N and N's Grand Adventure

Total steps

2010-08-23T21:57:00.003-05:00

The total step count was 811,01 steps, including the 3 days we lost the step totals.

Using the 2000 steps per miles....that's 405.9505 miles.

Guess that explains why my feet hurt some days

Westward Voyage Menu Choices

2010-08-19T20:27:00.005-05:00

Sorry no pictures

Westward Voyage Menus

Monday

Nancy

Chicken Consomme with herbed Quenelles

Oak Leaf and Boston Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

Penne Puttanesca

Warm Apple Strudel with Brandy Sauce

Neil

Cream of Mixed Mushroom, Parmesan Croutons

Sobo Noodle Salad, Sesame Soy Dressing

Chedder Cheese Crusted Loin of Pork, Wild Mushroom Ragout, Truffle Mash with Aged Cider and Calvados Sauce

White Chocolate and Raspberry Parfait, Berry Coulis

Tuesday

Nancy

Cheddar Cheese Soup, Rye Bread Croutons

Lolo Rosso and Apple Salad, Caramelized Walnuts, Cider Vinaigrette

Beef and Lobster Medallion, Fondant Potato with Tarragon Jus and vegetables

Banana Chocolate Napoleon, Malibu Coconut Cream

Neil

Cheddar Cheese Soup, Rye Bread Croutons

Lolo Rosso and Apple Salad, Caramelized Walnuts, Cider Vinaigrette

Grilled Lamb Cutlets, Mediterranean Vegetables, Lemon and Thyme Butter

Rocky Road and Cherry Vanilla Ice Creams with Strawberry Frozen Yoghurt and Kiwi Sauce

Wednesday

Nancy

Chilled Vichyssoise

Iceberg lettuce, Beef Tomato Salad, Onion Rings

Grilled Sirloin Steak, Cauliflower Polonaise, Pont Neuf Potatoes and Four Pepper Cognac Sauce

Caramelized Crème Brulee Cheesecake

Neil

Cream of Asparagus and Truffle Cream

Iceberg lettuce, Beef Tomato Salad, Onion Rings

Grilled Sirloin Steak, Cauliflower Polonaise, Pont Neuf Potatoes and Four Pepper Cognac Sauce

Caramelized Crème Brulee Cheesecake

Thursday

Nancy

Chicken and wild Mushroom Terrine, Fig and Apple Chutney

Mixed Young Lettuce, Crisp Vegetables, Raspberry Sherry Vinaigrette

Chicken Scallopine Parmigana, Saffron Risotto, Porcini Jus

Chocolate and Walnut Slice, Caramel Sauce

Neil

Seafood Chowder, Tarragon Cream

Mixed Young Lettuce, Crisp Vegetables, Raspberry Sherry Vinaigrette

Pan Sheared Halibut, Forked Red Skin Potatoes and Lemon Butter Sauce

Chocolate and Walnut Slice, Caramel Sauce

Friday

Nancy

Cream of Broccoli and Stilton Soup with Scallions

Baby Spinach Salad, Walnut and Crispy Bacon Bits, Balsamic and Grape Dressing

Chateaubriand, Larded Peas and Gratin Dauphinoise Potatoes

Baked Alaska with Flambeed Morello Cherries

Neil

Cream of Broccoli and Stilton Soup with Scallions

Baby Spinach Salad, Walnut and Crispy Bacon Bits, Balsamic and Grape Dressing

Broiled Lobster Tail, Shrimp and Scallop Geuillantine, Newburg Sauce

Basked Alaska with Flambeed Morello Cherries

Saturday Incomplete because we didn’t get a copy of the menu--oops

Nancy

Turkey

Chocolate Lava Cake with Ice Cream

Neil

Turkey

Chocolate Lava Cake with Ice Cream

On to Iowa --where they grow potatoes, right?

2010-08-19T14:23:00.010-05:00

Chicago, A bridge on the Chicago Skyway, The California Zephyr to Galesburg and beyond

Soybeans and corn fields.. My awesome birthday cake from Ian and Sara.

Tuesday August 10, The Last Day

We awoke early as our train rocked and rolled through northern Ohio. We weren’t exactly sure where we were but we guessed that we were late. We remembered the busy time at dinner, so we got our clean clothes out of the bag and did the contortionist act to get dressed in our compartment and moved to the dining car. We were seated with a retired teacher from Erie, Pennsylvania, who with some friends was on her way to Chicago for a holiday. They had gotten on at 2:00 AM because the train was over an hour late, and she had only had 4 hours sleep before breakfast. Her friends who had coach seats, not a sleeping room, had to sit up even longer until coach seats were available….train was overbooked. We had a pleasant breakfast comparing schools in Pennsylvania and Iowa and pleasant stewards—we don’t know where they get their patience. Back in our compartment the steward had put away the beds, and we had our chair seats to Chicago. We seemed to be ripping along part of the time, but alternatively we had to wait for freights to clear the track. It was a pleasant ride except knowing we would be late---the second late leg of the entire trip.

A note: We woke up to FOG!!!! It was even quite thick for a while.

We pulled into Chicago about 1:30 hrs. late and got off the train—a long hike to the station (it was a very long train) in the warm humid Chicago air. We collected our checked baggage, loaded it all on a cart, then moved to the counter to see if any bags could be checked through to Galesburg—we thought not and we were correct so we moved the whole kit and caboodle to the first class lounge. We as first class passengers from New York could wait in this crowded but air conditioned lounge and board with the first class passengers, but we could not move the baggage gurney on the carpet. So we waited, went in singles to get some lunch and waited. The lounge was very full as Amtrak is busy, and there were four major trains leaving in the afternoon. The Texas Chief, The Empire Builder, the California Zephyr, and the Southwest Chief.

We were scheduled to leave at 2:00, but the train was delayed getting to the platform, something about adding another car or changing an engine. By 2:30 we were ready to board and off we went down the platform, past the sleepers to the coaches asking train people as we reached them which car was for Galesburg. At the third asking and only about half way down the platform we found our coach. We loaded the luggage, and went upstairs (this was the superliner the California Zephyr) to find seats—not difficult as we boarded before a majority of the coach passengers. The ride to Galesburg was pleasant enough, nice seats with plenty of room. Minor annoyances the family who no sooner found seats and were off to find the lounge car and then complained when others took their seats, the man who needed a shower with great immediacy, the self important business type who took two seats, and talked loudly on his cell phone. It reminded us that coach travel is indeed a step more hectic than a sleeper cabin. Anyway the ride was fun with lots of familiar landmarks and plenty of corn fields.

We arrived at Galesburg a little late and were met by Ian as we stepped off the train. His dark pants, and blue stripped dress shirt had convinced some of the people waiting to get on that he worked for AmTrak, and he had fielded several questions. The drive home was familiar and pleasant. We stayed at Ian’s to see the boys and to have dinner. We pulled into the driveway a little after 8:00—it’s great to finally be home---but what a grand adventure.

The menus from the Queen Mary and an accounting of the steps are in separate entries.

Steps today 3806

Heading to the Midwest

2010-08-19T14:08:00.011-05:00

Sculpture in the garment and bead district---oh so many bead stores---it would be heaven, but there were no quilt or dollhouse stores to make it perfect. Fashions made of very strange materials. Still crooked--still haven't figure out how to turn them.

The Acela Lounge at Penn Station, a bridge from the train, a scene from the train before it got dark at 8:15.

Monday August 9, 2010

Woke up well rested after a night in a good bed that did not move about. Took our time getting cleaned up as we had a tub and used it. Then down to the street and on to McDonalds for a quick familiar breakfast. We took the coffee back to our room 905—and packed for the train trip. The packing was accomplished fairly quickly….actually we are just getting more efficient.

We had two hours to spare so we went out for a walk. On Broadway south of 39^th we found another bead store. It is really fun to look through their huge collections of beads and chains. Needless to say we found a few things. We worked our way back toward the hotel, window shopping as we went. Then gathered the bags, and waited for the elevator—we waited because we needed a whole elevator to ourselves and our bags—only took 15 minutes. Then out to the curb where the bellman hailed a cab large enough to fit our stuff, and off to Penn Station.

We entered this huge station from a different corner than we had left months earlier. We walked through the whole place to find the Acela Lounge where we could hide out until train time. We checked three bags through to Chicago and then went out in search of lunch. Quite a search—it was hot (no air conditioning in the general station)—it was crowded—and there were a number of choices. We settled on Nathan’s Hot Dogs, which is a New York name, because it wasn’t too crowded, and it promised to be quick. Not the best choice—the Pepsi was watery, the fries were greasy and undercooked, and the hotdog was a little dry. Neil compounded his error by ordering a large, thinking that was a bigger hot dog, but no! the hot dog was small, lots of crummy fries and extra crummy Pepsi to drink.

After lunch we took turns leaving the cool comfort of the lounge to survey the station and identify the track where our train would be boarding. Finally, the call came to board and with another couple from the Queen Mary rushed out to get it line. Only a short wait and then down the escalator to the platform to find car number 4911. The car was found, room #2 was found and with our carry-on bags we collapsed. The car steward was very nice to us and explained procedures and asked about time to make up beds and so on. We left New York pretty much on time and rode up the Hudson. We had the correct side so we could see the river the whole way. At Albany things began to go awry. The section from Boston was late so we sat at Albany waiting for them. At 7:05 we made our way to the dining car. We had reservations, but there seemed to be a number without. And the car was a bit confused and the waiters a bit harried. We were seated and had dinner with two men from Illinois. One of whom didn’t make it through his second bottle of wine and had to be escorted back to their room. Still for a while they were pleasant companions. The food while acceptable was a step down from the QM2. We finished dinner with a dessert and left as they were in need of seats for the 8:30 seating. On returning to our room the beds were made up, and we changed into jammies and read for a while. Really a let down that it gets dark by 8:30 instead of 10:00 or 10:30. Eventually the fatigue and tension of the last two days claimed us both, and we nodded off as the train rocked and sped through New York and Pennsylvania.

Steps. 6224

Land Ho -- It's New York!

2010-08-18T14:28:00.022-05:00

There's a bridge in there somewhere. Coming into Brooklyn, the Queen's Room--our disembarkation meeting point

The Queen Mary 2 at Red Hook pier in Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Bridge, The Brooklyn Bridge

Times Square, Some type of mobile police unit, McDonalds in marque lights off Broadway

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Travel Update: 6:38 AM

Position: Brooklyn 40.40.9 N 74.00.97 W

Sea: slight Wind: 9 knots

Humidity: 82% Barometer 29.9 Steady Temp 73.4

Miles from Southampton 3,149.3 New York 1.8 --It eventually changed to zero.

Today we returned to the USA—it’s been a while. We have been tearing across the Atlantic at 24 knots, and at some point in time during the night the vibration disappeared as we finally slowed down. We were full of anticipation, and worry: there was customs—did we remember everything or not? As it turned out we forgot a few things but not on purpose. Anyway at 4:45 or so Nancy got up and went to deck 7 so she could see the Verrazano Narrows Bridge from the ship. She made it and said it was quite spectacular as there were only three or four meters between the bridge and the ship. Neil, on the other hand, tried to sleep, gave up, got cleaned up and went on deck---missed the bridge by a little and almost missed the Statue of Liberty because I was on the wrong side. Together we watched the police helicopter, the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline and the ship slowing to a stop. We went in at some point and had our last breakfast on board ship and a cup or two of coffee—the staff was as courteous as ever. We said our farewells to a great ship and a wonderful experience. Then down to the room to get things straightened around for the final time---find Denys, our room steward, for a tip and then to wait for our turn to disembark.

One Interesting thing happened on Nancy’s quick look to find our Steward. She passed the stairway entrance B, looked and saw two ship’s officers with lots of bars on their shoulders (means they’re important) and a very big police officer with NYPD on his uniform. She decided not to go that way and turned back toward our cabin. As she turned she noticed the cabin door open at 4156 with a second very big NYPD officer in the room looking around. One passenger in the cabin was on the bed and the other was sitting in a chair. At this point Nancy hurried back to the room. She went out about 20 minutes later and the policemen were still there. They still didn't offere an explanation, so Nancy just talked to Denys and went back to the room. We speculated on the purpose of two NYPD dpartment members on board the ship. We figure either the drug dogs found something or there was an outstanding warrent for someone in the room.....all guesses, but why NYPD on the ship with a British registry.

We said good by to the cabin and found our way to the Queens Room where the #4 Aqua group was to wait their turn to disembark. It was going very wel,l and it looked like we would leave early, but then a problem developed at customs and things slowed down. We read our books, did Suduko puzzles, and wondered and worried. At sometime about 10:00 they called for people with US passports to disembark. We gathered our small bags and made our way to the gangway—turned in our Queen Mary identity cards and made our way to the baggage room. After a brief wait we were allowed to find our big bags, collect them, and make our way to Custoims. There was hardly any line for US passports, so we went through customs quickly. The officer scanned our passports, stamped them and passed us through with hardly a question. I wonder what kind of questions you have to answer if you bought one of the Picasso's at the art auction?

We made our way out into the sun and wait for a cab. We joined the line and followed instructions; (Cunard is big on properly queing and instructions) eventually we were directed to a cab. Cabs were assigned by amount of luggage; we didn’t need a huge cab for our luggage, at least not compared to some of the other passengers. The cabbie took us over the Brooklyn Bridge, another new experience, and took us to our hotel, even avoiding the parade forming on Sixth Avenue that morning. The check in guy, Mike, had a room for us even though we were early. We went upstairs, found our room, cranked up the air conditioning, changed into shorts, and set out into the heat. We went South to a bead store that we had found on the way out but had decided not to buy beads because we would be hauling them all over Europe. We spent an hour checking all the many many beads and designing jewelry in our heads. We left in search of lunch. We went into a Burger King but with ten people in line and one counter lady working in slow motion and a small kitchen staff we left. Apparently BK failed to realize with a big parade on 6^th Avenue (a block away) the demand might be higher than the usual Sunday. We ended up back on 40^th street at a McDonald’s right by the hotel. After lunch and a short break in the cool cool room we set out again. Neil had looked up some hobby shops during the break, and they were added to the reasons for our trek.

We marched north up Fifth Avenue. We found one hobby shop, but it was closed on Sunday. We then cut west to Time Square heading for the M&M Store. Along the way aside from lots and lots of people and slowly increasing temperatures we managed to change our last 80 pounds into dollars—took a hit on the exchange rate, but pounds don’t spend well in New York City. At the M&M store Neil bought a few red ones (3 pounds worth at $12.99 a pound--apparently single color M & Ms are more expensive to produce---right!) for the Red Napoleon dispenser purchased on the North Sea. Then across the street to the Hershey store where we purchased some of the incomparable dark chocolate Kit Kat bars. We finished our purchases and started south with Neil looking for two hobby shops and Nancy hanging in there. To put it succinctly the hobby shops were not at those addresses so after a long walk we were headed back to the hotel and a break from the heat. Nancy was about done in, and we still had to have some dinner.

After a break and a bath we were able to head out looking for dinner. We went to a café we had been in during June. We ordered a bowl of soup and a pasta dish—it was passable but not great. Maybe it was the heat or a different cook, but it just wasn’t so good. We wandered back to the hotel for some television and relaxation. We had planned to work on the blogs, but the connection was so feeble that it was not possible. And so to bed.

16,485 steps. This is why Nancy was so tired--so was Neil

Day 5 The Last Full Voyage Day

2010-08-18T14:16:00.009-05:00

Blue skies and Blue Sea, a strange Coke can, our first ship since the UK

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Travel Update: Day 5 6:44 AM

Temp: 71.6 Humidity 95% Barometer 29.6 rising

Sea: slight Wind: Force 4 14 knots SW

Weather: fog/haze Speed: 23.8 knots

Position: 42.13.45N 63.20.91 W

Southampton: 2634.9 New York 516.1

The last full day on board. The sun is shining, the fog disappeared as we ate breakfast. It will be a wonderful day. Coffee and muffins arrived precisely at 7:00. We enjoyed, got cleaned up for the day and set out for breakfast. After our usual wonderful breakfast we went up to deck 11 and our bridge lesson. However, the ship was for once moving about enough that it bothered Nancy, and she excused herself and went down to deck 3 where the motion is much less noticeable. I stayed for bridge and learned the first steps in the bidding procedure, I guess we will have to make another voyage and attend the intermediate bridge lessons.

I found Nancy in the “Chart Room” where we enjoyed a Coke and worked on pictures and the blog. While there people signed up and auditioned for the talent contest to be held later that afternoon. One young girl I would guess of ten or twelve sang a song from Les Miserables and was excellent—she was the only one to receive an ovation from the people gathered in the bar.

We went up to deck 7 and found some lunch. After lunch for a change we walked on deck for two laps which was more than we had managed on any day save the first on this voyage. The sun was great—and a lot of other people thought so as well.

At this point we decided to do some work and returned to our cabin to pack the three bags we were going to have the ship’s crew unload. This involved some planning as we wanted our clothes for the next three days to be easily accessible and not to have all of the souvenirs and gifts in one place. In addition it seemed we had a great deal of stuff. We also spent time checking our list of purchases for the custom’s declaration. It took most of the afternoon, but we didn’t work too fast.

We dressed for our last dinner aboard ship, put the three bags out in the hall and went down to a splendid meal again. We then went to the farewell show with Mark O’Malley a singer who performed mostly in stage musicals in London. He was a Scot, but he could sing without an accent as the song demanded. He was wonderful and boy could he sing. He was followed by a singing and dancing tribute to Neil Diamond which was great fun, but sad as this is the final show for the voyage.

We went to the casino with a dollar and it took a long time to lose a nickel at a time—at one point we were at $4.50, but we eventually lost it all. We had some tea and then an early bed as Nancy had the strange idea to get up early to see the ship pass under the bridge at 5:00 AM and into the harbor in addition to excitement of docking and returning to the U.S.

