Attn Teresa & Annie

Teresa, maybe you can get something like this for Annie!

Terry - the perfect vehicle for you!

Terry, to bad your company didn't see this sooner. You could have had it all - a motor cycle and a truck!

Leaving Algeciras, arriving in Madrid and back to Lisboa

I call this my ‘cranky’ day!  We travelled to Madrid via car, bus, high speed train and taxi.  But it took all day, and it was very hot.  I am very tired of being hot and sweaty – I am envious when I see the lows in Winnipeg.  I can’t remember ever being this hot for this long.  Even on the high speed train, the a/c went off for awhile and the HEAT kicked in!!!  We are such wimps!  We did see some unusual and interesting sights along the way.  At one point, on the bus we saw about 1000 wind turbines.  On the horizon, when you could only see the tops spinning, it looked like big white creatures turning cartwheels.  Then further on, during the day, there were100’s of solar panels, with an energy plant collecting the heat.  At its top speed the train was going 250 km per hour!  It didn’t FEEL that fast.

We arrived in Madrid at 9 pm.  Here’s the rub!  As you know we’ve been using trip advisor’ to book our hotels as we travel.  We were very happy with the Holiday Inn Express in Algeciras, so decided to use it again in Madrid.  It was close to both the train and airport.  We looked at the description of distances again, just before disembarking and said, ‘hey, we’ve been sitting all day, let’s just walk the 1.5 km.’  We tried to find someone who could give us directions – but that fell through, so we jumped into a taxi.  Well, these two seniors had not noticed that it was 15 km, not 1.5 km!!!!  So, there we are WAY out in the boonies!  But, close to the airport – 3 km; we got that part right!  What to do?  Our eye sight may be going, but we were able to walk 2 km to the bus stop, take the bus to the metro, and go straight down town.  We headed down the first escalator on the metro and asked a woman for directions.  She was on her way to work and gave us one of her tickets and rode with us and made sure we were going in the right direction.  We did some sightseeing, shopping, and had lunch.  Then, most amazing of all, we found our way back ‘home’, again with help from a woman on the bus, who made sure we got off at our stop!!!

There were a lot of buskers in the main plaza in downtown Madrid – spider man, Elvis, the headless woman, the sand castle person – all ‘enjoying’ the heat!. As we were eating lunch, Bruce looked over and saw an old man, with a beer belly, saggy boobs, a white T-shirt, cigarette, beer and a white painted face.  We wondered what was wrong with him.  Did he have a disease or something? His ‘busking gig’ was to sit in a contraption that looked like a baby carriage, with a baby bonnet,  and plastic hands that he could control.  He made baby sounds, blew kisses at the crowd and generally made a food of himself for some good coin!  What a laugh!  (I had pictures, but somehow I did something wrong and lost all my pics from today, him included; but he will live in our memories!)   Mark, if things don’t pan out iin January, let’s put this together at The Forks.  Do you want to be the baby? I’ll take the money to the bank.

The flight out of Madrid was unexceptional except for two things.  OK, it’s 3 km from the airport when you’re arriving, but 9 when you’re leaving, so there is STILL a big taxi bill!  We met a nice young couple from London, ON.  He asked, “Are you from Canada?”  How did he know?  My Lulu lemon pants!  Now there’s a man! 

This is my last blog.  Only two more sleeps (God willing) and we’ll be sleeping in our own beds.  A few final observations:  All the hotels here have a tube in the shower that says ‘shampoo and shower gel.’  Are we missing something?  Why are we buying two products?  I’ve been using it as shampoo and it works great.  The numbering of floors is interesting.  There is -1, -2, 0, G, 1, 2, etc.  I’ve walked extra flights of stairs a few times, trying to get to the right place.  The bathrooms in Spain are challenging – remember to remove everything you don’t want dampened, because the water DOES NOT stay in the shower area!  Also, after 21 days we’re almost getting used to the smell of cigarette smoke again, in public places.

We were trying to remember all the countries we’ve been blessed and privileged to visit in the last 20+ years – 30!!!  And we dreamt a little about future trips – China? Ukraine? Vietnam? Brazil? 

See you soon! Hasta pronto!

Sunday and Morocco

Sunday, we decided to head to the beach for an hour, make sure we had our bus tickets out of here on Tuesday and take a drive.  Success all around!   At 9 am the sun on the beach felt like a blast furnace.  Bruce decided to do the ‘polar bear plunge’ – the water was that cold!  I walked and even after ¼ mile with only my feet in the water, it still felt cold.  So much for ‘it’s nice when you get used to it!’

