Holidays

The Year of the Snowman - Joanne decided this year we would participate in the PGI Boat Parade. A snowman in lights would rise above our sailboat. It has risen!  Friends, Chuck and Trudy helped attach hundreds of LED lights to a mesh netting that we could raise with the main halyard. Neighbors stopped by as we worked on the driveway to offer advice. Our neighbor Brian provided line and other stuff.  Richard wired a traffic light sequencer to add movement: the snowman tips his hat changing from blue to red to green. Icecycle lights adorne the life lines.  All the lights including the rope lights that line the canal and the yard lights reflect in the canal. 

Thursday, the snowman moves to the Yacht Club to participate in the Lighting of the Fleet.  Joanne has invited about fifty people to stop by for food and drink.  Fifty people on a thirty-five foot boat may be just a little tight! 

Last night fifty people did show up, coming and going and coming back again. Everyone enjoyed the snowman, good food and good fellowship.   Our neighbor, Brian,  photographed the fleet lighting for us. Great job Brian!

Holiday Photos

 

CharleyShoe Lighting of the Fleet Photos

PGI Boat Parade December 22 - Eagle's Wings appears at 16:20 and at 19:40 minutes into this Utube Video - PGI Boat Parade

Joanne's sister Claire visited us for Christmas week from Oregon.  We all attended Christmas mass with Joanne's mom;  the music was sensational!  We found time to take Claire kayaking through the mangroves at Placida.

The New Year came a little earlier than the traditional Punta Gorda Midnight. The party on Pelican Bay broke up at 8:40 PM with everyone raising champaign glasses and singing Auld Lang Syne at the late hour of 8:40 PM. Islanders, scattered about Pelican Bay on twenty-five boats, tucked themselves in for a relatively warm and tranquil night. All asleep, quite possibly, before the magical midnight hour, 9 PM.

We hosted the Merritts, Jim & Connie, on Eagle's Wings.  Bleu went to Camp Angela while we were out on the boat.

After a very good breakfast pot luck on the first day of the New Year, we shared lots of laughs watching and participating in the merry blind dinghy race.

We were able to sail down to Marker Five and sail all the way back to Punta Gorda to start the New Year in style!

Harbor Happening

A is for Awesome. We formed up and called out our letters: “p”, “G”, “C”, “i”, try again “I” and “A.” Islanders formed the “A” and we were awesome. Chuck and Trudy danced to the music at the top of our “A” while we waited for the plane and helicopter to take our picture, a human “PGCIA” sculpture to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Punta Gorda Isles Civic Association. Islanders went wild to YMCA.

Our Friday remained overcast, chilly and damp upon our return from Solomon's Castle. Our neighbors from Chicago thought we were crazy as we loaded Eagle's Wings for an overnight adventure anchoring in the Peace River with a predicted 15 kt NE wind and dozens of other sailboats for company. I thought so too but Joanne insisted that we join the Harbor Happening! 

We anchored off Fisherman's Village where the US 41 bridges knocked down the waves to provide us a very pleasant if chilly evening. Chuck & Trudy, bundled in sweaters and jeans, gave us ride in their dinghy to the Friday night dock party at Lashley's community room filled with folks from all the boat clubs. Saturday morning warmed up with sunbeams when we dinghied in to join the letter “A.” A photo of our letter “A” made the Sunday paper but the aerial photo didn't. . Hopefully, I can get a copies of the aerial shots someday as most of my photos turned out awful.  See UTube Video.

About six Islander boats anchored out. Most of the power boats canceled as the mooring field east of the bridges was rougher than the sailboat anchorage. What a dumb move installing that mooring field was! But both Dave and eighty year old Harold took moorings Friday night! Harold actually got a ride in and spent the night at home while Dave and Carolyn rode it out all night!

The Saturday's newspaper reported about one hundred and fifty boats anchored out on Friday but I counted only about fifty or sixty. More boats joined us Saturday morning for a memorable Harbor Happening.

 

Photos

Solomon's Castle

Friday awakened chilly and damp, our day for a trip with the Power Squadron to Solomon's Castle located Northeast of Arcadia in a Manatee County Swamp. The castle as is all the treasure it holds is constructed from recycled material, mostly recovered from junk yards. A tour for tourists filled with puns shows what one man, Harold Solomon, can craft combining imagination and junk with a welder. I dare say the transformed junk that fill the first floor gallery rival anything that New York or San Francisco's beatnik art scene has to offer. I found his work interesting. A friend called it hideous.

Photos

Eagle's Wings Fall Cruise North

It's finally cooled off in Punta Gorda - so that means it's "Fall Cruise Time" on our sailboat, Eagle's Wings!  We pulled away from our dock on November 1st, our route being to Venice to join our boat club, the PGIslanders, for the Venice Art Festival and other destinations north.  We loved looking at the spectacular art and Joanne even won a purse in a free drawing.  Lots of club members attended - we had fun "docktails" and a nice dinner at the Crow's Nest.