Travel Update: Day 5 9:25 PM

Temp. 69.8 Humidity 82% Barometer 29.9 rising

Wind: Force 3 9 knots Sea: slight

Weather: clear Position: Southampton 3011.5 New York: 139.6

Position: 40.33.85 N 71.16.75 W

Steps: 6942

Day 4 The Westward Voyage

2010-08-18T13:50:00.009-05:00

Fog, More fog.....the appearance of fog doesn't change....the chocolate buffet

Chocolate sculptures

Chocolate Sculptures and petitfores

Friday, August 6, 2010

Travel Update: Day 4 7:06 AM

Temp. 57.2 Humidity 95% Barometer 29.7 Falling

Wind S Force 3 9 knots
Sea: slight Weather: fog/haze

Position 46.48.05N 51.50.95W Speed 14.9 knots

Southampton: 2048.8 New York: 1,102.3

Woke to that wonderful fog again. Breakfast was on the opposite side of the dining room. We usually end up on the 3^rd deck. We go down from the 4^th deck to the second deck to enter the dining room and then go back upstairs to the 3^rd deck. The dining room is two levels. Guess we look like we are still capable of climbing stairs. Breakfast was wonderful as usual. We went up to Bridge class in the Atlantic room. We played with an Israeli, who with his wife had travelled the oceans of the world on board container ships, often as the only passengers. He said it was often boring—no entertainment, and that the food was hit or miss depending on the cook. They had made a twenty-one day voyage from Hong Kong to San Francisco. They had made the journey across Russia on the Trans-Siberian. They were way more adventurous than we—and had way more money it is safe to assume. After a pleasant game/lesson we went downstairs to deck seven, picked out a good table, and worked on pictures and blogs. We had lunch, attempted to walk on deck but failed, and worked some more. Eventually we headed down to our cabin for a rest, some TV and to get ready for dinner. The fog and wind are really a buzz kill, the ship folds in upon itself, and we find it harder to do anything active .

The fog has allowed us to work on the journal of pictures. They will be identified before we get home. Today we had a group of 25 teenagers together in the section across from us in the Deck 7 buffet area. They were waiting for the chocolate buffet. The chocolate buffet includes all kinds of chocolate desserts, candies, and sculptures. The buffet is done once a voyage and appears to be a rather big hit with everyone. The teenagers were loud, rude, and rather obnoxious; however, they weren’t really doing anything wrong but being loud. Some of the passengers in the area where I was sitting were not very happy with them. They did make for the chocolate as soon as it was opened and disappeared shortly thereafter. The buffet table was short one tray of desserts; one of the waiters setting up the table dropped a whole tray on the floor---oops! There didn’t seem to be a shortage because of the accident though. The chocolate dessert tables were gorgeous….almost too pretty to eat, but we did force ourselves to partake in a sampling….and it was wonderful.

Tonight was the last formal night at dinner so we dressed and went down to dinner. It was excellent as usual. We had a pleasant time and good food, then went off to the theater for a presentation of Apassionata by the Cunard singers and dancers. It was splendid. Then to the casino—but the dollar went quickly tonight. We decided we were done and returned to the room as the masked ball had little appeal and anyway we did not have masks. The room: reading relaxing and sleep.

Travel Upate: Day 4 10:43.PM

Temp: 69.8 Humidity 95% Barometer 29.5 rising

Weather: Fog/haze Wind Force 4 moderate 14 knots

Position 43.26.69 N 59.0.88 W

Sea: slight Speed: 23.6 knots

Southampton: 2811.7 New York; 339.4 Someone on the bridge or in the network controls has made a boo-boo. No way have we gone 800 miles today.

Steps: Friday 4807

Thursday, Day 3 of the Westward Journey

2010-08-17T13:57:00.007-05:00

The Fog, The sitting area on Deck 2 beside the theater.

The Chart Room emblem, The fog

Thursday, 4 August 2010

Travel Update: 6:21 AM Day 3 of the Westward Journey

Sea: Slight Wind: Force 4 Moderate SW at 14 knots

Weather: cloudy with showers---fog Humidity 100%

Position: 49.39.12 N 38.35.89W Barometer: 29.9 Rising
Speed: 22.8 knots Temp. 59 degrees F
Southampton: 1493.4 New York: 1639.

Coffee and muffin delivery, breakfast in the main dining room, and off to bridge class. The day began much as usual. Different bridge partners today…nice calm and not too intense. Grandma apparently decided that we were not intense enough for granddaughter because she avoided us like the plague. I am glad…I don’t think I could take another day of that intensity. Today we played a game of minibridge…apparently an advanced form of Whist. Class was fun, but we did miss the pirate lecture because of the scheduling.

Each night when we return from dinner our bed cover has been removed and put away. The duvet has been turned down (no top sheets in Europe), two pieces of chocolate have been left, and the US newspaper is waiting for us. The other important item is the ship’s news. This is a small magazine that contains navigational information, stories about the ship’s officers, and special events aboard ship, such as the theater performances. It also lists the restaurants, the shops, the spa, etc. We also receive a sheet outlining the next day’s schedule of classes, events, of the day and evening, and directions for dress for the evening. You see these being carried around this ship by all kinds of people.

One of the special events is always the special sales on Deck 3. One day it is perfume;, another day is watches and jewelry—some costumes and quite a lot of real. Apparently, the jewelry is tax free and duty free. There is a handbag sale and a sale of transatlantic clothing and real jewelry offered as well.

Today Neil worked on the blogs and the pictures while I went to a presentation of the use of Arabic Calligraphy in jewelry. The young woman, Nadia Dajani, presented a history of the background of the Arabic language and the use of calligraphy in art and architecture. Much of Arabic art is based on the geometry and calligraphy. She showed the connection between her jewelry designs and the calligraphy. She apparently does the design, but the jewelry is produced by groups of women working in cottage type industries. She is the trunk show artist on board. One of her trademark pieces are small metal disks with Arabic words created in a cutwork fashion on the disks. They really are quite beautiful. After the show, the particiapants are, of course, invited to check out her pieces for sale. I did. One pair of earrings with a ½’ metal disk and a stone bead was $175.00 on cruise special. An 18” necklace with one 1” disk and seed beads was $375.00. She had some copper pieces that were crocheted and woven that began at the $300 level. Very pretty…all of it….but I did not buy any.

The weather again is very f-o-g-g-y. The captain doesn’t say the word in his noon time announcement to the ship. He spells it. Apparently the crossing from New York to Southampton was one continuous fog bank. It apparently cleared for its trip to Norway (There apparently are quite a number of people who boarded in New York, did Norway and are headed back to New York….about 3 weeks aboard ship. However, this trip has been quite foggy. At times you can actually see the fog across the deck. You know it’s foggy when even the water disappears.

We continued our chore of identifying pictures. We have only 7 files, not counting the ones still on the camera to go. It is a bit of a monumental chore. I have apparently had a great deal of fun taking pictures. I am working under the philosophy that Pete and Jess shared…..take as many pictures as you can and one out of ten will be really great.

We attempted to take a walk around the deck again…..nasty….cold, wet, and quite windy. Inside is much more pleasant. We decided to go to high tea this afternoon in the Queen’s Room, which also doubles as the ballroom. Very formal. White coated waiters and waitresses with silver trays of sandwich fingers and trays filled with cakes, bars and scones. Tea is served on the usual Wedgewood china….the official china of the dining rooms along with the Waterford crystal stemware. We shared the tea table with Gloria and Phil from dinner.

After tea it was time to get ready for dinner….seems to be a strong theme here…..food. Tonight is a semiformal evening. Men may wear suits, any appropriate color, and tie, and the ladies may wear cocktail dresses or trouser suits.

Dinner was its usual wonderful meal. Our dinner companions are interesting. They complain a great about gaining weight. Then they order two appetizers, a salad, and three entrees between the two of them. They also complain about the waste of food….they contribute. One of our table mates got a tour of the galley. She had complained about some appetizers that had been delivered to their room without notifying them and they sat there for several hours. She called to complain, and they received fresh ones for the next three days. Then the food service director called and asked to meet with her about her experience. He offered her a private tour of the galley. She found out that they use 5000 eggs per day. That’s a lot of eggs to crack.

Tonight’s theater production was an adaption of The Importance of Being Ernest. It was presented by the RADA players and was absolutely delightful. The theater which hold a thousand people is full every , night.

We did not dance at the Black and White Ball, but we did go to watch and listen to the Vibz, a band which played in the G32 nightclub on the way over. They are a fun band that plays oldies and regae music. A lot of fun,

Travel Update: 11:18 PM Day 3

Temp 56.3 Humidity 95% Barometer 28.8 Steady

Position: 47.58.47 N 4731.99 W Weather: fog / haze

Wind: 9 knots SW Force 3 Sea: slight Speed 20.3 knots

Southampton 1,863.9 New York: 1,269.3

Steps. Thursday 5336

Day 2 At Sea Homeward Bound

2010-08-16T20:50:00.009-05:00

Today's view from the ship.....hope you like fog

The Cunard Welcome Painting made up of all tiny little paintings. The theater

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Travel Information: 6:35AM Day 2 of the TransAtlantic Crossing

Wind 9 knots SW Gentle Seas: Slight

Position: 50.47N and 23.19 W Speed: 24.9 knots

Temp. 63.5 Barometer: 29.9 Falling Humidity 90%

Weather partly cloudy with occasional showers

Southampton 899.2 New York 2233.9

We turned on the tv to the captain’s log to check our lives…..much to our surprise it said that it was 5:37 AM, not 6:37 AM as our watches and alarm clock said. Okay, we know we are not nuts, nor have the brain cells warped. We do question, however, our ability to tell time, set clocks, and the reality of the world. We wait for a repeat…oops! It still says the same….We decide that perhaps we really have lost it. Wait a minute…the UTC time and ships’s time do not match. They should be one hour apart, not two. We continue to look…all of a sudden the time changes and our belief in our sanity is restored and our children are safe from having to deal prematurely with two dottering parents. We won’t discuss the fact that the captain’s log seems to think that sunrise is 8:32 AM. They are only three hours off.

Coffee and muffin delivered at 7 AM What a wonderful practice. Perhaps we could start a business that delivers morning coffee and muffins to the house. Clean up, pack up and off to breakfast for the next best experience….the seating and the placement of the napkin in the lap by very nice young people working to meet my every possible desire. Juice, coffee, and a leather bound menu with lots of choices for breakfast—what more could you possibly want.

The day ended yesterday in heavy fog…yep, the fog horn goes off every 10 minutes or so. The day today began in heavy fog. So the view from Deck 11, the Atlantic Room in the bow of the ship was not totally exciting unless you like to pretend that you are in the GOMA in Glasgow staring at the wonderfully white canvas posing as art. One of the problems of fog is there is no horizon for those of us who like to use the horizon as a grounding source. The seas are at moderate height today with a wind speed of 19 knots across the bow and a ship’s speed of 25 knots, for a combined wind speed of 44 knots across the deck….it creates some movement….and no horizon to ground my head. It’s a good thing that bridge class was so much fun because my head and stomach were not happy campers. Fortunately that corrected itself quickly after leaving deck 11.

Our bridge partners today were a woman and her granddaughter, aged 11. Let’s see what did we find out about them. Glad the woman isn’t my grandmother….no warm fuzzies there. The lady informed us that she played bridge, but her granddaughter had two things to accomplish while on the voyage from Southampton to New York and back to Southampton. She must learn to play bridge, and she must study for the Level 5 piano exam. We learned that grandma was a retired secondary drama/humanities instructor, played the accordion, and was very smart so she told us…actually, she told me her whole family was very smart. Her daughter-in-law is an American married to her son, so the granddaughter holds dual citizenship and is very smart as well, as is her whole family. The parents are musicians and play in small groups and teach and both are incredibly talented. You get the picture. All I know is that if I ever behave that way toward my grandchildren I hope they kick me in the shins……

We took a wee break in our room before heading to the second lecture on piracy. Again it was quite enjoyable and filled with information about people quite unlike Johnny Dep.

Lunch time---American hamburgers and fries today. It is really pretty fun to sit on 7^th deck in the windowed areas, eat lunch, and watch the fog..sea.

We continued our work of identifying pictures. We have so many pictures that we have been trying to identify them before we forget what they are. We did a few more pictures. When we started today the last pictures we had identified were the ones from the Highlands. We decided to go for a walk around the deck because we could actually see a ways from the ship. It looked like it might actually clear up. The deck was drying out…..walk time. We took the computer down to our room, got jackets and came back up to find the thick fog bank back in place and a wind that just took our breath away. We decided that we would go back in where it was a bit warmer. We went down to our room for awhile before dinner.

Tonight was the Black and White Ball. Dress up in formal clothes and all of that. One of the bad things about the trip….having to wear pantyhose. Dressing up isn’t bad, even a lot of fun, it’s just the pantyhose bit. Dinner was great. Our dinner partners tonight were Gloria and Phil, a retired teacher and an accountant who worked for a number of labor unions. They live in Great Neck on Long Island. Our other dinner companions went to the Italian night on Deck 7 in the Piazza Restaurant.

After dinner we went to the theater again. The presentation tonight was Nicolo Lobos. She is a violinist who won the Best Young British Musician award, studied at Juliard, and travels all over the world doing concerts. Her goal was to present a variety of musical genres and techniques. She play everything from classical to jazz and country and western. Obviously she is a very talented young woman. The theater was full again. It was a great evening at the theater. It is really fun to see everyone dressed in their evening clothes.

After the play we continued our quest to see how long we can make a dollar last in the slot machine. Tonight we played a penny machine called Box cars. Our dollar lasted quite a while, but like all gambling, eventually the house wins.

We took ourselves off to our room. Again we gain an hour. We have five to gain between Southampton and New York.

Steps 7865

Travel Update: 10:02 PM

Humidity: 100% Temp 62.6 Weather: fog

Wind: SW Force 5 19 knots across the deck

Barometer 29.9 Falling Seas: Moderate 4 to 7.5 feet
Speed: 24.6 knots Position: 50.17.67 N 33.11.34
Southamption 1278.1 New York: 1854.9

Tuesday -- first full day Westward

2010-08-12T15:07:00.013-05:00

The sunset Monday evening....the last time we saw the sun until Saturday. The fog that we saw from Tuesday morning until Saturday. The library....a popular spot.

Tuesday August 3, 2010

Travel Information: 7:04 AM Partly Cloudy

Temp: 61.7 Humidity: 79% Barometer: 30.0 Rising

Winds: 14 knots, West, Force 4 moderate

Seas: Slight, .5 - 4 feet Position: 49.57N 8.21W

Southampton: 323.7 New York: 2809.5

Our first full day of the journey across the North Atlantic. Since our room has no windows, it is difficult to know when it is morning. However, the ordering of room service coffee and an alarm clock prevent the lollygagging in bed all day. It was a bit of a rough night. Shortly after going to sleep (around 10:30) our room developed a very annoying high pitched squeak. At midnight I got up, got dressed and went to the Pursuer’s office to ask that a work order be placed for morning. We had some trouble communicating the issue, but work order was issued. I went back to the room, and my room key would not work. Neil was sound asleep…yep, he could sleep through the squeak. Back to the purser’s office I went to see about my key. The officer at the purser’s office gave me a lecture about keeping the key next to a magnet. I assured her that I was aware of that and that had not happened, but I would certainly appreciate her fixing my key. I really didn’t want a lecture at 12:20 or 0:20 in the AM. After she made new keys, one for Neil as well, I had to go back to the room and wait for the head of housekeeping to come and reset the lock. It took him awhile so I sat on the floor in the hall and waited. This cheerful officer in complete officer dress shows up as cheerful as could be……He resets the lock, and I go back into the room to my squeak. The squeak all of a sudden stops about 2:30. It doesn’t happen again, so at 7:30 I cancelled the work order.

We went to the Britannica Room for breakfast. There’s something about having someone seat you and put your cloth napkin in your lap, and hand you a leather bound menu that is “just a trip.” It’s fun. They start out with juice, fresh croissants, danishes, and a selection of rolls. Then you get to choose from a selection of fruits. Then you have a choice of pancakes, waffles, French toast and eggs of all kinds. Then you choose from a selection of sides that include different sausages, different bacons…..ah, American bacon, beans, tomatoes, potatoes. There are also cereals to choose from. It is an amazing breakfast.

After breakfast we headed to Deck 11 to the Atlantic Room for Beginning Bridge. I have always wanted to know what this game was about, and they are offering a free class. The class is an hour and meets everyday of the cruise. The first class was quite fun. The instructors are quite good…taking it quite slowly. Our table mate was a woman from Kansas City who has played before.

After class we headed the library. We each checked out a book for the voyage and then bought a deck of cards so we can practice our bridge skills. We also paid an outrageous $7.00 for a small notebook so that we can finish identifying the pictures before we forget what the pictures are.

We decided to check out the lecture about pirates and piracy. The presenter is an attorney who has written two books about pirates and the law. He specializes in cases concerning piracy. He teaches maritime law and courses in pirarcy at a couple of New York City law schools. He seems to be quite young…talks about still being in law school in the early 2000. Today he talked about the pirates during the Roman Empire. He keeps telling us what he is going to talk about in his future lectures.

Seventh floor---lunch time. It is very windy and very cloudy, so walking on the outside deck is really not very pleasant. There are a few hardy souls out there jogging. Neil and I walked around part of the deck…we were pretty wind blown. We came in and walked around the corridors inside the ship.

