Category Archives: Travel

Akureyri

Posted on by August 19, 2017

Somewhere between our cabin and the gangway I managed to misplace George. Thinking he was right behind me, I had grabbed my bag and camera. I even remembered to take my room key. Once on the pier, I realized that he was nowhere to be seen. Since his phone went straight to voice mail….. amazing how dependent all of us have become on our electronics.

Ah, well. I didnt think he was all that thrilled about my planned hunt for knitting needles.

My first choice – Flora – was closed for the week. Fold-Anna didn’t have hours posted and was closed at 1030. So I did what any self-respecting local would do. I went to the main shopping center. Located less than a km from the pedestrian zone it was easy to find. Just take the sidewalk past the Rathuis, continue past the soccer fields then make a left into a good size parking lot.

Nice normal shops and not a souvenirr or other cheesy thing in sight. Nettó was a treasure trove of goodies. Not just snack foods, but good food and produce, school supplies and a whole wall of yarn as well as knitting needles. The priced turned out to be lower than those at the shop in town with great choices.

I obviously spent time wandering around town. There are a lot of galleries; there are murals and bits of whimsy tucked here and there. Again, photos will be addef when I am not trying to post from my phone.

In front of the Art Museum

Seyðisfjörður

Posted on by August 18, 2017  

Even the overcast sky and intermittent rain coulnt slow my enthusiasm this morning. And it had nothing to do with docking after two sea days or free wifi in the terminal. I really enjoy port calls in Iceland. After all, how many countries can you think of where yarn is routinely found in the grocery stores.

I love looking at the mountainsides

 

With horizontal strata and low lying clouds

We hiked through the town (population 650) and along one of the main roads out of town.

Afternoon George headed off on a ships tour and hike. A lovely woman from Vienna and I joined a couple “local” professiosl photographers for a drive and perspective on the area. There are fabulous shorelines, old buildings from the herring industry and base structures left from the US military presence in WWII.

The fjord itself is 25 km long

Looking out to sea

We sail back out ~2000 tonight. I havent downloaded today’s photos yet. Will try and add them tomorrow if WiFi is available

SeaDay 2

Posted on by August 18, 2017  

And now there are only 8 hours of time zone change since we are headed to Iceland (GMT-1) today and another hour of fall back tomorrow.

I have now recovered, maybe, enough to discuss the flight, followed by a flight, another flight, a hotel overnight, a tram, a taxi and a five hour wait to board the ship.

On second thought, not.  It could have been much worse like that experienced by friends returning to the US through CDG. Shall we leave it at – late plane, immigration, running through the airport, getting to the gate only to be refused boarding because their seats had been given away? And, just to increase the pain, since most of the delays were due to CDG and not the plane’s lateness, they were refused compensation.

Any who – I am hanging out in the lounge and relaxing.  George is hitting the gym and going to lectures.  I am thinking about taking a nap and watching my hair grow…

 

Phoenix

Posted on by August 18, 2017  

Traveling on this line feels much different than the standard, mid-range US/North American focused lines.

There is one announcement per day, at around 1000 by the cruise director followed by the captain with the whole thing taking less than five minutes.  With less than 900 passengers the ship feel comfortable but not crowded.  There is a more than reasonable amount of lounge space and tea served in the afternoon. On the downside, the lounge that would be the most comfortable also has a smoking section. Inside, so that is off my list of places to hang out.

Considering the travel to get here, I am impressed that I only forgot one small container which I am sure is still sitting on my bed.  End result? I have yarn but no knitting needles. OTOH, I will be going through Iceland  where knitting is common and yarn can normally be found with notions in the grocery store.

So I will be working on a cross-stitch and, if my afternoon I see like the morning, spending a lot of time explaining what I am doing to a lot of people.

Out to Sea

Posted on by August 14, 2017  

And yes, I realize this is 2017, rather than 2018, but I waited too long to pull the information from the website – so just bear with me –

the route

 

and the general information on the trip  I don’t know how much I will actually be on line over the next three weeks. Depends on how often I can make off with George’s phone…..

Hafen an ab Ausflugsangebot
.

