Galavanting Gigi

And Camden Makes Baby #2

2009-05-26T20:19:00.008-04:00

At 4:48am on Sunday morning Corey deposited Aubree to my bed so that she could get a little uninterrupted sleep. At 5:39am when my phone rang I knew my visit with Calleigh, Aubree and their parents was about to end. As I expected it was Shawn announcing that Camille was in labor. By 9am I had the last seat on the 9:10 flight from Orlando to Manchester, NH. By 10pm after a strenuous labor little Camden Shawn Brace was born.

So Camden makes the second grandchild for Bill and me within 5 days! He is totally adorable and even though I may be prejudice I think most onlookers would agree.

You can't take any birth for granted and we thank God that both these went well. We're looking forward to the summer when all three little kids get together.

One Down, One To Go!

2009-05-21T16:55:00.020-04:00

This has been an exciting and a sad week for our family. The happy thing was that on Tuesday, May 19, my daughter, Corey, and her husband Duncan saw the birth of their second daughter, Aubree Lynn Grodack. She weighed in at a tiny 6lb 9oz and is 19in long. Her initial views are that she looks very similar to sister Calleigh, although with a lighter hair color (with the little hair she does have). She is so precious, quiet and easily pleased. Corey did so well after this c-section that she came home today. I think she'll probably get more rest here.

One added bonus this week is that Bill, Ricky and Lori ended up down here and were able to see Aubree shortly after birth. Rick hung around for an extra day and had a lot of fun with Calleigh. She's still talking about it.

Calleigh is doing well being a big sister and is all eyes for anything to do with Aubree. She is especially concerned about her "binky". Calleigh wants to make sure Aubree doesn't take hers (which she still uses when she goes to bed). Her only challenge has been when we have used anything of Calleigh's for Aubree. At the moment that is not an acceptable move. Apart from that she wants to kiss Aubree and hold her. She is working on being gentle but is not always successful.

Calleigh had a big day on Sunday when she celebrated her second birthday. We had a little pool party at her other grandparents house. She had two of her little friends there and a good time was had by all.

We started this week with the sad death of our brother-in-law Clarence Casey. His funeral was on Tuesday afternoon in Clearwater. He was one really great guy and all the people that attended his funeral was a witness to that. Despite the sorrow it was nice to get together with family and friends who came from all around. Some family pictures testify to that fact.

So at this moment we are still in the waiting for our other grandchild to be born. Shawn and Camille were due to have a baby on the 17th. If Camille doesn't go inyo labor before Monday she will be induced. I'll be going home on Sunday night and look forward to being present and involved with the birth of both the new grandchildren. It is such a wonderful joy.

Getting in some "Calleigh Time"

2009-04-06T16:58:00.011-04:00

I was sitting in almost this exact same spot when I wrote my last blog of any length. I am here again awaiting my flight back to Boston after having five days of hearing "Gigi" called approximately every two minutes of Calleigh's waking moments. It sure is great to be a grandmother and I'm not sure there is anything much cuter than an almost 2 year old who talks continuously and loves everything, especially you.

We started out with a fun day in Sea World. It's probably been 20 years since I was last there but it has aged well and I thoroughly enjoyed the animals and exhibits. There didn't seem to be a huge crowd and Corey, Calleigh and I leisurely made our way around and left when Calleigh got tired. Corey and I bought a pass that was good for a year so we will no doubt be back. Of course we will have an infant in toe at that time but Corey can handle that one.

On Friday we drove around to a few yard sales and ended up at a Splash Playground where Calleigh delighted herself in the water.

We went to church on Sabbath at The Forest Lake Church and had a chance to visit for a few minutes with Lou, Connie and Eric Badillo and saw Kim and Ann Johnson. I hadn't seen Lou and Connie in many years and it was nice to see them. I get to see Eric on a somewhat regular basis but it is always good. After a nice lunch with David, Yule and Wanda we headed down to Sanibel stopping at the MacDougall's. I can never go anywhere near Florida's west coast without stopping there. Calleigh was speachless for a very rare time with granddaughter, Kenzie's things. It is always good to see Bob and Karen and I'm still sorry they are living in Florida.

Duncan had a business conference to attend in Chicago so Corey, Calleigh and I headed to Sanibel for a two night stay over near the beach. The weather cooperated beautifully and we had a wonderful time at the beach and pool. Calleigh didn't seem the least bit interested in the shells she was only interested in the waves and water and the occasional bird or dog that passed by. We had a great time! Clarence and Shirley met us for lunch on our way back that made our trip complete.

The joys of family remain one of God's greatest gifts to us. I am very thankful.

Mom's Getting Better!!

2009-03-08T16:38:00.006-04:00

For those loved ones who want to see how Mom is doing here is a little video of her walking. She's doing better and better every day. She has been happy and content and it has been a lot of fun for me to have her around despite the circumstances. And yes, Sherrie, she really did enjoy your trip down last week to see her.

Visiting Family in Florida

2009-01-29T18:08:00.017-05:00

Bill and I are sitting in the Orlando airport waiting to board our plane signifying the end of our little five day mini vacation visiting family in the Orlando area. Of course we stayed with Corey, Duncan and our sweet little granddaughter, Calleigh. From the moment she ran into our bed on the first morning to her wailing good bye in the car, we've had a great time with her (and all of the rest of the extended family.)

We started our time here at the zoo with both sets of doting grandparents chasing a 20 month old through the zoo. She was non stop action and chatter. She loved everything and made that clear.

Our next day was spent celebrating Corey's 33rd birthday (where does the time go?) in Disney World. Because they let you in free on your birthday Corey decided she would venture there even though she had always maintained she wouldn't be frequenting the place even while living nearby. Calleigh was in high gear and literally ran everywhere. How many people does it take to watch a toddler in Disney World? The answer was clearly seven. Not until 4pm when we finally got her into a stroller did she finally nod off for a few minutes. I hadn't been to Disney World in about 25 years and didn't notice that much has changed. However seeing it through Calleigh's eyes was very worth it.

Bill spent much time visiting with his four siblings who live in the area--Wanda, Shirley, Dick and Mary. It is always a special time when they can be together and never is it frequent enough. Spending some time with Wanda's Steve was also special as he is definitely in failing health.

Calleigh and I had a fun time going over to Toni's motorhome yesterday and going swimming in her campground's pool. She and Terry have been in Leesburg since the fall with Terry working in the Leesburg Hospital. They will be there until May when they head back north. If the google directions had been correct I would have had an extra hour visitng there.

We got to spend a little time with the younger generation that has settled (at least for now) in the Orlando area. Niece, Shannon and nephew, David, along with second cousin Megan have settled into work at Florida Hospital as nurses and a social worker. The three share an apartment and have yet to figure out who should take down their Christmas tree. It is fun to see them entering the workforce and finding our what life is all about. David has found a nice girfriend who we were happy to meet.

All in all we had a wonderful time but remain happy to be living up north. As much as we love our family down here give me the north any day. Calleigh will draw me back here in another five weeks but that's what it's like being a Gigi.

Christmas is Behind Us

2009-01-01T21:56:00.017-05:00

That short wonderful time between Thanksgiving and New Years has past and regular life falls back into place. We started the season as we have for several years now spending some time in the Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, Vermont. This year we got to spend three nights and it was wonderful! We were there with several old friends and Shawn and Camille for the first night.

