Happy Thanksgiving

A nice Thanksgiving at our cousins in Brentwood. We had Filipino food all laid out on banana leaves on the table and we can eat it by hand. I gained like 3 pounds overnight. I think because there were so much dessert that was so good. 😋😋😋. We stayed overnight there since they have five bedrooms and the kids didn't wanna leave at least we'll see them all in Vegas after Christmas.

Valencia Spain - Good Food & Hotel

One of our top reasons to travel is to try the food at each new city.  Valencia didn't disappoint.  From amazing burger joint in the setting of library to eating raw red shrimp the side of live fish stall in Central Market to eating life change Italian pasta with fresh truffles coming out of Cheese bowl, we had some good food in Valencia and cannot wait to go back. 

We actually should start with our hotel.   We stay at Hotel Cosmo in the middle old town.  Prime location, amazing service, cute rooms with nice outdoor terrace.  We stayed in room 502 and highly recommends it.  

As for food, here is a run down

Breakfast / Lunch

• Bar Cosmo is in the hotel we are staying and where we had free cooked to order and buffet breakfast everyday around 11:30.  yes their breakfast end at noon :-)  We got this comped because we had some AC and room issue first day.    I was impressed with the variety of their food and how late it was offered (until noon)
• Almalibre Acai house for lunch first day when we arrived.  didn't realize it was most vegan with one or two egg dish for lunch which we were too late to order.  We went with Falafel burger - amazing and Coconut acai bowl - accidently ordered two but we finished it all :-)
• Le Pepica - it has a low rating of 3.5 on Tripadvisor but we went anyway as it is the oldest paella restaurant in valencia from the late 1800s.  It was actually pretty good.  We had the chicken and rabit Paella Valenciano  and also the Valenciano salad.  Both quite tasty and this restaurant is quite large and right by the beach in Valencia.  Beach in Valencia is about a 20 min uber ride from old town.   It was fun for a day to visit.   We were there from 10:30 to 2:30.  Sand is very fine although the waves are pretty strong.  this place is also open for dinner

Dinner

• Secreto restaurant - just 4 minute walk from us.  We had amazing pork dish and pretty good
  
  
  octupus dish.   I would give it at least 4 stars.  The service can be warmer, but food was really yummy
• Marisqueria L'orsea - I would say don't ask for grilled sole.  That was dry and not good, but the seared scallop and razer clams dishes were amazing there.    It is a whole experience too where you to the fresh seafood counter to order your dinner.  It's a bit gimicky especially I wasn't happy with our main dish, but the other stuff was pretty good.  
• Hundred burger - it has a burger called singular that apparently is rated one of the top 25 burgers in the world.   the location was also cool - looked like the inside of an ivy-league school library.  very swanky for a burger place and they had an amazing vegan salad as well
• Latte & Farina - in the top 5 of all restaurant in Valencia.  we had their signature dish - Linguini with mushroom and cream sauce served from a Cheese bowl - it was enough for both of us and not at all seem heavy.  We added a whole summer truffle for only 7 Euros.   it was amazing.   worth the hype
• Alenar restaurante - very traditional spanish tapas place.  The gazpacho soup was amazing and include some seafood,  Russian salad is egg and potatoes and so yummy.  didn't care as much for the cold cured fish dish.  Love the all you can drink Moscato bottle he gave us at the end with the bill.      So good.

Snacks

• TKO tacos - open until 1am with 1 euro tacos.   I went twice for snack once at 12:40am.   pretty good tacos for the price.   love the beef one
• Llaollao - yummy yogurt place - I got passion fruit sauce and love it.  Hubby tried cherry sauce.  they also have pistachio cream topping.  I wanted to try but just forgot.  It's supposed to be similar to dubai chocolate
• Santa Catalina cafe - famous for their Horchata and Fartons.   definitely get the drink with sugar.  tried without and didn't taste right.  We heard it's make of Oat milk
• Central market - last but not the least.  This is a daily market until 3pm with 50+stalls of different produce type,     We had the raw red shrimp, raw oyster, and boiled shrimp snack.  I also bought delicious fresh fruits there. 

Nice France - good food to eat

We had great food in Nice including a Michelin star one for lunch for only 30 euro a person. 