Bremerhaven – Einschiffung
von ca. 15 Uhr bis 17 Uhr e)

 – 18:00

Urlaub auf See

 – –

Urlaub auf See

 – –

Kreuzen im Seydisfjord

 – –

Seyðisfjörður / Island ®

 09:00 16:00 Wanderung im Vesturdalur-Tal, Der malerische Osten, Skálanes Naturreservat
.

Husavik / Island ®

 07:00 09:00 Überlandfahrt Mývatn und Godafoss

Kreuzen im Eyjafjord

 – –

Akureyri / Island

 14:00 22:00 Godafoss und Laufás, Mývatn und Godafoss, Baden in Mývatn, Flug zur Insel Grimsey am Polarkreis
.

Kreuzen in der Dänemarkstraße

 – –
.

Grönland – Geplantes Programm *)

 – –

Ammassalik / Grönland/Dänemark ®**)

 -vormittags- Spaziergänge
S.

Prins Christan Sund

 -Durchfahrt-
.

Alluitsup Paa / Sydprøven / Grönland/Dänemark®**)

 -vormittags- Spaziergänge
.

Kreuzen in der Davisstraße

 – –

Überqueren des Polarkreises

 – –

Sisimiut / (Holsteinborg) / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -ganztags- Besuch bei den Schlittenhunden, Kultur und Geschichte der Inuit, Panoramarundfahrt
.

Ilulissat (Jacobshavn) / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -ganztags- Sermermiut-Wanderung, Bootsfahrt zum Eisfjord, Rundflug
.

Ilulissat (Jacobshavn) / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -vormittags- Sermermiut-Wanderung, Bootsfahrt zum Eisfjord, Rundflug

Kreuzen in der Diskobucht

 – –
.

Kreuzen im Søndre Strømfjord

 – –

Kangerlussuaq / Søndre Strømfjord / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -nachmittags- Landschaftsfahrt, Transfer zur Inlandeiskappe, Rundflug
.

Kreuzen im Nûk-Fjord

 – –

Nûk (Godthåb) / Grönland/Dänemark

 -nachmittags- Nûk Panoramarundfahrt
.

Paamiut / Frederikshåb / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -vormittags- Spaziergänge
.

Kap Farvel / Grönland/Dänemark

 -Passage-
.

Urlaub auf See

 – –
.

Hafnarfjörður / Reykjavik / Island

 07:00 19:00 Panoramafahrt Reykjavík, Baden in der Blauen Lagune, Gullfoss-Wasserfall und Geysir
.

Heimaey / Westmänner Inseln / Island

 07:00 12:00 Spaziergänge
.

Urlaub auf See

 – –
.

Urlaub auf See

 – –
.

Bremerhaven – Ausschiffung
ab ca. 9 Uhr, Dauer 2-3 Std. a)

 09:00 –

A 33 hour day

Posted on by August 14, 2017  

You know all those times when you wish you had a few more hours in the day. Hours that you fantasied as being productive? A day in which you would amaze everyone and finish your to-do list!

Well, I will suggest that getting effectively a 33 hour day (nine hours of time zone change + 10 1/2 hours of flight + four hours of layover + two more flights – none of this includes getting up on Sunday to pack, go to the airport, hangout in the United Lounge) – is not all it is cracked up to be.

SAS is a lovely airline with great food and firm seats. If there had been a plethora of extra blankets I might have wanted 4-5 for padding. George slept for a few hours on the plane. I gave up and read. He also dozed in the Copenhagen SAS Lounge and on both of our connecting flights.

Did I mention that we were traveling on two unrelated reservations? I had that fare on SAS from last January that I couldn’t use, so converted it for this trip. But SAS doesn’t fly to Bremen meaning we had to get out luggage, then go check in with Lufthansa for the last two flights (one hour, ~ 45 minutes).

The hotel is right across the street from the airport and there are tram lines in front, so figuring out the connections to Bremerhaven tomorrow shouldn’t be that hard.

And – on my pillow

Gummi Bears!

SK 936

Posted on by August 13, 2017 1

And if you think that sounds like a flight number, you are absolutely correct.

