Chicago and Elk Grove for Theresa's 50th High School Reunion!

Elk Grove Village and Chicago, 26-29 September 2024

About a year ago I learned that we would indeed have a 50th high school reunion for my high school, Elk Grove HS. Since I missed the 40th, I definitely wanted to attend this. My best friend Kim and I made plans to arrive a day early and spend time together. One of the group of women I am friendly with, Sally Ricks, was the overall coordinator, and friends Linda Latone and Bev Jarosch were on the planning committee, so I knew it would be fun. I planned to stay with Jan Nickelson, Kim's sister-in-law, which would be nice to be in a home and not in a hotel.

• Thursday the 26th: I flew to Chicago on the 26th, and my flight was delated for some reason for 3 hours. This meant I arrived in the dark, but I found my way to the car rental and drove to Jan's house, about two blocks from where I lived in high school. It was nice to arrive at a home, and Kim and Jan had some pizza from local favorite Lou Malnotti's waiting for me.

• Friday the 27th: One of kim's dear friends form college had become a Deacon in the Catholic church after his wife passed away, so she wanted to attend the 8:00am Mass to hear his homily. We managed to make it there on time and it was a nice service. Afterwards we stopped at the Jewel, the grocery store we grew up with, to get some breakfast items. After breakfast and coffee, we headed to see Kim's cousin Nicholas, who lived on the North Side of Chicago with his wife and two children. Their house was relatively new and we had a nice tour and chat with them. Everyone was so nice, and it was fun seeing a new neighborhood where I had never been.

Then we were off to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of Kim's and my favorite places. We found a place to park in the underground lot, and entered on Michigan Avenue - it seemed mostly the same as the last time I was here 20+ years ago. We toured the Greek and Roman Galleries, saw the Stock Exchange room, and then went for lunch, which was in a lovely outdoor enclosed area. Then off to see the Impressionists! This is one of the great collections, and we enjoyed every minute, every picture both familiar and new. We spent many an hour here in high school on field trips, so it was fun to come back.

I told Kim I wanted to take photos of the places my family lived, so we were off to the Near North and Far Northwest Side.  First stop was 323 W. Menominee, where I had a tiny apartment after graduating from college once I had my first real job. Then to 2012 N. Howe where I lived before leaving for California. I could not find the building I lived in briefly on Lincoln Park West between those two places, maybe it was gone. The next stop was the place my grandparents lived in, where my father was raised, and where we visited many times as kids, Armitage and Drake, at 2025 N Drake. It was always a working class neighborhood where my grandparents had lived since the early 1920s, had declined during the white flight to the suburbs, and was pretty rough for a while, but seemed to be coming back. It was a shock to see my grandparents' six-flat with the whole rear wooden porches torn off, the roof and all the windows gone. A developer had a sign up about the new project, so I guess this was a good indication of a better future. The passing of an era... the building was probably 150 years old. Then we went to 3429 W. Shakespeare where my parents lived when they were first married and when Larry was born in 1953, nine months after they got married, only a few blocks away. Then to 4110 W. Oakdale, where I was born in 1956. This is the site where the infamous racist landlord neighbor took place... the bigoted landlord was upset that Dad had a Black guy in his law school study group in the backyard, told them to get out, and Dad told him that they would not live with a racist and they left a few days later; the Black student ended up as a federal judge.  My Mom and Dad moved quickly to a new apartment, in the 2600 block of Neva Avenue in 1957. Then in 1958 they bought their first home using the GI bill, at 5545 N. Canfield, a single-family home with a yard.  We then drove back to Elk Grove to get ready for the first big gathering.

The evening was a casual one at the Coach's Corner Sports Bar. We had the very crowded side room, and folks were either at tables or standing or walking around. Kim and I had had pizza before as we thought ordering food would be complicated, so we just walked around to connect with people. It was great fun to see folks - thanks goodness we all had nametags, as there were honestly people I would never have recognized, and some I would have for sure. It was amazing how the years melted away. I especially enjoyed re-connecting with Rich Hutchinson, a terrific oboist who is now a sociology professor with similar political views I recently connected with on facebook.  We left about 9:30pm as Kim was getting tired, though I know some folks stayed much later.

• Saturday the 28th:  This morning we drove to the St. Joseph Cemetery in Rover Grove where my grandparents are buried. I cleaned up the grave and took photos ... no one has been here for many years. Then we did a bit of a drive around Elk Grove and took photos. After Canfield in Chicago, we then moved to 641 Clearmont Drive in 1960, where I started kindergarten at Clearmont Elementary in the fall of 1961, and then went to Queen of the Rosary School for 1st-4th grade, when my whole family was asked to leave the school (we were too rambunctious). We lived briefly at the Washington Square apartments after the fire in our house in 1963. Then I went to Grove Jr. High, and we moved to 1316 Cumberland Circle East when I was a sophomore in high school. We took some photos of the high school front and back, so spread out and large compared to city schools, we had 2,400 students in our school.

A highlight of the trip was having a lunch at 52 Seasons with the women I had known since 6th grade - Bev, Jan, Kim, Linda, Bernice, Jan, and Carla. We remembered good times and talked about our current lives. I feel so fortunate to have known these accomplished and wonderful women for almost 60 years!

After lunch, we went back to Jan's and chatted for a while, and got ready for the big reunion event at Real Time Sports Bar & Grill, also in Elk Grove close to where Jan lived. This was a cash bar and buffet diner. It was great to see some folks who had not attended the night before, and they had a slide show of photos folks had sent which was fun. It was so nice to re-connect with even more classmates. Bev Jarosch had her family bakery do an incredible cake which was both delicious and beautiful in green and gold, the school colors. As I helped to pass out slices of cake, so many people were thrilled to have a Jarosch cake again! We left about 10:00pm, though I learned the next morning that some folks closed it down at 1:03am!

• Sunday the 29th: Another early morning for 8:30am Mass with Kim, and I learned that indeed I cannot quite kneel on my artificial knee. I did sneak in a piece of Jarosch cake I brought back for breakfast. Then we went to Elly's, a local breakfast place, where we met with some of the same women and Sally, the reunion coordinator, and two guys who were on the committee. We had a lovely lunch and caught up, easier to do in a small group than with 100 people at a larger event. Then I headed off to O'Hare, returned the car, and caught my flight (on time!) to SFO. Barney was waiting for me and we had a slow drive home. It was good to get back, and I was filled with wonderful memories of the trip.

Lovely London, 24 June 2024

 Lovely London, 24 June 2024

Unfortunately, I became ill overnight, with what turned out to be Covid, thought at the timeI thought it was just a cold. So, Barney headed off for the excursion to Southwark and the Mayflower tavern. Meanwhile, I relaxed in the room, read a lot, sniffled and coughed along so I would not spread it around. At one point I went up to the top level lounge as everyone was gone into London, and just enjoyed looking out at the city. It was 84º which is really quite warm for London, so even from a distance I could see that folks were hot and tired. 

Barney returned and gave me an update on the excursion which was nice. He saw the replica of the Mayflower and went to the tavern for lunch, which was old and felt very authentic. They  visited the site of the original Globe theater and the site of the new Globe theater as well.

We had dinner in the room and packed for our very early - 6:00am! departure. Although our flight was later in the morning, they take people in groups and we were with an earlier group, though some folks had to depart at 4:00am!  The bus ride to the airport took aout an hour and we drove through some interesting neighborhoods, and past Buckingham Palace where tourists were already lining up. Everything went smoothly at Heathrow, and we had a ncie flight back. It felt good to get home on BART, though I must admit I missed the limited decision-making required on this trip and how much was done for us (cooking, cleaning, navigating, getting into places) , so different than most of our very independent travel. And Norway was stunning ... we'll be back.

Exciting Edinburgh, 23 June 2024

 Up bright and early for a full day in Edinburgh … I kept wanting to pronounce it “Edin-burg” not “Edin-burough”. We were anchored out in the Newtown area, so will take the tender into shore. Our guide on the bus was really interesting, and started by mentioning that that Newtown isn’t all that new, it started in 1767, but when your history goes back thousands of years, 200 years is new. About 25% of the students in Edinburgh go to private schools, many founded in the 18th century, including one called Fettes College (actually for 8-18-year-olds). The actor Sean Connery had an early job delivering milk to the prestigious College, so upon learning this, author Ian Fleming managed to work attending Fettes College into James Bond’s fictional background. The second half of the 18th century saw a huge upswing in Scottish creativity, inventors, scientists, writers, and engineers flourished, and we went by sone of the homes (such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s). The lovely 4-story buildings around the place where the shuttle bus would pick us up were built by an architect named Morry, came from a family of lighthouse builders which built about 200 of them throughout Scotland. The guide also pointed out a status of James Clerk Maxwell, whose four equations describe the relationship of optics, electricity and magnetism which led to discoveries such as the phone and mobile communications and GPS; he first asked who had heard of Maxwell, and only Barney replied. As we drove past a huge public park near the Scottish Parliament, we went through the neighborhood of Greyfriars, where is located the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book, and took some of the name of characters (like Tom Riddle) from the gravestones in the nearby Greyfriars graveyard. On Candlemakers Row nearby, there was also a statue of Bobby the Skye Terrier, so distraught at the death of his master that he spent the next 14 years of his life guarding the grave, taken are of by locals who admired his dedication, and he became known as Greyfriars Bobby. Our bus soon dropped us by the Edinburgh Castle which sat high atop a volcanic mount dominating the city. Tickets for the day were sold out, but that was OK as we had planned to go to the National Museum of Scotland.

