Number 5

Another one done, but this had 2 missing pieces, not sure if we lost hem, they were always missing, or the dogs took them? This is of Niagra Falls

Jigsaw Season

Winter is our Jigsaw season and we have just done #4 - this was very interesting.... until we got to the green at the bottom and then it was very laborious, just trying each piece until you found the right place

Happy Christmas

David and I hope that all our friends around the world have a great holiday, and hope to see you in the next year.

Once in a lifetime trip…on Amtrak!

We decided to go from Vancouver (Washington) to Vancouver (Canada) last weekend, to see something of Vancouver and to spend a bit of time with some friends. As the weather can be cold, rainy and generally miserable at this time of the year – we thought that we would take a train up to Canada, to avoid possibly making the entire trip driving on I-5 in the rain. So the plans were made and we booked business class seats to Canada (is there any other way to travel, except business class!) We checked out the local station a couple of days before the trip, so we knew where to park etc. The station is small, neat and cozy. You can see pictures in the album link, at the end.

So with a leisurely start (3pm) we got on the train, and it was really quite comfortable and we had 4 stops on the trip to Seattle and although we left about 15 minutes late, we made the 3 hour trip to Seattle in about 3 hours (about the same time as it takes to drive) – but a lot less stressful. Unfortunately it soon got dark and so there was not much to see, thank goodness for iPods and audio books.

There was a ½ hour stop in Seattle and then we headed North to Canada. The drive would be expected to take about 2 ½ hours – this train took 5 hours!!! We just crawled along and many times stopped. We finally arrived in Vancouver BC, at 11.30pm. This ceased being a lot of fun, but a long drawn out affair – on the plus side my book was gripping and the seats comfortable and the ½ bottle of wine (which was surprisingly good) that we had shared earlier in the trip, a distant memory.
We took a taxi to our hotel – Marriott Pinnacle, and crashed.

Friday morning: After sleeping in we decided as although it was not raining, it was windy and chilly that we would take the “Hop On- Hop Off” bus around Vancouver city (but only hop off, once or twice.

The total trip took 2 ½ hours and gave us a great look at the city, with an encapsulated history lesson – we said that we have to come back and see it again, when the weather is more conducive to walking around a bit more.

 Our first hop off was at Granville Island, full of stores and a market, with all sorts of wonderful fruits, vegetables and wondrous meats and fish.  We then got back on the bus and got to see some more of the city, before getting off in the Gastown area, where we decided to do a wine and cheese tasting – at “Salt”, which was very good. Then we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to relax for a while, before heading out to a really nice Italian meal.

On Saturday our friends collected us and took us to their home where we had an enjoyable day talking and relaxing, but they did have about 4” SNOW – yuk!

On Sunday we headed for home, we had purchased tickets from Bellingham down to Seattle on the bus (as the only train left, at an ungodly hour of the morning) the bus left at 2.40pm and took us to Seattle, where we connected to the Train, which took us back to Vancouver, WA. The bus, was like all long distance busses, did the job and was not super comfortable. We were supposed to have a ½ wait in Seattle station (which has definitely seen better days) however it soon became an hour – apparently Amtrak, has a problem being on time. The trip home was the same as the one up and we got home around 9pm.

It was an experience, and probably our first and last trip with Amtrak.

But we will return to Vancouver BC

Link to more pictures of the trip

Back Home

Got home after an interesting day of flying. Read a book, watched a couple of movies and got some power walking into the day also. As in Houston and LA, I had to get to the commuter terminals, and did not have much time between flights.
Anyway I added 6217 miles to my account. And with the flying plans I have for the rest of the year, I will now be over the 100,000 actual miles flown in 2011. Actually I have flown more than this, but some were on award tickets (and these don't count towards my "bum in seat" miles, needed to maintain status.
Had some interesting companions on the flights - one person was also doing a mileage run - they were going from Denver to Guadalajara and back through LA - so, See - I am not the only slightly crazy one!

Just 2 more legs

Have flown to Houston , Waco then back to Houston - quick pause in lounge to check email, then on to LA

Mileage Run

in order to maintain my 1K status on United Airlines (and all the perks and benefits that this gives me) I am spending the day flying around, for the sole purpose of acquiring miles for my account.
I got up at 3.45am and have completed leg 1 from Portland to Denver - only 5 more legs..
Crazy I know, but the good news is all my complimentary upgrades to 1st class have cleared!