George and I are sitting in the United Lounge at SFO. He has a backpack full of stuff (no clue) while mine has the usual camera and computer equipment. Plus knitting since cross-stitch on an airplane is absolutely insane.

We are leaving Dani and Alex to watch the house –

along with the two girls watching us go down the driveway this noon.

Noah is home in about a week, just in time for school to start.

Oh, the flight? Here to Copenhagen. Then tomorrow (since of course it is an overnight flight) we catch Lufthansa and fly to Bremen. A night there and Tuesday we board a ship. More to follow – obviously.

Guilford

Posted on by July 25, 2017  

as in Connecticut, not Surrey.

Did I mention that it was raining and that we had a briefcase, backpack, suitcase and one ladylike umbrella between the two of us as we hustled from the hotel to Grand Central Station? Thought not. If you live on the US East Coast, rain is just something you prepare for. Something that you might actually expect as you check the daily weather report.

Those of living in California? Prepared? Not so much. There are trains as often as twice an hour from Grand Central to New Haven, CT. The good thing about traveling after 1000 is that you can avoid the morning commuters of which apparently there are a number going north although not anywhere near as many, I suspect, as the hordes of lemmings headed into NYC.

It was still raining the 90+ minutes later when we disembarked and headed out of the station to the rental car place. Need I mention anything about hiking in the wrong direction first? Or going back into the station to find that the rental agencies offer courtesy phones and train station pickups?

Thought not.

After an afternoon of getting a tour of where Noah is doing his internship this summer, we headed to what turned out to be fancier hotel than expected in Madison Beach. I am still running fairly tired and it was lovely to have a location completely undisturbed by city noise.

Citi Field

Posted on by July 24, 2017  

What would a weekend be without a baseball game?

In this case, it was take the 7 from Manhattan almost all the way to Flushing.

I actually don’t mind some of the design of Citi Field. Certainly it is a lot newer than either the Coliseum or A T&T park. Some of the design features I do find issue with. The stairways are hard to find and ADA access? Absolutely no signage – you have to know where to go and how to find it. And we will not bother with discussing subway lack of easy accessibility…. not worth going there. The do have the sense of just wanding everyone which eliminated all the metal detectors. Actually quicker and easier!

The design of the stadium, however, does lead to decent right and left field bleacher ares.

FYI – the Mets – like too many other teams outlaws noise makers. The fans today lacked what I would call ongoing team spirit, perhaps fueled by what is now the Mets Sunday 2-7 record at home. According to Angel (Pratt grad along with the Maus) there is a solid bleacher group which primarily comes to home evening games and does a lot of supporting cheering.

But still? No banners? No flags? No drums or cow bells? It is part of the experience at home for the As.

Daniel Gossett managed to pull off five good innings before starting to lose it in the sixth. The relief pitchers held it together. Casilla after pulling his usual idiocy managed to get the three outs in the bottom of the 9th thanks in no small part do to excellent fielding on the part of Brugman in the outfield. A win is good, especially after pitchers gave away more than comfortable leads to lose the last two games.

We are off to Connecticut in the morning. My chance to see where Noah is working for the summer and ride the trains on the East Coast…

(photos not yet downloaded….

MoMA

Posted on by July 23, 2017 2

Once again, I agree with Maus – most modern art is a matter of taste. In this taste – I think 90+% has absolutely no business being offerred up anywhere. I think those critics and experts are perpetuating a hoax on the unsuspecting and generally naive public. We are told this is important – right? We are told it is good, says something, reflects deep meaning. Kvatch!

Meanwhile, there were two excellent exhibits –

Louise Lawler – Why Pictures Now?

who does some amazing work and

Making Space – Women Artists and Post War Abstractions.

which looks at the post WWII changes in the art movements and both women artists contributions and the channeling of those artists into traditional crafts (textiles, pottery) and generally being ignored whenever possible.

Unlike the exhibits on several of the prominent male artists – the MoMA didn’t even bother to produce a catalog for either exhibit. Says something, doesn’t it?

