Viking Ingvi

Viking Ingvi docked in Amsterdam

Sitting area outside library on the second level

Complimentary wine tasting the first night under painting of Ingvi

John and I are great fans of Masterpiece on PBS which airs such fabulous programs such as Downton Abbey.  Viking River Cruises is "a proud sponsor of Masterpiece". So we'd sit there on a Sunday evening and see the Viking spots on Masterpiece and I'd say to John, "Don't those cruises look nice?  Wouldn't that be fun?" And lo and behold, in December last year (2013) we get a special offer from Viking River Cruises and decide we'll go!  After much deliberation over which cruise to go on, we decided on the Rhine River cruise from Amsterdam to Basel Switzerland, signed up, made our plane reservations and got excited. (Well, I got excited. John got anxious.)  We sailed on June 10 from Amsterdam.  Our room was lovely with queen bed and bath, big screen TV which we only watched once. We saw "The Quartet" movie which was great.  We didn't spend much time in the room since there was always something going on plus there were shore tours to go on, which I'll describe later in other posts.  Every Viking ship is named for a Norse god, hence the Ingvi.




The crew was fabulous. Always very accommodating.  There were about 200 passengers from a retired female PhD traveling alone to an extended family of 14 who were traveling together.  Lots of white hairs -- retired people from the states. A few Canadians.  Dining was open seating so you could always sit with someone new and make new friends.  On the first level was the dining room, the second level had a lounge with bar and another restaurant.  There were three levels of rooms.  We had the first level which didn't have a balcony but was commodious nonetheless.  (Book early, like a year in advance to get upper level rooms.)  There was a small library, internet corner, and top deck was open with chairs for unobstructed viewing.  There were fifty crew members. The program director gave daily updates on what we would be seeing and where we would be stopping.  They were extremely well organized. I was impressed with how well thought out were the logistics.  The food was fabulous.  Buffet breakfast and lunch but you were able to order off the menu in addition.  Dining was in courses with several entree selections.  Figure two hours for dinner with unlimited wine and beer.  Then there was entertainment in the lounge at night, that is if you could still walk after dinner. Or you could go up on the top deck and watch the world roll by. We sailed at 11:30 PM from Amsterdam and the next morning docked at Kinderdijk which is the next post.

Lounge where you could while away the hours talking and drinking

One evening two ladies entrained in the lounge on violin and piano.

Our program director, Boris who lived in Vienna, sometimes gave on shore tours.

Going through one of the many locks on the Rhine

Top deck for best viewing with castle in background, pilot house in center

The Rhine River is very regulated and heavy with barge traffic. Because of all the bridges the pilot house moves up and down on an elevator.  The most scenic part of the Rhine is the middle Rhine. That's were all the castle are and the river is narrower there.   All ship crews on the Rhine speak German, so if you want to crew on the Rhine, you learn German.  Our crew was heavy on Eastern Europe.

Viking even has its own fleet of very modern buses for the shore tours. 

The happy couple at the Captain's dinner the first night. John said I was happy the whole time.

Amsterdam

View from our room at the Hotel Brouwer on the Singel Canal

On June 10th John and I embarked on our long awaited vacation to Europe. It only took 24 hours to get there. Of course, there's an 8 hour time change to factor in.  I was beside myself with excitement, John with anxiety as he later admitted to me.  The weather for the trip was sunny and in the seventies most of the time. In Amsterdam where is rains a lot, we had nothing but sun which

Terrific food and presentation at the Greenwoods, a block from our hotel

The Amsterdam Flower Market and no, you cannot buys bulbs and take them back to the USA.

never set till after 10 PM.  Of course, it seemed like all of Amsterdam spent their lives on the  streets which our guide pointed out to us is quite common. Since they have small apartments and houses to live in, everyone meets in pubs and cafes to socialize. And the bicycles.  They said that the Netherlands have 17 million people and 34 million bikes.  And they drive them like maniacs. We were told that the bikes have the right-of-way and they really don't stop.  Women in skirts, men in business suits, old ladies, people with babies, they are all on bikes.  The Dutch impressed me as very clever and pragmatic people and their ability with water management is amazing. That's what all the canals, dikes and windmills are for. About a third of the country lies below sea level.

Hotel Brouwer built around 1650, oldest place I ever slept in

Houseboats abound on the canals

Cafes and Bikes abound.

Daily life living on a canal and more bikes

John rests with impromptu used bookseller, Stephen. He wanted to give me a book and I selected a French to Dutch dictionary.  Very useful, not. At the time I thought I should learn Dutch be he didn't have a Dutch/English dictionary.

On the trip we saw lots of cathedrals and churches. Spain once ruled the Dutch and after they threw the Spaniards out, the Dutch  striped the catholic churches and converted them to the Dutch Reformed Church. Today the Dutch aren't big church goers. 

The inside of the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) is now a museum. The wood carving is beautiful. The arches lofty, the stained glass windows impressive.  Art shows are now the norm as well as a gift shop. There a fee to enter this museum which is normal in the countries we visited.

