Belgium and The Netherlands

When I last wrote from Copenhagen, we were about to fly to Brussels. Our flight went well and we were glad that we had flown rather than taking the 12 hour train. Brussels is a big city, very focused on history and now also on the European Union as it is the seat of the EU Parliament. It is a very old city and it's main square reflects that in it's buildings and statues. We spent our time visiting the square, wandering a few side streets, having a delicious dinner at a Michelin restaurant, and eating some delicious Belgian chocolates (mine were sugar free!). The next morning we got on to a train and traveled to Bruges.

We had heard so much about this medieval town and during our days there we were not disappointed! We much prefer small towns to big cities and Bruges is much smaller than Brussels. We stayed in a great little hotel a short distance from the main square. We stayed for three nights and truly enjoyed ourselves! We took a canal cruise the first afternoon since the weather was perfect! We also both got hair cuts and I got mine colored - it was well past due. One of the main things we wanted to see was the only sculpture done by Michaelangelo to leave Italy in his lifetime. It is in the Church of Our Lady (Notre Dame) and is a lovely Madonna and child. We also took a city bus tour and then, since the weather had cleared from cloudy and rainy to sunny, we took a tour to the nearby city of Damme. We rode one way on the bus and went back on a boat on the canal. It was a very relaxing way to sightsee and to appreciate the countryside. The city of Bruges dates continually from the middle ages and was a major port at that time. Since then, silt has filled in about 10 kilometers but the city has continued to exist. It's main commerce now is tourism. It is a beautiful city and I would recommend a visit to anyone who plans to visit the region.

Last Monday we took the train to Amsterdam. Again we are staying some distance from the central area but we like being in more residential areas. Public transportation is great here, with a wonderful tram system as well as buses. There is a subway that functions mainly to connect the suburbs to the downtown area. We immediately bought 6 day transit cards which are good on all of the above. Two tram lines run about a block away and both go to the downtown hub. They go by about every five minutes so getting around is so easy! Amsterdam is shaped like a fan, with the central train station in the north and a series of canals and the Amstel river in concentric circles around it.

We decided to divide our 7 days here between the city and the surrounding area. We spent the first day using a 24 hour pass for canal and city bus tours. There are four different canal tours which cover different areas of the city. We had time for three of the tours that day and the next morning took a bus tour to pick up whatever the canals missed. The bus tour included a stop at Gassen's diamond center; interesting but no purchases were made. In the afternoon we visited the Ryksmuseum. It is currently under huge renovation but happily the best of their collection is presented in a more compact area which makes the visit still extremely worthwhile but much easier on the feet! Rembrandt is probably the most famous Dutch painter and the collection in the museum is fantastic. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Another day was divided between Anne Frank's house, the Red Light district and the Van Gogh museum (I know - quite a contrast). We started our morning at Anne Frank's hiding place in order to beat the crowds. It is incredibly moving to walk through the rooms and see the few articles there and remember her story; hallowed ground, to be sure. After having lunch, we took a short stroll along Rick Steves' tour path in the Red Light district. We saw condoms shops, drug shops and prostitutes advertising in their windows. All of this is quite legal although tightly regulated. We didn't need to see any more. That evening we visited the Van Gogh museum which is only about 2 blocks away from our hotel. His sad personal story stands in contrast to his amazing paintings and the museum does a wonderful job of presenting both.

Last Thursday we went on a day trip to The Hague and Delft. We visited the first in the morning and spent the afternoon in the beautiful smaller town. The Hague is home to the World Court and we had hoped to go inside the Peace Palace to see it in action. Unfortunately, the building was closed to visitors which is not unusual. So we quickly moved on to Delft. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking through the open air market and visiting the old and new churches. I was very interested in visiting the Delft ceramics plant and we enjoyed a 30 minute tour and made a couple of small purchases before heading back to Amsterdam on the train. Yesterday we took Rick Steves' Historical Triangle trip and rode north to the town of Hoorn where we took a coal fired steam train to another small town. There we caught an old style passenger boat that took us to an open air folk museum. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time during each segment of the trip. At the end, we took the train back to Amsterdam. Today has been a time of arranging details, doing some laundry, beginning to pack etc. Tomorrow we take a taxi to join our last tour, the month long river cruise, which begins in Amsterdam's harbor.