FYI – the As are here in NYC. For the second night in a row, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…

Untied

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

There was a long time ago when we used to make fun of the airlines. Before a lot of consolidation and one actually depended on those trips that you would arrive on time, fed, and with your luggage. TWA  – Transworld Airlines was referred to as Tiny Weeny Airlines. Northwest was Northworst. Allegheny was Agony…. And United was Untied.

That was perhaps the best and most accurate of the nicknames. Today, once again United proved it. The first flight out of SFO this morning hit maintenance and was cancelled. Then, of course there was a bit of a weather problem in Newark. (sometimes I don’t think direct flights are all that great. The options for alternative routes can actually be better as you get further east). Our flight actually took off, after a “slight maintenance ” check but it was over 90 minutes late.

Since EWR was our destination, it really didn’t matter. Yes, being stuck in the last row in a middle seat between two gentlemen who would have each been required to purchase two seats did. Obviously, neither food nor moving around was an option for the entire flight. George was also middle seated, but across the isle.

Arriving late is not always negative, the traffic into the city had actually started to clear, Dinner was a different issue. Hotel grill had closed, fast food is mostly directed toward the working crowd and the prices in NYC on the menus are insane.

Alameda County Fair

Posted on by June 28, 2017  

It is not that I go all that often to county fairs. The last one, if my memory serves me correctly was in 1988 where I was the weaver in a Sheep-to-Shawl team. Considering that I was pregnant with Daughter #2 at the time what I mostly remember were smells, heat and nausea.

I hadn’t even thought about such things for years. In fact, I had no idea that there were even such things as county fairs in this area of the country till I was given a free ticket at an As game a week or so ago. Since I had the ticket, it made sense (sort of) to use it. Canvasing the household, Alex was the only taker.

So off we went – Alameda County encompasses a huge portion of the East Bay (including, but not limited to Oakland, Dublin, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Berkeley, Emeryville). Rather large in population as such places go. The fairgrounds are in Pleasanton, which is just about as far from my house as you can get and still be in the county. We drove south and east….

Parking cost, of course. Fairgrounds entry didn’t. Alex took my free ticket and the fairground doesn’t charge either active military or veterans. There were the usual midway rides, games to separate you from your money with cheap prizes as a reward. There was junk food galore.

Of no surprise to me were the buildings containing vendors hawking knives, cookware, magic blenders, massage chairs, windows, siding, sports related souvenirs. Except for the teams which were most prominently displayed, I’d swear it was the same old guy from another state and decades ago. There has to be a fair circuit and things that are only and always sold there.

After an hour or so of wandering we finally found the buildings housing the hobbies, exhibits, small animals and other fun. The hobbies building turned out to have old people (whoops – folks of my age) demonstrating various crafts) while the rest of the hall was filled with cases featuring various “collections.” There is no way I can really put words to this strangeness so I will add in photos as soon as I track down the USB cable.

The small animal barn had bunnies, lots and lots of bunnies along with ducklings and chicks and a few other small birds. The Agriculture and Wine building had plants, bee keeping and one wine merchant. In the building labeled “Exhibits” I struck gold (for me). Not surprising, quilting seems to have taken over here much as it had 30 years ago in Maryland. There were a few entries in the knitting, spinning and weaving categories. More in the crochet (yes, the obligate baby stuff). Nothing in needlepoint, only one entry in cross-stitch. There was also a category which I found extremely strange – place settings. Like the hobby entries, these can only be seen and not well described or understood.

I never did find the large animals, but the hour was getting toward heavy traffic and we decided to skip both the rides and the late evening concert. There wasn’t any horse racing today, not that I minded at all.

Tomorrow’s plan? Wonder Woman.

Long Days Journey to the Oakland Coliseum

Posted on by May 19, 2017  

We all know that I am totally insane right?

How else would you explain a flight before 0700 in the morning out of Barcelona.  That meant a cab at 0430 for the 20-30 minutes to the airport. Prompt check-in was followed by security (one person at a time thank you very much) and breakfast in the lounge. So there we all were, prompt at B26 for our flight. Except for the fact that the flight boarding was for Malaga, not Frankfurt. The phone beeps – you have a gate change to B26.

