The occasional musings of an aging sapiens
E. J. and Ellie announced the coming baby months in advance but we were still excited when the event occurred.
Gwen seems very happy most of the time. She is always smiling and nothing seems to bother her. Her big sister, Willa, tends to dominate with what appears to be jealousy combined with dismay at having lost the focus of Mom and Dad.
3 days after we moved in to Mirabella, we were told that the restaurants would be closed and meals would be delivered to us each night in our apartment.
We had just spent two weeks in Los Angeles instead of our usual six weeks in Santa Monica because of the pending move from our old apartment at Park Avenue West. We had to downsize again!
Not long after the restaurants closed, we had to wear masks when inside and there could be a maximum of two people on the elevator. Everything else was also closed: library, pool, exercise room etc.
The result of all of this is that we never really met anyone here and even when we meet them in the elevator, we (I) don’t recognize them later because I can’t see their face. We have not spoken enough to people to be able to recognize their voice.
This was all back in March of 2019 and at that the time, we really did not think about how long this would last because people were talking about going back to normal in a few weeks. In many states and countries, they re-opened too soon and had to go back to lockdown. Some places did this several times.
Mirabella arranged for us to get vaccinated in January 2021. I was surprised because Oregon had done a poor job of arranging the vaccine supply and scheduling the administration. We had the Pfizer vaccine with the first dose on January 21, 2021 and the second on February 11. Aside from sore arms and fatigue, we had no side effects.
As time goes by, some countries (India) are breaking records for daily new infections and some places (California) are having the lowest infection rates since the pandemic began. Because there is a sizeable portion of the population that says they will not get the vaccine, we may not reach herd immunity.
On March 11, 2020 we moved in to Mirabella Portland, a Life Plan Community in Portland, OR. We had moved from Chicago to Portland the prior June and were renting at Park Avenue West while we waited for an opening at Mirabella.
We were not at the top of the list but we happened to be at Mirabella viewing a potential living space when a prior deal fell through and they needed a buyer quickly. The space, unit 2301 was more than we wanted but the view was exactly what we wanted so we took it. 4 weeks later we moved in. Three days later we were locked down for the Covid-19 virus.
The result is we have not met anyone except for the few we met before lock down whom we have not seen since. We wear masks when in the public areas of the building and we take a walk every day. Dinner is delivered to our unit but otherwise we are pretty much alone.
If these were normal times, there would be many activities available and we would be going to the dining room for dinner. Maybe someday
We arrived in Portland on June 16, 2019. 11 days later we were joined by our first grand child Willa Ruth Finneran. We visited her and her parents the next day at the hospital. Everyone was happy but it had clearly been an all nighter for the parents.
She is a very happy baby who likes to get into everything. She has adopted the cat Clark as her friend but seems to have a special regard for Mom and Dad.
With Covid-19, we have not been able to see her since February but Ellie sends us videos she takes which are the next best thing.
We miss her.
Update 4/5/2021:
During the lockdown we were able to visit Willa by sitting on the front porch and sharing sandwiches with the four of us. Willa would comment sardonically.
In late March, 2021 we had dinner with the family indoors. It was great. Willa is always the star of the show.
We had never spent much time in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. We did a fall cruise one year from NYC to Quebec City and back that stopped at Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia but had not seen Newfoundland or Labrador.
So we chose a trip that started in Montreal and sailed up the St. Lawrence river to Trois Rivieres and then Quebec City. After a few more stops we crossed to Ireland and then stopped in Wales before finishing in England. We like the solitude provided by a crossing and so we signed up for this trip.
We planned to spend the night before the cruise in Montreal because we had not been there in awhile. We stayed at the Sheraton Centre downtown and had a very nice view of the city. We had dinner at a nice restaurant called Le Local and were joined by Matt Kearney and his friend Sarah.
We learned a day before we left that because the river was too high, our ship, the Marina, could not get to Montreal and the cruise would start from Trois Rivieres, the second port which is about a two hour drive from Montreal.
So after a quick bus tour of the city, we left for Trois Rivieres and boarded the ship around 3 PM. We got settled and we stayed in that port for one more day.
This town is bigger than it sounds although the downtown area is fairly small. As we drove in however we saw a Walmart and the kinds of malls that you associate with rural America. The weather was sunny and fairly warm so we strolled around the town for awhile. My french is very rusty but it was fun to try and resurrect what had long lain dormant. We sailed for Quebec City at midnight.
We have always loved this city. My first trip was in the late 70’s and we have been back many times. This time the weather was sunny and warm and everyone was out on the street.
Quebec City always feels a little like France to me. We did a little walking tour of the usual haunts including climbing up from the lower city to the upper which most people do on the Funicular.