Woodstock remains the epitome of a rustic Vermont village. It never ceases to remind us of "It's a Wonderful Life." We expect to see George Bailey at any minute particularly at one of the bridges crossing over the river.

While at Woodstock Shawn set me up on Facebook. An old friend of mine asked me to join and knowing nothing about it I did. In the last three weeks Ive learned a lot about it and have greatly enjoyed being in touch with old friends. I've loved seeing some of their family pictures. It has drawn me away from this blog however but a stranger's comment on my last blog entry has encouraged me to keep going.

Christmas started for earnest at our house on December 19 with the arrival of Duncan, Corey and Calleigh from Florida, Rick from Michigan via Maryland and our locals, Shawn and Camille from New Hampshire. The 19th ended as a winter wonderland that was especially loved by little Calleigh.

Our annual visit to the Boston Pops Christmas Concert with supper at Vinny T's first remained a holiday standard. We were not disappointed.

We added Edaville Railroad to our list of must do's for the holiday season this year. Calleigh was so thrilled with it that I'm sure it will become an annual event. We anticipate she will have a little sibling and cousin to accompany her next year. For this year she was thrilled to have her friend Bruno accompany her. I think Bruno will be much prefered for many years to come.

We spent a little time at Patriot Place where the "out of towners" got to look around. It is very impressive.

Christmas day itself was wonderful with Lori, Charlie, Kelly, Steve and my mom spending the evening and day with us. We missed the new groom Rad who was visiting the inlaws in Michigan. Toni, Terry and Kathleen helped to take up the slack. We remain grateful for the true gift of Christmas.

To all a very Happy New Year and may we appreciate God's great blessings in 2009.

I Can't Sleep

2008-10-27T01:02:00.008-04:00

I'm having one of those very unusual nights when I can't fall asleep. For those who know me well this sounds rather unbelievable because I seem to be able to sleep anywhere. I've even been known to fall asleep standing up. But for some reason sleep just isn't coming tonight so I've abandoned my bed and ended up at my computer. After reading everybody else's blog I know of, and still being awake, I've come to my own. It has been many weeks since I've posted any news.

My "galavanting" has been quite limited to New England travel for the past two months but why would anyone want to travel anywhere but New England in the fall? The leaves have been particularly good this season and still, in the end of October, beautiful.

Two weeks ago we spent part of three days with many kind church friends producing "Uncle Bill's Homemade New England Applesauce". We made over 550 jars and are selling it as a fundraiser for our school. If I do say so myself it is the best applesauce around and is far superior to anything for sale in the stores. Anyone looking for some feel free to contact me.

Our really big news as a family involves my daughter, Corey, and my daughter in law, Camille. They are both expecting babies in May, one week apart! I'm still trying to figure out how to be in both Florida and New Hampshire at the same time. I have one grandchild that has mastered the name "Gigi", we'll see if the next two can also. I am so excited about both these pregnancies and time can't go quick enough for me until May.

I'll add a few pictures to this blog and then see if I can fall asleep.

? The Last Swim of the Summer

2008-09-07T20:14:00.008-04:00

Today was one of those particularly beautiful days which sometimes occur after a storm (bye bye Hannah) passes New England. We spent last night and today on Cape Cod. I spent the first 20 summers of my life on Cape Cod and have visited my Mom and sister there on a steady basis for all the years thereafter. I have a natural bias for the area, as well as many other beautiful spots in New England. Today the hot weather lured us to the beach and the warm water of Craigville Beach was reminiscent of numerous swims through the years. The sad thing is that now that Labor Day has passed it will most likely be the last swim of this summer season.

The Old Country Store in Centerville has the classic look of the area.

Life has taken on a rather routine flavor since our return from Nova Scotia. I have battled a sore (very sore) left knee since being hit by a baseball in mid July. It came to a painful crises for me last week but thankfully medical intervention has brought some relief. I continue to go to work each day and Bill and maintain a very busy schedule.

Over labor day week-end our Braintree Church spent 3 wonderful nights camping in Freeport, Maine. The weather was incredible and as a group we had an awesome time. Sleeping under a starfilled sky out in nature certainly does something for the soul.

We're looking forward to Corey and Calleigh visiting us for a week at the end of this month. Corey loves New England in the fall and I love to be around Calleigh so we'll all be happy. So I'll continue to post a blog from time to time.

It's Almost Over

2008-08-14T11:33:00.008-04:00

After nearly two gloomy weather weeks in Nova Scotia our time is winding down. Yesterday was actually the best day that we've had with some sun on and off all day. We (Bill, Toni, Mom and I) took advantage of that by driving an hour along the Bra's Dor Lake through St. Peters up to Big Pond to go to Rita's Tea Room. The scenery was as pretty as usual and Bill is quite taken with this Nova Scotia has been Rita MacNeil. She's a local singer who has made it nationally in years gone by. We enjoyed the food offerings and the little trip. You know you can only keep Bill cooped up for so long.

In other news we had a delivery of gravel on Wednesday to help our water soaked driveway. They boys were sopped to the skin smoothing it out on the driveway. They had to do it because we couldn't get in or out of the driveway with the pile in the way and Devin and Leigh were leaving.

Later in the day they also delivered a load of loam that we will use to fill in David and Jonathan's cabin site, which is the site of our former cabin that we moved across the road in 1996. All went well until he started to pull out and got stuck in the mud. An hour and some maneuvering later he was on his way. He made both these deliveries in the worst rain we had had. A crazy time to do it but I guess he couldn't do any of his other work.

So we continue to play with Calleigh, read, eat, play games etc. I actually left Calleigh and a book long enough to enter a little Rook tournament. Corey and I were against Toni and Lori. They were very confident of their abilities to prevail. It turned out in the end that their confidence was well founded and Corey and I were the loosers. Oh, well.

Corey, Duncan and Calleigh leave tonite. They need to drive through the nite for Calleigh's sake. When awake she can't see any reason to sit still. She has enjoyed the playground in our little town and generally speaking continues to be on the go. She took a few minutes yesterday to pick blueberries with Papa. I think she ate all she picked.

We will be arriving home early Sunday morning and then our usual life starts again. Maybe I'll post a blog now and again then.

For David, Jon, Rad and Shannon

2008-08-14T10:59:00.007-04:00

Hey, Guys, I've been trying to send you this since last week but Blogspot was having trouble with their videos then.

A Smaller Group Now

2008-08-11T16:49:00.013-04:00

Our numbers have been greatly reduced with the departure of Rick, Alison, Heath, Steve, Kelly, Shawn and Camille yesterday. We spent the last night altogether with our usual scavenger hunt. It was prepared by Shawn this year (and very successfully done I might say). There were no arguments over any of the questions which was a first. And for once Bill and I were on the same team and we actually won, along with Steve and Duncan. Duncan probably would say that despite me we won. Bill is having a good year because we had a major general knowledge team quiz a few nights earlier and he and Ricky won that. Anyway with all of us dashing around the island for an hour and a half looking to take pictures of various things we once again were much noticed by the natives. They seem to get a big kick out of us acting crazy.

