Geneva's Place

New Move

2011-10-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

We have just moved to our house in Port Orchard, closer to Seattle & other civilization. The new address is: 1300 Flower Ave Port Orchard WA 98366 Still unpacking and getting settled in.

Just keeping on keeping on

2011-07-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here for some time, but I've been adding to my askgeneva.wetpaint.com site. Still typing the Port Angeles Senior Center newsletter and being VP of the local MUG (Mac Users Group). I'm giving a demo of how to make slideshows on iDVD tomorrow @ the MUG -- first time (wish me luck). I recently got a new iPod Touch (it's like an iPhone) and I've been having lots of fun getting some of those thousands of apps. Books & games & lots of cool stuff, including fantastic wallpaper (I'll try to put some here).

Update

2011-03-20T01:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we did the tech fair, & it was good. Then we saw a movie -- the Adjustment Bureau. It was excellent.

The neatest thing at the fair, for me, was a Hackintosh made by Chuck of the SPCUG. It was a Dell Mini 10v - running Snow Leopard!
Here's what it looks like -- cute as can be --->

It only took him a couple of hours to hack the $300 Dell NetBook to run the $30 Snow Leopard upgrade. Appears that it's become pretty easy now with the Dell Mini 10v and Mac OS 10.6 -- most of the time spent is waiting for it to set itself up. I want to make one.

Time has flown...

2011-03-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've been spending most of my time on the Strait Mac User Group (SMUG) here, getting a booth ready for a tech fair that's coming up tomorrow in Sequim. And, my typing of the Senior Center newsletter 'job' has continued. It was supposed to be for just 2 or 3 months.

I've tried to keep up on the AskGeneva website, but there is still much to do. All the specs have changed for the MacBooks. And, of course, the iPad 2 is here.

The new Mac OS X system is coming... OS 10.7 named Lion. It's presently in beta for developers only, but I couldn't resist this photo.

I had a horrible toothache -- the kind that starts on Friday and you suffer agonies until you can get to the dentist on Monday, then it stops hurting. But he said it was infected, and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I was so beaten down that I actually took them. I haven't done such a thing in at least 40 years. It made me sicker than anything -- coughing, nose running, fever, etc. I'm just now getting over it. Never again. .

2011-02-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody!!

Activities

2011-02-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of new "jobs" (no-pay). One is typing the Senior Center Newsletter and the other is VP of the Strait Mac Users Group.

As typist: The Senior Center uses InDesign for the page layout -- I find it much like Pages, but the differences are in Pages' favor IMHO. ID looks too much like a MS product. Anyway, it's done for Feb and I want to change it over to Pages before it's time to start typing the March issue.

As VP: It's my job to arrange the programs. Luckily the 1st 2 were done already, since I missed them both! January because I was in Hawaii, and Feb because I was sick (still am, but it should be over soon). I have also been given the job of coordinating arrangements for the MUG booth at a Tech Fair that will be happening March 19. For that, I set up a wiki, but, so far, only 4 members have contributed.

Christmas in Hawai'i

2010-12-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

I (Manfred), too, can't believe that we lived here so long. The island of Kaua'i where we are, is much more built up from when we lived here but at the same time, I must say, that most of it is still very much he same. The same underdeveloped roads & single-lane bridges, the same 40 foot MATSON containers that bring in practically everything from the Mainland US, the same vegetation, except more so, with it's flowering trees and bushes and most of all the same friendly and seemingly very happy people.
We were fortunate to be invited by our long time friends in Princeville on the north of the island for Christmas dinner and had a most wonderful time.

The weather is another thing all together. It's too hot . . . . . at least it is for me now, it must not have been then, age has definitely something to do with it. In the last few days we had a storm system coming through here lots of rain complete with lightening and thunder in the distance. This made it a couple of degrees cooler but also more humid.

Christmas Dinner in Princeville

2010-12-25T23:25:00.000-08:00

We had an absolutely fabulous Christmas Day, visiting our best friends, Jan and Ken Bernard in Princeville, Kauai. We had a fantastic Christmas dinner, with turkey, lamb, with all the fixin's and then some (portobello mushrooms, orange-glazed carrots, and great desserts and sweets).

Then, after dinner, we viewed a spectacular performance of fire dancing, done by their son, Jake, in the street in front of the house. What a sight! Who knew?

Then we played music, talked story and played games until late. What memorable a day!

Wonderful Garden Ponds on Kauai

2010-12-23T23:47:00.000-08:00

Today we went to visit Garden Ponds Kauai, near Princeville, owned by our friend Ken Bernard. What an amazing place. The pictures can't show the feeling of peace and tranquility that this place gives you. You just have to see for yourself.

Celebration of Life - Richard Shen

2010-12-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

A Celebration of Life was held for Richard Shen (my ex) at the gazebo he designed on the KCC campus. It rained hard all day, except for the 2 hours that we were there. It was very nice.

Lihue

2010-12-17T16:33:00.001-08:00

Hard to work on the computer - it is so hot. I don't know how I ever lived in this place. That's my excuse for not getting any new posts put here, & I'm sticking to it.

In Hawaii

2010-12-14T04:28:00.000-08:00

We are in the town of Lihue, on the "Garden Island" of Kauai. Very beautiful place, but sooo hot.

We'll be here until Jan 5, back in Port Angeles Jan 7, as shown in last post.

We didn't get to fly in the little Cessna - I was disappointed, but Manfred was glad it was a jet. Go!Makulele Airlines was very good, unlike the negative comments on the internet.

Heading for Hawaii

2010-12-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

We are leaving tomorrow for Lihue, HI, to visit Aida Shen for the holidays. Her husband died a few weeks ago.
We fly to Honolulu Saturday and get to visit with my sister, Jan, and my #1 son, Richard.
It will be a happy/sad time. Not a good time for us to leave, but necessary.

Here's the plan, in case anybody cares:
December
10 Fri - noon take bus to Seattle, stay night (tomorrow)
11 Sat - 9:30 am fly to Honolulu, arrive 1:35
. . . . visit w/ Jan at airport
. . . . 5:20 fly to Lihue, arrive 6 pm
12 Sun - visit w/ Rick & find out what Aida needs/wants.
13 Mon - Rick flies home
January
5 Wed - we fly to Honolulu, stay the night, visit Jan (& Darrel?)
6 Thu - fly to Seattle, stay the night
7 Fri - take bus to Port Angeles, home

We are taking a big chance on the flight Honolulu to Lihue, going by Go! Mokalulu airline. Tiny (9-passenger Cessna) plane, and notorious for canceled & delayed flights. Living dangerously -- we'll see.

Skipped a lot

2010-12-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

OMG - this is so far behind.
We got on the cruise ship in Venice - Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Gem. Nice boat. Stopped at some places in the Mediterranean, then sailed across the Atlantic to NYC. Took 14 days. Had only a couple of rough-sea days. Otherwise good EXCEPT that they charged a horrendous fee ($.45 per minute on a very slow network) for internet access. So I couldn't update my blog, which I had been planning to do.

From NYC we flew to LA, where son Robin picked us up, since he was there anyway. We had to go to San Francisco because my ex, Richard, had died and both sons were going to be there to be with his widow, Aida, to put the ashes in a cryp there. We had a sort of sad family reunion, but it was good anyway.

We stayed with Robin & Virginia until the Black Friday, the cheapest day to fly to Seattle. We just got a few things done about the house we have for sale, and now we are going to to Hawaii to be with Aida during the holidays.

I'll try to fill in the gaps and get some photos in there while we are Hawaii. .

Cruising the Atlantic

2010-11-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

Our cruise was quite nice. Bad thing about it was we couldn't use their internet -- too expensive. It was so good to be on a boat again. Here are some photos.

In Venice

2010-10-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

We got up at 5 a.m. to catch the train to Lisbon so we could get on a plane to Venice. Flying is so horrible, especially compared to train travel. I never want to fly anywhere again - but I'll have to. We changed planes in Barcelona and arrived in Venice about 5 p.m. We had booked an airport hotel, which is quite nice, but it's a good thing we're here only about 24 hours - everything is so expensive.

And we just learned that we will have to walk about 1 kilometer, lugging our bags, to get to the ship, because no roads or boats can go there. !!
'nother lesson: never book a cruise that starts in Venice.

Bill is still suffering from his cold, I hope he can make it.