Our tour Dutch tour guide on a brief tour of the city had a very practical perspective. He discussed not only history, art and culture,  but social issues, such as the Dutch tolerance of prostitution and marijuana.  We spent two full days in Amsterdam, walked around a lot just looking at everything and absorbing the city.  We weren't into museums as much as we just wanted to experience the city. Besides, the weather was perfect and the Dutch were enjoying their city as much as we were.  Would I go back? You bet. 

Remembering Sam

Sam and Tegin on the trail

We met Tegin and Sam five years ago hiking in the Cascades of Oregon.  We struck up a friendship based on  love of nature and being outdoors. They were on vacation,visiting wilderness places which they loved to do best. They came to visit us on the ranch. We'd visit them in Portland; they'd visit us on the ranch.  Sam liked to disappear into the sagebrush with a beer and his guitar. They invited us to their wedding party at Lost Lake. They came to visit us on vacation at Rockaway Beach.Their art and music was important to them, so important that last year they bought an RV and went on the road, intending to travel around the US working and getting gigs to play their music.  February 19, 2014 that all came to an end when Sam died in Berkeley, California. Tegin lives on and is carrying on their dream of playing music and being the artists they always want to be.

Tegin, John, and Sam cooking up a gourmet meal

One November they came for a visit and the three of us painted a scene from the Oregon High Desert that became the cover of  my book, High Desert Detective

Painting the high desert

Sam in happy times

Celebrating Tegin's birthday at Karaoke night at Rockaway Beach

Hamming it up at Karaoke night

Their wedding party at Lost Lake

Sam and Tegin, newly weds

It is hard to loose so such a young, talented, and vibrant friend. It was hard to write this post, but Sam belonged on my reminisces of Along Palomino Lane.  Miss you, Sam.

Living on Ink: Notes on the Writing Life

Living on Ink

Jennifer

My dear writer friend, Jennifer M. Fulford, keeps a writing blog and has decided she wants to interview her writer friends. So she selected me to be her fist victim, I mean, author. So if you click on the "Living on Ink" link in the top left hand corner of this blog, you should go to an entry on her blog on what I think of the writing life. I answered questions she posed. Jennifer, might I add, has her first novel coming out in April, Blood, Love & Steel, published by Thames Press in London, which is a series that is the continuation of the Three Musketeers!  More on that later.  

January House Concert

Emcee -- Janet Brayman

Janet Brayman, great supporter of the arts and famed musician, has been sponsoring house concerts here in Burns. John and I attended our first one back in January.  The group was a trio from Houston, Texas called 2-Bit Palomino and they were good. They had fabulous voices and sang great harmony.  Maybe 50 people attended. Donations go to the musicians.  They were a group that knew how to work the crowd and the Burns crowd responded.  This really fine group plays mostly folk and they write most of their songs.  Fun evening and worth the price of admission. Thank you, Janet!

TWO-BIT PALOMINO 

Intermission

Happy New Year

The sun is setting on the first day of 2014, and as you can see we have no snow.  No snow pack in the mountains. We can only hope for more rain or snow soon.  The pond is a solid block of ice so the ducks make due with the top of a plastic barrel for their pond. John and I spent a quiet day eating well, walking and talking and laughing. Last night we watched again one of our favorite moves, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The night before it was The Cave of the Yellow Dog, a story about a nomadic family in Mongolia by the same filmmaker who did The Weeping Camel. We recommend them. Funny and uplifting is what we look for these days. We're looking forward to a goodly interesting new year. We hope you are, too. We wish everyone the very best in 2014.

Padre Island

Padre Beach looking south

 In November, 2013 I took a trip to Texas to visit my good friend, Marlis. Due to technical difficulties, it has taken me a while to post these photos. These are images of Padre Island National Seashore which is south of Corpus Christi where we stayed for a few days. Padre is 70 miles long, and there is no road. So you drive on the beach. It's a bird refuge. The sandhill cranes were just arriving for the winter. Corpus is a nice place to winter so there's lots of Texas snow birds come there. It is always humid. Summers can be unbearably hot.  Camping is permitted on the beach on Padre. And the Gulf of Mexico is blue. Good place to go for winter vacation in your RV to play a little music, eat good seafood, listen to the sea.

Beach looking north

In Corpus we took a look at the harbor. Lots of vanes for the big windmills come into Corpus. There were unloading one the day we were there. One vane is as long as the ship.  Great sea walk along the north shore. Missed the aquarium.  Laid back town.  And as everywhere in the state, friendly Texans abound.

Lots of shore birds and a crane

Crane on top of sand dune

 When the weather is windy and cloudy at the beach, sit and watch the waves and the birds with a box of dried okra at hand.

Marlis at the visitors center

Pelicans overhead on a cloudy day

Beach vegetation at Padre

View of Corpus Christi from Omni Hotel

Waves on a cloudy day at Padre

Two old broads enjoying a night on the town in Corpus

Fountains in the street

Marlis with her favorite drink

Container ship coming into the harbor

Sunset from the room balcony looking east over the bay