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Bialy Dunajec, Poland

The last week of camp was nothing but fun and games. Weather was our biggest enemy due to the fact that several hiking trips had been planned and alternative trips had to be made up on the spot. Don't worry, the kids stayed very entertained the whole time with a trip to a water park in Slovakia on Tuesday and visits to Zakopane and museums for the rest of the week. The water park was nice at least for my aching body as I sat and boiled in the heated spring pool. Some of our nights however were a little bit more risky as the week progressed.

Monday evening the Amercian volunteers were entertained by the students performing a Polish night which included some history, dancing and roasting what else but Polish sausage over a warm campfire. Trouble insued soon after once the kids were done with their act and the Polish adults took center stage. Two highlander cooks came to our camp to cook an entire lamb over the camp fire while we were entertained by the head director of another camp right outside of Siedlce. I'm not sure if it was the head director guy or who it may have been but somebody brought along some home brew of vodka so of course everybody participated. The initial couple of shots weren't so bad considering they were believed to be only about 50% alcohol. However, after that two liter bottle of vodka was demolished the big guns came out and what I like to refer as "the bottle of death", became our next mission. Don't worry, I paced myself and didn't have hardly any. I can't say the same for some of my other group members. The highlanders who had made the stuff took swig after swig as if it were water but most of the others agreed that rubbing alcohol may have been a better alternative. Songs and laughter ensued as the Polish adults sang song after song of traditional Polish music and entertained us all. Overall the evening was a great success for all so two days later American night took over the stage.

The volunteers had decided upon three main 'events' followed by a traditional campfire snack. Several members teamed up with the kids in a bowling game while Matt (not yours truely) taught the kids some line dances that one would typically hear at nearly every American wedding. Jim, Marissa, and now yours truely, headed up Baseball in the Danuta house driveway seeing as how the soccer field was a mud whole. Its hard to explain baseball to somebody who hasn't played it before but imagine trying to do it with people who barely speak your language. They all seemed to love it though and were eager to play another game in the days to come however time ran out and that never happened. Surprisingly nobody lost any limbs or broke any bones so we put a 'gold star' on American night. Thursday and Friday were typical camp days and then soon enough everything came to an end early Saturday morning.

Long before the roosters in the neighborhood even made a noise, the kids and staff woke up early Saturday morning for breakfast and their last goodbyes. Some tears were shed but we all knew that they were tears of happiness because it was such a great experience had by all. The kids filled up the bus and drove away, some never to return to camp again while others said they couldn't wait to come next summer. I wish we had more time with them but I know that even within the short two week period that the Global Volunteers were there, a huge impact was made to improve the students language and change many peoples outlooks on life. It was such a great learning experience for myself and I will miss the kids greatly. And so I begin the last leg of my trip with  only eleven days to make it from Zakopane, Poland to Lisbon, Portugal with many wonderful stops along the way. The first city outside of Krakow will be Prague/already is!

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Calgary, Alberta, Canada

After a tiring 8 hour long flight, (thankfully not 9, due to the flying conditions) our fiddle orchestra arrived in Calgary International Airport. As someone who has never travelled outside of Europe before, it was a strange feeling for me stepping into North America, and despite the horrible tiredness I was feeling, it was still very exciting. As soon as we had passed through baggage collection, we were met by a seemingly crazy Canadian woman who pretended to brand us with a "Welcome to Canada" stamp, as she jumped around being far too smiley and energetic for the moody tourists she was inviting into her country. It was good fun though, and it was different! We were seperated into pairs, and I joined my friend Takuji before meeting the family who would be hosting us for the next 4 nights. The Newson family turned out to be very nice, relieving us of our initial worries, and all we could think as they took us to their home was how big everything was! Roads, cars, buildings... There were some amazing views of downtown Calgary from the highway, and after arriving at the house we went to find more views, capturing some great ones on camera.

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Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Arriving in Dublin after my first flight and my friend was already waiting for me :-)

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Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Sophie and Tarrence ready with their Livestrong bands - taking the bus
to Missouri Valley, Iowa, where we start our ride tommorrow.

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Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Boring uneventful drive to Des Moines. Weather looks like it will be spotty thunderstorms all week but the clouds should be nice. We are rooting for a westerly wind by the way but it looks SE now - so a little headwind.

