Oh, Snap! I Almost Forgot!

Wiener Dog Count:  It's a tie.  One each.  Not too many wiener dogs in Barcelona.

Barcelona And A New Cruise Line

At the end of November, the view outside was beautiful:

But we knew that wouldn't last long.  As we write today, it's white out there.  And cold.

This year, Regent Seven Seas was taking the same crossing as last year...ending up in Rio.  We weren't so thrilled about seeing Rio again.  Florida sounded better.  So we booked this year's crossing on Crystal Cruises instead, leaving Barcelona for Miami via Tenerife and St. Maarten.

We've been to Barcelona so many times, so we only stayed a couple of days in town, but finally we climbed the hill to Montjuic (we've been talking about doing this for years).  Montjuic was the site of the 1992 Olympics and is now a beautiful park with views over the city.  On the way up, we encountered a member of the Barcelona Rodent Detection and Control Committee:

If you think he's sitting on a wall, think again.  He's in the top of a tree.  And he's a big dude.

We did enjoy the view of the Sagrada Familia and the city.

And then it was time for the ship!  We boarded the Crystal Serenity for a 12-day cruise.  This was our first experience with Crystal so we studied the suite sizes and layouts before booking.  We opted for a slightly larger suite...did we get a surprise!  When we arrived at the ship just after noon, we were advised that our suite was ready.  For those of you who have not cruised before...this is extremely rare.  Suites usually aren't ready until mid-afternoon.  OK, so we went up to the suite and found (gasp!) that our luggage was already there.  For those of you who have not cruised before...this is unheard of.  Gordon settled in with a glass of champagne:

The next surprise showed up at the door at about 4:00 p.m.  The butler.  No kidding...tux with tails.  And cocktails.  And snacks.  Every day.  We did not realize that we had booked a Butler Suite!  We tried to take it in stride and struggle through.  Oh, the suffering.  Needless to say, Crystal is OK with us.

Crossing the Mediterranean, we awoke to this sunrise.

Later, while Pati was wandering around the ship, she encountered Professor Dumbledore and signed up for Hogwarts.

The ship pulled out all the stops when it came to Christmas decorating.  There wasn't a surface left un-Christmassed.  Gordon found an old friend of his:

And helped the Three Wise Bears on their Christmas journey:

Arriving St. Maarten was quite a sight.  We got up early and went to the lounge to see.  There were eight cruise ships converging on the island at once and it looked like the place was under attack from a cruise ship armada.  Here's two of the fleet:

Four of the eight ships were the HUGE ones, and the Serenity wound up at anchor.  We took one look at all the ships, estimated the people ashore, and stayed onboard.  A nice, quiet day and as a bonus, clean laundry.

As always, sunset ceremonies were held in the bar nightly, and the sunset gods did not let us down:

We stayed in Florida for a couple of days, visiting with friends.  Home again, we start preparing for the next cruise...we'll be off to Australia to begin a 35-day cruise to Hong Kong via Indonesia, Cambodia, and Viet Nam.

We Have A New Pet

Since we got back from Normandy in June, we haven't done much of anything except go to Road America for an ALMS race and do some touch-up painting.  We obviously had too much time on our hands, because we started considering getting a new pet.

The week before Labor Day, we spotted an ad from Texas for what seemed to be the perfect pet.  Provisioned for a road trip (wine, wine glasses, and a map of Bob Evans and Cracker Barrels along the route) we set off at 3:30 a.m.  We arrived in Texas that night and went over the next morning to view the beast.

The beast was good-looking, but the paperwork didn't match the purported pedigree.  We considered, but decided that this was not the right pet for us.  Disappointed, we began the drive home.  Thankfully, we still had some wine, and this time we were taking the drive home in two days.

While staying overnight near the Cracker Barrel in Oklahoma City, we decided to stop in St. Louis on the way home to check out another potential pet.  Good thing we stopped.  There he sat happily, penned in between a '56 Chevy and '36 Cadillac.  The perfect pet!

  He's a 1957 Austin Healey BN4 100/6.  With a good pedigree and a minimum amount of leakage (less house training).  Just yesterday, the new pet was delivered and we hit the road for a short drive.  A few pix from the first adventure to the park:

Pretty good shape (the car, not Gordon), for 56 years old.  Talk about a geezer driving a geezer!  At the end of the day, our pets got acquainted.  Sniffing, it just figures.

Now that we're members of every Austin Healey club known to mankind, and the owners of every repair and maintenance manual ever printed and reprinted, the fun begins!