We walked down the Royal Mile, filled with shops selling Scottish wool sweaters, kilts, and anything plaid. I resisted the temptation to buy yet another sweater, so we enjoyed the walk on a lovely warm day (about 70 degrees) to the Museum. The Museum was quite large, with a five-story addition to the Victorian central Grand Gallery devoted to thousands of years of Scottish history. There were also galleries devoted to science and technology (the first rotational steam engine, Dolly the Sheep and more), artifacts from all over the world including Egypt, design and fashion, and the natural sciences (dinosaurs of course). We decided to focus on Scottish history, as this is something unique to this area that we’d not seen before. We began with the  earliest people, dating from 8,000BCE with remains from burials, sacrifices, and worship. Four really interesting galleries showed how people lived, ate, drank, made what they needed from stone, leather, and wood, interacted with other peoples, and more. The famous Lewis Chess set was there, along with the Hilton of Cadboll Stone with its fanciful Pictish creatures, hunting scenes, and early Christian iconography. There were many tall stones filled with Pictish animal carvings and interwoven plants and animals similar to Celtic artworks, many of which were incredibly geometric, and these spanned the pre-Christian and early Christian eras, and also reflected many Viking influences. The Roman occupation of Scotland was also presented, showing their weapons, the silver they used to bribe local chieftains, and information about the wall Hadrian built to keep out the barbarians. After a quick lunch, we continued upstairs to the gallery, describing the kingdom of the Scots from 1099-late 1600s, with all its battles, political and religious intrigues, advances in technology and art, weapons, stunning jewelry, a beautifully carved harp, and of course William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, and more. On the way out we stopped by the animatronic Millennium Clock, which had been commissioned from a group of artists for January 2000, which described some of the horrors of war and distant of the 20th century in hope that the 21st century would be better.

We then had a long, 45- minute walk to the shuttle bus pickup, which took us down Prince Street, which unlike the Royal Mile that was filled with tourist items, had more of the everyday clothing, electronics, groceries, pharmacy items. It was more of a place where locals shop, rather like the rue d’Alesia in the 14th in Paris where we went shopping with Catherine and Anne. Back to the port and then the tender back to the ship. We read for a while and I updated the blog, and we had dinner at the Italian restaurant, and my seafood risotto was excellent.

Organized Orkney Islands, 22 June 2024

We arrived n Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Islands, about 7:00am, and this is the first place where we will have to take a tender to the shore. There is only one excursion offered here this trip, to see the stones of the Ring of Brodgar (about 2,500 years old) and the village of Stromness, with plenty of time in the town of Kirkwall.

Our guide for the tour was a very informative older woman … all our guides on Shetland and now here are older, well past retirement age, and one mentioned that he loved doing this as a second career after he retired. All were natives and certainly loved their native islands. The population of the Orkney Islands is about 22,000, with 70,000 cattle and 100,000 sheep. More than 200 cruise ships call here annually, most during the summer months as we have. Our guide described the local distilleries, the ice cream shops which use the cream from the many dairy cows. Salmon farming is big here, as is open water fishing, and of course sheep and cattle, interestingly no one mentions goats. The island has benefitted from the North Sea oil to fund road and infrastructure improvements, and everyone now uses heat pumps for heating, and there are large wind turbines everywhere.

During WWII, this was a major center for the British military, with more than 60,000 military passes issued during the war, apparently all of the airplane hangars and housing they built during the war are long gone. The British Home Fleet was headquarters here at Scapa Flow (which from the Old Norse Skalpafloi, which means bay of the long isthmus)  in WWI and WWII. There is a memorial to the HMS Royal Oak, which was sunk by a U Boat and more than 800 died. The Scapa Flow was also the site of the first time a plane landed on a moving ship, in 1917, a precursor to the kind of warfare seen in WWII. At the end of WWI in late 2018, the German fleet was interned in Scapa Flow to await the Armistice in June 1919, guarded by the British Navy. Because they thought the British would seize the ships, or that if the Treaty of Versailles was not signed the war would resume, the Germans armies decided to scuttle the fleet. There were 74 ships in the harbor, 52 ships were sunk in 5 hours, and 22 were grounded or beached. The sunken ships are now a popular spot for divers. 

We continued on to the Ring of Brodgar, an UNESCO site with one of the best-preserved circular stone ring from the early Bronze Age. It was a beautiful site, with the 36 relatively thin stones in a huge circle, often with angled tops that were deliberately cut off for some reason. How they did this is a bit of a mystery, and there is no clear archaeological evidence of whether this was used for elisions or political reasons or something else. It was about the same size as Stonehenge, 100 meters (300 feet) across, though the stones are thinner and smaller. Surrounded by a ditch of about 10 feet in diameter, it involved about 4,700 cubed metric tons of rock having been moved. The site was fairly quiet, the first place we heard lots of birds singing, and it was bursting with spring wildflowers. The site was surrounded by several mounds, which apparently do not house burials according to preliminary exploration, which is unusual. We were able to walk around the entire outside of the ring, and the photos as it was silhouetted against a varied clouds were beautiful. The nearby Ness of Brodgar, an inhabited area in the Neolithic age, has been under excavation for the past 20 years, with thousands of artifacts recovered. We also went to the nearby Stone sof Stevens, fewer in number but equally mysterious. Nearby two sheep were in the area inside the fence, and one kneeled on her front legs to better get to the grass, something I had never seen (though my experience watching sheep eat is indeed very limited).

We drove back to the town, picked up a map, and went off to explore. We found a store which was a bit like the Rockridge Market Hall under one roof, and bought some whiskey samplers and oatcakes which I like - they cost about 1/4 what they do in the states. We asked the young woman who checked us out for recommendations for lunch, she she noted a place called the Archive, in the old library, a few blocks away. We went there and had a nice lunch of cauliflower soup and 1/2 sandwich, it seemed like the hipster place in town from the other folks who were there. Fortified, we walked around the town and the many shops  (oh the sweaters!) and went to the the famous St. Magnus Cathedral. I have been wanting to sing there ever since we decided to take this trip, so I was prepared with lyrics and sheet music for the Hymn to St Magnus. We explored the church which dates from 1137 in Romanesque style, with tombs of noted people dating back 600 years. There were folks setting up for a big concert that night as part of the St. Magnus International Festival, and all of the performances were happening after we left the island, but it meant that there was a good bit of noise going on so I figured I could sing without disturbing anyone. I went to the northeast corner by the altar, waited until most of the people had left the area, and started to sing, which Barney recorded. I could see folks listening, so I stopped after one verse. Barney indicated I should go on, so I waited again for folks to clear and sang verses 2 and 3, using a fairly quiet voice, but I could tell that people stopped talking. I was so glad to have the chance to do this, and several people told me how beautiful it was and asked what the music was. Really a dream fulfilled for me!

As we left the Cathedral, we saw a group of young mean tying another man to a stone monument out front with plastic wrap, and they were all coated with oil or something similar …it seemed like a bachelor party activity. After fully wrapping him and dumping more beer and whisky on his head, they left, yelling and beating their truck with a stick. An interesting ritual indeed. Back to the ship on the tender, and some time to catch up on my blog and do some work emails. Tonight we have dinner in the Chef’s Table whihc appears to be a pan-Asian menu.

Stormy Shetland Islands, 21 June 2024

The seas calmed more overnight so we could actually sleep without being jolted awake every few minutes. It felt good to wake up and not be exhausted. I realize that yesterday had me more than a bit unsettled, as I had never been through a storm on the open seas. Everyone was staggering around as if they were drunk, holding on to handrails or chair backs or each other. Now things are settled as we head into Lerwick (which means muddy bay in Old Norse) Shetland Islands in Scotland, pulling into the dock about 7am. We have a quick breakfast in the room and head down for the UK Immigration check of passports, which went very quickly, and then back up to ready for our 8:30 departure.

