Summer Vacation

[Schmeelkie]

So glad people are working to save these beautiful churches. I'm all for repurposing rather than demolishing. Even for those built in the 19th century, which isn't old at all by European standards.

Reminds me of a church I visited in Bristol, England - one part (a nave? - had memorials/caskets) was circa 1200's, rest with varying ages. really lovely.

A lot of us 'younger' generation don't go to church much, but I, at least, appreciate good architechture!

[Haggis@wk]

When I lived in England my parents rented an apartment in a vicarage (alas, now a private residence) from Reverend Earp and his wife. They’d got permission from the parish to rent the maid’s apartment to American service members. They were a dear couple and I remember a few occasions my mother took my sister and I to services in the Rev. Earp’s small parish church. I was ten, I fidgeted.

In 2009, I visited the same church, still in use remarkably, and was amazed to recall that when I was sitting in that rather cold stone edifice in 1958, parts of that church were a hundred years old when Columbus set sail.

[Shapley]

I had the opportunity to tour Westiminster Abbey while I was in London. No photos were allowed inside, but viewing the tombstones and memorials there is like seeing the History of Britain carved in stone. A truly amazing place.

[piqaboo]

Westminster Abbey creeps me out kinda.
All those folks who were honored w burial there, with their tombstones underfoot, being worn by each passer thru, so that some of them are no longer legible.
I found myself trying to tiptoe along the seams, so as not to cause further wear.

[Shapley]

I agree that some of the tombs had been trod to illegibility but, since most of them were written in Olde English or in Medieval Latin, they weren't legible to me in any case!

[Haggis@wk]

"Brass rubbing" is a big hobby in the UK and I wonder if that has contributed to the wear on some of the more popular tombs?

Don't forget that part of the damage to alot of the funerary carvings were a result of the vandalism encouraged during the Reformation. Not many of the pre-reformation, catholic carvings and plaques survive in England today. You can still find undisturbed statuary in Ireland and Wales.

[Shapley]

Considering the state of many of London's outdoor cemeteries, I would say the Abbey's indoor graveyard has fared rather well.

[Shapley]

We complete our Summer Cruise a couple of weeks ago, and I think I have the last of the photos to upload uploaded. Here are some links:

Barcelona: We flew into Barcelona, spent a couple of days in Casseldefels, and then boarded the Norwegian Spirit for a 12 day cruise:

Toulon. Our first stop was in Toulon, France.

Livorno/Pisa. Our second stop put us in Livorno, Italy. We caught the train from there to Pisa to see the ever-popular leaning tower.

Civitavecchia, Italy. The port city for Rome, this was our third stop.

Naple, Sorrento, and Pompei. We next arrived in Naples, Italy, from which we took a tour of Sorrento and Pompei.

On board the Norwegian Spirit. After Naples, we had a day at sea. These photos are not all from that one day, though...

[Shapley]

Mykonos, Greece. After a relaxing day at sea, we visited Mykonos in the Greek Isles.

Istanbul, Turkey. Our next stop was Istanbul.

Ephesus, Turkey. After Instanbul, we stopped in Izmir. Having seen I.zmir, we decided to take a tour of Ephesus

Heraklion, Crete, Greece. We were scheduled to visit Piraeus, the port city for Athens, but the Greeks started acting up a bit, so the Captain rescheduled us and took us to Crete. The Cretans were happy to have us there, and we enjoyed the visit, having seen Athens previously.

After Crete, we had another day at sea on our way to Venice.

Venice, Italy. We arrived in Venice on the afternoon of June 2nd, and disembarked on the morning of June 3rd, giving us a few hours to see the city again, and a night's rest onboard, one of the least expensive hotels in town...

Rome, Italy. We took the train from Venice to Rome, and spent a couple of days in Rome before flying home.

[dai bread]

Magnificent! Thanks for posting these, Shap.

[jamiebk]

Considering the state of many of London's outdoor cemeteries, I would say the Abbey's indoor graveyard has fared rather well.

Wasn't OT into pianos? lol

[Trumpetmaster]

Considering the state of many of London's outdoor cemeteries, I would say the Abbey's indoor graveyard has fared rather well.

Wasn't OT into pianos? lol

watch out... someone ghoulie will be rising out of that piano.........

Is it Halloween yet?

[Shapley]

Well, not everybody is into harp music.

[dai bread]

Tomorrow I have dinner in Auckland and lunch in San Francisco. Time zones are wonderful. Who needs a Tardis when a 777 does the job?