Photos, from the top left: bicycles are everywhere here - these are parked at the train station in Delft, on the canal tour in Bruges, swans on the canal with us, Belgian waffles - yum!, Anne Frank's house highlighted on a map of Amsterdam, on a canal tour in Amsterdam, a life-size cow and me at the Delft ceramics plant, modern windmills creating energy, a traditional windmill at the open air museum, and Gouda cheese at the museum.

Sweden and Denmark

We are having a wonderful time in beautiful Scandinavia!

We spent 5 days in Stockholm, seeing such sights as the royal palace, the Vasa museum and Skansen park. The latter is a wonderful place for people of all ages. There is a zoo, beautiful gardens and fountains, a historical village with houses and shops from 100 years ago and people demonstrating glassblowing, pottery etc. We also took the hop on - hop off bus on two of it's routes in order to see as much as possible of the city. Our final activity was a 2 hour cruise through the canals and waterways of Stockholm. The city is partly on the Baltic Sea and partly on a lake, so the cruise goes through locks to move from one to the other. Everywhere there is water! Hiking trails and parks line the waterways and people kayak, sail and motor all over. Spring had arrived and the trees were all newly decorated with leaves which made a lovely scene. We found some great places for dinner with traditional Swedish food as well as some modern options. The Swedish meatballs and salmon were delicious, as was the herring (at least Jon thought so!).

We took the train from Stockholm to Copenhagen on a bright sunny day which really enhanced the journey. The Swedish countryside was green with cultivated fields and dense forests. The farms had neat houses and well kept outbuildings, and many had horses grazing in the fields. A very idyllic picture. The train was extremely comfortable and the personnel helpful in getting all our bags on and off the train. We even took brief naps!

Copenhagen is another city surrounded by water and filled with canals. On our first full day in the city we took a canal tour. It lasted about an hour and at times we had to lean over in the boat because the bridges we passed under were so low! There are some fantastic new buildings built along the water, including the Maersk shipping line's gift to the city, a $300 + million opera house. Also on our first day we went to the famous Tivoli park and had a delightful time. I even talked Jon into going on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale ride, which is similar to the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland. After it was over, he said it wasn't that bad! The gardens were beautiful, with tulips blooming and swans (Denmark's national bird) swimming and nesting. That day we also visited the Danish National Museum. We were especially interested in the prehistory and Viking parts and spent most of our time in those areas. Danes are very proud of their Viking heritage and we enjoyed the tie-ins with what we had learned in Ireland.

The next day we walked to Rosenborg castle, about 8 blocks away. It is part of a lovely park and was home to some of Denmark's most important kings. Christian IV, perhaps the most remarkable, chose to die there because it was his favorite. The treasury and crown jewels were spectacular! From there we walked to the Danish Resistance Museum. It tells the story of Denmark's occupation during World War II and the resistance movement that grew as the war went on. There were many Danish heroes who relayed messages, blew up railroads or hid or transported Jews to Sweden. It was very inspiring and very well done!

On Friday we picked up a rental car (with GPS!) and drove to two nearby places of interest. The first was the Viking museum at Roskilde. I wish that we could have spent the day there! We saw scale models of ships, remnants of recovered ships, demonstrations of naval skills such knot tying and rope making that were done as they were around 1000 AD. and films describing Viking life. We know them as terrorizing robbers and destroyers but northern Europe sees them as spreaders of the culture of the day and traders as well. They also settled in some areas, mingled with the local population and founded cities.

From there we drove to Karen Blixen's home in Rungsted, north of Copenhagen. She wrote under the pseudonym Isek Dineson and two of her best known works are "Out of Africa" which is really a memoir and "Babette's Feast" which is one of our favorite movies. We had been to her home in Nairobi, which is also a museum, and we looked forward to seeing her home in Denmark. Her life story is quite sad; much of it is told through photographs, letters and video of interviews that she gave late in life. She was a remarkable woman.