This morning we went south on this, the main island, to visit an ancient archaeological site called Jarlshof (a modern name). En route, we learned about the Shetland Islands, 16 inhabited islands out of 200, with a total population of 23,000. There are virtually no trees here, all of them having been harvested millennia ago, and for some reason never reforested. Barney immediately wondered why Alaska does not export across the northern passage to here, though it seems that importing from Norway would be easier. Most houses of the pre-modern era are of unmortared stone, including prehistoric sites, and of course fences everywhere. Along the way we saw remains of some broths, the stone towers which may have housed chieftains and also served as fortresses, there are 120 of these in the Shetlands. Later we barely made out through heavy mist the Mousa Broch, on an island in the distance, it is 90 feet tall.  Our guide told us that their native language here is a mix of Old Norse, Scots, Dutch, and German, and for many years it was suppressed, but there is now an effort to teach it and have children learn to read and speak it. En route to the Jarlshof site, we literally crossed the runway of the airport here (there is a crossing gate to stop traffic as needed). There is another small airstrip on the island of Foula, where only 28 people live, they take care of the grassy airstrip themselves. 

Jarlshof was an impressive site, with the remains of a 15th century Laird’s house surrounded by prehistoric, Iron Age, and Bronze Age stone buildings, from wheelhouses built like the spokes of a wheel to Norse longhouses of stone. we were able to walk through the various remains, with their tiny open windows and small doors. It was very windy, though our guide said it was not too “fresh” today, she said that the islands are quit windy with a top recorded wind speed of 197 mph! This is way above the top hurricane level, so it must have really been rough. To and from Jarlshof we saw lots of sheep with lambs, some cows and quite a few Shetland ponies … we will see more this afternoon.

A quick lunch (we tried the Pool Grill and Barney really liked the burger, I had Salad Niçoise), and we were off for more sights up north on the main island. The afternoon involved more of a drive, with travel through the scenic Tingwall Valley (lots of peat areas) and past some of the lochs, with a stop at an overlook to see Scalloway Castle in the distance, the former capital of the Shetland Islands. The biggest moment was of course the visit to the Shetland ponies. A woman who is a breeder and enthusiastic had a paddock of ponies who we could admire and even pet.She noted that they are very long-lived, they frequently live to more than 35 years, and she had one that lived to be 45, which is incredibly old for a horse. There was a fairly young foal of a few months, a beautiful dark grey (with almost a touch of blue), who let me pet his nose. Most of the ponies were grazing, really ripping at the already-short grass with their teeth, so I picked some grass from outside the paddock and offered it to the foal and he took it from me … quite exciting. The ponies are certainly cuteness embodied. Most of the women were extremely engaged, oohing and aching, while most of the men looked on from the side. The Shetland Islands are certainly beautiful, with rolling green hills, small villages, and the sea everywhere. After returning to the ship, we watched the departure which involved a tight turn, then to dinner (I had a delicious lamb shank, Barney had a very nice steak). We took a nice brisk walk after dinner, it was a bit windy but still nice, and read before retiring.

On the Norwegian Sea, Day 2, 20 June 2024

 We woke up early, intending to work out again, but the fitness center was closed. The weather had worsened again during the night, with winds alone up to 40mph, and they understandably did not want people unstable on treadmills or holding free weights as things became more rocky. We had to hold on to chairs and other furniture to move around the room. There were now more tasteful Scandinavian leather pouches holding seasickness bags on the stairway and in the elevators as well. As we went down to breakfast I had to use my cane for the first time since the flight from home, as the danger of falling was quite real. The servers were being very careful, only filling water glasses and coffee cups half-full. After breakfast we got some nice video of the waves breaking over the ship, and the captain came on the audio, announcing that all outdoor deck areas were closed until the storm passed. We caught up on a few more video lectures, and noticed that the sliding glass door to the veranda was also locked, perhaps something they could do automatically, ship-wide.  

We then went back to the 7th floor bow Explorers Lounge and got some even more dramatic video with spray shooting over the deck and onto the windows. Just after I wrote that, a huge wave came up and there was a concussion sound, and one of the glass panels along the stairway to the upper lounge shattered, a few glass shards hit the floor nearby, and part of the handrail fell as well. A crew quickly showed up to assess the damage, close off the area, and they started to wrap the shattered glass panel in some sort of plastic to secure it. The intensity of the storm continued for another 4 hours, as we had open-faced sandwiches and read for a while in two very comfortable chairs. Every so often the thump and shudder of a trough could be felt followed by the impact of the next wave and enormous amounts of spray that went all the way down the side of the ship for about 100 feet.

We enjoyed another wonderful art and archaeology lecture on Scotland, and I need to look at which museum to go to in Edinburgh. In the evening there was a Viking BBQ, which unfortunately did not mean barbecued reindeer or moose but American-style grilled meats and corn n the cob. We encountered some of the folks we’ve met on the trip, which was nice. Afterwards we dove back into our books, and the seas calmed a tiny bit. By the time we went to bed early, it was about 50% better than at midday, just as the captain had predicted.

On the Norwegian Sea, 19 June 2024

 We arose early and did a workout in the fitness center, feeling very virtuous afterwards. Though we missed her live lecture on art and archaeology of the Shetlands and Orkneys, we saw Dr. Celia Berghoffer afterwards and had a nice chat about various museums we had seen on this trip. We went to the Blue Nose Society event, where quite a few brave folks went into an ice-filled hot tub next to the pool, some even going all the way under ice, and after making it out, received a blue nose of frosting, an Arctic Circle ritual. Then back to our room to read for a bit, as the weather became a bit rougher, and a light lunch. We put on our down jackets (which we had never worn in Norway), gloves, and hats, and went up to the 9th and 8th decks for a very brisk and windy walk. We continued down to the 7th deck and circled outside three times, and found that folks inside still eating lunch waved to us, as were being nearly blown over. There was of course much more wind at the bow than the stern, and between the forward speed of 15 knots and the wind speed of 20 knots, the total was about 35 knots or 40mph. After the walk, we watched the art and archaeology talk and did more reading. The weather continued to worsen and furniture in the outdoor areas was packed up and the areas were closed … they certainly did not want anyone going overboard in this weather! 

We had an early reservation at Manfredi’s, one of the fancier restaurants. My seared sea bass was delicious  though Barney’ pork piccata was only OK … overall not as good as the Restaurant for the other dinners we’d had there. Back to the room for a few more video lectures, on the history of Scandinavia and it’s kingdoms and the history of the Shetlands and Orkneys. The weather continued to worse and the captain again reminded folks to use the handrails. A bit more reading and early to bed so we can get up early and work out again.

Hardy Honningsvår, 18 June 2024

 As we stayed up late reading, we woke up late and were already in port in the small (2,500 people) town of Honnigsvår. Our only excursion for the day was the drive to Nordkapp, the northernmost point in Norway where the Barents and Norwegian Seas meet, so we decided to spen the day in the town. It was a sweet place, very walkable along the Storgata Main Street, almost always in view of the waterfront. A major fishing town, it built its reputation on easy access to the Arctic cod fields which were some of the most productive anywhere, as well as other fish in abundance.

Our first stop was the Nordkapp Museet, which was a really well-done place with signage in Norwegian and English, and well-presented exhibits. In addition to the prehistoric migration to this area and very early remains of houses, we learned about the impact of WWII in this area, which was devastating. Because the Germans were using a “scorched earth” approach as they retreated in 1945, the entire town was burned down except for the Lutheran Church, I guess even the Nazis were afraid to burn a church. They had given people 48 hours to evacuate by boat with what they could carry. As soon as the war was over, they came back, and photos from 1947 show a town rebuilt with temporary barracks to house the residents and the rebuilt fish factory … they were incredibly dedicated and industrious. The musuem also described the fishing life of the area, as it was really the only industry here, and some history of the Sami people in this area and their reindeer herds, and there was an incredible photo of the reindeer swimming across a small fjord. We then walked up to the tiny Lutheran church, the one spared by the Nazis, and two teenage girls were having a piano lesson, one playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star over and over. We saw a red telephone booth which now also serves as a little free library with multiple bookshelves inside. Getting a bit hungry, we went to a tiny cafe called Arctic Sans and split a club sandwich on white bread, simple but enough. On our way back to the ship we also stopped at a Christmas store, filled with holiday ornaments and more. 

We then went to join our group for the drive to Nordkapp. The 45-minute drive took us through the tundra - the whole area is above tree line - and we saw many reindeer, most with their white winter coats still hanging to brown. The guide told us that there were more reindeer in Magerøya, the island we were on, than there were people. We arrived at Nordkapp, with its dramatic 1,000 foot drop to the sea and metal globe sculpture. A good bit colder than where we had been, we nevertheless pulled on our ski jackets and enjoyed the incredible view. At one point we saw a lot of white spots on the calm sans, which seems odd as there were not whitecaps. It turned out that they were whales feeding on some smaller fish, surfacing and then going down into the water again, at least 20 of them. What a sight! Truly a special experience. We walked through the gift shop at the end (of course) and I finally found a lovely green blanket of the type I had been looking for, green not being a common color in Norwegian design. On our ride back to the ship we saw even more reindeer including the young ones, all just wandering and eating - the speed limit is low as there are no fences and drivers must watch for the reindeer. Back to the ship, a turn in the thermal suite (I spent 5 minutes in the snow grotto), and then to dinner and time to catch up on the blog and email. Now at 10:00pm, it is as bright out as midday, and we are sailing on the open ocean, with a bit of rocking and rolling already, headed for the Shetland Islands. We say farewell to Norway, and I hope we will be back.