We left the city around 8 PM and had one of the loudest and roughest nights on a ship that I have ever had. The deck chairs on some balconies blew off the ship and you could hear all kinds of things moving around. It was a very noisy night.
Saguenay is on a river that joins the St. Lawrence and it is a small town. Someone decided to build a wharf that could accommodate cruise ships and so here we are.
This started the sequence of weather that was cold and gray and windy. The temperature never went above 45 and it was very windy. In spite of that, a group of clowns came out to the wharf as we docked and cavorted around for three hours as people walked into town. It actually snowed at one point so we never left the ship.
We spent yesterday sailing the St. Lawrence River and then into the area around Newfound Land. Today we docked in Corner Brook which felt like Alaska on the way in because it is surrounded by snow covered mountains with low hanging clouds. It snowed off and on early and we left on a highlights tour at 9 AM.
We got a good look at the area with a local guide who is a history teacher. We learned a lot about Captain Cook and other things but were glad to get back to the ship and get warm.
Who knew that there is a piece of France in the Maritimes? There are two islands, St. Pierre and Miquelon, that are just south of Newfoundland that belong to France. The currency is the Euro and the language is French. St. Pierre is a nice small town with a fishing village feel.
The people of St. John’s believe they are the easternmost part of North America and they are probably right. This is a fairly large town with a sheltered harbor. You can visit a Cape Spear out on tip of NF that gives you the feel of being on the easternmost point of land in North America.
Cobh is pronounced “Cove.” The gaelic language from which it is taken lacks several of the letters found in English; “V” being one of them. This
city has many references to the Titanic because this is the last port that ship left before the sinking. St. Colman’s Cathedral dominates the skyline in this small city.
There is a Heritage Center dockside where you can learn about the history of the city and especially the connections to the Titanic.
Dublin was getting ready to vote on the controversial constitutional amendment to legalize abortion. The city was full of campaign signs for both the Yes and No camps.
While everyone thought the vote would be close, the Yes votes outnumbered the No votes two to one.
One of the treasures of Trinity College is the Book of Kells. It is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. Today, there are long lines of people waiting to get in to see the book.
Almost directly across the Irish Sea from Dublin is Holyhead, Wales; a place many tours to the various castles in Wales originate. It is a small town with some very old buildings and a few small shops.
The town centre is built around St. Cybi‘s Church, which is built inside one of Europe‘s few three-walled Roman forts (the fourth boundary being the sea, which used to come up to the fort).
This is the last port before Southampton and it is in the very south of the country. All the excursions from here either go where we have been (Stonehenge) or places that don’t sound too interesting.
We opted to go into town which turned out to be Weymouth which was a beach resort town. They have a large statue of King George III along the beach alongside the T-shirt shops.
J. Paul Getty once said the formula for success was: rise early, work hard and strike oil. Having done just that he proceeded to try and give much of his new found wealth away.
One effort that stands out today is the Getty Villa in Malibu, CA. Built in the 1970’s to recreate a Roman villa, it is now used to house the Getty collection of antiquities. It is set back in the hills of the southern part of Malibu and enjoys the weather you would expect. We have visited it three or four times and always find something new to like.
In addition to the art and sculpture, there are gardens and fountains to enjoy and all of it can be introduced to you by docents who give excellent guided tours. The admission is free but parking is $15 per car. We always take the bus so it is free to us.
In addition to everything else, there is a short movie on how the Villa came to be and the requisite restaurant and gift shop. Occasionally, they will have plays from ancient Greece or Rome performed in the amphitheater that is the first thing you see when you arrive.
If you plan to go, you should obtain a ticket for the date and time you want
to attend by going to their web site and booking it. You are expected to have a ticket to get in even though they are free. You will be glad you did.
Having lived in Chicago for more than 40 years, we had reached a point where the idea of escaping the cold for at least part of the winter had significant appeal. So some years ago we asked my sister-in-law where she thought we should spend the worst winter months.
We have many friends who go to Arizona or Florida. After we admitted we did not play golf or sun bathe but did like the theater
and other entertainment related activities, she said we should spend our time in Santa Monica. We have been going there ever since.
Los Angeles county is one of the biggest counties anywhere but there are a few cities in LA county that opted out of being governed by the county and set up their own government, police etc. Beverly Hills is one and Santa Monica is another.
The result is that you can have a distinct feel to a town even though it is in LA county. Beverly Hills definitely feels different and so does Santa Monica. SM has its own bus system and police and a neighborhood feel to it. It is about 15 miles west of downtown LA and right on the ocean. That keeps it cool when LA is hot but can also bring in the fog occasionally.
We usually rent a condo in the Montana Ave. area where there are good restaurants and bus service that can take you anywhere you want to go. We never bring a car. Bus fares are surprisingly low especially for seniors. They have also recently added light rail so you can take a train from the Pier area in SM right to downtown LA.
