Sean Gillies (Posts about travel)https://sgillies.net/tags/travel.atom2023-12-31T01:26:19ZSean GilliesNikolaOctober 19, 2018: Golden Gate Bridgehttps://sgillies.net/2019/10/18/golden-gate-bridge-retro.html2019-10-18T23:12:39-06:002019-10-18T23:12:39-06:00Sean Gillies<p>I'm headed to San Francisco for work almost exactly a year after going on
a family trip on which my kids and I made our first walk onto the Golden Gate
Bridge. Among the photos we took are these by Arabelle, who was enjoying
playing with depth of field out in the unique space of the bridge and bay and
sky.</p>
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</figure>Planeshttps://sgillies.net/2019/10/17/planes.html2019-10-17T21:47:01-06:002019-10-17T21:47:01-06:00Sean Gillies<p>I spent last weekend in Minneapolis, my family flew to Seattle today, I'm
flying to San Francisco on Sunday, and I'm planning to cross paths with Ruth,
Arabelle, and Beatrice in DEN as they return. I think it goes without saying
that it's unsustainable for a family to be flying around all the time. We're
trying to reduce our trips and make up for them as much as we can, but this is
a period of fairly intense stratospheric presence for my clan.</p>
<p>Arabelle is flying to LA for a week on Catalina Island with a school group in
November, her first trip in a plane without me or Ruth. There is at least one
kid on the trip who will be flying for their first time at age 13. My kids, who
have been flying all their lives, to France multiple times, almost get it, but
that first-time plane traveler is a lot like me. When I was a kid, my parents
could barely afford to fly us around at all. I boarded my first domestic flight
at 15 (Salt Lake City -> Dallas -> Detroit) and didn't make my first
international flight (Miami to Caracas, Venezuela) until I was 25.</p>
<p>Air travel is both amazing (the speed, the views out the window!) and terrible
(the pollution, the lines). I'm certain that it is going to be more limited in
the future. Make the most of it, and give back as much as you can.</p>
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<p>Landing at sunset in Denver</p>
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</figure>Road trip recap 1: Fort Collins to Moabhttps://sgillies.net/2019/09/02/road-trip-recap-1.html2019-09-02T13:10:00-06:002019-09-02T13:10:00-06:00Sean Gillies<p>Earlier this month, My family and I set off on a road trip through southeastern
Utah and southwestern Colorado with friends from Montpellier, France. Our
itinerary: Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Durango, Silverton,
and Great Sand Dunes National Park. One of our friends had been to the United
States twenty years ago, the other three, never. They spent a week in New York
City before Ruth picked them up at Denver International Airport. We hit the
road the next day, all 8 of us in a 2016 Honda Odyssey, loaded with optimism,
good intentions, and Harry Potter audiobooks.</p>
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<p>View from the 3rd row of our Honda Odyssey, leaving Fort Collins, CO</p>
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<p>Configured for this road trip, our Odyssey has 3 rows of seats, 8 in all, with
31 cubic feet of cargo space. We had another 11 cubic feet in our ski carrier.
This turned out to be completely adequate for 4 adults and 4 kids. We had
enough room in back for a mid-sized cooler and bags. Outdoor gear like extra
shoes, hats, picnic blankets, &c went up top. We soon settled on a formation of three
kids in the back row, 2 adults and one kid in the second row, and
2 adults up front. Fully loaded like this, we got about 25 miles per gallon.