Totally Tromsø, 17 June 2024

We watched the arrival in Tromsø from the veranda, it is quite a large place, population 79,000 and it has a university and lots of cultural activities. After a quick light breakfast, we got ready for a busy day ahead. The weather was somewhat warm, and while rain was predicted between 12:00-3:00 we were prepared.

Our morning was a cultural and culinary tour of the center of Tromsø. We walked along the waterfront until we reached the Polar Museum, housed in an older restored building. Our guide told us that the newish apartment blocks we could see were all new since two years ago, when the shipbuilding area closed after the airport opened. The musuem had an amazing array of artifacts for the 19th and 20th century of polar exploration which often began from this city, including two huge galleries devoted to Royal Amundsen. Most of the signage was not in English but the artifacts were often self-explanatory. A replica of a trapper’s cabin gave a sense of how challenging winter life was in this area. The dioramas of many stuffed creatures were interesting, and she told us that the seal hunting one had toned down the blood and brutality. There were animal skins aplenty, with the polar bear skins being quite enormous.

We heade off to Dragøy, a famous seafood shop, for a tasting, and what a spread they laid out! There were about 15 types of seafood to taste, Norwegian shrimp, gravlax, smoked salmon, dried cod, smoked redfish, and much more. All were delicious with a non-alcoholic beer and crackers. Next we walked along the Storgata or main shopping street, whihc gave me a chance to scope out the many sweater shops. We then stopped at Helmersen, a lively delicatessen, for a cheese and wine tasting. The three cheeses we tasted were all Norwegian and gold medal winners at various cheese competitions … the blue was particularly good, and all were served with a light Moscato. They had a whole wall of wines and another whole wall of import and Italian specialities, pasta, sauces, and more. We bought some Norwegian-roasted espresso beans which we will enjoy at home. At the end, they brought s each a huge Kardemummboler of cardamom pasty with vanilla pastry créme in the center. It was delicious, but we were already white full from the seafood and the cheese, so Barney and I split one (with coffee) and brought the other back for a snack later on. Before we parted, I asked out guide about good places to find Sami items especially jewelry, and she gave us three suggestions.

Then the shopping began! I had identified four sweater shops, and Barney, being the great guy that he is, accompanied me to all four and then a fifth we saw while walking the Storgata, until we went back to one of the earlier ones to buy a camel and white sweater with a full zip, exactly what I had been looking for. Since most sweaters here were a combination of black, white, grey, blue, and red, this was not an easy task. I did also buy a green and gold winter hat which I will enjoy wearing for skiing next winter. Interspersed with the sweater places we checked out the Sami goods places, saw reindeer hide small purses and backpacks (super expensive), lots of antler candleholders (we got one for Madeleine), and some lovely jewelry - we found a nice set of silver earrings for Madeleine. Barney got a little gnome (of course!) and we found a few nice Christmas ornaments. 

Back to the ship to drop off our shopping, we joined the Tromsø on Foot excursion, which we thought might retreat a lot of what we saw in the morning. In fact, the guide gave us a lot of interesting history of the people and the buildings. We saw the oldest house in the city, and its smallest bar (really a tiny gazebo), and visited Tromsø Cathedral, a large wooden Lutheran church in the very center of town. We walked through the Library in a modern 70s-era building, and had an outdoor equipment lending library, so people could borrow skis or snowshoes etc. for folks to try out a sport - really a cool idea. There was also nearby a teen center which had similarly all kinds of DJ and recording equipment that young people could try out and even take home with library cards. We did see the famous Arctic Cathedral across the water on the other side of the city, its white triangular vertical pointing up to the sky. Finally back to the ship, and we watched as the captain steered out of the narrow fjord and under a bridge where the horn was blasted four times. Off to a light dinner, and then reading in the Explorer’s Lounge looking out at the sea, which was lovely.

Lovely Lofoten, 16 June 2024

After another night of no darkness, now that we are north of the Arctic Circle, we arrive in Leknes in the Lofoten Islands. Today is Father’s Day, so I wish Barney a happy day and send messages to my brother Dan and brother-in-law JJ. Barney also sent a greeting to our almost-adopted daughter Hanna.

We are up and out early, for our morning excursion to the Viking Museum. We drive through the small town on Leknes, and the farms which come quickly as we go to Borg. Our guide, Craig, is a very tall Englishman (whose voice reminds me of an English actor whose name I cannot yet recall) with a wonderful dry sense of humor, and is a great storyteller. The Viking Museum is based around the largest longhouse discovered ever in Europe, which dates from about 500AD/CE, and was used until about 900AD/CE by a chieftain. It is an amazing 272 feet long, 31 feet wide, and 30 feet high, divided into various rooms: a great hall, Irving quarters, a storage area, and a byre or stable for animals. The actual excavation of the longhouse is about 30 meters away and is protected. The building is entirely a reconstruction, and fully outfitted with mid0floor fireplaces for cooking, the great seat for the chieftain and the lady of the house, tables for feasting, benches where people did spinning, made tools and leather and fur goods, made and stored weapons, and areas where people slept. We sit on the benches and tables on the long side of the great hall, with glasses of mead for each, in the cone-shaped glass without a base held in a twisted cast iron holder. We also try the famous stock fish, the dried cod that was the main export for this area; once moistened a bit it is no bad, and normally it would have been stacked in water to reconstitute it. Folks dressed in period costume do various demonstrations and provide history, an we watch once woman tending two huge iron pots of diced carrots and potatoes and cabbage, cooking over the giant fire in the middle of the floor, a smoky smell all around us. We explore the other areas of the building where crafts are being demonstrated by folks in period costumes. We then go into the Viking Museum, which showcases many of the objects found in the excavation, including exquisite, tiny gold plaques about 1/2” square showing male and female figures embracing. These were found by the large post which indicated the position of the chieftain’s seat, and were buried at the bottom of the post during construction. Other beads, jewelry, glass pieces and potsherds were displayed along with weapons, needs, wearing items, and more. we learned that women in this area were more or less equal to men; Viking women could own land, inherit equally to a man, be responsible for her actions, and had property right sin her dowry and bride-price, and could divorce. While her husband was away at war, fishing or hunting, she was in charge of the whole estate. Outside the small museum were remains of medieval dwellings nearby, near an enclosure with a wild board sow and her piglets, which were a good size, as well as horses and cows. e walked up past the other building stone remains to the top of the hill to look out to the amazing view. Back to the bus, we drove up a bit higher, to the site of a church built in the 1960s (some prior churches were flattened in storms), which another beautiful view, and an interesting graveyard with gravestones of swooping curves instead of the traditional rounded or square shapes. It was a really illuminating excursion.

Back to the ship, we grabbed two open-face sandwiches for a quick lunch, and readied for a boat and bus tri in the afternoon. On the boat, we sailed along the shoreline and heard an in-depth briefing on the local fishing industries, which at one time allowed fishermen to make $12,000 in a day, with controlled prices and huge harvests. Here is where much of the cod traded in Bergen for more than a thousand years came from, and the drying racks where the cod air-dried for about 4 months were everywhere to be seen. The bounty of the sea created an immense industry, and at one time there were more than 5,000 active fishermen in this area. We landed in a fishing village whihc is now a vacation spot, that once was only 200 people, when it had more than 2,000 during the heyday of cod fishing. After a short walk in town, where most of the houses were on stilts, some partially over the water, we went back to the shore parking area for a bus ride back to the ship. 

Since it was Father’s Day, we had dinner in the Restaurant, where Barney had seared duck breast and I had bacon-wrapped monkfish, both of which were delicious. We spent some time in the Explorer’s Lounge reading our books with quiet music in the background, then of to bed for another early morning the next day.

On the Norwegian Sea, 15 June 2024

 As we stayed up late last evening, we slept in today, until 8:00am, since we are at sea and there are no excursions. After a nice leisurely breakfast, I caught up on my blog while Barney read for a bit. Then we saw an interesting film about maritime archaeology in Norway and the discovery of several shipwrecks, and attended a lecture on the geopolitical significance of the article areas, which was fascinating. Lunch was on the Aquavit Terrace, and we met a really nice guy, Tom Robert, originally from California, now in Oregon, with whom Barney made a few remarks that led us to understand he was of the liberal persuasion. We have a wonderful conversation about travel and books, and then took a walk... it was quite warm, in the mid 60s, and some people were actually sunning on the deck. We decided to try out the fitness center and did a bit of a workout, and I tried the elliptical machine and other machines while Barney did free weights. After a quick change, we went to the Wintergarden for a high tea, and found a cozy spot to read our books. hen off to the art lecture, focused on historic and contemporary art of the indigenous people of the Arctic, which was really interesting. The brother of the woman who gave the lecture started a conversation with Barney about his “Gnome Financial Group” t-shirt, which quite a few people have noticed today. I also received several compliments on my long green and gold kirta, and sent a note to Andrea Serrahn to let her know. Back to the room and more reading, and then dinner back at the World Cafe, and went to the Aquavit terrace with our dessert, watching the often very close shorelines of the area go by - because we are going inland between islands. As we watched the beautiful coastline go by an the tiny towns near the water, we wondered how they survive, as they are probably not all dedicated to fishing nowadays.