 But the ‘drive’ became a bit of a challenge.  Their A7 is their super highway, and with a speed limit of 120, and most cars going 130-140, Bruce was a little frustrated with my desire to go slower than the speed limit.  It felt like we were hurtling through Spain!  Plus, there really is very little to see from that highway.  So, we only went ½ as far as we’d planned, had lunch at a lovely restaurant and headed back.  Did I mention that in both Portugal and Spain, Sunday’s are pretty much an enforced rest day – 98% of all shops and restaurants are closed, so we were lucky to find a nice restaurant. 

Monday was our day to head out to Morocco.  We found a parking space for 13 hours (free – in front of the Hertz office), and headed in for 8:30, to wait until 10:30 to leave.  The ferry is a huge catamaran; a/c of course and very comfortable.  It takes about 45 min.  We met a lovely couple who moved to Gib from England.  The wife, Joyce is a Christ follower.  Her sons, Jo & JJ (16 & 13) were quite interested in the ages of our 3 youngest granddaughters, especially when I told them how gorgeous, talented and brilliant they are!  They might come to Canada for a visit! 

We met our guide Mr. Ahmed (who else?) and started on our tour!  We were so thankful that we’d taken a tour.  The poverty and heat and ancient taxis would have made a trip on our own, at this stage quite unpleasant.  We loved the a/c’d bus and it gave us a chance to rest between sightseeing events.  We visited 2 cities, Tetouan(sp) and Tangiers.  There is quite a difference between the cities.  Tangiers is more modern, but the hawkers are much more aggressive.  This is where Wendy would have gone quite crazy, because we couldn’t actually shop in the market; so we passed stalls and stalls of gold, silver, fabric, clothes, food, shoes, etc. etc. and weren’t allowed to stop and shop.  Mr. Ahmed (who we think gets a cut), herded us down narrow alleys, with hawkers right in the middle of us and all around us!  Yuck!   He also ‘took’ us to several artisan markets (you were right, Jackie about the carpets; wait till you hear the whopper Bruce told to get them to stop trying to sell us rugs), and once again we were ‘trapped’.  The Moroccan lunch provided was delicious and we had a lovely chat with two Chinese young men, who work in Brugge in English!  One of the amazing things in Morocco is that the Muslins and Jews and Arabs are ‘brothers and sisters’ and get along with no problems. 

The bus ride through the countryside allowed us to see some amazing sights.  We arrived back at our hotel at 10:00 pm, very thankful and quite tuckered out!

Rock of Gibraltor

A day like this, you should have!!  We’re in a new Holiday Inn Express Hotel, which is lovely – it’s new and very comfortable, with only one glitch – we’re out in the boonies.  A car would be a bonus in this situation – so we headed into Algerciras (pron. Ahl-ha-thayrass) by bus.  At 9:30 it was already 29 degrees!  We had a lovely chat with two Spanish residents at the bus stop.  With our limited language skills and their kindness we were able to exchange some basic information.  Our original plan had been to take a ferry to Gibraltor (or Gib as it’s known locally), but decided to see if we could find a car to rent.  The first place was an abrupt – “I have no cars, but you could try the Euro Hertz outside the port!”.  Off we set again and found the place.  Yeah! (and thank you to God), Hertz had a car which we’ve rented until Tuesday am.  Bruce took off like a pro and we decided to drive to Gib.  By the way I should tell you that when we mentioned in Sevilla, at our last hotel that we were going to Gib, the comment was, “You won’t want to spend much time there, and it’s only two streets!”)  So off we went, with nary a hitch and even though it had been recommended that we park in Spain and ‘walk in’, Bruce decided to drive in.  That was a good decision.  It’s a long way to go if you want to do anything – we drove for another 30 min. to find the Europa High Point and cable car to the top.  Then these grandparents decided that since they’d cycled in Holland, why couldn’t they walk another 3 km downhill to see the WWII caves?   There are 52 km of tunnels in the Rock of Gib.  They had 4 complete hospitals, fed 5000 men a day and had areas where they could drive troop trucks around – truly amazing!  The Canadians were a huge help with their water pressure drill.  This was all accomplished in less than 3 years. [‘Tighten that core when going downhill’ echoed in my mind from the lips of Carolyn!!!}

 The cable ride was awesome (if I didn’t think about how high I was and all the things that could happen)!  There are apes everywhere.  Apparently Churchill had some imported from Africa and said Britain would leave Gib, when the apes left.  They’re feeding them very well.  They jump onto cars and on people.  One swung onto Bruce’s arm, but he shook it off like it was a flea!  We felt like we were in some weird game – Avoid the Apes!  In fact it made “The Planet of the Apes” look like a picnic.  Some people have been scratched or hurt by them.  You have to hide all food and drink.  Plus there is a 500 Pound fine if you’re caught feeding them.  It was exhilarating and tiring!  We were very hot and tired, but made it back to our car in about 2.5 hours! 