We then traveled to Sarosota via the intercoastal waterway and spent 3 days there listening to the election results and enjoying the town.  On the way home, we anchored off of Cape Haze and in Pelican Bay.  Check out the picture of Richard.  He founded a rare arrowhead sanddollar.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving.  My sister, Mary, and brother-in-law, Al, will visit from Indiana.  We are also hosing people from the Ukraine as part of a inbound exchange of the Friendship Force, our traveling club.


Pictures

Lin and Larry Pardey

Before PGI, think BR (Before Retirement) we were Texans. We sailed on Galveston Bay with the TMCA (Texas Mariners Cruising Association), the largest boating organization on the Gulf Coast.

One wonderful day while walking down the dock our commodore's cell phone rang - Lin Pardey called to arrange hosting by TMCA a seminar to be given in our area. So impressed with receiving a call from a famous person, John walked around for weeks with his hand against his ear saying I'm walking down the dock talking to Lin Pardey on my cell phone!

Upon handing me the Publicity function for TMCA, John advised me: if I don't have anything to say, I just make stuff up. Soon after receiving this advice, stories of tsunamis rolling through Offats Bayou, pirate ships ghosting along in moonlight and fair winds that blew us both up and down the bay appeared in local marine publications. Making up stuff works for politicians and it worked for me. People showed up at our monthly meetings just to see who we were!

Now, years after Lin and Larry honored the TMCA with their visit, I was honored to introduce them at the Punta Gorda Civic Center where Lin talked about The Compelling Power of Adventure. Rather than ramble on and on listing all of their accomplishments, I opted to relate the story of John with his cellphone and his advice to me and then said that for Lin and Larry, I didn't have to make anything up!




Bull Canyon, Lin's latest book remembers her relationships while building a wooden boat in the mountains. I recommend it to sailors and nonsailors alike.

Outland Hatch Covers

Outland Hatch Covers on Eagle's Wings

Our old hatch covers were falling apart. The sharp looking  navy covers with white piping matched the navy blue bimini but appeared to be expensive to repair or replace.  So when I saw an ad in Cruising World for these Outland Hatch Covers, I decided to give them a try.  So far so good -  Easy to install; easy to remove.  To order, the website provides detailed insructions for measuring your hatch dimensions, but James at Outland has many hatch patterns already so just tell him what hatch you have before you bother to make exact measurments.

Burnt Store And Moss Marine

Our blog is also our diary of sorts. We no longer assemble picture albums. So blogging is the way we assist our memories.  That is what this blog entry is about.

September 15-16.  I positioned us poorly for the start of a friendly IYC race to Burn't Store.  So we started late, very late, but still had a great sail.  Here we are passing the Start Line at Marker One "racing" to Burnt Store. 

September 20 -23 We joined a number of other IYC boats at Moss Marine in Fort Myers Beach.  We left on Thursday to motor (no wind) down to Ding Darling to anchor for the night.  We did  this position ourselves for an arrival at Moss Marine at slack tide the next day.  Was it ever hot on the way to Ding Darling; Joanne & I both got headaches from the heat; Bleu sprawled out on his back on top of the refrigerator and under the galley fan. The generator fired up to power the air conditioner as soon as we anchored. An impressive line of thunderstorms passed to the southeast of us.   

Look at the shoaling in Matanzas Pass on way to Moss Marine at Fort Myers Beach!  Apparently the EPA is holding up the Corps of Engineers from dredging the channel.

Bleu Blessed by Father Jerry

 On October 2nd, Joanne & I wowed the audience at the Civic Center as we provided commentary for our DVD picture and music show on our Austalian Trip with the Friendship Force.   A talk by Joanne on Charting to the IYC Admirals followed later in the week as did a blessing of Bleu by Father Jerry.  I was awarded Senior Navigator at the Power Squadron District Meeting. 

This week we attended an Octoberfest dinner at the Elks Club.  The SSCA GAM is this weekend; Richard is the Assistant to the Associate Facilities Corrdinator. Next Sunday, Richard has the honor of introducing Lin and Larry Pardey, world famous cruisers, at the Civic Center for thier talk, "The Compelling Power of Adventure." More Later.

Photos

Useppa Summer Cruise

A low black sky slowly but steadily marched off the mainland. Lightning induced thunder boomed in the distance.  Wind rose to straighten flags and pennants as rain began to pelt the decks.  Hugh waves rolled... - not -  Eagle's Wings was sheltered comfortably and securely at Useppa's marina. . It was Happy Hour on the dock but a wet walk to the Collier Inn for dinner!