Around 10:20pm, we were (approximately) crossing the Arctic Circle, so we had a little toast on the veranda to our first ever crossing. A bit more time to read, and then to bed, as we have two exciting outings tomorrow. As it write this, it is 10:40pm and still bright and sunny outside, truly we are in the land of the Midnight Sun!

Gorgeous Geiranger, 14 June 2024

 Still not quite over jet lag, I wake up at 4:00am. The sun is just coming up (we are one week from 24-hour sunlight) and there is a gorgeous view of the mountains at the entry to the Geiranger fjord, truly stunning. While I couldn’t really sleep more, I rested and got up every so often to look out at the incredible views. About 6:00 I woke Barney so he could see our entry into the fjord, and by this time it was bright and sunny, with the waterfalls gushing. We decided to have breakfast in the room and got to watch the sail into Geiranger from the veranda, which was truly special. We watched them extend the 3-part walkway from the dock which allows direct access to the ship, which save the time of having to take a tender to shore. Then up and ready for our first outing of the day.

The drive to the Mountain Lake and Eagle’s Pass were quite beautiful, and a little edgy as we were going up switchbacks on mountain roads that seemed barely two lanes wide. In fact, we saw the original road which was only about one lane wide, built in the 1880’s, and learned that it was such a feat of engineering that it won a gold medal at the 1890 Paris international exhibition. Our bus driver was local so he clearly knew exactly how to do this, including passing other buses and backing up a few times to allow another bus to pass. We stopped first at an overlook which gave a wonderful view of Geiranger, which climbs the mountain, and the town has only 250 year-round residents, but welcomes 300 cruise ships a year and a hundred thousand or more who come with campers and RVs. We then ascend to the Mountain Lake, which has a small cafe and shop, and looks over the mostly still-frozen lake. Barney ventures out onto the snowy ice for a photo, and we learn that people do back-country cross-country skiing here, using the fur-bottomed skis to climb and then ski down. Even the ski down seems beyond my skills.  Here above tree line is a very different, more barren landscape than below at sea level. On the drive down, we learn that the walls of the fjord are at about 6,000-6,500 feet, like Crane Flat in Yosemite. Out final stop is Eagle’s Pass, a spectacular lookout which has a glassed cover where a waterfall comes out underneath the viewing area. Up and down is a really winding road, with 11 hairpin turns, and again our river was excellent. Then back to the ship, and got some quick open-faced (Smørebrød) sandwiches and changed into our foul weather gear.

Our next adventure was kayaking. We got conflicting advice about what to wear, so we had opted for long underwear (though it was upper 50s) and waterproof pants and jackets. We started to the other side of Geiranger, but we were stopped for about 30 minutes as a rescue helicopter blocked the narrow road. We finally got to the kayaking place, and got into our life vests and kayak skirts. I had not thought to check the setting of the toe blocks, so it turned out that I could not reach it, which made paddling a bit harder. It was beautiful being on the water, and we kayaked by small cottages and waterfalls, crossing the fjord twice, and hardly getting wet at all. Then back again to the ship by bus - our bus driver lives in Geiranger year-round, and even showed us his house on the hill.

We decided to try the thermal suite in the spa, part of which was gender-specific. First there was a sauna, then a tepid pool which were nice (Barney skipped the sauna and pool on the men’s side). We met then at the warm pool which had quite a jacuzzi force, and this felt good after kayaking. Two interesting features of this area were the cold bucket of water poured over your head and the accompanying incredible warm shower, and the best part, the snow grotto. The snow grotto was a small room filled with snow and a couple rock seating areas. It was quite cold and Barney did not stay long, but I rather liked it. Then back to the room to clean up and shower off the salt water from kayaking.

In the evening, before dinner, we went to the bow of the ship to watch the departure from Geiranger. It was truly spectacular, and we were able to see both sides of the fjord. It was windy but not that cold, so we stayed out quite a long time. Later we went to dinner in the World Cafe which had a bit of a seafood festival on - I tried King Crab legs, Norwegian prawns, tiger prawns, green lip mussels, aquavit-marinated scallops, and of course sushi. I tried it all, which was nice - I realized how much butter and sauces add to the taste of seafood, as without those (which I deliberately did not take) they are much more subtle. Barney enjoyed some carved lamb and we had a nice pistachio-raspberry cake for dessert. And then, back at the room, we did a load of laundry including our wet gear, so go that out of the way, out bathroom now covered in the clothes that could not go in the dryer. It is really nice that they have a laundry on every floor, and the washer has automatically dispensed soap (which probably also prevents guests from overusing soap or using the wrong kind). Tired, we both fell asleep on the couch, and before we went to bed, we took a last look at the fjord as we headed toward the open seas.

Beautiful Bergen, 13 June 2024

 I woke up at 4am as jet lag timing kicked in, and went to the veranda to look outside as the sun was rising in the chill morning air in Bergen. Looking forward to the day ahead, I did my physical therapy exercises and we had a nice, quick breakfast, and then off for our walking tour of Bergen. 

We were berthed about a 10 minute walk from Bryggen, the 1000-year-old Hanseatic League trading port area. We met our guide and we’re off, walking along the 30-foot stone barrier wall built by King  Hakkon and the massive hall he built to lure his new bride from Denmark. As we walked along the waterfront, we enjoyed the colorful, slightly tilted long buildings of the old port area, built on the ashes of hundred of fires over 1,000+ years, as they extended from the original water from forward 50+ feet. The long houses were the site of the large German trading firms, with warehoused goods stored above and around their offices and trading area, and where hundreds of young apprentices lived in monastic conditions. Imagine no candles or fires allowed inside the wooden buildings, even in winter, because the risk of fire was so high, so all cooking and eating took place in small stone cookhouses far behind the long them buildings. Instead of chimney which could spread embers, they allowed sparks to go un into the tile roofs which cooled them. After one early fire, the merchants decided to fill in the area, the quays became narrow walkways, and the tradings houses were as much as 100’ long. As the tour ended, we continued to explore on our own.

The archaeological museum included the foundations and remains of some of the earliest buildings which were 33’ feet down from the surface. The colorful UNESCO World Heritage site buildings of today were built in the 18th century, along the lines of the old ones, and the 1,000-year-old church and other buildings hundreds of years old survive and have been repurposed. The Hanseatic Museum has rebuilt and renovated some of the oldest buildings, and included one original building, plus artifacts and elements like the wooden corner cabinet, and the divided benches where apprentices sat grouped by their masters, apprenticed at 12 years old and sent out to become traders themselves at 18 years.

We stopped by the outdoor fish market brimming with fresh seafood, packs of caviar, and reindeer sausage, and then took the funicular up to the top of a nearby mountain for some wonderful views of the whole of Bergen which is spread out across several valleys and mountains. I briefly looked at the Dale-style sweaters and decided to wait until we are farther north before buying something. After 6 hours of walking, jet lag began to kick in, and we go back to the ship, have a light lunch, and explore the ship for the first time, stopping on each floor. We went back to the cabin, and woke up to attend a lecture on how glaciers formed Geirangerfjord, which looked absolutely stunning in the photos. Only 250 people live there year-round but they welcome 300,000 visitors each year - amazing. We had dinner in The Restaurant this evening, which featured a Norwegian menu of parsnip-apple soup, aquavit-marinated beed tenderloin, and a delicious upside-down pear cake. We returned to the cabin, and read for a bit, then Barney went to the Catain’s introduction of his officers and Barney spoke to the Chief Engineer who invited hi to see the control room later in the trip.We really tried now, we spent some time outside on the veranda in the cold, still brightly sunny at 9pm, and watched the distant coastline as we sailed up the coast to Geirangerfjord.

Off to Norway!

 At last we head off to Norway! We take MArley to his new dog sitter, I feel a bit teary to say goodbye for two weeks, but I think he will be very happy at Kosta’s with the other dogs he knows. Then back for a few final bits of packing - for the first time I actually packed ahead of time, on Sunday for a Tuesday departure, amazing for me. I worked until 11:15pm last night, so very glad to have everything up to date and sent to clients.