After the scavenger hunt on Saturday night Heath chaired a meeting of the group setting up some standards for the cabin building project. His leadership was very impressive and he was well prepared. Charlie took minutes and will send them to all present and those absent. I now am sending on some pictures to Dave, Jon, Rad and Shannon of the exterior options for the cabins and some interior possibilities. It might give you a better idea than the earlier picture I posted.

Today we celebrated Toni's birthday by going to Baddeck. Of course that remains our favorite place on the island. We browsed through the shops and went out to lunch. The boys left to go golfing in Dundee and the girls came home to various projects such as me writing this blog.

Calleigh seems to make her presence known wherever we go so keeping track of her is interesting. She certainly is no wallflower and is adding new words to her vocabulary daily. She knows the names of everybody here and is constantly saying hi to everyone by name. She's one bundle of energy but fortunatley naps morning, afternoon and goes to bed early at night.

On Sabbath afternoon we had our usual hike out at Little Anse and some great photos were taken.

The weather remains mostly cloudy on the cool side but it looks like it's that way at home too. The days are quickly winding down and we too will be departing. Too bad.

From Nova Scotia

2008-08-07T16:08:00.015-04:00

There has been nothing but work during the daylight going on with the guys with a little help from the girls and older set since Monday when it was agreed that the ten cousins were going to build their own cabins. This has worked out well because the weather continues to not be good. We haven't had anymore heavy heavy rain but varying degrees of sun (very little), clouds and brief periods of rain. The temperature has hung in the upper 60's and low 70's. This will go down in record as the first year we haven't put the raft in the water and there has been virtually no water activity apart from two swims by Bill and a two minute dip by Mia. Of course Calleigh had a small fit yesterday when we wouldn't let her go in. She just didn't get it that the water and air were cold.

The evenings have been spent in the usual type of games. One evening the younger set played the Newlywed Game with Corey and Duncan emerging as the victors.

Last nite the oldyweds played with Charlie and Lori coming off as champs. There was a day when Bill and I always won these kind of events but Bill seems to have lost his edge in this type of game.

He hasn't lost his edge in blueberry picking and it continues to be a passion of his. The blueberries are very prolific this year as well as the raspberries. We've enjoyed many wonderful desserts already featuring these two items.

Some friends of Lori and Charlie stopped off the other day. They were motorcycling from Cape Cod around the Cabot Trail. They took the catamaran from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and have biked since then. They said they saw in a motorcycle magazine that this trip was listed as one of the best motorcycle trips in the world. The early part of their trip was hampered by a lot of rain. I'm not sure how good it has been for them since they left us. They stayed and had a tour of our island and then had a meal with us. They couldn't believe that this many family members could get along with each other.

Mom has been doing well to our great pleasure. Her only problem was when I worked her too hard breaking off the ends of green beans and she got dizzy. Toni (the nurse that she is) promptly put her in trendelenberg on the couch. In the end it did the trick.

I"ve tried twice now to send videos of the work to Dave, Jon, Rad and Shannon but I just can't get them to upload. Maybe I'll have Corey try at a later date. Missing you all.

Hello From Rainy Nova Scotia

2008-08-06T16:48:00.006-04:00

Well we've been here on the beautiful Isle of Madame on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for four days and have seen rain every day. The forecast looks much the same for at least the next two weeks with unseasonably cool weather. On the first night the three couples camping in tents outside suffered varying degrees of water damage but Shawn and Camille were the only ones ending up in the house. Our spirits haven't been dampened by the dismal weather because we have each other, books, games, Calleigh and food in no particular order.

Much to our surprise and delight over this past spring Devin and Heath had figured a way out to our expansion problems. Now that six of the ten kids are married we have been bursting at the seams for at least five years with no workable plan in sight. They came up with the idea of each kid putting up a small cabin type house that will be inexpensive but practical for providing sleeping accomodations. It met with rapid approval by the younger generation and most of the guys (and Camille) have been working on the project with undivided attention for the last couple of days. They have staked out and cleared their spots (like they were early explorers) and hope to have the footings in before they leave on Sunday. They think they can do the actual construction in a couple of days when they first get here next year. I haven't felt such enthusiasm for the place in a long time.

I have been more of an inspector than a helper on the work sites. I seem to be very content in watching Calleigh run around. She seems to want to be outside all the time. She has mastered walking on uneven surfaces with no difficulty. The rain however has confined her to the house much of the time. She doesn't hesitate to investigate every nook and cranny. She doesn't need any toys she's very content to move everything out of the cupboard and then put it back in. I guess that's what they did in the olden days when there weren't many toys. Her really happy time is playing with Mia who arrived yesterday. It is amazing how much kids love kids.

Anyway all is well. I'm rushed because the internet is closing momentarily. There will be more to follow.

And Then There's New England!!

2008-07-20T22:16:00.008-04:00

When Corey created this blog for me I thought I would only use it for my trip to Europe to keep people at home informed of my whereabouts. But it seems as though some of these people have grown accustomed to this blog and want me to keep it going. I've given it a little thought and think maybe I'll give it a try at least every once in awhile.

As much as I love foreign travel (and I do love foreign travel), there is something so wonderful about New England I would never want to minimize the great experience we have living in New England. For many years now (since our children were little and they're far from little anymore) Bill and I have taken great pleasure in driving the back roads of New England. We had that such experience today. Last night we ended up with our friends, Barry and Gail, in the West Dover Inn in West Dover, Vermont. It claims to be the oldest continuously running Inn in the country. We enjoyed the piano player in the restaurant last night and the suite they upgraded us to when I found some dirty towels in the room we had reserved.

Today we drove around southwestern Vermont stopping at a few antique stores and taking pictures of barns (a personal favorite of mine).

We headed into northwestern Massachusetts and passed through Williams College. We loved walking around the campus for a bit and then headed to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Above is Norman Rockwell's studio which was moved to the museum sight. We enjoyed the main street of Stockbridge and ate a little supper in a good downtown eatery. Stockbridge was awesome!! I'd never been to Stockbridge before.

Just a note about my "Galavanting Gigi" name. It is pretty obvious that I like to galavant whether near or far so that part of the title is easy. The Gigi part is the name I chose for my first (and only so far)grandchild, Calleigh, to call me. I was more that ready to be a grandmother, but not ready for "Nana", "Grammy" or the rest of the common names. Those names are all wonderful names of people I love, but not me. So my attempt to chose my own name, Gigi, was put out there with some anticipation that Calleigh might chose something else or not be able to say it at all. I am pleased to say that at 14 months she has the Gigi down and I think I'm all set. Time will tell.

All Good Things Must Come To An End (or so they say)

2008-06-24T01:04:00.009-04:00

Well after a couple of months of planning and thousands of miles of traveling I'm on my homeward leg. I got a 2:20am wake up call in our Athens Hotel to get a cab to the airport and a 5:20am flight back to Budapest. After a five hour wait here I fly to New York with at least a 4 hour wait there before my flight into Boston. I never slept one wink before my wake up call so I'm pretty tired and I don't sleep on planes(as many of you know that's the only place I don't sleep). I hope today will be different. Ricky is catching a direct flight from Athens to Philadelphia and on to Chicago. He leaves at 11:30am.

