Getting closer to home!

Moving further west we stopped in North Dakato to see the Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  In 1883 Roosevelt went to the N.D. Badlands to hunt bison and fell in love with the "perfect freedom" of the west.  The area became a National Park after Roosevelt's death in 1919.  "Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and the skies are not cloudy all day........ Oh home on the Range....."  Ok you get it, it is beautiful and breath taking.

We cut through Glacier National Park on the Going To The Sun Highway.  We have visited this park a number of times so decided to just take the views in with our top down!  

Bonnie and Tom drove from Bend, OR to meet up with us in Bigfork, MT for a road trip.  We enjoyed hot weather, hiking along the Swan River and a delicious dinner at The Laughing Horse Saloon.

From Bigfork we stopped in Coeur D'Alene and Walla Walla for wine tasting and golf.  Finished up the trip with a stop in Bend for a day.  We just love that town, home of many brew pubs, great restaurants, the Deschutes River and of course our friends Bonnie and Tom.

Finally back in residence in PG!  It's still a bit of summer here, meaning the fog is in.

We have loved every moment of our journey.  We have been gone 109 days, slept in 25 beds, only gained 5 lbs.  Our trek thru parts of Europe were beautiful.  Our drive back to PG from Pittsburgh confirms to us that we live in a beautiful and diverse country.  It is good to be back home but I'm afraid I have a bit of wanderlust in my blood so who knows how long we will stay put before the next adventure.

Mackinac and the U.P.

On the road by 8am with a long drive ahead of us.  We headed to northern Michigan and Mackinac Island.  Fort Mackinac served as a military outpost for the British, and later, American soldiers from 1780 to 1895.  The fort was a crucial Great Lakes border that helped protect the lucrative fur trade.  John Jacobs Astor started his fur training business on the island in the early 1700's.  the island is located on Lake Huron.

Today it is a huge tourist destination! the island is served by  ferry service from Mackinaw City and St. ignace.  Once on the island, transportation is limited to bicycles and horse drawn carriages. The air is clean and smog free.  The historic 1887 Grand Hotel is the jewel of the island.  It was built in only 93 days because they wanted to have it open for the spring season.   We enjoyed lunch on the porch of the hotel in beautiful weather.

On Friday we ventured to the U.P. or Upper Peninsula.  Don had read about the incredible painted rock formations lining the coast of Lake Superior.  We took a cruise along the coast  (Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore) and pictures just don't tell the story.  The lake was formed  during the glacier period and the painted rock walls, arches and outcroppings were formed by sandstone that is over 100 million years old!  The colors are the result of deposits of iron, copper and calcium.  

Finished the day driving to Ironwood, MI.  The iron ore Industry was started here in the 1880's.  The ore was shipped to Pittsburgh via Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Erie resulting in the booming steel industry in Pittsburgh!  An imposing local landmark is 52 foot colored fiberglass statue of Hiawatha who as you know founded the Iroquois nation in the 1500's. 

We exit Michigan tomorrow and head to North Dakota via Minnesota and Wisconsin.

My Pittsburgh Fix

We arrived back into Pittsburgh with no delays from Frankfurt.  Judy and Gary were waiting to pick us up.  Back to bed #2!  I had a massage with my buddy Pat Hargis on Tuesday which really shortened my jet lag!  I was up and raring to go the next day.  

On July 6th we celebrated our 40th anniversary by going to Lauren Schusters wedding which was held at Nevillewood Country Club in Pittsburgh.  We danced the night away.  What a great way to celebrate 40 years!

On Sunday, July 7th our good friends Pam and Wayne Calder hosted a brunch for us in our old neighborhood of Oak Court.  We were also invited to visit our home which we sold to Karen and Joe.  WOW!  The house looked amazing and their two little girls just love their new rooms?  Talk about being happy.  Don and I think of ourselves as custodians of a property and the joy is turning a great house over to a young family who raise their family there.

On Tuesday, July 9th we headed to Ohio and Michigan to visit my cousin Clyde and his wonderful bride Brenda.  Our visit to Ohio was short and sweet.  A visit to Anderson's Market to stock up on wine, snacks and delicious foods for the week at Clyde and Brenda's cottage on Round Lake in Michigan.  We enjoyed a week of golfing, swimming and boating and beautiful sunsets.  Judy got to be the captain on one of sunset cruises.

Back to bed #2 for a few days before heading out again to the Annapolis, MD area to catch up with the Sasser and Preski families.  What joy it is to be in the presence of children between the ages 20 months and 6 years.  Life is all about play and imagination and boundless energy.  I loved every moment.