Right down the street from our hotel - we splurged calorically with a ButterBurger - they might take 2 months off your life, but those are GOOD burgers.

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Nairobi, Kenya

Greetings from Kenya! Yes, I have arrived.
 
As some of you may know, British Airways is in the process of transferring its operations to Terminal 5 - a new, multi-million dollar complex. They were originally supposed to transfer everything in April, but there were some real snafus (for example the baggage handling system worked so well the workers couldn't keep up with the volume, and lots of people lost their bags) and they had to change the schedule for occupation of the terminal. As a result, some flights fly into and out of Terminal 5 while others fly into and out of Terminal 4, the old BA terminal. From LA to Stuttgart I went through Terminal 5. For Kenya, however, I flew out of Terminal 4. Since everything is shifting to Terminal 5, all of the outside connections (bus and rail) have already been moved. On Friday evening it had been a simple matter to walk out of Terminal 5, wait for a bus, and go to the hotel. Getting to Terminal 4 was a different matter.
 
When I asked at the hotel lobby about getting to Terminal 4, they told me to catch the "Hotel Hoppa" to Terminals 1,2,3 and then take the Heathrow Express to Terminal 4 (between the terminals it's free). The bus driver told me it was better to take a different "Hoppa" to Terminal 5 and then transfer to Terminal 4. There was a large group at the hotel, and they were all outside waiting for a bus. Luckily, it was a private coach rather than the hotel bus. They were English high schoolers and chaperones headed to do adventure travel in Asia, so they were also headed to Terminal 5. At last my bus came, and we headed to the airport with a stop at another hotel. There was another bus in front of us and a group of people having difficulty deciding what they were doing and getting their luggage on. Eventually my driver backed up and went around the Terminal 1,2,3 bus - so I was glad I hadn't taken that one. Once we got to Terminal 5, I had to catch the transfer bus to Terminal 4. The two terminals are essentially at opposite ends of the airport, so I had a wonderful tour of the perimeter.
 
Eventually we arrived at Terminal 4. I didn't have any suitcase to check (already checked through from Stuttgart the day before), and I had my boarding pass and seat assignment, so I strolled to Security. By this time I had been through several security checks and, while each airport does things a little differently, the one consistent thing had been that I needed to take out the little plastic bag with liquids (no container larger than 4 oz.) and my computer. As a result, I planned ahead and took out my computer. Then I got into the line and read the announcement: Please do not take computers out of the bags. So, I had to put mine back in. I told the guard at the end of the line that they had tricked me and how - she laughed. Getting through security went pretty quickly, and I had plenty of time before my flight left. It was so nice not to have had to cart my suitcase to the hotel with me.
 
The flight to Nairobi was wonderfully uneventful. I watched the Spiderwick Chronicle (twice) and Batman Begins on the way. At the start of the flight they announced that the crew would be distributing landing cards for Kenya, but 8 hours later they had not done so. When we began our approach to Jomo Kenyatta Airport, they announced that landing cards would be available before we got to immigration. I think the crew forgot to load them in London. Since I had gone to the consulate in LA in April and already had my visa (You can wait and apply at the immigration counter - which a lot of people were doing), going through immigration was once again easy. Then I waited for my bag. When it finally came, I headed out the door and saw my brother and nephew waiting for me.
 
On the way to the guesthouse where we would spend the night, we stopped for pizza, my first Kenyan meal on this trip.
 
The next morning we checked out of the guesthouse but didn't leave immediately. My brother had some errands to run before heading out. There was one sad piece of news. A recent graduate of the school my nephew attends had been back for graduation and alumni weekend. Then he and some friends had gone to Mombasa. While there he became ill, called his father and returned by bus. Somewhere during this time he had a stroke and was in the hospital in Nairobi. Things didn't look real promising, and his father asked my brother to buy some groceries to take to the family.
 
After all the errands were run and we had eaten lunch, we headed to my brother's place. Once we were there I got to unload the suitcase and give out presents: a headset for my brother for his iPod, a soccer jersey and the reed shaving kit (the one I found in Stuttgart) plus a bunch of candy from his best friend for my nephew, a T-shirt for my niece (she had already gotten her "big" present, a graphing calculator, when my mother arrived a month earlier - thanks to all of my students for their advice on which calculator to get; my niece said it was a life saver), an Austrian teddy bear and Parmesan Cheese (her request) for my sister-in-law, and the clothes she couldn't fit into her suitcase for my mother. I had lots of fun playing Santa Clause.
 