Madeleine took us to the airport, we checked in, and saw the longest TSA line I have ever seen - it stretched way back into the ticketing area. I felt lucky we got to go through in the wheelchair. We got on early and the Premium comfort seats were quite nice, not quite like the business class pods but very roomy and with fewer seats in each aisle. A very nice dinner, Barney watched a move and I read, and then we both tried to sleep, only slightly successfully. They also offered a nice breakfast, and then we landed in Amsterdam. There was a long way to transfer so I was glad for the cart to take us. The flight to Bergen was full an fairly short. As it turned out, there were about 350 people arriving on various flights to Bergen at the same time, all headed for the Viking Saturn in multiple busses, so we met a few folks along the way. A quick bus ride, check into the ship, and we arrived!

The room is veer nice, a lot of space, and plenty of storage for clothing, boots and shoes. It feels so strange to be in the same place for two weeks and actually unpack, I almost never do this. It helps keep things tidier for sure, and the Scandinavian design rather encourages this as well. We head down to the theater to hear an interesting lecture about Bergen, then to the World Cafe for a nice simple dinner, and then back to the theater to hear a bit of the concert by Tor Jaran Apold, the violinist I head on their video whose music is quite beautiful. By this time, 9:00pm, we were both exhausted, and had reached our goal of staying up without a nap, so it was time to go to bed. It was still quite bright out here, given the latitude, midnight sun, and how close we are to the summer solstice. The bed was comfy and we’ll be ready for the day tomorrow.

Dublin to Home 24 April 2024

 We wake up early and have quick coffees in the room and leftover scones from the sumptuous feast at Powerscourt. We are out early for the bus, and as we are the only ones waiting, the shuttle drivers takes us right over to the airport, exactly as we had hoped. Larry and am checked in on Aer Lingus with no problem, but Claudia had to wait a half an hour to check in on American, as they had limited luggage storage and her flight was not for three hours. We did finally connect for about 30 minutes in the business class lounge, where there was another full Irish breakfast plus fruit and yogurt and cereals and pastries etc.

We agreed that this had been a wonderful trip, with so many wonderful moments, time to talk, interesting mishaps to overcome, and lots of great memories. Larry and I headed onto the Aer Lingus flight, which was again very nice in business class, good food, super comfortable, and I even slept for about three hours (as I will arrive in SFO at about 7am Dublin time).  Claudia again had a direct flight on American to Dallas, and she landed early and was able to connect with JJ. 

 Arriving at Chicago, we took the airport train back over to terminal 1 for United. Larry checked in fine but I had problems. It turned out that the very delayed flight on the first day did finally get off the ground and flew to Chicago, so I was listed as a no-show thus they could not check me in. 30 minutes and three supervisors later, they figured out how to rebook me and Larry and I headed to the United lounge to use my almost expired day passes. Finally arrived, we got some water and snacks and settled in for our five-hour layover for our flights home. I am looking forward to seeing Barney and Madeleine and Marley, I miss them so much!

Some things I learned on this trip:

* Careful packing meant I could indeed do a 10-day trip using a carryon suitcase and my backpack. 

* Almost everyone we met in Ireland was extraordinarily nice … expected in tourist places, certainly, but also happened in non-tourist settings.

* Ireland’s ADA facilities are impressive, and several times people went out of their way to help me find an elevator or ramp.

* When traveling with other than a spouse, partner, or child, it helps to have a well-planned trip agenda agreed on in advance, to reduce the last-minute decision-making. We spent almost a year of periodic zoom meeting to plan this trip and it went smoothly.

* Fun and pleasant experiences are great, and yet the less-than-pleasant ones - like the non-working toilet in one place we stayed, or the completely fogged-in Cliffs of Moher when we first arrived (it late cleared to be sunny) - make for great stories afterwards. 

* The “full Irish breakfast” is way more than most people can eat, and black pudding and white pudding are an acquired taste, and not really very tasty.

* Driving on the other side of the road takes a lot of focus but I learned I could do it. Still, I am grateful for past trips when Barney drive and I navigated.

Enniskerry to Dublin 23 April 2024

 We enjoyed a good night’s sleep after a busy day, as today we have nothing scheduled until high tea (lunch for us) at 1:30. The Powerscourt Hotel was truly magnificent, huge, luxurious, and with beautiful extensive gardens.

Sharing a room with my brother and sister, I was struck one morning when I realized that we all started the day by doing various physical therapy exercises in bed. We’re all indeed getting older.

The breakfast buffet was similarly luxurious as the hotel. In addition to the full Irish, there were about eight kinds of fruit with yogurt and granola parfaits, many types of hot and cold cereal, scones and brown bread and pastries galore, waffles, bagels, smoked salmon and meats and cheeses, plus you could also order special things from the menu. We took our time and did a little people-watching too. There were quite a few families with very young children, so it was lively … I imagined they might go outside to the play structures or to the lovely indoor pool. We were headed to the Powerscourt Gardens, voted the third most beautiful gardens in the world in a National Geographic survey. Indeed they were wonderful, with thousands of tulips of every color and style in full bloom in one garden, a lake and a separate pool both with sculptures, a gorgeous multi-level Japanese garden, a small round tower, a collection of trees from all over the world, a rose garden pruned and ready to grow in spring, and more. We had a lovely two-hour walk around the gardens, and Claudia wanted to visit the Avoca store afterwards, which we did. I found a cute little book of common Irish says and what they mean in American English which I got for Larry. I thought he would enjoy it.

Back to the hotel, we did a final pack up and stashed our bags, and went back for our high tea, it was luxurious as well, and we had a prime table overlooking the gardens. Four types of tea sandwiches, scones with butter, jam, clotted cream, and lemon curd, and four pastries, a chocolate mousse ball, a lemon financier, a strawberry rhubarb tart, a yuzu macaron, plus the choice of about 20 teas. We took our time and enjoyed every bite, knowing that our trip was coming to an end.

Finally we headed back to Dublin, and I drove again, navigating carefully to the hotel. We dropped our bags and checked in, leaving Claudia there. Larry and I went to return the car, holding our breath as the staffer checked the car … “no damage” he said, a huge relief that the scratches on the left side were in fact there before. Whew! Over to the shuttle to get back to the hotel. Accenture was having some sort of big meeting and the hotel was packed with bright twenty and thirty-somethings talking about their clients and travel. We sat in the large lobby, I called Barney and we all had a drink and a snack, as the high tea was in fact a large lunch for us in place of dinner. Upstairs we chatted a bit, did some repacking again, and figured out our timing for the morning. Our last night in Ireland was low-key, and it was a bit nice not to be looking to pack up and drive somewhere new the next day.

Thurles to Enniskerry

 After a long day, we had a nice dinner at the hotel … at last, fish and chips that Larry liked … and relaxed and chatted. The next morning was our big genealogy day, to visit our great-great-grandparents’ home.

First we headed to Emly, the largest church near Ballyvistea where me might see Maher or Murphy gravestones … might because they were probably too poor to afford them. En route, we saw a Catholic church by the road in the village of Lattin with an open door, so we quickly pulled over. Out front was the pastor and he welcomed us warmly. We went inside the empty church and at last had a chance to light some candles … for Cathy, for Jim, for Mom and Dad, and for all our ancestors but for whom we would not be here at all. The priest was very friendly and we chatted a while, he was there on a Monday to prepare for a funeral. He left to go outside for a few moments and I took the opportunity to sing Ave Generosa (Hildegard von Bingen) as I had at Timoleague … the church had very nice acoustics.

We continued on our drive to Emly, and explored a graveyard a bit, and spent some time in a lovely 2000 millennial garden filled with arches of ivy, special trees, and sculptures.

On to Ballyvistea! As expected this took us to the tiniest of roads, gravel with some vegetation in the middle. We stopped to get some grass from the “old sod” and continued on until I saw the houses I recognized from GoogleMaps. The one I had written to seemed uninhabited, with a chain around the entrance gate and broken windows in the barns near the road. One house nearby had a car out front but that was it as far as sounds of habitation … nothing else, it was extremely quiet except for the birds. To think that in the 1830s and 1840s our ancestors were tenant farmers in tiny crowded houses on some small part of this beautiful green area was humbling. They must have lived as best they could, probably in a sod or stone house, until they had to leave, the house now returned to nature.

y try

We returned to the car and drove to Enniskerry, our next to last stop. I drove, mostly on the M roads which got busier as we approached Dublin. As we turned south things immediately became more rural, and we finally reached the huge and imposing Powerscourt Hotel. Truly 5 star and luxurious we could hardly believe it … so many staff to help and gorgeously appointed. We found our room which was indeed about twice the size of my little apartment long ago in Chicago, with an enormous bathroom and view onto the gardens. We unpacked a bit -  three huge beds! - and headed out for a walk, ending up at the distillery near the historic gardens we would see the next day. After our walk we explored the enormous grounds further - there were climbing structures for kids and picnic tables and a huge outdoor chess set - and then enjoyed a lovely dinner downstairs. Very relaxed, Larry and Claudia swanned around in the plush hotel robes while I had a GoogleMeet Executive Committee for Fairyland for a couple hours upstairs. Done at last, we all fell into the luxurious beds for a good night’s sleep.