Athens has been an advanced history class. Fortunately I had a good teacher and despite miles of walking (and a lot of it up hill)I really enjoyed the sights. Seeing the Acropolis and Parthenon (although under renovations) is a totally awesome sight that I'll never forget.

Hadrian's Gate and the Temple of Zeus were also remarkable.

All in all Greece was an excellent experience. I really liked the food. The people for the most part were friendly and helpful. I never got used to not flushing (even toilet paper) anything in the toilet. There was shopping galore and much better quality stuff than in Croatia.

So to my traveling companions: Bill, Nancy, Ken, Eric and Rick thanks for a great time and a great memory.

I should be arriving in New York at 3:30pm today (Tuesday). I hope to pass the hours talking on my cell phone. If I don't call you, call me.

Weary In Athens

2008-06-22T15:43:00.005-04:00

We had a busy morning in Santorini seeing the final things we hadn't already seen. That included a climbing and walking tour of Ancient Thira. That is the ruins of the ancient capital dating back to 500BC. It was way way up at the tallest point on the island. Driving to it was treacherous. From that spot we had to hike up to the site. Any other fat old woman such as myself should be about dead right now. Fortunately I survived to almost die climbing up to the highest point in Athens. I think Ricky is trying to do away with me here at the last. Anyway I am very weary and tomorrow the prospect is no better. I have to climb up the Acropolis. I guess they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I should feel real strong right now. Instead I'm going to bed and will give you a thorough entry when I have hours to kill in the Budapest airport Tuesday morning. By the way on our last morning in Santorini we found the best beach there. It was helped by very high winds and huge waves. It was a good thing we were scheduled to fly to Athens because the boats were grounded from leaving the island because of the high winds.

Coming To The End of Santorini

2008-06-21T01:19:00.013-04:00

As most of you have read, we have been super impressed with Santorini. The caldera(deep hole left from the volcano eruption) marks this scene as so spectacular. I don't think Arthur Frommer (my best source of all travel information, even though he makes some mistakes) was wrong when he said Santorini, in his opinion, is the most beautiful island in the world. Yesterday we took our time going through the town of Oi. It was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1956 and they have taken decades to rebuild. They have been very true to the original and I think it is the prettiest town on the island. Most of the postcards and famous pictures come from here. Most of the dwellings are built right into the rock and it is a famous honeymoon location.

We drove down into the harbor from there to take a look. It is a long windy way down. It was worth it though. An older couple was at the bottom and hitched a ride back up with us. They had walked down and didn't know there was no way up but driving or walking and they had no transportation. We gladly gave them a ride. They were from Columbus, Ohio. On the way up an exhausted girl was also bumming a ride. She was from Manhattan and was here for a yoga convention. All three appreciated the lift.

From there we went all the way over to the other side of the island to have a look. When we got there out on a desserted road going to Red Beach another couple was begging a ride. We stopped and talked to them and they asked for a ride back to where we had just come from. They were a young Chinese couple on there honeymoon. They were swimming in Red Beach and she felt pain in her leg and her leg turned red and swollen from mid calf to mid thigh. It looked very tight. She said she had been swimming near a rock when it happened. It was painful too. Anyway we took them to the hospital and dropped them off. She had been teaching Chinese in Poland and are getting ready to go back to China. She lives about 200km from the earthquake. She knows a lot of people that have been affected. Anyway Red Beach is defined by tall red cliffs going down to the water. We went back later in the day to see it. Needless to say I didn't go swimming there. It was very pretty though.

Today we wanted to get out of town and out of the heat and headed to a couple of the outer islands. We stopped first at the volcano itself and Ricky took the hike up the mountain to see it. Quite amazing. i had never seen lava before and the whole island is covered with black rock. It last had a little eruption in 1960.

We then went to another small close island where 200 people live and had a picnic lunch together. I think food always tastes better at a picnic.

A few other things about Santorini. They don't have any fresh water sources. They have to import it all. They have a big desalination plant where they do something to the sea water. All the running water is from there. It still seems to be very salty to me. When you take a shower and taste it (just a little) it seems very salty. My hair never really seems clean to me. The people all seem very friendly and laid back. I don't see the poverty here that I saw in Crete. There doesn't seem to be much crime. The rental car company told us to drop our rental car at the airport, leave the door unlocked and the key under the mat.There seem to be very few giant villas for the very rich. They seem to tightly control the building. This is the nicest place we've seen and it has an absolutely awesome view.

We have seen nothing but a cloudless sky since we left Budapest last Sunday. And I mean not one cloud. It has been something. Today has been very windy, which is helpful for the heat. I guess it tends to be windy here.

Tonight we went to a great place to see the sunset and then we headed into the main town of Fira. I had eyed a little crepe shop there on Thursday night and I wanted to sample their wares. We both ate until our stomachs were content and boy were they good. They served them a little differently, kind of folded in fourths and standing up in a small cardboard container so you ate it like finger food. Too bad we don't have these available much at home. It was unlike the crepes that are common fare in Croatia. These were the full crepes that were stuffed full with either savoury or sweet. We fly from here tomorrow afternoon and get into Athens about 3:30pm. I'm sure we'll make the most of our limited time there. We do have wireless there so maybe I'll get two more posts out before this trip ends.

Just A Short One Tonite

2008-06-20T14:51:00.009-04:00

I'm just writing a short one tonite. We've had a busy, hot day, but a great one and I just want to go to bed. I'll catch you up tomorrow night or Sunday morning on our time here in Santorini. I'll just share a couple of pictures until then. I knew this place was nice but I sure did under estimate it.

An Unforgetable Scene

2008-06-19T15:34:00.012-04:00

We boarded the high speed catamaran in Crete this morning and headed for Santorini. By the way, Bill e-mailed me that I misspelled some words in my blog yesterday. He said I spelled definately wrong 3 times. At least I'm consistent. I guess it needs an i instead of an a. I have always spelled that word wrong I guess. When I asked Ricky how to spell it today he spelled it right and I didn't believe him. I just looked it up and he's right. Oh, well. Please excuse any other misspelled words I have on this blog. I'm on vacation.

We arrived in Santorini at 11:30 this morning (even though this picture was taken after sunset). I sat by a girl on the boat who is from Calgary but is living in Moscow. Her husband is a chemical engineer working for an oil company. They had come to Greece for a weeks vacation. It was interesting to hear about her opinions about living in Russia these days. She's pretty lonely.

I knew Santorini was going to be nice but I hadn't anticipated the magnitude of the experience. For those of you who don't know, Santorini is a Greek Isle that is approxiately 18 miles long. In 1450BC there was a volcano eruption here that left the island in the form it is in now. There are several outer islands, one that still houses an active volcano, water and then the mainland. You can clearly see the crater that was left. The cities are high up on the inner part of the island with volcanic rock forming high high plateaus. The harbor is at the bottom. The ride up in a bus was a breathless experience. From the other harbor where private boats and cruise ships tender their passengers in you have to go up by cable car or donkeys. If you look closely you can see the donkeys in this picture. I felt sorry for them on such a hot day.