Isles Yacht Club boats (seventeen in all) along with some from the Bradenton Yacht Club filled the marina for the End of Summer Cruise.  The happy bunch of cruisers traded sea stories and enjoyed the activities planned by Cruise Leaders, Erica and Judi.  Lucious margaritas were provided to us at Docktail Happy Hour and freshly baked muffins were delivered to us the next morning.  The afternoon was spent listening to live tropical music by the pool and partaking of a Pig Roast.  Yum!!   Later that evening we gathered on the dock for a BBQ/Pot Luck and Larry Stewart seranaded us with his bagpipes as we watched the gorgeous sunset.   What an awesome weekend!

Standby....











Note - If you mouse over the picture window above, Forward, Pause and Back buttons appear. Click on the Picassa symbol in the lower right hand corner to open the corresponding photo album.

We departed early Sunday morning and caught the edge of a rain shower coming up over Pine Island to the South.  The Chartplotter pictures (above) show the radar returns in dark orange overlaid on the chart. See the return from the rain off Pine Island (Bokeelia). The rain brought wind to briefly increase our boat speed.  But a moderation of our summer temperatures lasted all day making for a pleasant ride home. 


2009 Cruise with PGSC

Friends from Texas

"Are you uncertain of your sexual orientation?"  Jim Morris , a local "Jimmy Buffet" type singer, dead-paned into the mike after finishing one of his beach and bars songs. Whoa ... I expected another song to follow, but much to our amusement, a fella walked out in a long blond wig and curled up with our friend, Doc Mulloy.  Doc took it all in stride!  Such is life at the local bar a little ways up the Peace River called the Nav-A-Gator  (to our Texas Boating Friends, something like a commerical version of Andy Upchurch's Oleanders).


I will always remember Doc's phone call to us years ago as we were headed for a Shrimp Boil in Rockport, Texas.  "Where are youuu, Joanne and Richard?  Luke and I have got the shrimp right off the boat and they are HUGE!"  Our friends, Wayne (Doc) and Monica, are former Waterford Pier 18 neighbors and TMCA  (Texas Mariners Cruising Association) mates from Houston. Wayne closed his medical office for a week to visit us here in Punta Gorda.  Doc is a big Jim Morris fan!


Wayne, also known as Doc and as Shifty, graduated from Texas A&M in three years to attend medical school at the Univeristy ofTexas Medical Branch in Galveston* and followed up with a residency in Fort Worth. Doc can sure tell some stories and I want to  share one from his emergency room years. 

A fella arrived with a bullet in the top of his head. Doc ringed the neurosurgeon on call who asked Doc if he had any experience with this kind of matter. After Doc told him that at UTMB he had worked nights on a NIH grant cutting open dog's heads, the neurosurgeon told Doc that was good enough, just take care of the head-shot fella himself.   Well, back then, the nurses didn't like residents much and the one on duty was the worst in that regard.  She said, "Mulloy, you called the neurosurgeon in?"  Doc told her that he had and that he was to proceed on his own.  Suspicous, she called the neurosurgeon herself and then looked straight at Doc  saying, "If you mess up this head-shot patient, it'll be your funeral." Doc looked right at her and said, "NO - it will be his funeral!"  After cutting into the fella's head he removed a bone chip, extracted the bullet, replaced the bone chip, sewed him up and sent him home!

Let's jump forward forty or fifty years.  Doc was reminiscing about ferrying people to the TMCA French Picnic on Double Bayou from Marker 17 in his fishing boat, Lucky Strike.  That reminded me of standing  on the dock at Marker 17, (part of it anyway), and looking back out at Trinity Bay. I  felt a sense of timelessness as if I could be in a any decade of the last century. It has that special kind of beauty.  About a third of the dock's planks were missing, another third rotten and remainder were of unsure footing.  The rest of the Marker 17 Bar was about in the same shape.   I had come down the bayou in our dinghy to pickup Michele, my step daughter, who was driving over from Houston for a ride up to the picnic site, that was inaccessible by car.  As I walked into the bar, an old fella with long blond hair and overalls asked if I needed anything. I said that I was looking for a young girl.  He said somewhat emphatically that he was too!!!  That fella was Jim Bo, the owner.  

After Ike blew away Marker 17 and everything else Jim Bo had,  Doc arranged for TMCA to help get him and his wife back on their feet.   I understand Marker 17 has been rebuilt and Jim Bo is back in operation.

We had a lot of fun reminiscing about UTMB, Galveston Bay, TMCA and all the people we knew there.   We dined at Sharkies on Venice Beach, The Loose Caboose in Boca Grande, the Celtic Ray, Harpoon Harry's and the Isles Yacht Club in Punta Gorda; visited the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers; toured our canals in Chuck's fishing boat; sailed Eagle's Wings on Charlotte Harbor; and of course, listened to Jim Morris at the Nav-A-Gator.  We said good-bye after breakfast at Elena's Breakfast Place as they headed to Fort Myers for their flight back to Houston. We all had a great time.