The first couple of days we relaxed and planned what we would do while I'm in Kenya. We have a safari planned to Amboseli National Park, but other than that the dates are all flexible. If we don't plan, though, the time will go by and we'll say, "We wanted to do this and this and this, and now we don't have time." My sister-in-law and I set up the calendar. We've planned a day trip of some sort, then a day or two at home, then a day trip followed by time at home. The day after the safari is officially "Recovery and Laundry" day.
 
On Monday we got news that the family of the young man in the hospital had decided to evacuate him to South Africa because he couldn't really get the care he needed in Nairobi. Later came the news that he passed away on the flight to South Africa. The family had to decide what to do about the body. They decided to have him buried in the US but have a memorial service here for all of the people who knew him. The service was on Friday at the school. I didn't go since I didn't know him. Instead I stayed and helped prepare food for the people who would be coming to my brother's afterward. A family that lives in the far north of Kenya was coming and needed a place to stay, so they were spending the night with us. My brother's house was certainly getting full.
 
In the meantime, before we knew about Ben's death, we had planned a trip to the Nairobi National Museum. It has been closed for several years for refurbishment and renovation. They had just re-opened it on Monday and we visited it on Thursday - so we were visiting on its fourth day after opening. The exhibits are excellent, though there is still a lot to do. Eventually there will be 13 exhibition halls, but right now only four are open. When we were there we saw several groups of schoolchildren. For a while the museum was pretty full. My major disappointment was not getting to see some paintings. The old museum's major attraction was a series of paintings by Joy Adamson ("Born Free"/Elsa the Lion). She painted portraits of people from each of the major ethnic groups in Kenya: Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba, Maasai, etc. We asked at the information desk, and they assured us the paintings would go back up. Alas! They haven't yet been re-hung. Nonetheless the visit was interesting.
 
Most of the rest of the time I have been relaxing and reading. So far I have finished three books. "Trek" is about a group of four people in 1955 who tried to drive from Kenya to England via Uganda, French Equatorial Africa and the Sahara. They only made it to the Sahara, and two of them died there after being rescued. It's a fascinating story and would make a great movie. Only one of the people had any experience at all, and he was probably the least reliable of the group. They were doing this in a Morris Traveler - a car with only 8 hp. "Camping with the Prince" is about various scientific endeavors going on in Kenya. While not as exciting as "Trek", it was still interesting and sheds light on a number of aspects of life in Africa, as well as showing how and why transferring Western technology wholesale into Africa doesn't work. "The Ghost of King Leopold" is about the Congo and shows how Leopold II's (of Belgium) desire for a private empire led to human rights abuse, enslavement of large numbers of people, murder, and a great many other heinous acts. It also tells of the people who spoke out about what was going on and what happened to many of them. Knowing the history of the continent helps to understand, once again, many of the things that are still going on. Several historical figures, including King Leopold and Henry Morton Stanley ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume") do not look very good in the book. The book also sheds light on the attitudes, ideas, prejudices, etc. of Europe in the 1800s. I will be recommending it to my colleagues in the History department at Pacifica when I get back.
 
Saturday was another excursion. This time we went to a tea farm. We arrived about 11:00 a.m., met the owners, and had an informative presentation about tea - how and where it's grown, how it's processed, etc. Then we took a walk around the place and learned about some of the local plant species in the old-growth forest that is still standing (though much reduced in size because of the tea plantations). Following our walk we were treated to a formal lunch, much as the original European immigrants must have enjoyed. Then it was finally time to head home.
 
So, my first week in Kenya is over. Next week we will be celebrating birthdays, doing some souvenir shopping, taking a family portrait (This is the first time the whole family has been together since 2006, so we want to do something to remember it), and working on some projects. I have things to prepare for school in the fall, my brother and sister-in-law also have lesson plans to get ready, and the kids have things they have to do. It looks like only Grandma will be relaxing.
 
Since my Internet connection here is sporadic, I don't know when I will be posting again. Until then, may the Lord keep you in His grace.
 
 

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Aveiro, Beiras, Portugal

Lo llaman "la Venecia de Portugal" y la verdad es que chulisima.

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Mira, Portugal

Aquí vimos como pescaban con redes que sacaban del mar con tractores. Increible!

