August 31, 2009, Monday
Stockholm, Sweden
Since we are located a fair ways outside of Stockholm proper, we decided to take the Metro and go downtown. It is about a 10 minute walk to the Metro and another 20 minute ride to the center of town. We are in an area with a lot of Muslims and we pass an Islamic Cultural Center on our way to the Metro. We saw a lot of Muslims in Paris and Amsterdam but haven’t seen too many in Scandinavia until we got here.
The train is very modern and quiet and comfortable. The seats are cloth and padded and there is NO trash either in the train or along side the train tracks. There also is virtually NO graffiti!! I am SO impressed by the cleanliness of the city.
We got downtown and thought that the best way to see everything is via a Hop On Hop Off bus and so we bought a two day pass and we rode all over the place on the bus. It is quite cool here and I was glad that I had won a long sleeved shirt and my sweater. Our pass entitles us to also go on the Hop On Hop Off Boat tour too but we decided that we would save that for tomorrow, when we plan to wear our jackets!! It was pretty chilly sitting on the top of the bus sight seeing. It didn’t have a top on today and even though the sun was shining, it was breezy and cool.
There are not a whole lot of things to see here in Stockholm. I want to get back in to the old town and wander around some of the small alleys but other than that, there isn’t a whole lot of any particular interest. I can’t say that I’m just dying to tour city hall or the local radio/tv tower (they are VERY proud that they can receive a zillion stations). It is just a modern, busy city, like many other cities. We will be hard pressed to find things to keep us busy touring for the time we are here!! I suspect that we will take another day off to read and lay around!! Which is fine with us. We are perfectly happy doing not much of anything as well as touring our little hearts out!!
I’m noticing that Don doesn’t have the energy to go as much as we used to go and sometimes he apologizes for his lack of get up and go. I keep telling him that we will do what WE want to do and to just tell me if he wants to quit and go back to the hotel. He is such a stoic, it is REALLY hard for me to tell if he is exhausted or not.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Stockholm, Sweden
August 30, 2009 Sunday
Stockholm
It’s been a quiet and peaceful day. We left at a decent time and the drive was beautiful. We are beginning to get into some hilly, rocky country and the trees and fields were lovely. We drove directly to the hotel and decided to take a day of rest and so we just sat back and read and generally relaxed.
Sweden is less Americanized than Denmark but still almost everybody speaks English and it is very easy to get along here. Our hotel is next door to a McDonalds and about 3pm Don decided that he needed a milkshake, so we split a shake and he couldn’t resist the fries and we split those too!! Tasted just like home!
The weather is definitely cooler and tomorrow I will start wearing long sleeved shirts. It isn’t cold but cool enough to make you want a sweater or long sleeves.
Stockholm
It’s been a quiet and peaceful day. We left at a decent time and the drive was beautiful. We are beginning to get into some hilly, rocky country and the trees and fields were lovely. We drove directly to the hotel and decided to take a day of rest and so we just sat back and read and generally relaxed.
Sweden is less Americanized than Denmark but still almost everybody speaks English and it is very easy to get along here. Our hotel is next door to a McDonalds and about 3pm Don decided that he needed a milkshake, so we split a shake and he couldn’t resist the fries and we split those too!! Tasted just like home!
The weather is definitely cooler and tomorrow I will start wearing long sleeved shirts. It isn’t cold but cool enough to make you want a sweater or long sleeves.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Jonkoping, Sweden
August 29, 2009, Saturday
Jonkoeping, Sweden
We left the hotel from hell and we are happy campers!! I’ve double checked to make sure I did NOT book us in to the same place when we come back through Copenhagen and I did not. Whew!!
Last night was party night outside the hotel and there was loud, continuous revelry until heaven only knows what time. Fortunately I can sleep through anything but poor Don is such a light sleeper that I fear he must have had a bad night.
When I checked out I noticed that there was a different charge for each nigh we had stayed in the hotel. I asked about this and was told that they have a sliding scale for charges and it works based on demand. In other words, if they are really booked up, you pay more but if they have a lot of empty rooms, the price goes down!! Sounds wonderful but how in the world do these people plan trip costs?? I looked at the price that the Internet had told me we were going to pay and we actually paid almost $100 less, so I just kept quiet. My guess is that the Internet gives the highest possible rate although with this hotel, who knows!!
We got on the road at a decent hour and before we knew it, we were back on another ferry!! This was a very short ride and we barely had time enough to climb up into the passenger waiting area when it was time to go back to our car.
So tonight we are in this small city enroute to Stockholm. We are bad in our favorite hotel chain and we have a room that is familiar and welcome!! The weather driving here was very strange. The sun was shining brightly and every half hour or so it would just POUR down rain for about 2 minutes and then clear up. And it is quite windy and getting colder. The landscape is flat and wooded and I was hoping to see some wild life but no luck. There isn’t even any road kill, so there must not be too much going on in these woods! The most excitement we had was when we spotted 5 cows!! Pretty pathetic!
Don announced that he wanted Swedish meatballs for dinner so I looked at the menu as we signed in and the offerings were hysterical: Lasagna Bolognese, Mexican Taco Plate, Swedish Stew and some other non-descript stuff. I was highly amused that they offer an international cuisine at this little restaurant!!
For the first time we have had credit card trouble. We tried to charge our gas today and they wanted a PIN number for our credit card. I had been told by a friend that they had recently run into this and that it was REALLY inconvenient but I didn’t take it to heart and put PIN’s on all our cards, so we had to pay cash. Tonight I’m going to call the credit card company and see how to put PIN’s in our cards. Geez!! Just when you get something figured out they go and change it on you!!
Well, I called the bankcard people and they told me that the ONLY reason you would need a PIN is if you were making a cash withdrawal!! Interesting. They will not give a verbal PIN and told me that NOBODY should be asking or getting my PIN. Hm-m-m!! Well, we’ll see how it goes from here on out. What they said made really good sense to me so at least I can fight if somebody won’t take my credit card again!!
Had dinner at the hotel and Don said that it is the first decent food he’s had in 5 days!! He was as thrilled with the meals at the last place as was I!!! We would have eaten elsewhere but the hotel rate was all inclusive and we just felt like we should eat what we already had paid for!!! Silly….but true!!
Sweden has less English in it’s signage and I’m expecting to see and hear less and less English, although the hotel is very fluent in English.
Jonkoeping, Sweden
We left the hotel from hell and we are happy campers!! I’ve double checked to make sure I did NOT book us in to the same place when we come back through Copenhagen and I did not. Whew!!
Last night was party night outside the hotel and there was loud, continuous revelry until heaven only knows what time. Fortunately I can sleep through anything but poor Don is such a light sleeper that I fear he must have had a bad night.
When I checked out I noticed that there was a different charge for each nigh we had stayed in the hotel. I asked about this and was told that they have a sliding scale for charges and it works based on demand. In other words, if they are really booked up, you pay more but if they have a lot of empty rooms, the price goes down!! Sounds wonderful but how in the world do these people plan trip costs?? I looked at the price that the Internet had told me we were going to pay and we actually paid almost $100 less, so I just kept quiet. My guess is that the Internet gives the highest possible rate although with this hotel, who knows!!
We got on the road at a decent hour and before we knew it, we were back on another ferry!! This was a very short ride and we barely had time enough to climb up into the passenger waiting area when it was time to go back to our car.
So tonight we are in this small city enroute to Stockholm. We are bad in our favorite hotel chain and we have a room that is familiar and welcome!! The weather driving here was very strange. The sun was shining brightly and every half hour or so it would just POUR down rain for about 2 minutes and then clear up. And it is quite windy and getting colder. The landscape is flat and wooded and I was hoping to see some wild life but no luck. There isn’t even any road kill, so there must not be too much going on in these woods! The most excitement we had was when we spotted 5 cows!! Pretty pathetic!
Don announced that he wanted Swedish meatballs for dinner so I looked at the menu as we signed in and the offerings were hysterical: Lasagna Bolognese, Mexican Taco Plate, Swedish Stew and some other non-descript stuff. I was highly amused that they offer an international cuisine at this little restaurant!!
