Are we slow learners?

Arrived in Munich and drove to Bamberg about 2 hours north.  The weather is superb - 28 Celsius or 85 F - so to take advantage of the weather, we decided to take a cruise for an hour or so on the Danube canal.... Now those who follow us, know that last year we did a disastrous Danube cruise... Well I will blame it on jet lag, but we forgot to check if it was in English and no it was not! Mind you it was relaxing but the scenery varied from industrial to rural and a few glimpses of old houses and included 2 trips through the same lock @ 10 minutes each. Hmmmmm Next on the agenda is a horse drawn carriage ride around town BUT it has to be in English. And according to tourist office no English language tours in Bamberg - so its off to early dinner and bed Dinner was white asparagus, which filled the bill for being light but it was a bit chewy, my Yakima asparagus last week was better.  Bed, I hear you calling...

Walla Walla

 Home less than 24 hours and it's off to Walla Walla, where I am judging this weekend. It is a premier wine growing area in Eastern Washington, famous for good red wines, excellent restaurants and a dynamic downtown area. We visied several tasting rooms both downtown and on the outskirts of town, and brought a selection of wine home to enjoy over the next few months

A Spanish Vineyard - Casa Felicino

It was a fairly easy weekend of judging, just 60 dogs the first day and then 80 the second. We enjoyed some great restaurants - Saffron, East Fork Grill & Brasserie 4. Then stopped in Richland WA on our way home and stayed at the Courtyard, which was set on a spectular location, on a marina

we then went to Bonefish Grill for dinner and had some wonderful Halibut and a bottle of superb Sauvignon Blanc from NZ - Infamous Goose

 - then collected some local fresh Asparagus the next morning, before heading for home. Now home for a week before going to Austria....

Details of the China Trip

Some of this was blogged while on the road - hence the current tense) but was blocked from posting, while in China)

Wednesday: The roundabout trip - Portland/Seattle/Tokyo /Hong Kong was taken as I was able to upgrade to business (a must on long trips) but also was a nice bunch of miles!

Business class to Narita was pretty empty and had lie flat seats, so had a good sleep. A couple of hours in Narita then onto an old United plane, but still in business but it was just like domestic first class. Due to air traffic control problems we sat on tarmac for another hour which meant we were late into HKG , arriving at 11pm.  A quick hassle free trip to Shenzhen to the hotel (arriving at midnight) a shower and a great nights sleep and I am ready for China.

Some things to note, which I had not expected. Outlet electrical plugs have the angled slots like Australia!

 I took this picture of the Beer Machine in Narita for David - he is fascinated with it!

Friday (Thursday was "lost in Transit):

It's cloudy outside. Had typical upscale hotel breakfast buffet - with many exotic fruits and just about anything you would want (both western and Asian food)

Mid morning we had a spectacular tropical thunder an lightning storm, could hardly see across the road. Satellite TV access was lost, but I am comfy in hotel room with iPod and books.

But then it changes and I am off to a shaky start here!

The Sheraton I chose and stayed at first night was good (naturally!) when the others came to pick me up - the 2 judges (the 3rd one was a last minute replacement and he does not arrive until Saturday  (and judges Sunday) They were green with envy as the host hotel was not stunning they said. They had been driving around all day until they picked me up at 2, in the rain and as driver and interpreter are not from this area, they had seen nothing and so it continued until 5, when we said take us to the hotel.  The big excitement of the afternoon was when we piled out of car to go into museum... Which was a office building! So back onto car.

I judge on Sunday only - 2 judges, 2 shows, 1 ring, 140 dogs - sounds a bit like Canada!

So pleased David didn't come

In fact I looked at returning early but too expensive, but am moving to Hong Kong on Tuesday and have booked Marriott near the airport for one night using points!! If we all get together we may actually go on Monday and spend 2 nights at Marriott as there is nothing to see or do here in Shenzhen especially if raining. Thank god for iPod and books!

Food very uninspiring, so on diet, can't wait to get to HKG, even shopping expensive according to other judges.

Big communication problem when could not get wi-fi working at this new hotel but eventually succeeded.

All other judges have been to china before and said this is a not the best part of China but that Beijing is wonderful.

View from my hotel room

 A wine at our hotel (Made in China - a little bit on the minerally side, as befits its name!)

 Saturday: As the other 2 judges were judging and my co-judge had not yet arrived I had the guide to myself for the day. So we spent 4 hours wandering around something called windows of the world, where they had 1/10 sized replicas of all icons of world - such as Sydney opera house, Eiffel tower etc - it's the best attraction in Shenzhen! But as it was hot and I had seen many of these sights for real, I decided to called it quits and went back to hotel to read a book

Fast turning into vegetarian  as any food with meat is terrible and even the shrimp comes with extra calcium (read shells on) the vegetable dishes especially those with eggplant are the best and everything is smokey & dirty - the toilets, the restaurants, the dishes - you get the picture! The hotel we are at is OK (on my floor - I have A/C, 2 of the other judges dont) but we are the only European faces. But it has a western toilet :-)

Also there are no paper products anywhere except at our hotel. Fortunately I had been forewarned and had my own supply of tissues and toilet paper. Toilets...now that's a whole new topic for discussion!

Gift from Kennel Club as momento of my assignment



Below scroll with National General Kennel Club logo

Sunday:  Work day - judging - Whilst the entry in many breeds was small, the numbers and quality in Border Collies, Samoyeds, Shetland Sheepdogs and Golden Retrievers was very high, and they were great fun to judge. My BIS was a lovely Samoyed. Then after the show we returned to our hotel and had dinner at the Seafood restaurant, which I have to say was a lot better than the Italian restaurant (at the same hotel) - but really Italian at a Chinese Hotel........ And something was lost in translation, as I ordered the Mushroom Risotto and it was made with noodles!

Monday:  Was designated as shopping day, and it was decided to put us in the car and drive us 2 hours away to Guangzhou (where our interpreter came from) as he knew this area and could better guide us to the shopping area. The 2 ladies bought nothing, but the guys bought shirts, pens, suits (all knock offs) It was interesting to stroll the stalls and have our interpreter be approached by touts, who then took us upstairs to highly secured rooms in the apartments and hotels above the stalls, to examine all the "fake" designer handbags. Our car was rear-ended, so we had to have a change of vehicle and so we were left at another Chinese restaurant to order and fend for ourselves (thank goodness all the menus have pictures!) Then the drive back to the hotel seemed long, BUT the reward was a 1 hour foot reflexology and neck/shoulder massage - SUPERB.

My room at the Marriott in HKG

Tuesday: Return to Hong Kong and the airport Marriott - LUXURY, with ocean views, an executive lounge, with heavy hors d'oeuvres and some good Australian wine.

Wednesday:  Return flight to Portland, unfortunately upgrades did not clear...long 12 hour flight in economy plus.

Off to China

I may be posting a bit to my blog in the next week or so, as I am not exactly sure how much internet access I will have in China and I have heard that Facebook is blocked. So this maybe my only contact point - we will see.

JIgsaw #9

After a long gap with no Jigsaws, we have now completed another one

Now on to the next.

Jigsaw #8

After a bit of a break from doing jigsaws (mainly because our whippet was helping too much, jumping onto the table and chewing up pieces), we have just completed one of New Orleans.
We bought a scat-mat (to deter her from jumping onto the table - it worked, one jump, one zap and she has not levitated since)
So back to the routine, we have several more to do.

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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