About 5:30 we went down to the Captain’s Reception. We skipped the picture with the commodore since we had done that the first voyage. They like to sell you pictures at $25.00 a photo. I think there is a bit of a mark-up. The reception comes with free champagne and appetizers. We shared a table with a couple originally from England who immigrated to Canada sixteen years ago. They live northeast of Toronto but winter in the Carribean with their sailboat.

At six we headed off to dinner. We found our table, but we had no table companions. Actually, Phil and Gloria went to the Todd English Restaurant. We don’t know about Patty and Tony, but Roberta and Janet showed up and said this was their table. This means that we now have eight people for a table of six—people come and go. Roberta and Janet are from New Jersey, but live in Florida during the winter. Janet had found that she had lost her wallet and was obviously not having a good day. However, Roberta’s AAA travel agent sent her a bottle of wine which she shared. Our AAA travel agent didn’t do that; however, we didn’t book the crossing with her….just a few hotels. Roberta is a retired teacher and Janet a retired librarian aide who worked in the Rutgers Alcohol library. Our waiter came over and asked if we were in room 4136 and then he disappeared. In a bit he and two other waiters came over with a section of birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to me. A number of other guests joined in. Like the wine we shared the cake.

Off to the Royal Court Theater to watch the Cunard dancers and singers present a musical review called Viva Italia. It was a wonderful presentation with lively songs and dances and beautiful costumes and staging. They are very talented young people.

After the play we stopped in the casino to play our dollar in the penny slot machine. The goal is not to win…it is to see how long we can play on our dollar. If you play long enough to get bored with it, we consider it a good play.

Off to bed…we gained an hour back last night. Tonight we gain another hour back. Somehow we are still tired.

Travel Information: 10:20 PM Cloudy with occasional showers

Seas: slight Position: 50.41N 17.17 W

Temp 63.5 Humidity: 90% Barometer 29.9 Falling

Wind SW 9 knots force 3

Southampton 671.7 New York 2461.5

Time: clock moved back one hour

Steps: 7,818

A sailing we go --Day 1/2

2010-08-12T14:58:00.016-05:00

Ocean Terminal in Southampton, Passenger check in, Passenger waiting room

Looking down on luggage loading, Painting the ship, Leaving the dock

Views of Southampton Harbor from the shp

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Holiday Inn Express with its hard pillows, hard bed, no air conditioning, but awesome towels—created a good hotel overall. It also provided a good free breakfast in the form of the traditional English breakfast. We packed our stuff and attached the proper luggage tags--alas no last minute upgrade so we are still in 4136, inside without a window. Since we were ready at 9:00, and not scheduled to board the QM2 until 3:00 we went for a walk. We turned the other way from the previous walk and found very little in that direction either. In the distrance from the hill where we stopped we could see a car dealership and a gas station but everything else was private homes. The two walks confirmed our suspicions that the Hotel was indeed in the middle of nowhere. It’s a good thing they had a restaurant—otherwise we would have gone hungry.

We got back from the walk and took our luggage downstairs. The cab we arranged for the previous evening, was already there, and he loaded our bags as I checked out. We apologized for the number of bags. He assured us that we didn’t have very many at all. He told us about a couple that had enough bags to fill the entire boot and half of the back seat. The wife had taken 16 pairs of shoes. The cruise they were taking was less than a week long, but they wanted to be prepared for anything.

We had a marvelous driver and our ride was most entertaining with again stories about traveling –ours and his, including his trip to India, and by about 11:30 we were at the pier in the shadow of the QM2. We told the Cunard people that we were way early because we had to leave our hotel and really had no place to go with all our luggage in tow, so they directed us to the waiting lounge. We received our boarding group assignment and sat down for what we expected would be a long wait. Within the hour our letter “D” had been called, and we had our card and were heading through security.

We boarded the ship and headed for our stateroom 4136. It was a little smaller than our first room and distinctly warmer. Our bags arrived at the same time we did and were all there, and we simply set things down and headed up to deck 7 for some lunch. Great lunch—roast beef and trimmings. We then headed to our cabin to unpack. We met our room steward and asked if he could do something about the warmth of the room. After stowing our gear we went up on deck for a beautiful afternoon. We watched Southampton harbor, read our books, and took a few pictures until 4:00 when we reported to Area “jai” for our safety drill. Then back on deck for our departure from the pier. A pleasant trip down the estuary, but dinner called. At 6:00 we were in our seats with one other pair from New Jersey sharing our table. Much later, 6:30 or 6:40 the third couple from Florida showed up. The staggered dinner kind of messed things up and rather than get up before everyone was finished, we missed the opening show in the theater. But dinner was as wonderful as we remembered. Menu selections in a separate blog.

We went upstairs to check out the deck, but it was cold and windy so we came back inside. We tried the casino, but there were a number of big time gamblers—a machine right next to us won $410.00, but he had risked a great deal of money. We played until our dollar ran out. We returned to our cabin which was mercifully much cooler and worked on the blog for a while before we retired for the evening, too tired and full to drink our complementary bottle of Champagne.

Travel Information: 5:37 PM

Seas--slight Position: 50 degrees 48 minutes N & 1 degree 17 minutes W

Temp --72.5 Humidity: 62%

Wind: SSW 3 knots Barometer: 29.5 Rising

Southampton: 7.2 nautical miles New York: 3,126.0 nautical miles

Time: clock fell back one hour

Travel Information: 10:49 PM

Sea: slight Position 50.08 N 3.75W

Temp.--63.5 Humidity: 62% Barometer: 29.9 Steady

Wind: West 14 knots

Southampton: 115.7 New York: 3,017.3

7,820 steps plus shuffle of queing as we boarded.

To Southampton we go

2010-08-12T14:50:00.009-05:00

Virgin Train from Glasgow to Euston Station London, Our seats in first class, Lake country

Waterloo Station -- train to Southampton

Sunday August 1, 2010

We got up as usual, big excitement for a travel day, and Pete and Jess prepared a big breakfast for us. Loren sausage, British Bacon, Eggs, and a Bagel. Nancy and I cleaned up while breakfast was being prepared and then finished packing away all the bits and pieces we found around the flat. If we left anything we leave it up to Pete and Jess to decide if we really need it. Jess took Chase out for a walk, and Pete went for the car club car which they still had use of. Nancy and I bundled our luggage out of the flat and down the elevator and into the car standing at the side of the carriage way. No problem parking today as parking is free on Sunday. Then down to Glasgow Central Station for the ride south.

Driving is harder than walking in Glasgow, except for the hills, and we took a round about way, required due to the one way streets, to the station and parked in a different place and entered Glasgow Central from a side entrance. Our train was on track 2, and Pete and Jess helped us stow our luggage on board. Much sadness and many tears as we reluctantly took our leave of Glasgow and Pete and Jess. The train pulled out right on time, and we were off to London.

We rode 1^st class with two seats and a table to ourselves. They were good seats because as we crossed into England and rode into the Midlands, many many people boarded the train, but almost no one got off. By the next to last stop the train was over full and people were sitting and standing in the aisles. The sanctity of the first class was gone….there were people everywhere. People had to climb over other people to get to the toilet/restroom. It was unbelievable. The refreshment trolley could not get through, and they asked for first class passengers who needed refreshments to come forward to the kitchen.

We pulled into Euston on time. Parts of the trip were really fast, and my theory is the stewards told the train driver to move it since it was close to chaos on the train. We were almost the last people off since we had time and needed to organize our luggage carrying. At the station we went with the flow, stopped in the main room, got a luke warm (darn British don’t believe in cold drinks) Diet Coke, some English pounds (the English don’t like Scottish pounds and visa versa, even though they use the same coins--go figure) at a cash point and made our way to the taxi rank. A very nice gentleman took us across part of town to Waterloo Station. Our driver talked all the time about our holiday and what we had done, and traveling in general and some of the sites along the way. Once at Waterloo we asked about which platform for our 4:30 train, and they said we could take any train we wanted, but the 3:37 was the fastest and we could still catch it—so on the 3:37, we headed for Southampton. The ride was easy, an almost empty train, and plenty of space for the bags.

We arrived at Southampton Central and got a cab to our Hotel. It seemed like we were driving out of Southampton to the boonies. The ride was an expensive 18 pounds, but our hotel was nice—except for being away from everything. We had dinner at the hotel which was reasonable and a pint to commemorate our last full day in Britain. After dinner we took a walk past the cricket stadium and up the road a piece—past the dentist’s office and the golf course under construction to the bridge over the motorway and returned. We bought a Fanta relaxed with some TV and went to bed, slightly warm once again. An early bed time as traveling across Britain from North to South is stressful.

6258 steps today, some with weight added.=like three large suitcases and 4 carry on bags

Last day in Glasgow

2010-08-12T14:09:00.012-05:00

Old double decker Glasgow bus, sculpture by the shipyards, Loch Lomond

a nature area at Luss with a Celtic cross, Loch Lomand, the kirk that is a resturant, where we ate lunch.

Loch Long, Hillhead House at Helensburg, Loch Lomand

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Today is our last full day in Scotland—much sadness. Pete went to McDonalds’ and brought back breakfast for the crew. A McMuffin with English bacon is really quite good. And McDoanld’s has sugar rings (donuts) on the menu. Our first McDonald’s breakfast in the U.K. Pete and Jess went to get the car club car, a Volkswagen this time, and Nancy and Neil took Chase up the hill for her morning walk. When we took Chase back to the flat, we met Pete and Jess and went for a ride.

The first stop was Loch Lomond. We motored out of the city west along the Clyde River through different neighborhoods and then turned north into the hills. There was traffic as people headed into the country for a weekend holiday, but we quickly got to a small town on the west bank of the Loch—the town of Luss. In Luss we walked along the rocky beach, walked through town and passed by the church where they were having a traditional Scottish wedding with kilts and a piper—never did see the bride. We stopped by a stream and walked a ways in the rain—you guessed it. The Loch is very pretty, surrounded by hills, with islands and very cold water—not a swimming lake in my book. Back in the car and up the highway looking for lunch. The next small town seemed to be very small and nothing attracted our attention—so we pressed on. We stopped at what had been a church but was now a restaurant on the outside of the little town that begins with the letter T. Lunch was quite good; we had steak sandwiches, fish and chips, and wonderful fries (chips) with a cheese sauce. It was very good, and we had a pleasant lunch. The chairs in this place were so heavy that I think they were built of petrified wood.

The next stop was Helensburg and a house designed by Charles Renee Mackintosh. It was built in 1904, the Edwardian Era, and the house is modern even by today’s standards. Interesting contrasts of dark areas, and built in furniture, and much lighter areas with hand painted designs. The house was very modern in some ways, but it had a library, scullery, and servants quarters distinctly not modern. The house and the adjacent gardens were worth seeing.

From Helensbug we drove across the high bridge we had tried to take a picture of in the car on the way out of the city and weeks earlier coming back from the highlands on the train. This time we crossed, but we didn’t take a picture as you can’t see the bridge from the bridge.

Once in Braehead, we proceeded to IKEA. We are great fans of IKEA in United States and wanted to see one in the UK. It is much the same, same convoluted path through the store designed to put the consumer in contact with as many possible purchases as can be accomplished, many of the same products, but there were some differences: much more attention was paid to drying clothes without a tumble dryer, and many different, somewhat exotic plants. Mostly it was old home time—except that we couldn’t buy anything for us—we did help Pete and Jess purchase a storage cart for their kitchen, which we took home and watched Pete assemble it with a screw driver just like home. On the way home we drove through the part of Glasgow that Peter had done his Master’s project on, called Govan. It is a neighborhood, hit hard by the closing of the ship building industry, that needs a plan to help in its recreation. To see it in person was interesting after seeing it as maps and diagrams. Back to the flat to rest up and work on the new IKEA treasures until dinner time.

On Saturday night it is quite difficult to eat out without reservations, but AD LIB is a good restaurant which seems to be an exception. They have some American style food, such as ribs,and hamburgers, and the best Macaroni and Cheese in town. Both Nancy and I had that and a pint. After dinner we retired to the flat to talk and hang out until bed time. Big travel day tomorrow—sad.

10,811 Steps Today.

GOMA & Necropolis

2010-08-08T17:05:00.017-05:00

Chase's Park: The Steps, The safety pin sculpture, The grass and pond.....This is the site of the old maternity hospital where the first c-section ever was completed.

The dome inside the GOMA, St. Mungo's Cathedral from the Necropolis, The headstone for the author of Wee Willie Winkee. I can't get the pictures to turn, so please turn your head.

Glasgow from the Necropolis, The Bridge of Sighs, the entrance to the Necropolis

Friday July 30, 2010

Ok…..it’s getting closer to the end of our magnificent trip. We spent the morning packing and trying to get everything back in the suitcases. It took a while, but we did manage to get things in…..

Then we decided that we needed to go for a walk…..packing up is too sad and too exciting all at the same time. We needed to go to the post office to mail a card, then the big decision was lunch. We decided to eat at the sandwich deli in the Buchanan Gallery. They have an awesome Christmas sandwich that contains turkey, cranberry dressing, and stuffing. They also have a great carrot cake which we like to share. We watch the daily rain begin to fall….everyone carries umbrellas. Actually all kinds of places have umbrella stands where you can take an umbrella and return it when it stops raining….pretty cool. After lunch we walked back down the hill in the by now mist…no umbrellas for mist.

We headed to the GOMA……Gallery of Modern Art. On the subground floor is a branch of the Glasgow city library, which Neil and I used thanks to Pete’s library card, but we had not yet been in the museum proper. The GOMA was built by an old tobacco importer with lots of money in the style of the Parthanon, complete with the columns. It is quite large and was a private home before it was donated to Glasgow. It now has modern art. We went to the top and worked our way down the floors. Like all modern art, some of it is very interesting. There was a display of photos taken of places where events of violence had occurred…they did not show the violence, just the places. There was the black canvas painted in two different shades of black on a black canvas….strange. There was a video that showed the artists walk to school in Palestine as he went through the checkpoints. His first attempt was thwarted by the border guards, so the next time he filmed, he hid the camera in his bag. Thus, the video shows mainly feet. On the first floor the entire floor was devoted to an exhibit by Tan, a famous videographer. The entire film was of students from a Swedish high school standing in a line. The video scanned the line of students. In front of this 10 foot screen and about 10 feet in front of the super large screen was a 42 inch screen that showed individual students. Seemed like an awful lot of space. What it boils down to is that I think a lot of modern art is not so artistic…..just not the same caliber as Monet, DaVinci, and Degas.

We stopped for the last souvenir that we wanted to pick up and headed back to the flat to get the rest of the packing finished because we are off to play again tomorrow, and we leave early Sunday.

We worked until Pete got home from school. Pete, Chase, Neil and I then decided to take Chase to the Necropolis, which is the cemetery by St. Mungo’s Cathedral. It is also the highest point in Glasgow. The cemetery contains the remains of more than 50,000 people and seems to still be an active cemetery. The Necropolis name is taken from mythology and means “City of the Dead.” From the peak of the Necropolis with the monument to John Knox you can see all over the valley of the Clyde River. Entrance to the Necropolis is over the Bridge of Sighs build in 1833-1834 symbolized as the “separation between time and eternity.” Though many of the tombstones are wearing away, it is amazing to still be able to read the dates from the early 1800s.

We walked back down to the flat. Jess soon arrived from work with groceries to make dinner. Pete and Jess made two different pasta dishes: one traditional pasta and tomato sauce and the other a smoked salmon sauce in a cream cheese based white sauce. They made the tomato sauce especially for me because I wasn’t sure I like smoked salmon. However, the smoked salmon sauce was quite lovely. There wasn’t a strong flavor….just a delicate salmon taste. It was quite good.

Then it was off to bed.

Steps: 11,359 plus the GOMA shuffle

Thursday, July 29

2010-07-30T13:02:00.010-05:00

Tenement House Museum, the tenement model, the bedroom of the tenement flat that I wasn't supposed to take--someone was standing in front of the sign

The MacIntosh School of Art, A crazy drum and bagpipe group from the Highlands who regularly get arrested because they won't buy the permit, a police station

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The days are getting noticeably shorter. It is dark by 10:15 or so and the sky doesn’t get light until 4:00. I have heard people say that Glasgows two weeks of summer are up. This must mean that it is about time for us to return to the States.

Up, breakfast, showered, dressed and ready to work. Trying to catch up on the blog, because when we hit the Queen Mary there will be an enforced silence while we are at sea and dependent on very expensive direct satellite transmission. We did laundry and then set out for today’s adventure.

A trip to the Post Office to send some envelopes of brochures, post cards, etc. home. Actually Ian and Sara, we sent them to you. There are three envelopes. They should arrive in a week. We paid for the more expensive air mail route—otherwise we might not see our package for up to 12 weeks. The Royal Mail people are extremely helpful. They have a number of automated machines for mailing things and a machine that will give you a queue number for personal help. They also always have one or two people in the lobby to help people and direct them to the most efficient way to meet their needs.

Then we walked down to St. Enoch’s subway station, bought our tickets and went down to the Inner Circle track. We waited for our train and took it to Cowcaddens Station. We climbed to the surface, got out our (Pete’s) trusty map and figured out the way to the Tenement House Museum. Remember this is Glasgow, Scotland so it is uphill. We went uphill for a block, turned left and continued to go uphill for several more blocks. We finally reached the top and went down hill for a block and a half and arrived at the museum to find that it didn’t open for another 50 minutes…not until 1 PM or 13:00…take your pick.

Ok, we figured we would just go get some lunch on Sauchiehall (pronounced Sauk e haul). We happened to look up at the signs and there was a sign that said this way to Sauchiehall avoiding steep grade. We had seen the steep grade called Garnethill, like climbing a ladder with no steps. Off we went on the Avoiding steep grade path. We found Sauchiehall, figured out we were going to go by the Fusiliers Museum that we had been to already. We found a number of places to eat. However,because I was not feeling adventuresome enough to eat food I couldn’t pronounce, we went back to Starbucks and had a panni which they warmed up, chips, a cookie and Neil’s new favorite—a mocha with whipped cream. We .bought a newspaper so we could do the puzzles.