Wayne's Photos

Just one more story - Back in 1997 Doc developed a little cough but otherwise felt fine. Monica insisted that he get checked out - and as a result, found that he had an operable growth in the upper part of one lung.  At the hospital he needed an admissions ID consisting of a long string of numbers followed by a "C" which he assumed signified Catholic. He was born Methodist but married Catholic so he called the church to request a priest to come and say something nice to him. Informed that he didn't rate a priest but that they could send a deacon, he responded that he could get anyone off the street to say something nice and then got so mad he couldn't sleep all night. In the morning, he called the Admissions Office demanding that they change that "C" to an "M".  In reponse he learned that the "C" stood for caucasian, not Catholic!  After the tumor was removed and he totally recovered, Doc named all his boats, sailboat Lucky, fishing boat Lucky Strike and now trawler, Lucky Us.








Word's of wisdom from Doc  - Never argue with an idiot. From a distance, some people cannot tell the difference.   Eagles don't chase flies.



* Michele received her MD from UTMB.  Joanne retired after 25 years at UTMB.

North Carolina

A Road trip to Asheville, North Carolina!  It was just the cure for hot Florida July weather.  We packed up the car and headed north.  Our first stop was Cumberland National Park off the coast of Georgia.  It was a short boat trip aboard the vessel docked at the historic town of St. Mary's to Cumberland Island.  Our park ranger entertained us with lots of stories about the Indians and the settlers.  The gorgeous oak trees shaded our pathways to the ruins of homes that were occupied by the Carneige Family.  They donated the island to the National Park Service for all of us to enjoy.  (It's the largest pristine island on the Atlantic Coast that is uninhabited).  We also hiked to the gorgeous shore to take a dip in the warm Atlantic.  Just wonderful!



Triple Falls

The next day we finished our drive to our friends, Betty and Richard Armstrong's, lovely home in Asheville.  The cool 80 degree weather was refreshing and it even dropped in the 70's during the evening as the lightening bugs twinkled off the back porch.  We had a super time celebrating Betty's birthday at a local French Restaurant.  During our 5-day visit, we hiked to Triple Falls and Crabtree Falls enjoying picnic lunches in the woods.  We also enjoyed listening to real mountain music at a festival in the downtown area.  But most of all, we appreciated the time spent with our traveling buddies - the adventuresome Armstrong duo!  They are always planning a trip to a wonderful destination - and will soon be enjoying Ireland and France.  Check out our pictures below.



Cumberland National Seashore Photos

North Carolina Photos

Wind Rain & High Water

June 25, 2012

Well, the Caribbean must be bone dry as Tropical Storm Debbie has drawn all the moisture north and dumped it on Florida. The South wind has blown the water up Charlotte Harbor for the last three or four days and that combined with a high tide put water over our dock for the first time but not over our canal wall and into our backyard and not anywhere near the level of our house, thankgoodness.

Link to Pictures  

Copenhagen

View from Our Room

After a pleasant 5-1/2 hr train ride, we arrived in Copenhagen  yesterday.  There is lots and lots of sunshine here.  We decided to orient ourselves by using their hop on/hop off boat/bus combo.  The boat ride meandered down canals full of historical buildings along with new modern type architecture.  The Danish love lots of glass with unusual shapes.  In fact, the hotel we are staying in was built by the son of the architect who built the Sydney Opera House.  It's called Copenhagen Island Hotel and it's surrounded by water on 3 sides.  Our room overlooks the harbor and last night we watched fireworks over Tivoli Gardens from our hotel window
. 

Little Mermaid

After the boat, we hopped on the bus for the land tour and then treated ourselves to lunch in a cute little area called Nytorv.  We visited the royal castle and the botanical gardens.   Richard took this nice picture of the Little Mermaid.  Tomorrow, we'll go to Tivoli Gardens.  Check out our Pictures by double clicking on them and selecting slideshow.

As predicted by yesterday's sky and Weather Underground, we awoke to a chilly, wet and windy morning.  Oh, well - we can't complain -  most of our weather the last few weeks has been awesome.  After breakfast at the hotel, we rented bicycles and pedalled our way to the National Museum.

By the way, the bicycle is a popular form of transportation here in Copenhagen as it appears to be in Austria and Germany. See Bicycles in Copehagen.  The entire city is set up with bike paths to make it easy and enjoyable.