For the first time we have had credit card trouble. We tried to charge our gas today and they wanted a PIN number for our credit card. I had been told by a friend that they had recently run into this and that it was REALLY inconvenient but I didn’t take it to heart and put PIN’s on all our cards, so we had to pay cash. Tonight I’m going to call the credit card company and see how to put PIN’s in our cards. Geez!! Just when you get something figured out they go and change it on you!!
Well, I called the bankcard people and they told me that the ONLY reason you would need a PIN is if you were making a cash withdrawal!! Interesting. They will not give a verbal PIN and told me that NOBODY should be asking or getting my PIN. Hm-m-m!! Well, we’ll see how it goes from here on out. What they said made really good sense to me so at least I can fight if somebody won’t take my credit card again!!
Had dinner at the hotel and Don said that it is the first decent food he’s had in 5 days!! He was as thrilled with the meals at the last place as was I!!! We would have eaten elsewhere but the hotel rate was all inclusive and we just felt like we should eat what we already had paid for!!! Silly….but true!!
Sweden has less English in it’s signage and I’m expecting to see and hear less and less English, although the hotel is very fluent in English.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Copenhagen
August 28, 2009, Friday
Copenhagen
Once again the weather looked great as we started out the door this morning. We wanted to go to the Royal Treasury to see all the gifts and gold and the royal jewels. It is in one of the oldest castles that is in this area and the Danes are quite proud of it. We got there and discovered that if we timed our visit right, we would be able to see the changing of the guard and so that’s exactly what we did. All that pomp and silliness that these folks go through but it really is fun to watch. At the treasury there were soldiers marching back and forth with a gun over their shoulder and they would speak to the visitors and weren’t all solemn and staid and at one point one of them came near me and I turned to have some fun with him and he said ,”Get away!! You must stay 2 meters away from me!” Yikes!! I’m not at all sure what he would have done if I had gone any closer but he was dead serious that I HAD to stay away from him. Do you suppose that he was afraid of this lil ole lady? LOL
After visiting the royal palace and the crown jewels, we decided that we could walk to the canal boat ride. Sadly we didn’t know where we were going and we had left our map in our room so we started asking people and it got downright funny. First we would be sent one way and then we would be sent another way. We saw LOTS of Copenhagen before I finally recognized a place we had been and I thought that the canal tours were just across the park. Sure enough!! We FINALLY reached our goal!! It felt good to sit down and ride for a while!! I really never realized that Copenhagen is very much like Venice in that it is laced with canals and there are boats and houseboats everywhere. We had a lovely boat tour and it was nice to see many of the places from a different perspective. It had become very dark and threatening and I was sure that we were going to be in a downpour for our ride but it never started to rain until we were within sight of the dock!! And then it poured and I got soaked. Don was carrying the bag with some shopping and so he was able to cover himself a little bit. But the rain didn’t last long and by the time we walked home we were dry.
I’ve uploaded all my pictures so far onto the web album but I’m not too sure how to access it!! When I get that figured out I’ll post a note. We’ve now seen all of Copenhagen that we wanted to see except Tivoli Gardens and we are saving that for when we come back through. We’ve been back and forth past it and we hear people laughing and screaming on the rides but we haven’t stuck our noses in the park yet.
Just got back from another fabulous dinner. Tonight we had the casserole dish filled with rice, some rust colored sauce and a miniature slice of something that tasted suspiciously like hot dog. More nasty brown bread with seeds and fruit. Ugh!!
Then we decided to get ready to go on the road tomorrow so we went to the car to put our shopping and dirty clothes in it. Well mercy me!! There on our windshield were THREE tickets. One for each day so far. I took them to the front desk and announced that they didn’t look like good news and the girl told me that each one was for 500DK (approximately $100. This was definitely not good news but I was pretty sure that we were going to handle them the same way we took care of the Hungarian ticket---ignore them. In fact, she asked where our car was from and when we told her she advised us to ignore them, so I guess we are going to be fugitives from Danish justice!! Egads!!
There is a REALLY popular bar next door to our hotel that is affiliated with our hotel and tonight there are people lined up for it so I was asking our hotel staff about it and it is a really different place. Apparently you are issued a big thick parka when you go in to it. It is called an “icebar” and it is literally all ice. The glasses are ice, the chairs are ice, the bar is ice and everything is kept at C-5 degrees (about F 20 degrees). We would have peeked in but there is a 200DK cover charge and nobody that I’ve seen looks over the age of 25, so we are taking a pass!!
Copenhagen
Once again the weather looked great as we started out the door this morning. We wanted to go to the Royal Treasury to see all the gifts and gold and the royal jewels. It is in one of the oldest castles that is in this area and the Danes are quite proud of it. We got there and discovered that if we timed our visit right, we would be able to see the changing of the guard and so that’s exactly what we did. All that pomp and silliness that these folks go through but it really is fun to watch. At the treasury there were soldiers marching back and forth with a gun over their shoulder and they would speak to the visitors and weren’t all solemn and staid and at one point one of them came near me and I turned to have some fun with him and he said ,”Get away!! You must stay 2 meters away from me!” Yikes!! I’m not at all sure what he would have done if I had gone any closer but he was dead serious that I HAD to stay away from him. Do you suppose that he was afraid of this lil ole lady? LOL
After visiting the royal palace and the crown jewels, we decided that we could walk to the canal boat ride. Sadly we didn’t know where we were going and we had left our map in our room so we started asking people and it got downright funny. First we would be sent one way and then we would be sent another way. We saw LOTS of Copenhagen before I finally recognized a place we had been and I thought that the canal tours were just across the park. Sure enough!! We FINALLY reached our goal!! It felt good to sit down and ride for a while!! I really never realized that Copenhagen is very much like Venice in that it is laced with canals and there are boats and houseboats everywhere. We had a lovely boat tour and it was nice to see many of the places from a different perspective. It had become very dark and threatening and I was sure that we were going to be in a downpour for our ride but it never started to rain until we were within sight of the dock!! And then it poured and I got soaked. Don was carrying the bag with some shopping and so he was able to cover himself a little bit. But the rain didn’t last long and by the time we walked home we were dry.
I’ve uploaded all my pictures so far onto the web album but I’m not too sure how to access it!! When I get that figured out I’ll post a note. We’ve now seen all of Copenhagen that we wanted to see except Tivoli Gardens and we are saving that for when we come back through. We’ve been back and forth past it and we hear people laughing and screaming on the rides but we haven’t stuck our noses in the park yet.
Just got back from another fabulous dinner. Tonight we had the casserole dish filled with rice, some rust colored sauce and a miniature slice of something that tasted suspiciously like hot dog. More nasty brown bread with seeds and fruit. Ugh!!
Then we decided to get ready to go on the road tomorrow so we went to the car to put our shopping and dirty clothes in it. Well mercy me!! There on our windshield were THREE tickets. One for each day so far. I took them to the front desk and announced that they didn’t look like good news and the girl told me that each one was for 500DK (approximately $100. This was definitely not good news but I was pretty sure that we were going to handle them the same way we took care of the Hungarian ticket---ignore them. In fact, she asked where our car was from and when we told her she advised us to ignore them, so I guess we are going to be fugitives from Danish justice!! Egads!!
There is a REALLY popular bar next door to our hotel that is affiliated with our hotel and tonight there are people lined up for it so I was asking our hotel staff about it and it is a really different place. Apparently you are issued a big thick parka when you go in to it. It is called an “icebar” and it is literally all ice. The glasses are ice, the chairs are ice, the bar is ice and everything is kept at C-5 degrees (about F 20 degrees). We would have peeked in but there is a 200DK cover charge and nobody that I’ve seen looks over the age of 25, so we are taking a pass!!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Copenhagen
August 27, 2009, Friday
Copenhagen
Another picture perfect day and we were up early and out to the sightseeing bus. We have a two day pass which allows us to do touristy thing in the city and we spent today traveling around to see what all there is to see. I was determined to see Christiania, the hippie city within the city of Copenhagen. This city came into being when a group of “hippies” took over an abandoned area that had house the military and they staged a sit-in of sorts and finally the city just let them squat and they have set up a whole community. Photos are not supposed to be taken but I managed to sneak a couple of shots. Mostly the community is just dirt paths and brick buildings that contain businesses and places where people live. There is all manor of drug paraphernalia on sale and posters advocating legalization of marijuana. Since Jean collects decks of cards, I bought her a deck where the backs are displaying a beautiful marijuana leaf!! I wonder if our naïve little friend will recognize it!!