There are an amazing number of newspapers in this country. People can be seen reading them all over. A woman gave me one on the train on the way back from Thurso. On the third page there was a picture of a woman undressed to the waist. Pete and Jess explained that if the papers had a red banner on the front page they were like tabloids in the states. They cover the stories like the more traditional papers, but boy do they have wild headlines. The paper we got to at Starbucks had a great editorial about Sarah Ferguson….they called her a spoiled brat. They said that her divorce settlement was enough to buy a nice house and to raise her daughters in a most comfortable and fashionable way. They lambasted her for her extravagance and outlandish spending. They were really displeased about the talk of Oprah giving her a show representing single mums. It was pretty entertaining. There certainly appear to be more people reading books here than in the States.

Finally it was one o’clock so we made our way back to the Tenement House Museum. The museum is the flat of a woman, a stenographer, who lived in the flat from the late 1930’s until she was hospitalized in 1966. On her death her money was used to buy the building and eventually it was sold/given to the Scottish Historical Trust. They restored the flat, one of several apartments in the building, to its look in the 1930’s. The 1^st floor has a model of a tenement and a reconstructed “modern tenement” for the 80’s or 1990’s. It seems that these buildings which are relatively small with some ten apartments on five floors are not a bad organization for living in a city—so more and more of them are being rehabilitated rather than torn down and replaced. In addition there were small exhibits on coal heating, fashions, food preparation, washing clothes and more information about the woman’s life. The actual flat is on the 1^st floor (US 2^nd floor) and is one of two on that floor, the second one is currently occupied by a renter. The flat has four rooms, bedroom, living/dining room, bathroom, and kitchen. The flat has been restored to its semi-original state, including the gas lighting with mantles. The flat was electrified in 1956 originally, but they wanted an earlier look. The bedroom is a normal old-fashioned bedroom, bed, armoire, dressing table. The Living/dining space was set-up for tea. They even had pancakes on a platter along side the scones. But in the corner, was a closet—not for clothes but for sleeping with a built in bed. The bathroom was almost modern; one of the caretakers explained this was a high end bathroom for the time with hot and cold running water, a large deep bathtub and flush toilet. The kitchen centered around a coal stove (all the rooms bathroom excepted had fireplaces for using coal for heat). There was a sink and a table but no icebox or refrigerator. It seems this was common in the thirties making daily shopping a necessity. Even today Glaswegians shop more often than we do in the states. It seems if you are carrying groceries by hand rather than loading them in the car you buy less. Anyway, we saw the four rooms and made a retreat.

Back on the street we oriented ourselves toward on next target: the Glasgow School of Art, and a building designed by that MacIntosh fellow. It was not along the easy, flatter part, but to the corner and up Garnet Hill Street. This street is up up hill even more so that the hill near the flat to take Chase to the park. The street has that right name. Anyway up the hill and over a block or so is the Mackintosh building. The building is very nice. We went in and looked around, no inside pictures but didn’t stay long as it is a functioning college building. We checked in the Gift Shop to look at the model of the building and some exhibits about the school, and then came slowly down hill to a fabric store—not just drapery fabrics, but quilt stuff also—for Nancy it was a little bit of a let down because many of the fabrics in addition to being expensive were also American. Still it was fun to look. Next it was across a block to Sauchiehall Street. We walked up this main shopping avenue to the book store where we spent Nancy’s birthday gift and bought books for the trip home. The final destination on this beautiful warm sunny day was the Hamley’s Toy store at Sr. Enoch’s Shopping Mall all the way down the hill to the other end of Sauchiehall Street. We made the walk easily because it was all downhill. At the toy store we were looking for an HO/OO gauge version of the Scots Rail two or three car train like the ones we had ridden North, but they did not have one. I moved that from the will buy to the would someday like list in my head. At the mall we stopped at the very American style food court to have a coke and rest a bit before continuing home. Finally we walked back to the flat to relax and wait for Jess to get off work—the menu tonight was real Scottish food.

We went looking for a pub called the Living Room, supposedly the home of very good steak and ale pie, for which Pete had a wish. We walked into the sun all the way and could not see much as we were blinded, in fact we almost walked by it. The Living Room was a very nice restaurant which served very good food which we all enjoyed. Back to the flat for a coke, and some TV and bed without an air mattress.

18,589 Steps Today

Wednesday the 28th

2010-07-30T13:01:00.013-05:00

Carnivorous plants at Kibble Palace

The moving sidewalk at the Buchanan Street --it is really slanted, Kibble Palace at the Botanic Garden, the center courtyard under the dome

Flowers in the Kibble Palace

Wednesday July 28, 2010

Happy Birthday Nancy! Well the day started as most days here, breakfast, clean-up, and chores. We did those things, worked on the blog and a bit of laundry. About 11:30 we set out for today’s adventure.

We headed out to Byers Road and a Chinese Lunch at Amber—as sticks in the mud we didn’t change a thing and had the orange chicken and Hong Kong sweet and sour. A wonderful meal for a budget price—here not in the states. We spent 15 pounds, and it is easy to forget that it equals about 22 dollars—but no matter. After lunch we strolled up the road looking for a cake for tonight but didn’t find one.

We went to the Botanical center to look inside the Kibble Palace, a huge Victorian style green house. One room was devoted to carnivorous plants, rows and rows of pitcher plants with different colors. Then into the main room that had plants from around the world. We saw plants from South Africa, China, Australia, and South America a wide selection of species with many notes about their individual properties. One plant had antibacterial properties which work even on the resistant MRSA bacteria. On the inside ring was a huge collection of tree ferns that grew like a jungle on both sides and over the pathway like a jungle except for the kids trying to go different ways than their mother’s expectations.

We left the Kibble Palace after a thorough inspection and walked back to the tube stop. Along the way we bought raspberries for breakfast and some roses for the flat. Then we got on the subway and went back to city center. We stopped at the post office to buy some shipping envelopes, and at a bakery to buy some cupcakes, as we couldn’t find a cake that we liked. We walked home along Argyle Street and then some more work on the blog and sorting of paper accumulation which we decided could not take up a whole suitcase of its own.

For dinner we went to a restaurant in City Center called Café Andalusa whose main offerings are tapas. Tapas are great. They are small portions served on little dessert or bread size plates and bowls. If you are with a group you order several different kinds and share amongst the group. They generally recommend two or three tapas per person. This can add to the confusion of the table. We had great fun picking out what to order and eventually resorted to writing down what to order. The waiter came to collect our order with Jess doing the Spanish. The waiter, however, cheated, and was copying down our order from the list in Pete’s hand. Too bad – Jess was doing an amazing job. We had 10 tapas: Potatoes Gratinedas—potato chunks in an amazing cream sauce; Championes---button mushrooms, again in an amazing cream sauce; Solomillo con Setas—sliced steak with onions and mushrooms; Chorizo frito al vino—a sausage; Pollo Rebozado—chicken grilled and served with an yogurt sauce; Pollo Marinado—chicken pieces deep fried in a batter with a mustard sauce; Queso Manchego—cheese slices; Aton a la Plancha—tuna with potato salad; Pan Fresco--bread; Bollo al Ajillo--bread. There was enough that everyone had 2 or 3 tablespoons of each dish. It was great fun. Forgive the Spanish spellings—I tried.

We walked back to the flat and had cupcakes and ice cream. Sara called, and we had a video chat with Sara and the wee ones. Poor Ian was at work, winning a trial—ok, they didn’t know they won until later. That is always a great time….the boys are real troopers and do a great job. They do, however, give Sara a real workout trying to protect her computer and keep them on screen. It was delightful because they actually said some new things for us---papa, nana, Pete, Chase dog, and they tried to say Jess…..boy are those “J’s” tough to say. Thanks all for a grand birthday.

Steps: 18,589

Thurso to Glasgow

2010-07-30T08:59:00.023-05:00

The Old Kirk, The point at Thurso, Beach at Thurso--no one was swimming

Island visible from Thurso Harbor, Point at Thurso Harbor, Thurso Castle

Highlands scenery, Train Station with Gaelic Name under the English, Highland scene

Bridge over loch, oil drilling in firth, highland scene

Highland scenery from the train

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Neil slept in, but we were up in time for the full Scottish breakfast minus the black pudding (blood pudding) and the haggis. It was a lovely breakfast that was cooked to order with poached or fried eggs, baked tomatoes, potato scones, toast, English bacon (thin fatty ham, and sausage, plus juice and coffee.

After breakfast we packed our overnight bag, wrestled with the Swedish door lock… The handle had to be held up while you turned the key to lock the room. It didn’t come with instructions, but the desk clerk had a few unkind words to say about the locks as well. With our trusty map of Thurso in hand we headed out for the harbor.

We reached land’s end, and I, of course, took a bunch of pictures. Have to take more than one in case they don’t upload from the card. We walked out to the point of the harbor. We saw the defunct castle, an island off shore (Orkney? Maybe or unknown), and a large cruise ship docked in the harbor but not at the dock. They were taking passengers from the dock to the ship in small boats. They actually looked like the lifeboats. It was low tide. We watched a father and son fishing. It was fun watching the waves…small as they were. We continued our walk around the harbor and headed back into the town.

We saw a number of old buildings, including Old St. Peter’s Kirk (church) that was built in 1220 and used until 1832 when it was closed in favor of the new church in the town center. There was a cemetery as well, but you couldn’t get in to see it….only looking from the gate allowed. We walked through some residential areas that were also very, very old to the town’s center. We went into a small shop to get a couple of postcards. The lady there told us about her son who is on holiday in America….San Francisco. He and his buddy were driving motor cycles to Los Angeles and then flying to Las Vegas. She was plenty worried about him. She became the third person to tell us about the new museum which is in a really old building of course. At least it wasn’t wrapped in scaffolding and netting. Since so many people had suggested it, we decided to check it out. It really was a nice museum. We learned that at one time Thurso quarried most of the flagstone for the world. The industry died, but it is actually coming back. We also learned that there was quite a kipper industry has well. Thurso was also the site (nearby) of Britain’s first nuclear plutonium breeder reactor—the dream in the fifties of self sustaining power. The reactor and research center brought some life to the town. It has since been shut down, but it likely saved the town.

After learning about the community which was surprisingly large after the empty wilderness we travelled through to get here, we walked down their main street. We took in a toy store. We went past hotels which we didn’t stay at, thank goodness because they looked pretty old and run down on the outside.

We stopped at the train station and Nancy talked with the agent about making five minute connections. He explained that it was done all the time and just stay in contact with the trainman, and he would keep us informed. We still had about an hour before out train so we decided to take the walk in the sun that we had not taken in the rain. We went down Janet Street to the foot bridge, and crossed the park to the river. From there we could see the grocery store that was across from the hotel. It was an easy walk as advertised, but in a pouring rain not knowing where we were going it would have been difficult. We returned to the station and waited for our train.

We had a great ride to Inverness, uncrowded, quiet, non-raining, and on time. We had a number, five, by request stops, but the lady train driver put her pedal to the metal and we really flew on parts of the journey. We made it to Inverness on time and walked over to the next platform, platform 2, and got in coach B. Here the problem began, there were two families, four adults and six children occupying our seats and others. We asked them if we could have our seats and one of the women replied that there were no tags on the seats, and there were not. We would have moved, but there were no double seats available. I don’t know where the reserved tags went but they were our seats. The ride for half an hour was tense as the woman seemed to think we were in the wrong so she sat and gave us evil looks the whole and let her little girl get by with kicking Nancy under the table, but they got off at the third stop and we had the entire table and four seats for the ride into Inverness.

Right on time the train arrived in Perth for our second change. We had six minutes to make it off the train, up the stairs, across the bridge, down the stairs, to our next platform…. We made it with three minutes to spare. We had reserved seats, fortunately, because the train was a bit busier. We shared our table with a grandmum who was headed to Loch Lomand to take care of her 15 month old grandson. She commutes from outside of Aberdeen to Glasgow and then Loch Lomand every week. She comes down two days a week. She is a retired teacher who taught 5 to 7 year olds. She has two sons who graduated from Strathcylde and her daughter-in-law lectures and researches in the prosthetics department at Strathcylde. She wanted to know about our holiday….She said that we had probably seen more of Scotland than most Scots. She was a very friendly lady who definitely made up for the crankster from Inverness to Aviemore.

At each of the train stations there are signs with the station names posted of course. The interesting part is the Gaelic spellings that are included under the English spellings. This much is true---Gaelic is one complicated language, and I pity small children who have to learn to speak and spell it. Actually, there is a program to promote the learning and teaching of Gaelic in schools. If you become qualified to teach Gaelic, you can pretty much name your job.

We got back to Glasgow right on time---8:22 PM—our scheduled. The trains have an amazing record for promptness. They have big signs in the train stations showing their records. They also have the incentive of having to give discounts if they fall below a certain level of promptness. The senior discounts in Great Britain are amazing….around 1/3 of the ticket cost. We very quickly made up the cost of the senior pass. They have all kinds of passes available. You can get family, mum, grandparent, friends passes. They work very hard to keep people on their trains. On many of the trains you have “trollies.” The trollies take the places of dining/food cars. The train employee brings the little trolly through the train loaded with tea with water hotter than McDonalds, coffee, sodas, water, wine, some beers, chips, candy, sandwiches, and salads. This was a good thing on the trip back from Thurso since we didn’t have time to get food between trains. We were able to have tea and chips at least.

Okay, back to the point—we got back to the flat about 8:45. Jess was there waiting for us. Pete had made potato and leek soup, so we had some and collapsed. This traveling is hard work.

Steps: 10,130

On the Way to Thurso

2010-07-30T01:50:00.016-05:00

Scenes from the Highlands

Scenes from the Highlands, the thistle--national symbol of Scotland

Monday, July 26, 2010

We’re off for another train ride. This train is leaving at a more reasonable hour---so we had time for breakfast and checking our gear. We walked down to Queen Street Station to catch our train for Perth. We bought one of those expensive chocolate coffee drinks (a mocha flake) and boarded our train—no confusion today. The ride was pleasant. We had a table and a small enough number of passengers that we had two seats each. The ride to Perth was pretty uneventful. At Perth we had a few minutes before we changed trains, so we bought sandwiches and chips and boarded our second train for Inverness and the far North—Thurso.

The train was also not crowded so we had a pleasant journey. At Inverness we saw some of the ships and businesses involved in the North Sea Oil field. We then followed the coast, cutting across the base of several peninsulas as we went through places like Beauly, Dingwall, Fearn, Invergordon, Tain and Golspie. At Invergordon we saw two oil drilling rigs that were involved with oil exploration in the Cromarty Firth which some locals are not happy about. The train arrived at Helmsdale and turned inland. The train followed a river valley into the highlands and aside from the farms along the river with their hay crops, pastures and sheep the land appeared pretty empty. The further north and up in elevation we went the smaller the number of trees and the greater the number of rocky outcroppings. The track parted company with the main highway and the number of people in evidence shrank still further, Most of the stops along this part of the line are by request only. If there are no passengers on the platform and if no one on the train requests to get off, the train does not stop. When we stopped at Georgemas Junction, the train reversed and went backwards to Thurso. After Thurso the train goes forward back to Georgemas Junction and then on to Wick, which is the end of the line

Nancy has a great deal of fun trying to take pictures from the train. We had a little two car sprinter train—that’s what it is called. The new camera, although a nice little camera, does not have quite the speed of the good one. It works however. It works well enough to allow Nancy to fill up a 2 g SD cards with lots of pictures. The scenery was beautiful----very desolate in spots.

We got off as scheduled at Thurso which is as far North as you can get by train in Scotland. Even though Wick is the the end of the line, it is further south As we disembarked it started to pour. There were a number of taxi’s, but the people who rushed to get off the train knew what they were doing and grabbed them up quickly---no hesitation. We had intended to walk to the hotel since I had directions. I had thought it was a little strange that when I booked the hotel I asked about walking and the lady at the desk told me it was indeed walkable, but there were plenty of cabs if it was raining. Now we knew why. We caught the last taxi driver who was loading a group and asked if more taxis would be coming; he said that he would return for us. We walked around to the front of the building where we found more people waiting for taxis. Another taxi showed up and a group of four snagged it. That left us and a German couple with limited English skills. They wanted to know when the bus was coming to go to the ferry—like I would know, but I do read signs.. There were no bus signs—not good. We all stood in the doorway out of the pouring rain and waited. Our taxi driver returned, and we asked about the bus….no bus. We gave the German couple the taxi---they had a ferry boat connection to make, and we stayed in our doorway as much out of the pouring rain as possible. Eventually, our cab driver returned to take us to the Park Hotel. He was quite a pleasant man and told us things to see in Thurso.

We arrived at our hotel which was a hotel, not a b and b. We really didn’t care as long as it was clean and quiet. The hotel had recently been remodeled and was quite nice according to our taxi driver. He was correct. The clerk showed us to our room which was in a building out behind the main building. We had room #20. The room was delightful. It had a regular television which Neil enjoyed a great deal. He played the stereotypical male and played with the remote all evening. Okay, it wasn’t all evening because we did go out for dinner and a wee walk.

After we were settled in our room, we rested a bit and then because it was still raining, we opted to eat in the hotel restaurant. Neil had locally caught haddock and chips. I had steak pie and potatoes. We each had a vegetable medley. Quite lovely. After dinner it had stopped raining so we decided to go for a walk. Unwise decision, it started raining again. We did go across the road to the new Tesco grocery and walked around the grocery for a bit. We returned to our room where I read and Neil played with the remote. He did have a good time.