How did we get here?  Well we came via a bus from Sevilla (2.5 hours).  The heat is quite horrendous!  We look longingly at the temperatures from Winnipeg!  We will actually be so glad for cooler weather.  It is nice to get into a car and crank that A/C to high.  What wimps we are.

So, last night we decided that since it was Friday pm and we had nowhere to go, we’d go to another movie.  We chose Captain America and low and behold it was actually in Spanish!!!!  Fortunately, there was so much action that not understanding the language was not a big problem.  That’s a first for us – even in Costa Rica, movies were in English with Spanish subtitles. 

Staying Cool

On our first night here, we left the hotel to look for a place for supper(most common food here is paella, tapas, gazpacho, and very thin meat cut from whole legs of pig right in front of you). As we walked down our street up ahead we saw smoke coming from a building! Yikes - what is that? A wood-fire pizza place gone bezerk? Spraying for bugs? We're sniffing the air, trying to determine what it is, and while walking under it we realize that it's cold misted air, for people eating in outdoor restaurants! What a delicious feeling when the air is 40 degrees in the shade!!!! Also, there are quite a lot of buildings with a huge overhang, so we're always looking for the 'shady side of the street'. And, in 'streets' like ours if you look up, there are actually white awnings draped between the two streets, allowing one to walk pretty much in shade, for a short while at least. It's interesting, too to buy a chocolate bar, because you notice that anything chocolate is refrigerated here. Another way to deal with the heat, is they shut down all stores between 2-5. Everyone goes home for a rest and then they're open until 9 or 10 in the evening.

Seville

The taxi couldn't drive down this street, so we had to walk the last little way to our hotel. The streets are so narrow that the 40+ temperature was just bearable. It is HOT here!!! We took the early (10:30) tour of the city, so that we wouldn't burn too much. We 'chose' a hotel right near the Cathedral y Giralda. The doors were open this am so we went in. We figure the highest point is about 1000 feet up, with incredible architecture. The organ is massive, going right to the top and appeared to be in about three of the 'aisles'. Then this night when we went out for supper we heard music in the cathedral and stopped in to listen. Unbelievable! What accoustics! There are wonderful street muscians, too.  Last night I listened to a classical guitarist, while sitting on the church steps.  He was great!
The scenery from Faro to Seville was similiar to the scenery from Lisbon to Faro, at least while we were in Portugal.  The soil is sandy and the trees look like they're stunted.  Everything looks very dry.  When we compare Holland to Portugal, Holland is lush, green, and the cattle are healthy looking. Portugal looks shabby and in need of lots of rain and care. {Having said that, the people everywhere have been amazing.  They all go out of their way to help.}  Then we passed into Spain and I said to Bruce:  "How can it look so much greener?"  His instant response was:  "The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain!".  The orange orchards, olive groves and cattle look healthy.  The country looks cleaner and more prosperous.   We went out later this evening and had a stroll about, watching all the people; the place is hopping.  The air is like a warm blanket. 
We also spent a few hours today planning this last week.  We wanted this last week to be exciting so tomorrow we head out to Algeciras (near Giblraltor).  Hopefully, we'll be there for a few days.  On the 9th we'll travel to Madrid, via Cadiz and a high speed train.  Then on the 11th, early am we'll head back to Lisbon to get ready to come home.  Next week at this time, we'll be saying, "tomorrow we'll be going home." 