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Boulder, Colorado, United States

After my earlier doubts, Soph and I had a rather easy 41 mile ride
Thursday. It was cooler so that helped. I also slowed our climbing
speed by about 2 mph which kept us more fresh also. Whatever - if we
can do a ride like that in 3.5 hours (including rest stops) we should
be OK here.

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Quito, Ecuador

As our travels finally draw to an end, I am attempting to complete the final part of the Little Things Series. Below are some things we have particularly noticed about Ecuador, although since we have about 2 weeks left, we are hoping to add to this list so remember check again at the end of the month.

1) Hats. You may recall in Bolivia the women wear super-small bowler hats. Well, in Ecuador the men and the women wear more of a  trilby-style hat with the added embelishment of a peacock feather. Very dashing.

2) Sports. Amongst other sports, the Ecuadorians are particularly keen on volley ball, and apparently have their very own version which includes being able to touch the ball as many times as they wish. We have even seen it being played by a very competitive group of locals in a cloud (see photo)!

3) Agriculture. Out of all the South American countries we have visited, there appears to be more agriculture in the refreshingly green Ecuador, with all the hills filled with hand-sown patchwork fields. Most families in the countryside also seem to have chickens, pigs and some livestock. The cows seem particularly nimble and we have seen evidence of them at the very top of moutains along tiny ridgeways.

4) Children Rule. In the Ecuadorian countryside, the children appear very very independent, and almost seem to run the show. For example, in shops we are often serviced by children who look no older than 14 years, children as young as 4 or 5 years can be found herding livestock, and young children are also seen hopping on and off the public buses.

5) Bus schedule, what bus schedule? There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the bus schedules in Ecuador. While in Quilotoa we asked about the bus to the next town and had 5 different responses (bearing in mind there was only meant to be a single bus going there): 12pm, 1pm, 1.30pm, 2pm, 3pm, and no bus! In fact they have an amazing bus system, with buses leaving all the time in the city. We often turn up, have our bags grabbed by staff and plonked on the already moving bus, so we have to sprint and jump on. They also accept any type of cargo, including a dog tied to the top of the bus, and a goat tied in the cargo area!

6) Happy Women. The current president in Ecuador is Rafael Correa who is proving somewhat contraversal. Amongst other things he has disbanded Congress (although he is due to re-employ new members) and is making changes to the constitution. Ms Vela, a member of the ruling party, subsequently put forward the constitutional right for women to enjoy sex. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the male members have opposed this suggesting that she is trying to enact orgasms by law. Personally, I reckon they are just intimidated!

So thats all for now folks, but keep your eyes peeled for any additions.

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Vienna, Austria

On my way to the zoo on Monday I saw an ad for free Euro2008 flags, so I made note of where the office was. I figured that I could go on Tuesday and get one, so on Tuesday I took the tram out to Simmering, then caught a bus and got off near the office where they were giving the flags out. When I got there, there was a sign that all the flags were gone. As I headed back to catch a tram into town I saw a guy getting of the bus. He asked me where the street with the office giving out flags was, so I showed him and then told him they were out. We were both disappointed.
 
Heading back to town, I got off at the Gasometer. There are actually four buildings that were used originally to store gas for the city. Recently they have been converted to apartments and a shopping and entertainment complex while retaining the original structures and facades. It was interesting to see what they had done with these otherwise now useless buildings rather than tear them down.
 
Once I was back in the city center I went to the Jagd- und Rüstkammer (hunting and armor hall - part of the Hofburg's museum complex), but it's closed on Tuesdays, so I just did some more sightseeing and then headed back to the apartment. A little bit later I went for a walk in the Augarten, a park near my apartment. There are three "claims to fame" for the Augarten: it's where the school for the Vienna Boys Choir is located, there is a porcelain factory there, and a flak tower from World War II is still standing. Then I caught a tram and wound up at the Fernwärme (distance heating) facility designed by Hundertwasser. Its architecture is almost as interesting as the Hundertwasser house and certainly doesn't look much like a heating plant.
 
The rest of the week I spent trying to get to the places that I hadn't already seen because of the Fan Zone or simply hadn't gotten to. One stop was the Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft (I love that word - it means the Danube Steamship Cruise Company - and yes, there really are three F's together in the middle) to see about a cruise between Melk and Krems, but I decided to save that for a subsequent visit. Some day I want to take a cruise and stop at some of the places with historical connections: Melk with its Baroque monastery, Dürnstein where Richard Lionheart was held captive, etc. Or I might bicycle at least part of the way.
 
