I've not written in a while...been affected with seasonal spring allergies...aka Vertigo. I'll write about that later. In the meantime, my sister sent me a bunch of funnies...and so I disgress from my usual format with a bit of fun. I hope you enjoy!
A good laugh can cure a lot of sorrow and woe (and even vertigo). Remember, we're all in this together.
Today the "famous" Oscar Mayer Weinermobiles were raced on the Indy 500 track. I know this has nothing to do with me or what I normally write about, but the whole idea of 6 bulky Weinermobiles "racing" around the track just tickles my soul.
Addendum: After the snow we had rain...then a loud thunder and lightning storm, then a very hard rain, then hail that covered the ground like it was a light-weight blanket of snow. The hail melted, the sun came out and we had blue skies til nightfall. The only thing we did not have was lots of wind. The locals say if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes--and today was an example of what the weather is like in the Rocky Mountains.
When you think that all is finally going right...I mean we had snow this morning, but now all is right. The plumbing is working; the heater is working; the house is doing well. Earlier in the morning, after seeing the snow, I scanned the house and did not see any problems. BUT, when I get ready to leave the house, I see the following across the driveway.
There's no way to leave the house. My plans come to a screeching halt. The tree might not look very big but the base diameter of the trunk is about 6-8 inches tapering to 4-6 inches at the top. The tree is about 25 feet tall and it's quite heavy. I'm guessing the tree is between 20 and 25 years old. It's quite heavy as aspens are more water than wood this time of year, and that means I cannot just pick it up and move to another location. My Jeep might be able to do that, but frankly, I don't know how to attach it to the Jeep to push it around.
The first thing I do is get the saws-all and try and cut it. The saws-all is no match for this tree. This tree is very green and the even though I have the heavy-duty blade on the saws-all, it's not making a dent into the soft wet timber. Next I call my friend Bob and Bob comes to my rescue. About 10 minutes later, I hear the distinctive sound of a chainsaw. Bob is parked in the driveway and the tree has been cut into rough thirds making it possible to use the driveway. Bob is a "jack of all trades and master of most" and his huge 25-inch chainsaw sliced thru this downed tree like butter. I thank him, give him a hug and he's on his way--as am I. Thank you my friend. One more time, you've come to my rescue. You have no idea how much I appreciate you Bob.
Ever sensible and level-headed she planned everything. As a child of the depression she was the consummate saver. She saved aluminum foil until it could not be cleaned any more. She recycled long before it was a common thing to do. She always made sure she had something for that proverbial rainy day. She taught me those lessons well. I see myself doing the same things my mother did. I also see my mother every time I look in a mirror as I look so much like her.
After she married my dad, they had 2 children and 3 grand children. She loved all of her kids and she did not believe in playing favorites. I remember asking who she liked best and she said she loved all of us the same. I believe that to be true. My mother was dominant, opinionated, and all too often, right. The kids on the block knew better than to "beg" my mother for something if she had said no to a request. She was not like the other moms on the block. She marched to her own drummer and did not really care what other people thought. She lived by a very definite set of rules, which were relatively easy to follow.
I remember playing rummy with her in the afternoons. We had an on-going rummy game that lasted for years. It was the best part of the day. Spending time with my mom, before everyone came home, playing a game and talking about everything and anything. The game ended with either my sister or dad came home and then it was time to start dinner.
The hardest part was letting go. Somewhere near her 50th anniversary she succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. She lived another nine years. A vibrant, with-it woman gradually declined. It was the worst. She loved me; she taught me; she made me who I am. I still miss her more than a quarter of a century after her death. A mother is forever. Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
The drive here took a day longer than we planned--but plans are always ready to be changed. The doctor in SLC gave the other DrC a clean bill of health on his head wound and we don't need to see him for 5 months. That's pretty incredible.
The nice folks at Geezerville let us back in. It's good to be home. It's good to have a stable floor beneath our feet. It's realllllllly good to sleep in our own bed. This morning started at 2 AM in Oslo, Norway. It's ending at 6:30 PM in Geezerville. I know there's a way to calculate how many hours we were up, but I'm too tired to do it right now. I do know, we were up toooooo long. Travel is fun, until it's the day to go home. That day can often be an ordeal.