Our hotel is on the far outer end of the island on a beach, or just a short alley walk from the beach. The beach was much needed today because the temperature was well over one hundred and it wasn't cool in the shade. The sand is kind of black because of the volcano. Even though the beach looks sandy, as soon as you get to the water's edge it is all rock ledge, not stones like in our previous beaches but smooth long ledges. The water was warmer than in Crete but still very refreshing. I have had it confirmed that Rick doesn't really like swimming in the ocean that much even though he goes in for short periods. I don't think really any of my kids love the ocean like I do. Too bad. Ricky is content to get sun while I paddle away. Anyway, I was a little afraid about our hotel because we paid just $140 for three nites. The pictures had looked good so I was hoping for the best. It turned out very well. The room is basic but clean. There is a nice pool, convenient to the beach, lots of beach restaurants around and free internet and air conditioning. As Bill would say "You can't beat that with a stick." There are also a lot of American guests. In this case it means a lot less smoking going on. Great.

We started exploring a couple of the prominent towns. The views are so breath taking a camera can't begin to do it justice. Shawn would have a field day here with his camera. I've got to figure out how to change the setting on my camera to do sunsets because there was an awesome one tonite.

I think I mentioned before that there seem to be a lot of dogs roaming around in Greece. That certainly is true here too. There were some huge ones around the beach. It was so hot that one of them even got up on a lounge chair under an umbrella and went to sleep. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at that time. Later I saw one sleeping on a ledge in town. they all seem friendly but Ricky won't let me pat one. I think I will have to anyway when I find the right one.

Ricky is studying the book right now trying to figure out what we're going to do tomorrow. I'm sure it will include awesome scenery. We are here until Sunday when we go back to Athens for a day and a half and then home on Tuesday.

Today We Took The Road Most Traveled and Loved It

2008-06-18T14:07:00.013-04:00

We had an early wake up call today. At least Rick did. He got up at 4:30am, took the computer down to the pool and listened to the Celtics game on ESPN radio. I got up at 5:30, heard that they were so far ahead and went back to bed. Rick woke me to come and listen to the last quarter with him. It was pretty exciting! After a somewhat tepid shower we were ready for the day and off. We headed in our little car west for about 85 miles. We passed some high mountains and it was a scenic ride.

We ended up in the seaside town of Chania around 11am. Already the temperature was close to 100. Chania was pretty much an undiscovered town until the 1980's when the tourists began coming. Bill and I always say there never has been a tourist trap made that we don't like. This was certainly no exception. It was totally awesome!! Pictures cannot do justice to the scene. There is an old town with an old harbor with a retaining wall and lighthouse dating back to the 1200's. There were the usual restaurants and shops dotting the landscape with boats and museums as well. I totally fell in love with the place.

After looking around for awhile we went into the Crete Naval Museum. They had stuff from their earliest settlement days up through World War II with a whole floor on WW2. I did my usual speed version of the place while Ricky, I think, read every printed word in the place. Fortuately I found a nice comfy chair in the midst of a good breeze and snoozed away the time. We were both happy. I did enjoy the blow by blow description of the fall of Crete to the Germans in 1941, interesting stuff.

Following the museum we had a great lunch at an outdoor cafe. We have eaten every meal in Crete in an outdoor restaurant overlooking water with a great view. You gotta love that.

We took a leisurely ride back to our hotel with a couple of side trips to a few beaches. We had a great swim in the beach two minutes walk from our hotel. I had a wonderful freshly made waffle with fresh strawberries and cream for supper. That was my first time to get anything like that on the trip. I'm having to hold myself back from going back there and having another one.

Anyway some random comments. The weather has been very hot but only when you're in the sun. If you get in the shade at all it's fine (and you all know how I hate the heat). There doesn't seem to be any humidity. The water temperature is definately cooler than I expected. The waiter in the restaurant said it was 22C. I think he was being generous. The water is definately warmer in the Carribbean, Florida, parts of the Cape etc. But because it is so hot outside the water is very refreshing and good. There are unfinished buildings all over the place. They seem to pour the concrete frames and just leave them (much like many we saw in Russia years ago). There are mostly Germans or Sweedish people in our hotel and where we were yesterday but today in Chania we saw mostly Americans. Crete was definately better than I anticipated. Tomorrow we catch the "Flying Cat"--high speed catamaran--to Santorini. We will arrive there at 11:30am. We will have wireless in our hotel.

Another Beautiful Day in Crete

2008-06-17T15:18:00.013-04:00

For those of you who may not shine in geography Crete is the largest, southern most Greek Isle. It is 169 miles long and 37 miles wide at its widest point. It is very mountainous and has been settled for at least 5000 years. Its main economy seems to be olives and grapes as well as tourism of course. Its tallest mountains are 7000 feet and there is skiing on them.

Today Rick had the day all planned out and we sought to go where the average traveler doesn't always go. That certainly turned out to be true. We headed to the south of the island. We stopped at some ancient ruins and saw original writing from 500 BC. It was on a wall and listed all the rules of the village and marriages. It was amazing as well as other ruins there. Also in that site was the purported grave of Titus from the Bible. There was a church built on the site to commemorate him in the 3rd century. Below is a picture of that church. Imagine that!

A little farther down the road from there were ruins of temples to Zeuss and Apollos.

From there we wove our way over mountains and valleys to the coast. There were olive groves everywhere and I mean everywhere. I'd never really seen an olive tree before and had to investigate it to see the olives. Very interesting. They aren't ripe yet. I don't know when they will be or how they pick all those trees.

We eventually landed in Matala an absolutely gorgeous spot on the ocean. Apparently at that spot we were closer to Libia than Athens. That's about as close as I would wish to be. Matala's claim to fame are the caves that surround it. Apparently the caves were used by the Romans to bury their dead. In more modern time they were used by the Germans to store munitions during World War II. And in the sixties they were used by hippies who thought Matala was a great place to live. Ricky was interested in the caves and that's why we went there. We looked inside them and got a real feel of the situation. After that, with the temperature by then, almost 100, we went in swimming. The water temperature was very refreshing and we spent a lot of time in the water. Rick came out before me and I lingered for awhile. While I was lingering something came up and bit me in my thigh just above my knee. The teeth marks were very visible and it drew blood. My leg hasn't fallen off and I'm alive and kicking 8 hours later so I guess I'm no worse for it. Believe me I'll be in the water at another beach tomorrow.

After that beach we just took a peek at a couple other beaches that were also very pretty. The roads are absolutely treacherous in and out of those places. For those of you who were in Croatia, picture similar turns with poorer quality roads and totally no railing. Even I was afraid on some of those turns. And it was Rick driving not Bill. His speed is a little more fast paced. I was trying to be good but I did have to yell a few times.

Following that we headed in a totally different direction. Ricky had read about some plain that had an awesome view of who knows what and some other cave that was supposedly the birthplace of Zuess. He wanted to go there and I'm along for the ride. The problem was that you got there from the east and we were coming from the west with a whole mountain range seperating us from that plain. He saw a little road on the map that looked like it would go there from our direction. He thought it probably was a dirt road. I was not very optomistic about our chances of finding the road. We hunted and found a dirt road going in the direction we wanted to go. We started out and it soon became clear it was wrong but Rick persisted. The road was horrible, rocky, windy and in terrible condition. When we bottomed out (gently) he finally decided to turn around and go back (probably 4-5miles in). I think the road was a farmer's road to get to his olive trees. Thankfully we got out with our rental car still intact. We never did get to the plain. But we had fun anyway and nobody was upset.