We have gone into LA on several occasions to do walking tours, visit museums and see plays. You can take the bus to Hollywood as we did one year to see them setting up for the Academy Awards.
Santa Monica has a nice blend of great weather, nice people, culture and access to a lot of other things that makes it our favorite place to warm up in the winter.
We took a Uniworld River Cruise that started in Avignon, France and ended in Paris after a TGV (Tres Grand Vitesse) train trip from Lyon.
Flight 86 to London from Chicago on American was above average because it was the new 787 Dreamliner which has very nice Business Class accommodations. It was a short flight so we ended up in Heathrow at 6:30 AM with our next flight at 1 PM.
Arriving in Marseille, we had to find the bus to the train so we could get to Avignon. It was in the high 80’s but not too humid so we survived although the train was not designed for people with luggage since you had to up or down to get a seat and regardless of which way you went, there was no place for luggage.
We took a taxi to the Hotel D’Europe in Place Crillon which is an old but beautiful hotel.After unpacking we had dinner at one of the several restaurants on the square called Scene.
After dinner we strolled down to the Rhone and joined a large number of people to watch fireworks. We finally made it to bed around 11 PM.
Avignon is home to the medieval bridge immortalized
in the folk song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon,” as well as
the mighty Palace of the Popes. From a distance, the picture-perfect city center looks as though it has been lifted straight from the pages of a history book, but all you need to do is step inside its medieval walls to discover the prosperous heart of contemporary Avignon.
Breakfast prices in the hotel were a little steep so we went across the street and found ourselves to be the first customers of the day for the café SCENE. La Formule for le petit dejeuner was a small cup of espresso, a glass of orange juice and a baguette split in two with butter and jam. Pretty much a classic French breakfast all for the low, low price of 6 euros each.
Later, we walked up to La Place D’Horloge which is the main square in town, full of restaurants and tourists. We found a tram that does a trip around the city and took it. It did give us a feel for the town which is encircled by old city walls from the 14th century.
The square is also close to the Papal Palace also built in the 14th century by the popes that had abandoned Rome to move the center of papal power to Avignon. There are quite a few old buildings in town dating from this period and even a few from the Roman times.
We had dinner in front of City Hall which is the building with the clock and there were weddings going on even at that time of night.
We opted for breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel and it was very nice. The hotel is really exceptional. We checked out and took a cab to the ship, S.S. Catherine from the Uniworld Line. While we had to wait until 2 to get into our room we were able to enjoy the ship while we waited.
The ship is very elegant and only two years old so quite fresh. It seems longer than the AMA Dolce we took a couple of years ago on the Danube.
Arles has existed since the sixth century BC, when the ancient Greeks founded it and named it Theline. It was here that the Romans built their first bridge across the Rhône River, creating a vital overland route between Italy and Spain and facilitating the expansion of their empire. Long renowned as one of the region’s most attractive cities, it lured artist Vincent van Gogh, who painted hundreds of works here (including Sunflowers and The Yellow House) in just 15 months.
A short distance from Arles is the ancient and charming town of Tarascon. Its many medieval sites include a 12th-century church and a 15th-century castle that is rich with tales of a beloved ruler. Bask in the warmth of the Provençal sunlight in either of these friendly Mediterranean towns.
Today we did a walking tour of downtown Arles with many references to Vincent, his house, his café and his ear.
It has been in the 90’s every day of this trip so far and today was no exception. Instead of opting for a tour of the Palace of the Popes which we knew would be crowded, we chose instead a trip to the Pont du Gard which is the remnants of a Roman aqueduct over a river.
It was the right choice because we got to see it up close and visit the museum where they explained how it was built. We had a different guide but she too was very good.
An enchanting village where time seems to have stopped centuries ago, Viviers has a long and storied past that goes back more than 1,600 years—and a splendid architectural heritage to match. At one time, Viviers was divided along religious lines—the clergy lived in the upper part of the town, the laity in the lower part.
We docked in Viviers around sun rise and later took a walking tour of the old town. The town is very small with narrow cobblestone streets that wind up to the top of a hill where you find the inevitable cathedral. There we heard an organ recital in the smallest active cathedral in France.
Nestled on opposite sides of the river in the heart of
the Côtes du Rhône, the twin cities of Tournon and
Tain-l’Hermitage are an ideal destination for connoisseurs of fine wine. Tournon may be a small town, but stirring events took place here: A castle was raised on the hilltop in the 10th century to protect the region, and new fortifications were added over the centuries, including two “new” towers built to defend against Protestant attacks in the 16th century.