From the get-go "things" were off. Our platform bed at the Radisson Blu was a set of mattress springs covered with a 3-inch soft-cushiony-foam mattress-topper. When I got up at 2 AM I found myself falling to the floor. Seems like the cushiony-foam mattress-topper wiggled around so much that it threw me out of bed. Thank goodness Norwegian furniture is low to the ground, so I did not fall far, but it certainly woke me up. We finished packing and went to the lobby to check out of the hotel and get breakfast.
The van that picked us up was outfitted for a wheelchair with a ramp and ample room...wish we had had that van throughout the trip. The drive to Oslo airport was long but at 4:30 in the morning there was NO traffic. It was a van of beauty!
At the airport, the wheelchair and walker seemed to cause a lot of issues, which took over an hour to solve. Then, the wheelchairs that I had ordered were NOT ordered.
We flew to Heathrow (LHR). Our last experience there was negative and this one followed suit. We finally got stuff squared away after lots of walking we were taken to our plane in a heavy-duty "Lift Van." We entered the plane thru a door I've never entered before....starboard side, next to the door where they deliver food. We found our "suites" and settled in for a long flight.
What seemed like a hundred hours later (I exaggerate only a little) we landed near Geezerville. We had been fed 2 rather unexceptional meals. plied with champagne, and treated very well. My flight attendant, Amelia, took really good care of me. Thank goodness for Amelia.
We landed right on time. There were wheelchairs to greet us. We collected our luggage and wheeled thru the 3rd set of customs for the day. Our pusher wheeled us to Pole 23 and we were picked up by our driver, Elizabeth. HOORAY. Ninety minutes later we were home.
It's been a long day. We arrived home and collapsed into our comfortable furniture. Before this cruise, I did not know very much about Norwegian furniture but now I do. It's hard. It's low to the ground. It's difficult to get into and get out of. It is modern. It is slick. Its neutral tones are very calming. Viking calls the style Sleek Elegance. I'm calling it Bleak Elegance.
So, the bottom line. Will we cruise again? YES. Did we have a good time? YES. Are we glad to be home: YES! It's good to be back in Geezerville.
For our extension in Oslo, Viking put us up at the Radisson Blu Hotel across the street from the train station. We were told repeatedly that it was "a short walk" from the train station to the hotel. It was if we were normal--but as you know nothing about is "normal." One of our fellas is in a wheelchair and the other uses a walker. This is a fine set-up for the US--but overseas handicapped means something different. It seems as if each country has a different definition of "handicapped." Granted, we don't exactly know what "it" means, but it's not the same definition that the US uses. Welcome to the wonderful world of travel.
We rolled thru the train station, getting on an elevated moving walkway (which had a small "tripper" step at the beginning of it for added interest) before we got to the street. Then we had to maneuver a corner and some uneven cobblestones to find a long and winding ramp (not the more direct stairs) that led to the lobby of the RB. Everyone was trying to get off the train and into the hotel at the same time, and I swear "they" were trying to kill us. I asked one man if I could walk with the other DrC and he said sure...let me go first...so I did. We survived. There were no slightly sloping ramps. There were no curbs even with street level. There were no "lanes" for walkers or wheelchairs to use. We were sheltered on the ship...but now we were in the big bad world.
We finally got checked into the hotel and lucky for us we scored handicapped rooms. Except there's a 2 inch threshold that needs to be navigated. The shower was pretty good as was the surround around the low toilet. Again, every country has its own idea how to provide for handicapped people. Norway is no exception. Today we explored the hotel some, relaxed and re-organized our luggage for the umpteenth time. We were directed that we needed to leave the hotel at 4:15 AM tomorrow...our luggage would be collected at 7 PM tonight.
As of now, our luggage has been collected and I think we are ready for the flights tomorrow. Of the 4 of us, only 3 have been allowed to check in early. We have NO idea why the fourth member of our party cannot check in.
