Sunday, January 28, 2024

Sunday, January 28th, Santa Rosa, California

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


Friday, September 1, 2023

Thursday, August 31st, Budapest, Hungary

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


Thursday, August 17, 2023

Thursday, August 17th, Dresden, Germany

Greetings!

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.

The highlight of the day was our lunch at a mountain restaurant overlooking the Elbe Valley, in Saxony.  Just before our Dresden road trip got frustrating, I'll remember the vanilla ice cream/strawberry sorbet  desert as the perfect calm before the storm.  

To see the few other photos we took today, click on Thursday, August 17th, Dresden, Germany.








Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Wednesday, August 16th, Berlin, Germany

 

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.

Monday, August 14, 2023

Monday, August 14th, Berlin, Germany


After a hotel breakfast, our guide (William) took us on a short walk through our neighborhood. Becoming street-smart in a strange place, understanding its nature, and how to read beyond its map, is much of what a guide brings to the travel experience.  William's Berlin is based on watching it evolve from before the wall came down, through migration into the areas just outside of downtown, to the enormously dispersed expanse it has become.


Pat and I then went on a three-hour cruise on the Stree, a river/canal system which crosses downtown.  Listening to a narration describing the origin of the buildings on either side of the boat, the changes to East and West Germany became clearer to us.  There are conversions of older governmental architecture which previously housed soldiers, bureaucrats, and essential resources.  Interspersed are artistic colonies which must have helped nurture the freedom which seized the days.  Finally, modern skyscrapers cater to new visitors eager to claim the atmosphere.


Joining up with our group in the late afternoon, William led us into an area south east of downtown where an influx of what he described as the third largest Turkish population in the world settled once the wall came down.  Kebabs appeared, and graffiti flourished, and the pace of life slowed.  It became a bit easier to navigate those in bikes, consisting more of locals then tourist-rentals and food distributors.
Finding a restaurant/bar which was opening, and had enough outside seats to accommodate our group, we stopped for a spritzer and conversation.  Sharing our backgrounds, and comparing our travel histories, is required to enrich our time together for the next three weeks.  William will navigate our return by train to the hotel, and some will go out to dinner around 7pm.  As for Pat and I, it's been an exhausting day after too little sleep last night.  We'll return to the hotel to try to reclaim some quiet time, and to contemplate what our first day together has brought.

To see the photos taken today, click on Monday, August 14th, Berlin, Germany.


 






Sunday, August 13, 2023

Sunday, August 13th, Berlin, Germany

Greetings!

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.




Saturday, April 1, 2023

Saturday, April 1st, Kathmandu, Nepal


Greetings!

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.  

The Square hosts a nine-day new year festival in spring called Bisket Jatra, dating from the fifth century.  For it, images of Lord Ganesh, Goddess Lakshimi, Goddess Mahakali, and a chariot dedicated to the God Bhairava are towed through the very narrow streets.  Good fortune comes to those patrons of successfully navigated streets, and the route is often fought over. 

This is probably the last post of the trip.  Tonight, our group will have its farewell dinner, and tomorrow we'll head home.  Our path takes us to Delhi around 11am, and we'll hang out at a hotel near the airport until 4am on Monday.  An Emirates flight will then take us through Dubai, and over the pole to SFO at 2pm.   

To see all of the photos taken today, click on Saturday, April 1st, Kathmandu, Nepal.