Oh, really? Meanwhile the announcement over the tannoy in Catalan and Spanish informs us of the gate change to B42. At least it is the same terminal. The crowd moves in mass and lines up once again. I notice a couple of minutes later that there is a “business line” that is empty. Lufthansa Sen right? I change lines not that it turns out to do much good since we all board a bus out to the plane.

This is where it gets really fun. There are two sets of stairs and everyone but five of us head to the front stairs. I am in row 15 which isn’t quite half way back (so I thought). Turns out there are 42 rows? Some would say celestial significance to the gate number. Me? I just can’t recognize the seating configuration from the outside. Nevertheless, it takes me no time to move forward and take my seat. Several minutes later a woman in another row starts taking bags out of the overhead compartment to put hers in where she wants. Not happy when I explain that I would prefer my bag be left (above my row) where I placed it. She is young and healthy – I have the steely glare and she backs down.

I love Frankfurt Airport. It is organized. It is well signed. You can go from Terminal A to Passkontrol to Terminal Z WITHOUT having to go through another security check. Seriously. Luggage checked through to final destination, only goods and services those provided by the airport. How civilized….

Please note – in spite of my header, the reason for coming back early is not to make the game but to make a couple of appointments at the SFVA on Friday morning.

Other than getting sent in the lower level (380s have two levels, being upstairs is lovely) and having a discussion with old of the cabin attendants, boarding went smoothly. The food was good, the flight comfortable. Didn’t get any sleep but that was fine. The lovely niot so young pregnant woman I wound up spending time with was interesting. Resolving anxiety (her, the cabin attendants) and that we had no need to drop her off in Greenland was more than worth the loss of a nap.

Arriving in SFO, I used the Mobil passport app and was 10 minutes from plane to baggage claim. Wish I could say that my luggage arrived in less than an hour. By the time I made North Berkeley I was wiped.

After all of that, I went to sleep rather than to the game…

CISTM15 – Day 3

Posted on by May 17, 2017  

Both the education and the entertainment continued today. Takeda (Pharma) was kind enough to provide both wifi and an app for the program. As a result figuring out where to go and what to do has been extremely simple. It has also made the evaluation of each presentation and panel easy as the usual questions can all be answered on line.

The highlight of the day was a presentation by Jay Keystone (Canada) who has an extremely dry sense of humor as well as a breadth of knowledge in infectious disease. For this conference he was tagged to discuss STIs (sexually transmitted infections in CA/UK parlance often referred to as STD – diseases in American English) as they relate to the travel population. The issues of human trafficking, sex tourism (which includes both men and women on the travel side – men, women and children on the host country side) and disease spread aren’t particularly funny. But confirmation of sexual activity in the younger set (hey – alcohol, drugs, opportunity with fellow travelers and rarely planned) is not the same as the business traveler (older, money, often planned) still leads to consequences in both groups. As a side note – the CDC’s condom information includes the reminder to “open the package.”  Most of us assume a slightly higher level of intelligence in our patients. Our issue is reminding them to take condoms along on the trip.

The business meeting at the end of the day was just about as boring as one would expect. The money is being handled responsibly, awards were given out, the outgoing and incoming executives shook hands and gave speeches (yada, yada, yada).  I stayed through about 15 minutes of the reception then headed to the Tram. My flight is early in the morning (looking at an 0430 cab ride) and grabbing coffee at the airport. It is going to be a really, really long day…..

CISTM15 – Day 2

Posted on by May 17, 2017  

There wasn’t anything in the 0800 offerings that thrilled my heart which gave me more time to wander from the hotel to the conference center. It also meant being on a slightly more crowded Tram which wasn’t all that exciting.

Today’s sessions covered the range from effects from climate change through public health emergencies in the morning to special groups of travelers, new vaccines and the usual discussions on malaria.  What I didn’t do was attend the Gala Dinner thinking an early bedtime was much more interesting

The cross stitch is now going more slowly. Not surprising as the sections are smaller, starting to curve. This results in ending the fun of long runs of a single color mostly in straight lines which translates to mindless stitching while listening to an audio book. I’m on the last Daisy Dalyrumple (Carola Dunn, author) that is available on Hoopla. But this way I don’t wind up with another half dozen audio books in my “collection.”