To celebrate getting thru Norway without too many scrapes, we had dinner at "The Top" of the RB, a terrace restaurant. The views of Oslo were amazing. The Top is 34 stories above the city. It was a clear day and we took our time playing tourist and taking pictures of the cityscape. Oslo has some interesting architecture. Take a look:
The geezers are no longer at sea...we are on dry land, well not-so-dry land--in Oslo. We took the train to Oslo yesterday. Seems like this neck of the world gets 300 days of rain a year. So it's very late winter/beginning of spring with lots of water and a few sprouts of green trying ever so hard to see the sunshine.
That's an old stone church in Bergen, and you can clearly see some greenery and the rain. In fact, the camera does not know what to focus on...the raindrops or the leaves, so it kind of does a poor job of both (or you can think of it as an impressionist photo--I prefer the latter.)
We got on the train in Bergen,
We went thru a few villages that had tiny train stations and we stopped for 3 or 4 minutes, then we went on our way again.
Aside from my apps, I knew we were getting closer to Oslo when the train stations got bigger and more folks got off the train. There was a "streaming" notice in our car that said in Norwegian and then English that we would be arriving at X in 5 or 6 minutes. Again, not a Swiss train, as it would have said they were arriving in 5.5 minutes, exactly. No problem...we got there in the allotted time.
Today was our last full day on the ship. We disembark at zero-dark-thirty tomorrow and head for the train station, where we'll board the Glacier Express to Oslo. It should be a scenic ride because it's cold and raining now...so there might be fresh snow to highlight the Norwegian mountains on the train ride. But before we can leave we had some work to do.
Most cruise ships have great crews. Viking has a very great crew. The ship is filled with folks who care! Once they serve you, they know who you are and make sure that you have what you like. For the last 16 days we've been treated very very well. Tomorrow reality will set in. So we said good bye to our new friends. I made a blanket while onboard and if you know me, you already know what became of it. I gave it to Ria, who has been doing her best to make sure I get over my cold. She has served me lots of hot water laced with honey, lemon, ginger and spirits...and I think it has worked. She loved her little lavender teddy bear blanket.
Tonight is the next to last night we are on the Viking Jupiter, and our captain, who has the wonderful name of Stefan Vikingson, gave us some facts and figures about our food and alcohol consumption. The numbers are somewhat amazing.
We consumed the following:
2400 kilos of chicken
17,260 eggs
2500 kilos of meat
500 bottles of hard liquor---
And---are your ready
Over 5000 bottles of wine.
Don't forget dessert--we went thru 1000 gallons of ice cream and gelato (I tried my best to make this number larger.
There are about 950 pax on the ship. On an average, we each consumed a dozen and a half of eggs, 2.5 kilos of chicken, 2.6 kilos of meat...he did not give a figure for fish, but I tried to eat all the lobster I could find. We each had less than a 1/2 bottle of hard spirits, but we guzzled 5 bottles of wine on a 16 day voyage. Last but not least, we each had at least a gallon of ice cream/gelato. Yummy. There you have it...the details of what we ate while we plied the Mediterranean and North Seas.
BTW, the wine consumption was less on this ship than it was on the Paul Gauguin...a ship we were on years ago. We sailed Tahiti and the nearby islands for 11 days...during that time the 299 pax on board went thru an amazing 10,000 bottles of wine...a number that impressed me then and still does to this day. We averaged 33 bottles of wine per person on that voyage of 11 days. I'm beginning to wonder if any of us were sober.
Cruising is a lot of fun. I'm not going to talk about all the pounds that the pax gained while enjoying the wonderful food onboard the Viking Jupiter, but I know me and my food consumption. I start out on a cruise eating a lot, but as the days progress, I eat less and less. It's like I get filled up. When we get home, our meals will be small and if we did gain any weight, it will go away. (That's my story and I'm sticking with it!)
It's been a few days since I've written. I've had a cold. I've had a cough. I've not been miserable but when you sit on the boat all day long when folks are out playing...it's less that perfect. On the upside, there's lots of very nice folks on this ship and they are fun to talk to.
First and foremost, I missed Paris. I really wanted to celebrate my birthday in Paris but that was not to be. Instead, I celebrated it on the boat. I had a birthday cake and the largest banana split I've ever seen with 5 scoops of ice cream and 2 bananas. They were both yummy. The birthday cake came with a bottle of sparkling wine, which we shared with our friends. No it was not Paris, but it was good.