People and dogs galore are sprawled everywhere and most are drinking beer and smoking. I only caught one small whiff of marijuana and so I was a bit disappointed but….. Every building was covered with graffiti in many colors and actually it is quite a festive look. They have a stage and pavilion and I wonder if they have rock concerts. There was music blasting from most buildings and most of it was music from the 60’s and 70’s. The majority of people hanging around were older, although few were from the flower child generation. It was definitely worth seeing.
I found no-nut, no-weird stuff bread and I may now survive!! There just isn’t much food except bread and if you don’t like their strange bread, you are in trouble!! For breakfast I made a ham sandwich with the HOTTEST mustard I’ve run across!! No lunch because we were on the bus and for dinner we had the usual tiny casserole dish, tonight half full of mixed vegetables in a rice with some sort of sweetish sauce and a piece of chicken that was approximately 3 inches long by ½ inch wide and no thicker than a slice of thick bacon!! You fill in with bread, sliced tomatoes, cold green beans and carrots and for dessert, you get cheese and wasa brod type crackers. Seriously bad food!!
Prices: a small glass of house brand white wine is $13, a small bottle of water is $5 and a small bottle of coke or ginger ale is $5. Life here is good but it is expensive. I find it better to just get whatever I want and try not to think about the price!!
Copenhagen
Another picture perfect day and we were up early and out to the sightseeing bus. We have a two day pass which allows us to do touristy thing in the city and we spent today traveling around to see what all there is to see. I was determined to see Christiania, the hippie city within the city of Copenhagen. This city came into being when a group of “hippies” took over an abandoned area that had house the military and they staged a sit-in of sorts and finally the city just let them squat and they have set up a whole community. Photos are not supposed to be taken but I managed to sneak a couple of shots. Mostly the community is just dirt paths and brick buildings that contain businesses and places where people live. There is all manor of drug paraphernalia on sale and posters advocating legalization of marijuana. Since Jean collects decks of cards, I bought her a deck where the backs are displaying a beautiful marijuana leaf!! I wonder if our naïve little friend will recognize it!!
People and dogs galore are sprawled everywhere and most are drinking beer and smoking. I only caught one small whiff of marijuana and so I was a bit disappointed but….. Every building was covered with graffiti in many colors and actually it is quite a festive look. They have a stage and pavilion and I wonder if they have rock concerts. There was music blasting from most buildings and most of it was music from the 60’s and 70’s. The majority of people hanging around were older, although few were from the flower child generation. It was definitely worth seeing.
I found no-nut, no-weird stuff bread and I may now survive!! There just isn’t much food except bread and if you don’t like their strange bread, you are in trouble!! For breakfast I made a ham sandwich with the HOTTEST mustard I’ve run across!! No lunch because we were on the bus and for dinner we had the usual tiny casserole dish, tonight half full of mixed vegetables in a rice with some sort of sweetish sauce and a piece of chicken that was approximately 3 inches long by ½ inch wide and no thicker than a slice of thick bacon!! You fill in with bread, sliced tomatoes, cold green beans and carrots and for dessert, you get cheese and wasa brod type crackers. Seriously bad food!!
Prices: a small glass of house brand white wine is $13, a small bottle of water is $5 and a small bottle of coke or ginger ale is $5. Life here is good but it is expensive. I find it better to just get whatever I want and try not to think about the price!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Copenhagen
August 26, 2009, Wednesday
Copenhagen
Looked kind of dark first thing this morning and it was cool enough that a sweater felt good but the day perked up and turned out to be a beauty. We decided that the room was just TOO small (mostly the bed was too small) and so first thing we did was change rooms!! Apparently the Danes have a different idea of what constitutes a double room. They feel that a bed that is 120 cm wide is plenty wide for two people. Hahahahha!! Not!! Neither of us slept worth a darn and it just isn’t worth it to feel tired all day, so we changed to a room with a REAL bed in it and we are going to be much happier. But their rooms here are very small. There is nothing extra in the rooms and every bit of space is used. It is almost like they are short of land and need to conserve. I think it is the Scandinavian way.
Breakfast was also less than ideal. The bread all looked like brown bread with nasty stuff like seeds and strange fruit in it. I remember their eggs are very strange because they feed their chickens weird stuff that makes the eggs taste bad so I decided that cereal seemed like the safest bet. Wrong! What appeared to be corn flakes tasted like cardboard and their milk looked like skim milk but tasted strange. It could be a long vacation if this is going to be the usual morning fare!! Ah well. Another vacation—another diet!!.
Today we walked up and down the Stroget, the main pedestrian street of Copenhagen. I found the mobiles that I was looking for and dropped a fortune on them!! They are SO wonderful!! I enjoyed checking out the furniture and the modern Danish home furnishings. And of course I stopped in to Royal Copenhagen!!
They have lots of street vendors and street performers and a wonderful large park in the middle of town where they have a fascinating exhibition of innovations to improve society. Most of the things revolved around renewable sources of energy but there was one project where houses are being built for less than $700 and are able to withstand earthquakes and other natural disasters. Quite amazing stuff.
The currency here is difficult to fathom. It goes like this: one dollar fifty cents is worth about 1 euro and 7 kroner are worth about 1 euro. And everything costs hundreds of kroners, so it seems incredibly expensive!! Actually, things here are more expensive than in the states but not a huge amount more. Mostly it just seems expensive because everything is multiplied by about 5…..500 kroner sounds way more expensive than $100!!!!!!
Off to dinner. Another adventure in eating! Stay tuned!
The dinners are included in the price of the hotel and tonight it was almost identical to last night except that the “main course” was different. You grab a plate and silverware and napkin and then start rooting around for the food. They have a small casserole dish, about the size of a small Pyrex bowl and that contains the ‘main course”. Last night there was a small chunk of meat (about 1 ½ inch square) in a gravy with mushrooms and mystery stuff. The meat turned out to be pork. It actually was quite tasty although mighty skimpy. Tonight was the same casserole dish with perhaps ¼ cup of rice a VERY small chunk of salmon and some green stuff sprinkled on top (dill and ???). You can get bread (more brown, seedy, fruity stuff), cold green beans and carrots, sliced tomatoes with onions and celery and greens. There are several kinds of vinegars and oils to dress the tomatoes and greens. That’s it…….except for dessert, which is cheese and biscuits and cut up oranges. No wonder these folks are thin and healthy!!
Tomorrow is Little Mermaid and Flower Child Day!!
Copenhagen
Looked kind of dark first thing this morning and it was cool enough that a sweater felt good but the day perked up and turned out to be a beauty. We decided that the room was just TOO small (mostly the bed was too small) and so first thing we did was change rooms!! Apparently the Danes have a different idea of what constitutes a double room. They feel that a bed that is 120 cm wide is plenty wide for two people. Hahahahha!! Not!! Neither of us slept worth a darn and it just isn’t worth it to feel tired all day, so we changed to a room with a REAL bed in it and we are going to be much happier. But their rooms here are very small. There is nothing extra in the rooms and every bit of space is used. It is almost like they are short of land and need to conserve. I think it is the Scandinavian way.
Breakfast was also less than ideal. The bread all looked like brown bread with nasty stuff like seeds and strange fruit in it. I remember their eggs are very strange because they feed their chickens weird stuff that makes the eggs taste bad so I decided that cereal seemed like the safest bet. Wrong! What appeared to be corn flakes tasted like cardboard and their milk looked like skim milk but tasted strange. It could be a long vacation if this is going to be the usual morning fare!! Ah well. Another vacation—another diet!!.