Rain was predicted as a cold front moved through but we avoided it during our walking tour. Jeanette led us again for a walk through the town of Tournon which sits opposite Tain L’Hermitage on the Rhone River.
Both have some narrow streets and at the end of our tour we stopped at Chapoutier for a wine tasting.
The wines were good but all from the high end of the price range. We strolled back to the ship ourselves about 30 minutes before the rain started.
We sailed north and went through several locks before docking in Lyon near midnight. They say there are 17 locks on our trip and we have gone through most of them by now.
Two rivers: one tranquil, one torrential. Two hills: one for labor, where the sound of the silk weavers’ looms used
to echo; the other for prayers, crowned by a spectacular basilica. Two cities, as different as night and day: one boasting colorful Old World façades, medieval mansions and hidden passageways; one with a sophisticated urbanity reminiscent of Paris. Situated at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, and with roots stretching back over 2,000 years to the days of Julius Caesar, Lyon is a place of fascinating dualities.
We did a bus tour of Lyon which is situated on a peninsula in the confluence of the Saone and the Rhone. The oldest part of the city is on top of a hill on the west bank of the Saone with a basilica at the top of the hill and the old town at the bottom.
We saw various sites all over the city and really liked it. It is like Paris but more manageable in size. After the bus tour we spent some time at the Basilica and in the square that houses Louis XIV’s statue.
Located in the southernmost part of Burgundy, Mâcon,
a Saône River port, is the gateway to Beaune.
The tour today was an all-day trip to Beaune which Mom opted for and Dad did not. Instead he went on a short walking tour of Macon which is a small town on the Saone River in the southern part of Burgundy. It sprinkled a little in Macon.
We were out of our room by 7:30 and sat around until 10 at which time we boarded a large bus to take the 14 of us to the TGV train to Paris. 8 people were going on the “Joie de Vivre” river cruise to Normandy and the remaining 6 were staying in Paris at the Marriott Ambassador at 16 Blvd. Hausamann.
We were met there by Sylvie, our local guide who helped us check in and showed us a restaurant Au Petite Riche on Rue Pelletier where we had lunch on our own nickel. We later ate dinner there.
Sylvie had tickets for the self-guided tour of the Opera so we went there and then to the Galleries Lafayette where we hoped to get on the roof for the view but did not succeed.
Our room includes breakfast which was a buffet but very good. There is a large contingent of Japanese staying here and the breakfast room had quite a few different languages being spoken.
We were promised a city tour and expected a transfer to one of the standard Paris city tours. Instead we found ourselves in a small minivan driven by our guide, Roseann. She said she would take us anywhere we wanted to go and started by driving us to Montmartre even though most of the passengers did not know where or what that was.
Over time we covered the entire city including Pont D’Alma which I had requested because the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death was just a few days ago. She was very knowledgeable about the city and its history.
She dropped us back at the hotel around noon and then Sylvie suggested lunch at a nearby brasserie.
In the afternoon, Mary and I wanted to join a Paris-Walks walk about the Paris writers of the Lost Generation. My mastery of the Metro system was much diminished so Sylvie paid for our tickets and escorted us to the Vavin Metro stop on the left bank where the walk started. She also wrote out instructions for our return. She then left us promising that if we needed her, we should just call her and she would come and get us.
We enjoyed the walk which ended at Odeon and took the Metro back without any problems. We had a beer in the Lindbergh Bar and later had dinner at the same place as the night before.
We had breakfast early and waited for Sylvie to escort us to the airport but she did not show so we found our driver and accompanied him on a rapid trip to CDG airport where check in took no time and in spite of a messy security check we still had more than two hours to wait for our flight.
After an announcement that the flight was ready we stood in line for 25 minutes before boarding. During boarding I was singled out for extra security where they again checked everything I was carrying. American Airlines appears to run by amateurs.
The flight over Greenland and Canada was smooth and the 777 was comfortable although many of its features defied our attempts to understand how to operate them.
We enjoyed our trip very much and realized we need to spend more time in France!
On April 8, 1967 Mary and I were married at Sacred Heart Basilica on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
My twin brother Tim was the Best Man and Mary’s cousin Sue was the Maid of Honor. The pictures prove I was there but it is just a fog in my memory.
Someone once asked me the secret of a long and happy marriage. I said it pays to pick the right person. I am very lucky.
On the corner of Erie and Wabash in Chicago there is a mansion that was built by Samuel Mayo Nickerson in 1879. It is currently owned by Richard Driehaus who uses it as a museum to house some of the 30,000 items he has collected over the years.
During the year, they have several different exhibitions and the one we saw recently was about the age of the French Art Posters which the museum calls L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters
The exhibit contains original posters most of which came from La Belle Epoque lasting from about 1885 to 1914. One of the nice things about the mansion is they can put these posters in many different rooms so you get to see the whole house by the time you are done.