We had some rocky weather and we had to blow off a port which gave me an extra day to heal--but alas, the cough persisted. I know me...when I get a cough I am NOT supposed to play outside--I stayed inside and enjoyed the ship. The nice thing about a ship when everyone else is outside playing...is there is no one inside and we had the boat to ourselves. One day, there were only 56 pax on board instead of the full contingent of 950+. That's a nice thing.
I think it was yesterday we were in Amsterdam and once again I stayed onboard the Viking Jupiter. Lots of folks went ashore but again, my cough held me back. I must say the cough is getting better. Today we had a sea day as we head for Bergen, our last stop on this cruise. It's supposed to rain in Bergen so I don't know if I will leave the ship or not. I certainly don't want to make my cough worse now that' it getting better.
Here are some interesting pictures I've taken along the way...
DrC has a cold. One of the vagaries of ship travel is catching the ship's cold. I caught the cold. I've been down for 2 days with a cough and a runny nose...so I had to do something I did not want to do--I canceled the shorex to Paris. It's a long way to Paris from LaHarve--and it's supposed to be rainy--not a good set of conditions for a person with a cold. Let me explain. Paris is a 10 hour excursion. It's a 2.5 to 3 hour drive to Paris and a 2.5 to 3 hour drive back to the ship...that means there's only 3-4 hours to spend in Paris. Paris is a huge city and there are lots of things to see there. Therefore there are lines everywhere...so the time has to be used well. When you don't feel in tip-top shape, it's pretty miserable to stand in lines. If it's rainy, as predicted, it's even worse. The better part of valor said to cancel the trip. If I want to enjoy the journey I need to bow out on this part of the adventure. I'm happy I've been to Paris before...but I'm sad that I will not make it this time. Paris is iconic and one of the highlights of this cruise.
In the area around LaHarve there are the D-Day beaches and memorials...there's the Bayeax Tapestry...there's a wonderful WW2 museum in Caen...but there's still the rain. I have a cold, so I will probably bow out from those excursions too. Having a cold is NOT a good thing. I'm reminded of a Swiss Train Journey we had a decade ago. I gutted thru a cold and ended up hospitalized with pneumonia and I had to be on oxygen for a couple of months...that's not any fun. I'll stay on the ship and enjoy myself getting healthy so I can do something in Bruges and Amsterdam and Bergen and Oslo. It's the right thing to do.
So I'm celebrating my birthday on the Viking Jupiter and it will be good. Things happen when you travel. You don't always get the weather nor the health you want. You get each day as it comes. I go into travel with my eyes wide open to that fact...therefore I'm always looking at the upside. There are a lot of upsides. We are on a very nice ship. The crew is fantastic. The food is abundant and delicious. The pax are a well traveled and varied lot of folks who are fun to talk to. All is good! While I'm not enjoying my cold, I'm doing OK and the folks on the ship are taking good care of me. All is good.
We had a sea day today. No ports of call. That means we stayed on the ship and enjoyed the food, the people, and the activities. We love sea days. In fact is was a triple event day! We wished my dear mother Happy 107th Birthday (sadly she did not live that long) but today is always her birthday. It is also Good Friday. All is good.
I started the day going to the knitters group meeting ladies from all over the world doing our favorite hobby. I started a teddy bear blanket which I probably won't finish on the cruise as there's only one more sea day, but the weather is iffy, so who knows how much progress I will make on it.
From there we heard there was handmade pasta on the terrace, so we raced there to have some. That was followed by a fun chat with a couple from Missouri, followed by a sojourn upstairs to change for dinner. Dinner was fantastic! We had LOBSTER and all the trimmings that was beyond delicious. After dinner a stroll to the atrium to listen to some music. To wrap up the night the Viking Vocalists sang Broadway hits.
We had a great sea day. Our ship might be small but it's filled with lots of very interesting people. We have however had a change of plans. We are no longer in the calm Mediterranean but the big-bad-North Atlantic. The water has changed...it is not placid. We are doing some rocking and rolling. A small ship feels rolls a bit more than a large ship. We are a small ship. We are going to stay overnight in Porto, Portugal, and we will not land a Falmouth, England. I talked to the cruise director and we are still going to be in Paris on my birthday...all is good.