In general Crete seems to be pretty poor. The villages are rough, very bare and people just sitting on the edge of the road in groups talking. It almost seems that the Romans had it better 5000 years ago than now. The road system is poor and directions even worse. There seem to be little chapels everywhere like every half mile or more. They are all the same. There are beautiful flowering bushes everywhere and a lot of morning glories. There are many dogs wandering around. In one village all the women were dressed in black including a black scarf on their heads.

I guess that's it for now. Rick is in planning for tomorrow and watching some soccer on TV. He couldn't do his own laundry last night. They do it for you and then you pick it up. They even ironed all his clothes. He liked everything except the price.

And to my wonderful husband of 35 years, I love you and miss you.

It's All Greek To Me!!

2008-06-16T13:09:00.013-04:00

Well, yesterday, on father's day, Bill and I had a sad departure at the Budapest Airport. He went home with Ken and Nancy, and Ricky and I, at the same time they were leaving, flew to Athens. I wish he could have come with us but he has to go to camp pitch and campmeeting. Tomorrow will be our 35th wedding anniversary. I guess we celebrated it for the past two weeks. And we had a wonderful time.

Athens was a pretty spectacular scene from the air. It was very clear flying in and the tourquoise water and brown mountains were quite a contrast. You couldn't help but notice how brown things looked. The brown is heavily dotted with flowering bushes and plants however. All in all it kind of has a Phoenix look to the landscape, without the ocean.

We caught a bus at the airport that took us to the port of Pireus where our boat would be departing for Crete. By the time we found the pier we would be leaving from it was about 5:15pm. We were to leave at 9pm. Fortunately they started boarding at 5:30 and we got right on, looked the ship over and took a snooze in our cabin. Pulling out of port was a magical experience. The moon was nearly full and the sky was very clear. Athens was brightly illuminated and you could see the Acropolis on the hill. It was all a sight I will never forget. I was expecting an old tin can of a ship with barely inhabitable cabins but was very pleasantly surprised to the contrary. It was like a cruise ship in many ways. When we got underway and the evening wore on it became evident how it wasn't like a cruise ship though. Many people had only booked for a seat not a cabin. People were spread out everywhere sleeping on the ship. I was grateful for my cabin and shower.

We got up at 4:30am to try to see if we could see the Celtics game on the internet. They had wireless in the lounge (we had a two hour card). The speed was too slow to see it but we got ESPN radio and listened to the second half of the game. The boat docked and unloaded before the game ended and I think we were probably the last people off the ship waiting for the game to end. Too bad for the outcome.

Our day in Crete was off to a running start. We got a rental car and headed for the Knossos Palace which is the site of an ancient palace from 1900-1700 BC. They have done a lot of excavation at the site. The day was cloudless and very hot (probably 90). Out of the sun it wasn't bad. Anyway walking around that site was very interesting but tough in the heat. I quickly realized that Rick walks much faster than me, but he was very patient. The place was definately his cup of tea. It seems unbelievable that you can really be looking at things that old. After that we went to the Antiquities Museum where they had a lot of the original things they took from the Knossos Palace site. There were some things there 4-5000 years old. After that we saw an old fort in the harbor.

After we had done the things in the city of Heraklion we wanted to do we headed out of town to our hotel. It is in a small seaside town that is composed of little hotels, shops, restaurants and the beach. Our hotel is a family run business, very basic, nothing fancy, cheap and fine for the next three nights. By the way, there is no shower curtain in the bathroom. The whole bathroom seems to be the shower. I know many of you have encountered this before in Europe. I was thankful there was a toilet seat because the previous two bathrooms I used in Crete didn't have any. I know you have experienced that also. We swan in the ocean and pool and then had supper. The beach was sandy unlike the stoney beaches in Croatia. The water temperature wasn't any warmer than Croatia despite the very warm weather. It was nice when you were in it but I expected it to be warmer. We had a Greek vegetarian dish for supper made up of potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, tomamtoes, feta cheese and I don't know what else but it was real good. We spotted a laundromat coming into town and Rick is over there doing his laundry. I'm not sure his clothes ever really dried from when I did them in Dubrovnik.

About this Greek lanquage--I know it is from the Bible and all that, but my goodness, how confusing. To read a map or figure anything out with it is impossible (where are Bill and Shawn when I need them). The captain on the ship kept talking very loudly in Greek and there was never any English translation. I hoped the ship wasn't going down. At one point a woman did talk in English and I heard her say something about if we were falling into the sea be sure to bring your life jacket with you. We didn't even know where they were. I was counting on the water being warm if I ever ended up in it. Anyway, thankfully many signs and things are in English and there is quite a mixture of both languages together.

The nice part about this part of the trip for me is that Rick is in charge. He has a great sense of direction and he is making all the plans. I'm just along for the ride. We'll see what tomorrow brings. He is making the plans while his clothes are being done. Talk to you later.

Catching Up on Some Pictures!!

2008-06-14T15:58:00.019-04:00

Well, we managed to find an internet cafe with wireless so I'm going to send on a bunch of pictures. We've had a good time at Lake Balaton but have found out it is quite a hang out for young people. There was a lot of partying into the night but fortunately I'm a good sleeper. We are in apartments so we cooked our own food today and really enjoyed it. We will be leaving for Budapest and the airport in the morning. Nancy has had a very sore back since the bad beds in the bad hotel. She's having a hard time getting around. You will hear from me on Monday when Rick and I are in Crete.

Here are some random shots driving along the coast in Croatia.

Our worst hotel. It didn't really look that bad in pictures. Thats probably why I chose it in the first place.

These were taken on the island of Pag. There is so much rock everywhere and then some nice places. Actually the rock is so ugly it's almost pretty.

Our hotel in Zadar. It was our next to the worst but the family was very nice that owned it and they had beautiful hydrangaes on their porch.

Diocletian's Palace in Split.

Sorry, Still No Wireless

2008-06-13T10:34:00.002-04:00

I thought I would have it made today because I´m writing this in an internet cafe where I tried connecting to their internet. But it wouldn't work so I'm relegated to using theirs. Duncan, can you help me?

Yesterday we took a ferry off the rocky island of Pag and headed farther north in Croatia. Ricky and Eric left us to head back to Budapest to see the city and pick up Eric's brother today. Jeff is coming to Europe and nobody seems to know what his itinerary is. We'll meet Rick at the airport on Sunday when Bill, Ken and Nancy fly home and Rick and I fly to Athens. Eric is also leaving earlier in the day on Sunday for home and then up to Maine.

Yesterday was rainy and drizzly for most of the day, the first really bad day we've had. It was made worse by our accomodations. Words fail me to describe how bad it was. It reminded me of a place "I Love Lucy" would have stayed in, unchanged from that day. It was cheap so I suggested we abandon, but Bill and Ken said they were from Humphrey's and we would stay. I cannot even think of one redeeming quality other than it had a good view and the beds were clean. The cold water this morning added to the misery.

On a better note, we're in a really nice place for the next two nites. It is right near Lake Balaton in Hungary. It is a huge lake (350 miles around). It is really windy today and the waves are real big. When I get off this computer I'm going swimming in it.