Since most of what I did was simply typical tourist sightseeing I won't go into detail. However, a couple of incidents stand out. One day while on the tram, I became aware of a woman and her two daughters. The woman was doing a masterful job of teaching her girls to ignore what she told them. First they sat down together, but the younger girl wanted to sit in a single seat across the aisle and look out the window, so her mother said okay. But the little girl didn't want to sit and stood up repeatedly. The mother told her to stay seated or she would have to come and sit next to the mother. The little girl stayed seated for about 10 seconds and then was up again. There were repeated threats of various sorts, but until they got off the tram the little girl retained her seat on the other side of the aisle and never did have to do what her mother told her. I know it's tough to be consistent (I fight the same battle in the classroom), but when we let students/children ignore what we have said would have consequences, it teaches them all the wrong things. I try very hard to have few rules in my class but back them up all the time.
 
On Thursday I was planning to stay in and pack when I suddenly remembered two places I had wanted to visit and hadn't. One of them was the museum for the Deutscher Orden, or Teutonic Knights. Their museum is open only a couple of days a week for a short time each day. Fortunately I was still in the time frame for being open, so I hurried to the tram stop and went into the Innenstadt. When I arrived I asked the attendant about taking pictures. At first he said "no pictures", but then I explained that I was a teacher and wanted some things for class and would use no flash. He said to wait and tried to find the person in charge to ask him. However, that person was out, so eventually the attendant told me it was okay to take a couple of pictures - "without flash, and don't take pictures of everything." He was so nice and had tried so hard to help me that I stopped by on my way out to thank him once more. We talked for a little while. When I told him more about myself, he told me that he had an American son-in-law in Tucson. The grandchildren are bilingual, but the attendant finds their "American slang" horrible. During the conversation I asked about information on the Order. It needed to be fairly small and relatively lightweight. After the attendant showed me what they had, I decided on a magazine with feature articles about the Order. When I went to pay for the magazine the attendant said no and took the money for it out of his own wallet. It was such a nice gesture. After visiting the museum I stopped at the Stephansdom long enough to climb the south tower and get a spectacular view of greater Vienna. Then it was back to the apartment to finish packing.
 
My original plans were to stay until Saturday, but in order to get to Kenya and meet my brother, I changed the flight from London. So, bright and early Friday morning I headed to Vienna International Airport. My flight was Vienna-Stuttgart on German Wings, then Stuttgart-London Heathrow on British Airways. The connection from the city to the airport wasn't as often as I had thought, so I was running a little bit later than I wanted. Fortunately, since it was an intra-European flight the close of check-in wasn't too long before the flight and I had plenty of time. As it was, the flight was delayed about 45 minutes anyway because they had to swap planes. Since we weren't getting any information from the gate agents, we were just sitting around wondering what was going on. At least I wasn't on the bus that they had loaded just before the notice came that there was a hold. Those poor people were on the bus (the plane was at a remote boarding site) for about half an hour. Once we were finally on board the pilot explained what had happened.
 
Since I know that airlines are prone to these sorts of things, I had scheduled a three-hour layover in Stuttgart, so the delay didn't have me worried. I knew I had plenty of time for the connection. As it turned out, the delay actually did me a favor. By the time we arrived in Stuttgart and I made my way to the British Airways counter to check-in (German Wings doesn't have agreements with other airlines about baggage, so I had to collect my suitcase in Stuttgart - which also turned out to be good), I was within 24-hours of my Kenya flight's departure. That meant that BA would accept the suitcase as checked luggage all the way through. I didn't have to pick up the bag in London. Instead, I simply walked off the plan, went through immigration and customs, and headed to the bus stops outside the terminal. There I caught the "Hotel Hoppa" to the Ibis Heathrow Hotel for four Pounds Sterling. Several different routes operate, and each bus stops at only two or three hotels. On the way to the Ibis we stopped at Holiday Inn. Even though there was absolutely no one to be seen, the driver pulled in, stopped, opened the doors, waited a couple of seconds, then closed the doors and drove on. I guess he had to fulfill his contractual obligation to stop in case anyone wanted to board. The hotel gave me a room with a view of the airport, so I took a few pictures of planes landing. I had a great night's sleep, a leisurely breakfast the next morning, and an interesting ride to the terminal - but I'll tell about that next time.
 
