Catching up on Maria's travels

 Maria is now in Europe and had been a little too busy eating and sightseeing to keep us up to date with her travels. However she has managed to find a quiet moment to do a little bit of reminiscing. Enjoy her story!

Where do I start to tell you what we have been up to over the last seven days?  Well how about the day we started on the Scenic Crystal?  We were greeted like royalty and all the ladies received a beautiful long stemmed rose.  WOW!

 Flower Market in Basel

The food is fabulous but not as fabulous as was on the ship ... thank goodness but the mouth keeps opening!!  Right now while sailing on the River Rhine, I am sitting in a sunny corner, listening to beautiful music and can help myself to hot chocolate, icecream, coffee etc. all day and soon, at 4.30 we will be having an Ice-cream Bonanza which is a first for me. Then at 7.0 pm we have a booking at the Restaurant on board, to be followed by a walk through a magical town called Ruedesheim and the reason I know it's magical is because John and I have been there before and it was our favourite.  Let's hope that our memories will not disappoint us on the second time round.

 Basel, Switzerland.  Town Doctor checking tourists health - looking for Black Plague.

We stayed in Basel, Switzerland for a couple of days and today I can't remember where we went or what we did but what I do remember is that woman in some parts of Switzerland were not allowed to vote until 1990!!  Yes that date is right.  The right to vote did not come until 1971 but this was only in some regions.  The women would you believe, resisted the passing of the law in their regions, the right to vote.  The Supreme Court in the end stepped in and passed the law that all women had the right to vote irrespective of the region's preferences.


Tuesday 17th we went to the Black Forest and saw lots of Storks ... yes the birds that deliver babies to the lucky mum's and dad's.  They are so much larger than I imagined and much loved by the locals.  The village has even placed a CCT camera near a next which is on top of the Church's bell tower so that it can keep an eye on the babies' well being.  The nests are HUGE.

 

Some beautiful homes of the New Town, Heidelberg

The Blue Danube begins in the mountains of the Black Forest and we actually saw the spot which was only a small pond.  The other magical thing I saw while sitting in the bus was a couple picking berries on the mountainside.  So it's well and truly summer over here which reminds me to tell you that the temperature on most days starts off about 16, hits 24 in the early afternoon and peaks to 30+ by 8.00 pm.  I only have the one pair of summer pants (recent purchase) and 2 summer blouses, and one pair of black flats, so I am doing it tough as all the other ladies look beautiful in their summer dresses and shorts etc.  Oh well only another 9 days to "endure" such hardships.  (ha ha ha ... only kidding but washing every night no matter what the hour)

We had real "black forest" cake which I don't like so I didn't have it but am loving the bratswurzt and the bread is so delicious I am having 4 servings each time.  The farmers are given an annual payment to keep their meadows as meadows to prevent the pine trees from obliterating them.  It is a stunningly beautiful region.

Cuckoo Clock shop at Triberg, Germany.  Karl Marx was born here.

Yesterday Wednesday 18th we went to Strasbourg and visited the Notre Dame cathedral. I have to tell you this ... the boat is sailing past hundreds of people sitting on the river banks, irrespective if it's concrete, pebbles, or gravel soaking up the sun and going for swims on this very hot day but I have been told this is the case irrespective of the weather when its summer because the season is so very short ... so everybody makes the most of it.  Amazing sight.

Today we went to Heidelberg and what a beautiful town it is.  Like most of the town we have seen, there is the Old Town and the New Town and off course it's always the Old Town that has the most beauty but everybody want's to live in the New Town due to the amenities.

So that's it from me for now because I have to go to the Ice-cream Bonanza and I just don't know when I will get some free time again

Beautiful Baltic

I have had another update on the holiday that is being enjoyed by Maria and John, the ship has been "out of range" for a while so there is a bit of catching up to do. Maria has broken her visits to the different places into little paragraphs. Enjoy! (I did!)

Dover, England - we spent the day there and visited a beautiful village called Rye which used to supply the King with ships and it's greatest trade in the 18th century was in smuggling.  Today this medieval town with its cobbled streets and narrow passageways revealed some beautiful little 'houses' where you can have a bite to eat or buy souvenirs.  Our Tour Guide told us that Paul McCartney still lives there.  We saw some wonderful Oust houses which were places to dry the hops for beer but today they are private dwellings and very prime real estate.

 Tivoli Gardens, Stockholm, Denmark. Toys for big and little boys.