our street

Tuesday - August 2

It's lovely and sunny and warm here in Faro, on the southern tip of Portugal.  Our day intransit yesterday, was interesting since we decided to change destinations during the day.  When we realized you couldn't get anywhere from Beja, Bruce managed to schmmooz a refund and we booked tickets to Faro. We crossed this huge bridge (cars on top), it's 300 meters in the air across the ocean.  Amazing!   The train ride was about 4 hours, with lots of stops - but it's quite roomy and comfortable.  (Ok, there was one screaming child, but what could they do - she wouldn't stop!!!).  We played lots of crib and Tazia's 'card war game'.  I don't think I got the rules, right, Tazia, but we had some good laughs.  We woke up this morning and took a good look at our hotel room - definitely retro 70's - you could tell by the 11" tube TV and green colored furniture.  It's clean, though - no little creatures about.  Bruce and I decided to explore the 'old city of Faro'.  We paid a small fee to go into this church that was built in the 1700's.  We walked up to the bell tower and Bruce just had to 'dong the bell'!!  He's lucky he didn't get arrested!  We parted company after awhile; me to take a boat tour and Bruce decided to try and find the bus station and get things organized for tomorrow.  The boat ride was nice - the guide spoke Spanish, English, Italian and of course Portuguese.  I actually understood some of the Spanish - that was rewarding.  We reconnected at 1 (he'd gotten lost) and I needed help  getting back as well. The streets here are so winding and it's easy to loose any sense of direction.   Lunch at a local restaurant was delicious.  We each had about the equivalent of 2 tomatoes garnishing our meal, and they were scrumptious; garden ripened I'm sure!  Yum! Yum.  Tomatoes and onions - what could be better? After a lovely rest, we're off again to see what else this old town can offer us.  If you want to go to the beach, you have to take a ferry - so we're passing on that.  You'll see our 'bones church' picture on a separate blog.  The rest of the day was spent reading, wandering, and just relaxing.  I checked out Canada's website for Morocco and we're going to try and arrange a day trip with a group.  Today we're off to Spain, Sevila for a few days.  We'll check into Gibraltor from their as well. 

Church of the Bones

We went to see this church yesterday afternoon! I had to pay 1E to see this chapel, built completely from the bones taken from a local cemetary, sometime in the 1700's! It's quite astounding! If you zoom in you can see the details and also the woman to the far right who is continuing to expose the bones, with a brush and tiny pick.

Sunday - July 31st

What a hot day!  We can’t believe we’re saying that, after all the cold, wet weather we had in the last 10 days.  It just goes to show that we’re never happy with the weather!  The hop-on, hop-off ride was very, very hot.  We had to put on lotion and wear hats, and finally went to the lower level, once my camera battery died.  Overall, our impression of this city is that it’s very old, quite run-down, with spectacular buildings and architecture.  Everything is so old.  I think they could have a reconstruction project for the next 25 years and never catch up.  There was an earthquake here in 1755, for 6 minutes with a huge tsunami, which killed 40,000 people and wiped out the entire city centre.  The expo city is also amazing.  We got off a few times and had lunch at the Hard Rock Café.  We rode up a high, very steep hill on a tram that squeaked and groaned and as we went down; we thought:  ‘if the brakes ever went on this – hello heaven!’   Of course, you’d think after all the exercise we’ve done, that we’d actually walk up and down – you’ re wrong!  Our knees are just getting used to walking again.  We noticed immediately, that the prices are closer to Canadian prices here – coffee is only 1E, instead of 2.5E.  That’s pretty much our gauge, coffee and water.  So after sweating off a few cups of water on our city tour, we went back to the hotel to R & R, then went for a bite of supper and out to a movie:  Larry Crowne.  It was very good and LOL, it was in English with Portuguese subtitles.  Once again, just about everyone speaks English, or at least enough to help us find or do anything we need. 

Today it’s off to Beja.  Why Beja?  Well, it’s about ½ ways to Seville; so we decided to break up the train trip and stop there for a day or two. We’ve booked one night, but if we like it we’ll stay two nights. We went to trip advisor and found a hotel, #1 on its website for only 43E with breakfast, wi-fi included.  The exchange rate is about 40-43% on the Euro.  (I’ve taken that from what Visa is charging us).  We’ll try to make some phone calls today from Beja, using Skype.  We’re off shortly to take the Metro to our train station (20 min) and then a 4 hour train ride to Beja.  The trains in Europe are very comfortable, and roomy!

Ps – you know you’re in Portugal when there are cooked baby pig heads in the deli counter!

The final day, then off to Lisbon

We spent the last evening on board our barge, packing and resting.  Some people went on a guided tour, but we were really tired out from the day.  We got a hold of Teresa at work and that cheered us up.  It was sort of interesting that no one on the tour wanted to exchange email addresses or even last names.  We were only acquaintances and didn't really become friends.  We tried to open up spiritual conversations, but there were no takers.  When chatting with our guide, she said that the oldest person on this 312 km ride was a 89 year old German man.  We decided that it seems that people who are over 50 are doing these cycling tours. On Saturday morning we walked over to the train station (15 min) and then took the train to the airport, where we waited for about 4 hours (there was a time change we weren't aware of), we played cards, slept and walked about.  We realized why our flight was so cheap - Transavia doesn't even give you a drink of water for free - it's 3E!!!  And everything you buy is instant, including the coffee!  The hotel we chose from trip advisor was great; near a big shopping centre and the Metro.  All we did the first day is take care of laundry (paid 7E) and rested and relaxed. 