Part 4: Le Mont St Michel and Normandy

We returned to Paris and then went on to Caen, France to pick up our rental car.  Yes, we know...we NEVER rent cars overseas.  But to see Le Mont and Normandy, the only sensible way to go is by car.  We drove to Le Mont St. Michel, parked the car at the B&B and walked up the causeway to the old monastery:

When we arrived, we found that for the first time ever, a French strike (le greve) was working to our advantage.  The money-takers and multi-lingual tour guides were on strike and admittance was free!
Inside the church:

 
This giant wheel was used to bring supplies up from below during the time that the monastery was used as a prison.  It pulled a sled up the side of the building:

And finally, a hallway walked by generations of Monks.  It almost looks like the ghost of one is at the top:

Now, on to the Normandy Landing Beaches:

June 6, 1944.  We all know much of the story.  The Allies landed on five beaches:  Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.  At Omaha, seasick soldiers struggled under the immense weight of their gear to cross the water and then the beach, to huddle at the bottom of the ridge...while the German Army fired from the top of the ridgeline above.  Here is a mosaic showing troop movements from June 6 forward:

 

We chose to stay at Arromanches-les-Bains, which overlooks Gold Beach (a Canadian landing site).  Arromanches has some of the most fascinating history in the area.  A couple of days after the initial landings, construction of Port Winston was begun at Arromanches.  In two weeks, the Allies sunk 15 older ships to anchor the piers, towed in concrete bunkers from England, tied them to the shore with metal bridges, and constructed a huge man-made port.  This was called Mulberry B (for British).  There was supposed to be a Mulberry A (for American) at Utah Beach, but weather destroyed it while under construction and Port Winston became the major supply hub for the invasion.  The remains of the Mulberry are still in the water and visible from the beach:

 

 

Next, we visited Utah Beach, where troops landed and headed toward Cherbourg to take the other port.  Here's the memorial at Utah:

 

 

Our next stop was the fascinating Pointe du Hoc.  Pointe de Hoc was a major German gun installation, sporting five 155-mm cannon.  Here's a cannon installation:

 

 

 

 

Prior to D-Day, the allies had bombarded the area heavily, scoring some good hits with some big guns.  Check out this crater:

 

 

On D-Day, Rangers climbed the ridge from the beach to the gun installation, only to find that the surviving guns had been repositioned to a hedgerow south of the location...dummy guns made from wooden poles had been made to fool Allied aircraft.  Rangers found and destroyed the actual guns.

 

A look at Pointe du Hoc, left as it has been since the landings:

 

 

And finally, a look back toward Utah Beach from Pointe du Hoc:

 

 

We visited the German cemetery at La Cambe.  Different from the Allied cemeteries, but moving, especially since so many of the gravesites are young men only 18 or 19 years old:

 

 

A German Unknown Soldier:

 

 

And finally, a visit to the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach.  Here, one finds so many young men from all over the United States who gave their lives on the beach on June 6, 1944.

 

 

 

A visit to these beaches should be mandatory for all young Americans, especially those who are currently leaning a little too far left.  Socialism is not what these people died for...rather, they died to prevent Socialism and preserve our liberty.  We realized that we weren't taught all that much about the Allied invasion when in school and read extensively before our visit.  It was worth it...you usually only hear about the landing at Omaha, and not the whole story of that, even.

 

A quick overnight in Paris and we were on our way home.  While enroute, Gordon pointed out that compared to the boat ride over, flying home sucks.  Ah, yes, and one important thought as we close one of our best trips ever.  Weiner Dog count:  Gordon 11, Pati 4. 

 

  

Part 3: Le 24 Heures du Mans

Next stop, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  We left Epen, regretfully, via bus and two trains.  Arriving in Paris for a quick overnight near the Gare du Nord, we stayed at the very new and modern Hotel Hor.  The weather looked a little threatening, so we dashed to the nearby Carrefour to grab some supplies...and got back to the hotel minutes before a horrendous thunderstorm.  Lucky!

The next morning we commuted via the Paris RER from Gare du Nord to De Gaulle Airport during morning rush hour.  This is an experience we'd rather not repeat.  Between packed trains, hurried commuters, and folks jumping the turnstyles to avoid paying the fare, it's not a fun place for geezers with luggage.  By afternoon, we were in tranquil Tours and checked into our hotel for a four-night stay. 