Copenhagen, Denmark - the Tivoli Gardens was my biggest and best surprise as I was expecting it to be a garden however it was much, much more and thrilled all of my senses no matter where I looked!  It had the most thrilling rides with scaled down versions for the children.  I tried to get on one but literally ran out of time.  Beautiful restaurants by the dozen, pavilions with activities for the children and adults, sculptures, water fountains and art!!  Birds, seagulls, ducks, fish, sharks and even old vintage cars for the Boys .. big and little.  We were told that when Walt Disney visited the place it inspired him to create Disneyland.  Naturally we saw the "Little Mermaid" and now there is also a "Big Mermaid" nearby (cruise ship terminal) and as I was taking a photograph of it I overheard an American woman saying how this one offended her.  Yes the Big Mermaid is much larger and so are her breasts however still in proportion to her body.

The delight of sitting on verandah and soaking up the sun and cruising along.

Tallin, Estonia - we walked up to Toompea Hill on a hot day but we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the Old Town below with it's many beautiful church spires and listened to a medieval concert.  The people here can understand the Finnish language and visa-versa and often the Fins will get on a 2 hr ferry across the Baltic Sea to drop in and shop.  Stunningly beautiful wool products but very rough and scratchy to touch.  So far I have not come across any wool products that were soft to feel.

Saint Petersburg, Russia - I don't know where to begin because the iconic palaces and churches we saw were overwhelming with their grandeur and opulence!  You could never imagine the amount of gold that has gone into the trimmings, furniture, statutes, mirror frames, chandeliers, wall paper, dinner sets, door frames, ceilings, floors, door handles, cutlery, glassware, vases etc. etc.  It is phenomenal!!!  Just tons and tons of it!  Literally!  Everything is gilt-edged!  Nothing escaped.  And humongous in size!  There is nothing to compare.

  Catherine's Palace.  Just the tip of the Gold Iceberg.

It was here that I first saw people soaking up the sun anywhere they could find a place to sit.  In the city or countryside it was simply a case of taking of the outer clothes and lying back.  I mostly saw this in the city.  Sadly the Russian history has left it's mark on its people as the older generation are angry.  Fortunately the younger ones are far more optimistic and outgoing.  Let's hope that the political future of the country will be a lot more stable and not experience any of the dreadful upheavals of the past.

Passenger feeding seagulls off the back of the ship until he almost lost thumb.

Helsinki, Finland - not much to write about really as we only did a walking tour through the City and as everybody is on holidays - they get 5 weeks holidays during the summer - the place was deserted.  Pretty town with a lovely lake which they skate on in the winter.  A fire in the 18th Century wiped the town out so all construction after that had to be in brick.   Sailing boats are lifted and "garaged" during the winter because of the damage the ice creates.  The trams look exactly like our Melbourne trams.  Same colour and shape.

Street Entertainer having a fun moment with tourists.

Stockholm, Sweden - to reach this beautiful City we had to sail through it's Archipelago which was stunningly beautiful.  We got up at 3.30 am and it took another 3 hours of sailing to reach the Port.  There are over 32,000 islands but not all of them are inhabited.   We visited City Hall where the Nobel winners get together for their Banquet meal, the Royal Residence which is now a museum as the Queen way back in the 1980's wanted her children to have a back yard which they now have by the hundreds of acres and can ride their horses, and the Vasa Museum ... an incredible sight because it is literally a museum BUILT AROUND a ship that sank 15 minutes after it's launch in 1628 and it's still in its original shape due to the water being brackish.

One of the many glorious and rare ocean sunsets we saw from our Balcony.

Visby, Gotland, Sweden - I fell in love with this little Island as it was rural, it's paddocks chock full of wild summer flowers, and its beautiful town of Visby which still has a wall surrounding the town which once protected it's people.  It has the oldest Viking graves, it's wild horses were once exported to England and Ireland to work in the mines because of their temperament and size, the Island relies on fishing and agriculture today however the young people are often forced to move to find employment elsewhere.  The economic decline of the Island centuries ago,  resulted in the preservation of it's ancient buildings and monuments.

Warnemunde, Germany - we were so lucky to be here during one of it's annual festivals which made this seaside town into a fantasy, one that I have often read about in novels but have never seen.  The seaside walks were full of kiosks, each one selling something unique and colourful and once again we found ourselves walking on cobbled streets with narrow passageways and as a special treat, a huge lighthouse at the end of one of them.

Maria enjoying German Oom Pah Pah Band.  Yes it was a cold night.

  Later in the afternoon we went for a ride on the Molli Train which is quiet famous and had a ball all due to the locomotive being repositioned from the front (we were in the last carriage) to the back!!  So we copped it all, the sounds of the steam, the clanking of the bell and yes, even the black sooty smoke and laughed even though we were choking.   Later on that night on board the ship we were treated to a German meal of Bratwurst, sauerkraut and an Oom Pah Pah band so we danced, drank German beer and reluctantly crawled back home about 10.30 pm.