Some interesting things about Croatia are that there don't seem to be any mosquitoes or other flying things. Everybody sleeps with their windows wide open and nothing goes in. The country is very very rocky all along the coast. People are crazy about soccer and everything stops when a Europe Cup 2008 game is on that Croatia is in. The roads are two lane for the most part and people pass with no room at all. A lot of people seem to know some English. Croatia was a great place to visit.

Our main meal diet seems to have been either pizza, spaghetti, or potatoes and grilled vegetables. I might not eat pizza again for at least a year. We have a kitchen in our place tonite and we just went grocery shopping and got a lot for the equivalent of 44 dollars. We will cook our own meals for a couple of them.

That's it for now. I probably won't be able to write until sometime on Monday when we get to Crete. Keep your responses coming.

Sorry, No Wireless

2008-06-11T16:25:00.002-04:00

We are in a luxery hotel tonite that I thought would provide me with the wireless that I needed to use my laptop to send pictures, but low and behold their wireless is not working. Oh, well.

Last night we were south of a city called Zadar. It's only claim to fame was a sea organ, a pipe organ, that played by the water pouring into it. Unfortunately the water has to be very wavy for it to play and it wasn't wavy. So no pipes. The city had an old town that we have gotten used to investigating, but this one was not of the caliber of some of the others we have seen. Our hotel was of that same nature also. You are bound to get one that's not great. I feared this one would be it and was right. It was however clean, had a nice view of the ocean, easily accessible to the beach and gave you great bread for breakfast. We enjoyed a lot of good swimming. There was one TV in the lobby. Rick and Eric got up at 3:30 to try to watch the Celtics but even with satellite TV with 100 channels none carried the game.

Today we headed north to the island of Pag. We entered the south of the island by bridge. It appears as the most God forsaken place you can look at, something like the southwest around Lake Powell. It actually looks so barren it is intriquing. It apparantly was once lush forrest that was defoliated several hundred years ago. There is nothing but rock everywhere. As you drive farther north there are some small towns, loads of stone walls, sheep and some beaches. Finally we came to this new luxury hotel built right on a rocky beach. It is very lovely but it doesn't have much around it. We thoroughly enjoyed swimming in the ocean and pools (inside and out). We drove to the next town, which is apparantly up and coming for the noveau rich, and went to Croatia's most famous party beach. The beach was pretty empty because we haven't hit the booming season yet. It was pretty nice. So I wonder if this hotel will really make it so far from any action.

All in all we are doing well. The scenery remains breathtaking at every turn and there are loads of turns. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for the wireless. Ii'm happy to hear from you guys.

Congratulations to Shannon Kate Copsey who is now an RN. Welcome to the profession!!

Still LOVING Croatia!

2008-06-09T17:06:00.007-04:00

We got a bonus tonite by getting a hotel that has wireless so I'm able to publish this blog. We traveled north in Croatia today and have ended up in a little town called Trogir. According to Frommer it is a place that "fairy tales are made of". That appears to be pretty much true. It is a cute little island old town dotted with boats, old streets, shops etc. It actually seems like a much smaller, less majestic, higher class Dubrovnik. This is our third hotel in Croatia and all have far exceeded my expectations. They have large rooms, two in our case tonite in each of the two apartments we have. And they all have been very clean.

I didn't mention before that the ride between Split and Dubrovnik (and back today) is like 130 miles of the Cabot Trail. It has multiple turns high above the water with breath taking scenery at every turn.

Some things I had forgotten about Europe: a lot of people smoke a lot, soda comes in very small bottles and is very expensive, they say don't drink the water but if you do you're fine, women don't hesitate to undress at the pool right in front of you.

We continue to have a lot of fun. All the pictures I'm enclosing were taken in Dubrovnik. Let me hear from some of you. I'm glad I'm not in that hot weather in Boston.

Croatia is Great!!!!!!!

2008-06-08T12:45:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately I have to use a computer at an internet cafe to post this blog so I cant send any pictures. Excuse errors in this because the keyboard is in another language and everything is different. On Friday we left Budapest for the drive to southern Croatia. It turned out to be a longer drive than expected and we arrived into our hotel at 10:30 pm. The border crossing was interesting with the border crossing guy saying he couldn't speak English and saying over and over again Bin Laden, Obama, Bin Laden, Obama. He wasn't nice. I wouldn't want to run into him again. We drove just south of Split Friday night and woke up to a gorgeous view yesterday morning. We then took a leisurely drive (6 hours) down to Dubrovnik. It took so long because we constantly stopped to take pictures.

I will say to those who are wondering does Dubrovnik really live up to it's reputation. It sure does. It is totally beautiful. Almost breath taking so. The old city which is well over a thousand years old is a fortress, a walled butress with a city inside. It is made up of residences, shops and restaurants. Last night we enjoyed supper in an outdoor restaurant with a great piano player serenading us. We walked the entire wall encircling the city today. It is more than a mile around with many stairs and up and down places. It was a real work out. We saw the places "The Amazing Race" went from. It looked just the same.

Our hotel here has been wonderful. We have a place with a bedroom with a king sized bed and another room with twin beds for Rick and Eric with a kitchen area, a bathroom and a half and a covered porch that is three times bigger than our room in Budapest, it's huge. The porch overlooks the Adriatic. There is a huge pool over the Adriatic and a nice swimming beach. The beaches are very pebbly but crystal clear. They are so salty you can't even sink. I'm glad I have my crocs to wear into the water. The water temperature was a little cooler than I expected but fine once you get used to it. I think it probably is about 72-75.

Rick had three weeks of dirty clothes we washed in the bathtub last night. We hung them out in the porch but they don't seem to be drying very fast. I hope they will be dry by the morning when we pull out.

Everyone here is crazy about the Europe Cup Soccer Tournament. As I write this every TV in this little town is tuned into it and you can hear cheering every time anything good happens. So many of the people are dressed in soccer paraphanelia.

Bill wasn't so sure about coming to Croatia. It wasn't his first choice but he has been very happy with what he has seen. There are some remnants of the war still visible. There are four buildings in our hotel complex that were badly damaged in 1991 and have not been repaired. You can see the bullet holes. They had 1006 beds available before and now 500. What remains is exceptionally nice.

Anyway all is well. We've heard about the earthquake in Greece. I'm not excited about that but it doesn't sound too bad. We know that Hillary is out. Anyway that's it for now. I'll catch you again when I can hopefully with my computer.

More of Budapest

2008-06-05T15:54:00.008-04:00

I started my day off slowly with a leisurely time of meditation at the Danube. It was followed by a nice breakfast and we were off to the city. We arrived at our first destination by bus, train, tram and bus, all with a little directional assistance. Most of the time Frommer has it right but sometimes he doesn't. We were in search of a famous flea market. When we finally arrived (1 1/2 hours later) it was nothing to travel that far for. It was your typical junk with not much more. I did try three times to barter for an embroidered table runner as a keepsake. One guy wanted the equivalent of $40, the next $30 and finally a wise woman sold me hers for $12. With that done we got out of there within a 1/2 hour. I must say they had nice restrooms despite the dingeness of the whole place. All in all it was a waste of a morning but what can you do.