16 May 2017

Travelers, Immigrants & Refugees

Posted on by May 14, 2017  

From it’s inception in 1991 the emphasis of ISTM has been the traveler. Usually in fact the tourist. Over the years the membership has expanded both beyond Western travelers and health care providers into areas of travel and those who worked there.  Over the last ten years both regional meetings and involvement in issues of population movements has spread. No longer just oriented on the tourist experience, the organization has been active in environmental impact, expedition, altitude, wilderness medicine in addition to increasing involvement in travel by and problems of refugees.  It has taken a lot of work over the years to reorient even a little from a primary concern with infectious diseases. Face it, we all like malaria. It has a clear path from infection to treatment, lending itself well to Western concepts of curative medicine.

And so, the emphasis of this year’s ISTM conference is on travelers of all kinds, not just tourists.  The young Japanese doctor who is the chair of the Refugee & Migrant Interest group had put together an extremely interesting and educational recourse for those of us who want to maximize our learning for the number of hours spent in Barcelona.

 

Completely aside, this is probably about the 9th or 10th time I have been in Barcelona.  There is always something to explore; a museum, a gallery, an old neighborhood .  I am finally conversant with the Metro and tram system; leaving me to wonder why I had not made much use of it in the past. Getting from the airport to the Congress turned out to be easy and 4.50€ (compared to taxi or private transfer fees).  As an aside another participant asked me in all honesty if a day would be enough to see the city after the conference.  Hum, would you expect to be able to do that in Berlin, St Petersburg, London, Paris, NYC? Perhaps five days might be a good start….

So I attended the afternoon course following my early flight from Munich before going to my hotel.  I had stayed for the opening remarks but bagged the reception on the grounds of being tired.  I’ve free wifi at both conference and hotel resulting in my sparing of our phone budget

 

 

 

What was I thinking?

Posted on by May 13, 2017  

There are times that all the neurons just aren’t firing and you go down this strange path trying to figure out something that just doesn’t need to be bothered about.

Let me give you an example. I was in Munich at a conference, then traveled to Speyer to visit friends, returning to Munich today. I bought a round trip ticked from Munich to Speyer along with one City-mobil pass.

With me so far?

In Munich on the way to the train station I just spent 2.80 for an U-Bahn ticket since had hours of time and wasn’t sure what my connections on the way back would be. That would be when I would use the City-Mobil as part of the train ticket and not have to worry about purchasing a local ticket. My friends dropped me off at the S-Bahn in Speyer. And somehow it was in my head that I was choosing when to use the City-Mobil part of the ticket. Now? or in Munich. This lasted till I looked at the price of at ticket to Heidelberg – 10.50. Hello? That is expensive. So I double checked my train ticket.

Munich Speyer.

Blinding flash of the obvious, I have already paid my way from Speyer. Why would I want to do it again? Perhaps it was the fact that I had a train change in Heidelberg from the S-Bahn to an EC train? Who knows? In any case I figured it out before paying a second time……

Both S-Bahn and train were on time as was the S-1 toward the airport in Munich. My train trip proved to be a bit interesting. I had reserved a seat which turned out to be wonderfully right near the door and adjacent to the luggage rack which negated having to boost anything into the overhead rack. I sat down. There was an elderly (trust me, she looked a lot older than me) woman sitting in the window seat giving me a really hateful look. Perhaps she wanted the seat to herself? The train was quite full and I was glad to have paid for the reserved seat. In any case, I proved impervious to all of her bad vibes not regretting a moment when she got off in Stuttgart. With both seats to myself for the duration of the journey I attempted to cross-stitch. No go, train vibrates too much.

So it was audio books (for those of you with an Audible account – there is a Ben Aaronovich authored Peter Grant short story for free down load.) for the duration of the journey.

I’m checked in to the hotel and facing a 0635 flight to Barcelona.