  Cruise coming to an end.  Second last pilot boat.

 (PS from AJ)  From one part of the world to another, Maria and John have now packed their cases and are on their merry way to Amsterdam where they will shortly start their next adventure - travelling down the River Rhine.

Maria's Sami experience

I have received another informative email from Maria about her travels - my own travels ended on Sunday with nothing new to tell you about - it was horribly cold and raining in the morning and it was a pleasure to climb into the car and turn the heater on for our long five hour drive back home. Warm at last! I really loved what I saw on Fraser Island and would jump at the chance to go back again. It would be lovely to see those "beauty spots" in sunshine! But I have Maria's story to share with you so here it is. . .


Yesterday (Saturday 22) we did not have a guide on our bus tour going to North Cape (Norway) and what a difference that made to our enjoyment of the trip ... no where near as interesting as we were left to our own devices and I got lost several times while looking for the highlights... and time was awasting!!  Sadly I missed out on seeing the Observatory but got to see most of the other things.

I decided to play with the ISO on the camera as the sky and landscape was darker than 'normal' and even though the pictures looked good on the camera's LCD screen it was a different story when I got home and looked at them on the iPad.  YUK!!!  Typical touristy mistake, not practicing before leaving home.  I met a guy the other day while waiting to get back on board after a day's outing and he told me that he only brought one SD card, the reason being is that he was depending to download his photos onto his tablet but something went haywire and now he was in trouble.  Not a happy chappy!

What can I tell you about North Cape?  Firstly let me take back a comment I said in my other email about North Cape being the world's most northern land point as I am not so sure anymore because the Captain of the Ship during his daily greeting to the Guests said it was the most northern point of Norway.

North Cape.  What does this world famous and dangerous place look like?
The Dream.  I thought I was going to be doing it tough like some Arctic explorer struggling through snow, hail, gale force winds, fog, hunger, ice and sub zero temperatures and come home a hero telling John of all my super human endeavours.

North Cape. The Reality.  Jammed packed with campervans/mobile homes & tourists to start off with.  And on this itty bitty dusty and unpaved road, we almost collided with four toll booths.  I was astounded.  The next picture to unfold was the grey landscape, no footpaths or 'roads', uneven ground covered in gravel and really, really, really dusty.  What else was there to see?  Miles and miles of grey skies and ocean.  In amongst of all of that there were a couple of sculptures that are photographed by the thousands each summer day.  See below.  Never-the-less still loved the experience.

Today (Sunday 23) I went along on a tour called the "Sami Experience" which John once again thought there was a better photo opportunity by walking through town.  Once again, John was right and he managed to take some stunning photographs.

Anyway the Sami Experience was unforgettable as we sat in a Sami hut, all 62 of us, some on benches and some on the Reindeer skins on the ground. The huge fire was warm and cosy, the Sami Leader told us about their culture in a slow and easy style, "sang" the unique Sami song, the cadence is more like a person in a trance while were served smoked samon and smoked reindeer meat with tea or coffee.

 The hut (completely covered by soil with grass growing out of the soil, excellent insulation) soon filled up with smoke even though it had a "chimney" and the embers from the fire filtered down onto all of us.  I had to laugh when I noticed where I was sitting on the Reindeer skins that the hair had come off and was all over my jeans.  As I said, it was an unforgettable and delightful experience. 

I forgot to tell you that the weather changed within seconds.  When getting dressed this morning it was 18 C at 8.00 so I thought it was going to be a scorcher and got dressed accordingly.  Well it was something that had to be seen to be believed.  During the outing the fog rolled in and the temperature dropped drammatically.  Amazing and  quite frightening that it could happen without warning.  A regular occurence I was told.

I got back on board by 2.00 pm and the harbour within an hour was fogged in.  We set sail about 6.00 pm and we have been fogged in ever since. 

A Quiet Day on Fraser Island

We didn’t set the alarm this morning but I was still in the shower before six thirty! Rather than take a tour or pay for the use of resort equipment I decided to wander the grounds of where we are staying with the camera, today. Of course my off-sider was with me as I adopted eye-catching positions to take my shots. He is used to people staring at his wife as she ignores every passer by in the search for a good shot!

He also is very patient when I need a person in the shot! I could hardly take a photograph of an empty beach, now could I?

After an hour of plodding through the almost quicksand beach, taking shots of water patterns, tiny flowers and dingo prints on the sand (identical to dog prints!) I realized that Colin was not enjoying this walk so we turned back to more solid ground.