Until then, as always möge der Herr Euch segnen.

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Boulder, Colorado, United States

We're leaving for Des Moines on Friday, getting packed and ready to go. Sophie and I have been riding this week, putting on some miles and trying out any new gear. Sophie likes her new handlebar water bottle holder, which we added so that it's easy for her to get drinks and stay hydrated.

We also got a set of headsets to talk back and forth with. As many of you know, Sophie isn't the most vocal of kids, and when she's trying to talk to me with the wind blowing and cars passing by, we spend most of our time saying "What?" and "I can't hear you!". The communicators get rid of that problem entirely, and we can actually hold a reasonable conversation now - except when we're sucking wind going up hill of course.

Hopefully this will work out. I'm a little worried as I've been more tired at the end of shortish 25-30 mile rides on the tandem than I'd expect, and this RAGBRAI is a lot more hilly than last years. Still, most of the hills seem to be in the form of rollers rather than huge long uphill stretches, so if we take our time we should manage. Part of this is me learning that a slower pace is OK, and that we will be slow going up the hills, and part of it will be Sophie getting her rhythm and increasing her fitness. Luckily she's a pretty determined kid, and coupling that with reasonably frequent stops (every 10-15 miles or so) and coupling that with being able to take 10 or 12 hours if we need to, and we should be fine. Our rolling speed in our training rides has been between 13 and 15 miles an hour which will get us across Iowa I'm sure.

I'll hopefully be posting pics and updating as we go, so keep checking back! You can also subscribe via RSS.

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Quito, Ecuador

A couple of hours outside Quito is an ecological reserve called Mindo. First we visited a butterfly farm. Needless to say it was fully of butterflies some of which were massive. There was also an odd frog or two. We then went for a walk through some cloud forest, which we accessed by way of a rickerty metal ´box´ which whizzed along a wire hundreds of metres above the forest.

Finally we finished the day with a visit to the humming bird cafe, which for me was the highlight of the day. As we sat there we saw hummingbird after hummingbird jet-dive in to use the nector feeders. They are such amazing birds, they flap their wings between 15-80 times a second and can hover, fly vertically and laterally. Their metabolism is so high, at any given time they are only hours away from starving. I know how that feels, to survive I need regular cake and chocolate input. Lol.

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Berlin, Germany

With the drenching behind us, and a decent nights sleep under our belt it was a good opportunity to rise early and take in the limited sights of Weimer. It was also a great opportunity for Grace to do some window shopping only - as none of the shops were open... yet. Weimer was a fantastic little town and we found many interesting shops and even a small market. Too soon it was time to make our way back to the hotel and head for Belin.

The drive was uneventful other then the fact that I decided I will never drive in foreign countries in the center of their cities ever again. With a large car, incompatible with their small roads, and stupid cyclists I was amazed to eventually make it to our hotel without any serious incidents.

After discovering that our rooms were tiny, we had no windows and our airconditioning didn't work it was time to pound the pavement. We traveled East on the train to one of their city centres which was the more delapedated parts of the city (being in East Berlin). This proved fruitless for shopping though did allow us to take in more of the culture of the city. We visited their main park which had several impressive statues including one of the Water God.

We finally decided that it was time to head back to our room (or lack there of). By looking at the map we decided we were close enough to walk - this proved to be the wrong decision - though we saw many more amazing things on our three hour return. One of the highlights was standing outside the Bently Motors Store infront of a Bugetti Veyron... nice.

Once back at the hotel we decided to take the walking tour of Berlin the following day.

Cheers,

Pat & Grace

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Cantanhede, Portugal

Llegamos a Cantanhede, donde estaba el hotel, entre Coimbra y Aveiro.

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Vienna, Austria

Did you ever have one of those days when the basic decisions of what to wear, where to go, etc. weren't the best but it worked out anyway? Monday was like that.
 
For the Virtual Vienna project in German 3, I needed to get pictures at the Vienna Zoo in Schönbrunn. Since most museums are closed on Monday, I figured that would be a good day to go to the "Tiergarten" (animal garden). A visit to Schönbrunn palace was also a possibility, but I decided that since they don't let you take pictures inside, a walk through the gardens and pictures from the outside would be fine. That way I could spend the day at the zoo.
 