Train trip to Coimbra

2010-10-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today we wanted to go to the Portuguese town of Porto, where the Port wine is made, but it looked like it would take too long. At least 3 hrs each way on the train. So we went to Coimbro, instead. It is a very old college town. The old campus is very interesting, especially the library. No photography allowed, so I got these photos from the internet.

I has 40,000 very old books, that can still be used for research.

Sintra, going to the beach

2010-10-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today we took the bus to the beach. Weather was cool, but nice. Spent a lot of time waiting for buses.

In Sintra, Portugal

2010-10-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

After spending 3 days in Barcelona, we flew to Lisbon and took the train to Sintra, arriving quite late. Today, we visited the 2 palaces here, quite spectacular.

Troubles getting online

2010-10-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Have been having problems getting online and this blog was taken offline and German keyboards are different, and our Firefox is broken. So, no updates for now. These photos were added later.

We have just been for 3 days in Vienna -- great place, and we attended a super concert (all Mozart). Saw the Spanish Riding School training, and the palace.

Tomorrow morning we will fly to Barcelona, stay 3 days. Then fly to Sintra.

I'll write more later, when we have better internet. We have lots of photos, but I'm using the hotel computer so I can't put any on here.

In Heidelberg - heading to Rothenburg

2010-10-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

I had the same title for a blog post last year... We got away from Bacharach later than planned. The train trip was good. Took a taxi from the bahnhof (train station) to the youth hostel where we are staying. Then a bus to the old university part of the town. Not much time but we had a good German-Mexican meal. Bill is holding up marvelously -- better than we are, sometimes. I wasn't able to get online much, so I wrote up some notes offline which I will put in now in the appropriate dates.

And yes, we did find the key. It had fallen out of my pocket while sitting on a bench waiting for the boat.

In the castle, finally

2010-10-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

Bacharach - Stahleck. Wandered around the town, took lots of photos, taxi up to the Burg Stahleck. Lunch? Ate dinner there, not very interesting. Our rooms were in the part behind the tower, with narrow old stone stairways. Bill’s bathroom was on our floor, but his room was one flight up. Reeely tiny rooms, bunk beds. But it was lots of fun anyway, plus the awesome views.

Bacharack - back to town -- river trip

2010-10-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Bacharach - river trip - key-disaster!!. Taxi back down to Bacharach, found Zimmer frei Orth as mentioned in Rick Steves, left bags there to take KD boat up river & back. Nice trip, nice boat, lots to see & photograph.

Got off in St.Goar.... where B & I went up the Lorelei cliff and to see the statue. €25 taxi + Bill’s €25 tip.

When we got back to the Zimmer, the key they had given us was GONE. I had it (bad news). And it’s a super security key -- landlady said it costs €500 to replace. After much discussion we decided it must have fallen out of my jacket pocket on the boat. Manfred asked the KD ticket lady to help find it - she called the boat, they will look for it during clean-up.

Boat will be back tomorrow @ noon. If it’s there, we might still have time to got to our reserved rooms in Heidelberg. Otherwise, we have to skip Heidelberg and do something else about the key. Had a very early, very nice dinner (pizza & spaghetti) and “went to bed” b4 10.

On our way

2010-10-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

We finally flew to Frankfurt, then to Trier. Now we are in Bacharack, staying in this castle - Borg Stahleck. Not much internet time... I'll write more later.

boat + train to Bacharach.

2010-10-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

Getting from boat to train was pretty hairy. We wanted to take boat from Koblenz, but missed it so had to take another train. Bill left his new hat on the boat. They had no room for us at the castle, so we stayed in a B&B seen in Rick Steve’s book. Nice lady, 3 long stair flights, bad spring bed, beautiful frühstück (breakfast).

Trier, still

2010-10-01T23:20:00.001-07:00

Trier. Bill & I went up the porto nigra, took lots of photos, but they are all on his camera, not mine. M stayed in the square. I never did get to see the other historic sights of Trier. Bill bought a nice hat, which he promptly lost.

Trier, still

2010-10-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

Trier. Bill & I went up the porto nigra, took lots of photos. M stayed in the square. I never did get to see the other historic sights of Trier. Bill bought a nice hat.

In Germany, at last --Trier

2010-09-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

Trier. Lots of historical buildings, dating from the 2nd Century onward. Bill wanted an umbrella. Manfred wanted to get a piece of the computer power supply that he had left behind. Bill took a tour of the town, G & M went to stores, looking for the part. I bought an umbrella for Bill, but Manfred took it.

Bill’s power supply has the same part, but he didn’t bring an adapter to plug into German outlets. So Manfred has the adapter, Bill has the part, they have to share.
NOTE: most important part of packing and repacking: All charging equipment, including adaptors, must be present & accounted for at all times, & have back-ups.

Flying -- lots of flying.

2010-09-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Sept 28 We drove from Port Angeles to SeaTac in a rental car, returned the car and took the hotel shuttle to the Best Western Executel. It’s a very nice place w/indoor pool & exercise room & free WiFi. Had a swim & dinner there and slept, Sept 29 Returned to the airport to catch our 4 p.m. flight to Frankfurt. There was a brief stop in Rekjavic to change planes (Iceland Air). Arrived Frankfurt in the afternoon, went to the bahnhof in the airport to get the train to Trier. The train ride was nice, but we were tired. Went to the youth hostel by taxi, arriving 7:30 p.m., just after they finished serving dinner. Went out for Manfred’s birthday dinner. Dinner was good, but was not his best b’day -- too long, or too short, depending on how you look at it.

Eve of departure.

2010-09-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

We are leaving tomorrow, Monday, Sept 26, for Seattle. We'll stay overnight there and fly out to Frankfurt on Tuesday, Sept 27, arriving the next day. We will immediately get on a train to Trier, where we have a reservation.

Needless to say, the house did not close on Aug 16, or any of the other dates suggested. But it finally was finalized on Monday, Sept 13! Our bid for the house was accepted before the end of April, so it has taken 4.5 months to do the paperwork.

Trip plans are coming together

2010-08-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

We have been online day & night, planning our trip to Europe. The dates are fixed now:
Leave Sept 28 -- fly to Frankfurt. Return Nov 14 -- ship to NYC
We will spend

2 weeks in Germany & Austria
2 weeks in Portugal & Spain
2 weeks on the ship.

The new date for the "closing" of the house is Aug 16... we'll see.

4 Photos

2010-07-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

These are photos of the house we are buying, and a hummingbird on our feeder.

Still waiting...

2010-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

We are still waiting on HUD to get around to processing our house purchase. And the lenders are waiting, and the insurance people. Soon, I hope. And I still don't have photos, don't know why. I thought they were here, but they're not.

Buying a house

2010-06-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

We are buying a fixer-upper house nearer to Seattle, to fix up and sell. See our previous efforts at http://housereno.wetpaint.com It has taken a lot of time, looking, deciding, then doing all the dance required to buy property, including getting a loan with no credit history, not liking loan company and starting over with a different one. The house is a repo belonging to HUD, the government branch that holds and sells repossessed houses, so they march slowly, as governments do. .

Victoria visit

2010-04-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

We went to Victoria to visit a friend, Anna Rubinsky, to bring the Mazda back to its home country and to attend a Mac club meeting. I ended up staying 4 days, visiting Rosemary Denniston as well. Manfred returned sooner, after arranging to leave the car with more Mac-friends, Sarah & Christian Coll.

At least for a time, we will have the car to use when we visit there, which looks like it will be more often than I expected, since both Anna & Rosemary have jobs I want to help them with. .

Not going to GA

2010-04-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

My Mom's funeral is tomorrow, and I won't be there :( Because of the Easter holiday, the air fares are more than double the usual price, and it's just too much.

The visit I made recently was better anyway, because she was still alive, and could communicate a little, but with great difficulty.

Since the move, I have not been able to find the cable for the scanner. I have some good photos, but can't get them on the computer until I can hook up the scanner. .

My Mom has gone on

2010-04-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

My Mom, Ruth Gilman died this morning in Jonesboro, GA. She was at home, in her own bed, with her daughter, my sister Janet, by her side. It was a peaceful end of this phase of her ongoing life.

Luckily, I got to visit her recently, it was a nice "goodbye."

She had been in a coma for the last 3 days, and was unable to swallow. She had given order to have no intravenous feeding of any kind, because she wanted to move on, which she did with grace and dignity.

We'll look forward to seeing her again in the real life we call "after life."

These photos were taken with me and Ruth's grandaughter, Tina, when we were fixing up a house in Georgia, in 2005. .