When you multiply this by 8, 200 person-miles per gallon isn't bad mileage. The
curb weight of the Odyssey is about 4500 pounds. Human weight was another
1000 pounds. And then we probably had another 200 pounds of gear, food, water,
and ice. We've never asked so much of our car and it did fine. It affords good
views, has a small sunroof, the seats are comfortable. The one drawback is that
when it comes to listening to music or audiobooks, the occupants of the 3rd row
seats depend on the speakers at the feet of their family in the 2nd row. In the
2nd you get blasted and in the 3rd it's not quite loud enough.</p>
<p>Much of the time on this trip we listened to <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Giraudeau">Bernard Giraudeau</a> read the first three Harry
Potter novels. My French is just good enough to follow along and I loved having
native French speakers along to explain the subtle details, such as that
Giraudeau's impression of Gilderoy Lockhart used an obviously false Languedoc
accent. It seemed a weird to me, too.</p>
<p>Our friends speak English as well as I speak French, but as their kids are
beginners in English and Ruth, Arabelle, and Bea are quite fluent in French, we
mainly used French. I spoke French every day of the trip, and not just with our
friends: we were among French or French-Canadian tourists everywhere we went.</p>
<p>The drive from Fort Collins to Moab is long and we broke it up by stopping for
a night in Glenwood Springs, a tourist town at the west end of a beautiful
canyon. The next morning we stopped shortly after in Palisade to show our
friends some orchards and buy fresh peaches and nectarines directly from the
producers. Abundant sunshine, water from the Colorado River, and a relatively
(for Colorado) frost-free microclimate make Palisade one of Colorado's best
places to grow fruit. It's a location not unlike the Terasses du Larzac in the
south of France, where cool air descending from the nearby cliffs keeps grapes
from stewing in their skins after the sun goes down.</p>
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<p>Mt. Garfield and peach trees, Palisade, CO</p>
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<p>Palisade peaches</p>
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<p>After leaving Palisade, Grand Junction, and Fruita behind we crossed into Utah
and then left I-70 to take the scenic route along the Colorado River to Moab,
Utah's <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_State_Route_128">State Route 128</a>. We picnicked at the
old Dewey Bridge site, stopped briefly at the base of the Fisher Towers, and
enjoyed the rise of the canyon walls as we approached Moab. I hadn't been on
SR-128 since 1992 and it was as beautiful as I remembered. Our friends were
gobsmacked by the colors. I still am, and I've been exploring Southern Utah for
fifty years. It's a uniquely beautiful part of the world.</p>
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<p>Fisher Towers, Utah</p>
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</figure>Rocky mountains and famous potatoeshttps://sgillies.net/2019/01/03/rocky-mountains-famous-potatoes.html2019-01-03T14:33:01-07:002019-01-03T14:33:01-07:00Sean Gillies<p>We spent Christmas at home in Fort Collins and saved our travel for the New
Year. Yesterday we flew from Denver to Boise to visit my Mom and stepfather.
The views on this route can be spectacular when the sky is clear, and it was.
Waypoints on the flight: Berthoud Pass; Dinosaur National Monument; Evanston,
Wyoming; Cache Valley and Logan, UT; Twin Falls, ID; and finally, Boise.</p>
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<p>Peaks of the Colorado Front Range</p>
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<p>The Green River and Canyon of Lodore</p>
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<p>The Wasatch and Wellsville Ranges and Logan, Utah</p>
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<p>There is almost no snow on the ground in Boise, but it's cold. Not too cold to
run, however, and I had a good one along the river today. Tomorrow I'm going to
do a longer run up in the hills above downtown.</p>Prague-Colmar-Montpellier-London 2008https://sgillies.net/2018/10/16/prague-colmar-montpellier-colmar-london.html2018-10-16T22:02:13-06:002018-10-16T22:02:13-06:00Sean Gillies<p>It's retrospective time! Ten years ago, my family, all four of us, went to
Europe for the first time. Ruth had meetings in Prague and I had a meeting in
London. In between, we did a little touristing in Alsace, scouted Montpellier
for future sabbatical housing, and visited friends in England.</p>
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<p>Arabelle and I at Staroměstské náměstí</p>
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<p>I was back here 7 years later presenting on GeoJSON at IETF 93 and wished I had Arabelle along.</p>
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<p>Representing FOSS4G 2007</p>
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<p>I think I might actually from Alsace, because Colmar really felt like home.</p>
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<p>This photo is one of the first that Arabelle ever took. Good ole PowerShot
A520.</p>