Today we walked up and down the Stroget, the main pedestrian street of Copenhagen. I found the mobiles that I was looking for and dropped a fortune on them!! They are SO wonderful!! I enjoyed checking out the furniture and the modern Danish home furnishings. And of course I stopped in to Royal Copenhagen!!
They have lots of street vendors and street performers and a wonderful large park in the middle of town where they have a fascinating exhibition of innovations to improve society. Most of the things revolved around renewable sources of energy but there was one project where houses are being built for less than $700 and are able to withstand earthquakes and other natural disasters. Quite amazing stuff.
The currency here is difficult to fathom. It goes like this: one dollar fifty cents is worth about 1 euro and 7 kroner are worth about 1 euro. And everything costs hundreds of kroners, so it seems incredibly expensive!! Actually, things here are more expensive than in the states but not a huge amount more. Mostly it just seems expensive because everything is multiplied by about 5…..500 kroner sounds way more expensive than $100!!!!!!
Off to dinner. Another adventure in eating! Stay tuned!
The dinners are included in the price of the hotel and tonight it was almost identical to last night except that the “main course” was different. You grab a plate and silverware and napkin and then start rooting around for the food. They have a small casserole dish, about the size of a small Pyrex bowl and that contains the ‘main course”. Last night there was a small chunk of meat (about 1 ½ inch square) in a gravy with mushrooms and mystery stuff. The meat turned out to be pork. It actually was quite tasty although mighty skimpy. Tonight was the same casserole dish with perhaps ¼ cup of rice a VERY small chunk of salmon and some green stuff sprinkled on top (dill and ???). You can get bread (more brown, seedy, fruity stuff), cold green beans and carrots, sliced tomatoes with onions and celery and greens. There are several kinds of vinegars and oils to dress the tomatoes and greens. That’s it…….except for dessert, which is cheese and biscuits and cut up oranges. No wonder these folks are thin and healthy!!
Tomorrow is Little Mermaid and Flower Child Day!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Copenhagen
August 25, 2009, Tuesday
Copenhagen
Today has been rather dark but so far no rain although it has been forecast. We finally arrived in Copenhagen after an eventful day. We spent over an hour in a traffic jam that ultimately got us to a ferry where we had to board and get across some body of water to enter Denmark!! We did not know we were going to be ferrying but it was fine. The boat was VERY modern and sold all manner of stuff….duty free. People were loading up on gift type items and cosmetics. The prices didn’t seem to be particularly good and I needed nothing but it is always fun to look. When we got to the hotel it was an experience.
The check in was mysterious. First off, the check in desk looked like a butcher block square in the middle of the room and there were 4-5 girls standing around chatting and laughing and generally having a wonderful time. I kept looking around to see if there was a desk of some sort so I could check in. I didn’t see anything but finally decided to walk down the hall to see if there was something further down the hall. As I turned, one of girls asked if she could help me!!! And then she was SO snotty that I was ready to walk out. She said, “You know you booked a double bed” I said that I knew this and she said, “Well it’s kind of small.” I asked if there was something special about it that I didn’t understand and she just looked at me and allowed that it was okay. Then I asked her where to park the car. She told me we could park on the street or in the hotel garage. The street is metered and she told me to go and read the meter to find out how much it cost. The garage is DK200/day. So I went out to read the meter and figured that MAYBE I might be able to decipher it but no luck, so back in I went and asked her if she would please read it for me. Well, you would have thought I’d asked her to pay for the parking!! She sighed and moaned and came outside and told me that it was an hourly fee. Duh!! I had to ask her HOW MUCH and she said that she didn’t know because she didn’t have a car. I asked if it didn’t say on the meter and she then told me that it was free form 12a-8a, DK28/hour 8a-5p and DK10/hour 5p-12a. Clearly it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the garage is cheaper so I asked her how to get to the garage. God have mercy!! This almost sent her around the bend!! It seems that the hotel doesn’t keep track of the garage and it is just first come first served. You have to walk down the ramp into the garage, find a spot and then run up, get the car and park it quickly. Whew!!
The car is parked and we are in our room with the “tiny” double bed (just a standard double) and all is well in our world. The room is hysterical though. It is the size of a thimble!! The only decent place to sit is the desk or the bed as the chair is covered with one of our bags!! You can barely turn around in it and maybe that is why she felt that it was possibly not suitable. Heck!! I don‘t care. It is clean and I’m not planning to spend much time in it, so what difference does it make if it is small?
Both dinner and breakfast come with the price of the room, so this should be interesting!! I can hardly wait to see what they serve!! The Internet is free!! The first place with free wifi that I don’t have to pirate!! Yippee!! Tonight I can call friends and family!
Copenhagen
Today has been rather dark but so far no rain although it has been forecast. We finally arrived in Copenhagen after an eventful day. We spent over an hour in a traffic jam that ultimately got us to a ferry where we had to board and get across some body of water to enter Denmark!! We did not know we were going to be ferrying but it was fine. The boat was VERY modern and sold all manner of stuff….duty free. People were loading up on gift type items and cosmetics. The prices didn’t seem to be particularly good and I needed nothing but it is always fun to look. When we got to the hotel it was an experience.
The check in was mysterious. First off, the check in desk looked like a butcher block square in the middle of the room and there were 4-5 girls standing around chatting and laughing and generally having a wonderful time. I kept looking around to see if there was a desk of some sort so I could check in. I didn’t see anything but finally decided to walk down the hall to see if there was something further down the hall. As I turned, one of girls asked if she could help me!!! And then she was SO snotty that I was ready to walk out. She said, “You know you booked a double bed” I said that I knew this and she said, “Well it’s kind of small.” I asked if there was something special about it that I didn’t understand and she just looked at me and allowed that it was okay. Then I asked her where to park the car. She told me we could park on the street or in the hotel garage. The street is metered and she told me to go and read the meter to find out how much it cost. The garage is DK200/day. So I went out to read the meter and figured that MAYBE I might be able to decipher it but no luck, so back in I went and asked her if she would please read it for me. Well, you would have thought I’d asked her to pay for the parking!! She sighed and moaned and came outside and told me that it was an hourly fee. Duh!! I had to ask her HOW MUCH and she said that she didn’t know because she didn’t have a car. I asked if it didn’t say on the meter and she then told me that it was free form 12a-8a, DK28/hour 8a-5p and DK10/hour 5p-12a. Clearly it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the garage is cheaper so I asked her how to get to the garage. God have mercy!! This almost sent her around the bend!! It seems that the hotel doesn’t keep track of the garage and it is just first come first served. You have to walk down the ramp into the garage, find a spot and then run up, get the car and park it quickly. Whew!!
The car is parked and we are in our room with the “tiny” double bed (just a standard double) and all is well in our world. The room is hysterical though. It is the size of a thimble!! The only decent place to sit is the desk or the bed as the chair is covered with one of our bags!! You can barely turn around in it and maybe that is why she felt that it was possibly not suitable. Heck!! I don‘t care. It is clean and I’m not planning to spend much time in it, so what difference does it make if it is small?
Both dinner and breakfast come with the price of the room, so this should be interesting!! I can hardly wait to see what they serve!! The Internet is free!! The first place with free wifi that I don’t have to pirate!! Yippee!! Tonight I can call friends and family!
Amsterdam and Hamburg
August 23 and 24, 2009
Amsterdam and Hamburg
I posted today’s message before we went out to dinner and it is a good thing that I did because the Internet service here is VERY sketchy. So we were very tired and wanted to eat close by and there is a little pub about half a block away where we went. These places are so funny. There were 7 tables in the whole place and most of them would accommodate 4 people but one of them held 6 and then ours was a long table with places for 12. When we went in, all the tables had folks sitting at them except the BIG table and so we stood at the door looking pitiful. Some older man who was beyond harried came flying up to us and indicated that we should sit at the big table. He then flew off to not be seen again for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, another old fellow was rushing in and out of the back with plates of food and drinks. Eventually one of them approached and in perfect English asked us what we wanted to drink and gave us 2 menus. I guessed we LOOKed American but later discovered that they converse with all strangers in English!! Soon a family of 4 joined us at the far end of the table and they didn’t speak to us but amused themselves by playing tiddly-winks with the drink coasters!! They allowed us to order one meal to share and we were really glad that we did because when the “steak” arrived it was the size of a roast!! And it looked a bit like a roast, thick, no particular shape and tough. Ah well, it tasted fine and we ate it, the accompanying French fries and a most peculiar but tasty tossed salad. Just before we left, a young girl came in and we found out that she was from New York and was visiting until tomorrow, when she will fly home. I found myself not being sure if one was supposed to keep to themselves when at a large table with lots of strangers or if you were supposed to make friends. Very strange. Nobody in America would put up with these situations but it is very practical and works just fine. It’s fun to mix with the locals and see how they live.