Heading for Victoria

2010-03-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Dealing with teeth is not easy, or fun. It will be a long process.

In the meantime, we are going to Victoria to help Bill Jones move. He is giving up his house in Vic and moving back to Port Renfrew.

He just bought a MacBook on eBay which was shipped to us, so we'll take it to him. And our 6-yr-old iBook is finally repaired (after almost 1 year), so we'll take it to Rosemary. She wants to try a cheap Mac before buying a new one.

We are planning a trip in May, with Chuck & Diane, to spend some time in Leavenworth and look at properties for sale E of Seattle. Then they'll come and see our place.

Back in WA

2010-03-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

I got back to Port Angeles on Feb 18 and have been spending most of my time dealing with teeth. First, finding a "good" dentist, then preliminary session, then work started. That was a terrible time -- 6 extractions and 3 were very difficult. I'm having to rethink what I want done. I thought all those teeth were loose and wanted to come out, but obviously not.

At least now my front teeth are straight, but it's a temporary fix.

I was sick all weekend from the trauma. Bill Jones came to visit, so that helped keep me from feeling too sorry for myself. Manfred has been following the Winter Olympics and he and Bill totally enjoyed the final hockey game.

Visiting Mom in Georgia

2010-02-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

I've been in Jonesboro GA, near Atlanta, since Feb 3, visiting my Mom (who will be 94 next month) and my niece's family. It was a big thrill for everybody here when the Saints won the SuperBowl.

I was offline until now, due to a faulty router, but am back at it again. The phone number here is 770-472-3346.

I'll be back in WA on Feb 18. Manfred stayed in Port Angeles to continue unpacking and getting the new apartment arranged properly.

Bill's visit

2010-01-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

Bill Jones was our first visitor in the new apartment. He got to try out our new blow-up bed -- he said "It's like sleeping on air." It was a rushed visit to make it before the ferry stops running. He returned this morning on the last trip the boat makes before its yearly maintenance hiatus.

We saw 2 movies with Bill: Up in the Air and Avatar. The former is a very well-done social situation flick. George Clooney shows he can really act. The only thing I can say about Avatar is, "WOW!" We were seeing it for the 2nd time, and it was just as awesome as the first time.

Now, back to unpacking and re-arranging... but 1st there is the NFL games.

Unpacking

2010-01-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

We still haven't finished unpacking -- mainly because the carpet guy has not showed up to re-stretch the carpet. (We hatess carpeting!) So we can't set up our bookcases and stereo and all that.

We bought a "new" dining room set, but are still using the old furniture for the rest. Also, installed a chandelier in the dining rm to replace a fan that didn't work.

Next month, I will be going to GA for a couple of weeks to visit my mom near Atlanta. It will be so nice to see her and the Persons family again.

The new address is
1405 W Hwy 101 #4
Port Angeles, WA 98363
.

Moving nightmares

2009-12-28T00:14:00.000-08:00

The move is on, but the road is bumpy.
The fact that we are moving such a short distance makes it harder, because one does not feel so justified in throwing things out that will need to be replaced. If you move a long distance, it's better to chuck your microwave, TV, shoes, furniture, etc. and buy new ones at the new place, but if you're just going a few miles away... :-(

So, we had it all planned, but Manfred didn't make reservations on the ferry for the truck (he didn't think it would be busy), so he couldn't get on it, and everything is balled up at the end. SNAFU.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and the New Year will bring health and prosperity.

Moving on....

2009-12-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while. Too many things were happening. Mainly, I got more hassle than usual at the border getting back to Canada, so we have decided (finally) to move out, of Canada.
It is quite a small move, actually, just across the strait to the tiny town of Port Angeles, Washington state. See the map in the sidebar-- that line in the middle of the water is the border between U.S. and Canada. The distance is about 35 miles, 1.5 hr on the ferrry. It's not at all my kind of place, but any move is better than none.

We are now sorting things, throwing out junk, in prep for packing. We will load a U-Haul and go across the ferry on Dec 27 or 28. We found an apartment comparable to the Victoria one, but $550/month instead of $880.

Bad trip, wonderful visit, & Bill Jones

2009-10-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

So... we have spent one really delightful week with our great friends, Chuck & Diane Fitzgerald, in Encinitas, CA. I was so nice to see them again and also to not have to go anywhere or see anything. Their place is so nice we never wanted to leave.

To get there, we survived the 10+ hour flight from London to LAX, and the commuter hop to San Diego. Unfortunately, we had to fly from Lisbon to London the day before, and stay in London overnight. It was verry, verry harry. We stayed in a really awful place and paid a bunch of those expensive Britsh £s just to get to the awful place and back to the awful airport. I will never voluntarily go to England again; I don't care how many crop circles they have! Their Midsomer Murders are justified.

Bill Jones finally joined us in Encinitas, looking the same as ever after his rude uprooting. We are now on the slow train to Guadalupe CA where we will visit with Robin and Virginia for a bit. The most charitable thing you could say about American trains is that they are cute. Unfortunately Americans have no convenient transportation whatsoever in the majority of the country -- they seem to not even realize that their airplanes no longer save time, their trains are a sick joke, their buses are pathetic, and their road/highway system is so 20th century it's embarrassing. Oh, well, I may have to stay here for a while, so I'd better try to accept it. Like any other undeveloped country. No wonder the land is so much cheaper than it is in Portugal.

One reason I haven't written anything for so long is that I was waiting for Manfred to put the photos on the iBook, so I can put them on the blog. Obviously, I could wait forever and it would never happen until I insist. So, I hope there will be something by the time I get to upload this.

Back to Lisbon

2009-10-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

Geneva -- Well, having a tooth pulled was never in my travel plans, but now I can finally eat again. Finally, I can eat again, but I'm still a bit shaky. Manfred won't download and new photos to the computer ("too much trouble"), so I didn't feel like writing anything. We extended the stay to 3 nights.

I looked into properties in the Sintra area, they are very expensive. Especially compared to WA. The drop in real estate values has not happened here. Maybe it will, but I don't see any signs of an economic downturn, except in the tourism sector there are much fewer American and Canadian tourists, but plenty from Europe. The rest seems to be humming along with business as usual.

Other than the tooth-extraction, our Sintra stay was good. As you can see from Manfred's post, we loved the place we were in. However, it was unseasonably hot, and I didn't feel very well, so we didn't go around much, only to the beach.

Today is my birthday, and most of me (all but the tooth) made it to 69. We are back in Lisbon, leaving today to fly to London. There we will stay overnight in an airport hotel so we can take the flight to San Diego in the morning.

Back to Sintra

2009-10-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Manfred writing, this time -- We are in Sintra again, for two nites, found a Hostel, just opened about two weeks ago, a short walk from the train station. We first thought that it was closed but the door handle was about 18 inches above ground level and it was rather small. 36 Euros for the two of us per nite including b'fast and free internet (full 4 bars) in the room!!

Two young people are running it, they have other jobs but spell each other off so there is someone manning the small front desk at all times. Plus they are so helpful. Oh, there is a kitchen where you can do your own food, buying stuff for sandwiches from the store and, making coffee or tea also drink beer or wine, then sitting and chatting either in a nice large sitting room, your own room or the terrace.

It is 7:45 am, I'm sitting in our room in my undies, windows wide open, looking at the near treed hills with one of the castle on it, the sky is blue and cloudless and the air is very mild, sort of like a Hawaiian morning, some of our friends may recall.

Last nite we had a great Chinese dinner here in Sintra. Odd, but a beautiful place. Two main dishes, crab salad, rice, chinese tea, ice cream desert for 20 Euros for the two of us, about $30., reasonable for Europe, even in a slightly cheaper Portugal. A good size and very tasty.

For the last little while, Geneva has been complaining about a tooth paining her a lot. Every time she bites down on it with food that loose tooth was painful. So we just happen to see a dentist office as we were going out for dinner last night. So today, with the help from our hostel host, we went there, just around the corner, and at 3pm she will have it out. The dentist said that she has several problem teeth, which one would she like to have out. She said "this one". Out it came. 40 Euros, about $60.

All this time we have not watched any TV, read any news paper or anything else newsy, it's great!!! The other day we were standing on the Lisboa subway platform, waiting for our subway, there across the way was a big news display screen saying briefly that Obama was to get a Nobel Prize!! That's all.