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<p>Our first home in the neighborhood of Montpellier was a little vacation trailer
during the off season in Clapiers. On two sabbaticals we stayed in the city
proper, but if we came back, maybe we'd would stay out in the country next
time.</p>
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<p>Arabelle going wild on the beach</p>
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<p>Everybody has mixed feelings about Carnon plage, I think. There's no nature,
and the development is kinda gross, but the sand and water is nice, and it's
super close to the city. Ruth grew up at the beach in Southern California and
felt "meh", but Arabelle and I were more like "waouh!"</p>
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<p>Arabelle at Gare de Lyon</p>
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<p>Good ole Gare de Lyon. We were just there two months ago. This was Arabelle's
first TGV ride. We took an RER from here to Gare du Nord and then went under
the channel to St. Pancras in London and then on to Swindon. Trains are the
best way to travel.</p>
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<p>Naptime in Bath, England</p>
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<p>Bath is very touristy but also quite comfy. My people are not really from
Alsace, but from Southwestern Britain, and so I felt right at home in Bath.</p>
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<p>In Swindon</p>
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<p>Arabelle loved England because we have friends and our friends have cats.</p>
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<p>Swindon Stone, Avebury</p>
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<p>Gabby is linking the ancient world data</p>
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<p>I went to London a few times when I was working at ISAW, but this was my first
trip and my favorite. We stayed in a hotel on Drury Lane, and despite not
seeing the Muffin Man, had a fun time exploring Covent Garden and Neal's Yard.</p>Paris in a Dayhttps://sgillies.net/2018/08/22/paris-in-a-day.html2018-08-22T14:08:09-06:002018-08-22T14:08:09-06:00Sean Gillies<p>On the 5th day of my fortnight of solo parenting, Bea, Arabelle, and I went all
over Paris. Before lunch we took the metro to the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.mnhn.fr/">Muséum national d'Histoire
naturelle</a> and toured its Gallery of Paleontology and
Comparative Anatomy. There are bones, many bones, and organs in jars, including
dissected brains of all kinds. It's enlightening and grotesque, very cool.</p>
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<p>After, we found lunch, and then walked back to our hotel. I had planned the
route very carefully. On every other block I would announce "Hey, look at this:
the old amphitheater of Roman Lutetia (<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar%C3%A8nes_de_Lut%C3%A8ce">Arènes de Lutèce</a>)!" or "An Amorino
gelato shop, what are the odds of that?" or "What a surprise: the Pantheon!"</p>
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<p>After some relaxing and packing we took the metro to Montmartre and climbed up
to the top of the butte to see the touristic mayhem around Sacré Coeur. After
some negotiation we had a nice dinner away from the busy square, did some
souvenir shopping, and then hustled back to the metro and to the Trocadero to
see the Eiffel Tower at sunset, Arabelle's goal for the day, take many selfies
and congratulate each other on "doing Paris" in one day. We watched the tower
sparkle in the twilight and then we took the no. 63 bus back to the Latin
Quarter. This is a great bus route, studded with so many landmarks, and my new
favorite way to get from the 16th arrondisement to the 5th.</p>
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</figure>Au Revoir, Lyonhttps://sgillies.net/2018/08/21/au-revior-lyon.html2018-08-21T05:31:20-06:002018-08-21T05:31:20-06:00Sean Gillies<p>After sending our friend back to Montpellier to join her dad, my kids and I are
on a train to Paris. We will be spending 1-1/2 days doing tourist stuff, try to
see local open source folks, and then will fly back to Atlanta and Denver.</p>
<p>We had a fine time in Lyon. There is a lot to see and do, much of it free, and
the Transports en commun lyonnais (TCL) makes the city accessible. Our friends'
apartment is one metro stop from the cool Croix-Rousse neighborhood. Many shops
and restaurants are closed for vacation, but the place was starting to wake up
and be inhabited again. I saw about twice as many people on the street Monday
as I did on Sunday, and twice again as many on Tuesday.</p>
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<p>Obligatory goofing at the Mur des Canuts.</p>
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<p>On Sunday the four of us went to the top of the famous pentes (steps) of
Croix-Rousse and had brunch at a place called Le Desjeuneur. The wait was long
due to the restaurant's popularity and the relatively large size of our group,
so we wandered up and down the steps and found the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cour_des_Voraces">Cour des Voraces</a>, a symbol of resistance,
unions, and the silk-weaving history of Lyon, while we waited to be called. The