Day 10 – sail from Utrecht to Breukelen (Brooklyn) then cycle to Amsterdam

We started out our day in Breukelen.  Apparently it’s the original Brooklyn and the one in NY was named after this one.  The Dutch traded Brooklyn to the British for Cape Town.  We crossed the original Brooklyn Bridge, a tiny little bridge that opens for boats to pass through.  A man uses a fishing pole with a small wooden shoe attached to swing out to the boats so they can pay their toll.

The bicycle traffic was pretty heavy today.  Lots of bike tours as one gets closer to Amsterdam.  There are round-abouts for bikes, special traffic lights for bicycles and the bikes get more time than people to cross.  Did I tell you about our bikes?  They’re high efficiency bikes, and the gear system is excellent.  Apart from the ‘seats’, the bikes are amazing.  When I choose my new bike in September I’ll have a better idea of what I want.  Also, I forgot to mention all the hand signals that our guide uses, plus the messages that need to be passed on ‘down the line’; for instance: “pole!”  This is the little dividing pole at intersections to keep cars out.  We thought it was a little redundant until Els told us about the accident last year, when a woman was so busy looking around she didn’t see it and broke three bones in her leg!  OK, so we’ll pass the message on!  A fist opening and closing means slow down and then a closed fist (raised arm of course), means we’re stopping.  The other verbal message to pass along is ‘no priority’, which means:  ‘check before you cross the street, don’t just follow blindly’.  Some cars are good about stopping and waiting, and others are impatient.  Small motorcycles are also allowed on the bike paths.   

Today was only 52 kms, and the morning was the hardest time for me.  We had a headwind of about 25-30 km.  After a nice latte at noon, I felt refreshed and the afternoon went by quickly.  But our butts were totally numb by the end of the day. 

We cycled along waterways all day – it was lovely.  We stopped for a few pictures and also for a cheese making tour.  It was a real farm, with all the smells and cows.  The calves are taken away from the mother after just a couple of days, and bottle fed because they need the mother’s milk.  We got to sample many different kinds of cheeses and learned how to properly store and cut it.  This of course is based on the type of cheese that has a ‘skin’.  Apparently it should be stored with the bread, not in a fridge.  We told her that wouldn’t work in our central heated homes.

One of the women organized the card and ‘tip’ for the staff here.  Tonight we’re in Amsterdam and will do a little walk around.  Tomorrow, right after breakfast we’ll walk to the train station (30 min) and then take the train to the airport.  Lisbon here we come!  I think we’re ready for heat.

Day 9 – Gorimchen to Vienan, then sail to Utrecht

It was another lovely day of cycling.  We started out in fog for the first hour.  It was about 16 degrees when we headed out.  Through the day the weather improved and by noon it was HOT.  Today we cycled through large farms, orchards and estates. The fruit trees made me think of the time Jesus said he would take off any branch that didn’t bear fruit.  The trees are tall and lean and LOADED with fruit.  In fact you see more fruit than foliage.   There were so many sheep farms and so many beautiful horses.  Lots of different kinds, but they all look well cared for.  The 55 km were much easier than the 35 yesterday; we had the wind behind us and we made more stops to sightsee. 

Here in Vienan we saw a real stork. It’s pouring rain right now; we made it back to the boat just before this storm started. We can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day of cycling and then Saturday we’re off to Lisbon.  We thought we’d only stay one night, but we think we might stay for two – get cleaned up, find a church and decide where we want to go next.  I want to find a massage therapist.

Carolyn, I’m using every tip and exercise you ever taught me and it’s really helping.  I feel very fit and capable. 

We went into Utrecht last night and walked around for a few hours.  The church bells ring every ¼ hour, 24/7, much to the delight of the people who live there!!!!  It’s a ‘dirty’ town, 200,000 – lots of graffiti and things are not so well kept as we’ve seen in the countryside.  It’s also a university town, so crowds of young people everywhere. 

FYI speed bumps are called drempels here.  Go Figure!  It certainly makes us think about the Rempels a lot.

Also, the Dutch language is very easy to figure out, when it’s written.  For instance our ‘good day’, is ‘goed dag’ in Dutch, which is ‘guten tag’ in German.  So, my Germanic roots are finally useful.  But not when it’s spoken.  Then I don’t have a clue.    