For not having walked very far today, we were certainly tired….must be all of that train riding. Or lack of exercise…

Steps: 2,978

Merchant City Festival

2010-07-29T11:19:00.009-05:00

Chase dog, Orkestra Del Sol, Orkestra Del Sol drummer playing with tennis racket

Strathcylde Uni's answer to Stonehenge, Pete & Jess in front of Architecture Bldg. View of Glasgow west end from hill by Architecture building

Hutnuk dancers, Hutnuk dancers, a group of drummers we also saw

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Must have been tired. We slept until 8:00 AM---never do that. Might have slept longer, but Chase girl decided that it was time for her herd to be awake and moving, so she got us up. She, however, went back to bed. We didn’t move to quickly or do too much until 11:30.

Today is the last day of the Merchant City Festival. Merchant City is a neighborhood within Glasgow which they have worked hard at revitalizing it in the last twenty years. The renewal continues. Each year they have a festival, appropriately named Merchant City Fesitval. They have had musical performance groups, dance groups, drama groups, and visual artisits performing all over the neighborhood since Friday evening. It is a great concept….instead of pushing mobs of people into one large venue for one or two performances; they have much smaller venues with a large number of performance groups. The groups performed two or three times in different venues and at different times. Obviously the groups are not all top name groups, They performed on the street, in small galleries, in pubs, and in churches. In addition to the performers they also had street stalls where vendors were selling anything from food to handbags to jewelry to farmers market types of items. I can think of several cities in the states that should try the concept.

We walked to John Street to see the first group on our agenda, Orkestra Del Sol. Of course, on the way there it began to rain. It was raining hard enough that we had to have the rain jackets and umbrellas. Like Glasgow…it stopped fairly quickly and the music went on. This is a young group which had two drummers, a trombone, a trumpet player, three saxophone players, one of whom also played the clarinet. The last member of the group was an accordionist. It is unbelievable the number of accordions that you hear played on the streets here---very talented people. They were a young group that played lively and happy music that emphasized lung capacity, speed, and range of sound. The bass drummer had a tennis racket fastened to his drum. A bit strange. He used the racket as one of his sticks after he dropped on the ground—planned, I am sure. He did quite well with the tennis racket, must to the consternation of band instructors everywhere. They were fun and actually moved venues in the middle of the performance with the audience invited to move with them in a Pied Piper formation.

Once their performance was over, it was off to get some food from the vendors. We tried some noodles and vegetables…..very tasty, but extremely salty. Then we went off down the street to pick up a bratwurst at the German stand. Then we walked on and found a fresh roasted pork, so we had a pork sandwich, and finished it off with an ice cream cone. Stop laughing….we didn’t each have this….Neil and I shared each of these. Pete and Jess did a similar lunch.

Opera was our next stop. We headed to one of the local pubs that was hosting a scene from an opera. When we got there it was already crowded, so we sat in the outside garden. Jess and I stood by a door at the side of the pub and listened to and watched part of the opera. The door was the escape route for the young female star. It was fun, but of course, melodramatic. While listening to that we checked out the rest of our agenda….it was a fiber art display.

The fiber art display was up the hill by Pete’s school. We had time so we took the scenic and more gentle route up the hill. It was still steep, but not as brutal as the hill between their flat and school. We walked through an historic neighborhood and through part of the university, including the department of architecture. We got to the fiber arts display to discover that it was already closed. Oops. We walked down the hill to the flat for potty and drink stop.

One more performance on our list: the Hutnuk dancers were performing at the Merchant City Building. This dance group used a combination of traditional dances of India and modern dance. The group was made up 3 young women and 3 young men with an abundance of dances. They incorporated several costume changes within their performance. The performance was fun and energetic. There were a number of children at this performance enjoying the colors and the fast paced movements. It was a fun venue with people standing and sitting on the floor around the stage which was a large square hard wrestling mat. .

Back to the flat where people had things that needed to be accomplished before morning. Pete and Jess had work / school things to do and Neil and I had packing to do.

Steps: 8,659

York, England

2010-07-28T11:30:00.020-05:00

The Winston Churchill Engine, The Japanese Bullet Train, a model of the Chunnel

Engines around the turntable, an engine, the cutaway of tender

A garden engine, Name plate, the Flying Scotsman display

Fans of Harry Potter know this sign, the gravestone for the defunct railroad, the shop

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Today is Transportation Museum Day. We were up and out of the flat before some of us were awake—it's Saturday after all. At the Central station we had some difficulty finding which train it we were to board since when we arrived there was a train at platform one to York and other places, but it did not leave at the time on our tickets. We asked a station attendant, but she did not know and directed us to the stationmaster's office—it wasn't open yet, but she said just open the sliding glass doors and knock on the inside door. We did, and two startled looking men said oh yea, your train is out there ready to go. As we walked along the platform we asked one of the train crew, actually the crew leader if this was the correct train—she made a call and as she was talking our train pulled in to platform two at 4 minutes before 7AM. We were taking the early train because there was an 80 pound difference in cost between that train and the next ones. We checked with the train manager of the second train, and he said yes he was going to York, and we were welcome to come. The trouble was really that our train was bound for places way south in England but to little towns I did not recognize. The train actually stops eventually in Southampton on the south coast.

For most of the way there was plenty of room and we relaxed. At Durham a huge load of passengers got on, and we had to move back to our assigned seats which were not table seats and therefore a bit smaller. At York we disembarked, checked at the train information about our return and then followed the signs to the Royal Transportation Museum. It was only a short walk over the station tracks and then two blocks to the museum. We saw a car crash on the way. Actually the crash was over, they were waiting for wreckers, I assume since it didn't look like either vehicle was going to move without one.

The museum is free, but they ask for donations and got one. We went first to the station room and saw the now retired royal coaches used by the kings and queens since Victoria took the first royal train ride way back when. They had other engines and coaches and exhibits in the room. We learned that when a royal train is on the tracks a pilot engine goes ahead 15 minutes and clears and shuts down the track. The royal train will follow. Then it is followed by another engine 15 minutes behind and reopens the line. The only traffic allowed on the same, but parallel line is a Royal Mail train.

The museum has created a lovely little restaurant on one of the platforms within the royal train building. This place was quite classy as museum cafés go. Nancy had a roast pork sandwich which had pork stuffing and applesauce on it with the pork cut from the loin right before your eyes, and I had a jacket potato, and a strawberry tart, and cokes with ice. Lunch was as good as it looked.

We then looked at the rest of the wagons and engines in that building. Outside for a bit, they have rides behind live steam on weekends, but outside is mostly to distract the kids and for picnics which don’t cost as much as the restaurant. We chose not to do the steam train ride which took two and a half hours.

Inside the main building.is a huge display of restored and semi restored rail equipment. First we walked through one of the coaches from a Japanese bullet train, very neat. Then we walked past various locomotives including the Pacific type named for Winston Churchill, more modern desiels and many displays. One display was the history of the railroads in the UK since World War I, including nationalization, and the divestiture of the public railroads. It is interesting that Nancy and I find their rail system very good and effective—but that natives talk about the good old days and how good it used to be before the Thatcher government did away with nationalization. One of the most interesting things was a full sized Pacific type locomotive cut open as you often see in diagrams to show how the machinery worked. There were separate explanations for over fifty parts within the locomotive--a most effective display.

After finishing the main gallery with a visit to how the royal mail and the railroads still cooperate and an appeal for funds to continue rehabilitation of their Flying Scotsman Locomotive we entered the warehouse. This is a huge dusty not so well lit storage area for the things they don’t have on display. They had wide numbers of models of many scales: one man’s lifetime production of “O” guage models of the LNR (London and North Railroad) one of the old main railroads, well over four hundred models. There were old signals, china and silver services, old style self service ticket machines, and the tombstone for a railroad that had been eliminated during the cutbacks in service. Apparently the local people were not happy with the loss of service. Within the warehouse was the story of the Flying Scotsman Rail Service from London to Edinburgh. There were explanations, and pictures, and videos. One of the stories was told by a steward in the dining car who when things in the dining card were slow and the train fast would have one of the “boys” go to the restroom and pull the chain to stop the train. The conductor would be angry and curse and complain, but the steward would have time to collect from the diners.

The next stop was the shop which was viewed by visitors from an overhead gallery. The mechanics were working on an old (it goes without saying right) diesel using an overhead crane to fit a large air resivior in the front of the machine. They had several projects under way and the shop was crowded with huge machine tools needed to make the replacement parts. They also had displays about signals, weather difficulties, and wrecks.

We spent some time in the gift shop looking at all the model trains for sale, and since we had time before our ride back to Glasgow we went to the library and spent time resting and looking at books about railroads and transportation. As the museum closed we headed back up the hill and over the bridge to the station to await our train. Our train was scheduled to leave at 6:37 PM. It is about a 3 hour 40 minute trip each way between Glasgow and York. It was a crowded long tiring ride back to Glasgow where we arrived at 10:34. Quite a long day and a long ride.

19,424 Steps plus two long train rides

Daily life on vacation

2010-07-28T11:05:00.010-05:00

Chase on the window ledge, flowers from the Glasgow Botanic Center

Just thought we needed some pictures to liven up a boring blog.

Friday July 23, 2010

Last night we figured out what we were doing in our limited time here. A trip to the transportation Museum in York and a trip up north to the northern coast of Scotland. Today the task was to get ready for those trips and do some of the tasks we had put off since we are running of time. Up, bed put away, breakfast, clean and dressed. However, this morning we worked on sorting some of our accumulated stuff and laundry. Nancy ordered the tickets online for York and Thurso.

We went out to the vendors that were already set-up for this weekend’s Merchant City Festival, just to see and get some lunch. We had a great bratwurst from a French vendor. Then we tried some potatoes from a German vendor. Then it was off to deal with the errands…souvenirs, tickets, groceries. City center was "nuts" today……there were people everywhere….the sun was shining and there is the Merchant City Festival this weekend.

Getting the train tickets proved to be an easy adventure. Since I had ordered them on-line, I had to go to the station to get the tickets from the automatic ticket machine. Up to the ticket counter I went….George was the agent. I told George that I needed help since I had been told that I needed a chip in my credit card to make it work. Since we Americans don’t have the chip, using a credit card is sometimes a problem. George said that all Scots think that is true, but apparently it is not. Off to the machine we went….George came as well. George helped us get our tickets to York, Thurso, and Southampton….9 cards for York (two tickets each way, two seat reservation cards each way, and a collection card. It is even worse for Thurso since we have several train changes to accomplish. I think he really enjoyed helping us…he stayed until we had all of the tickets collected. The chip in the credit card is automatically read and the information transmitted. The customer inserts the card....the clerk never touches it.

Then we went back to the flat and worked on the blogs and pictures until Pete called and asked if we wanted to go out with Jess and him after work. Pete came to the flat, collected us, and we met Jess at a pub by Queens Street Station.. Later we went to another pub/restaurant named AdLib where Neil and Jess had great chicken sandwiches, Pete had a hamburger, and I had the best macaroni and cheese I have ever tasted. We all shared and tasted each other’s food.

Back to the flat and bed….we had to get up to catch a very early train.

Steps: 14,828

Exploring Perth (pronounced Pearth)

2010-07-28T05:13:00.018-05:00

Scenes from the train on the way to Perth, the train station in Perth

Castle Balhousie--home of the Blackwatch Regimental Museum, A shrub on the gounds of Balhousie, the interior of the cafe where we ate lunch

The cafe where we were served lunch by a dude in a kilt. He had knobby knees. The Royal Scotsman train at the station in Perth. This is much like the Orient Express train. The dining car was set up---3 wine glasses and a water glass for each place setting. The saying here is "It's quite posh." 7,800 Pounds per person (around 12,000 US dollars) for a 7 day journey around Great Britain....considerably more than the Queen Mary.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Today is a different day with a new destination in new territory. Got up as usual, had breakfast, cleaned up, washed dishes, and headed for the train station. We bought tickets for Perth, only a few more pounds than Edinburgh, but apparently there is no peak in Perth as we were told we could use our off-peak tickets any time during the day. We had a quite nice ride with a few other passengers and arrived in Perth in an hour and fifteen minutes.

Our first goal was to find the tourist information center. We thought we followed the signs, but we missed something and went into a fabric store for Nancy and asked further directions. They were helpful and we almost got to the TIC, but we found a jewelry store, with some very nice items made in England and Scotland, and then moved on to the TIC. We got the information we needed and found the sites we wanted were all within walking distance. Before heading to the museum we stopped back at the jewelry store where a birthday present for Nancy was purchased. [Or was it a buy off for a trip to another military museum? Our answers, of course, will differ. This is a joke by the way.]

Now for sure off to the Museum—The Black Watch Regimental Museum which is located in Perth. A short walk past the tennis club and through a well-to-do neighborhood brought us to the castle. They had huge fir trees in the neat little park around the castle. The museum covered the beginnings of the regiment, and its history through Napoleon, the Crimea, the Boer War, WWI and WWII as well as assignments in India on the NW frontier, and in Africa against the Fuzzy Wuzzies. It also had exhibits about Northern Ireland, Iraq, Cyprus, and Afghanistan. It was better done than some with some audio-visual stuff that was very nice. No pictures allowed. I really did want a picture of the museum men in their back watch trousers. As the morning and early afternoon had disappeared we left the castle (Balhousie Castle) in search of lunch.

A note: Trousers is the preferred term for what we call slacks or pants. Pants are under garments and people look at you very strangely if you talk about pants. Fortunately, Pete and Jess had educated us concerning that word usage.

We walked a path along the golf course and checked our map as we went—a man working for the park came over to help us and asked where we were from. When Nancy answered that were were from Iowa, he didn’t show recognition, so she explained we lived near Chicago---this he knew and his look changed as he left us—apparently he thought we were gangsters from the big city, friends of Al Capone. His face showed real fear and he really took off quickly. It is unfortunate that we scared him because people for the most part have been most helpful.

After following his directions we reentered the main part of town. For lunch we stopped at a nearly empty restaurant which had a reasonable menu with reasonable prices. Our waiter ran through the specials which Neil mostly understood. Nancy had the soup and sandwich special, an open faced steak sandwich and cream of cauliflower soup. I had the sandwich of the day, roast beef and chips. Everything was good; we shared. After lunch we went for a stroll through Perth—they had a museum of Art, but we were not enthused and just window shopped for a while. Bought some trail mix and worked our way through town and eventually to the station to catch our train home.

On the train we sat with a young man going to Glasgow to see the city and his girlfriend and a movie. He said, let me write down where I think you are from—then tell me. He was very polite and asked permission first. His guess which he had written down was USA-midwest, a student of accents, but he had not been to America. Side note we have met a large number of people here who have been to the United States—usually the east coast or Florida, but a few have even been to Iowa. Cab drivers, shop owners, students, waiters have been to the US—much more common than us going to United Kingdom. Another note: The young man said that he really wanted to see the movie more than the girl. I suggested that he perhaps not tell the young lady that piece of information.

Home, planning, dinner, a treat and to bed.

Estimated Steps 15, 247---no accurate total because Neil forgot to put on the step meter. This is based on where we went, how long we walked, and how sore our feet were .

Off to Edinburgh on Wednesday

2010-07-28T02:07:00.017-05:00

An Edinburgh Street scene, the National Museum in its netting, National Museum

A piece of steel bent like a noodle (no mention of Superman), A spinning wheel, a weaving loom

All of these things are in the National Museum where they allowed pictures.

An electric carding machine, Sir Jackie Stewart's racing car, St. Giles Cathedral

Stained glass windown in St. Giles (It's reallly upright in reality.) Flowers by the staircase in Edinburgh (by the Sir Walter Scott monument), City scene from across the railroad valley (taken from under the umbrella in the pouring rain...actually the flower pictures were taken the same way.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Woke up, watched the NBC nightly news with breakfast as we usually do. Pete and Jess get it as part of their free tv channels on their computer. It is a bit odd to watch Brian Williams at 7:00 AM. We worked on the blog for a bit, still behind as I am sure you have noticed.

About 10 AM we left for Edinburgh. We walked to Queen Street Station and caught the 10:15 train to Edinburgh. We had a very nice train ride….calm and peaceful with our table seats. We reached Waverly and headed for the Scottish National Museum. We were distracted by a couple of shops along the way…..sometimes, we are easily distracted. We had great fun playing tourist in the shops. However, we eventually reached the museum, which should be no surprise, is wrapped in scaffolding and is being renovated inside and out. Did we mention that it was raining? Oh well, at least it is a free museum.

The National Museum of Scotland is an amalgamation of the things that Scotsmen have accomplished. We started our tour out of order because we were not really interested in Scottish kings—although I’m sure we would have learned a great deal. We began with Scotland Transformed---from a backward agricultural province to an industrial leader of the world. We saw the spinning and weaving equipment that was operated by hand and the progressively more complex machines that took over the textile industry. From simple hand held carding tools to a complex machine with many sets of rollers that automatically organized fibers into coherent fluff that could be turned into thread. There were models of steam engines and displays of iron and steel making and coal mining all showing the great changes that overtook the country after the Union with England—kind of a shot-gun wedding, and the final end of the Jacobite threat. The next floor was industry and empire which continued the examination of Scottish industry, railroads, shipbuilding, iron and steel, and bridge building. Lots of big artifacts and working models made it an interesting display.

We took a break to look at the Lewis Chessmen, stone carvings from the western islands that are quite ancient. They were used as models for the chess pieces in one of the early Harry Potter movies. And for a bit of lunch. We split a sandwich and a salad and some carrot cake—it was ok, not the least because it was still raining/pouring outside.

Back to the museum proper to look at the dispersion of Scots throughout the Empire and the emigration of Scots to various places. Twenty five million people worldwide claim to be of Scottish ancestry….five million live in Scotland. Finally we looked at Scotland a changing nation and how the lives of people have and are changing. Certainly the time after World War II has been hard on Scotland as the loss of industrial jobs and the decline of British trade have hurt the economic base, but things are slowly improving.