Argh...it hurt

I was just getting ready to "pooper scoop" tonight - I picked up the scoops and - OUCH - I got stung, by a yellow jacket, which was lurking on the handle. As my epi-pen was out of date I headed off to Urgent care - nobody else was there, so I got seen immediately, they were impressed with the reaction from the sting, just 10 minutes after the injury! I am normally super cautious, but this was totally unexpected - anyway several hours later, following medication, icepacks and a shot, things are under control. I was stung on my little finger and so far only 1/2 my hand is inflamed...we will see what tomorrow brings

Would like to hear from others on Primadonna

I would be interested in making contact with other disappointed/disgruntled passengers on the Primadonna - send me a personal email to lhiltz@earthlink.net
I had posted a status report on the Facebook page of Viking, but they removed any reference to the grounding - apparently they only allow positive comments!l

Oh, its good to be home...

The dogs were very pleased to see us, the puppies have grown up a bit. And our bed felt so good to crash in, when we finally got home - after flying from Frankfurt to LAX, to SFO then onto Portland. The weather is still superb at home. Lots of sun and nice and warm. Obviously hot while we were away, which meant the grass did not grow, so no mowing required.

Homeward bound

Overnighting in Munich (it's Octoberfest!!) however we are not downtown but in the lovely small village of Freising which has a Marriott! We went to the local Hofbrauhaus, and had some wonderful pumpkin soup ( served in a pumpkin) sorry camera was charging at hotel, followed by duck and Red cabbage (me) and suckling pig for David - fortunately they had 1/2 portions - very good and wonderful local atmosphere.

I now have a cold, so flying is not fun ( I have earplanes with me) and one ear is blocked up and I can't hear


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Location:Alois-Steine,Freising,Germany

Some pictures from yesterday's 'adventure'!!

The approach of rescue ferry








A view of the few chairs on the deck



Tying up to Primadonna, see the deck where we spent our trip



David, dressed to leave the ship



Ah, they realized we needed more chairs



Farewell Primadonna



Our ' Luxury' cruise

And to those who commented- I am not expecting ANY compensation, as they would not give 12 euro per room for free wifi. However I have a Boingo account and that covered me and so have excellent Internet at long last

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Location:Calea Victoriei,Bucharest,Romania

From 727 to 651

These were the kilometer marks that marked the start and finish on our rescue boat. Which was a car ferry, minus ALL the comforts... No chairs (so they took some plastic ones off the Viking ship. No shelter on a dirty metal deck, so Viking supplied umbrellas. And finally NO toilets on the 3 hour journey.
Now on to a 4 hour bus ride to Bucharest
What a trip - first class price, 4th class treatment

Location:Romania

Still stuck

After a second night on the sandbank we show no signs of moving. Supposedly plans are being made to get us to Bucharest.

Mutiny amongst the passengers may be the next step, good humor is evaporating...this is our first Viking River Cruise and LAST, as the company has
Not done much for us, since getting stranded

Now a2 hour ferry ride followed by 3 hour bus Ride

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Next stop

We actually passed through a more scenic area of the Danube this afternoon









We then had a brief 1 hour stop at the border crossing of Donji Milanovac, we were allowed to disembark and walk into the small town, on the park was this


Now you have to imagine a flotilla a people carrying iPads and laptops walking into this tiny town, that at 4pm was enjoying siesta, and wandering around searching for unsecured Wifi and when found, sharing the news. This resulted in a large group of people standing in a patch of shade being reconnected with the www again
Then heading back to the ship



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Oops

At 11pm last night we ran aground!! And are still stuck this morning, so guess we find out the new plans in 1/2 hour..,



Here we are, a little to close to shore, to be fair due to hot summer water levels are low

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Bulgaria

So we took off on our tour bus on about an hour's trip to Belogradschik. The trip was through a maInly rural area, not very wealthy and in most cases the houses were not well maintained, and the city also looked very tired and run down. Not on the 'must return to' list! The fort and rocks, seen below were unique and involved a strenuous climb up a couple of hundred steps (which burnt off some of the calories we have consumed)



Then back to the ship for lunch



Followed by a foray into town for a good Wifi signal




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A new country - Bulgaria

Lost an hour, due to time change. About to take the tour bus to Belogradshick.