wait was worth it. Among other things, Le Desjeuner serves pancakes with maple
syrup and bacon (Bea ordered this) and pancakes with maple syrup and bananas
and toasted hazelnuts (Arabelle and E. ordered this). I had shakshuka in
a skillet and a cappucino in an enameled camp mug. The portions are generous
and the food very good at Le Desjeuneur.</p>
<p>After, the kids stayed in the apartment to relax while I went back out and took
the metro and funicular to the old <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Theatre_of_Fourvi%C3%A8re">gallo-roman theatre site and museum</a> on the
top of the hill above Vieux Lyon. I had forgotten that the Roman emperor
<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius">Claudius</a>, he, was born in Lugdunum
(Lyon) in 10 B.C. One of the highlights of the museum is a transcription of
a speech of Claudius <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_Tablet">in bronze</a>.</p>
<p>I exited the museum, walked over to the Basilica, took photos from the deck,
and then walked downhill through Vieux Lyon, across a pedestrian bridge over
the Saône River, and then returned to our apartment via the metro.</p>
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<p>Montée des Chazeaux.</p>
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<p>On Monday I went for a run in the Presqu'île neighborhood, down the bank of the
Rhône and up the bank of the Saône, up to the top of Vieux Lyon, and then back
across the river and up the steps of Croix-Rousse. My tracker recorded 250
meters of climbing, which is good since the Black Squirrel is only 2-1/2 weeks
away.</p>
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<img alt="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1839/44133530162_d7e158b892_b.jpg" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1839/44133530162_d7e158b892_b.jpg">
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<p>Mural by Kalouf in Croix-Rousse.</p>
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<p>The rest of Monday was spent in Lyon's fabulous <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_de_la_T%C3%AAte_d%27or">Parc de la Tête d'or</a>. We saw animals
in the (free) zoo, had lunch, played mini-golf, rode ponies, ate ice cream, and
enjoyed the park's many green and quiet spots.</p>
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<img alt="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1875/30314417208_61bc84532e_b.jpg" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1875/30314417208_61bc84532e_b.jpg">
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<p>Enjoying the shade in Parc de la Tête d'or.</p>
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<p>I like Lyon! I need to figure out how to get back here soon, in the fall or
spring when the restaurants are open.</p>In Lyonhttps://sgillies.net/2018/08/18/in-lyon.html2018-08-18T15:11:19-06:002018-08-18T15:11:19-06:00Sean Gillies<p>My family's summer vacation reached a turning point today. Ruth is staying in
Montpellier for the Evolution 2018 conference and will be going on to another
meeting in Zurich afterwards, I am in Lyon with three kids at the apartment of
a friend who has moved here for his sabbatical. He is in Montpellier at the
Evolution meeting, his wife is in Fort Collins for a few more days, and his
daughter is here in Lyon with me and my two daughters. I'm in France's
gastronomic capitol with three fussy eaters, but am determined to make a great
time of it.</p>
<p>We boarded a TGV bound for Rennes at Montpellier's old Gare Saint-Roch, took
on more passengers in Nîmes, and then blew past Valence and went straight to
Lyon's Gare Part-Dieu. The atmosphere has been clear lately and we got great
views of Mont Ventoux and the Vercors Massif in the distance as we flew through
the vineyards and orchards of the Rhône valley. French train travel has its
problems, but I remain a fan. Security is less heavy-handed than at airports,
the seats are much more comfortable, and the views are great. The SNCF and Ouigo
mobile apps are better than adequate. Yes, getting on and off the trains can be
chaotic, and you have to handle your own bags (a shitshow today, in my
situation), but still I'm looking forward to the day that we have equivalent
high-speed train service on the Front Range of Colorado.</p>
<p>I've passed through Lyon's Part-Dieu station before, but have never stayed here
in this city. My friends' apartment is in the 4th arrondissment near the
hospital. It was easy to get here by bus from the train station. Along the
way we saw the Parc Tête d'Or, which looks wonderful, and passed over the Rhône
on the Pont Winston-Churchill. We had to drag our bags to the top of the hill
from the bus stop, and the wheels on my roller bag almost quit in protest, but
we made it, and installed ourselves. After a little shopping, we made a meal in
the apartment, watched an episode of "Nailed It", and I tucked the kids into
their beds.</p>
<p>Now, I'm going to watch the Lyon episode of Parts Unknown and get inspired
about where to eat in the next two days. Lyon is still on vacation (and this
particular neighborhood is a ghost town) but I'm sure we'll find some good food