We made our way out the museum and into a steady rain….good thing we bought those rain jackets and umbrellas. We went in search of St. Giles Cathedral. After a wrong turn and an extra walk in the rain, we found the Cathedral. The Cathedral was the home church for John Knox and his statue resides in front of the cathedral. Inside the cathedral, they asked that you pay 2 pounds for a photography sticker. Since they are using the money for restoration, I paid the money, got my sticker and took pictures. The stained glass windows, the Gothic Vaulted ceiling and the magnificient organ, which was being played, all contributed to the impressivemess of the building.

We decided to leave the cathedral and finish the National Gallery, so we walked down hill to the in the rain and into the gallery. We checked out some 19^th century English artists and some older paintings and then they were closing so we had to leave. Where do you go in a rainstorm in Edinburgh when the public venues have closed? Riding a tour bus in the rain didn’t do it, window shopping on Princess Street held little appeal, and we were not walking back up hill to the Royal Mile and a Bit—so we went to the train station, got some coffee—a wonderful mocha with whipped cream and chocolate dusting-- and read a newspaper until our off-peak tickets could be used. We took a crowded train back to Glasgow.

At Pete and Jess’s we checked laundry, talked, watched some tube, read and went to bed. Oh yes, we decided to go to Perth tomorrow. Oh yes, we talked and saw Sarah and Aiden and Gavin through the genius of SKYPE.

Amazingly enough, an even 16,000 steps.

We're behind

2010-07-26T02:27:00.002-05:00

Good Day All.....

We know we are behind with the blog...sorry. However, we promise to catch it up on Wednesday and Thursday when we return from Thurso....way on the northern end of Scotland. See you then.

Vacation within vacation is over

2010-07-25T16:27:00.008-05:00

Pete & Jess's flat....I don't think pictures of laundry, even clean are that great.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

We started out the day working on the blogs, doing laundry, unpacking and picking up from vacation. It is quite hard to get caught up once behind.

Neil and Pete picked up the car from the car club that Pete and Jess have joined so that Chase could be retrieved from the kennel where she has been vacationing. They got to use a BMW again. We also had a BMW to take her out….my first ride in a BMW-- nice car.

We worked for several hours and then headed out to do errands. But before errands, some lunch. We went to Chippy doon the lane again for their Haddock--what a great lunch. Then errands as we needed to go walking to counteract all the fish we had consumed. We needed an additional drying rack and a new watch for me…a week without a watch is enough. We went to Argos to find those necessary things.

We stopped at a camera store along the way and talked to a gentleman about the camera. His news was not good. It seems the camera will need to be repaired; apparently, it’s a common problem brought about by clumsy people dropping them. The gear has slipped or broken a tooth. The really bad news is that if we continue to use it, it could do further damage like killing the motor. Shoot. He also directed us to a computer store where we could buy a portable hard drive to save us from buying more thumb drives to back-up our picture files. The salesman there seconded Pete's reccomendation, and so we bought one. This little thing, smaller than a DVD case, actually has more memory available than does the notebook computer--I know it doesn't have programs on it but still it is amazing. Then we walked to Argos to get a new Timex for Nancy and the second drying rack for the mountain of laundry back at the flat. We found a Canon camera that was cheap--to take wear and tear off the expensive broken one. Imagine our surprise when it was on special a further 20 pounds off--such a deal.

It also rained on us while we were out….nothing new

We also went grocery shopping. Pete works Tuesday through Thursday evenings and Friday during the day, so we did some adjusting with the menus.

We continued to work on the blogs and laundry.

A pretty unvacation like day, but necessary.

Steps: 17,954 We walked a long ways

If it's Monday, it must be Newcastle

2010-07-25T15:15:00.009-05:00

Newcastle Harbor, Parallel parking the ferry which was big enough to carry semi and busses, an oil derrick right in the harbor

The castle at Newcastle, Dog Leaps Staircase, the Millenium Bridge at Gateshead

Sage Building at Gateshead..all windows, window washers about 1/3 the way down, a railroad bridge in New Castle

Monday, July 19, 2010

We awoke, how refreshed is questionable, but we were awake—a combination of vacationing hard in Paris, Amsterdam, and the warmth of our cabin and the rocking of the boat. We had the breakfast buffet which was quite good….American crisp bacon and lots of fresh fruit. We giggled quietly about the buffet mentality of people. There was a very small petite woman in line in front of me who filled her place to heaping proportions with eggs and bacon. We all had plenty of breakfast and coffee. We then packed, not a big task.

The four of us went up on deck to watch us come into the Tyne Estuary at Newcastle. We watched as the ferry parallel parked at the pier (yes, it really did), and then made our way to the stairway to the disembarkation ramp. It was quite crowded for a long while then it thinned out, and we could use the nifty luggage escalator as we walked off the ship. Then the line jammed up again as we got closer to passport control. Nancy went ahead to see if there were special lines ahead---she was right, the crowd was for those with European Union passports—we had US passports and the out line was much shorter—nobody was in line. The young man chatted with us and checked us through. We walked out of the terminal looking for the bus to central station. A travel advisor told us that a bus would be 3.50 pounds each, but one cab could take us for 12.00 pounds ---we took the cab even though Peter thinks this may be cheating as travelers. It was a lengthy cab ride to central station, well worth the 12.00 as we did not have to wait, and it was after all cheaper.

In downtown Newcastle we checked our bags at the Left Luggage Office and set out to explore a bit of Newcastle. We walked straight down hill past the really old castle left over from centuries ago (like the 12^th) to the river. We stopped in the Tourist Information office, got some information, and set off along the river. Pedestrians contest the river walk with sea birds who nest in the girders of the bridges and the roof edges of some buildings. In some spots it seems the birds are winning with their droppings.

We went to a unique draw bridge named the Millennium Bridge where the span and its supporting arches are at angles from 180 and 90 degrees. When they wish to raise the bridge the arch swings on its side a bit and the walk way rises a bit. A very elegant design, but this was only for light duty—bicycles and pedestrians. Pete and Jess thought they wanted to look at the huge glass building across the river in Gateshead. The building is Sage at the Gateshead designed by Norman Foster, a k kind of a glass four tiered armadillo—but the walk up the other side of the valley looked very very steep so they looked at it from afar. We headed back up hill and split up—Pete and Jess looking at more architecture, and Nancy and I back to the station to sit down. Steeep! Hills are hard on older tendons, ankles and knees.

At the station we relaxed. I went into a News Stand for a coke and found they had scads of Railroad and Modeling Magazines. I bought two and had lots to look at. Pete and Jess showed up and we had lunch at Burger King no less. The food was completely American-- what a surprise. Our train came we got on—kicked some people out of our reserved seats and enjoyed a pleasant ride home. Once home we collapsed early—Jess was facing work the next day, and we had errands to run, including such mundane things as laundry and groceries.

11,983 steps—not bad for a day spent being transported about,

Sunday -- Leaving Amsterdam

2010-07-23T11:47:00.010-05:00

The Rijksmuseum, The Rijksmuseum all wrapped up, I Amsterdam sign in the park

The tram, Our room at the Hotel VanOnna, The harbor we left Holland from

The Harbor Pilot leaving our ship, an oil derrick in the North Sea, Look carefully and you can see the wind turbines in the deep water

Sunday June 18^th, 2010

Awakened for another big travel day, but the travel didn’t begin until late afternoon, so we had some more time in Amsterdam. Up, breakfast, and a plan to head out for a museum set the track for the day.

We boarded the tram at Westermarkt and tried to by another all day tram pass from the ticket agent on the train. She told us she couldn’t sell us one because it was a holiday, but I knew it wasn’t a holiday since I had just finished reading a list of Dutch holidays. So we paid for a hour ticket and rode downtown, waited for the main ticket office to open and bought the passes there. There wasn’t a holiday. We tried to get credit for the one trip pass we had been forced to buy but that didn’t work.

We went to the Rijksmuseum where guess what….half the building is wrapped in scaffolding and the protective mesh. The modernization of the building is beautiful, but it is only partially done and most of the collection is not available. We saw two wonderful doll houses, old and from a wealthy family so they were much larger than such things in the states. We went upstairs and saw many old masters: Rembrants, Da Vinci and so on—very pretty, but I think we are losing interest in Art collections as we have seen a few, and they blend together after a while. One interesting exhibit was the connection between Ver Meer, the Flemish master, and Juan Miro, the modern abstract painter. It seems that Miro spent many hours in Amsterdam studying the Ver Meer paintings and did some works based on them. The exhibit put the two paintings next to each other and showed how the realistic dog in the Ver Meer became a blue swatch of color in the Miro as so on. Being old fogies we much preferred the originals.

We visited all the parts of the museum that were open and then went outside to a beautiful day. We strolled through a small market in the park, had a hot dog and a coke in the park for lunch and decided to ride the tram since we had the pass. We took #14 south and east. We disembarked by the Osterpark, and walked through part or the park, watched two young men catch a large fish from the canal and release it. Then we got on a number 9 tram back toward city center where we connected to number 17 and back to our hotel to collect Pete and Jess and our luggage---or maybe they collected us. We caught the number 13 tram, so Pete and Jess could see the Dykstra building, and headed back downtown to the Victoria Hotel where we needed to catch our bus to the ferry port.

The bus was full…lots of people going to the ferry. The ferry port was a 35 minute ride from the center of Amsterdam. It took us through newer sections of the city and through an agricultural area and through another town. Even though we were in the center of the bus, we were some of the first people off thanks to a center door. Pete got our luggage from the storage compartment and off we went to queue up I do like the phrase “queue up.” It sounds like so much more fun than “line up.” We got our boarding passes, went through European Union customs and got our Dutch stamp in our passports with no problems at all. We made our way to our cabin on the 11^th deck of the ship. It was a wee cabin, but it had four berths with Neil and Pete volunteering to take the top ones and an ensuite bathroom…what more did we need.

We left our cabin and proceeded to explore the ship. They had a wee casino with slot machines that took big denominations—1, 5, 10 ,20 euros—so we ignored them and our chance to become millionaires. It had duty free shops, perfume, jewelry, booze and weirdly duty free MM’s. We found out where the expensive eating points were and where we would eat—not the same places. We ended up on the outside near our cabin to watch the ship leave its port. It was quite crowded as pretty much everyone wanted to watch the activity. The shipping lanes were busy. We saw some ten additional ships as we left Holland, along with windmills—wind turbines way off shore and oil platforms. We had some dinner and then went on deck to drink some wine and worry about how rough the sea would become. Eventually we finished our wine and our companions on deck became more rowdy—it seems that Dutch young men and alcohol don’t mix much more politely than do young Scots, or Englishmen and alcohol. We climbed back down stairs and piled into bed. It was warm, we were tired, and the sea was calm so soon we were asleep.

This was also the day the camera fell out of Nancy’s pocket, hit the deck (about a 12” drop) and began making very strange and very bad noises.

14,414 Steps and a bus ride.

Saturday in Amsterdam

2010-07-23T03:40:00.014-05:00

Photos: Flowers from various shops in the floating market

Photos: Dude doing yoga in the entertainment square...supposedly holding himself up on the pole....for an awfully long time.

Photos: For my family if you are reading the blog. We were riding the #13 tram when we saw this building, so we went back to take pictures.

The Hermitage Museum, Some of the 2500 canal/houseboats residing in the canals. No permits are being given for new ones.

The Anne Frank Huis and Museum

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Same beginning to another day in Amsterdam, cleaned, dressed, breakfasted, and ready to go.

Nancy and I went our separate way from Pete and Jess agreeing to meet at 6:00 this evening, so we could have dinner and see the Anne Frank House for which Pete and Jess had purchased tickets yesterday. We bought a one day tram pass and set off.

The first stop was downtown to change to the correct tram then to the Hermitage Museum. This is actually a branch of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and it exhibits parts of the Russian Museum’s vast collection. The collaboration between the Dutch and the Russians goes back to Peter the Great who spent time in the Netherlands trying to learn new technology to bring home and help him in his fight against the Turks and Swedes. The exhibit was of early modern paintings collected by two rich Russian merchants in the early 1900’s. It seems that while their two merchants had scads of money, they were not accepted into elite Russian society because of lack of family connections. They showed their rebellious nature by buying modern art in Paris and to bring back to Russia. We saw Gaugan, Braque, and more Picasso’s than I have ever seen in one room. They also had a photo of their home in St. Petersburg—a very ornate, very old fashioned home with these wild new modern paintings on the wall. As with our usual run of luck, half the museum was being prepared for a new exhibit and renovations. It was very interesting and not too crowded until later when we decided to leave.

We intended to walk a few blocks to the Gassan Diamonds exhibition, but we got side tracked by lunch. We bought some great fries (frites) and a Coke Light from a street vendor in one of the local markets. Then we looked through a market—a flea market which sold everything from antiques, to cheap clothes, to wild T-shirts, to DVD’s, to midnight (stolen?) bicycle parts. We looked at many things but bought nothing. We did encounter a mother with a child in a pram and a son about nine or ten. The little boy stopped while his mother continued on…..He was quite enthralled by the XXX movie covers in one of the stalls. Quite different from other countries where there are much stricter controls.

Then a few blocks further and over a canal to Gassan Diamonds we trudged. We walked right in to the receptionist’s desk and asked for a tour. She asked what language we wished—we explained we were from the states, and she gave us a sticker and directed us to the second floor where our guide would meet us. On the second floor we looked at some diamond working tools and some pictures of the “old” days then found our tour guide over with a small group watching a lady polish the facets on a small diamond. Very time consuming meticulous work. For a 57 facet diamond it will take about a day and a half to polish the stone to it final luster and cut. She would check her design, use her jeweler’s eye, touch the diamond to the moving belt of diamond dust and olive oil, check it again and make a note of what she had done. Then she started over.

Our guide then moved us quickly down the hall to a small room to see some diamonds. First our guide, a gemologist, explained the evaluation of diamonds on the basis of weight (caret), color, imperfections (clarity), and cut. He said as amateurs we should base our thinking on weight and color, because the others require a trained eye to tell the difference. Obviously if you are buying diamonds for investment purposes then clarity becomes an issue. The gemologist had a question from the audience about why a diamond sparkles more in certain lights than others, ie, sunlight versus fluorescent. He was having a great deal of trouble with the question which Neil helped him answer. Then he brought out some diamonds: a .24 carat almost perfect stone for 400 Euros, up to a 2.4 carat monster worth some 80,000 Euros without a setting and without the jeweler’s markup which can run a 33% to 66% markup depending on the store. Gassan sells to Tiffany’s and Cartiers and a lot of other diamond stores. Diamonds in various settings were then presented to the visitors/customers to look at to try on, to buy. There were about 10 trays of diamonds—rings and earrings mainly just sitting on the table to touch. The least expensive ring I looked at and tried on was 790 Euros. The most expensive one I tried on was 29000 Euros. Needless to say we passed on the purchase part of the tour even though we could have purchased them tax free and without the jewelry store mark up. It ended with a free coffee and a hot Dutch cookie a fine ending to a great tour.

The next close venue was the flower market. The flower market is a floating venue with the shops built on barges. We walked along a street with vendor after vendor selling bulbs, plants, cut flowers, seeds, and other plant related products. We continue to be amazed by the wide variety of plants that grow in Europe--both in Holland and the UK. They have this climate with very little bitter cold, and plenty of light and rain. The flowering plants in gardens and parks are just amazing.

We still had a bit of afternoon to use so we hopped a tramline---number 10 and rode through a different part of the city past some crowded parts and some not so crowded. We finally had to get off at the island when the driver said end of the line. We waited a few minutes and then got back on the same tram and took a journey back toward city center, changed to another line, rode to central station, and transferred to #17 and back to the Hotel neighborhood. Pete called and said they had missed the early train and would be late for our meeting.
Nancy and I set out for dinner. At a corner café we had stroganoff, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a Dutch apple pancake (rather like a crepe without folding it over)---great, Pete and Jess found us at the café.

After dinner we walked the two blocks to the Anne Frank House, pressed the bell on the advanced ticket door and went in. It was 8:15 and still crowded. The tour took us through the house/warehouse. We saw each of the rooms used by the families in hiding, all 8 persons, and read the history of the diary, the house, and the museum. A really sad story, I wonder how the German speakers in the crowd felt about what they saw and read? The furniture was removed by the army after the Franks were taken away. It was the desire of Mr. Frank that the apartments be left empty. There were cartoons and pictures which Anne had pasted to the wall of her bedroom. No photography of any kind was allowed. It was quite a somber experience.

We stopped for the other beer—Amstel not Heiniken, and so to the hotel and bed.

15,163 steps including some museum shuffle.

Friday in Amsterdam

2010-07-23T01:55:00.010-05:00

Photos: canal photo, the Red Light District, a reconstruction of the ship to found New Amsterdam

Photos: Another canal picture, the new music building and hotel, the Skinny Bridge

Photos: The Maritime Museum that taunted Neil, a cheese section in the grocery, Us in front of Hotel VanOnna

Friday, July 16, 2010

Today Pete and Jess took off to rent bicycles and with a map to explore specific areas of the city that are architecturally important and / or interesting. Neil and I on the other hand decided that old knees, bad ankle tendons, and a definite lack of practice riding bicycles would be better off with other modes of transportation. We started out walking around when we decided that a canal boat ride would be great. Off we went in search of tickets. We didn’t have to go too far….just by our favorite Westermarkt square.