Up bright and early and on the road to Hamburg. Got “lost” twice but managed to get back on track with a minimal amount of wear and tear (ie, yelling and screaming). We drove directly in to our hotel and I thought all was well when Don blithely drove right on past it!! Oh boy!! Now we were in for some fun. The signs are totally foreign and we didn’t know which streets were one way, whether we could turn, yikes!! Horns were honking and we wee both getting REALLY stressed when all of a sudden we were bak at the hotel and in we turned……….only to have him turn onto the sidewalk and try to park in the front hotel lobby!! Holy cow!! I was yelling and trying to get him to stop and we were a sight to behold but he finally “got it” and backed out and drove on into the parking garage. Was I ever glad to get out of that car today!!!
Dinner tonight was in the hotel and it was delicious!! I ate so much I’m not sure if I’m going to pop or not but it was too good to pass up. Tomorrow starts our ‘real’ vacation. We arrive in Copenhagen and I’ve been boning up on all the good things we need to see while there.
No Internet here unless I want to pay big bucks and I don’t, so I used the free computer in the lobby to see if anything important is happening at home. Since all seems to be well with the world, I am not buying Internet time. Speaking of ‘well with the world’, we are very pleased to see the Dow is over 9600. Yippee!! And on top of that, the Euro is only 1.40 to the dollar instead of the 1.75 it was. Ah, life is good!!
Thoughts on Toilet Paper
The French and the Dutch don’t seem to have nearly the high regard for their bottoms that the Germans seem to have; as evidenced by the quality of the toilet paper. Paper in France and the Netherlands was harsh, rough and thin. Here the TP has more substance and is much softer. On top of that, the Kleenex brand is so proud of itself that it has printed its name on every 5th square!! Go America!!
Amsterdam and Hamburg
I posted today’s message before we went out to dinner and it is a good thing that I did because the Internet service here is VERY sketchy. So we were very tired and wanted to eat close by and there is a little pub about half a block away where we went. These places are so funny. There were 7 tables in the whole place and most of them would accommodate 4 people but one of them held 6 and then ours was a long table with places for 12. When we went in, all the tables had folks sitting at them except the BIG table and so we stood at the door looking pitiful. Some older man who was beyond harried came flying up to us and indicated that we should sit at the big table. He then flew off to not be seen again for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, another old fellow was rushing in and out of the back with plates of food and drinks. Eventually one of them approached and in perfect English asked us what we wanted to drink and gave us 2 menus. I guessed we LOOKed American but later discovered that they converse with all strangers in English!! Soon a family of 4 joined us at the far end of the table and they didn’t speak to us but amused themselves by playing tiddly-winks with the drink coasters!! They allowed us to order one meal to share and we were really glad that we did because when the “steak” arrived it was the size of a roast!! And it looked a bit like a roast, thick, no particular shape and tough. Ah well, it tasted fine and we ate it, the accompanying French fries and a most peculiar but tasty tossed salad. Just before we left, a young girl came in and we found out that she was from New York and was visiting until tomorrow, when she will fly home. I found myself not being sure if one was supposed to keep to themselves when at a large table with lots of strangers or if you were supposed to make friends. Very strange. Nobody in America would put up with these situations but it is very practical and works just fine. It’s fun to mix with the locals and see how they live.
Up bright and early and on the road to Hamburg. Got “lost” twice but managed to get back on track with a minimal amount of wear and tear (ie, yelling and screaming). We drove directly in to our hotel and I thought all was well when Don blithely drove right on past it!! Oh boy!! Now we were in for some fun. The signs are totally foreign and we didn’t know which streets were one way, whether we could turn, yikes!! Horns were honking and we wee both getting REALLY stressed when all of a sudden we were bak at the hotel and in we turned……….only to have him turn onto the sidewalk and try to park in the front hotel lobby!! Holy cow!! I was yelling and trying to get him to stop and we were a sight to behold but he finally “got it” and backed out and drove on into the parking garage. Was I ever glad to get out of that car today!!!
Dinner tonight was in the hotel and it was delicious!! I ate so much I’m not sure if I’m going to pop or not but it was too good to pass up. Tomorrow starts our ‘real’ vacation. We arrive in Copenhagen and I’ve been boning up on all the good things we need to see while there.
No Internet here unless I want to pay big bucks and I don’t, so I used the free computer in the lobby to see if anything important is happening at home. Since all seems to be well with the world, I am not buying Internet time. Speaking of ‘well with the world’, we are very pleased to see the Dow is over 9600. Yippee!! And on top of that, the Euro is only 1.40 to the dollar instead of the 1.75 it was. Ah, life is good!!
Thoughts on Toilet Paper
The French and the Dutch don’t seem to have nearly the high regard for their bottoms that the Germans seem to have; as evidenced by the quality of the toilet paper. Paper in France and the Netherlands was harsh, rough and thin. Here the TP has more substance and is much softer. On top of that, the Kleenex brand is so proud of itself that it has printed its name on every 5th square!! Go America!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Amsterdam
August 23, 2009, Sunday
Amsterdam
Today we did museums and I feel so cultured I’m practically yogurt!! First we did the Rembrandt Museum and I was really fascinated by the fact that not all of his work was dark, drab ugly people! I’ve just always thought of him as being really dark and depressing but much of the work here is light and uplifting. I made the usual arrangement with Don that I’d go at my pace and he could go at his pace and I’d wait for him at the end, however, after I had done 4 rooms, I went back looking for him and he was barely inside room one, so I gave him the word that I would wait for him but not all day long!!! Next thing I knew he had almost caught up with me!! I really didn’t have to wait long for him at all!
Next we decided to do a city tour on the hop on hop off bus. It wasn’t around last year and we found out that it didn’t have the hop on hop off license yet so once you got on you were on until you got back at the beginning. That was fine with us and so we went for a nice little ride and saw the whole city. We were both really surprised at how small Amsterdam really is.
After the bus ride we decided to visit the diamond museum but that was a joke and was mostly a tour of a few guys polishing diamonds and then a sales pitch and .the “opportunity” to buy diamonds at seriously inflated prices. At the very end of the tour they were selling Swarovski stuff and I was amused that they were pushing anything that sparkled---from $65,000 diamonds to $300 cut glass!! I guess the $30 sparkly tee shirts were outside the door!
Then we were hungry and we got a warm waffle sprinkled with powdered sugar. How decadent!! And delicious!! Fully restored, we were off to the VanGogh Museum and we cruised through there. It is a very modern and light museum and is the most popular and most visited museum in Amsterdam. It was packed today but people were generally pleasant and didn’t push or shove and you could see everything you wished to see.
So then the day was pretty well gone and we were both pooped so we crawled back to our hotel and now we are trying to figure out how to have food brought in!! LOL I just do NOT feel like walking any further today but that isn’t an option so we will rest for a while and then truck off to a local restaurant to find some food.
Once again we have had wonderful weather. How long can all this goodness last????
.
Amsterdam
Today we did museums and I feel so cultured I’m practically yogurt!! First we did the Rembrandt Museum and I was really fascinated by the fact that not all of his work was dark, drab ugly people! I’ve just always thought of him as being really dark and depressing but much of the work here is light and uplifting. I made the usual arrangement with Don that I’d go at my pace and he could go at his pace and I’d wait for him at the end, however, after I had done 4 rooms, I went back looking for him and he was barely inside room one, so I gave him the word that I would wait for him but not all day long!!! Next thing I knew he had almost caught up with me!! I really didn’t have to wait long for him at all!