Around the resort are many small water-holes and tiny lakes. The water contains tannin from the leaves that makes the water quite reflective. Since the sun was shining today (a big change from yesterday) I was able to take several different shots of the grasses and shrubs and the water and all of them would make fantastic pictures to hang on a wall! The colours of the plants, the sky and the water were so lovely.

Our walk brought us back to the resort, to the enormous swimming pool. Of course, I couldn’t resist taking a shot of part of the pool area. Everything about the design of Kingfisher Bay Resort seems to be designed especially to look good in a photograph.

Even the stairs, when viewed from pool level, are stunning!

We joined an “eco tour” of the property which was actually a promotional talk of how eco-friendly the resort is. The tour started inside the main building and moved on to the walk ways between the hotel units and out into the bushland surrounding the buildings.

We stopped several times to take photographs – as I said; the entire place is very photogenic.

It was pointed out how the main building is designed to represent sand dunes, one curve behind another- and it was also pointed out that we actually were unable to see all the other buildings and hotel rooms because of the way they were built among the trees and hills.

This might have been a promotional tour but it was very interesting and I learned a lot from it.

I have fallen in love with this island!

AJ

An update from Maria who is in Norway.

 Maria is once again in internet contact so is able to share more of her travels with us.

It just keeps on getting better!  I thought I was in Heaven yesterday, well today was even more spectacular as we travelled through the countryside of Norway by train, on our way to Voss where we were thoroughly spoiled by a magnificent buffet of all the local, traditional foods such as meatball, fish and fresh strawberries accompanied by a cream that you could stand a spoon up in. And yes I made a little piggy of myself.  Thankfully we did not have the smoked sheep's head where it is the custom to start off with the eyes as they are the most flavoursome as they are full of fat.

Norway is mainly an agricultural country, there are approximately 900 registered farms in Voss with an average size of 23 acres with an additional 7 acres of summer pasture lands in the mountains.  The farmers have a strong union and receive government subsidies which in turn makes the cost of food very expensive.  Everything is very expensive here and apparently gets more expensive the further north we go.  Education and medical care is free.  Today sunrise happened at 3.28 am and the sunset  at 11.40 pm.  On Saturday we will be in the land of the Midnight Sun where the sun never sets for 2 months.  Most people's religion is Anglican Lutheran and the local church has to have enough seats to accommodate all it's parishioners. Also, Mass will not start until everybody has arrived.  Each region knows how many reindeers, moose etc. it has in preparation for the hunting season. If you want to fish it will cost you 50 kr ($10.00) for the day and to hunt will cost about about $100.00 for the season.

The first photograph is of typical farmhouses situation in the mountains which I snapped from a moving train.

The second is of the outside dining area where we had lunch at Fleiches Hotel, the third is of a Troll which is the country's 'emblem' which apparently belongs in a fairy tale.

This photo was of a poster in the town we visited the day before "Stavanger".

Due to sailing in the Fjords for the last couple of days, the satellite signal apparently is not strong enough to get onto the internet.  Good to be back again, just hoping I don't go through my account before finishing this holiday.

A Wet Day in Fraer

Breakfast was very early this morning because we were expected to be waiting for our tour bus at 7.45am. Toast without marmalade! This s the very first place I have ever stayed in where there was no marmalade – everything spreadable was there EXCEPT marmalade! Shame! 

 The big four wheel drive coach on the beach

The disappointment of brekky was soon forgotten as Colin and I waited under dripping awnings for the tour bus. The other passengers arrived and we all stood separate from each other with no interaction at all. It wasn’t until 8,30 that our transport arrived, by which time we were ready to sit in comfort! It was cold outside! The coach was a big German constructed four wheel drive vehicle that proved to us why it had been chosen as the vehicle for this island by the end of the day. The roads on Fraser Island are narrow, loose sand tracks or else the road is the beach and the vehicle has to cope with the different conditions there.

 The fresh water creek and board walk at Eli Creek

A beautiful spot was Eli Creek and all of us enjoyed the chance to take a few photographs. Of course I took dozens! Oh how I love digital photography! You can shoot to your hearts content! I can honestly say that my heart is content!

It was so exciting bouncing along the rough, sandy tracks, scratching our way around bends with the trees whipping their branches against the windows and the passengers trying hard not to bang their heads on the windows – we were all grateful for the seat belts that kept us anchored to our seats!

