us at the turn-around point.
We went on, and were able to climb over the hill to rejoin the trail back home. And we stopped in for ice cream at the little corner store for the kids before finishing.
This was last day in Zlatar for Lothar and me, and designated Hiking day. Some final shots around the house.
For breakfast, a neighbour made us her specialty pita with cheese and eggs. How kind of her!
Then we went off on our “first hike”. We were prepared to do one across the valley from the house (a bit further than last night), then one or two more by car to nearby fortresses. But the first hike took us 4 hours and 5 miles and goodness knows how much vertical distance, and we were DONE after that!
Play the quick video to see just MY part of the hike. Lothar went further, and Simon went EVEN further, as you’ll see in the story.
We hiked to the hill across the valley, and got pics back to Dad’s cottage from the other side.
Then Simon wanted to find the creek he saw on the map which was supposed to be just beyond the ridge. We hiked on, but started splitting up, as not everyone was up for more climbing. Kitch and Claira said they would wait for us at the bottom of a hill. I went up with Simon and Lothar, but then we saw that the trail goes on and would circle back to the road at a different spot. I was pretty wiped out, so volunteered to go back for them, and lead to the next rendezvous point.
We successfully got together again, when Lothar and Simon told us there’s a trail up to a lookout not too much farther. So we all agreed to go up there. There was a nice little covered gezebo where we rested while Simon continued exploring on his own. It wasn’t much of a lookout because the pine trees had grown so tall all around. He came back after about 15 minutes and he too was exhausted.
Then we began heading back. On the way we passed the houses that we see across the valley, and the old lady that lives there came out and greeted us. We told her who Dad was and she was delighted to meet us. She was a bright spark, full of energy and stories. She sent us on our way with many bags of vegetables picked right from her gardens. Then she walked almost all the way down the hill with us before turning back, just to make sure we found the way!
At the bottom we crossed a creek and the kids played around it for a while, so Simon’s search wasn’t in vain either, even if it was a different creek than the one he was trying to find.
When we finally got back, we had a huge appetite. Kitch and kids went back to freshen up as did we on our side. Then we drove (we were going to walk) to a lovely restaurant “Rival” nearby and enjoyed our last dinner all together.
They only had crepes for dessert, so the consensus was to go to a place in town to another place for dessert. It was nice, but they had everything except crepes, and Lothar had actually wanted them!!
Back at the house, Dad’s latest project, finishing this neat crossection of a large tree and adding a “stem” – it will hang on the outdoor wall as a Clover!