This time, Grand Prix Tours added a pit walk, garage tour, and a trip to Le Mans town for the driver's parade on Friday.  Here's the pits:

 

And we got the grand tour of the Visitflorida.com entry:

 

 

They didn't finish the full 24 hours...the car conked out sometime overnight while we were back at the hotel.  On Saturday, we took our usual stroll all over the fan area, and found the Nissan Delta Wing (which we thought was going to compete, but apparently it was just for show this year):

 

 

We've posted a lot of stuff on here from previous years, so here are a few different views.  First, the flag and anthem ceremony.  They present the flag and play the anthem of each participating driver's country:

 

Here's the start:

 

 

The pits at dusk:

 

 

The winners!  Audi again, but Toyota game them a run for their money:

 

 

And the fans mob the main straight for the podium ceremony:

 

 

The event was saddened this year by the death of driver Allan Simonsen early in the race.  This marked the first driver death during the race since 1986.  The show went on, of course, but a somber speech from Jacky Ickx reminded us all that this sport is, inherently, dangerous.

Next stop, Part 4, Le Mont St. Michel and the Normandy Landing Beaches.

Part 2: The Netherlands Again

We took two trains and a bus from Hamburg to reach Epen, Holland.  We had such a great time two years ago that we wanted to get out there and hike again, hopefully finding new and different trails.  Somehow, even though we started off in a direction we recognized, we always ended up in a place we hadn't been before.  We even got up onto the Grand Randonee one day and mixed it up with the real backpackers.

We stayed at the Ons Krijtland again and we can report that the food is as good as ever and the people are as nice as ever.  Since we posted the view from the balcony before, this time we offer the happenings in the field below:

 

The bride had a tough time keeping her dress out of the cow patties.  Here's one of our new paths:

And reaching the higher altitudes, we found several "ghost forests" like this one:

Of course, occasionally one encounters large (but friendly) obstacles on the path:

Last time here we walked to the American Cemetery at Margraten, Holland only to find that our camera was dead.  This time, we've done better.  Here's the cemetery...notice that almost no one's there.  It's quiet, somber, and touching.

While there, we talked for almost an hour with the docent.  A Dutch gentleman, he really knew the history of the war and the cemetery.  When we got back to the hotel and were talking to one of the Front Desk employees, we learned that the docent was his uncle.  Small world.  We found the grave of Lt. General Maurice Rose, a gentleman with a colorful, but not well documented, past.  Look him up, it's interesting.

Finally, there are so many names of those who are missing, and over 300 graves of those who are unknown.

After eight days of hiking and eating, we were sorry to move on, but Part 3 of the trip was getting ready to fire up at Circuit de La Sarthe and we needed to get there!

Heading for Europe The Old-Fashioned Way

May 31, 2013 marked the beginning of a month-long, four-part odyssey.  Part one began when we arrived New York and Cunard had arranged an overnight stay at a Hilton that was located, literally, in the middle of everything.  Six blocks from Central Park, across the street from television studios (CBS and Fox), one block from Radio City Music Hall.  We walked to the Whole Foods and passed even more sights.  Fun.  But!  Adventure on the high seas awaited...the next morning we were off to board the Queen Mary 2 and head for Southampton, England and on to Hamburg, Germany.

Here's the view from the ship, leaving the Brooklyn pier:

The shuffleboard deck:

 

This isn't the type of cruise we're used to.  Normally, we're in warmer climates and rougher water.  Crossing the north Atlantic, it was cool, and for the first four days, foggy.  Nice smooth crossing, though.  This was also our first time on a ship that wasn't "all inclusive".  We found that a different atmosphere exists when drinks are that expensive...you don't make new friends at the bar!  We did have a great time.  And speaking of time, we had a time change just about every day...for some reason, the British like to do that at noon, so every day at noon, the clocks all marched forward one hour.  Odd.  Didn't seem to bother the lunch crowd much, though.

 

First and only stop was Southampton.  Across from the ship, thousands of Mini Coopers sat in a garage waiting to head for their new homes (they're built in Oxford, England and shipped from Southampton).  Here we are leaving merry olde England and pursued by another cruise ship.  They eventually passed us like we were sitting still when we lost a generator and slowed to a crawl while they got it fired back up.

 

 

A couple of other inside shots from QM2.  Here's the main lobby:

 

 

 

And the ship's bell, rung the traditional eight times at noon each day (just before the clocks all marched forward):

 

 

Finally, we arrived in Hamburg, Germany early in the morning.  We were able to walk to our hotel (another new adventure...we'd never stayed at an Ibis hotel before and we were VERY pleasantly surprised).  Spent the remainder of the day walking around downtown.  Hamburg is really very nice and we thought we'd like to go there again when we have more time.  Lots of see and do.  And, there's a lake in the middle of town:

The following morning, we were off to the train station to catch our train to Maastricht, Holland for Part 2.  More to follow!