Bantry to Thurles 21 April 2024

 

After a very hearty breakfast, we headed out for the first stop on this busy day, Timoleague. Some years ago, Larry placed a small amount of Cathy’s ashes there on a trip with Jim, after Cathy passed away. We hug the coast for a while with beautiful views of the bay. Finally we see the signs for Timoleague and quickly the abbey ruins emerge. After we park, we spend a bit of time in the ruins, walking through the cathedral, the dining room and kitchen the chapter room, and dormitory, almost all of which have now become graveyards. Larry places the lovely yellow silk rose he brought at the special spot, and it is a moving moment.

Our next stop is a bit of fun, the Blarney Mills store near the Blarney Castle (which we are not going to). Larry said we should wait until this place to buy any sweaters etc., and he was right. The store is a former knitting mill, which was closed in the 1970s  and a few years later was opened as a store, restaurant, and hotel, by a man who first started working there when he was 14 years old. Claudia and I got matching green zipped cardigans, and items for our families. Larry bought each of us a scarf as well, a lovely memento of our trip together. Luckily they shipped it all home for us.

We then have a log drive north, as we need to make our 4:00pm tickets for the Rock of Cashel, the last trip of the day. Given our timing, we decide to skip the tour of Cahir Castle, which had an open timing, as we have gotten to see other castles en route. The Rock of Cashel is truly imposing, and in several locations the light refracts through the openings that used to be stained glass windows, and the rooks and other birds were flitting in and out of holes in the enormous walls. We walked through the graveyard, appreciating the ancient tombs, and at one point three black rooks were perched on three Celtic crosses next to each other, a cool and spooky view. At the end of the tour, we headed up to Thurles, where we stayed the night at the Anner Hotel, a lovely place where we got an upgrade to have separate rooms. After a nice dinner ( Larry was happy with the fish and chips at last) we all had some journaling to do and off to a good night’s sleep after a busy day.

Tralee to Bantry 20 April 2024

 We had a lovely breakfast and somehow managed to all get ready despite the nonfunctional toilet. Since I also discovered that the shower was not working, it was a quick wash, breakfast, and then off we went.

First we drove about half the Dingle Peninsula, and stopped at the tiny town of Anascaul, where Tom Crean was from, the famous Antarctica explorer. We got some beautiful Antarctica stamps for our postcards, and saw his statue there. We saw lots of sheep and baby lambs which were adorable, along with some lovely beaches on the water.

Then on to Kilkenny and the entrance to the national park, which was quite crowded initially. Then we stopped at a small parking area and took about a 10-minute walk to the beautiful ruins of Mucross Abbey. Surrounded by gravestones, I could almost feel the presence of the hundreds of monks who lived there, especially when we walked through the small, nearly complete cloister. We continued on to drive the far eastern part of the Ring of Kerry, and had a nice stop at the Ladies View, a beautiful overlook sighting down the valley to the lakes below. We had a light lunch of a goat cheese tomato tart that we shared, and took lots of photos. We brought a few half-liters of Bulmers, a hard cider, and before I knew it the woman at the counter had opened them while we meant to bring them with us. She quickly resealed them and we had them that evening. 

En route to Bantry, we stop at the Maggie Gallivan store Andrea room, which was the home of a widow with 7 children, who of necessity made moonshine to supplement her tiny farm, and eventually opened a nice rest stop. The remains of her farm still exist, and a cow,donkey, pig, chickens, and ducks were still on the farm. I found a lovely brown sheepskin for a Marley, which I hope he will like to sleep on … we’ll see.

The rest of the afternoon was a fairly leisurely drive to Bantry, a small town which had many colorfully-painted houses. The place we stayed at had various sports facilities and was quite modern, and most importantly, had a working toilet and a very nice shower. We had a decent dinner, though they seemed to fry almost everything, and chips do seem to come with virtually every main dish even if it also has pasta or potatoes. Claudia and I stayed up late talking about so many things, which was really wonderful, so much nicer to talk in person than just on the phone or on zoom.

Up early tomorrow for a very busy day we have planned.

Cliffs of Moher to Tralee 19 April 2024

 We woke early for our 7:30am breakfast, and Orla made a gorgeous spread with yogurt and fruit in a  coupe, strawberry smoothie shooters, brown oat bread, fresh fruit, crepes with fruit, orange juice, tea and coffee, truly a feast. Then we packed up, said farewell, and headed out to the Cliff of Moher, about a 90-minute drive. We arrived 15 minutes early, as we paid for tickets for the off-peak period and had to arrive by 11:00am. We parked easily, and when we left we could see how crowded it had gotten with cars, plus many busses. 

The cliffs were heavily fogged in, and Larry was feeling disappointed. We went into the visitor center and watched the welcome video (complete with water spray when the video dived with a cormorant-type bird into the water), and saw the educational visits. By the time we came out it had warmed up and the fog had started to lift a bit, and we headed up to the tower area for our photo re-enactment. Luckily it was a long ramp up alongside the steps, with many beautiful vista point as the cliffs emerged from the fog. We took lots of photos of course, and then finally got to the top where the ancient tower was. First we did the re-enactment photo, with Larry positioned exactly as Jim was in a phot form their previous trip about 15 years ago, and success! This meant a lot to Larry, so I was very glad that the fog had lifted enough to really show the tower and the cliffs. There was a golf-cart-type vehicle to bring folks up and down the hill, so I decided to take that down (as up is still easier than down) and Larry and Claudia waked. We visited the lovely gift shop and got some postcards to go with the stamps I had gotten a few days before. An important mission accomplished!

We headed for Lahinch, but managed to follow the Garmin onto a tiny one-lane road that ended up scraping the side of the car, so we had to divert to get back to a larger road. Driving on the narrow roads is indeed taxing. We stopped in Lahinch for lunch (mussels for me, soup for Larry and Claudia and always great brown bread) and on to the famous Lahinch golf club, which Larry had visited before. He wanted to get a new logo hat, and Claudia got one for JJ also … another mission accomplished!

We then drive to Killimer for the ferry to Tarbert. We missed the hourly ferry by about 2 minutes, so ended up second in line and had some time to walk around and see the water, which was nice. The ferry went quickly, about 25 minutes, and then we were off to Tralee where we were staying for the evening. We found the Castlemorriss B&B, which was a minor noble’s home built in 1790. It was a very gracious old house, and had a large room on the top floor (two flights up, no elevator) with a kind bed and a twin bed. It also had a barely working toilet requiring hand manipulation of the flapper after each flush to refill, no small thing with three of us use the same bathroom. We went to dinner at Cassidy’s, recommended by our host, which was of course busy and loud on a Friday night. The fish I had and Claudia’s chicken and Larry’s scallops were all tasty, but it was hard to even find someone to take our payment. The bed was comfortable and we slept well. 

We adapted our plan for the next day, instead of doing the Ring of Kerry which takes many hours and can be exhausting to drive, we decided to drive the Dingle Peninsula for a bit, then to Kilkenny for the eastern part of the Ring, and then down to Bantry.

Dublin to Athenry 18 April 2024

 Even more folks out late last night, and the street sweeping machines start at 6:30am … I was amazed to see not one but several street sweepers going yesterday during the pouring rain. The gutters are certainly clean, and as Claudia said, probably they do this a lot because there is no smoking indoors most places so everyone smokes outside, and the cigarette butts go in the gutter … yuck.

Up early and repacked our taxi driver arrives early, and off we headed to the airport. We got our rental car from Sixt … Claudia decided she does not want to drive so it will be mostly Larry and sometimes me. I hope I can do this OK … it has been 7 years since I’ve driven on the other side of the road. We headed out from the airport - always a fraught moment as there are many ramps and merges to navigate, once we were out on the main freeway (motorway here) it is much smoother, and one is not constantly confronted by the odd feeling of going the wrong way on a one-way street. Larry drove and I navigated, which worked well.

We arrived in Athenry about an hour early, and luckily our hosts Chris and Orlando were fine with that. The former church looked really lovely and historic, and Orla (our female host) was incredibly friendly. We unpacked and went to our rooms on the second floor, a room with a queen bed for Larry and another room with a twin for me and a queen for Claudia, and a shared bath. There was also a bell tower which I did not climb but Claudia and Larry both went up the narrow winding staircase. The lower floor was the living room and dining area, plus their kitchen and office space - they run a company that produces marathons and half-marathons and other races in Ireland, and the hosts are both runners. We got to meet their dogs, and older female Lurcher named Bird who was very sweet, and a new male rescue greyhound mix named Petey who was very energetic, and about whom Bird did not seem very excited to see hanging around. It was nice to have a dog lean on me again, I miss Marley.