Next we decided to do a city tour on the hop on hop off bus. It wasn’t around last year and we found out that it didn’t have the hop on hop off license yet so once you got on you were on until you got back at the beginning. That was fine with us and so we went for a nice little ride and saw the whole city. We were both really surprised at how small Amsterdam really is.
After the bus ride we decided to visit the diamond museum but that was a joke and was mostly a tour of a few guys polishing diamonds and then a sales pitch and .the “opportunity” to buy diamonds at seriously inflated prices. At the very end of the tour they were selling Swarovski stuff and I was amused that they were pushing anything that sparkled---from $65,000 diamonds to $300 cut glass!! I guess the $30 sparkly tee shirts were outside the door!
Then we were hungry and we got a warm waffle sprinkled with powdered sugar. How decadent!! And delicious!! Fully restored, we were off to the VanGogh Museum and we cruised through there. It is a very modern and light museum and is the most popular and most visited museum in Amsterdam. It was packed today but people were generally pleasant and didn’t push or shove and you could see everything you wished to see.
So then the day was pretty well gone and we were both pooped so we crawled back to our hotel and now we are trying to figure out how to have food brought in!! LOL I just do NOT feel like walking any further today but that isn’t an option so we will rest for a while and then truck off to a local restaurant to find some food.
Once again we have had wonderful weather. How long can all this goodness last????
.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Amsterdam
August 22, 2009 Saturday
Amsterdam
I remembered to set the alarm last night so we got up at a decent hour and got on the road. Today was our longest driving day of the entire trip and Don didn’t sleep all that well last night so he wasn’t looking forward to the drive. Of course, he wouldn’t even consider allowing me to drive!!
I had forgotten about the European bedding and how difficult it is to manage. They use a bottom sheet but no top sheet---just a HUGE comforter that is stuffed into a pillow case like cover. And it is VERY warm. I feel quite certain that you could easily survive a -50 degree temperature with one of these coverlet’s and I’m not sure what one is supposed to do with them in the summer. Our friend Jake just swears by these things but I’m not sure how he copes. I find that I stick out a leg or an arm for a while and then that gets cold so I have to twist around and stick something else out. If I stay under the cover, I wind up in a puddle of sweat and feel like a drowned rat. Eventually I’ll again acclimate myself to them but it takes me a while to get them figured out so I can get a good night’s rest.
The weather is just perfect and we had an uneventful drive. The toll road that we were on for a short time cost €14.60. That’s about $20 US. These folks just do not mess around with tolls!! And parking is similarly priced. We paid € 15 per nite in Paris and will pay € 20 per nite here. There just isn’t anyplace to park on the streets and our car is marked as a tourist car because it has a bright RED license plate and those are reserved for folks with buy back cars!! We’ve been very fortunate that we have not had a break in to our car but we aren’t going to take unnecessary chances. Last year we didn’t know what the red license meant and ignorance was bliss but now we know and we’ve been warned that these plates target cars.
We got in to the same hotel where we stayed last year and it is like being home!! They didn’t have our same room but it is very similar and we are happy. The shower is like totally HUGE in comparison to the one in Paris……as is the room.
We walked down to the large town square and found a very nice place for dinner. The Dover Sole was to die for!! Then we wandered back with an ice cream cone in hand and we are stuffed and ready for good nights sleep!
In the middle of the town square are two structures that are about 5 feet tall and divided into 4 distinct quadrants. In each quadrant is what looks like a funnel. When I first looked at them I was mildly puzzled…..and then I looked again and there were two men in two different quadrants urinating!! Ah, the freedom and openness of Europe…and we haven’t even hit Scandinavia!!!
Tomorrow we are going to wander around the city because this is one of our favorite places.
Amsterdam
I remembered to set the alarm last night so we got up at a decent hour and got on the road. Today was our longest driving day of the entire trip and Don didn’t sleep all that well last night so he wasn’t looking forward to the drive. Of course, he wouldn’t even consider allowing me to drive!!
I had forgotten about the European bedding and how difficult it is to manage. They use a bottom sheet but no top sheet---just a HUGE comforter that is stuffed into a pillow case like cover. And it is VERY warm. I feel quite certain that you could easily survive a -50 degree temperature with one of these coverlet’s and I’m not sure what one is supposed to do with them in the summer. Our friend Jake just swears by these things but I’m not sure how he copes. I find that I stick out a leg or an arm for a while and then that gets cold so I have to twist around and stick something else out. If I stay under the cover, I wind up in a puddle of sweat and feel like a drowned rat. Eventually I’ll again acclimate myself to them but it takes me a while to get them figured out so I can get a good night’s rest.
The weather is just perfect and we had an uneventful drive. The toll road that we were on for a short time cost €14.60. That’s about $20 US. These folks just do not mess around with tolls!! And parking is similarly priced. We paid € 15 per nite in Paris and will pay € 20 per nite here. There just isn’t anyplace to park on the streets and our car is marked as a tourist car because it has a bright RED license plate and those are reserved for folks with buy back cars!! We’ve been very fortunate that we have not had a break in to our car but we aren’t going to take unnecessary chances. Last year we didn’t know what the red license meant and ignorance was bliss but now we know and we’ve been warned that these plates target cars.
We got in to the same hotel where we stayed last year and it is like being home!! They didn’t have our same room but it is very similar and we are happy. The shower is like totally HUGE in comparison to the one in Paris……as is the room.
We walked down to the large town square and found a very nice place for dinner. The Dover Sole was to die for!! Then we wandered back with an ice cream cone in hand and we are stuffed and ready for good nights sleep!
In the middle of the town square are two structures that are about 5 feet tall and divided into 4 distinct quadrants. In each quadrant is what looks like a funnel. When I first looked at them I was mildly puzzled…..and then I looked again and there were two men in two different quadrants urinating!! Ah, the freedom and openness of Europe…and we haven’t even hit Scandinavia!!!
Tomorrow we are going to wander around the city because this is one of our favorite places.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Paris
August 21, 2009 Friday
Paris
Made a mistake and forgot to set the alarm this morning. I had another “CCBA night” (couldn’t sleep) until about 3am. Well, Don must have been really tired too because he poked me and asked me what time it was and when I got my wits together and looked at the clock, it was 12:19pm!!!!!!!!! It appears that we aren’t over our jet lag yet! LOL We hauled out of bed and got ready to go to Sacre Coeur. But first we needed to eat and Don wanted BREAKFAST. I tried to explain that this as not going to be easy to find and maybe we should just stop in a bakery and get a croissant and some juice. After walking all around town and checking out every restaurant (which are really bars) and every café (which are also bars) he finally decided that perhaps I might be right. We went to a bakery and he asked the guy for a sweet roll. Poor fellow didn’t have a clue what Don wanted so I spotted a pastry that was loaded with chocolate chips and pointed it out. Don was happy and we each got one. Then we carried it up the street to the café and got coffee au lait and that was breakfast…at 1:00pm.
Finding Sacre Coeur was quite easy and it was fun to ride the Metro and watch all the people. It isn’t nearly as hot today as yesterday and I’m MUCH happier. The church is a huge tourist attraction and there are tourist shops everywhere you look. With lots and lots of people buying all sorts of junk. We saw a street “vendor” (I use the term loosely) who was running a shell game and he had three pieces that he was moving around and for € 100 you could guess where the one with the white dot was located. He had his shill and his mark and we watched the shill collect € 100 and the mark lose € 200. YIKES!! I wonder if the game is legal over here or if we just happened on a shady business!
When we finally got up to the church we were both winded in spite of taking the funicular for a bit of the climb. Don said to me that this church was not made for 80 year old men to attend!! Inside the church was pretty typical of all large cathedrals but the ceiling in this one had a huge picture of Christ painted with his arms spread open and the way it appeared on the ceiling, it made you feel like you were being embraced by him. Now this is not my usual take on religious things and I was surprised at my reaction but it was very real.