It's been a good sea day. The adventure continues!
Today we landed in Malaga...and since I don't have good feelings about Malaga, we stayed onboard Viking Jupiter. Way back when, we were robbed in Malaga, and while the chances of that happening again are slim, I didn't want to put ourselves in harm's way.
Our one bad experience started as the other DrC was unpacking our rental car and I was checking into the hotel. DrC unloaded our rental car. He placed our backpack against the car, and someone took it when he was looking away. The packback that was filled with lots of goodies such as a good camera, a laptop, jewelry, cash, a list of my credit cards with numbers, expiration dates and security codes, as well as our letter to board the ship. As soon as I discovered that the backpack was stolen, I canceled the credit cards. But now we had no $$$ except what we each had in our wallets (not much).
At that point in time, we were lecturing on cruise ships, and we did not have "tickets" for a cruise, we usually had our names on the ship's roster and a letter from our agent saying we were booked as lecturers. Most cruise lines accepted the letter and let us on board without question...but if we did not have the letter, we might not be able to board. However, if our names were on the ship's roster, we could board without the letter. The whole time we were in Malaga, we were worried we could not board the ship and we did not have any way to buy tickets for the flight home. It was quite a dilemma. Turns out, our names were on the roster and we were able to board. We had backups of our lectures in our suitcase, so we gave our lectures as though nothing had happened. But--instead of visiting the Alhambra in Granada and the countryside we visited the local police station and reported our loss. We had to stay in Malaga to get "stuff" squared away. It was not fun and fraught with lots of disappointment. I think you can see why we did not want to go to port today.
We've done a lot of traveling as you know, and we've only been robbed once...in Malaga. It was a good day to stay home and enjoy the ship. As an aside, only 52 people stayed onboard--so we had the boat to ourselves. It was glorious.
We landed in Cartagena Spain today (not Columbia). Overland, Cartagena is about 600 miles from Barcelona..I don't know how many sea miles it is though, but I do know that we sailed all night long at a pretty good clip before arriving in Cartagena about noon. Our plan was to take the shuttle into town and then take a taxi around town...but we changed our mind quickly when we saw there was a very nice paseo to walk. The weather was wonderful, so walk we did.
The long flight from Vegas to Heathrow was very nice. We were seated a sweet little cubicle (BTW the airlines have the audacity to call it a suite) with a TV screen and thousands of movies, TV shows, games and tunes to keep us entertained during our flight. Along the way we were served 2 meals. I had mystery chicken for dinner and a strange English Breakfast with Irish bacon, tasteless tater tots, and a vulcanized scrambled egg. Breakfast did come with a delicious fruit plate so all was not lost. BTW the coffee was lousy.
At Heathrow we were dumped (I mean we exited) at gate 37B with no assistance from the handicap helpers. The flight attendants took mercy on us and were able to get us the help we needed. We were frustrated the whole time we were at Heathrow. Gates were not posted until 5 minutes before boarding...not normally a big deal, but we are 4 people and 2 sets of extra wheels and it was a big deal as we could not plan. We finally left the quagmire of Heathrow and landed in Barcelona.
By the time we arrived at the cruise terminal, there were no other geezers waiting to board the ship. In fact, the check-in folks were expediting us through the hurdles. We checked in and walked about a mile (I exaggerate only a little, but it was a long way) to get to the ship. We were given the life-jacket lecture, told about muster stations and then we were free to find food. We hadn't eaten since we had English Breakfast on the plane.
We dragged our tired and hungry bodies to the dining room. The waiter seated us and gave us our napkins, and brought out fresh yummy breads and cooling sparkling water and wine...we could finally sit down and relax and enjoy a good meal in peace and quiet. We toasted each other on surviving the adventure of flying while handicapped.
We've not had time nor energy to explore our digs for the next 17 days, but we have17 days to do that. After we found our rooms and unpacked, we crashed on our soft white beds...it's time for a good night's sleep in Bark. Tomorrow we might (or might not) explore Bark before we sail away to our next port of call in Spain.