13 May 2017

It is going to be slower going from here. The runs of color are much shorter and more likely to be separated rather than contiguous. I also didn’t bring any colors beyond the blues and greens to might just run out of cross-stitch before heading home.

 

Fractal 54

Posted on by May 12, 2017 1

It has been a lovely day; visiting, stitching and otherwise going nowhere in a big hurry. The only two things I needed to do today – mail a package and a bit of laundry – were easily accomplished.

Then of course, there is spargel –

steamed, buttered

and served on stone oven (wood fired) dinkel pancake (aka spelt in English).

Other than that – I made a bit of progress on Fractal 54 which turns out to be the second easiest one I have attempted. There aren’t a lot of isolated single color stitches.

Fr-54

Is what it will look like when completed.

So far –

12 May 2017

I think I am making good progress.

I’ve a late afternoon train back to Munich tomorrow and an extremely early flight to Barcelona on Sunday.

Such changes

Posted on by May 11, 2017  

It wasn’t all that long ago I was stationed here in München with the Bundeswehr. Or maybe it was, since I had children in Grundschule and a daughter in University. Come to think of it, that was 1999-2001. But it seems like yesterday when I come back. That is, until I start looking around. Asian food options lead the choices at the main train station followed by the ever popular pizza. Würst and beer would have to be hunted down. The pedestrian traffic has increased in both numbers and diversity. Unlike 15-20 years ago, other languages than German are commonly spoken by individuals who are obviously not tourists.

I arrived early enough at the train station to enjoy people watching with my brain still feeling overstuffed from the morning lectures. My train was an EC (European City) that started in Klagenfurt (Austria) and ends in Frankfurt. Not being completely stupid, I had reserved a seat which turned out to be quite a smart thing to do as the train was essentially full from Munich to Stuttgart.

My change in Heidelberg was easy – Track 3 to Track 4. Then the dreaded Bahn delays hit. Five minutes isn’t all that much and wasn’t a problem for me. However, at two of the stops the translation essentially ran “All of the connecting Trains and Buses have left. We are sorry for the inconvenience….”  If it was the last connection of the night – I would not exactly be a happy camper. One of the exiting passengers just patted his bike and grinned.

I’m in Speyer till Saturday with friends and not planning on doing much of anything. Brain rest and sleep? Maybe some coffee, but not tonight.

Last flight out

Posted on by May 6, 2017

All of us who fly to Europe are used to the “leave in the evening and arrive the next morning” method of travel. For years when traveling from the East Coast, this meant a flight leaving somewhere after 2000 and sometimes as late as 2230. After moving to the West Coast things changed a lot. If you are stuck (schedule or expense) changing planes in the US it normally means a morning departure. You have to account for 4-5 hours of flight plus three hours of time change. And, if you are smart, at least 2 hours at the change airport just to have 1/2 a chance of making your flight.

Even the direct flights from SFO seem to leave early afternoon. But then, my most recent flights have involved Frankfurt, a plane change in Frankfurt or Copenhagen. Imagine my surprise when informed that the flight to Munich (why wouldn’t I fly direct?) didn’t leave till 2055! Of course, it doesn’t exactly arrive in the morning, now does it? This is not a flight for someone who needs to be able to work the same day they arrive. But it is totally and completely perfect for someone who needs to get there, have a light supper and crash for the night.

Oh, I didn’t say? It doesn’t arrive till 1715 in the late afternoon. For me, this is perfect. I need to be at the SanAK the next day for registration and my conference is Tue-Thurs. Makes complete sense; within the week travel for everyone in Europe and in country.

My studio is almost clean. There are several hundred books and a dozen or so audio books ready to go to the used bookstore. I passed along a couple dozen weaving books to a new weaver and 500 gm of beads to a friend of the Eldest. Between College Guy and myself, there are three bags of clothing to go to the Charity Shop and three baskets of craft supplies are going to be rehoused on my just emptied shelves in the garage.

I’ll have phone and wifi while gone. I will miss the family (no, not you dogs) but not the construction noise. The Eldest is documenting the whole process for me.  Meanwhile, there has to be something interesting to snack on here in the United Lounge (no, I’m on Lufthansa).

Ah!, cookies….