We bought a 24 hour hop on, hop off canal boat ticket. This allowed us to ride all of the routes that were available. We started out on the green route by the Westerkerk—the West Church and the Anne Frank Huis (house). This routes which goes over the Prinsengracht (gracht means canal) took us past many of the old homes of the city…right around 1500 buildings of which 1,100 are on the protected historical list. We went past the New Casino and stopped at the Rijksmuseum where the Rembrandt paintings can be seen. From there we back tracked and changed canals because of construction blockages. Some of the locks are quite narrow and take some maneuvering to get the boats through. We saw the Blue Bridge, the Hermitage, the Joods History Museum, and the City Hall & Opera huis. We saw the Zuiderkerk, another of the really old churches in Amsterdam. From there we passed the Montelbaanstoren—a tower. We reached the end of the line at Central Station.

From there we made our way to the Orange Line, which on the brochure looks suspiciously gold. We had to cross a bridge, go around the TIC (tourist information center) and a few more construction site barriers, but we found the dock. We were 30 minutes early. We decided to wait. Tourists are interesting creatures…..they sometimes forget how to queue…forming a line seems totally foreign to them. The UK people seem to be the best at forming queues. Anyway, we were first, but as time progressed the crowd grew. There was one couple who seemed quite intent on being first….quite to the point of pushing people. I watched her get as close to the edge of the dock as she dared—about a foot. When the boat tied up, I just stepped in front of her. She wasn’t happy, wouldn’t let Neil join me, but she didn’t say anything. Of course, it was childish, but it was fun to irritate her.

Back to the orange/gold line….this route took us around the outer ring of the big canals. We started from Stationsplein and made our way under the railroad bridges of Central Station and out into the big harbor called Het Ij (pronounced eye) and saw the new music building, the cruise ship terminal ( of which they are very proud) and a big new 15 or so story hotel…without air conditioning. From there we went past the Maritime Museum (Scheepvaart) which, of course, to Neil’s dismay is closed for renovations until at least 2011. I think this makes 3 or 4 transportation museums which have been closed. Our route took us past one of 8 windmills left in the city proper. At the end of 1800’s there were over 1000 of them. Our boat continued past the Dapper Market, which is like a combination farmer’s, flea, and thieves market….a bit of everything with over 200 stalls. It is one of three such markets in the city. On we continued past the tropical museum, the Tropenmuseum. We went past the University of Amsterdam and across the Amstel River for the second time. The two sides of the Amstel are connected with the skinny bridge which was built in 1934. We went past the Heineken Experience / Museum, which is not really owned by Heineken anymore, nor is beer produced in that building anymore. Figure that one out… We continued our tour stopping at the Rijksmuseum where our boat pilot announced he was taking a twenty minute break and would be back. We could have changed colour lines because three of them stop there, but we just stayed. By the time our pilot came back there was a boat in front of him and one tied next to him. He just nudged his way out, scrapping the other boats as he went. Our tour continued through residential and commercial areas. The really old houses have developed some interesting lines. As was explained the soil is quite soft, so the houses were built using big wooden pilings. Unfortunately, when the water level drops that allows oxygen to reach the wood, which then promotes rotting and then the houses begin to settle. Pete and Jess saw a house that was about 8 to 10 inches from its neighbor at the foundation, but leaned about 18 to 24 inches away from the same neighbor at the top. The houses are built with a lean toward the street and a pulley sticking out from the top to help with moving. The lean was to prevent the huis from being damaged. We saw one house (huis) built on a corner that leaned two ways…strange.

Back to Central Station and the dock where our pilot tied up to another boat. To get out we had to climb from our boat into the next boat and then on to the dock. I didn’t even fall in the water. Lunch was a hot dog from a vendor whose hot dog stand was connected to his motorscooter.

The Blue line was our last canal journey. Again we boarded at Central Station and traveled over some of the same route as before. We did go past NEMO which the new science museum. It is shaped like the bow of a ship and is done in green, or it’s copper that has turned colors. Again we went by the closed Maritime Museum; not really trying to make Neil feel cheated, but there it was again in all its shrouds. We continued through more residential/commercial areas and went past the Artis Zoo. The story is that they used to have no admission during the month of September so that the poor could go to the zoo. However, they put down new rock on the paths at the beginning of the month, and when all the poor came in their wooden shoes; the rock would be ground down to smaller gravel, making it easier and safer for the rich when they paid to visit. We passed the Heritage Museum which is a cooperative museum of the Russian Hermitage, and continued on back to the station.

On our walk back to the hotel we decided to take a walk through the infamous Red Light district. All of the pamphlets we picked up had information about how it was safe for tourists and rules to follow, so being good tourists, we checked it out. Okay, it was quite strange. Women have their own little doorways with curtains. There is actually a door. If they are open for business, they have their curtain open. Standing in their doorways, dressed in provocative clothing, trying to solicit business makes you feel sorry for them. There are women of all ages. It’s hard not to see them. There are also all kinds of porn shops, sex museums and marijuana coffee houses and museums. Marijuana is not illegal in Amsterdam. However, most of the people in the area seem to be foreigners…young males. I couldn’t believe the number of families with young children strolling through the Red Light District. However, my favorite group was the group of Scouts being led through the district. This is also the area of the outdoor urinals. Interesting.

After the Red Light District we did more mundane things. We found two quilt stores..right next door to each other. I quite enjoyed them. Then we checked out a shopping mall in an old building that had been refurbished into the mall and a large grocery store across the street. Then it was back to the hotel to meet Pete and Jess and find out how their bike ride had gone, dinner at an Italian café, and bed.

Steps: 13,163

On the Way to Amsterdam

2010-07-22T01:50:00.010-05:00

Photos: Gard de Norde Paris, Thales high speed train, tulip green houses--from the train

Photos: Pretty hydrangas, Canal scene, Canal scene

Photos: Central Station Amsterdam, Westerkerk, Street scene

Thursday July 15, 2010

We got up early (5:00 AM), which was hard to do since we had gotten in very late after the fireworks. A quick pack and down to the Metro stop on the way to Garde d’ Norde was the order of the business. One change of lines, and we arrived exactly as expected—we had a cup of coffee and checked in at the ticket kiosk. Then we waited for the train. We had a bit of a fright as Nancy and Jess were delayed at the restroom, when Pete found them, we had 10 minutes to make the train—way too close. Still we made it to our first class seats on the Thales High Speed Train. The train left right on time, and we moved quickly through the city of Paris and quickly into the countryside. They came by with our breakfasts—included in first class. We ate and talked and enjoyed the trip as we sped through northern France to Belgium and to our first stop at Brussels. From there it was a short time to Amsterdam. It really was a fast train. It was less than 3 hours from Paris to Amsterdam.

We reached Central Station in Amsterdam and worked our way out of the station. Following instructions that Pete and Jess had, we figured out that we needed to take tram 13 or 17 to Westermarkt. This was a plaza near our hotel—about 4 blocks. This is in the Jordaan neighborhood. This is a desirable neighborhood that is undergoing a bit of revitalization with very desirable addresses. It is also the sight of one of the four really old churches in Amsterdam. There is actually one in the east, north, south, and west of Amsterdam. We walked the four blocks crossing two canals and reached the Hotel VanOnna. This is a smaller hotel located in one of the old buildings of Amsterdam. We had room 43 and Pete and Jess were in 44. The hotel was a stripped down version of a room you might find in the states. The beds were military metal cots---black, not green with sheets and blanket. The mattresses were much like you would find on a cot. The pillows, I think, were filled with barley…hard and firm. The drapes were two different colors of red; however, the white sheers were the same. There was no air conditioning. There were two chairs and a very short and small coffee table. The bathroom was my favorite….the shower had no door, nor did it have a curtain, but it did come with its own squeegee to mop down the floor after your shower. You had to provide your own soap and shampoo. The room was extremely clean and a great breakfast of sliced cold ham, a slice of cheese, bread, butter, a hard boiled egg, and a Dutch rusk that could be buttered and coated with sugar and chocolate sprinkles. It was a great hotel.

After checking in, we went out for a walk. We toured a canal boat museum, really the history of the one canal boat, but interesting none the less. We stopped in at a Delft Porcelain shop---I felt like the bull from the story and chose my steps carefully. We walked to the square by the palace and passed a fabric store and a quilt store that were closed, but noted the location. We spent time looking at buildings. It seems many of the old buildings in the area we were staying were built on wooden pilings, but as the water level fluctuated some of the piles were exposed to air and began to rot—hence the houses are not straight. The settling combined with a tendency to build the fronts of buildings that slant toward the street or canal leads to some weird buildings.

After a break in our rooms, we set out looking for dinner. We had no real idea except we didn’t want to spend way too much. We checked menus and moved on. We found a hole in the wall Chinese place which had seating for four. Actually, the whole place only had seating for 14. The result was wonderful—the Chinese food we have had in Europe is more delicately seasoned than what we have enjoyed in the states. After dinner we stopped for a pint in a local bar. We sat upstairs on a floor so crooked that a pencil dropped on the floor would roll all the way across the room to the other side. It was very nice and then we headed home to plan the next day.

14, 362 steps and three countries not a bad day.

Bastille Day -- July 14

2010-07-20T13:35:00.010-05:00

Up the staircase in the apartment house in Paris, one of the three wheeled motorcycles quite popular in Paris, one of the sets of flyover planes

Photos: the military equipment, the firemen, one of many rains

Photos: the tower Eiffel

Wednesday July 14, 2010 Bastille Day!

Got up early, had breakfast, cleaned up after ourselves, packed and said good-bye to our temporary apartment in Paris. It was a wonderful place near to many attractions and cheap when you consider that dinner for four at a grocery store was 25 euros, and a dinner out at restaurant would be close to 60 or 80.

A tube ride with transfers got us to a new neighborhood nearer the Eiffel Tower with a room at the Holiday Inn Express—breakfast NOT included. The ride was accomplished smoothly but the hotel neighborhood seemed a bit more remote than Neil had expected. We checked our bags at the front desk since we were too early to check into our room and headed for the parade.

We travelled by metro above ground for much of the way and arrived at the Arc de Triomphe station. The barricades directed the people back to the previous station. Apparently, the French military & police didn’t want people coming up in the middle of their military vehicles. There were mobs of people coming from all kinds of trains that were coming into the station. With the mob we made it to the street’s surface to find more and more barricades directing people where the guards wanted us. Along the side streets military equipment of all kinds was lined up waiting for the parade that was supposed to start at 10. It was now about 10:45. The fly over was scheduled for after the parade. However, all of a sudden a group of three planes went over with the red, white, and blue vapor trails. Then we had more planes and more planes and more planes and more planes. We were in a small square and had an awesome view of the planes. Neil can put in a paragraph about the planes.

Then the rain started, and I do mean rain, like a downpour. We found the raincoats and umbrellas and an overhang like the thousands of other people taking refuge. When the rain let up a bit, we went in search of a spot from which to watch the parade because we had now figured out they had done the flyover first and the parade second. We found a spot near the beginning of the parade and were only about 3 people back from the front….it was a good spot. We let Neil have the camera, and he took lots of pictures.

The parade was military vehicles….four abreast. There were tanks, guns, boats on trailers, more tanks, and tanks with guns. There were trucks, trucks with guns, boats with guns. Perhaps you can tell Neil will be more suited to describing the parade. There were no bands and no floats. The Bastille Day Parade is definitely military. The French people were relatively quiet and respectful until the firemen from Paris brought up the rear of the parade. Apparently the people of Paris have a very special relationship with their firemen. When the firemen and their vehicles pass there is much clapping and shouting for them. On the eve of Bastille Day the local fire stations each have parties and dances for the people of Paris which last well into the early morning hours.

On each of the vehicles, fighting or supply or command or whatever, there were young French soldiers or sailors in spotless uniforms with automatic weapons dressed sitting rigidly at attention. It mattered not if it rained or shined. On our way to the parade route we were in a somewhat large square when the French air force staged its fly-over. First were six fighters with red white and blue smoke trailing from the wings. Then more fighters, then a refueling jet with fighters near the refueling hoses, then an AWACs plane with smaller jets around it. Then some more aircraft, prop driven patrol craft, small transports which were flying very close to the ground as they passed our great vantage point. Then it began to drizzle, and the flyover ended for a while. We watched the parade, not the entire parade since we did not see the marching units near the front but we saw lots and lots of vehicles. As Nancy said the fire fighters were the last to pass, and the rain picked up again. As we were making our way toward a metro stop we saw the last of the fly-over, helicopters of several types, in formations, and then parachutists from some of the helicopters. Each parachutist carrying the flag of a former colony and when they landed in the Place de la Concorde, they joined together. We didn’t see that in person; it was on television in the café we dropped into.

We decided to try get a bit away from the Champs before trying to get a Metro Station, so we went walking. Another downpour, and I do mean deluge. We decided to find lunch and a place to dry out. We stopped in a café which had tapas. Neil and I had never had tapas, so we decided to get four tapas and share. We also got four coffees….two with milk. The coffees were in tiny little demitasse cups…Those were 3 Euros each. The two with milk were 5 Euros each. The tapas we received were smaller than the ones the other patrons received…..think there was some “taking advantage of the tourists” going on…. We continued our walk toward a tube station with no rain. Oops, spoke too soon. It started raining so hard that the gutters in the streets filled. We stood in a fairly substantial doorway to an apartment building and still had to use the umbrellas…It was wet….. It finally let up, and we made our way to the tube station with no more rain.

We reached our stop and made our way to the steps to street level….more rain…we caught up with the storm….again. When it let up, we stopped at a grocery for some snacks to take back to the hotel. As we came out the next phase of pouring rain arrived. We just took off…..once you are soaked, how much wetter can you get?

After a wee rest, Jess and Pete decided to go exploring some more. Neil wanted to take a nap, so we stayed in the room. I am getting very good at Sudoku puzzles…I do can many without writing down cheat numbers. Pete and Jess returned a few hours later with a story about getting to the Eiffel Tower and finding no line to buy tickets, they bought tickets and up the stairs they went to the first and second levels. They have some awesome pictures which they are going to share with us. Apparently in all of the downpours and the thunder and yes, the lightning, they close the tower…. They happened to arrive within a short time o.f the reopening.

Off to dinner….we were walking to the fireworks display. The fireworks were to be shot off between the Eiffel Tower and the Marine Museum and Aquarium. Thus, our backdrop for the fireworks included the Eiffel Tower. I get ahead of myself….we stopped at an Italian café with inside and outside dining….Most cafes do have this….we took a table outside. Neil, Pete, and Jess had various kinds of pizza. I had spaghetti Bolognese. Neil and I ordered a cappuccino to drink. Ok, who but dumb Americans wouldn’t know this is apparently a dessert drink. It came with an inch thick topping of whipped cream…real whipped cream. It was totally decadent.

We walked on down the hill to the plaza. We chose to stay out of the plaza proper, but we were across the street with thousands of others for the two hour wait until the fireworks were scheduled to start at 10:30. Being quite nimble, Pete and Jess scrambled up the side of the building to sit in one of the big window sills, setting precedence for others who were nimble enough to do it as well. The fireworks finally started at 11:00….Oh my, there is no way to describe them. They were magnificent, timed to music. We know they had at least two semis of fireworks shells. They were even grander than the one in the large cities in the states. The French did well. Pictures of fireworks do not take well on little cameras….at times like the fireworks is when I get envious of those many, many huge cameras I see people lugging about. The only small disappointment was that the Eiffel Tower interfered a little with our view. You can find pictures of the fireworks on the web.

The fireworks lasted 45 minutes to an hour…..I have no watch. I dropped it on the kitchen floor of the apartment last night, and it died. I am lost without my watch. Then the biggest mass of humanity that I have ever been a part of began to move. The mass took over the streets, the sidewalks, and all other available space and began to move as a unit away from the plaza and up the hill. Traffic from side streets and in the roundabouts had to come to a standstill. It was incredible. By the time we reached the last two blocks to our hotel we were the only people going our direction. By the way, it started raining as we crossed the last major road, so those two blocks were walked in the rain.

I don't think that I have gotten that wet that many times since we gave up camping at Crystal Lake.

Staying for Bastille Day was worth it. The French do know how to throw a party.

Steps: 20,583

Tuesday in Paris

2010-07-19T11:54:00.019-05:00

Photos: The gargoyles on Notre Dame, stained glass window in ND, the main part of the chapel

Photos: Musee de Orsay, McDonalds on one of the most expensive streets in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe

Photos: Looking up the center of the tower, Mr. Eiffel, my favorite tower

Photos: Part of the crowd at the Eiffel, an armed soldier at the Eiffel Tower, Bridge from the Seine River boat ride

Tuesday July 13, 2010

Woke up this morning all of us a little tired—we had some extra curricular entertainment during the night. Had a breakfast of eggs, fruit, croissants, coffee in our wee apartment. We set out together to Notre Dame, and as the crowd was small at this early hour we took the free walk through the cathedral. It is an awe-inspiring place. It is still an active church, and we walked among worshipers and tourists. The stained glass windows and the stone masonry are hard to describe. It is easy to see how some protestants felt that Catholics had an advantage with their church buildings.

Explanation of Extra curricular entertainment: The apartment is located on the 2nd floor (3rd American) of a building with a very small center courtyard. Pete and Neil were considering if they could throw an M & M into the apartment across from ours. There is no air conditioning. This means that the windows were open because Paris was having a heat wave. There was a young couple (we think American) also renting an apartment who were quite loud when they came back from partying at 2 in the morning.....obnoxious.

