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Sunday afternoon hike
Great weather, and the folks across the street are banging and clanking things for a construction project. For a while we drowned out the hammering with our vacuum cleaner, but once the chores were done, it was time to get away for some forest quiet. We picked up the Jakobsweg from where we left off last year (!) at the FritzClaus Hütte, in the ( Read more... ) -
back from Turkey
Have been home for 2 days and am still sorting through mail, laundry, work, etc. etc. Hope to resume posting soon - meanwhile today's a holiday in Germany so there are lots of happy (i.e. drunk) people on the paths in the forest behind our house and no traffic on the roads.
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Saturday: Topkapi Palace
We determined to spend the entire day at Topkapi palace, a short walk up the hill from our hotel. The last letter in Topkapi, although written in English as a lower case “I” is actually a Turkish letter pronounced “uh,” so the name of the palace should be said as Top kap uh.
We arrived shortly after 9 a.m., hoping to avoid long lines that were ( Read more... ) -
Our seond trip - traveling day
For our second trip to Turkey, we elected to do 10 days of independent travel. Our original plan was fairly ambitious, involving a night train, a rental car, several World Heritage sites, and 6 different hotels. I ran out of time for planning, so K suggested keeping the 10 days but scaling back some. We wound up with 6 days in Istanbul and 4 in ( Read more... ) -
so sorry, canºt post
Am using a computer in Lisbon and it wonºt read my USB drive. Must wait another week, when I get home and can update the whole shebang. So sorry. -
Wednesday, another sea day
Same as yesterday, only I found the mini-scones at teatime. Still losing at trivia, it’s very sad. Found “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” in the ship’s library. Making a list of things to tell K when next I find an internet connection that doesn’t cost $0.75/minute. Avoided the crown/tiara workshop today; the ship is all about the royal ( Read more... ) -
Tuesday at sea (still)
How quickly we fall into a routine! Sleep late, breakfast, work out, tidy up, lunch, trivia quiz (lose), read/write/needlepoint (so 1990s, I know), more trivia (lose again), dinner, read/play cards/go to the show (or sometimes all three over the evening). Life at sea is a terrible bore unless you’re can amuse yourself - you can’t count on the ship ( Read more... ) -
Monday at Sea
Another lazy start, breakfast at 10:30, then cardio work, clean up and whoops! Time for lunch! My good intentions last through breakfast and lunch, at least. Made the 2 pm trivia, where we scored a mere 24 out of 50, 15 (!) points behind the leaders….. More trivia at 5:30, where we again came in the middle of the pack - dang those pesky mythology ( Read more... ) -
Easter
Since I discoed until 12:30 a.m., I guess it wasn’t surprising that I slept in until 10 a.m. I just missed breakfast - they closed at 10:30 - but scored an apple and a leftover hardboiled egg, so all was good. I spent an hour or so at the gym, then cleaned up and had a hamburger. The Easter bunny (i.e., GL) had delivered a bag of goodies to my door ( Read more... ) -
We set off on the cruise
Highlights: being transported from our hotel to the ship via a humdinger of a Hummer limousine, thanks to B2; laughing with S, B2, SIL and GL through the checking in process; viewing the start of the cruise from the fitness center (not crowded this first afternoon); having my very own room all to myself; touring the spa, hearing the guide call out ( Read more... )