Inside the warm and dry museum, we toured the stone, bronze, iron and Viking exhibits.  Richard recently read the Earth's Children Series, a fictional account of people living 35,000 years ago in Europe, a time when Denmark was still covered with ice. Neverthless, the museum displays the skeltons of a giant deer and an auroch, animals thought to be plentiful until hunted to extintion.  Also, flint tools were on display; lots of pages are given over in the Earth's Children series to flint tool making. 

After walking through the exhibit Denmark through the Ages, we mounted our bikes for a ride to Christania, Copenhagen's hippie community. This place is a bit controversial in Copenhagen - they have cleaned up some of the drug use there.  It was full of peace symbols and painted buildings all reminiscent of the 60's era. Following a quick look around, with the weather improving, we rode over to Nytorv, the "New Harbor" for a lunch of pea soup.  That warmed us up!

A ride down to the Little Mermaid and then back to our hotel completed our bike adventure and tour of Copenhagen. It's a wonderful city that we would recommend highly.

Sadly our European Vacation has come to an end and tomorrow morning we fly home, on a airplane, not a bicycle!  Can't wait to see Mom, our friends and our dear kitty, Bleu!  Thanks so much to Angela for taking care of him.

Hamburg Immigration Point

Hamburg – Od Seaport Town

Great-grandfather Walter on my Mom's side of the family was a ship chandler in Hamburg, Germany before he immigrated to the United States. We have no clue why he boarded a boat for the trip across the Atlantic, but after visiting the BallinStadt Emigration Museum here today, we were educated that Hamburg was one of the major ports that took immigrants from Germany, Eastern Europe (especially Poland, Russia and Austria) and the Scandanavian countries to the USA, Latin America and Australia from the 1850's through the early 1900s.

It had wonderful exhibits in English with old black and white photos.

We also enjoyed a boat harbor tour aboard the Olympia, a huge vessel where we met some nice Australian travelors from Tasmania. We learned that Hamburg is the 2^nd largest port in Europe and the 2^nd largest city in Germany after Berlin. It is full of young working people and humming with life. We really enjoyed our visit here and tomorrow we are off on a train to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Pictures

Sonderborg Denmark

Visiting Ancestorial Home

When I was about 10, I visited my Grandmother, Ada Johanna Calleson McDermott, in Brooklyn, NY. She showed me her jar of coins that she was saving to visit Denmark, the country that her parents had immigrated from in the late 1800's. Grandma never made it back there nor did my Dad. But now almost 148 years to the day, I was privileged to visit my great-grandfather's hometown, Sonderborg, Denmark.

To get to Sonderborg, we rented a car in Hamburg, Germany. After negotiating what seemed like kilometers of city traffic, we turned onto the A7 Autobahn. At a speeds of up to 140 km/hr , we zoomed North for 140 km before turning onto lovely country roads passing through rolling farmland, dark green or earthy brown where freshly tilled. Lilacs bloomed on this gorgeous and warm May day with not a cloud in the sky.

Across the Danish border at the battlefield museum in Dybbol, we learned why 1864 is such a significant year in Danish history.

One month before my great-grandfather, Adolph Callesen's, birth (May 26, 1864), Prussian forces launched an attack on the Danish and after huge casualties, the duchies of Schleswing, Holstein and Lauenborg (including Sonderborg) were forfeited to Prussia. The Danish Realm was reduced by 1/3 of their land and 2/5 of their population. Otto von Bismarck, the strong minister of Prussia's weak king, used cunning politics to engineer a unified Germany under Prussian dominance. A united and resurgent Germany was rising and taking over land.

One can only guess how that affected my great grandfather's young life. The family lore is that as he got older, he left his homeland because he did not want to be inducted into the Prussian (German) army.

I've done a bit of geneological research – For interested family members here are the details:  Adolph Callesen married Nielsine Petersen Jensen (DOB June 25, 1863). Adolph's parents were Asmus Callesen (DOB 9/14/1830) and Maren Petersen (DOB 6/1/1831). They were married on 3/29/1860. Maren's parents were Petraus Cornelius Petersen and Adelheit Christensen. Adolph Callesen was christened on May 28, 1864 in Bjolderup, Asbenraa-Sonderborg, Denmark. This info is from Danish on-line baptisimal records.

Our return trip on a Friday afternoon suffered from early weekend traffic. Our GPS routed us through suburban Hamburg saving us from what looked like a monstrous traffic jam on A7. Nevertheless we still encountered a lot of backed up traffic at one light that turned green only ten seconds out every minute! Enterprise wanted us back by 5:30 PM to give us free ride to our hotel. We pulled in their lot almost exactly at 5:30! GPS – don't go on the road without it!

Click to see Pictures

Click on first button under box on the left - - Joanne talks about her ancestorial home. . .

Hamburg

We arrived Hamburg this afternoon by train.  No problems.
We appear to be at the end of free Internet access so we probably won't be posting as many, if any pictures, now.