• L'Alchimie – Michelin star lunch place for only 30 euro for set menu https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d15589090-Reviews-L_Alchimie_Restaurant-Nice_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence_Alpes_Cote_d_Azur.html
• Casa Elli – amazing grilled seafood dinner .  Delicious  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d8545781-Reviews-Casa_Elli-Nice_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence_Alpes_Cote_d_Azur.html
• Le Pizza Cresci – late night dinner when we first arrived  spaghetti seafood was quite satisfying  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d3136224-Reviews-La_Pizza_Cresci-Nice_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence_Alpes_Cote_d_Azur.html
• La Favola – I stopped here for beef carpaccio snack the last day https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d788205-Reviews-La_Favola-Nice_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence_Alpes_Cote_d_Azur.html

• We of course had socca, the famous chickpea crepe food from Chez theresa at the daily farmer market. 
•  Also went to oak berry several times for açaí bowl. Great to choose all our favorite ingredients. 

Our stomach was quite happy overall

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A narrow escape from Nice France

We are still on the plane and haven't taken off yet so I don't know for sure we will escape the strike coming tomorrow to Nice airport. Hoping.

We arrive at the Nice airport in good time for our 8pm flight to Lisbon. We actually boarded on time or we thought but we stood by the plane door for 30 minutes before being told to disembark as they are short on crew. What?! They didn't count if there is enough crew before checking all of our passes?. So we walked back out and had no idea if our flight is delayed or cancelled. After much questioning we are told delayed.

The bigger picture is actually worse. There is a two day air traffic controller strike starting tomorrow July 3 and 4 in Nice. All flights in and out are already cancelled. If we don't take off today, we are stuck here for 3 more days or more !!!

So we are quite thankful when we are told to board again about an hour later to the flight to Lisbon. We are on the plane now but I guess until the plane takes off, we still don't know … I will wait to send this until we land in Lisbon to tell you rest of the story.

4 hours later … it's now midnight in Lisbon. We made it. That's 1am in Nice. We might have been one of the last planes to leave Nice before the traffic controller started. They actually flew us with 1 crew short. We sat in the plane for another hour before finally taking off at 10:25pm Nice time.

We are safely in Lisbon waiting for our Uber. Bolt was actually too busy. We feel quite lucky to have made it tonight. If our flight was cancelled we would have been stuck in Nice for 3 more days and perhaps longer since so many people would be. We feel lucky

Budapest highlight - great food

Our food experience in Budapest was also really good.  We only went to one restaurant that was over priced and mediocre food. So avoid Cafe Velvet but otherwise had amazing food. 

Brunch lunch places

• Grumpy – https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274887-d19196602-Reviews-Grumpy-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html
• Vinyl & Wood – Get Lost in Wonderland – see photo below https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274887-d11706271-Reviews-Vinyl_Wood_Get_Lost_In_Wonderland-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html
• Eggi Brunch & Coffee – shashuka was amazing  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274887-d27937313-Reviews-Eggi_Brunch_Coffee-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html

Dinner places

• Tapassio – amazing lamb chops https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274887-d19716275-Reviews-Tapassio-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html
• Old Street Cafe – delicious foie gras and duck with mushroom gnocchi dish https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274887-d2241747-Reviews-Old_Street_Cafe-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html

Amazing street food

• Alanya Kebab Turkish Restaurant – chicken cheese pita gyro fed both of us as a great snack https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274887-d11773215-Reviews-Alanya_Kebab_Turkish_Restaurant-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html

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Budapest highlights things to do

I always wanted to do a highlight overview after visiting a city, but never seems to have time. I'm sitting right now in Italian restaurant la favola in Nice France in air conditioning while it's 90° out so I can write this about our last visit to Budapest a few days ago for four nights.

Highlights things to do

- Gellert thermal bath.  There seem to be five big ones. We went to not the biggest one at 4:30 PM until closing at 7 PM. It was great as it was less crowded. The hot thermal and cold plunge were awesome and invigorating

- IKONO museum - it was an indoor space with air conditioning and interactive display in 12 different rooms really really fun to spend 45 minutes here wow it is 95°outside 

- 2 hours Segway tour of Buda side.  Beautiful sporty and fun.  It is a great way to see lots of the city if you're a little coordinated.  Only takes 10 to 15 minutes to learn to ride the Segway.