There were hundreds and hundreds of candles lit all over the cathedral. The large ones were € 10 and the small ones were € 2. Don said to me, “I wonder why the Jews didn’t come up with this plan to make money.” I told him that they knew how to make money in other ways and he promptly said that he bet the Jews were the guys who sold all the candles to the Catholics. Aye-yi-yi!! I picked up a small bookmark from the cathedral for Chris, my catholic friend.
I saw a really cute handbag that I think Kathy would like but it was being carried by a tourist and I couldn’t very well swipe it from her so I looked and looked to see if I could fid one but no luck. We sat on the steps of the cathedral and listened to a young man play his guitar and sings lots of familiar songs. He wasn’t very accomplished as a musician but he had lots of charm and he put his all into his performance and so it was well worth the time (and donation) spent. There was also a street performer who stood on top of a small concrete square and bounced a ball on his feet, arms, head and tossed it up in the air and caught it with his foot and rolled it around his back, etc. He was pretty good…kind of the Tiger Woods of the soccer ball.
We stopped at a street vendor and picked up a couple of delicious oranges and now we are back in our room, cooling off and resting after our big outing!! LOL I’m getting anxious to get on the road and get into Scandinavia. Paris is lively but it is not the purpose of this trip and I want to get on with it.
Last night I got attacked by a giant sycamore leaf (I thought it was a maple leaf). I was eating dinner and all of a sudden something went smack against my neck and it was this leaf that was at least 6 inches across! Scared the heck out of me!
Paris
Made a mistake and forgot to set the alarm this morning. I had another “CCBA night” (couldn’t sleep) until about 3am. Well, Don must have been really tired too because he poked me and asked me what time it was and when I got my wits together and looked at the clock, it was 12:19pm!!!!!!!!! It appears that we aren’t over our jet lag yet! LOL We hauled out of bed and got ready to go to Sacre Coeur. But first we needed to eat and Don wanted BREAKFAST. I tried to explain that this as not going to be easy to find and maybe we should just stop in a bakery and get a croissant and some juice. After walking all around town and checking out every restaurant (which are really bars) and every café (which are also bars) he finally decided that perhaps I might be right. We went to a bakery and he asked the guy for a sweet roll. Poor fellow didn’t have a clue what Don wanted so I spotted a pastry that was loaded with chocolate chips and pointed it out. Don was happy and we each got one. Then we carried it up the street to the café and got coffee au lait and that was breakfast…at 1:00pm.
Finding Sacre Coeur was quite easy and it was fun to ride the Metro and watch all the people. It isn’t nearly as hot today as yesterday and I’m MUCH happier. The church is a huge tourist attraction and there are tourist shops everywhere you look. With lots and lots of people buying all sorts of junk. We saw a street “vendor” (I use the term loosely) who was running a shell game and he had three pieces that he was moving around and for € 100 you could guess where the one with the white dot was located. He had his shill and his mark and we watched the shill collect € 100 and the mark lose € 200. YIKES!! I wonder if the game is legal over here or if we just happened on a shady business!
When we finally got up to the church we were both winded in spite of taking the funicular for a bit of the climb. Don said to me that this church was not made for 80 year old men to attend!! Inside the church was pretty typical of all large cathedrals but the ceiling in this one had a huge picture of Christ painted with his arms spread open and the way it appeared on the ceiling, it made you feel like you were being embraced by him. Now this is not my usual take on religious things and I was surprised at my reaction but it was very real.
There were hundreds and hundreds of candles lit all over the cathedral. The large ones were € 10 and the small ones were € 2. Don said to me, “I wonder why the Jews didn’t come up with this plan to make money.” I told him that they knew how to make money in other ways and he promptly said that he bet the Jews were the guys who sold all the candles to the Catholics. Aye-yi-yi!! I picked up a small bookmark from the cathedral for Chris, my catholic friend.
I saw a really cute handbag that I think Kathy would like but it was being carried by a tourist and I couldn’t very well swipe it from her so I looked and looked to see if I could fid one but no luck. We sat on the steps of the cathedral and listened to a young man play his guitar and sings lots of familiar songs. He wasn’t very accomplished as a musician but he had lots of charm and he put his all into his performance and so it was well worth the time (and donation) spent. There was also a street performer who stood on top of a small concrete square and bounced a ball on his feet, arms, head and tossed it up in the air and caught it with his foot and rolled it around his back, etc. He was pretty good…kind of the Tiger Woods of the soccer ball.
We stopped at a street vendor and picked up a couple of delicious oranges and now we are back in our room, cooling off and resting after our big outing!! LOL I’m getting anxious to get on the road and get into Scandinavia. Paris is lively but it is not the purpose of this trip and I want to get on with it.
Last night I got attacked by a giant sycamore leaf (I thought it was a maple leaf). I was eating dinner and all of a sudden something went smack against my neck and it was this leaf that was at least 6 inches across! Scared the heck out of me!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Paris
August 20, 2009 Thursday
Paris
We got up early ad took the bus and the train out to Versailles. It was a blistering hot day and eve though we had tickets, we stood in a very long line to get it. Then after we got in we were in hoards of people touring the Palace. I guess I’m just a warped individual but I was less than excited about it. It just seemed to me like one more REALLY big building filled with lovely ceiling art and dark pictures of old kings on the walls!! I was even disappointed in the Hall of Mirrors!! I don’t know what I thought it was going to be bit it just wasn’t the grand, mirrored place I had imagined. Perhaps the fact that it was crammed with people and it was hot and stuffy may have contributed to my disappointment. Ah well. I saw Versailles and I’m very glad that I got there but I will not be raving about what a terrific place it is!! By the time we got out the lines were all gone. I think we should have come later!!!
We feel pretty smart that we manage to get around the city with all the different kinds of transportation. Actually, the Metro and trains and buses are very well marked and if you pay attention to where you got on, you can always get back
There is a HUGE bird house for pigeons just a few blocks away from where we are staying and we spotted it this morning while we were on the bus, so when we got back, we decided to walk to it to see it up close and personal!. It is really interesting and I took all kinds of pictures of it! It is located in a lovely park that has a beautiful fountain, pool and lots of flowers as well as a vegetable garden complete with scarecrow. While we were there, a young man came up to Don and wanted Don to take his picture….with OUR camera!! Don realized that there was something wrong with the guy and blew him off and then the guy walked over to me and kind of fell into me almost knocking me off my feet!! It was SO weird. I finally got disentangled from him and the next thing we knew, a nicely dressed man came from the other side of the fountain and grabbed a park official. When we walked a bit further we were able to see that the young man had stepped into the pool with all his clothes and shoes on and had also placed his backpack in the pool!!!!!!! The park official was trying to convince him to get out!! Oh boy, there are nuts everywhere!
We are going back to our restaurant/bar tonight for dinner again!! I figure that there is no point in trying a new place when we found a place with such delightful food!! Tonight I’m getting the salmon with pasta. I saw it being served last night and it looked terrific. I’ve been thinking about it all day and I’m really looking forward to it.
Speaking of food, I had forgotten how dumb their breakfasts are. I always end up eating a croissant with cheese and a slice of ham tucked into it. Ham sandwiches for breakfast are just not my ideal but when in Rome (or Paris) do as………..
I HAVE to tell about our tiny shower. It wins the prize for the tiniest shower I’ve ever seen or been in. It is so funny!! If you move in it you either turn the water off (because you bumped into the faucet) or you fall out into the tiny bathroom!! The curtain likes to cling to your body and it is a stitch!! This morning I heard the shower going on and off and I finally asked Don what he was doing and he said that it was just easier to turn it off when he was washing than to fight to keep it going!!! I’m not sure but he may have foud the definitive solution!
Tomorrow Sacre Coeur.