In addition to the artwork, the house has a large collection of original pieces from the period that adorn many rooms.
There is also a large Tiffany glass dome window that allows sunlight into one of the ground floor rooms. We liked the house so much we joined the Driehaus Museum which allows us to attend various events at reduced prices. We also receive advance notifications of upcoming events.
We had been to Milwaukee for Summer Fest but had never stayed there. Since we were going to be by ourselves for the Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to take the train to Milwaukee and spend it there. Hoping to avoid most of the crowd, we left Chicago around 1 PM for the 90 minute trip.
We have always like the old classic hotels and so made a reservation at the Pfister Hotel. We turned down their repetitive offers to stay in the new wing and opted for the old wing which has larger rooms. We did not really have a view but did like the room.
While we were there, they were building the Christmas tree in the lobby which took a couple of days. They hired an outside firm who did all the schlepping and other labor required to erect a 25 foot tree and all the other decorations they had in the lobby.
We had dinner in the hotel at the main restaurant but were disappointed in the menu and the service. We could not find another place serving dinner on that day and did not want to venture too far from the hotel.
On Friday, we walked around the city and were amazed at the amount of beautiful, old architecture the city had. It actually reminded me of Paris. There are some truly beautiful buildings downtown.
On Saturday, we took an Uber to the Pabst Mansion which is not far from downtown. There you can tour the house built by Captain Pabst and learn about how he came from Germany and started his beer empire. The 19th century house was decorated for Christmas and was gorgeous.
We decided that we needed to come back, perhaps when it is warmer so we could see more of the architecture and enjoy walking around a very beautiful city.
KLM business class is pretty good. We had the upper deck of a 747-400 and had a good meal before I fell asleep waking up at 5:30 Amsterdam time in time for breakfast. We did not have to get our luggage but just to wait for the flight to Copenhagen in the KLM lounge. At Schiphol airport, they have many lounges and the airport is huge. We finally started walking to the gate printed on our boarding passes only to find the gate had been changed.
We hurried to the new gate and we last in line to get on the plane. Business class on KLM’s shorter routes looks nothing like the longer flights but the flight was under an hour so it was not a big deal. We arrived in Copenhagen where it was warm and sunny and were taken to the ship about 40 minutes away.
There were 7 cruise ships in port and I believe many of them were doing the route we were because of the time of year. A cruise into the Arctic Circle is best done in June so the weather can cooperate. As we sailed, we could see two ships ahead of us apparently on the same general course.
The weather has been rainy in the low 60’s but the clouds seem to be breaking up as we sailed into Alesund this morning. It is still chilly, in the 50’s.
At 10:15 we set off on the walking tour of Alesund which involves a lot of hills, a lot of wind and some rain. The city is primarily supported by fishing and the maintenance of fishing boats. It was burned extensively in 1904 and rebuilt after that mostly in stone or brick.
We went up to the public park and then down to the harbor area. It started to rain as the tour ended so we hurried back to the ship for lunch and a little rest.
We did a panoramic tour which means you see the city in a coach without getting out very often. That was fine with me because it was a little drizzly and about 53 degrees.
We saw the main site which is a cathedral built from 1170 to 1300. We did not get to go in but we got a few pictures. We also saw the city from the fort up on a hill and spent some time in the public park.
We spent the afternoon reading and I got in a little walking on the track before dinner. We had dinner with Carl and Olga from Eindhoven, Netherlands. We had a good time discussing Brexit and its causes.
It was still cloudy and chilly when we arrived at Hammerfest. After breakfast, we walked into town which took about 30 minutes and went to the Polar Bear Club. This is an international club that anyone can join. They had a nice exhibit about the bears and pictures from when Hammerfest was much younger.
The weather has been in the mid to low 50’s but the sun finally put in an appearance today in the afternoon. We are at 70 degrees north latitude and are therefore in the Arctic Circle which starts at 66 degrees or thereabouts.
For the next few days we will have the midnight sun and the sun will not set. Internet service has disappeared for the last couple of days.
We arrive at Murmansk at 1 PM today after sailing through a sun filled night. The weather has improved and although it is a little windy, the temperature is in the high 50’s. In Russia, you need a visa to go ashore unless you are signed up for an excursion sponsored by Oceania. That was the main reason I bought an excursion in Murmansk which I expected to be an industrial city with not much to recommend it.
My expectations were realized. The city is full of Soviet era apartment buildings each one uglier than the one before. Our guide did her best to describe an idyllic life in Murmansk but could not help but mention occasionally how the climate made here want to leave.
They have 220 days a year of snow and ice and darkness. They relish their short summer with its Polar Nights that never get dark but it does not seem to be enough to keep people there. They are losing population as the young people move south.