  

Day 8- Wilmstad to Gorimchen (pn Hhorkim)

What an interesting day!  I was the ‘sweeper’ (the rear guard), and what a workout!  You’re not supposed to leave anyone behind, but people want to stop for various reasons, to pee, to take off their jacket, to put on their jacket and then you have to go three times as fast to catch up.  Plus we had a head wind all day, about 25 km/hr.  Our guide was getting quite frustrated today b/c there was a lot of complaining and whining.  At one point we (myself and two ladies who were exhausted) were at least a km behind the main group.  I of course couldn’t leave them.  So, finally Els, our guide put the slow ones near the front, right behind her.  We had to make a 4 o’clock ferry.  We used the ferry 3 times today.  The ferry boat is equipped with a little ramp to cycle the bikes up and down.  Coming off one ferry, we saw two women who must have been at least 70.  Everyone cycles here.   

 Once again we cycled through pristine countryside and farms.  The Dutch are very clean and tidy people; their lawns look like they’ve been manicured with scissors.  The thatched roofs look sculpted and the farms are immaculate. 

There are lots of cows, sheep and horses.  Let me describe two different kinds of cows I saw.  One cow has the rear end of a pig, the head of a cow, the shoulders of a bull and an elongated body.  It must be bred for meat, but it is the oddest looking thing.  Yesterday there was a cow that was chocolate brown front and back with a two-foot white band around the middle.  But at least it looked like a cow.  

I don’t think there is any low fat anything here in the Netherlands.  The milk and yoghurt is all very creamy.  They love to use butter for all their cooking.  Delicious!  And the breads are yummy.  Fortunately we’re doing a lot of cycling.  Today we cycled only 35 km but tomorrow the plan is to cycle 55, then the barge will sail to Utrecht, after that there is only one day to get to Amsterdam.  We can’t believe we’ve already been away for one week.

Today was the first evening that we had nice weather.  We had dessert up on the deck and everyone’s spirits improved considerably.  We saw a ‘boat’ coming down the canal; it was made out of a wood pallet anchored onto 3 surf boards with a small 9hp motor.  There was a leather couch, plants and some kind of locker.  He came to the edge, picked up some friends, a pizza and took off again!  Apparently this is quite common here. 

 

Day 7

Another amazing day of cycling – in fact it was a day of ‘man’ or ‘woman’ against nature!  We finally had the ‘bad’ day forecast for Sunday – rain pretty well all day.  But, amazingly, we actually got hot while cycling.  At our lunch stop, Bruce found some cycling shorts and put them on – but he still felt numb after another hour.  Because of the rain our guide cut the tour short by 5 km, so we only cycled 45 km!!!  I loved the whole day, even with the rain.  There’s something about cycling with a group of people; you chat with different people during the day, and the countryside is very interesting. There are lots of cows, horses, chickens, and sheep.  It’s really interesting to cycle on top of the dikes and see the neat orderly farms below. 

The food on board is amazing.  We have a young chef on board.  Apparently he’s actually an artist, but can’t make a living at that yet, so he took cooking lessons.  He’s a very good cook.  Every night at dinner time he comes and tells us what the menu is and then says, ‘dessert is a surprise’.  We sit around a big table – all 16 of us, and the food is served ‘family style’; you can have as much as you want.  There’s been a few things we didn’t care for – but it’s really nice not having to even make a decision about what to eat. 

I’ll tell you a little about our shipmates.  From France, we have Jean-Louis (ret’d chemist), Michelle (artist) and their grandson Za-ka-REE(not Zachary).  They speak mostly French but are able to participate easily.  (Most people we’ve met so far, who live here, speak at least 2-4 languages.)  There is another couple from Canada – BC.  Ron (CPA) and Laurie (teacher); David (a diamond seller to tourists) and his wife Paula from the Bahamas - they’re the couple who cycled in Vietnam last year.  Jane is a solicitor from England and her partner Mark is a drama professor from Glasgow.  The honeymoon couple, David and Rose are from Spain. They’re the youngest couple here.   We have another Jane (teacher from Wales, now living in Hong Kong with her husband Yohan (originally from BC), now a professor of business in Hong Kong. So that’s our eclectic group – it keeps life very interesting. 

Day 5 and 6

As you can tell, we’ve been incommunicado since Saturday.  Our barge doesn’t have internet except for emergencies, so we have to wait until we get to a port that has free internet.  This port, Antewerpen, does have internet, but it’s too low to be of any use.  So, I guess we’ll take our laptop into ‘town’ tomorrow and try to find an internet café. 