Sintra and Lisbon

2009-10-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we took the train to Sintra and looked around to see if there's a good place to live. We even looked at 2 properties, but one was too small and the other too big. We talked to a couple of American ladies who have lived in the area for many years, and they suggested a small town north of Sintra as a good place for horses. We came back to our rooms in Lisboa, and today we traveled over lots of the city, especially the "Old Town" by tram. The streets are very narrow and steep, and the trams are old and slow and very noisy. After one ride, I was ready to swear off them forever, because the driver made it so jerky and unpleasant. Then we got one with another driver, a beautiful, young Oriental girl, and the ride was very nice. We saw street after street of old buildings, some in terrible disrepair, some nicely renovated, and everything in between. It seems there are 2 or 3 restaurants on every block. The trams were full of tourists, all speaking different languages. We saw several impressive churches, including one of the ugliest ones I have ever seen -- ugly mainly because it was so dirty. Everything except tile turns black, here. "Tire dust" is probably the main cause. One difference between countries we noticed is the graffiti. In Germany, it's quite artistic and often attractive. We didn't see any in Austria, but we were in small towns. Italy had some, but Spain had none. Zero. The huge Barcelona subway system has no graffiti anywhere, and not even any advertising on the trains, inside or out. Portugal, on the other hand, has graffiti everywhere, the ugly kind. The subway here in Lisbon is very nice, not all that extensive, but most impressive, except for small stops with no escalator. The walls of the stations are all tile, so graffiti-proof, but it's there, inside the trains.

"If it is Wednesday, it must be Lisboa"

2009-10-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

--- and so it is! We have to make a couple of corrections, it is true that we extended our stay in Madrid by one additional night but we used that next day (Tue the 6th) to go to Sevilla, not Granada as mentioned earlier. We decided that we could only go to one of the two cities, so we chose Sevilla with the Alcazar, because there were plenty of trains. We stored our suitcases plus in a locker in the main train station and took an early fast train (2 1/2 hours) to Sevilla. We spent about 5 hours there, saw the fantastic Palace, had a bite to eat and took the fast train back to Madrid, in order to make our overnight Hotel Train to Lisboa. Well, while it was most interesting and amazing to see the Alcazar, the heat was pretty unbearable, 37C in the afternoon!! (That really sapped our "hit points") All the fast trains in Spain require a reservation and with a 10 Euro per person fee, and that was all arranged before we left for Sevilla in the morning. After coming back in the afternoon we had to hustle getting the luggage out of the locker, take the subway to the other train station, to make that stupid night train to Lisboa. Stupid because we could not get a bed on it, all sold out, so we had to sleep in our seats on this 10 hour bad ride. The train went slow, jiggled around a lot and as Geneva said, the only saving grace was the dining car!! It was a really bad night. New rule: never again take a night train unless we can get beds.

We got into Lisboa at 7:40 am Portugal time, one hour earlier, we gained one hour. They just had a rainstorm come thru and it just quit raining. As we were walking slowly toward the exit, a friendly middle aged lady approached us, gave us a card and asked us if we would like to have a room for the night. (It must have looked pretty obvious, although it was just morning). She went on to say, 20 Euros per person, double bed, w/ sitting room, very clean and the (taxi) transportation is included. We looked at each other and said --- lets go for it!! And so we did. She took us to the taxi outside and after a 10 minute ride, her daughter was there to pay the taxi!! We went up one floor and it's very nice. Old building of course, but solid and clean, as promised. We paid for 3 nights. We lay down a little to recoup, then got ourselves a 24 hour pass for the bus and had some lunch near our place. We went on a bus ride then slept a little.

The above is sort of dry reporting what we did. One day I will have more time or what ever, to give of my impressions, observations and valuations of it all, some day. The computer battery was dead going onto the night train, so we could not write, the ipod needed charging, but geneva read her book on it anyway until it shut down.

Getting on the www has been hit and miss on our trip, via WiFi that is. It ranged from 10 Euros for multiple uses to totally free for as long as you want to non-existant.

Madrid!

2009-10-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

We were hoping to get by with only 1 night stay in Madrid, but all our clothes were dirty and we had to find a laundry. The one recommended by Rick Steves was out of business, so we went to another. Then we wanted to do the Royal Palace tour. This famous palace is on a par with Versailles and Vienna. But, when we got there, they were having some sort of official function, so it was closed to view-visits. But the function was actually much more interesting. They had marching band, marching soldiers, several horse troops all decked out, and a beautiful coach. They all moved up and down in front and side of the Palace and even through the streets, so everybody could enjoy the scene. Such beautiful Spanish horses, moving in unison, was much better than the palace tour. There's a video at the bottom of this posting. If it doesn't show up, scroll around a bit to see it, then click the play button.

Anyway, we had to extend our stay for another night, and every extra day in Spain means one less day in Portugal. Next we go to Granada to see the Alcazar, 2 nights-- then > Seville > Lisbon as fast as possible. Getting to Portugal is probably an overnight on the train, which is either expensive or not fun.

On the road again

2009-10-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is Manfred: As much as we loved Barcelona, we are moving on. Did some emailing, blog posting and a quick breakfast on the Rambla, then made our way down the metro and after a few stops we were at the big train station.
After paying a small surcharge to go on the "big boy's", fast train (AVE) to Madrid, we settled into our reserved airplane-type seats and rested, because the getting from place to place on the streets and in public transportation is quite a chore. The train, all white, the nose looking like a bullet, left 2pm sharp and smoothly glided out of the staion, except for a few switching noises the train just floated on air. The rails are welded and noiseless. In the 3-hour trip we stopped about four times and many times the train hit 300 km/hr. = 186.4 mph! The train station in Madrid is amazing, old walls, newer roof, 5 stories high, and it has a jungle in it! That is where the passengers hang out, with shops and eateries.

Barcelona - what a great place!

2009-10-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

We have been staying in a small hotel just off the "main action" street in Old Town, the Rambla. It's quite nice, large room, huge bathroom, free WiFi (but it doesn't work for the iPod), €63/night. But no breakfast. The Rambla is huge, with hundreds of people meandering up and down, looking at the kiosks, having snacks, watching the erformers, etc. We don't have a photo of it, yet.
We went to the market place for breakfast, good place for ham & eggs. The market is unbelievable. There are photos.
Today, was Gaudi Day. Most people who come here have to do a Gaudi Day. We visited the 4 most-viewed examples of his work here: the still-under-construction Sacrada Familia church, an apartment building, a residence, and a park. They were exhausting, but worth it. We didn't go in any except the park. If you want to learn more, google Gaudi.

Sailing from Roma to Barcelona

2009-10-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

We are sitting in the bar by the swimming pool (complete with calypso music) on the deck of a cruise ship doing ferry duty. We spent the night in a small ship's cabin with 2 very good beds and a cute little bathroom.
We didn't get to see anything of Roma except the horrendous traffic getting to the train station and finding the garage to turn in the car at the central train station. There we were, stuck with our bags, and Manfred wanted to get to the port city, Cititavecchia, where our ship the "Cruise Roma", was to depart. So we took the train there, a short taxi ride to the port , and then waited, tied to our bags in a small terminal, for over 4 hours, until the ship was ready to board, at 8:30 pm. After that, it was nice, exploring the ship and having dinner, watching the port disappear, etc. It is really a nice 20 hr. mini-cruise.

Manfred's addition -- We ate à la carte, hamburger w/ fries and drink, €7, spaghetti €6.50. We met a cute Korean girl, traveling alone thru Europe. Had a great night's sleep. I got up at 6:30 am to watch the dock operations on the Sardinia stop, the sun came up, some clouds, warm breeze and the first cup of cafe con latte. We à-la-carted it again for a simple breakfast, cafe con latte, €1.50 ea., omelette to order €4 (finally, eggs!), and fresh-squeezed O.J. €3. You can't think of Euros as dollars, there is always that +50% lurking in the corner!!

More Tuscana, before heading to Roma

2009-09-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

We just spent 2 nights in a very nice apartment in a little medieval fortified town, Lucignano. It had a large terrace overlooking the Tuscany countryside. We spent the time driving around to see other similar towns. They are amazing, with their tiny, cobbled "streets", huge cathedrals, panoramic views, and walls, walls and more walls. All built high on steep hillsides. We also had the best pizza yet, in a restaurant called "Nice People."