These islands are in the White Sea and contain several monasteries and churches. During Stalin’s day, they were used to house and execute “enemies of the people,” about a million of them.
We toured the botanical gardens with a young Russian guide who was very good. The gardens were not ready for prime time but there was a lot of history about the monks planting a lot of the trees and plants.
This place needs some work before they really are ready to host a lot of cruises but at least they tried.
We did not have an excursion for this port because I thought it was too industrial. The reports back from the people who did do an excursion confirms my choice. They had many complaints about the excursions.
This is the northernmost city in Norway if not the world although some larger cities also claim the title. The thing to do here is go up to North Cape where there is a monument to the fact that between you and the north pole is nothing but water.
Several excursions went there and they all reported it was so foggy they could not see anything. We just strolled around town which seemed pretty quiet.
It is still grey and rainy although it is warmer. We walked around part of the town but it seemed that most stores were closed. We did better at the indoor golf today.
Dinner in the Grand Dining Room with Carl and Olga from the Netherlands. Earlier in the trip, they apparently had dinner with someone who wanted to tell them that Obama was a Muslim. Carl said “So?” That did not stop the person from going on to say that Obama was born in Kenya etc.
We arrived at Geiranger around 6 AM. Very little sun was in the fjords at that hour but they were still spectacular. As the sun filled the fjord, everything just got better.
We stayed on the ship and just enjoyed the scenery. Around 1:30 we sailed up the fjord to Hellesylt which really is not far away. There we picked up some people who had been on an excursion and then sailed for Bergen.
It stopped raining just before we docked in Bergen but it is still grey and wet but a little warmer than it has been.
It rained most of the time we were in town but Mary managed to find some woolens she wanted so we bought our first souvenir of the trip.
We sailed into Amsterdam on the canal that runs from there to the North Sea. They have the most modern cruise terminal I have ever seen. We are docked behind the Celebrity Silhouette which is a very large ship.
At 10:15 we set off on a combined city tour and visit to the Anne Frank house. I had visited the house in 1970 but since then they have added a whole building to house the book store and the various rooms they have added for audio and video. It is well done. The tour takes you through the actual house and shows what went on in each room.
We walked into the town of Bruges with our guide. It was a nice way to understand how small the town really is. The town is surrounded by canals and there are boats that will take you around. We did a boat trip and also wandered around the city and had lunch.
We always try to get to London if we are nearby and so when the cruise ended at Southampton, we had a driver take us to London. We like the Dukes Hotel in St. James because it is small, secluded and near Piccadilly. We spent the weekend doing some London Walks and dining nearby. We had a great time as usual and left on Sunday for the USA.
We really enjoyed the Norway Cruise but I’m not sure we would go back to the Russian parts.
We have done many cruises but had not done a river cruise so we chose a Danube cruise from AMA Waterways. You can go north or south and we chose one that started in Budapest, Hungary and ended in Prague in the Czech Republic.
We arranged for two days in Budapest ahead of the cruise. We stayed at the Sofitel Hotel right on the Danube and had a couple of outings into Budapest arranged by AMA. AMA did a great job of arranging things including a welcome dinner and helped us get our bearings in this city.
Budapest is actually two cities, Buda and Pest separated by the Danube on which sits the beautiful Hungarian Parliament Building which is always the center piece of the Viking River Cruise ads on television. We also had time to wander around the city which still has a lot of architecture from the 18th century.
We did a walking tour of the old part of Buda and saw Mathias Church which is not done justice by the picture. We could have spent a week in Budapest but will have to find a way to return. On the third day in town we sailed for Bratislava in Slovakia.
While both cities had been under the Soviet assault on architecture, Bratislava seems to retain more evidence of the time they were occupied. There are many old monument of the kind the Soviets liked to erect: large, heroic and dedicated to the worker or the revolutionary.
There is a very modern bridge over the Danube at Bratislava which is the first thing you notice when you arrive. The second thing you notice is that there are some old remnants of the Soviet monuments. Fortunately, there are not too many reminders of the past and some of the older parts of the city have some nice old buildings.
They also have some whimsical statues some of which just seem to come out of the ground.
Each day on the cruise we had a choice of several excursions all of which were included in the cruise cost. There was usually a couple of walking tours and depending on the town, a bus tour or in some cases a bike tour. Everything AMA did was well coordinated and timed. During our walking tour of Bratislava, we saw a wall plaque dedicated to Franz Liszt who lived there for some time.
We left Bratislava in the late afternoon and had a leisurely cruise up the Danube to our next stop, Vienna.
There are probably few cities in the world can compete with Vienna for its combination of culture, history and architecture. You could easily spend a month here seeing everything and hearing everything this city has to offer.