Paris
We got up early ad took the bus and the train out to Versailles. It was a blistering hot day and eve though we had tickets, we stood in a very long line to get it. Then after we got in we were in hoards of people touring the Palace. I guess I’m just a warped individual but I was less than excited about it. It just seemed to me like one more REALLY big building filled with lovely ceiling art and dark pictures of old kings on the walls!! I was even disappointed in the Hall of Mirrors!! I don’t know what I thought it was going to be bit it just wasn’t the grand, mirrored place I had imagined. Perhaps the fact that it was crammed with people and it was hot and stuffy may have contributed to my disappointment. Ah well. I saw Versailles and I’m very glad that I got there but I will not be raving about what a terrific place it is!! By the time we got out the lines were all gone. I think we should have come later!!!
We feel pretty smart that we manage to get around the city with all the different kinds of transportation. Actually, the Metro and trains and buses are very well marked and if you pay attention to where you got on, you can always get back
There is a HUGE bird house for pigeons just a few blocks away from where we are staying and we spotted it this morning while we were on the bus, so when we got back, we decided to walk to it to see it up close and personal!. It is really interesting and I took all kinds of pictures of it! It is located in a lovely park that has a beautiful fountain, pool and lots of flowers as well as a vegetable garden complete with scarecrow. While we were there, a young man came up to Don and wanted Don to take his picture….with OUR camera!! Don realized that there was something wrong with the guy and blew him off and then the guy walked over to me and kind of fell into me almost knocking me off my feet!! It was SO weird. I finally got disentangled from him and the next thing we knew, a nicely dressed man came from the other side of the fountain and grabbed a park official. When we walked a bit further we were able to see that the young man had stepped into the pool with all his clothes and shoes on and had also placed his backpack in the pool!!!!!!! The park official was trying to convince him to get out!! Oh boy, there are nuts everywhere!
We are going back to our restaurant/bar tonight for dinner again!! I figure that there is no point in trying a new place when we found a place with such delightful food!! Tonight I’m getting the salmon with pasta. I saw it being served last night and it looked terrific. I’ve been thinking about it all day and I’m really looking forward to it.
Speaking of food, I had forgotten how dumb their breakfasts are. I always end up eating a croissant with cheese and a slice of ham tucked into it. Ham sandwiches for breakfast are just not my ideal but when in Rome (or Paris) do as………..
I HAVE to tell about our tiny shower. It wins the prize for the tiniest shower I’ve ever seen or been in. It is so funny!! If you move in it you either turn the water off (because you bumped into the faucet) or you fall out into the tiny bathroom!! The curtain likes to cling to your body and it is a stitch!! This morning I heard the shower going on and off and I finally asked Don what he was doing and he said that it was just easier to turn it off when he was washing than to fight to keep it going!!! I’m not sure but he may have foud the definitive solution!
Tomorrow Sacre Coeur.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Dublin and Paris
August 19, 2009, Wednesday
Paris
It has been a LONG day. Molly took us to the airport and we were able to march right towards the gate but Don got stopped in Security and they gave him the want several times and then isolated him in the glass box and some man was patting him down VERY thoroughly and finally they discovered that he had put his metal bookmark in his pocket!! I was starved and so I went to the food stand and the cheapest thing I could fine was a veggie wrap for $9. That didn’t sound too bad so I bought it with a bottle of water and almost $15 later I bit in to the strangest thing on earth. It had veggies in it that I couldn’t even recognize!! I ate about half of it and decided that I could wait for supper!!
There were a zillion kids on our flight and as we were waiting and listening to the screaming and pounding of little feet, Don turned to me and muttered that all people under the age of 12 should be banned on aircraft!! This from a confirmed child lover!! Actaully, our seats were very nice, right in the front of the plane. There was a single mother across the aisle from us with a rather new baby and a two year old but they were fie and I even got to baby sit the baby while she took the little to the bathroom. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve had to babysit!! I was thrilled!
The flight was a bit rough but not really awful and I managed to get some sleep. Don got none. He doesn’t even try. We arrived in Dublin almost an hour early so we had a 3 ½ hour layover and then sat in row 1 on the flight from Dublin to Paris. We picked up our little car and this year it is a nice beige color. WAY more personality than the black one of last year!
We are quite proud of ourselves in that we were able to drive directly to our hotel without one wrong turn. Our hotel is hysterical. It is so tiny that it almost doesn’t exist. The rooms are minute and we brought in all three of our bags so we could re-organize. I sent Don out to do something….anything…so I could move things around. Now the bags are WAY more manageable and we can leave the big one in the car and just bring in the small carry-ons. We were allowed twice as much luggage as we brought and I’m really glad that we aren’t pushing all the extra stuff around.
It is HOT over here. Almost 100 degrees F and they all think they are dying. Very few places in the commoner sections have A/C. Thank God our hotel has it and so does our car. We went out for dinner tonight and it is just brutal. So humid and HOT. But we found a lovely little restaurant/bar owned by a brother and sister and it was loaded with patrons so we decided that it must be good and it was. Don had the steak tartare (ick!!) and I had the best omelet I’ve ever had in my life. They didn’t want to serve him the steak tartare because they thought he didn’t know what it was and they didn’t know how to say that it was raw but when we explained that he REALLY has a streak of cannibal in him, out it came.
We are beat and so it’s off to bed. Tomorrow Versailles.
Paris
It has been a LONG day. Molly took us to the airport and we were able to march right towards the gate but Don got stopped in Security and they gave him the want several times and then isolated him in the glass box and some man was patting him down VERY thoroughly and finally they discovered that he had put his metal bookmark in his pocket!! I was starved and so I went to the food stand and the cheapest thing I could fine was a veggie wrap for $9. That didn’t sound too bad so I bought it with a bottle of water and almost $15 later I bit in to the strangest thing on earth. It had veggies in it that I couldn’t even recognize!! I ate about half of it and decided that I could wait for supper!!
There were a zillion kids on our flight and as we were waiting and listening to the screaming and pounding of little feet, Don turned to me and muttered that all people under the age of 12 should be banned on aircraft!! This from a confirmed child lover!! Actaully, our seats were very nice, right in the front of the plane. There was a single mother across the aisle from us with a rather new baby and a two year old but they were fie and I even got to baby sit the baby while she took the little to the bathroom. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve had to babysit!! I was thrilled!
The flight was a bit rough but not really awful and I managed to get some sleep. Don got none. He doesn’t even try. We arrived in Dublin almost an hour early so we had a 3 ½ hour layover and then sat in row 1 on the flight from Dublin to Paris. We picked up our little car and this year it is a nice beige color. WAY more personality than the black one of last year!
We are quite proud of ourselves in that we were able to drive directly to our hotel without one wrong turn. Our hotel is hysterical. It is so tiny that it almost doesn’t exist. The rooms are minute and we brought in all three of our bags so we could re-organize. I sent Don out to do something….anything…so I could move things around. Now the bags are WAY more manageable and we can leave the big one in the car and just bring in the small carry-ons. We were allowed twice as much luggage as we brought and I’m really glad that we aren’t pushing all the extra stuff around.
It is HOT over here. Almost 100 degrees F and they all think they are dying. Very few places in the commoner sections have A/C. Thank God our hotel has it and so does our car. We went out for dinner tonight and it is just brutal. So humid and HOT. But we found a lovely little restaurant/bar owned by a brother and sister and it was loaded with patrons so we decided that it must be good and it was. Don had the steak tartare (ick!!) and I had the best omelet I’ve ever had in my life. They didn’t want to serve him the steak tartare because they thought he didn’t know what it was and they didn’t know how to say that it was raw but when we explained that he REALLY has a streak of cannibal in him, out it came.
We are beat and so it’s off to bed. Tomorrow Versailles.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Getting Ready
The time to leave is almost upon us and we are both getting excited. It seems like this has been in the planning stages for so long that we were never going to actually go but now it is only 4 days away!! Tomorrow I will do the final laundry and will start to think about what we will take. We've collected a ton of books and I KNOW that we will not be able to take them all. Our plan is to take two darry on bags and one large suitcase and that's it. The large suitcase will carry our heavy coats, my cosmetic bag and Don's dopp kit and books. All our clothes will go into the small carry on's. Hm-m-m!! That is the plan!! I'll let you know if we actually can do this!!
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