Manfred's new contribution

2009-09-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, here I go, (Manfred). . . . this region of Italy, where the "boot" is the widest, on an Italian map, is called Umbria, as part of Toscani, generally the area between Florence and Rome. Yesterday, Sunday, we drove thru the area called Chianti, for the famous wine and the vines were just loaded with dark blue ready to pop grapes. The sky was blue, not too hot, the road was very curvey but not much traffic. Most all small villages sit atop hills surrounded by acres of vineyards and olive groves, and have fantastic views. Driving is a lot of fun with 'six on the floor' in this Fiat diesel of ours, but after an hour or two it get's tireing and I'm glad to stop and have a beer or a bed or dinner or all of it.
Having a car is very good for the countryside, seeing small towns on small roads; it totally sucks in cities and on Autostradas especially you want to get somewhere fast. We by-passed Florence (we both seen it some time ago) and went south for the country. Yesterday we saw Siena, an amazing town, spent some hours, had a picnic lunch, then continued on east toward Arezzo where we found an absolutely charming place called Lucignano. At about 6 pm the town was just finishing a weekend festival where all were dressed in old time clothing showing off old time ways. We found our bed there by asking a gas station guy who turned out to be the husband of an english wife and spoke pretty good english. He said 'I have a place for you' and he showed us an apartment on the ground floor with large living/sitting room with kitchen, bedroom and fully equipped bathroom with the ever present bidet, 50.€!! ($75) The terrance has a wonderful view of the valley and surrounding hills, each with it's hilltop village. We are considering staying another night.
I am amazed at the variety of not only car models of most european car brands but also of the shapes, configurations and sizes they have here. Lots and lots of motor bikes, from the 50cc put-put to the big racing bikes. And the way they, the latter pass on curves up and down hills is nothing, absolutely nothing, short of amazing!!! They all come out on weekends to scare the crap out of tourist drivers.
As far as transportation goes, trains are great for long distances and from city to city and no good in the countryside and cars are just the opposite. It is now about 8:30 am and we are sitting outside in a nice cafe on a beautiful Monday morning with fantastic weather, sipping our caffe late. Products available here that are somewhat familiar to us are Coke (have not seen any Pepsi), Fanta (pop), Heineken , Corona and Becks beers as well as all the local beers. Buying cigarettes is like going back in time... they have Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Camels, and Marlboro, all are about 4€ ($6) /pack. The olive trees are full and the grapes are being harvested now.
We have not seen or heard anything on TV or newspaper. During our limited online time, we are too busy uploading photos and answering email to look at the news. We have no idea what's going on in the world and that's OK 'cause we are in our own beautiful world right now. Money machines are everywhere and getting cash on debit cards is easy. Most businesses here in Italy accept credit cards, but not so many in rural Austria & Germany. Europe is generally expensive. Prices look good until you add that horrendous 50% for the exchange rate.

Radda in Chianti

2009-09-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

We spent the night in a medieval fortress/town, in a tiny hotel that is part of the castle, complete with long crooked passageways, and lots of stairs up then down. It was a nice enough room and bath, but it was the first bad bed we have encountered since leaving the U.S. All the beds, even in the youth hostels, are better than what we have in US & Canada. We went to eat at a place we were told was a pizzaria, but they gave us the regular pasta dinner menu, so we thought they had no pizza. Then a lot of other people came in and they were all getting pizza! We have checked out and I am enjoying the Italian espresso in an internet cafe, while Manfred is enjoying cafe latte and doughnuts. Gotta go and hit the road.

9/26 San Casciano V.P. - Tuscany

2009-09-26T02:47:00.001-07:00

We found a nice little hotel (€58) here in this hilltop town just south of Firenze, and ate dinner at a great restaurant where we met a very nice, interesting couple from San Diego. We hope to visit them when we get to CA. I am sitting on a terrace overlooking an idyllic Tuscany valley (click on photo), drinking espresso and typing. Manfred can't take the coffee, so he's having a Fanta, and he was even asked if he wanted ice!! Tuscany is not nearly as beautiful as the Munich/Saltzburg area, but it has a better year-round climate. We have found that having a car is a huge handicap in an unfamiliar city, so we are not going to return to Firenze (sorry, David). We'll go on to smaller towns instead. Heading south to spend 4 more days and end up in Rome (which is actually only a 2-hr drive from here via the autostrada). .

On the road again -- in Italy

2009-09-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

We took the overnight train (not a good experience) to Venice and spent a few hours and a lot of money there. Rip-off city. We finally got our car and got out of it to go to Padova. We found a nice b&b just before Padova. I got a cold, so we stayed there 2 days. Now we have just driven to Florence on the autostrada, which was pretty boring, but we are in a tiny town just south of Florence, where we are starting to look for a bed.

St Gilgen/Saltzburg, then Munich to Venice

2009-09-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

We spent an absolutely wonderful week in St. Gilgen, near Saltzburg in Austria. There, we visited with our friend Runi, her son, Falco, and her friend, Heinz. The weather was ideal, our accommodation was a large, 2-room apartment with 2 baths and a big balconly overlooking the lake, Wolfgangsee. We went all around the countryside, which is incredibly beautiful, had lunch at a farm, visited luxurious hotels, took a boat ride on another lake, and had a lot of great food and wine with best friends. A highlight was a visit to Hallstadt, which Rick Steves has shown on one of his TV shows. There we toured what's probably the oldest salt mine in the world. People were getting salt there thousands of years B.C. The views from the mountain top were unforgettable. I hope there will be photos here. The last day we went on a great tour of Saltzburg, conducted by Runi. We enjoyed the Mirabell Gardens, strolling the streets -- see the photo of the fountain where people could let their horses swim (in the good old days). I started writing this in the train station in Munich and am continuing it on the overnight train to Venice. Earlier today, we drove from St. Gilgen to Munich, taking a longer, non-autobahn route to see some of the countryside. It is all as picture-postcard beautiful as it is in Austria, but flatter. The grass here is the most incredible green -- it gives a whole new meaning to "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" or, in this case, the other side of the world. All the time that we were in St. Gilgen, except for a few brief periods, we were not able to get on the internet with the iBook. We used Runi's computer to take care of some emails, but I wasn't able to do this blog, because I can't type on a German keyboard. Nobody knew how to change it to a different layout (it's a Windows computer).

Finally -- online again

2009-09-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

We are in St. Gilgen, a small village on a beautiful lake, Wolfgangsee, in the hills of Austria. From Rothenburg we took a train to Munich (via Nirenberg) where we picked up our car (Ford Fiesta) and drove right past Saltzburg into the Saltzkammergut -- the scenic lake district near Saltzburg. We are staying in a 2-room 2 bath apartment in a nice inn with a fabulous view of the lake from the balcony. That's where we have breakfast. Manfred's longtime friend lives here, so we find out about all the best places to go for sights and food. And we get to meet lots of really nice people.

Still in Rothenburg

2009-09-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today we got to see some of this amazing town. Did a lot of walking, quite a bit of eating, even bought some souvenirs. It is like going back in history. The streets are mostly 8 ft. wide, the sidewalks, when they exist, are 10 inches wide. Everything is so cute, so clean, so quaint, so lovely.

We had to move to a different place because the inn where we stayed yesterday was all booked up for today. But every building here in the old part of town, whether residence or shop or restaurant, rents rooms. All that we saw are large, very clean, with excellent beds and low prices. The only drawback is: no elevators and the rooms are always on the 3rd or 4th floor.

Tomorrow, we will have to leave very early to get to Munich, hopefully by noon, to pick up our car to drive to Saltzberg and St. Gilgen, in Austria. Trains leave every hour, but we have to change trains at least twice, which is always dicey.

In Rothenburg

2009-09-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

This is a medieval, walled town. We are staying in an inn that looks pretty 18th century. It's really fun, and nice, and good to get away from Youth Hostels for a change.
Today we are going on an afternoon walking tour, and a night time walking tour. We had another wonderful dinner last night. Still haven't got photos on computer. This is the first place we have had unlimited free internet access, and both the computer and the iPod were on their last (battery) legs, so I didn't get much done, on or offline.
The photos show our room, the inn entrance, and one of the towers on the city wall.

In Heidelberg - heading to Rothenburg

2009-09-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a hassle, getting online time. We did our Rhine cruise yesterday, Koblenz to Bingen, past all the castles, including our favorite at Bacharach where we stayed 3 days at the beginning of the trip. The weather was beautiful and it was very relaxing, sitting in the restaurant watching all the beautiful scenery slide by. There was a messup then, getting a train to Heidelberg - Bingen is such a small town that most of the trains did not run on Saturday. But we finally got to the Youth Hostel in Heidelberg. Don't know if we are going to spend any time here, or go on to Rothenburg right away. We were too late for dinner in the Youth Hostel, so we went to a Pizzaria, which was a delightful Italian restaurant, and had a great dinner. The wines here are all so nice, too. We didn't get any photos downloaded, so nothing new here yet. We've been taking videos, too, but I haven't yet figured out how to put them here.