After the tour we parted from Pete and Jess and headed for the tour bus on our way to the Musee’ de Orsay, where the early modern period painters are exhibited. The Musee de Orsay is an old train station that has been renovated into a museum. It was going to be torn down when some people of Paris decided that a better use would be as a museum. The station itself is beautiful. The only sad thing is that there was absolutely no photography allowed. Sorry no pictures of even the inside of the train staion. We saw Manet, Monet, Gaugain, Degas, Latrec, and others in abundance. It is almost too much to see these paintings in person after seeing them so often in history books and art books. We were really interested in seeing a series of works by Monet featuring trains and train stations, but a guard informed us that the gallery was being renovated and the paintings were on loan to San Francisco. Those and most of the Degas ballerinas were not to be viewed—a few were there, but they have more that were not to be seen. We checked the cafeteria, and it was very crowded, so we went to the bus for more explorations.

After a very warm and very crowded bus ride with so many people on it that the aisles were filled, we got off on the Champs-Elyses. We walked up the famous avenue looking at people and stores and a place for lunch. We saw a beacon from home--McDonalds. We had not eaten at McD’s since before we left the states, so we did. Big Mac, Fries and a Coke at a sidewalk table on one of the world’s most famous streets. That McDonalds is making more money than you can imagine. It was so crowded that they had employees with palm computers taking the orders and giving customers numbers. We watched some young French people jump line and try to get served without their little numbers….the employees did not given in and made them go to the back of the line…. Four unhappy McDonald’s customers but many others who enjoyed the justice and fairness.

From there we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. This is a very imposing structure which most people all over the work recognize. It is also a French memorial to their war dead and the Tomb of the French Unknown Soldier. There is a twelve lane roundabout around the Arc without lane markers and complete with drivers who would just as soon gain points for getting a pedestrian as letting them cross alive. Thus, that method of dodging traffic was not really considered a viable option. Instead like law-abiding people we used the pedestrian underpass and made our way to the Arc. It is an imposing structure. The only really bad thing was that people really didn’t treat it with the solemn behavior that such a memorial should inspire. We crossed the second part of the underpass to reach the on and off bus stop. We even got to watch twelve lanes of traffic come to a sudden halt when the two motorcycle gendarmes with their white gloves held up to traffic came through leading two diplomatic cars from Niger.

Before we got off the bus at the Champ de Elysees we had seen a ton of diplomatic cars and drivers parked alongside the street. Did we mention that Wednesday is Bastille Day?

We rode the bus to the Eiffel Tower and got off. The Eiffel Tower is gigantic, and up close it proves to be an amazing structure. However, it was a very crowded structure. We walked around it, under it and so on, but chose not to stand in line (around three hours) (the line here made the one at the Louve look positively short) for the length of time it would take and then climb the stairs to the first level. We sat in the park at the base of the museum and contemplated what we wanted to do. We watched the three young soldiers patrolling the area with automatic weapons at the ready….a scary sight. There are thousands and thousands of French people in Paris for Bastille celebrations which start tonight.

So disappointed, we decided to cross the Seine and climb the hill to the Marine Museum and the Architecture Museum. We managed this, but we had to go the long way around since the short way was affected by the fireworks launching site for Bastille Day. We walked up the hill and around a block of apartment buildings to the square in front of the Museums—unfortunately, the museums were both closed on Tuesday. We knew it was a risk. Rather than walk down we rode the tour bus around the Eiffel Tower and got off where we had begun. However, there was method in our madness. We crossed the road and got on the Seine River cruise. The boat ride took us past the museums and Notre Dame and then back down stream. We got out and made our way back to the apartment to check in. After a short break, we went on a walk on the Rue de Rivoli, looking at shops and so on. When it came time, we made our way back to the apartment to meet Peter and Jess. They went to the grocery store, and we had a great home cooked pasta dinner. After dinner we did some packing and cleaning out in preparation for a move to a new room tomorrow morning.

20,084 steps today—much of it uphill

Monday in Paris

2010-07-16T11:15:00.016-05:00

Photos: The view of the dome above Napoleon's casket, Neil & Napoleon I's casket, a ball turret from a B-17 in the Armee Musee

Photos: Hospital de Invalides--Napoleon's Tomb. How you move in Paris. One of the traffice gates into the Louvre complex---about 10 inches on each side of the bus

Photos: The Louvre, the Mona Lisa, Napoleon III's public sitting area--could have quite a party

Photos: Napoleon III's dining room in the Louvre, a desk in the Louvre--everything is connected and shuts into one piece, The Louvre sign in front of the Pyramid

Monday, July 12,2010

Once again we are on the go. After picking up a bit in the apartment and having breakfast, we headed out to Notre Dame to catch the hop on, hop off bus. We caught the bus to the Musee d’Orsay, intending to take a diagonal walk to the Hotel de Invalides. Well, the short cut turned out not to be such a good short cut—it was a really long cut. We did see a whole bunch of gendarmerie (police with guns) at the Palais de Assemblee Nationale…one of the governmental bodies. We eventually reached the Invalides, entering through the back side. It got us there.

We bought two day museum passes that allowed us entry to several museums throughout Paris. We walked right up and bought them….no line. Hold that thought. The museums are either closed on Monday or on Tuesday by the way..

The Hotel de Invalides contains a couple of museums within one. There is Napoleon’s Tomb and the French Army Museum. Napoleon’s Tomb is impressive—he certainly has a big casket for such a small dude. He is not alone in the tomb (he does have the biggest space) ; his brother, his son, and Marshall Foch share parts of the building—well, their bones do anyway. The story that you have to bow to reach Napoleon’s Tomb is not true. There is a huge open area above the casket which is itself huge that allows people to look down on his casket/tomb. If you go into the crypt itself, you must look up.

Within the Musee de la Armee, we shuffled through the World War I and World War II exhibits. They were very well done with information on Russian, Italian, British and American forces in both wars as well as the French and the German enemy. A slightly biased view compared to our own biased view, but very well done. Interesting work on Free French forces. We then walked at a faster pace through the exhibits on Louis XIV and his wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Wars of Louis Napoleon—not because they were not interesting, but because they were hot, and because much of the explanation is in French which neither Nancy nor Neil took in school. The most striking thing that fascinated Nancy was the petiteness of the soldiers during Napoleon’s time. Some of those uniforms wouldn’t have fit many of the seventh graders I used to teach. Another interesting thing was that there was nothing included about Vietnam. The museum was not air conditioned, yet the preservation---cases, filtered light, no flash photography was there. I guess trying to air condition a very old building is a bit of a challenge.

We stopped at the museum café for lunch for a sandwich and a great fruit tart. The fruit tart had a double bottom crust with a fruit gel between the two crusts. Then it had a cream cheese layer and then strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, and two other berries that we don’t know what they were. We sat at a table with a lady from San Francisco who was reading her magazine rather than accompany her husband through another military museum.

After lunch we found another bus and rode to the Louve. The plaza around the entrance was a huge crowd with lines snaking this way and that. Nancy found a guide who spoke English, and she guided us to the Richileiu entrance where with our museum passes we were allowed us to walk right in—with the security check point. We got to skip the lines that must have been 5 blocks long to buy tickets. Once inside we did the tourist thing and went to see the Mona Lisa, one of the original works of the collection dating back to Louis XIII. The room was packed, but we saw it. The crowds were unbelievable; so were the number of guards The painting itself is behind a glass protective case with a little fence to keep the crowds back. We also saw the winged victory statue. It is hard to describe the immensity of the crowds in the rooms in and around the Mona. It was also incrediably hot, which is really unusual for an art museum.

We then headed for a less congested part of the huge museum, which is U-shaped and each wing is about two normal blocks long. We saw lots of Flemish and Renaissance works and then took a walk through the apartments of Emperor Napoleon III. Wow, the family room was large and overly decorated--Victorian with lots of gilded woodwork. The Grand Salon was like a bus station. It was huge with many groups of furniture where 50 or 60 people would not have been overcrowded—that’s a big living room with huge chandeliers. The formal dining room with a table long enough for twenty chairs on each side and three chandeliers over it was pretty impressive as well. We saw some more of the lavish furniture from the Second Empire period and then went back outside—through the pyramid in the courtyard. We had had enough of the crowds.

We seem to be able to do about two museums a day.....drat!

We rode a bus back to Notre Dame and did some souvenir shopping on our way back to the apartment where we arrived about 7:00. Pete and Jess came back from their own adventures which included the Basilica du Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, and spots they wanted to see.—We got some groceries and had dinner. We were all quite tired.

24,512 steps today.

Paris, Day 2

2010-07-13T01:52:00.010-05:00

Photos: The Louve, The Eiffel Tower, The Eiffel Tower again

Photos. The Arc de Triumphe, old houses, Madeleine Church where Chopin is buried

Photos: the Plaze de la Concorde, the Madeleine, Hard Rock Cafe Paris...no we didn't pay their outrageous prices

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Up this morning, with time to make coffee and make breakfast as well as get a welcome shower. All this was accomplished easily, and we got ready for our first full day in Paris—the one time capital of the world, if you think seventeenth century. And you better think old because most of the buildings we have seen are old.

We decided to find a tour bus to ride so we could get a feel of the city and then with that information and our guide book, we could make more careful plans for what we wanted to see. So we walked to Notre Dame; the cathedral is very impressive from up close, and we did get close. Across the square were the tour busses. The first driver didn’t want to deal with non-French speakers, so we tried a second bus and booked a three day ticket. We figured we could use the busses as transportation on Monday and Tuesday, because it didn’t look like sane people could ride all four routes in a single day.

We began with the green route: major attractions the Champs Elysees, the Place de La Concorde, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre all on this tour. We rode the whole way and disembarked at Notre Dame. We decided to look for a boat ride, which was included in our ticket. We walked a ways upriver and found the correct boat dock. The boat down at river level with windows to keep people from falling into the Seine was very hot. Since it was about lunch time, we got off by the Paris Zoo and walked a few blocks to a Café where with Peter’s help we ordered Ham and Cheese sandwiches with salad and fries, plus liquid refreshment—did we mention it was getting pretty hot even off the boat in the breeze. Much fortified from lunch we walked a few blocks to the bus stop for another tour bus route—blue.

This route took us through some areas west or upstream from the cathedral We saw a bit of this and a bit of that, but the sun was very hot, and we were getting a wee bit pooped so we disembarked at a convenient stop and went back to the apartment for some shade, a nap and some cold drinks. This did us a world of good and in an couple of hours we were ready to head back into the heat. We walked to a bus stop for the orange route, which was very close to where we had eaten lunch.

The Orange route took us south by the Luxuembourg gardens, the Sobornne, through a shopping district and so on. We got off at the Hotel des Invalides, and transferred to a green bus for a trip north to interchange with the final route the yellow, and you thought sane people couldn’t do them all in a day—try to ignore the sane/insane part. The yellow took us north to Rue de Cinchy with the Moulin Rouge Club and other sex oriented businesses, then by two of the major railroad stations, down another major shopping artery and back to the Opera House—well, one of the opera houses.

Since we had just disembarked from the last bus of the day, and we were quite a distance from our flat alternate transportation was needed. Down into the ground to catch the metro—not a problem and a quick but quite warm ride back to the Village de St. Louis neighborhood of our flat. The problem of dinner at 8:30 on a Sunday night was solved by a sandwich shop and cheese pannini’s and a cold soft drink.

We ate a quiet dinner of sandwiches, some fruit and a COLD soft drink. Then some time was spent on doing dishes and planning tomorrow. Now that we know something of the city we are ready to use the tour busses and visit some of the places on our list. The BBC weather guy says it will be cooler tomorrow, and we are anxious to get an early start.

So anxious we stayed home while Pete and Jess went out tonight to see Notre Dame lit at night. The blister on the bottom of Nancy's foot also contributed to the decision to stay put. They’re taking pictures.

13,323 Steps today.

Paris Day 1

2010-07-12T13:09:00.011-05:00

Photos: the Eurostar passenger lounge, A few of the 18 cars on our train, the clock at St. Pancras Station in London

Photos: We're in France, The Eurostar, The Seine

Photos: A fountain that Nancy liked in Paris, the Pompidou Center, the escalator going up the side of the Pompidou Center

Saturday, July 10, 2010

The alarm rang (actually Neil woke before the alarm) at 4:00 AM.—obscenely early. We did the last minute things that needed to be done and left the apartment right on time—4:50 for a nice walk to Glasgow Central Station to catch our train to London. The train was relatively empty, so we took what were marked as an unreserved/available table. We didn’t particularly like our reserved seats. We had a whole car to ourselves for awhile. Later we moved cars so we could keep a table…at that point a number of people were getting on. We all took naps of various lengths. Pretty scenery.

We arrived in London at Euston Station at 10:12 AM, right on time. We collected our things and made our way out of the station for a short walk to St. Pancras Station. This is where the Eurostar leaves from. We made our way to the Eurostar International station in good time. We stopped and picked up sandwiches at Marks and Spencers and headed through security. Put everything in the basket, walk through the arch and collect your belongings on the other end. Pete had to totally empty his pockets, including the paper cash he had in his pocket. No one else had to do that He was patted down. When he got his basket on the other, there was a 20 Euro bill missing. They asked him twice if he was sure it was there. Then a young lady went in search of it. It miraculously appeared. Jess’s bag was emptied and swabbed. Neil and I walked through with absolutely no problems. It seemed to be that more young people were being targeted than older people.

We found the Eurostar lounge and waited for our boarding information. Eventually they posted that we should use gate 8 at which there was a huge rush of people. Then they (unknown powers) and said we should continue to wait in the lounge. No one moved. They weren’t about to give up their place in line. Eventually the doors opened and we all went up the very steep moving sidewalk. We were in seats 25 & 26 at a table. Pete and Jess were across from us. We were in carriage 1 of and 18 car train…..very long and full. We went fast….very fast. We had been underground several times and so were not even sure when we went into the chunnel. We finally figured it out. We were informed that we would be 55 minutes late and would get in around 4. They were having to do special things because someone or group of someones stole 400 meters of signaling cable last night. It’s hard to run trains when the signals don’t work. The scheduling people weren’t very happy. However, the thieves got quite a bit of copper and are probably quite happy.

We arrived in Paris and eventually got off the train. We let others who seemed to be in a great hurry out first and walked the length of an 18 car train. It seemed to go on forever. We reached the Gard Nord station proper and found the subway. Down we went to the subway station. Pete and Jess found the automatic ticket machine and got tickets for us. Down we went again to get to the subway. We took the subway, very hot, and very crowded to the Bastille station. We got off and up we went to find the rain. Nancy, being the pansy, pulled out her umbrella. Actually, I was trying to protect this computer. We walked in the rain down the Rue St. Antoine to Rue St. Paul. Down St. Paul we went to #16 where we are staying.

We have rented an apartment from Vacation in Paris. It is on the second, really third, floor. There is a courtyard in the center of the building which means when you open the windows your neighbors see and hear what you are doing. We have been informed with the building rules that we must be quiet. It is true that you can see and hear everything…Pete and Jess saw a woman taking a shower. The apartment belongs to an Argentinean couple who live in Buenos Aires and travel a lot. This is one of their homes. All of the belongings are from IKEA or Habitat. It is a cute little flat with one bedroom and a sofa bed which Pete and Jess volunteered to sleep on. There is no air conditioning, but Pete found a fan in the closet. If you watch the House Hunters International you have seen this apartment. It is tiny but very, very cute.

After we dumped our luggage, we went out to see what we could see. We found Norte Dame Cathedral—a beautiful church. We walked on and found the Pompidou Center which is world famous because it supporting structure in on the outside of the building, sort of like a bridge with a building inside. Then we just walked around and looked at very old buildings. We did see the famous Seine River. It doesn’t appear to be a very clean river. We finally found our way back to Rue St. Paul area where we needed to find some groceries. We found a grocery on the bottom floor of a department store. It is a full grocery store with all the things you find in US stores, except they are obviously in French.

This is our tribute to Pete. He fortunately remembers enough of his French and his practice in anticipation of this trip has made it much easier to cope. With his assistance, getting on the subway and getting groceries was imminently easier. Thank you Pete.

After a dinner of salad, bread, cheese, and fresh vegetables, we divided the bottle of wine left by Vacations in Paris and went off to bed.. We were all a wee bit … ok, a lot tired.

Steps: 13,590

Another regular day, July 8

2010-07-09T08:41:00.006-05:00

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Another regular old day. We got up with the intention of going to Edinburgh for another day of sight-seeing; however, after the blog that I tried to post turned to all weird code and would not return to English and pictures, I spent another 1 ½ hours putting it back together.

After all of that we felt guilty about being so far behind on the blogs. We had gotten behind because although the Highlands are beautiful, there was a definite lack of technology connection, especially in the places we stayed. We are also trying to keep a written log of the pictures we have taken so that they don’t all become “It’s a building in somewhere.” This are quite a number of pictures since Nancy has discovered the ease of digital and now subscribes to the take a picture of everything, maybe even two, methodology. We made the decision to forego another day of fun in the interest of getting caught up before we leave for Paris and Amsterdam. This was a really tough decision, but stay in the flat and work we did.

We worked on identifying pictures and writing blogs until 12:30. Then we said a break is definitely needed. We went to Marks and Spensers with Pete to pick out some ready meals for dinner. I have never seen so many different ready meals available in one spot. They are not frozen dinners; they are packaged and ready to pop in the oven. Pete picked out a couple of curry meals, rice, and naan, a bread which I have misspelled. Pete left for a meeting and Neil and I went out for lunch and went back to Mark and Spensers after lunch to pick up the food. We picked up a couple of Chinese meanls to go with the curries.

We went to a place called Nondos which Pete recommended. It is a variation of a chicken fast food café. The chicken is not breaded but grilled. You can get a chicken breast on a panni, a pita, or a bun. The chicken is marinated with a sauce called peri-peri sauce from Portugal. It is quite spicy; even the mild herb one is hotter than most food I eat.

After lunch we went back to the flat and did more pictures and more blogs. Well, at least Nancy did….Neil took a wee 2 hour nap.

We shared the international cuisine for dinner and worked on organizing the Paris excursion.

Steps: 5370