- night cruise with unlimited Prosecco. We saw the city at sunset and then the whole city lights up. It was only a one hour so fun and we had unlimited for Prosecco spritz.  

- 1 hour Thai deep tissue massage - it's a deeper stretch to get the nuts out then the Chinese massage and only about $50 + tip here in Budapest. We went to de lanne Thai massage but you can find many on TripAdvisor with high ratings and similar rates

- ruins bar - only went here during the day as we walked by it.  Bars inside old building ruins.  Very eclectic looking.  It goes a bit crazy at night with youngsters

- Latin dancing outside and at Havana bar - we found the outdoor dancing place by accident after walking around after dinner.  I danced a few songs with some local.

- hero square and Vaj…. Castle where we found the little Dracula statue 8 inches tall behind the castle.   Both Budapest, and Belcrest claim they capture Dracula.

- house of music museum - also by hero square in the free city park. We went to the sound of dome to listen to music and look at Renoir paintings in the ceiling

- walking everywhere - it was fun to see the city by walking different excursions. Budapest is huge Beautiful and very clean.

There is still so much more to do in Budapest like pixity, an interactive gaming place.  Our kids will love this.   Also Rudas thermal bath both day and night as they have an impressive rooftop bath overlooking  ng the city and had night bath from 10-3am.   We avoided the biggest thermal bath there for day or night as we heard it's too touristy maybe kind of dirty.  Overall would love to come back to this gorgeous city. 

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Is Nice more expensive than Budapest.

Yes and no. Yes, in terms of hotel it is more expensive $680 for three nights in Nice France. And only $500 for nights in Budapest although it was less nice.

As per tipping in Friends is not expected we're actually eating pretty well for two people for $50-$100 for dinner total

Lunch is even cheaper. I'm having this beef carpaccio right now for €19 that include free bread and salad.

First full day in Budapest

Surprisingly, I slept nine hours straight on our first night in Europe. Jaime had some jet lag so we stayed in until noon. It was 94° outside but we still managed to be out from noon to 9 PM and stay relatively cool.
- walked to IKONO museum 25 min
- visited IKONO museum 50 min - 12 rooms very interactive and fun for picture taking
- apricot gelato break on our way to thermal bath
- got to Gellert thermal bath at 4:30pm and stayed until 7pm gorgeous outdoor pool and indoor pool plus hot thermal bath with cold plunge was so relaxing and refreshing at the same time Everyone recommended we go early to thermal path however, I find arriving late and staying the last two hours seems to be a good tip as it was not crowded
- We had dinner by the river right after. We were looking for goulash soup, but ended up with restaurant recommendations of.grilled foie gras and duck breast with mushroom sauce gnocchi 😋😋
But the time we walked home, we were pretty tired 18k steps total and a wonderful first day

Isabel in nyc for the first time

Visiting schools.

Alexis singing at Xmas show.

Alexis Christmas show 12/19/24 youtu.be

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Our 2024 Holiday Letter

Wishing you a happy holidays and wonderful 2025 full of adventure, fun, and new learning!  2024 has been quite a year for the Lapena family :) 

Alexis is now in 7th grade at SSPP (Saint Peter and Paul) and turned 13 on Dec 15.  She celebrated with her good friends from school.  They played an escape game - Timeliner at Fisherman Wharf, then had dim sum at Begoni Bistro, our favorite place in Chinatown and finished the party at our place for gifts and games.   

Alexis loves her  middle school and made such good friends.  Her bestie is Joanna (the girl to her right in this picture) and they do everything together - dressing up as twins for Halloween, sing in the Xmas show, playing games at school, helping each other study.  She is also thriving in school being on the Principal's honor roll.  Besides school, Alexis plays with SF United in competitive soccer.  She plays right wing and dabbles into striker position as well and is also starting to make good friends there.

Isabel is in 11th grade at Sacred Heart Cathedral, SHCP and is 16.5 years old (Wow where did it time go???)  She is blossoming into a strong, confident young woman.  Don't get me wrong.  She has all the teenage angst and attitude as well, but in between those moments, she is simply amazing and is growing into her own.   