We visited Sarah King in DC.  We have known Sarah since she was born and now she is an lawyer in DC.  She and her husband, Alex prepared a delicious dinner for us at their apartment.  

I enjoyed a reunion of my Pittsburgh sewing buddies.  They are a group of ladies who I get together with every January in Pittsburgh at Providence Villa to just enjoy each others company, work on quilting projects, share ideas, laugh, eat and drink.  

The big event of the summer, besides our 40th, was a surprise party Judy threw for Gary to celebrate his retirement!  30 friends and family joined to wish Gary Happy Retirement. Judy, of course, saved the biggest surprise for the end of the evening.  When we moved back to CA last year we left our mustang convertible with Judy and Gary for them to use.  Well we are bringing that car back to CA and Gary was pretty bummed out SOOOO Judy surprised him with Ruby, a 2014 Mustang convertible!  Yippee!!!

The family now has its own Mustang Club!  Ours is a 2008, Alberts is a 2009, Alexander's is a 2012 and Gary's 2014!

On our last day in the "burg" we went up to Penn State Behrend with our neice Elizabeth.  E is going into her sophomore year at PS.  I love knowing where she is living, what her campus looks like, where some of her hangouts are so that I can visualize her when we talk.

We finished the day with a family dinner at Donna and Al's.  it has been a great time in my hometown but Don and I are ready to hit the dusty trail again in search of our next adventure.

Bruges and Brussels and Back to Bed #2

Social disruptions!  A new term for us.  Seems like the train service in Belgium decided to "strike" the day we were heading to Bruges from Amsterdam.  We made it with only a few interruptions.  Every one takes it in stride.  Strike over by the weekend because the workers get paid time and a half on Saturday and Sundays so we are told.  

Bruge is a beautiful little city on the North Sea.  It used to be the capital of shipping and trade for the Burgundian empire.  The deMedici of Florence, the Spanish empire and the English empires all had a presence here in the 14th and 15th centuries.  It is very preserved because it was not bombed during the war.

Here is a view out our bedroom window of the Church of our Lady.

This area is called Little Venice.

The market square at night.

Belgium is famous for its chocolate, it's beers and its moules/mussels.  We had a nice day with Jim and Marie enjoying all three.

Wall of beer

Brussels is the capital of the EU.  It is a beautiful city.  We had a short time here so we enjoyed walking the city, sitting in the cafes, drinking the beers and people watching.

This area is the Grote Market or Grand Palace. It consists of the old City Hall, the Palace and Guild buildings.  It is filled with tourists and outdoor cafes.

Now we are finished with this leg of our journey.  We are leaving Frankfurt tomorrow for Pittsburgh and some more adventures.  These last 6 weeks have been great.  We realize there are more people traveling than ever, more people speak English, it appears people are helpful and friendly no matter where you are, and there is still soooo much more to learn about our world.  

Hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.  It has been fun getting your comments.  Cheers!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a land of canals, bicycles, great museums, skinny houses, very tall people, delicious Gouda,  and a red light district and soft drug industry that is legal and/or tolerated.  It is a beautiful city because it was not bombed during the war but it does have its dark history.  80,000 Jews lived in Amsterdam when Hitler and his cronies arrived.  75,000 never returned home!  We visited the home of Ann Frank where she and her family plus 4 other friends hide for two years before being turned in by an unknown person or persons.  

The canals were built in the 17th century.  The merchant based oligarchy that ruled the city built mansions and homes along the canals.  Amsterdam was a rich city because it was the home of the West India Company and controlled the spice trade.  Later they created the East India Company and they controlled the slave trade.  They also owned a small colony called New Amsterdam.  Any idea what is called today????  Hint, the Hudson River runs through it.

Original West India Company building, now University of Amsterdam.

The canals are laced with house boats 

Of course they have Gouda cheese and bicycles!  There are 800,000 citizens in Amsterdam and over 840,000 bicycles.   We were told that  they dredge the canals yearly and retrieve 15,000 bikes!  Bikes have their own lanes on the road but that doesn't stop them from driving on sidewalks.  In addition, motor bikes and scooters can use the bike lanes!!  I think a local sport is aiming for the tourist and scaring the hell out of them.  They go everywhere on their bikes! 

Houses are skinny because taxes are levied on the front width of a house not the size.