We kept the rental car (a great VW Golf, Albert!) and on Saturday drove to the home of new friends of ours, Karin and Stig Friis. It took 2 1/2 hours to get there and we were able to see a lot of beautiful scenery on the way. We had met Karin and Stig in a restaurant in Florence at lunch. The tables were close together and we began talking. They are both involved in education in a broad sense and we found many things to talk about. We emailed afterward and they invited us to stay with them when we came to Denmark. We accepted their invitation on Saturday! They were terrific hosts and we hope they will visit us in Seattle so we can repay them properly. They served us a lovely lunch of traditional Danish foods, took us on an interesting drive around their area through farmland, small villages and to the beach, and made a delicious dinner that evening. We talked the whole time and until 10:30 that night! In the morning we had breakfast and then went our separate ways since they had plans with other friends and we had other places to see. We drove to Legoland, which was a LOT more fun than I thought it would be! What a creative, entertaining spot for the whole family! We wandered around through the various areas, had lunch and then headed off to the city of Odense to see Hans Christian Andersen's home and museum.

He was another Dane with a sad childhood but whose creativity refused to be contained. In case you don't remember, he wrote "The Little Mermaid", "The Tinder Box" and "Thumbelina", among others. "The Ugly Duckling" most clearly presents his philosophy of life: being born in the barnyard doesn't mean you can't grow up to be a swan. His life in a nutshell. When we got back to Copenhagen, we turned in the car and prepared to leave the next day for the island of Aero.

Aero is where we are now. It is a lovely little island just 9 miles by water from Germany. It is the sunniest and warmest place in Denmark and a very popular vacation spot. Many Germans as well as Danes come here. Bicycles are the most common means of transportation since the island is very flat and, except for the wind, easy to travel around. There are many bike routes. This morning Jon and I rented bikes from our hotel. Neither of us had ridden a bike in at least 50 years so it took some courage for me, at least, to get on and try to go. After some practice, we started out and were gone for about an hour. That was enough. Boy, those seats were hard! And my thighs are not in as good a condition as I thought they were! The wind kept blowing me sideways and sometimes we were on roads with cars. But we made it with no accidents. In the afternoon we took the bus to a town at the other end of the island and enjoyed the scenic tour. As luck would have it, a group of 10 year olds got on the bus too and a "there's one in every class" Johanes sat right in front of us. I took his picture - an experienced teacher will only need a glance to know what I mean! This is a maritime community and we visited a very good maritime museum before coming back on the bus.

Tomorrow we travel back to Copenhagen via ferry then bus then train. We are meeting Jessica's sister-in-law Nelly who is there on business - a wonderful coincidence! Then on Thursday we fly to Brussels and stay overnight before heading to Bruges the next day. From there we go to Amsterdam where we join our last organized tour, a four week river cruise. I'll write more from Amsterdam.

Here are some photos: from the top left: (sorry about the repetition of the first two) me on the bike, scenery from our bus trip on Aero island, fries at Legoland, Jon on his bike, Stockholm as seen from our water tour, the "little mermaid's little sister" from Tivoli in Copenhagen, a salvaged Viking ship from the museum at Roskilde, our friends Karin and Stig and the lego fries again (some day I'll figure out how to delete duplicate photos!)

Turkey

Hello everyone! I am writing this from Stockholm, having arrived here two nights ago from Ankara. We had a fascinating time in Turkey! From head spinning Istanbul, to the curious rock formations in Cappadocia and the modern capital city of Ankara, we were surprised and delighted by the land, people and culture of this crossroads of the world.

We had a fantastic guide named Ayberk. He met our cruise ship when it first docked in Turkey and was our leader at Ephesus and Istanbul. Maria was still our tour director but he was our guide. We got to Istanbul in the late afternoon and the next day we had a very full day of seeing the Spice Market, Blue Mosque, hippodrome, Sultan's Palace, Haga Sophia, the Grand Bazaar and the streets of the city. Because traffic was terrible, we ended up taking the tram once, which was also an experience! Each place was amazing; the colors, scents, art work (from the Egyptian obelisk at the hippodrome to the colorful, awesome interior of the Blue Mosque to the glorious mosaics of Haga Sophia and lovely gardens and displays at the Sultan's Palace) combined with the panoramic views of the city and waterways made the day a whirlwind of impressions and memories. That night we had a delicious "farewell dinner" at a wonderful restaurant that overlooked the water. The food was a treat, even though every meal we had had been excellent, and the wine just kept coming. Our entire group got along so well that we truly didn't want to say goodbye to anyone. We didn't stay late however since most of the group had very early flights to catch.