Manfred's contribution

2009-09-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, this is Manfred, we have just boarded an ICE (fast) train in Berlin, going to Koblenz via Cologne, about 5hrs. I just looked at an electronic sign in the train and it said that we are travelling at 250km/hr. WOW! I just ordered a Becks draft beer, 1/2L, about $6. (food on trains is expensive) I'm just going to ramble on about things that I either remember or are happening now. The sky is blue, lots of cumulous clouds, cool nights and quite warm days, up to 20c. The fall colours are just starting to show. The Youth Hostel in Berlin Wannsee was very good, nice 2 bed room w/ toilet and shower (Dusche). We have just stopped at Wolfsburg, where the main Volkswagen factory is located. If anybody thinks that Canada (or US for that matter) has a lot of cell phones, think again! Germany has nothing on them. I can count on my 10 fingers how many people did not have a cell phone in action. And there are so many different styles and types as well as brands, everybody is represented here. And so many different gagets. I saw a group of youg Italiens watching a live soccer game with full sound, while they were sitting on steps waiting to vitit the German Bundestag Building, on a device about the size of a cell ph. but all screen, amazing!! The next place we will be sleeping is a small hotel in Koblenz, just one night and then on to a Rhine River boat called "Goethe" to Bingen, 6 hrs. ----- We just rolled into Hannover. It's 1:30 local time, here called 13:30 hr. The ICE train has blug-ins for our laptop, with an adapter, no problem. The newspapers are full of the up-and-comming German elections, September 27, the showdown between Angela Merkel and her opponent, I forgot his name. Also the German national ladies soccer team just won the European soccer title, front page!! Also the purchase of Opel, the German GM car devision, was bought by an Austrian/Russian consotium thus saving Opel. (lots of Opel vehicles hedre in Germany)!

Berlin - the Parliment Building

2009-09-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Now we are in Berlin. The most amazing place. The Grand Central Station is bigger and fancier than most airports. We went to see the new dome on the Bundestag. Here are some photos, including the Brandenberg Gate, and a view of the lake from the lobby of the Youth Hostel. Tomorrow we are off to Koblenz and the next day we take a boat on the Rhine and end up in Heidelberg.

Hamburg - Miniature Wonderland

2009-09-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

We went to Hamburg, to see the miniature wonderland -- click here to see what it's like. Photos can't do it justice. We spent many hours on our feet, looking at all the various "countries" and levels. The photos show a castle garden, a rock concert and the Hamburg stadium, each full of hundreds of individual miniature people.

Finish Bacharach -- off to Hamburg

2009-09-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

We spent 2 full days in the Burg Stahleck castle-hostel at Bacharach. At first we had a room with 5 bunkbeds, only 1 other person was sleeping there, and he happened to be from Victoria (Sidney)! Then we moved to a room with 1 bunkbed and private bath.
The first day was just lounging around, enjoying the ambiance and the views of the vinyards, forrested hills, and the Rhine River with all its boat traffic. The second day, we took the long, very steep hike down to the small village of Bacharach and spent the day walking in the park by the river, sampling various foods & wines, window-shopping, and taking pictures--up to a point.
Our camcorder was DOA -- dead when we got there. So we were snapping photos all over the place until the still camera quit on us, too. We learned a valuable lesson -- get everything fully charged the night before any excursion.
After having a nice dinner, we took a taxi back to the castle. There was no way I was going to walk back up that steep trail. That's an added expense of staying at the castle. The 10-minute taxie trip costs €8 = $12. You have to use it for arriving & leaving (you have to be very young, with backpacks only, to take your baggage up or down the trail).
Food here is very good, but like most of the world, it's overpriced at airports and on trains. We are now on the 5-hr train from Koblenz to Hamburg. There is a Hi-speed train that does it in 3 hours, but it costs extra. A Chinese guy just came by selling coffee and we took some-- $4 each for plain coffee in paper cups. We probably could have saved $$ by paying the surcharge for the fast train and not buying food.
Now we are going through farmland. Lots of cows and corn. Quite a few big windmills are dotted here and there -- not a lot together, like the wind farms in the US. We're in a 1st-class 6-seat compartment, by ourselves. OOOps -- we just passed a real wind farm! Just to make me a liar. There's no wi-fi on the train, so I won't be able to post this until I get to some hot spot.
Photos haven't been downloaded yet, will add them later.

Arrived in Germany

2009-09-05T03:49:00.000-07:00

Here we are, at last, in our first Youth Hostel in Germany. It's the Burg Stahleck, pictured below (previous post). The plane trip from Seattle to Frankfurt was pretty awful, and we were traveling for 28 hours. We were just in the airport/train station in Frankfurt -- big but not nice.

Here are our first photos: view of the castle from the train station (it was raining), views from the windows of our room, views from the courtyard, and breakfast in the youth hostel.

...and they're off..

2009-09-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

....like a herd of turtles. Well, we are, finally, underway, after our techie friend Chas saved the (computer) day, once again. So we have Manfred's "new" iBook G4, which he bought to replace his iBook G3 which went for video board repair 6 months ago and hasn't been heard from since.

But did it ever return?
No it never returned!
And its fate is still unlearned...
It may lie forever on the shelves in Tucson
It's the iBook that never returned....

So, we got on the 3 p.m. ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles (1.5 hrs) -- and that's as far as we got. We are staying in a hotel. Name: Downtown Hotel. It is very minimalist, with shared baths, but it's spotlessly clean and no bath looks as if it has ever been used by anyone.

Tomorrow we get up at 5 am to catch the 6 a.m. bus to SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma) airport. It will take 4 hours to get there, but we'll arrive in time for the 2-hr check-in for the 12:30 flight to Frankfurt. It will stop in Chicago for a hour, flying time is over 11 hrs. "Getting there" stopped being fun and started becoming torture quite a long time ago.
When we arrive in Frankfurt, we will immediately hop a train to Bacharach, the village on the Rhine where we will stay in the castle, Burg Stahleg. that overlooks the town and the river. We will have 3 days to rest up and relax there. (See the photo in the post below.)

I am typing this on a PC! You know, like, with Windoze!!! XP, to be exact. It looks so strange, like going back in time. I'm using Firefox, on my same blogger page, but it looks so different, it feels like it's my old Mac SE I had in the 70s, or whenever it was. Even stranger is that people actually seem to like it like this.
.

Trip plans

2009-08-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

We are leaving on Sept 2 on a 6-wk trip to Europe. This is our itinerary, so far:

Sept 2 Wed
leave Victoria for Port Angeles, 3pm ferry 1.5 hrs
Downtown Hotel in PA 1 nite
Sept 3
6am bus to SeaTac airport (4 hrs)
leave SeaTac at 12:30pm American Airlines
Sept 4 to 7
arrive Frankfurt 11:10am (local time) 11+hrs
same day train to Bacharach 2hrs.
stay Youth Hostel Burg Stahleck (castle - see photo) 3 nites
Sept 7 to 9
Train to Hamburg 6 hrs.
Hamburg: Miniatur Wunderland model train (see video)
Hamburg Youth Hostel (2 nites)
Sept 9 to 11
Train to Berlin, 2.2hrs.
Berlin Youth Hostel (2 nites)
Full day in Berlin, sights
Sept 11
Train to Koblenz 5hrs
Koblenz: Hotel-Grebel Guls (1 nite)
Sept 12
9am KD ferry up the Rhein to Bingen (6hrs)
and train to Heidelberg 2.5 hrs
Heidelberg Youth Hostel (1 nite)
Sept 13
Train to Rothenburg 4.5 hrs
Hotel Altfränkische Weinstube (1 nite)
Full day in Rothenburg, sights
Sept 14
Change to Rothenburg Youth Hostel (1 nite)
Sept 15
Train to Munich 3 hrs
After 11am pick up car in Munich
Drive to Salzburg, then St Gilgen 2+hrs
Sept 16 - 21
Various car trips w/friends St Gilgen
---------------
From here on, except train to Venice
and car in Italy, there are no exact dates and accommodations.
We will keep this up to date, as we go.
---------------
Sept 22
Return car in Munich by 11am
Train to Venice 7 hrs
Overnight in Venice Youth Hostel 1 nite ?
Sept 23 - 29
Pick up car in Venice 10am
Various car trips in Italy
Oct 1
Return car in Rome, train to Civitavecchia
Ferry Boat to Barcelona 10 pm (20 hrs)
Oct 2 - Oct 15
Visit Barcelona
Train to Madrid
Train to Granada
Train to Lisbon
Pick up a car in Lisbon (for 4-5 days)
Youth Hostels & travel in Portugal, Sintra etc.
Get ourselves to London (via train & chunnel, or fly)
Visit England 1-3 days
----------------
Oct 16 - 26 (?)
Leave Heathrow 11:35am (local time)
stop in LA (customs)
Arrive San Diego same day 5:10 p.m.
Visit friends in Encinitas
Then on to Santa Maria to visit with Robin & Virginia
Back to Seattle by train around Oct 26.
----------------

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Blogging away....