This cycling trip, so far, has been everything I/we imagined.  It’s absolutely wonderful to cycle through the countryside.  The weather forecasters here have the same record as ours do back home – Sunday which was supposed to be terrible weather, it turned into a lovely day.  It was cold, but we still managed 55 kms .  Bruce  is having no trouble keeping up, in fact likes to ride right behind the guide if possible, b/c she’s quite the ‘quickest way from point A to B’ person.  I was concerned about being able to keep up, but I’m having no trouble.  We’re both having sore butts – 1 hour a day, doesn’t prepare one for 2-4 hours of cycling per day.  Bruce was quite pleased when our guide stopped us after the 1^st hour and told us to ‘’keep our blood sugar levels up”, so we wouldn’t get dizzy. 

Yesterday we went through small towns, farms, etc.  The trails are mostly fantastic, but we did cycle on gravel, wet mud, and the worst:  cobblestones (a free cellulite buster!)  Wow, that totally shakes everything up.  We’ve been cycling on top of dikes, beside dikes, and today we did a tour through a big city, with a lot of vehicle traffic and ‘rush hour bike traffic’!  It was a little challenging, to say the least.   For your information, if a road in Belgium is painted red, you can drive on it in a car, but bicycles have priority.  Also, we went to this place near Antewerpen, got into a huge elevator (it took 18 bicycles plus riders) rode down 31 meters (100 feet), then rode underneath the Schelde River for about ¼ mile, with three lanes (2 bicycle, 1 pedestrian),  another 100 feet, up the elevator to street level and were near the city town square.    We have one boy on the tour with his grandparents.  He’s 11 and he took a fall, b/c he always wants to be right behind the guide and as expected, he’s not too observant.  He weaves back and forth, rides through all puddles and holes – just usual boy stuff.  He’s doing quite well, for being the only child on a tour of adults.  We also have one honeymoon couple.    We told them there’s lots of advice if they need it. The rest of the couples are about our age.

Day 3 - continued

getting ready to go, the Swann in the background


We started out the day with more sight-seeing in Brugge.  We found the Church of the Blood – it’s supposed to contain a drop of Jesus’ blood, behind the silver altar.  It’s beautiful and I always find it moving to go into these churches; it’s still a testimony to the power of Jesus to withstand the erosion of the faith through some of these countries.

It was very exciting to actually get to our barge and see the Swann.  It’s not the QEII, but cozy, comfy and clean.  We cycled about 25 kms, then sat around for several hours.  We’ve met our group – it will be an interesting week!   One couple here cycled 700 kms from Saigon to Hanoi and said it was an absolutely amazing experience.  It took them 3 weeks. 

The supper was amazing, soup, salad, potatoes, roasted peppers, chicken wrapped in bacon on skewers and chocolate mousse (all homemade by our young chef)!  Our hostess explained that there is a moment of silence before we eat. 





The forecast to tomorrow is torrential rain, so we may or may not cycle.  I was praising God for this opportunity to cycle along the canal today.  I had no trouble keeping up. 

Day 3 - Brugge, Belgium

zoom in on the screen in the pic; me taking a pic

 It was so easy to figure out getting to Brugge, or as the Dutch pronounce it: Bruhhe.  The 3.5 hour train ride was great.   We accidentally sat in first class and then had to move to 2nd class - but all the seats were already taken.  After standing for about 1/2 hour some people left, so we had seats, but not together.  Bruce visited with a 22 year old dynamic born again, Dutch believer.  They had a great time of sharing.  I visited with a 28 year old Brazilian PHD student who had just been to London presenting his thesis on the benefits of exercise and cancer; the research has shown that it can prevent cancer and also that it is crucial in recovery.  They haven't yet been able to show why it is - but the results are conclusive, that it is very beneficial!  We exchanged names and email addresses.

On the ride here it was raining and cloudy, but all afternoon the sun shone and once again we walked around for about 2 hours.  We found the place where we will meet our barge tomorrow.  After coffee (thimble size & strong), served with a small piece of cake and a cookie, so the $3.75 price didn't seem too bad!  



a new business?



We were told Brugge was easy to navigate and we found it so!  A lovely old city - with signs on some buildings saying, '1717'!  It makes Canada seem like a 'teenager'.

Apparently, Brugge/Belgium is famous for fries and waffles, so we sampled some of that for supper - more walking!