On the weekend it had been warm and sunny, and the temperature for Monday was forecast as in the high 70's. The morning was partially cloudy, but I figured it would clear up as the day went on. So I put on a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts to go see the animals. After a ride on the U-Bahn (subway) I arrived at the stop for the Tiergarten. A short walk took me to the entrance, where I purchased a ticket and went inside. First stop was the Koala exhibit and then the Giant Panda exhibit. There is a young panda, born at the zoo, that has been getting a lot of attention, so I had to deal with a small crowd wanting to see the newcomer. When I got out of the panda house, it had turned dark and cooler. While I was looking at the giraffes it actually sprinkled a little bit.
 
The Vienna Tiergarten is set up basically in a circle with spokes radiating from a central plaza. My plan was to take each spoke and cover the whole zoo that way. However, as it began to rain in earnest - and yes, I got wet - I found myself moving into enclosed exhibit houses and dashing from one exhibit to another in a less organized manner until I discovered that I was back at the spoke where I originally entered the complex. Time to look at a map and get to the places I had missed.
 
Eventually I covered everything and avoided most of the worst of the rain. A couple of times I got pretty wet, though. The main priority was protecting my camera. Fortunately I had a water-resistant bag for it and kept it basically dry, just having to wipe off the lens a couple of times.
 
The cooler weather did bring out a few of the animals that might otherwise have been hiding in a cool spot, so I got to see the polar bears, seals, penguins and reindeer pretty well. Waiting for the male reindeer to come out, though, proved to be a matter of patience. He was under a covered area and so in the dark and came out only occasionally. Then he would look around and go back inside. Finally I got a couple of good pictures. The polar bears were much easier to get pictures of, and the two babies were very cute. There was also a baby seal, and I have some video with great sounds of the baby and another seal calling back and forth to each other.
 
One of the houses I went into was "Savannah Birds". At first it seemed there wasn't much to see, but again it was a matter of patience. When everyone else had moved on and I was alone, I simply stood quietly for a while. Gradually the birds began coming out and making noise so that the house turned into quite a busy place. Of course, that is true of a great many experiences. When we rush through we miss what is really there to enjoy.
 
During probably the hardest rain of the day I was in the Tropical Rain Forest house. Unfortunately, since it was raining there were a lot of people inside and there wasn't any place to allow sufficient quiet for the more timid animals to come out. I did see a lot though. The people were probably more interesting here. One family had a small child, and one of the sections is nearly pitch dark because it houses small bats. The poor child screamed the whole time she was in the dark, especially with small furry things flying past her. The mother tried to cram through the entrance with everyone else but got the stroller stuck and nearly allowed some of the bats to escape because she had both sets of partition open at the same time. Some large fruit bats were in the main hall, hanging from the rafters. When I was there, the water was streaming down the Plexiglas panels of the roof because of the rain.
 
Finally I was finished and decided to make a dash for the nearby souvenir shop. Because it was still raining pretty hard, there were a lot of people gathered at the door. That meant that both sets of doors were constantly open. Just as I had worked my way through the crowd and was ready to make the dash, an employee came and yelled at everyone for keeping the doors open. She asked them to either go outside or come inside. With both sets of doors open the birds could easily fly out. Most people cooperated and moved inside, outside or to the side where they wouldn't activate the doors, but a few people didn't budge, so the situation hardly improved. One couple in particular continued to let their daughter play at the outside door, so the door remained open most of the time. Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups! I also noticed on the trip how oblivious people are most of the time. Many times I saw someone trying to take a picture, but someone would walk in front of them without a clue that there was anything going on.
 
I had a late lunch at the central pavilion, then visited sections of the zoo I had missed earlier, as well as going back to a couple of places to see if some of the animals had come out because the rain had let up. The zoo also has a Tyrolean farmhouse complete with cows, sheep, etc. That was interesting. By the time I had finished and was leaving the zoo, some of the animals were starting to be up and about, so I got to see the panda walking around. The elephants were also out.
 