We decided to go to Athenry Castle, which we had read about on the way. First we had a nice late lunch at The Old Barracks, sandwiches and soup and very hot fries. A few blocks away was the castle, a 13th Anglo-Norman square Irish tower was standing strong, surround by the former wall inside which was a getting hall and with several guardhouses. The castle was four floors, and had been properly excavated by archaeologists after being abandoned for decades and overgrown. The four floors had new local wood floors put in, but the stonework remained same, and we could look out the slit windows where archers would defend the castle. The castle was the center of a 70-acre walled town that was very prosperous at the confluence of two rivers. We were almost the only ones there and the woman running the site gave us a very informative private tour, and answered our many questions. She like others we’ve met seemed so pleased that we had come a long way to visit the land of our ancestors.

Back to the church/airbnb and we had a nice time relaxing, and met Chris, the male host. He told us some of the history of the, buying this place 20 years ago and doing three years of renovations.Larry took a nap, Claudia and I chatted, then I had a long call with Barney while she called JJ, and we all chatted together and ate some dessert. We had a last visit downstairs, enjoyed the peat fire and petted Peter and Bird again and chatted with Zoila and got into the lovely comfy warm beds. What a lovely place. It would be nice to come back someday.

A Musem Record in Dublin - 17 April 2024

 Today I think I broke a record … four museums: in one day! I managed to sleep through until 6:30 (waking up a few times of course), and we all got breakfast and react to go by 9:00am, instant coffee, yogurt and granola and all.

First was the National Galley of Art of z Ireland, where we had reserved tickets for the exhibit “Turning Heads” of “tronies” by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, and more. It was a wonderful opportunity to see these artists’ work when it was done mostly for preparation, not as a finished product, all of heads that were interesting, odd, mysterious, even ugly. We shared a small piece of quiche in the cafe to fortify ourselves for the next stop.

Next we went to Trinity College for the Book of Kells. I had seen it before, as had Larry, but it was new for Claudia. The enlarged reality in the exhibit of the phenomenal detail is almost overwhelming, and we saw two pages from the book in a very dark room. We also went up the Long Room, where all but four sets of shelves have been emptied so they can do some massive conservation work (removing dust with specialtiny vacuums) and other needed renovation of the building itself, one of the oldest libraries in the world. There was also the “Books of Kells Experience,” rather like the Van Gogh show we saw, where digitized elements were projects and moved around in two large rooms, quite effectively.

Hungry, we found a place called KC Peaches, which we learned is a chain offering nice sandwiches and a salad bar. It was good to get out of the rain and have a light lunch. We walked a few blocks farther to the Museum of Natural History, especially to see the skeletons of the extinct Giant Irish Deer, which Larry had painted at one time. It turns out the museum is rather small, was built in Victorian times and kept as exactly as it was then, filled with beautiful wood and glass cases filled with expertly taxidermied animals, birds, fish and sea creatures, bugs and butterflies. The skeletons of the a giant Irish Deer were truly enormous, probably 9-10’ tall with antlers that were 10’ wide. I thought about how Madeleine would have loved the taxidermied creatures.

Back out in the rain, we decided to stop by the Irish National Museum of Archaeology, to see the Celtic gold and the Viking silver. We had less than an hour, and spent our time seeing the breathtaking Irish gold from 600-1200 AD/CE, when Celtic gold work was at its height. The bracelets with French-horn-shaped ends, the enormous collars, the twisted necklaces were works of art. And after Christianity, the metal smiths turned their hand to making stunning crosses and chalices of gold and silver, which we saw in the Treasury. Soon it was 5:00 and time for them to close, so out in the rain we went again, back to the Airbnb.

On the way we stopped at the Stag’s Head bar, a beautiful bar of mahogany walls and stuffed deer heads, extremely crowded with lots of locals. Miraculously we scored a table and enjoyed our Guinness (Bulmer  cider for Claudia) and reviewing our busy day. 

After drying out, Claudia and I did some research to find a nice place for dinner, something with slightly authentic Irish food but but not too heavy as we were all tired and still a bit jet-lagged. We settled on a place nearby called the Quay Restaurant, and once we climbed the flight of stairs into the packed restaurant, I realized I had been there 7 years ago with Barney! We waited about 15 minutes for a table, and I had smoked salmon with salad, while Larry and Claudia had various soups and chowders and salad. The downstairs bar was very loud and busy and filled with live music, as were most of the bars in this busy and touristy area that also seems well-attended by locals. People were packed into the bars as we walked back, really busy for a Wednesday evening. I can only imagine how crowded this area would be on the weekend, perhaps rather like the noisy street we stayed on in Montreal where, like here, our windows faced a busy area.

Time to pack up, as tomorrow we head to the airport to pick up the car and drive (slightly nervous about this) to Athenry in the middle of Ireland. Today I had 20,490 steps, the most ever. Not bar for still using a cane.

In Dublin - 16 April 2024

 Amazingly, all went well on the flight … I was in Business class so they give you rather nice food and the lay flat seat helped me to sleep about 5 hours on this overnight flight. I met Larry and Claudia after baggage, what a reunion! It was such a relief to see them after all the drama of my cancelled flight. We got a taxi to the Airbnb, and housekeeper was still there so he let us in, gave us keys etc. Turns out the locks are really funky and require a lot of jiggling, so the nice man who runs the tiny store on the first floor (www.crestandarms.com, which offers all sort of magnets with names on them) helped us and even lent us his keys so Larry could make a copy of the outer door key that worked.

Once we got in (thank good news for the elevator to the fourth floor) we unloaded a bit, and then went out to SPAR to get some breakfast items, and walked on Dame Street a bit. Getting hungry by mid-afternoon, we stopped for a nice bowl of soups and soda bread at a place called Porterhouse. We then walked over to the old Post Office, where the bullet holes are still visible in the columns where the Irish nationalists were executed by police during the Easter Rising. We got some postcard stamps in the actual huge old-fashioned post office and the clerk gave me loads of change for the bus. We took the #140 to St. Patrick’s Catherdral, intending to get there for Evensong, but we were Tom late and they has closed the doors. We walked around the lovely gardens outside. Three times this afternoon it started to pour rain for a few minutes and then stopped. Good thing we all brought our small umbrellas. So far my knee is holding up well.

Back to the Airbnb to relax a bit and chat, unpack, and further familiarize ourselves with the plan for tomorrow. We the. Went to the small Italian restaurant downstairs, called Toscana, and split a pizza and nice salad, had our first Guinness of the trip. Back upstairs, we had made it awake to 8:00pm, the big objectives, and got ready for bed and a hoped-for good night’s sleep. 13,000 steps today which is a lot!

Off to Ireland … except for delays … 15 April 2024

 Today is the start of the big Nelson (Maher) genealogy trip, with Larry and Claudia, to the land of our great-great-grandparents.

It started out Ok, up at 5:30, poor Marley looked half-asleep when Barney walked him at 5:45am and we got off on time. And then things happened. Protesters were blocking both Interstate 880 and the Golden Gate Bridge, so I was half expecting the same on the Bay Bridge, but we got to the airport right on time. I said goodbye to Barney, and got a wheelchair assist to the gate, boarded early (first time ever doing that, but I am a bit slow with the cane post-surgery) on our flight departing at 10:40am.We loaded up the full flight, taxied for a while and then … a weird sound started under the floor, like a loose strap slapping against a metal panel. One woman cried out “does anyone else hear that sound?” and several folks agreed. It happened again, and she called for the flight attendant to alert them. Three flight attendants arrived to calm her down, then it happened again. The lead flight attendant then alerted the co-pilot and the plane stopped. After a while, they announced that we’d be going back to the gate for a mechanical inspection, but would likely be on our way soon. As soon as we arrived at the gate folks started lining up in the aisle to deplane, which they finally allowed people to do. I was debating whether to call to see if I could get another flight but felt maybe they’d get it fixed and we’d be on our way soon. Plus I had been a nice person and gate-checked my bag since the flight was really full … never again! Time passed and the four-hour transfer window I had in Chicago was shrinking. Finally they told us all to deplane, and the gate agent was flooded with people and many of us went to the customer service gate nearby, but no flights were available, everything was booked solid. I had been keeping Larry and Claudia and Barney posted and began to feel I would have to take a red-eye to Chicago and arrive in Ireland a day late. I then I wondered if there might be a flight to Dublin direct from SFO available … dare I hope? After half an hour on hold for Aer Lingus, a nice young woman helped me rebook on a 5:45pm direct flight which gets me to Dublin only an hour later than my original flight … amazing! I let Larry and Claudia know so they will wait at the post-customs area for me, and I alerted the Airbnb host we’d be an hour or so late. I am amazed that this worked out. I was able to retrieve my gate-checked carryon and walked slowly over two terminals … good to stretch my legs a bit. I had planned to surprise Larry in Chicago with seats in Business Class I had arranged, so I had to tell him on the phone. He was very surprised and I am so glad he could make the trip in comfort. Claudia is now on her flight and Larry will board shortly so this is going to work! Glad to say farewell to SFO after being here 9 hours. Hope the flight goes smoothly.