She selected four AP or Honor classes + 4 regular classes; a heavy load.  I actually tried to talk her out of one of the AP classes, but she refused.  I'm happy she is already such an independent thinker.  She also has a strong group of friends from school - Gabby and Matthew being her primary besties and all nerdy brainiacs.

She was looking forward to another year of competitive soccer, but life had other plans as she tore her ACL and meniscus during a scrimmage in late July.   With the new free time from soccer, she joined choir, a robotics competition, and helped her Filipino club win first place in the Parol design contest - Filipino Christmas lantern.   She just had a four hour surgery on Dec 20th and is now recovering at home.   There was a lot of pain and groaning coming home and then I was amazed when she got on her crutches, all of a sudden, to go to the bathroom the same night.  She is a tough cookie.   It will take 9-12 months to recover.  2025 will be an interesting year.   I know Isabel will rise above it and make it a great year!

Jaime and I had a very fun year traveling. We are truly blessed to be able to do this..   

- 5 days in Puerto Vallarta just the two of us

- 10 days in Oahu with the family for spring break

- 2 weeks+ just the two of us in Europe - Rome, 3 cities in Croatia, and then Lisbon. First time flying business class cross continental - we are not going back to economy :-)

- Long weekend in Las Vegas to visit Jaime's parents

- 9 nights in Miami and Montego Bay in Jamaica.  This picture is from Dunn's River, a day trip to Ocho Rio, Jamaica.  Weather in November was quite nice. We lucked out and avoided most of the ring.  81 degrees

- I went solo long weekend in Houston to visit my parents in December.

I love planning travel so cannot wait to see where we will go in 2025.  Priority will be for Isabel to visit colleges and also spend time with my parents perhaps on another cruise. 

Work wise, things are stable and the pay is supporting our lifestyle well.  I am practicing putting work as my 4th priority in life.  It's mostly working.  I work regular hours and don't really think about it on weekends and have unlimited vacation :-).  It's been good to be able to contribute but be mostly detached.  In my free time, I still dance with my bayclub group and also go salsa dancing.

Jaime work is also going fairly well in building something that can really scale long-term.  It will just take a bit of time.   He still teaches Escrima every weekend and now is going back to Capoeira and boxing.  

We are both broadening our views of life beyond work - what really makes us happy in the second half of of our lives and also how to focus on the most precious aspect - family, freedom, and health.  

In 2025, we will look for more ways to enjoy life, slack off productively, and have purpose all at the same time.  We know it's possible!

Early Xmas party with Alondra, Sofia and michael

We celebrated early Xmas with one of jaime cousins - michael, Alondra and Sofia. We went to STK for happy hour in our matching pyjama pants and came home to open presents for Lexi

Happy 13th birthday to Alexis

A very happy 13th birthday to Alexis. Now I have two teenager girls. Ahhhhh. She had so much fun with her friends from school
- we did escape game
- we had dim sum for lunch
- we played games and opened presents at home
- then our cousin came over for a second party and Xmas celebration. ❤️🥰🤗

My parents summer 2024 visit

This happened last minute. We talked last Monday and they were here by last wed and stayed until Wed :-). Was lucky to get a very good deal on direct flights with miles.

Very happy that my parents were able to visit me and escape from the heat of houston. They walked everyday on the Embarcadero 5k steps at least. We also had yummy Chinese breakfast in Chinatown once and dim sum for lunch once plus lots of cooking and learning at home.

A nice long weekend north of SF

We had a nice long weekend north of San Francisco. We stayed at a great airbnb in occidental /camp meeker and went to three places nearby

- on the way, we went to Point Reyes lighthouse - it was very windy and take 0.4 miles hike plus 313 steps to get there but was beautiful
- went to bodega bay for a nice lunch at fisherman's cove and went to schoolhouse beach. That was full with beautiful pebbles instead of sand. Kids had fun and collected a full jar of them to be used for an art collage later
- lastly went to monte rio beach and did some paddleboarding by Russian River. Only 10 min from our airbnb and a nice 85 degrees

On the way back we stop at sushi tri for a late lunch in Novato. Everyone loved it. And also found a great mango fruit and shaved ice stand to get some desserts

Overall a lovely trip with pretty nice weather.