From there we headed to one of the malls in search of a pair of shoes for Kenny. The place was huge with three stories that went on and on. Kenny finally found some shoes and he is now a much happier camper. They were selling crocs there for $70. We ran into five American college students doing a summer of study. Much like Rick, they've been all over Europe during the past few weeks. Bill talked a little hockey with them and we were on our way to our next stop.

Our next stop was the Budapest Holocaust Memorial Center. As you can expect it was a serious tour and we learned a lot about Hungary's involvement in the holocaust. It was huge. In fact more Jews currently live in Hungary than any other European country apart from Russia. It will be hard to get some of those pictures out of our minds.

We enjoyed an early supper on a cafe filled street. It was good. We've been getting a fairly decent sized meal for two for around $35.

From there we headed to the airport to pick up one of our rental cars. We needed it to be able to pick up Rick and Eric when they came in. When we went to get into the car to drive away Bill realized Ken left his old shoes on the floor in the airport where he had been waiting for me. They quickly ran inside and fortunately were able to retrieve them.

We loved the lights of the city driving through at night. Budapest is truly a wonderful city that I've thoroughly enjoyed. There are still many things we were unable to do but we got a good flavor of the city anyway. We leave tomorrow for Croatia. We definately won't have internet every day there so you may not hear from me for awhile. Ricky and Eric came in late at 1am. It's been a late night arriving back at the hotel at 2am

A Day out of Town

2008-06-04T12:32:00.010-04:00

We started our day off early today at 7am with a good sized breakfast in the hotel. You've got to love those buffets! We made our way down to the Danube in Budapest to catch a boat to Szentendre an hour and half ride up the Danube. The boat was loaded with school kids who must be going on a field trip. We stayed as far away from the group as we could because they seemed pretty loud and excited. At one point Nancy saw one of the teachers hit one of the kids. It must no be illegal here. Anyway we enjoyed the ride up. It was raining a little but still enjoyable. We passed our hotel along the way.

Bill took a few zzzzzzzzzs along the way.

Szentrendre is one of those beautiful scenic little towns that is a perfect place to spend a day. There were loads of quaint little shops and restaurants on cobblestoned streets. Of course all the vendors were anxious to make a sale to you. The weather ended up nice and sunny.

The only one really looking to buy was Ken. He forgot his sandals at home and his shoes have been bothering him with all the walking we've been doing. The problem is that he wears size 15! We went in at least 5 shoestores with him trying on multiple pairs of shoes all to no avail. Bill quickly grew weary of the task and wouldn't even go in the store. He felt sorry for the workers. We'll have to look tomorrow in Budapest and see if we have any better luck.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in an outside cafe. The food was good but the service not quite so. The tips are included in the bills in Hungary so there probably isn't much need to over extend yourself. We took the train back to our hotel and enjoyed the countryside along the way.

This is the first time (other than on a cruise ship) where we've stayed in one place for a few days. We will be here a total of 4 nights. It has actually been very nice. The staff have been wonderful to us. We have taken a real liking to the dining room manager. We had a leisurely supper on the outside patio tonite and he came and sat down and talked for probably an hour and a half. He had spent 5 years working on a cruise ship in the Carribbean. He is super friendly and customer service oriented. He had juice sent up to our rooms on the first night. This afternoon when he saw we had come back he sent us up some donuts. Tonight he brought out two different desserts for us to try. All of this of course was on the house. Anyway it was interesting to hear his cruise ship stories and his perspective on communism in this country. He was 16 when communism fell.

Tommorrow we will spend the day again in Budapest, go to the airport to pick up our car rentals and then go back nearly at midnight to pick up Rick and Eric. I'm sure the trip will take on a different flavor then.

Getting to Know Budapest

2008-06-03T15:14:00.006-04:00

We started the day off bright and early today. Actually I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I tried for an hour and then opened the curtain so I would have enough light to finish reading the book I had become engrossed with. The name of the book is "Stolen Innocence" by Elissa Wall and is about the girl who got Warren Jeff put in jail for arranging her marriage with the Fundamentalist Mormons at age 14. It really made me mad. It was totally fascinating.

We served ourselves a real nice buffet breakfast here in the hotel. Fortunately it was included in our room rate. We like all those all-you -can eat affairs. We were picked up by a taxi and taken to our open air bus tour of Budapest. It was a two hour tour that took in all the major spots. The day was perfect weather wise (maybe just a little too hot) and gave us a good overview of this very beautiful city. It was followed by a 2 hour boat ride on the Danube taking in the sights from a different perspective. It was enjoyable too.

After that we finally took on the metro (subway) system and got ourselves to the "House of Terror". This building had housed the Nazi party leaders and told about all the atrocities that took place in the building. It was as sobering as expected. It seemed as though most of the staff were hold overs from that era because they lacked many of the friendly graces we had thus far experienced in Budapest.

From there we went on to supper. After discussion and searching we ended up in a restauarnt off the main "walking" street. We were the only ones in the dining room because we wouldn't eat in the bar where they wanted to put us, but we couldn't take the smoke. A 3 person musical ensemble of violin, guitar and bass came in to serenade us. They were very good and with us being the only ones in the room Bill and Ken were very friendly with them. Before you know it they brought in a CD of themselves and were anxious for both of us couples to buy one. Bill said yes immediately and when we asked the price and they said the equivalent of $32 I knew we had been taken. Of course Bill insisted on paying them and asked them to play a few more songs for us so we'd at least get a little more for our money. Ken and Nancy wouldn't buy one.

We made our way back to the hotel via public transportation. I think I've figured out the metro now so can get around just fine. That's it for now. Bill is already on the bed snoring (fully dressed).

We're in Budapest!

2008-06-02T08:45:00.006-04:00

After what seemed like a very long flight we safely arrived in Budapest. We had middle of the plane seats so were unable to really form an opinion of the environment from the air as we flew in. The airport wasn't really that big but it was quick to get our bags and get through customs. The airport was sparkling and clean but open smoking was very evident. We got a minibus ride (thank you Frommer) to our hotel on the Danube which is, as I worried about, somewhat off the beaten path. Our room is 1/2 the size of a normal college dorm room but it is clean and has free wireless internet. It also has air conditioning that was much needed.

After a little nap we had an early supper out on the patio of the hotel overlooking the Danube. The food was good and not terribly expensive. We realized we didn't want to do much more than that today so arranged a sight seeing tour for tomorrow and took a walk along the walking path that goes beside the Danube. It is now about 8:30pm and we are about to go to sleep. It was an absolutely perfect weather day. The staff here have been very nice and helpful. We plan to have a lot more energy tomorrow and really see the city. Thats it for now.

Getting Ready

2008-05-30T17:55:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm trying my hand at writing a blog. Corey informs me she has a lot of confidence in my ability to catch on, so I'm giving it a whirl. This is my new LL Bean suitcase which I'll be packing tomorrow night for our big trip. Somehow the pile of stuff on my bedroom floor will end up in the suitcase. If I get the internet connection that I'll think I'll get in Europe I'll be posting a blog rather regularly.

My First Blog

2008-05-24T17:37:00.003-04:00

This is Corey. I have just set up a new blog for my mother so that she can write about her adventures in Hungary and Greece and whereever else she may be "galavanting." The question is, Will she be able to post an entry herself?" I think the answer is YES!