Greetings!
Back home again until April, when we head out to northern Italy, Malta, and Cyprus. Before then, we've cleaned up our 2005 Airstream and 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and are putting them up for sale. Here are photos
For many years, we've traveled to places around the world which intrigue us. Capturing photos, and always memories, this blog is our attempt to inspire others to pursue their dreams. Email us at gfearon@gmail.com.
Greetings!
Back home again until April, when we head out to northern Italy, Malta, and Cyprus. Before then, we've cleaned up our 2005 Airstream and 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and are putting them up for sale. Here are photos
Greetings!
For the past almost three weeks, we've been traveling from Berlin to Budapest with Overseas Adventure Travel. On August 18th, my access to this blog was suspended by Google's double verification process because I could not retrieve my Pixel 7 notified code. So I switched blogs to one which I had used before (www.gfpktravels2.blogspot.com). I have been using that blog, and the Google photo albums associated with it, ever since.
Now that I have again access to this Google account, I may switch back (or not). We still have Bulgaria and Romania to travel in for the next three weeks. The other blog is working fine, it's just that it doesn't access the many years of places and photos that I have built up. Whatever works for the next three weeks will be what I choose to use. When I get home again, I'll probably consolidate the two. And hope I have never to use the alternate blog again.
Gregory
Today was a traveling day from Berlin to Dresden. A couple of hours along the way, we stopped at Wittenberg, the hometown of Martin Luther. On Halloween, his trick was to nail 95 complaints against a castle church door a short walk from his monastery residence. Challenging among other things the indulgences being given to rich families for dead ancestors, Luther proposed an academic discussion of the efficacy of these practices.
During the remainder of the day, we experienced the adventures of the challenged. Many of the routes across Germany were closed, and our re-routing proved confusing. I felt very much like we were driving in circles, and we were in someone else's nightmare.Greetings!
It took us two days to see the collections we came to see in what is locally called. "Museum Island". We thought we had tickets to the suite of museums, and a scheduled all-day entry to the most popular "Pergamom Museum" for yesterday. For serious museum visitors, I can only say that you ought to re-examine your stamina if your goals are to see them all in one day.
The Neues Museum and the Pergamom sell selected two-hour time tickets, and both are full of exhaustingly complex multi-lingual written and audio guide information. The good news is that there is an excellent cafe in the Neues Museum, and it can make a long day easier. The only other advice we have to offer is to be sure to bring a Euro to utilize the key-secured locker. The coin is returned to you upon retrieval, but you're out of luck if you don't have one at the start.Why is this museum complex important to visit? For the last one hundred and fifty years, historians and societies of explorers have searched the world for the answers to what came before. Acquiring and assembling the pieces of life, these museums help us know the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful of the lives of generations of humans all over the planet. For us, these rooms contain much of the treasures which were dug up at places we have visited in our travels. I have heard many times "the best stuff from here was taken by the Germans, and is in the Berlin Museum". Today, we got to see what was taken, and it certainly enriched our previous travels.To see all of the photos we took in three of the Berlin Island of Museums, click on Wednesday, August 16th, Berlin, Germany.
Today, we're flying to Berlin for a seven-week adventure through seven countries between there and the Black Sea. Mostly multi-day stays in excellent hotels. It's two back to back "Jewels of Bohemia" and "Bulgaria and Romania" Overseas Adventures Travels" tours. Fourteen travelers on the first half, fifteen on the second half, and we're the only ones that overlap. All from the U.S., ten other Californians.
After a long couple of flights, we check into the Eurostar Berlin, and unpack and try not to sleep too much. Skipping dinner, Pat goes to bed about midnight, and I go out. The main train station is across the street, with the most popular McDonald's inside. After a chickenburger and a small coke, I take the City Evening Walking Tour of the river.To see all of the photos that resulted, click on Midnight, August 13th, Berlin, Germany.
This morning, we flew Yeti Airlines from Pokhara back to Kathmandu. Our earlier stay at the Radisson Hotel was useful, as we were able to leave one bag of gear and lighten our flight load on the small plane to Pokhara. Returning to the same hotel, we were able to get one last glimpse at the magnificent Himalayan range before boarding our plane.
Our walkabout today consisted of a couple of hours in Bhaktapur's Durbar Square. A former royal palace, it housed the Malla kings of Nepal from the 14th to the 15th century and the kings of the Kingdom of Bahktapur from the 16th to the late 18th century until the kingdom was conquered in 1769.