Amsterdam has many great museums but we were only able to visit the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum.  Although Don wanted to go badly we didn't get to the Museum of Bags and Purses.  The Amsterdam public library is probably the best I have ever seen.  It was brand new, all high tech, great cafeteria, good beer on tap, books  and magazines in English, views of the city from their 7th floor cafeteria deck.

The Rijksmuseum

Rembrandt 's Night Watch

A couple from the Van Gogh Museum

Berlin!

Arrived into Berliner Haupthabnhof Sunday, 6/16,  afternoon after a long journey on a very packed train.  We are glad we had reserved seats because the train was clearly oversold. people were standing in the aisles, sitting on the platforms between the train cars and must roaming the trains for an empty seat.

We meet up with Janet and Dave who arrived a couple hours before us.  We are staying in the Brandenberg Apartments and their location is great!  Close to the Brandenberg Gate, underground, bus, train service.  The are very utilitarian but they do have a washing machine!  After four weeks on the road it is nice to have real laundry versus hand laundry.  The apartments are of Soviet Design and replaced some wonderful palaces.  We are in former east Berlin area.  

We did a 3 hour walking trip on our first day to get a lay of the land and a feeling for the history of Berlin.  It is a beautiful city of neo-classic design but it is also a new city with glass and steel buildings, a little Frank Gehry and IM Pei.  It is multi-cultural.  Not sure any real Berliners really exist here.  Here we have the Brandenberg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie.  We also visited the German history museum which givess a fantastic view of German history from 1BC thru World War II.

We visitied the Bundestag which is Germany's Parliment.  Angela Merkel who is the Chancellor of Germany is actually is number four in the pecking order.  Before the Berlin Wall came down Bonn was the capital of West Germany.  It was moved back to Berlin in the 1990 timeframe.  They have 620 members.  It is a beautiful new building bult within the interior of the old building that was destroyed in the war.

Berlin is getting ready for President Obama and his family to arrive on Tuesday.  Manhole covers have been sealed around the Brandenberg gate where he will give a speech and Charlottenburg Palace where a state dinner is to be held.  Multiple street closings, buses routes detoured, businesses around the square closed for two days!  

Heard that the KaDeWe department store rivals Harrods in London for their food market, restaurant and deli.  Floors 6 and 7 are devoted to food!   They had cheese counters separated by country; French, Austrian, Swiss, Italian.  They had oyster bars, champagne bars, chocolate bars, meats, sausages, produce, teas, coffees, you name it, they had it!  We decided a sampling of French cheeses and a glass of rose was just what we needed.

President Obama was in town on Wednesday so we escaped to Potsdam.  The summer palaces of Frederick the Great of the 18th century were in Potsdam.  Sanssouici Palace was built in 1745-1747.  We toured the palace, walked the gardens, had lunch at Meierei ("Creamery") at the Cecilienhof Palace where the  treaty ending WWII was signed ending the war with Germany.

The next day, 6/20, we toured the Pergamon Museum which houses the fantastic and gigantic Pergamon Altar, the Babylon Ishtar Gate and a special exhibit on Uruk a mega city in 5000BC.  Amazing!

We also visited the Alte Nationalgalerie.  They had a special exhibit of French Impressionism plus some wonderful German landscapes.  Lunch at the Hackescher Markt under the train track.

6/21 we visited the Neues Museum which houses a 3000 year old bust of Queen Nefertiti.  No pictures allowed.  Also saw the Golden Hat, made of paper thin hammered golf leaf dating back to the Bronze Age, 1000BC.

Walked the Kreuzberg district, inhabited by mostly  Turkish people.  It is a melting pot of nationalities and races.  We visited on Friday when the market was open. You could buy anything from a button, socks, fruit and vegtables, doner kebabs to a burka if you choose.

Next we walked what is left of the wall on the east side of Berlin.  The artist came  in 1989 to paint these walls. They are very moving.  

6/22 we toured the Chalottenburg Palace just another former residence of the Hohenzollern family.  

We visited the Brohan Museum filled with beautiful Art Deco furniture lamps, glass, silver, posters.  The day ended with wine and snacks in our little apartment.

6/23 our last day in Berlin.  We visited the Topography of Terror Museum. The museum is located in the location that marks the headquarters of the Reich Main Security.   This for me summed up Berlin.  It focuses on the perpetrators rather than the victims of the Nazis.  It was chilling to watch the power unfold seamlessly.  They irradiated over 1.5 million Jews from  the German empire which stretched all the way to Rhodes!.  We need to make sure this history is not relived.

We topped the day,of with a river boat cruise, dinner at Augustiners and a final look at the beautiful Berlin Gate with great friends.