The next day, Ayberk and the 8 of us who were taking the post trip flew to Cappadocia (spelled Kapadokya in Turkey). Since it was morning when we flew, we could see the beautiful landscape. We saw mountains and then large agricultural tracts. After landing, we drove straight to the area's main attraction, it's geologic uniqueness. The strange rock formations made from volcanic material are very strong but people have carved cave homes in them for hundreds of years. Some of them reminded us of Bryce Canyon's hoo-doos. After settling in our hotel ( a lovely modern complex with swimming pool that caters to tour groups) we went for a late afternoon hike. By then the heat had moderated and we were quite comfortable. Over the next 2 days, we hiked above and through the formations and visited a ceramics studio, went into the famous underground city, and spent time at a local school that is supported by Grand Circle. The school was so much fun - children are the same all over the world - and afterwards, the principal invited us to walk down the block to see the local oven where all the families in the town bake their bread. The women of one family were taking their turn and they graciously shared some fresh out of the oven with us! Yum! Of course mixed in with all the hikes and sightseeing were plenty of shopping opportunities. On Tuesday we packed up and drove to Ankara, stopping on the way to visit several Hittite sites. The Hittites were people who lived in central Turkey around 1500 BC. For those of you who have been to Egypt, they were the people who Ramses II claimed to have defeated in the most important battle of his reign. The ruins we saw were very impressive, with carvings, wall frescoes and bas reliefs. We arrived in Ankara that night and the next morning went to Turkey's historical museum that contains most of the relics found at the sites. It was amazing. We also visited Ataturk's mausoleum. He is their George Washington, having led the independence movement in the 1920s. He accomplished some huge changes and reforms in a very short time; we both want to read more about him. While in Ankara, we stayed at the 5 star Hilton hotel and our room looked down on the Iranian embassy which was quite interesting!

Thursday morning Jon and I slept in while the others took early flights. We had a leisurely breakfast and then I took the opportunity to use the treadmill before packing and heading to our own flight to Stockholm. As we reflect on our time in Turkey, we realize how much we had learned about a beautiful land about which we only had had fuzzy image just a week ago. In some ways it is very modern and in others traditional ways are still in place. It is rich in agricultural resources and in minerals. It is in a very strategic geographical location. It is a nation with a secular government and a huge Islamic population. There is great national pride in their history and their hero, Ataturk. We saw only a small part of the country but we know that there are areas of extreme natural beauty including unspoiled bays and valleys. Turkey has a great future ahead of it!

Here are some photos. From the top, left: one of Istanbul's mosques, Cappadocia, some kids at the school, a stone lion at the Hittite ruins, and our group at our last dinner together. Our guide Ayberk is next to me.

Added photos: top left: land at Cappadocia (looks like our Painted Desert, doesn't it?), one of the homes in rock (or one of the seven dwarfs?), one of the village women baking bread, in another village we found ladies selling handmade dolls, and two girls in the street in Ankara on their way to school; our friend Bob is in the background.

Greece

Hello from Istanbul, Turkey! A lot has happened since I last posted a message, and all of it has been good! We had a wonderful trip across the Greek mainland and through the Aegean Sea and yesterday we began the Turkish phase of our adventure.

The Greek culture is ancient and we saw many temples, sculptures and artifacts. But we were not prepared for how beautiful the land is! Green hills, incredible rock structures, isolated monasteries set into the rocks, snowy mountain tops. Fertile land with crops, picturesque villages and blue water. We had a wonderful guide, Maria, who gently kept us on schedule, arranged everything for us and who taught us so much about Greek Orthodoxy as well as the political and cultural history of her people.