somewhere.</p>Back in Montpellierhttps://sgillies.net/2018/08/12/back-in-montpellier.html2018-08-12T08:17:30-06:002018-08-12T08:17:30-06:00Sean Gillies<p>My family and I arrived in Montpellier, France last Thursday evening by train
from Paris after flying in from Detroit and Denver. Everything went pretty much
as planned and we arrived at Montpellier's Gare Saint-Roch on time. We're here
to hang out with friends on vacation and are staying in a rental house at our
old tram stop.</p>
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<img alt="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1833/29057841457_42e4d1e221_b.jpg" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1833/29057841457_42e4d1e221_b.jpg">
<figcaption>
<p>The green door is open!</p>
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<p>The first thing I did Friday morning was put on my running shoes and run
through Parc Méric to the gate at the Réserve Naturelle de Lunaret. In 2016 the
gate was closed from July until <a class="reference external" href="https://sgillies.net/2016/10/03/running-in-montpellier.html">early October</a>, but it's open
now. I've done two runs on the singletrack between the Zoo and the Lez River
already!</p>
<p>Our friends are doing well here and we're enjoying long lunches with them. My
French is a little rusty, but I'm getting up to speed pretty quickly. The only
bad experience so far is that I'm missing a canoe trip on the Hérault River
because of gastroenteritis. A virus, I guess, because Ruth and Arabelle had the
same symptoms last week. I hope I won't be out of action for too long – I
didn't come all the way here to fast and nap. If you're really into photos of
croissants and bottles of wine, you can find them on my <a class="reference external" href="https://www.instagram.com/sean.gillies/">Instagram</a>.</p>April 12, 2017: Ravennahttps://sgillies.net/2018/04/23/ravenna.html2018-04-23T21:06:44-06:002018-04-23T21:06:44-06:00Sean Gillies<p>A year ago my family and I were living in Montpellier, France, and we took
a road trip to Bologna during our Easter break. On the 12th of April we made
a day trip to Ravenna, which is an hour east near the Adriatic coast.</p>
<p>We toured several of the city's famous 5th and 6th century Christian sites, including
the <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Sant%27Apollinare_Nuovo">Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo</a>, the
<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Galla_Placidia">Mausoleum of Galla Placidia</a>, and the
<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Vitale">Basilica of San Vitale</a>. Our kids loved the
mosaics, especially the ones in the Mausoleum, which was both lovely and ever
so slightly spooky.</p>
<figure>
<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/811/26485381377_7d87143dfa_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/811/26485381377_7d87143dfa_b.jpg">
<figcaption>
<p>Mosaics in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because food is my primary passion, my favorite memory from the day is that of
our long lunch at the Antica Trattoria al Gallo 1909. This restaurant is
a short walk outside the pedestrian center of the city, not far from the Porta
Adriana. We were the only tourists there for lunch on that Wednesday.</p>
<figure>
<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/811/41356886391_0c174ae64e_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/811/41356886391_0c174ae64e_b.jpg">
</figure>
<p>The owners and staff of this place were very welcoming and the decor was
amazing. The walls and shelves were covered with portraits, lamps, clocks, and
figurines, mainly nymphs with bow and arrow, deer, and hunting dogs. Each
table seemed to have its own suite of these items.</p>
<figure>
<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/873/40642824554_f566221c32_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/873/40642824554_f566221c32_b.jpg">
</figure>
<p>The food was excellent. I had lightly cured anchovies for my first course and
braised pork shank ("stinco" in Italian) with tangy hop shoots (bruscandoli)
for my second course, and for the third: the tagliatelle and ragù that my kids
couldn't finish. I ordered squacquerone (a very soft and fresh cow's milk
cheese) with prunes cooked in a very dark, slightly toasted and bitter caramel
sauce. I hadn't been so full or so satisfied by a meal in a long time. Ruth had
sea bass and asparagus risotto, which were both very good. It was peak
asparagus and strawberry season in Emilia-Romagna, and we ate a lot of each
during the trip.</p>
<figure>
<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/788/27485692798_18e7506b75_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/788/27485692798_18e7506b75_b.jpg">
</figure>
<p>We had equally delicious meals in Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena, but in my
opinion the Antica Trattoria al Gallo 1909 had more charm than the other
restaurants we visited.</p>
<p>One of my other favorite things about Ravenna was seeing bikes and middle-aged
people riding bikes, all over the city. Ferrara was even more bike-friendly.
These Italian cities aren't in the same league as Amsterdam or Copenhagen yet,
but are less car-centric than Northern Colorado cities of the same size (like
Fort Collins or Greeley).</p>
<p>I can't wait to get back to Emilia-Romagna some day soon.</p>