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Location:Vidin

Yesterday Mexican today Ancient Roman

What does the title mean? Well it reflects the best chance I have of WiFi. Today we arrived in Kostolac our last stop in Serbia. We were taken to the archaeological dig of Viminacium. Which was a military stronghold in the 4th century. Someone has poured serious money into this site as a Roman villa (of a VERY grand style) has been constructed, supposedly in an authentic recreation. It is supposed to become a resort, opening next year. But it's sort of on the middle of a flat plain with not much around, except 3 coal burning Powerplants



The following are pictures of the reconstruction, starting with the exterior












The above fresco featured some sort of sporting dog, then in the picture below of the mosaic floor tiles, you can see the prototype of the 'Golden Arches'



As always a gift shop was included on the tour - the free local red wine was awful but free Wifi was great! (the ship is full of frustrated people as the promised wifi is mostly non functional and when it does work the download speed is 0.08 Mbps) I have learnt to type everything up in advance and just upload and retrieve email when an opportunity presents itself.
Back to the gift shop, we were given piece of Roman pottery with a saying on it
Here is David's - most appropriate (sorry I cannot rotate it)



We also got to see an excavated roman bath, then back to the ship for what is supposed to be an afternoon of scenic sailing

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Belgrade

New church in Belgrade


Inside the church


Downtown Belgrade


View from boat looking at Belgrade

Mainly pictures this time, sitting in a quayside Mexican restaurant!! Using their WiFi...

Croatia

We woke up in Vukovar. This small town on the Danube had been almost flattened during the war in the late 90's. The most spectacular sight was the severely damaged water tower, still standing and left as a reminder to all. We were driven by bus to the nearby town of Osijek


where we saw a small church and tried some locally made plum brandy (a small sample and that was enough, as it really had no taste, just pure alcohol.) a stroll around the town followed, the highlight being the stop at a cafe, which had wifi!!! Where email was downloaded in a flash, unlike on board.
Then a lazy afternoon on board listening to my audiobook - 'only time will tell' by Geoffrey Archer.
The weather has been hot (high 80's) and not much shade on deck but A/C is good on board.



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Location:Vukovar

Kalosca, Hungary

I am going to attempt to upload a short video, taken last night from the upper deck just before we sailed. But first a couple of pictures - the Budapest castle



Then the chain bridge



And now the video

Sunday:
This mornings tour was to the Punza horsemanship show. I took some pictures but they are on my real camera and I have no way to upload them, probably not until I get home. On the farm we also saw some Mangalica - the curly coated Hungarian pigs - very different!
And then a trip to the Paprika house



And paprika growing



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Argh... no Internet

The cruise ship promised free internet... Well I guess you get what you pay for! Can get Facebook but not pick up email, not sure why the difference. So will post when I can. We took a hop on/ Hop off tour of Budapest this morning then checked in to the ship. Had a lazy afternoon, followed by a meet and greet, then dinner. We were supposed to go to a Hungarian folkLoric Evening but instead sat outside and watched a firework display and some sort of marathon run from the upper deck. The weather is superb with a wonderful 70 degrees at 10pm,so farewell Budapest......








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Budapest Day 2

This Morning started with a sightseeing tour, by bus - first stop was Heroes Square


Followed by a drive along Andrassy boulevard (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) Then we drove past several magnificent buildings - parliament, opera house before crossing the Danube and going up to the castle area on the Buda side. Up to now we had stayed on the more commercial Pest side of the river. We went into the Matthias church (undergoing restoration)


Inside the church


In this castle area is a Hilton hotel, where we were originally scheduled to stay, but the cruise company moved us.... Maybe because they are having a wine festival on during our stay! What excellent planning.
Your admission ticket bought you a glass and a carrier for your glass, that you hung around your neck, so your hands were free. You can see David, ready to go


We tried to taste Hungarian wines that we were not familiar with. As it was warm, we only tried whites. I think our new favorite is Furmint, a dry white wine, grown mainly in the NE corner of Hungary. The wine festival was held in the castle grounds, lots of walking on uneven cobblestones! But all sorts of wonderful statues, our favorite was this hunting one, complete with dead stag and bloodhounds










Then here are some pictures of the vendors and their booths





Then we sat down on a bench and looked down to the Danube, and saw our cruise ship moored, we embark tomorrow, it's the one on the far side.


And this is the view down the Danube



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Location:Hungary