Given that we only had part of a day, it was impossible to get even a taste of what the city had to offer. We did a bus tour of the city in the morning followed by a tour in the afternoon of the Schonbrunn Palace, where they hold summer concerts of Mozart and other composers who spent time in Vienna.
Behind the palace is an enormous piece of land containing gardens, fountains and even a zoo. We strolled around the grounds until it was time to go. We had already done a tour of part of the inside of the palace which was amazing. You easily could spend a couple of days in this palace.
Vienna requires a lot more time than we had and ends up on our list of European cities to which we have to return.
The next stop was a small town called Durnstein in Austria where after our walking tour we had a tasting of Austrian wines especially the Gruner Veltliner. This town according to legend is where Richard the Lionheart, King of England stopped on his way back from the Crusades.
This town is like many along the river; a small town set up the hill a little way with an old church or castle sitting up on top of the hill. We walked about a mile to get to the walking tour of the Melk Abbey. This used to be a castle and was donated to the church in 1089. We did a walking tour of the abbey and the town. The interiors of the abbey are just amazing with each room more opulent than the last.
The next day we visited two towns, one in Austria and then one in Germany. Linz is the third largest city in Austria and in 2009 was chosen as the
European Capital of Culture. Passau is on the Austrian border and sits at the confluence of the Danube and Ilz rivers. We did a walking tour of Passau where the streets are very narrow. The highlight of the city is St. Stephen’s cathedral that contains the largest organ in the world. We did not get to hear it but took their word for it.
In Passau, if you look high up on the hill across the Danube, you will see the Oberhaus Castle which seems to glow in the late afternoon sun. During this part of the trip it was warm and sunny and we would sit on the upper deck of the ship and watch the Austrian and German countryside go by. It was hard to beat.
One of the pitfalls of traveling on the Danube late in the summer is that the water level may drop. This happened to us after we arrived at Vilshofen. We were supposed to travel on to Regensburg and Nuremberg via the river but instead the ship stayed in Vilshofen and we took the bus to these two cities
The Nazi Party Rally Grounds shown on the right is where Hitler gave his famous speeches to hundreds of thousands of people. Our tour stopped there long enough to take this picture. The grounds are no longer kept up and the whole place looks pretty forlorn.
There was a nice museum in Regensburg where you could see some history of the region especially during the war. Regensburg also had some nice restaurants and a lot of old buildings to see.
After leaving the ship behind in Vilshofen, and after visiting Regensburg and Nuremberg, we embarked on the final leg of the trip toward Prague in the Czech Republic. On the way we stopped in Pilsen which is the home of the brewery that makes the famous Pilsner Urquell beer.
Pilsner beer is named after the town of Pilsen (Pilsn in German) which is where it was invented. Needless to say, we sampled a few.
We even had a lunch in Nuremberg where it was served as part of the lunch.
Our final stop on this trip was the city of Prague. We had never been here before and were dumbfounded at how beautiful the city is. It was one of the few cities in Europe that did not suffer major damage during WWII so all of its 18th and 19th century architecture is still there to see. It is surrounded by a river which the Charles Bridge spans. The Charles Bridge is famous for its sculpture and other art and it could easily take you an hour or more to cross the short bridge if you stop to look at everything.
The bridge dates from 1357 and was originally called the Stone Bridge. Looming over the city is St. Vitus Cathedral which dates from the 14th century
and by the look of it, still has some of the grime from that period. It is part of the castle complex and is pretty much a must see.
From there, you can stroll down the hill and across the Charles Bridge into the Old Town and the square of the same name. There you will find sculpture and
other attractions in an area that never seems to quiet down. We stayed at the Inter-Continental Hotel on Paris street not far from the square.
Prague is like Paris in that it requires a lot of time to see and appreciate. We would very much like to go back and spend at least a week there.
In 2012 we decided to do a cruise from Istanbul to Dubai because we had not spent any time in either place and the cruise promised to stop in Israel which was another place we wanted to see.
We flew from Chicago to Frankfurt and then to Istanbul and stayed in a nice Four Seasons hotel in the Sultanahmet part of the city very close to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.
We spent two days in Istanbul getting to know the city even venturing over the straits to the asian side of the country. It seemed peaceful with no terror threats and on the third day we boarded out ship, the Nautica, for the voyage to Dubai.
The cruise was scheduled to spend 4 days in Israel but as often happens, the stay was canceled because of tensions in Israel. One person on board said this was their third time trying to get there with all of them canceled. Instead, we spent some time in the Cyclades and then on to the Suez Canal.
It took 15 hours to make the transit of the canal with some very interesting scenery along the way. You share the canal with a lot of freight traffic and often are part of a long queue that slowly makes its way south to the Red Sea. We stopped in Aqaba for two nights and took a side trip to Petra to see the red rocks.