The cruise portion of the trip was 7 days long and we wished it could have gone on forever. OAT has it's own fleet of ships and outfits them to meet American needs and tastes. Our group of 22 shared the ship with another OAT group of 15; the ship has capacity for 50 passengers so we had plenty of room. The other group was led by Maria's daughter, 27 year old Katia (cot - ee - ah) which made it fun for all of us! We had a lovely cabin with a balcony and enjoyed having washcloths and bread/butter plates for our meals - both are rare in Europe.

The cruise started out interestingly. Our ship was supposed to pick us up near Athens but because of heavy winds it had to stay docked at the island of Naxos and we took a ferry to that island. The ferries are huge, made to travel in rough seas, so even though it made for a late (midnight) arrival, we were glad that we had taken it. Happily the winds died down and we were able to complete our cruise with only one variation. We visited the islands of Naxos, Paros (instead of Siros), Mykonos, Santorini, Delos (an archeological sight), Amorgos, and Patmos. You are probably familiar with the names Mykonos and Santorini - and they are every bit as wonderful as their reputation. Patmos is the island where St. John wrote the "Revelation" book of the Bible. We were able to see the monastery named for him as well as the cave where he is supposed to have written it. We loved Patmos; it had cute villages and a nice harbor area with a beach where we waded in the Aegean.

We've had wonderful food, the weather has been perfect (warm and sunny - I'm as tan now as I usually am in September!), and the co-travelers have been marvelous - not a complainer or habitually late person in the group!

It has been a wonderful experience and we would recommend the trip to anyone! We continue on the post trip beginning tomorrow and I will write more about that (and Istanbul) later. Here are some photos. From the top: the verdant land of Greece, rock formations near Meteora, icon painting, a beautiful Greek Orthodox church, the ancient temple of Athena, Jon and our wonderful guide Maria, our hosts for a dinner in their home that they prepared on the island of Naxos, a lovely staircase on Mykonos, ruins on Delos, Jon with our wonderful ship the "Arethusa" in the background, churches on Santorini, our path to the monastary on Amorgos, enjoying the water on Patmos.

Cruising in Greece

Hi Everyone! We are temporarily unavailable because our ship does not have internet connections. However, we want you to know that we continue to have a wonderful time! We have spent the last 6 days on the main land of Greece and are now on an island. We will set sail tomorrow and Mykonos, Santorini and other incredible places! We will be back in touch soon with photos and news! Bye for now!

ciao Italia

Our time in Italy has come to an end. Tomorrow we say goodbye to this beautiful country at the airport and take off for our Overseas Adventure Travel tour of Greece and Turkey. We will be sorry to leave this beautiful and much more varied than we had realized country. We talked at dinner tonight about where we would choose to visit again and couldn't eliminate any of the places we saw. It has been a joy.

We did make it to Croatia, to Zagreb to visit former Rotary exchange student Ida ("ee - dah" and her family. They were fantastic hosts and showed us their beautiful city. Fortunately, the weather was clear on our flight over and we saw that the country itself is lovely too. I've included a picture or two of Ida in the photos below.

Unfortunately, our friends Judy and Fred did not make it out of England in time for the reunion we had hoped to have with them here in Rome. Today they were supposed to fly from London to Naples, as their original plan was. We are so sorry to have missed them, but hope they have as great a time as we have had here.

Since yesterday when we came back to Rome, we've done a bit of sightseeing. We went to the Pantheon and Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiori, and today we went to St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum. I have finished "The Agony and the Ecstasy" and HAD to see the Pieta and Sistine Chapel. I was not disappointed; both are magnificent! It's almost too much to take in and I left as awed as I had expected to be.

Photos: from top left, slightly out of chronological order: the main square in Zagreb from our hotel window, each of us tossing a coin into the Trevi fountain to be sure we'll come back to Rome; the market in Zagreb; Ida (left) and her sister Sanya; Ida and her parents Branka and Egidio Cepulic - both doctors; wonderful pasta - how we'll miss it!; and Michaelangelo's Pieta.

Lucca and Cinque Terre

Two and a half weeks have passed since I last made an entry because we have been so busy! We had a wonderful 2 weeks in our apartment in Lucca and now we are enjoying our last full day in Monterosso al Mare, the biggest town of the five in Cinque Terre.