2009-07-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

I spend quite a lot of time on the computer these days -- it's too hot to go out. I'm mostly working on Ask Geneva (about Macs).
I keep adding suff, answering questions, welcoming new member (yes, there are some), and searching for lolcats to put on it. If you haven't seen it lately, there lots of new stuff, including "Definitions" and "Tips & Tricks."

Sometimes I find a lolcal that really says the right thing, like this one.

New Web Site !!

2009-06-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Just started a new web site -- Guy's guide to how to understand women. Have a look --> click here <--

Be sure to look at the comments -- they are the most important part (added by Robin).

Britain's Got Talent

2009-05-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

So, Diversity won over Susan Boyle. I rather like that outcome for 2 reasons: 1 - there are several of them, so more people get to win 2 - they can use the extra boost of winning, Susan doesn't need it. I therefore wanted either Diversity or Flawless to win. I don't know how to choose between them, they are equally good for me. But Susan will always be my favorite of all time.

Flocking away

2009-05-26T18:00:00.001-07:00

Just put this blog on my Flock home and using Flocks blog poster to post this.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Added later: see this article http://tinyurl.com/ysvyo5 about blogging for $$

Trying out something..

2009-05-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This is what happens if you don't have a Mac. :-)

Working on the wiki

2009-05-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time adding to the wiki for Mac newbies. I've also changed the front page, and scattered around a few lolcats to lighten it up. Have a look: Ask Geneva (about Mac) Robin and I are working on ways to make some money from our blogs. See his: Horsemanship blog. Seems some people are making a very good income from blogs, but many others are trying unsuccessfully. If readers 'go to' any of the ads on these blogspot blogs, the 'owner' gets paid something, but not on wetpaint where I have my wiki. I have to move it to a place that pays.

This cat looks just like the one we had in Port Renfrew, Fritz.

2009-05-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Videos of great auditions for BGT

Susan Boyle -- sing

Diversity -- dance

Shaheen Jafargholi -- sing

Flawless -- dance

Sue Son -- electric violin

Jamie Pugh -- sing

Stavros Flatley -- dance

Gregg Pritchard -- sing

Julian Smith -- soprano sax

Holly Steel -- sing

Click the links (blue words after the names) to see the YouTube videos. You'll be glad you did.

Fantastic quilts

2009-05-11T02:29:00.001-07:00

A lady who's connected to the Victoria Mac Users Group (VMUG) makes the most fantastic quilts. Here are a few samples:

To see more, visit her website:

http://bentpincreations.com

Who killed the electric car

2009-04-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

I just saw the 2-hr documentary (on a Canadian TV network) called "Who Killed the Electric Car", specifically the GM EV1. Well, actually, its demise caused other EVs that were in the works to be killed, also. It was a great little car, quite fast, charge it up at home, drive 100 miles, everybody who had one loved it. They were only leased, though, not sold. GM took them all (several hundred) back and destroyed them all. Even though people begged to be able to buy them, GM insisted there was no demand. Etc., etc. Then they start touting the hydrogen car, which could never be viable, and even if it was, would be way less efficient than a straight electric. One knowledgeable person called the hydrogen car the mechanical rabbit at a dog race track. See the film summarized & reviewed in Wikipedia. It was only released on DVD.

This show would not be aired on US TV, unless things have changed a lot. And this is the company that people want to save from bankruptcy. Hmph.

Kids can cut power use

2009-04-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

On Huff Post, Ariana had an article about how she's getting greener. This is a post I put on it:

Here's a chance to tell folks about a cool trick about saving electricity, for people who have young kids.

When our family of 4 lived in Malaysia, in the 70s, electricity was relatively expensive, and we had a 9-yr-old son who never turned off anything. So we told him that we were going to change his allowance. Instead of getting $3 per week (a normal allowance for his age), we would give him $100 per month. When he had gotten over some of the shock, we told him about "the catch" -- that he would have to pay the electric bill out of his allowance! And the last electric bill had been $118, so, if he couldn't cut down on power-usage, he would be in the hole.

The next month, the electric bill was $67, and never again went over $75.

How did he do it? He prowled the house, looking for things to turn off. He took cold showers. When my husband and I were both reading, he moved our chairs closer together so we could share the same lamp. He "helped" the cook wash the dishes, to make sure she didn't use too much hot water. He changed the light bulbs, even getting fluorescent lights for his room and the front porch. He studied power usage in a library book (no internet then). He stopped watching TV and, if his brother started watching TV, he would get him to play a game or do something else instead. There were probably other things that I have forgotten, but you get the idea. .

Helpful financial media

2009-03-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

Here is the Jon Stewart (Daily Show) video showing how the TV financial newspeople reported in 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTAk54c8tFQ

New Web Site

2009-02-10T00:20:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a new web site to show the renovations we did to the house in Georgia. .I was gathering up photos to send to a friend and decided to put them on a wiki-blog instead of just on Face Book or My Space.

-- Please, go and have a look --

on the sidebar, click "House Renovation" on the "Links" list or under "Wiki Web Sites". If you click on "House Renovation" on the "My Blogs list" you will get the "What's new" page, click on "Home" to get to the first page.
Since it's a wiki, comments or questions are welcome. :-)

2009 -- still here

2009-01-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

Another year has come & gone and we are still at the same address:
406-855 Ellery St.
Victoria BC V9A 6X6 Canada.

I put this in because there are still some things that must go by snail mail. The building has been painted since this photo, the balconies are light brown now, and the walls are light tan.

This is the 3rd day of the Obama Presidency. He's already done some very good things about foreign policy (order to close Gitmo, appointed special envoys, etc). I still don't like HRC.

His inaugural address was better than it sounded. It didn't contain the quotable gems that the press was looking for, but it spoke as much to foreign peoples and governments as to the American people, and was a clear repudiation of the Bush policies. I wonder if Bush understood it at all--he had his blank look throughout.

Michelle's inauguration outfit was great, but her ball gown was not. (I'm still very "into" costumes for public appearances--especially skating costumes).

Pictures from Port Renfrew

2008-12-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

First, is what happened to the road that connects the two parts of Port Renfrew. It is now just 1 lane.

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Second, is the house we used to live in there, it was a dirty, ugly grey color, but now it's all new. I think I would have found a better green.

Third, is Ted & Loretta's house. Now those are great colors. Manfred says the two houses should be together -- apples & cinnamon. It's the house just above the landslide.

Ted sent us these photos. Thanks, Ted.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T11:18:00.000-08:00

We are still in Victoria, not doing much of anything. Manfred is cooking a turkey.

This is the Parliament Building here, in Victoria. We are actually having a white Christmas this year, the first in Victoria since 1965! It almost never snows here, but this year it did.

Ask Geneva (about Mac)

2008-11-28T04:13:00.001-08:00

The new wiki I have been working on, for Mac beginners. Have a look -- I need some feedback.

Can't let GM fail???

2008-11-18T12:48:00.000-08:00

Can't let them fail? ... . Yes . we . can! . ... Giving them $25B is not saving them -- it is starting an ongoing, open-ended subsidy. It is rewarding the industry for doing wrong. Rewarding executives for bribing the government to allow them to continue to make gas-guzzlers. Rewarding the UAW for pricing their members out of the market. Rewarding auto workers for demanding exorbitant pay for producing unsellable old technology.

If you give them more money now, you will have to continue doing it forever, because they will NOT change. Never, as long as you keep them in business doing business as usual. Don't whine about the 3-4 years-- if they didn't see this coming 5 years ago, what makes you think they have even common sense, let alone the smarts to run a company? These are the people that dumped their electric car in the desert!