We also stopped at Luxor which is actually several hours away by bus. Mary did not feel well so she did not go. We arrived back at the ship at 10 PM and the crew cheered arrival which made me wonder if they were not sure we would make it back.
Sailing south in the Red Sea takes a while and we finally turned left in the Gulf of Aden and stopped in Salalah, Oman for fuel. It is mostly desert there but we did see some interesting things before sailing for the capital of the country in Muscat. Muscat is fairly modern although you can find some parts that make you feel like you have stepped back in time.
Dubai is just around the corner from Oman and you can see the Burj Khalifa rising out of the desert as you get closer to the city. When you see the city up close, it is hard to believe that not too many years ago they made their money diving for pearls. The discovery of oil put the United Arab Emirates on the map.
Dubai is one of seven emirates with Abu Dhabi being the largest in area. When the financial crisis hit in 2009, the developer of the Burj Khalifa had to borrow money from a person in Abu Dhabi to stay afloat and as a result changed the name of the tower from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa.
We stayed at the Armani Hotel which is in the Burj and takes up about the first 16 floors. It is nice but not spectacular which is good because neither was the price.
Mary was not interested but I wanted to see the view from the top so I got in line. You are greeted with information about the Burj as you wait in line and then take an elevator to the 125th floor. That is not the top but it is close enough. The view from there is really something and you can look straight down on the pool area surrounding the tower.
The city of Dubai is difficult to get around without a car. All the streets seem to be highways as opposed to streets. There is a shuttle bus you can take that stops at most of the attractions so you can get around. They have some of the largest shopping malls I have ever seen. You literally can get lost in them.
A couple of years later, we took a cruise from Dubai to Cape Town that gave us another chance to see Dubai. We highly recommend it.
In January 2011, we embarked on a portion of Cunard’s World Cruise. Most major cruise lines have a world cruise which leaves in the winter and returns about 110 days later having sailed around the world.
Not being up for that many days on a ship, we opted for a segment that started in New York City and ended in Cape town South Africa 30 days later. We sailed on the Queen Mary II which we had been on before.
We sailed down the east coast of North America stopping in Ft. Lauderdale. There we did a tour of the Everglades and in the port saw one of the new mega-ships that carries about 4,000 people.
Later we stopped in Barbados and then to South America stopping in a couple of Brazilian ports before stopping in Rio. Then on to Montevideo where we turned left and headed for the southern tip of Africa.
To get there, you sail for 4 days passing the most remote inhabited island in the world, Tristan Da Cunha. The Cunard ships are actually Royal Mail
carriers and we delivered some mail to the island before heading on to Cape Town. After arriving in Cape Town after 30 days at sea, Mary was ready for dry land.
We stayed in Cape Town for a couple of days and then flew to Abu Dhabi. Etihad Airlines had just started flying from Abu Dhabi to Chicago non-stop and offered a very attractive Business Class fare from Cape Town to Chicago that allowed you to stay in Abu Dhabi for a couple of days. We signed right up.
You don’t realize how large Africa is until you try to fly its entire length. In our case it took over 12 hours and we arrived in Abu Dhabi around 10 PM.
We had booked a standard room at the Emirates Palace which was relatively new but rather lavish. Our travel agent arranged for us to be upgraded to a suite the likes of which we had never seen.
The room was about 3,000 square feet with a dining room, living room, dressing rooms and a bathroom was that was at least 500 square feet with a hot tub you walked up marble steps to get to. The floor of the bathroom was sprinkled with flower petals and we had fresh flowers throughout.
When we arrived they told us our butler would arrive soon to take our dinner order. Sure enough, the butler arrived around 11 PM but we were too tired to eat much so just had some juice or something.
The next day Mary was not feeling well so she stayed in the hotel. I went for a bus tour around the city and took some pictures. The city not too many years earlier was only known as a pearl fishing town and had no gleaming office towers or anything like. The discovery of oil in the UAE had made all the sheiks rich and they decided to join the modern world in a big way.
They were building so many things in the city it was hard to count them all including Ferrari World an amusement park for Ferrari lovers. It is hard to imagine being there in the summer when the temperature is always over 100 degrees. We were there in February and it was nice…around 82.
The hotel had many restaurants; so many it was hard to decide but we ended up at a chinese one. It is odd to eat Chines food in an Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. Most of the men wore the long white robe that reaches the floor and most of the women wore and abaya that covered everything but the eyes.
The citizens of this emirate are less than 25% of the population with the others being the workers that make everything run.
We flew home to Chicago the next day on Etihad, about 15 hours. We were glad to get home but also glad to have had the chance to see Abu Dhabi.