  

Day 2 - Bicycles (Amsterdam)

Wow, what a day!  Our flight arrived right on time and we figured out how to get to our hotel via train, tram and walking a few blocks.  The hotel informed us that we could check-in early (noon vs 2pm), but that still left us with 1.5 hours to kill, literally!  We were dead on our feet.  We finally found a place to have tea and then went back and crashed in the lounge.  We both had slept only about 3 hours on the flight over.  There’s a 6 hour difference – so it was 8:45 when we arrived, but our bodies said:  1 am!

I haven’t been that tired in a long time – so we slept for 2 hours and then started walking (2 hours), a canal tour (75min), supper and now Bruce is asleep (a nap I hope b/c it’s only 7:30 pm)!  Mind you, he is the boss of bedtime, at least for himself.  He thinks I have too much energy.  (I just walked down to reception (69 mini steps).  I spanned the tread; I’d guess about 5 inches, very tiny.  Hang on to the banister going down!  Fortunately there is an elevator going up.  These are the old traditional hotels – high and narrow.  We’re on the fourth floor.  The window opens and there is only a narrow bar to keep you from falling out; fun.

So, the big thing here is bicycles!  I think the difference between here and home is that ours are built for leisure, theirs for life.  There are moms with two children, plus groceries and flowers; grandmothers; business men and women; women dressed to the nines; people texting and cycling; bicycles with wheel barrows in the middle (called fiesta bikes); 80% of the bikes have crates attached to the front for carrying; plastic covers protect the bike from rain; there are couples doubling, family bikes with a smaller seat in the rear (like a mini bike); bikes decorated with plastic flowers and boas; old bikes, new bikes; all bikes come with built in lights and the biggest thing of all – they’re flying along on their dedicated lanes, and look out for yourself, b/c they won’t stop for you! 

Another first, the bank in Amsterdam was not interested in helping us exchange our US cash, so I guess it’s coming home with us.  Also, the ‘fragrance’ of marijuana was everywhere – it’s legal here. 

We’ve met some interesting tourists  – a young woman and her daughter from Ireland.  She knew where Winnipeg was b/c her brother married a girl from our fair city and  in fact her sister-in-law is in Flin Flon right now, vacationing with her two daughters!  Go figure!  I met a nice woman from South Africa and a local who was willing to give us lots of info on our canal tour. 

Day 1 - Toronto airport

A lovely early start to our day - 4:17 am!!  Bruce was so eager, he walked over to Roblin Blvd to meet Teresa.  I just waited at home, with the luggage on the porch and decided to fill the bird feeder and replant something! 
The flight out of Winnipeg was uneventful, expect that I nearly caused a major incident while we were taxiing into to the TO airport.  I thought we'd 'arrived' and took off my seat belt and stood up!  Yikes - that caused heads to turn and eyes to pop!
Here's some 'good news' for you'all!  At the money exchange they wanted to charge us 18% to change US money to Canadian money - which means $200 US was worth only $163 Cdn.  We nixed that little transaction in a hurry and just bought Euors directly with Cdn. currency!  The last time that happened to me, was in Cuba, but there at least one could understand it - they strongly dislike the US.
So, Bruce has had a little nap, but it's pretty hard to sleep in this airport; too much action - pages, babies screaming,TV playing etc.  I'll sleep on the next plane.  Oh, yeah, another good piece of news, because we're here so early, and checked in early, we have exit row seats for the flight to Amsterdam!  Yeah!
I see a lot of Korean kids, probably on their way to home-stays!

















  

Day -1

I was awake at 4:17!  I'm not excited - yeah right!  The problem is that as soon as I wake up the tiniest little bit, my brain engages in all the things I have to do today!  LOTS  of laundry, of course and all the other little things; last gym, last time checking my friend's apt.; last time fertilizing the flower pots - you  get the idea.  I'm always a little anxious leaving mom & dad.
We did get to check into our flight to TO, and got our isle seats across from each other - that's our favorite.  A lovely massage this afternoon - to clear up some 'pain', then off to Carolyn's for supper!  What would we do without our wonderful family?

Day -2



On the QEII  Aug 2010

 It's 2 sleeps until d-day and the lists are multiplying.  When one is 'oldish' the lists are very interesting, meds, supports(a tennis ball to sit on - don't ask??), etc.  This time around we have to pack bicycle helmets as well and other assorted cycling paraphernalia.   Bruce wonders how many pairs of shoes to pack and with us each only taking one carry-on bag, it becomes a bit of a challenge choosing what to bring - fun though!  Then, we're so tired of the clothes we brought we have to go out and buy a new outfit to come home in! Fortunately, this time we don't have to pack dress up clothes, but the temperature in Belgium and Holland is 'cool' (low 20's) and Portugal and Spain is 'hot (low 30's).