The answer is YES! Just ten minutes later, waiting for my appointment to start, I search my pocket for my car key and it's not there. It's not in my purse either! That's when I realize I did something silly--I left it in the ignition of the car and locked the door. My car is a perfectly wonderful 22 year old Jeep Liberty, named Libby. Libby is great for going around town, but she lacks a few modern conveniences and today I needed one of them. Libby uses an old-fashioned KEY to be started. She does not have a fancy fob that sits in my purse sending a signal that does everything from starting a vehicle to setting off an alarm. Libby has a key and a small fob for locking and unlocking the car and that's it. I did not have a way to get into Libby and I could not get home. What to do?
Normally, the other DrC is with me, and he has his key, but today he stayed home. How to get that key? It sounds easy...but there's a fly in the ointment. When I left he did not have his hearing aids on, so if I call him, he would not hear the phone. That's when I called one of my friends in the 'hood and asked her for help. She has a key to my house in case there are problems...and I had a problem. She lets herself in and finds the other DrC and tells him about the issue. He gives her his key and she takes it to my appointment. I use the key, get into Libby and sure enough, the key is in the ignition. How great is that!
So this will never happen again, I had a spare key made this afternoon. The new spare will open a locked door (but it will not start the car) which is just what I needed. The spare now resides in my wallet. I will have my own spare key from now on. This is good.
What is better? Having a friend in the 'hood who is willing to drop everything and help me out. That's the best. I know how lucky I am to live here. We help each other out! What a place! What a friend! Remember, we're all in this together.
No...this is not about a trip but a TRIP...there's a difference. One is a lot of fun...the other is tripping over something and falling down. I had a TRIP the other night and it was NOT any fun.
It all started with plugging in my iPad. Not a big deal. BUT, the cable somehow got caught between my foot and my sandal and that was a big deal. By the time I realized that the cable was caught I was starting to fall. The fall happened in slow motion. I was aware of everything that was going on and I was desperately trying to fall ON the bed to cushion the blow. Instead I missed the bed and fell hard on the floor.
This house has a slab foundation. The whole house has a solid surface floor covering called "Luxury Vinyl Plank." Well the LVP is not soft and the cement underneath is not soft, and I slammed onto the floor. I landed on a knee, a shoulder, an elbow before hitting the rest of my body on the floor. I turned over and started wiggling different parts of my body to see if anything was broken and yelled HELP hoping the other DrC would hear me. He heard my scream, and came to my rescue. I was pretty confident I had not broken anything as nothing was so painful I couldn't move it (unlike the time the doctor accidentally broke my ankle...I knew immediately it was broken).
Imagine a beached whale. Now imagine that whale trying to get up on 2 artificial hips without dislocating them? All the while in pain? It's not a pretty picture. Between the 2 of us, we figured out a way for me to get off the floor. It was over. The aftermath was a big bruise on my knee, an achy shoulder and a laceration on my left forearm (I must have hit something but I don't know what).
Since this was right before bedtime, it took awhile to calm down and get to sleep. The next morning I could barely move. I played wounded slug and took it easy assessing the damage and found a silver lining. I had NOT broken anything. I know I have age-related low bone density, but it must be dense enough not to break. That's good news. The bad news is I still tripped. Bottom line, don't get caught in cables and fall. Remember, we're all in this together.
On Valentine's Day I wrote about getting engaged. Seven weeks later we were married on a Saturday that was the first day of Easter Break. We thought we had a very unique wedding date, where we could have a honeymoon during Easter Break instead of later. Turns out the date was not that unique. Over the years, we've met a lot of couples who were married on the Saturday before Easter/Spring Break too. It's a good idea!
Today was not hectic at all. The hardest part was getting dressed up.The other DrC even wore a tie! We celebrated with friends at a nice restaurant in town. Next week, we will celebrate again on a cruise from Barcelona to Oslo. You know us, we gotta keep moving!
The last 54 years have gone by quickly. We wonder where the time went? We tried to fill the time well, and I think we've succeeded. To that end, we wish our married friends a happy anniversary too. Remember, we're all in this together.