Tomorrow, we rent a car to drive to Sandorborg Denmark for a day trip.

A Day on the Rhine with Castles

Best Lunch of the Trip

We stepped aboard the boat and made our way up the gorgeous Rhine River past hilltop vineyards and ancient castles to the town of St. Goar, home of the Rheinfels Castle, the largest on the river.  It was built in 1245 and saw lots of action during many wars.  Fortunately, we had the Rick Steves Guidebook, which gave us a free self guided tour that we enjoyed immensely.  But even more than that, the outdoor lunch experience at the castle overlook was my personal highlight meal of the trip.  The view was awesome, the food delish and the weather idealic - what more can you ask for?  Check out pics below - as always, just doubleclick and then click on slideshow...
Tomorrow, we are off on a 5-hr train ride to Hamburg, home of my Mom's ancestors on the Walter and Fiely sides of the family.

Pictures

Bacharach

Today we dropped off our car at the Frankfurt Airport and caught a train to the lovely town of Bacharach on the Rhine River.

We arrived in the late afternoon and after checking into Pension Lettie, we toured the town and climbed to a tower where Richard took this beautiful picture.  Tomorrow, we will go on a boat ride and tour the Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar.  Double click Pictures for more views of the town.

By the Way - Some of our observations about life in Germany...

  - Boy, are they GREEN !  We have seen so many solar panels on the roofs of buildings and homes and even, solar farms of thousands of panels.  We are wondering if they have incentives to encourage solar power or whether Germans are more energy conscious than Americans ?   Also, we noticed many large wind farms along the roads. See Renewable German Energy.  Also, all these bicycles can't hurt. 

But do they drive fast on the autobahn - higher speed = lower fuel efficiency!

 - Smoking - ugh, it seems like many Germans are still lighting up.  In Italy, we rarely saw this and even in France, fewer seemed to have this habit.  But here, it continues - but fortunately, it is not allowed in most restaurants and public places.

 - The people seem taller.  I've seen many women as tall as me and very tall men.  Very unusual for us!

 - SPARGEL EVERYWHERE!  What's that?  The country's crop of white asperagus has been harvested.  It is only available for one month.  We tried it - and it's great!  It's not fiberous like ordinary asperagus and they serve it with a white hollandaise sause.  We also tried the spargel soup and it was yummy too.  We are enjoying the German food more than we thought we would - and the desserts are fantastic.  It will definitely be diet time for us when we return to Florida.

Romantic Road

The Romantic Road -   Germans like to go for a ride in the countryside and to them, that's pretty LOVELY; thus, the Romantic Road trip through medieval towns was on our agenda.  We rented a
cool car and the first stop was Dinkelsbuhl, one of the medieval towns linked by the Romantic Road. After a short walk through the walled city and visit to the cathedral we stopped for dessert at a fund raiser for the local kindergartens, face painting, etc, just like home. 

Four baby storks born at top the town hall steeple delight locals and tourists alike. For a bird's eye view via live webcam, click Baby Storks.  Please remember that these are German storks; they will be sleeping if you tune in at 5 PM on the US East Coast - 11 PM stork time!  

Next, was Rothenburg where we had booked a cute room in the Penzione Gerlinger.  During the Middle Ages, it was an important city on the trade routes going in all directions.  This is a wonderful picturesque medieval city that had friendly people and great prices! 

We walked rounds with the Night Watchman who talked Rothenburg's history with a comic Slant. Click  Night Watchman's Tour  to see him on UTube.  Today the  Crime and Punishment Museum  gave us a glimpse of medieval criminal law and exhibits of how they punished the wrongdoers. Stick your nose in somone's bussiness and wear a metal mask with long nose. Act like a pig, wear a metal mask with a snoot. Beat your wife and get harnessed to a plow. If justice needs a confession, numerous means of torture will do the trick. Yikes, I'll take the good ole American justice system anyday! 

Christmas is big in Germany and a big store displays zillons of tree ornaments and everything Christmas.  St. Jakob's Church holds the Altar of the Holy Blood carved out of wood by the Michangleo of Germany.   We also walked the old wall that rings the ciy inside the fortification.  

Tomorrow, we turn in our car in Frankfurt, get back on the train and head for Bacharach in the Rhine Valley!

By the way, Richard carefully printed out detailed driving instructions using Google Maps before we left home. What happens if your autobann exit is closed? Follow the detour signs, right?  Well, no detour signs appeared and we had no paper road map. Luckily, we had been upgraded to a car with a navigation system so we plotted our own detour.  No problem.  Then again we encountered another road closure. This time our detour took us down a single lane road which we shared with a large oncoming farm tractor!