Use the $25 Billion to help tide over the workers and suppliers that are hardest hit. Even if 1 Million workers were out of jobs (which would not happen), $25,000 each would be a nice compensation. Or to assist startups of other businesses. Or put the out-of-work workers to work on fixing the infrastructure, or developing green technology, or making trains. Bankrupcy does not mean total disappearance. The worst thing would be to use it to "bail out" one company. Like giving a $50 bill to one beggar when there are others watching. And they all know where you live.

In Germany, "green technology" has surpassed their auto industry(!) in size and impact. They are the world's biggest producers of solar panels, Denmark is the world's biggest producer of wind turbines, Spain is reaching its goal of a high-speed train station within 2 km of every citizen. They don't do it for ecological reasons -- they do it for economic reasons. (It's the economy, stupid.) Come on, people, the US is being left in the dust. Get with the 21st century.

Of course, he won.

2008-11-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

Why ever not?? But now what? It could be a chance for great things to happen. Or not.

Election Day !!!!

2008-11-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

OMG!
-- I haven't said anything here for such a loong time. We have been trying to follow the election "news" but it's all so phony -- pundits quoting rumors quoting hate mail and passing as "news". And all the earnest predictions, based on polls that are not reliable in a situation like this.
The more I see of McCaine & Palin, the sadder I am that there are earnest and caring people so misguided as to believe them. I guess we shall see, after today, how many of those people are out there, in la la land. I hope McP turn out to be just a hoot.
What we may not see is how much voter fraud is going to be happening and what impact it will have. It's something we may never know.
As for the Messiah, I am still disappointed that he accepted that
. ridiculous bailout without question (questioned only the mechanics, not the principle),
. . . plus the pork that was added.

But the alternative candidate is, of course, unthinkable.

What gives me hope is:
(1) the fact that he has raised an enormous amount of money from regular people -- the first candidate bought & paid for by the people, instead of corporations?
(2) the organization that he was able to establish -- amazing. If he can do that as prez... ?

Notice, my color is blue
.

Neat quotations

2008-10-18T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna put a few quotations here, when I see one I like, starting with:

If, at first, an idea is not absurd, then it has no hope at all. --Einstein

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Take heart -- truth and happiness will get you in the end. You can't lose in this game. Have fun. It goes on too long to be taken seriously all the time. -- John & Lyn St.Clair Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Men are disturbed, not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen -- Epictetus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Be realistic: Plan for a miracle. -- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Drinking water joke

2008-10-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

Near Fredericksburg, Texas, where there is a large German speaking

population, a farmer walking down a country road notices a man drinking

from his pond with his hand.

The farmer shouted: 'Trink das wasser nicht. Die kuhen haben dahin

gesheissen.' (If you don't understand, find out what it means.)

The man shouted back: 'I'm from New York and just down here campaigning

for McCain & Palin, I can't understand you. Please speak in English.'

The farmer replied: 'Use two hands, you'll get more.'

More Politics + Bailout

2008-10-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

It's not just MY Humble Opinion after all. There are many others, including Vermont Senator Bernie Saunders. He said:

"In our country today, we have the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth, with the top 1% receiving more income than the bottom 50% and the top 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 90%."

The bailout does not address ANY of the basic causes or effects of the "meltdown." The URL is http://www.truthout.org/100208J . Read it, and weep.

Politics & Bail-Out

2008-10-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

We've been following the election, debates & economic "meltdown"/bail-out in the U.S.

What a circus! Or is it Soap Opera? What a country!

I'm very disappointed in Barak Obama. I was hoping he would not go along with the "Wall Street Bailout", but he did. Just tweaking it does not hack it, it needs to be scrapped and start over, IMHO.

Been busy

2008-09-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've put something here. I've been quite busy working on my new wiki about Mac computers. See the link on this page, Ask Geneva (about Macs). It's been fun working on something so new and different. It still has a long way to go, but I hope it is useful for people who have finally "made the plunge" and gotten a Mac. I'll be back, but, in the meantime, have a look at askgeneva.

Signs of the times

2008-07-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

You might think the reason for this photo is the ad for storage -- it is rather weird that we need to pay $$ to keep our stuff out of our living area so we can buy more stuff. And if you look closely, the website is a .ca -- that's dot-CA, which means Canada (the Canadians have copied the Americans in their acquisitive habits). In Canada, billboards are illegal. The only place they can exist is on Indian Reserves, where not all White-guy laws apply. The Reserves make money by charging the White-guys plenty to put billboards there. This photo was taken just outside of Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, Canada. The funny thing about that is the 2nd billboard... if you click on the picture, to enlarge it, you can read "United States of America" in the red strip at the bottom.

Cool new iPod

2008-07-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

We have gotten this really great new toy -- an iPod "Touch". It is sooo coool. It syncs with our computer's email, address book, calendar, photos, movies and music. It goes anywhere on the internet and is especially good for viewing videos on YouTube. It does maps with directions and satellite views, and does lots of other cool things. You have to find a hot spot, just like with a computer. It really works so there's no need to take a computer with you for those things. It doesn't store documents or work with a wireless printer, yet, but I'm sure it will. Hundreds of people are working round the clock to make new software for it. And, it has that awesome iPod sound! Mozart never sounded so good!

"Fat Loss 4 Idiots"

2008-07-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

That's the name of this diet. It's the one you always see advertised: "Lose 9 lbs in 11 days" Well, that didn't happen for Manfred, but he is not at all discouraged. He is learning a whole new way of eating: * eat 4 meals per day (he used to eat 2) * stop (eating) before you get full (he thought full was the purpose of eating) * combine food groups in unpredictable ways (scrambled eggs + grapes.) * drink lots of water (this is the only part that he didn't really try) Some meals are all meat. There is an all-veggie-&-fruit day. It's very low carb, and the carbs are mostly fruit. You choose the foods you like from 2 lists. A computer generates an 11-day meal plan schedule, with those foods You follow it exactly. You can cook the food any way you like, or get deli versions so no cooking at all.

Manfred's new diet

2008-06-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today's the day! Manfred just started his NEW DIET. It's the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet (fatloss4idiots.com). For the curious -- it advertises "lose 9 pounds every 11 days". I checked out (on the internet) people who had tried it, and they figured the weight loss was between 6.5 & 10 pounds. You pay $39 and you get a downloadable book.pdf and unlimited access to an online meal plan generator. It asks you to choose your favorite foods from 2 lists, then generates an 11 day regimen for 4 meals each day. You must eat four meals, and you can eat as much as you like, but don't stuff yourself. The meals are super-easy eg. turkey slices, cheese slices, yogurt; tuna salad plate, walnuts, apple; etc. There is an all-fruit day, an all-vegetable day, an all-protein day, and some meals are all-meat. The idea is to change the eating habits so there is no longer a pattern, which ups the metabolism (and puts you into a different frame of mind). After the 11 days, you eat whatever you want for 3 days and then get a new meal plan and do it again. You get to make new food choices, if you like.

Back in Victoria

2008-06-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

We drove back pretty directly. We checked out the mudslide that detoured us-- didn't look like much. We saw lots of snow on the passes, and lots of waterfalls. We came back through the Frazer canyon-- spectacular, and I took the cable car down to "The Narrows". In Vancouver, we took the Horseshoe Bay ferry, which cost an extra $23, but it's the big new ferry from Germany. We got back to our apartment just after midnight Thursday night. I have been sick, with a cold and haven't downloaded our last photos. I also have a toothache, so don't expect much coherence from me at this time. Anyway, we are back at the phone. When we are gone, we get messages left on our phone-- they come in eamils.

Wednesday evening

2008-05-28T20:26:00.001-07:00

We are sitting on a big balcony of a small motel outside of Chase BC, overlooking beautiful lake Shushwap, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and the sun is just about to set in a sky full of fluffy clouds, and we have just finished our pizza, and are relaxing with a glass of wine and the MacBook. What a life! Maybe we will never go home. It's been a perfect day, we made many little stops to admire trains, waterfalls, stopped for snacks and deserts. The drive from Lake Louise to here has been very scenic. Tomorrow we'll make it home I suppose, even though we have the car until Friday 5pm. It is quite warm, hot here today. It was only two days ago that one could see one's breath, around freezing, and today it was at least 24C. The pizza lady said, from winter to summer in 2 days.