Lucca was relaxing, interesting, charming and healthy for us! Our apartment was within the walls of the old city. The town was founded in about 1000 BC and the Romans constructed an amphitheater, defensive embankments and arched entries ("portas"), among other things. We were just inside the San Pietro gate; our windows from the living/dining room looked down on the comings and goings of the cars and people there. Our building was in need of some work on the outside and we had 4 flights of stairs to climb to get to our gated hallway, but it was worth it. Our large living space was newly redone and very comfortable. Our landlord, Stefano, did all he could to help us feel at home and to answer questions. A short list of our activities while staying there include two performances of arias (Easter evening featured favorites sung by three different tenors and was in honor of Luciano Pavorotti - so included "O Sole Mio" and "Nessun Dorma" and the second evening a bass and soprano sang Pucci and Mozart pieces), visiting Puccini's home, a beautiful villa's garden, a huge Saturday market, the old amphitheater where we saw the Los Gatos CA band perform!, shopping (I finally bought a pair of jeans and some sandals), getting my hair cut and colored and a pedicure, strolling the streets and just looking in shops and watching people, "walking the wall" almost every morning, side trips to Viareggio (a nearby beach town), Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano, and hiring a taxi for an afternoon of exploring the hills and towns around Lucca. We visited three wineries, one while on our tour of San Gimignano from Siena and two while exploring the Lucca area. We also just relaxed, read, took care of internet business and went at a slower pace, especially in the mornings. By the way, "walking the wall" is an important part of life in Lucca. Everyone, including babies, grandparents, physically and mentally challenged people on crutches or needing assistance in other ways, students, tourists, groups of men, boys, girls, couples - everyone walks the wall! It is a social event, as well as good exercise. Napoleon gave the city to his sister Eliza when he conquered Italy and she improved the ancient wall and its top to make it a circular park, lined with trees and now paved. There are benches placed along the sides and where it is wide there are picnic tables and play equipment for children. It is 4 kilometers - about 2.5 miles - around. We set ourselves a good pace and took about 45 minutes to cover the distance. Of course we also ate wonderful Italian food - the pasta was the best thing, although many pizzas and excellent seafood were consumed too!

Our journeys to the other towns were great. They allowed us to see more of Tuscany and it's lovely landscape as well as more incredible human creations. I am reading "The Agony and the Ecstasy" and so every chance I get to see a Michaelangelo work, I take it with a passion. What a genius! We saw his work in the Duomo in Siena, but there were so many amazing pieces done by many different masters there and in Pisa that we continue to take the time to see as many as we can.

Last Thursday we sadly left our apartment and got onto the train to come to Cinque Terre. Our hotel here offers us a great view of the beach and old town area of Monterosso. We have visited all the towns, as of yesterday afternoon. On Friday we took the boat from our town which is at one end of the string of towns along the water to the town at the other end. We explored that area and then took an easy walk to the next village. From there we caught the boat back. Yesterday we took the train to the middle town (the boat doesn't stop there - no beach), wandered through the market and had lunch and then hiked 4 kilometers to Vernazza, the next town and last one for us to see. The hike was not easy; lots of ups and downs on rocky footing. There were beautiful views and we just took our time and stopped to rest and talk to others whenever we wanted to. Today we are staying in our own village and are finally going to sit on the beach and read, as well as put our feet in the water!

Tomorrow we take the train to Rome. We have plane tickets to visit former Rotary exchange student Ida in her home town of Zagrb, Croatia for two nights, beginning on Tuesday. Then we are supposed to meet our Moses Lake friends Judy and Fred in Rome for two nights. They however are still stuck in London due to the volcanic eruption so who knows? Our tour of Greece and Turkey with OAT is supposed to begin on Saturday in Athens...we'll see what happens there too.

Here are some photos: from top left: walking the wall in Lucca; one of Lucca's many towers through the blossoms; Michaelangelo's St. Paul in the duomo in Siena; Jon and our landlord Stefano; the town of Corniglia from the hiking trail in Cinque Terre; and the town of Vernazza as we approached it from the trail.