Pictures 1
Pictures 2

Salzburg

Here's Richard's Poetic Description - - The train rolls quietly through a land of rolling green fields and forests that stretch to the Alps and climb up to patches of snow at the higher elevations. Church steeples spire above quaint villages.  This pastoral land is some of the most beautiful in the world.

When we woke up this morning and went down to breakfast, we could sense a somber atmosphere.  Sure enough, Munich lost the Big Soccer Game in double overtime to Chelsea.  Too bad for them! 

This morning we rented a car in Munich to drive the Romantic Road and visit some of the quaint fortress cities along the way.  We are staying at a lovely pensione in Rothenburg.  The weather has been stellar - in the mid 70's, hardly a cloud in the sky.  More tomorrow.

Pictures

Beer and Bicycles

If Italy is motorbikes weaving through traffic, Germany is bicycles!  Bicycles are a standard form of transportation here.  One can even take a bike on the train.

After a farewell lunch with Marie in Ravello, a scheduled taxi provided a delightful ride over the mountains to the Naples train station.  The driver talked enthustically pointing out his favorite places pizza, local produce, etc.  We even stopped for a picture of Mount Vesuvius (see right).  We slept on a night train and arrived in Munich in the early morning hours.  Nice way to travel! 

Upon arriving in Munich, we were caught up by the Big Soccer Final - Munich versus Chelsea, England.  There was an Invasion by thousands of Chelsea Fans, many without tickets. They were carrying signs saying they were willing to pay 1000 Euros (US equivalent $1,370) for a ticket!  See picture below in slideshow.

We've been following Rick Steves 2012 Germany Guide - so the first thing we viewed by was the famous Glockenspeil Clock Show in Marienplatz, the pedestrial mall in the center of town.  We also took in St Peter's Church and the Viktuallenmarkt, the open air market with the huge maypole.  We had a fun-filled day touring the city.

The next day we caught the 9:30 AM train to Salzburg, Austria - just a short 2-hour ride over the border to Mozart's birthplace.  We thought Salzburg was beautiful - check out Richard's description in the next post.   We took a Sound of Music Tour to many of the places that the movie was filmed.  The best part was the gorgeous lake section located just a short drive outside of the city.

Wow - we were hungry when we arrived back in Munich about 8 PM. What were we thinking?  We reasoned that with everyone watching the Big Soccer Game, we'd could get into the Park Restaurant for a little snack.  When we arrived, it seemed like every Bavarian College Student was there.  They overflowed out onto the Park and were watching and cheering  their team on a big screen tv set up for the occasion.  Beer was only avaible in one size (It looked like a QUART BEER STEIN!)  We decided what could we do but join the fun and found a place to sit on the grass with our food and beer! 

Pictures

The Ravello Destination Wedding

Marriage of Niece Holly Kuhnen to Andrew Renaut
May 15, 2012 4 PM

Holly and Andrew's Wedding Day arrived with a flurry of activity. The bride's hairdresser friends included Joanne's sister, Claire, in the makeup and hair department arranging her hair a sheik “up doo.” Wedding guests donned fine dresses, suits or tuxedos carted from England, America, Hawaii and Singapore. This was to be an international wedding! Our little troupe staying in Hotel Ducato crossed Ravello's piazza Dumo with Marie, Joanne's 91 ½ year old mother, to the 91 step lane leading up, up and up to St Francis Catholic Church.

Although Marie keeps in good shape with water aerobics, we were much concerned about her traversing the up and down hill lanes and of course the ninety-one steps.

Fortunately, Pedro, our hotel manager, arranged for a wheelchair to aid in transporting Marie. But the ninety-one steps remained. Not to worry, Marie charmed two young and strong men who escorted her by the arms as she climbed up to the church and then after the wedding down to the piazza and up again to Hotel Palumbo for the reception.

When we arrived outside of the church, we were greeted by all the guests. My sister, Mary, the Mother of the Bride looked gorgeously classic in her white ruffled blouse complemented by a long black skirt and coordinating fascinator for her head piece. Alan, the Father of the Bride, looked dashing in his dark suit with bow tie. My daughter, Michele, and her significant other, Bryan, radiated happiness as always. Everyone complemented Michele on her stunning dress with an Hawaiian flair!

The colors of the bridal party were black and white and the Maid of Honor and two bridesmaids were so pretty as they walked down the aisle. The precious flower girls, nieces of the groom, sprinkled rose petals before the bride. Oh and Bride Holly was exquisite in her long dress with black satin ribbon and white veil. The groom was so handsome in his tux.

It was a beautiful ceremony. I had tears in my eyes as the Italian soloist sang Ave Maria. After they were pronounced “Man and Wife,” the happy couple floated back down the aisle.