My daughter turned 40 last May, so her brothers and I are giving her a trip to my sister's place in Montana. My daughter is the only one of us who hasn't been there. We're taking her son (aged 10) as well. Both of us are hoping he doesn't get the horse-riding bug. My sister, her husband and the one daughter at home are all expert riders and will undoubtedly want to teach the young chap how to ride. While I'm all in favour of that, horse-riding is expensive in NZ. Whether it's fortunate or not remains to be seen, but Cambridge is prime horse territory, so we're right in the middle of NZ's equine studs and there are plenty of people who would love to have a young rider to train.

We're spending Friday night in San Francisco, then flying to Bozeman next morning. Morning flights are substantially cheaper than afternoon ones, and in any case, trying to go straight through makes a very long journey and essentially writes off the next day if not the one after as well. The difference in the cost of fares is enough to pay for the hotel room and leave change.

You won't hear from me for the next two or three weeks. I'm going with the others because I can, and anyway, I liked the place last time I was there.

[Shapley]

Have a great trip, and a great Winter vacation this Summer.

[Schmeelkie]

It's like folks up north here taking winter break or February break in Florida or California - leaving winter for a nicer climate for a little while. Need to check with my SIL to see if they still think they can stop in Cali around Christmas on their way to Argentina so we can meet them there. Would be really weird for me to have a warm Christmas - 40 degrees is about as warm as I'm used to...

We already did a quick trip to see the in-laws etc in Mass right after school got out. Spent most of one day at a small lake near Worcester - kids could barely be wrangled out of the water even for food (they ate lunch on a rock with their feet dangling in the water). would have been perfect if not for Pumpkin noticing, on his way to the bathhouse to change something strange on his foot. It was a leech. I consider us all lucky that it was on him and not anyone else. In typical boy-mode, he was fascinated and already knew that it didn't hurt as leeches inject a kind of anesthesia and that it would bleed for a while due to the anti-coagulant. So he was totally calm as he pulled it off, let me wash and apply pressure, gimp up to the van, then applied pressure himself until we got to my MIL's house - had stopped bleeding by then. He was surprised that I was calm - I said - you were calm, so I was calm. Bella would have freaked and hubby and I would have at least been more surprised and alarmed if it were either of us. Told hubby that I was now totally vindicated for purchasing Pumpkin Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty by Joy Masoff and Terry Sirrell.

Next day at FIL's - other relatives there - fun with cousins and only normal mosquito bites, but at least Pumpkin had a great story to tell!

In July we're off to DC for a few days - Plan for the Air & Space Museum, Pumpkin wants to see the spy museum (he read about it in The Genius Files) and we may try for the zoo. Need to see some old friends out there - all have kids around Pumpkin and Bella's age, so they'll have fun.

Also, weekend camping trip with my folks in August (without hubby as he'll be at a conference in St. Louis), the late August is a family reunion with my Dad's side - mostly at my brother's house, though I think we're doing Niagra falls) and my big 40th b'day bash!!

[Shapley]

As I mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I had to run out to Las Vegas last weekend for a business trip. My wife went along, and we extended the trip for a day, since she had not been there before.

Here are some photos of the trip.

[barfle]

I was fishing in Alaska on June 23-25. It was my third fishing trip to the Kingfisher Lodge in Sitka. I can't say the fishing was all that great because of bad weather, but I brought back about forty pounds of Salmon and about ten pounds of halibut and rockfish.

Of course, we had a monster storm in DeeCee, and the power to my house went out last Friday night. With my extremely expensive fish in the freezer. And no generators available this side of Oklahoma, from what I could tell.

Fortunately, we were one of the first to get our power restored on Saturday afternoon. The fish was still frozen, although we tossed the contents of the refrigerator.

[Shapley]

Glad you weathered the storm, and salvaged your catch.

We're still dry as a bone here, although the last two days brought some soaking rains (along with wind, hail, and lightning) to part of the region. Not my part, but parts.

I think we'll stay put for the Fourth of July. We've finally gotten the pool prepared (we had to have a new liner installed), and I expect to have it filled by morning.

I hope everyone has a good and safe Fourth of July weekend!

V/R
Shap

[Trumpetmaster]

It's been very quiet for the past few days.

I will be traveling to Georgia in two weeks to see my folks and celebrate my dad's 80th Birthday!

Hope you are all well and enjoying the summer.

TM