From the zoo I walked through Schönbrunn palace gardens to the Gloriette. This was built simply as a place for the imperial family to enjoy the gardens and a view. The view really is spectacular, looking over the palace and into the city of Vienna. Schönbrunn was the summer palace, and the Hofburg was the winter palace. Then I walked back down to the palace and took a few more pictures before taking the tram back to Praterstern and then the U-Bahn back to the apartment.
 
All in all it turned out to be a nice day in spite of the rain and being dressed wrong for it. The rest of my time in Vienna will have to wait until the next post, so until then wünsche ich Euch Gottes reichsten Segen.

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Oslo, Oslo, Norway

I got to "sleep in" until 8:00am. After getting up regularly at 7:00am or earlier it was kind of nice. I took a shower and then headed to the kitchen for breakfast. The supermarket didn't have any milk, so Trond couldn't pick any up. Trond said the airplane didn't bring it the previous day. So, we didn't have any museli. Instead I had a sandwich, crackers and jam, and bread and Nutella. Nutella is made from hazelnuts and is pretty good. After breakfast I fell asleep for an hour and half or so. I guess all the excitement on the ship has caught up with me.

The transportation to pick us up was late. So, we were waiting around outside for a while. An 1-ton van finally arrived to pick us up. All of us and all the bags (we have far too many bags) filled the van to absolute capacity. Bags were stacked in the aisles.

Check in at the Longyearbyen airport went smoothly for once. Apparently Pat had saved our boarding passes from the flight in. These had some number that jived with their system better than the "E-Tkt" number on the tickets we were issued. This made the check in process a snap. We were plenty early and so hung out in the airport for a while. There wasn't much beyond security, though there was a branch of the local supermarket that sold food and other items. I got lunch for about 80 NOK, but that was with an ice cream dessert.

The flight was about an hour and a half. I sat next to Patricia and a guy who works for the Natural History Museum in Oslo. He was a geologist and was studying the rocks around a rich find of late Jurassic fossils that were found north of Longyearbyen. The site was special because it contained many nearly complete skeletons of pleisiosaurs and other ancient marine animals. The animals were fossilized near what he called a methane seep. Apparently, bacteria feed on the methane and eventually deposite calcium carbonate, which builds into a column. The exact processes involved are unknown, but it was an interesting area of research.

Our itinerary called for us to fly to Oslo today. However, we had to de-plane in Tromso and go through customs. We got off the plane and picked up our baggage at a baggage carousel. Then we walked through customs, which if you didn't have anything to declare was only a doorway. Then we re-checked in (we only had to show our passports at the ticket counter and check our luggage) and went through security. By the time we got through security our plane was already boarding. We took the same seats and soon we were airborne. The whole process seemed kind of trivial and unnecessary. However, Svalbard, while under Norwegian jurisdiction, is bound by the Svalbard Treaty. The treaty stipulates that Norway has to administer the islands, but has to be equal about it. So, whatever rules it imposes it must impose them equally no matter the nationality.

We landed at the Oslo airport without incident. We checked into the Radisson, which is almost connected to the airport. That is really nice because that means we don't have to race to the airport tomorrow. The Radisson here is super nice. It is all styled really "Euro" and trendy. I don't want to know what we paid for this place.

We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. I had the stir-fried beef, which was 185 NOK plus a beer for 60 NOK. With tip (20 NOK) that put the meal at about 53 USD! That was a normal price for a meal and would be comparable to something that you might get at Applebees. Norway is expensive! Madison told some hilarious stories about being a cab driver in New York City. At least that was free.

After dinner, we walked back to the airport and had some gelatto (35 NOK = 7 USD). We sat down and talked a little bit out the trip, but mostly about traveling in general. Then we headed back to the hotel because we have to get up at 5:15 tomorrow for the trip back.

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York, England, United Kingdom

One week to go........................


A week today and we'll be in Madrid, it's so exciting yet scary at the same time!! Current temperatures show Madrid is in the 30's nearly 40's so we'll finally be able to see some sun. And Heather can work on going a deeper shade of white, while Jamie gets a gorgeous tan..


Next week's tasks are to get the house cleaned and the bedroom emptied so that Jo the new lodger of 17 Ruby Street can move in. Yes after nearly 8 years Heather is finally leaving Ruby Street and all her comforts although not for long and Jo is bound to keep the "party" atmosphere so many people have come to know alive :-))

 

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San Paul, Portugal

Home sweat home

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Lisbon, Estremadura, Portugal

Sleeping in the airport lounge