A fairytale reception was held at Hotel Palumbo. It overlooks a breathtaking coastal vista – so romantic was the setting. Many courses of food and wine were served followed by lemon panna cotta and the bride's favorite teramasu. Wedding Cake. There were many toasts and a fabulous DJ with dancing well into the starry night. We all agreed it was our most favorite wedding of all time. We wish the Bride and Groom joy, happiness, good health, much love and understanding in their lives together.

If you want to print a picture click Pictures to go to the picture album, right click on a picture and select print picture.

Paestum

At Paestum, reached by a bus to Amalfi, a fast ferry to Salerno and finally a train, lies the ruins of a 2500 year old Greek city. Three temples are some of the best preserved in the world.   The diver below is diving off the Pillars of Hercules into the unknown afterlife.


I forgot to put the camera battery in the camera so no pictures by me.!

After five hours of bus riding and waiting at bus stops, were eating a late dinner with Michele and Bryan in Ravello. 

Walking to Minori

On the way to Minori

Follow nine hundred steps down the mountain side from Ravello to Minori, a small seaside town. Down went Claire, Joanne and Richard step after step leading from one beautiful vista to another .

Jackets and sweatshirts were in order under a heavy sky. Upon the beach, Claire and Joanne cast off their shoes to test the cold Gulf of Solarno while hunting sea glass.

Our bus from Minori challenged on-coming traffic at every hairpin turn on the cliff hugging coast road to Amalfi. Someone must back down to allow the other to make the turn! Arriving Amalfi, we toured the cathedral before meeting Al, Mary and Marie for lunch. Another bus wound its way up to Ravello with all us aboard.


In the evening wedding guests crowded in a small restaurant for salad, pizza and many, many bottles of red wine courtesy of the groom's parents. I videoed Andrew, the groom, as I told him it wasn't to late to back out. He replied “How could I leave this woman!” It was meant to be a statement not a question. Wedding tomorrow.




Be sure to see our updated Crashing ... blog + Pictures link in Rome blog.


Pictures

Ravello

A Porche passed  us like we were standing still. I asked Raffalle, our driver, what the speed limit was on this Italian freeway -just like the interstates in the United States.  "No speed limit for him," he answered. We were riding a van directly from our Rome Hotel to Ravello, the destination wedding location high above the Amalfi Coast. Joatetnne's niece, Holly, is getting married.

Last time in Italy, I thought the food was poor compared to the non chain Italian food in the United States, an impression possibly due the fact that I was sick the entire time.  I lost eight pounds.  This time I may gain eight pounds!

Click Pictures to go to picture album or view slide show:

Crashing an Ordination Party!

It's Saturday today in Rome - and we decided to visit the Pantheon because it is one of the architectural wonders of the world!  It certainly lived up to its guidebook "billing" - it was hard to believe it was built in the year 27 B.C., the biggest pile of concrete ever constructed in its time.  It's walls are 25 ft thick and it has a dome that lets in light (and rain) from the outside that is 142 ft high -it is an absolutely perfect sphere resting upon a cylinder.  It originally was a pagan place of the gods, but later the Christians took it over and now it is the site of a beautiful church and houses the tombs of many famous artists and kings.  The famous artist, Raphael, is buried here.  We rented headphones and listened to the fascinating commentaries of this ancient place. 


Then, it was time for lunch.  We wondered over to Piazza Navona, which is one of the most beautiful baroque sites in all of Rome.  Great chariot races were once held here.  Today  vendors  their paintings and wonderful little restaurants line the piazza.  We ordered pizza , salad and had a Bellini for good measure. 

 

Our taxi ride to the Basillica of S Maria Maggiore halted a block short due to the Communists! They came from all over Italy to march through Rome. The young and old, waving hundreds of red flags as they marched with banners proclaiming Marx, Lenin, and Che Guevara suggest the romance and excitement of revolution.  As I watched, in an instant I reminded myself of the millions starved, executed or imprisoned in concentration camps in the grand but failed political and economic experiment. One of Russian visitors last fall simply said "Under Communism we had no hope." Still they march.

While we waited for the demonstrators to pass, the gelato shop on our side of the street did a booming business. So the communists accomplished a little something for the capitalists! 

On Top of the Basillica

After dropping off Marie (Joanne's Mom) for a little rest, the 3 of us (Richard, Joanne and Claire (J's sister), went back to the Pantheon because we read about a concert that was going to be held there.  Well, we were told by a local to go to the nearby Basillica of St. Augustine.  There was no concert - but we stumbled upon the end of a young priest's ordination.  It was just lovely and we followed the throngs of people up a long winding staircast to the very roof of the church.  It was a breathtaking view of Rome with wonderful people, who invited us to join the celebration and partake of the delicious food and drink.  We were so touched to be part of this event!


It's been quite a wonderful time in Rome - and tomorrow we look forward to traveling south to the Amalfi Coast to the wonderful town of Ravello for all the wedding festivities.