 Erosion on the East coast beaches

Driving along the beach the damage caused by the high seas was pointed out to us, the cliffs have been eroded such a long way back by the exceptionally vicious seas that we have had in storms this year. Of course the beaches will change – they may increase in size or they may shrink further but a sand island is always at the mercy of the sea and the weather. As the sand has been taken away more and more of the coffee rocks have been exposed which makes some of the stretches of beach driving quite an adventure!

 Wonderful patina on the rusting hulk of the Maheno

Our tour stopped at the famous wreck of the Maheno – this once first class only passenger ship was on her way to the wrecking yards in Japan when it broke loose from the boat towing it and drifted on the currants until it finished up on the sandy shore of Fraser Island. Many attempts were made to re-float her but all failed so the sea is gradually reclaiming her by encouraging rust to erode the iron. The wreck is now totally unsafe for anyone to climb on and anyone attempting to stands to be whacked with a very heavy fine for their trouble.

 Our vehicle at the coloured sands

Not far from the wreck of the Maheno stand the amazing coloured sands. Once upon a time people would clamber over the cliffs and fill containers with the different colours to later fill glass shapes with different coloured stripes of the grains. I bought one sand filled bottle myself, years and years ago! Today I found that there is a very strong fence that prevents anyone from going more than twenty paces into the valley between the cliffs of sand – but that is obviously very necessary so that the cliffs will be there a few years longer. Again I took more than one photograph! However you can breathe a sigh of relief since I am only sharing one!

 The rain was falling as we were given a talk on the trees at Central Station

One of the stops that we had was at a place called “Central Station” in the centre of the island and there we walked along a fresh water creek and saw the most  beautiful rainforest – The walk through was at almost breakneck speed so I found it very difficult to take as many photographs as I would have liked – it was so dark that each shutter click was two second in length or longer. I did not take my tripod with me but was able to rest the camera on the wooden hand rail of the walkway. No way would I have been able to hold the camera still free hand – even by resting on the railing, I still have had to delete more than half of what I took. When you take plenty of picture, deleting means you still have a good collection of “keepers”!

We were fortunate on our drive around the beauty spots of Fraser Island to have two tour guides and we learned so much about the plants the animals, the island and its history from them both. I have so much to remember! It rained almost all day - but that did not stop anyone from enjoying the day.

AJ

Off on another short break

Although the sun wasn’t shining, it was bright and not raining when Colin and I left home for our three days on Fraser Island. It is quite a long drive (six hours, thanks to major road works in several places) but we broke up the distance with a couple of stops. The first was at a service station where we enjoyed a coffee and shared a most delicious apple crumble muffin from “wild bean” café and the second was to eat our packed lunch in the rose gardens at Maryborough. I can share a picture of Colin eating his lunch but the roses behind him will be at their best in quite a few months time!

Colin enjoying his lunch in the Rose Gardens of Maryborough

Very near to the rose park was a striking old building, I couldn’t resist pulling the car over as we were leaving to take a photograph of it, the huge embossed arch that was once the entrance revealed that this was once a flour mill belonging to the Dominion Milling Company. The place is vacant and for sale – but I would have loved to wander around it and take a few more photos!

 The old mill near the rose gardens

We set the GPS so that we could find the booking office for Kingfisher bay and the poor “girl” giving the directions nearly had a coronary when the twisty road changed direction and became a beautiful motorway! She told me to turn left, follow the highlighted route and eventually demanded I do a U-turn! Silence eventually reigned when the motorway rejoined the original road! So much for the Garmin update! (Garmin is the make of the GPS).

 Almost at the ferry to Fraser Island

We arrived at Riverheads in good time and after checking in our suitcase we went off exploring (and taking photos) for a while. The homes built here all look neat and expensive and the gardens are all tidy – not overflowing with colour but neat with lawns and shrubs. The ferry trip across from the mainland to Fraser Island took around forty minutes, I was pleased that I had my new “toy” with me, I managed to read two chapters of my latest novel on it! 

Not too many passengers on the ferry to Kingfisher Bay

The sand hills of the island looked drab and colourless under the grey clouds so the camera stayed in the case throughout the journey!

A little coach was waiting for us on the jetty and it dropped us off at the front door of the resort. What an impressive entry!

The entrance to the Kingfisher Bay hotel.

A young man guided us into a room where he advised us of the different restaurants and activities that were available. With the top temperatures for the next two days to be below 20 degrees none of us was too excited by the offer of outdoor swimming pools heated or otherwise nor about the canoes, stand-up paddleboards or any of the activities that involved getting wet! Perhaps a ride on a “Segway” might be a challenge! I have never tried one of those. Tennis is not my scene, nor is sitting on a bar stool! There are plenty of places to get tipsy!

Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the beauty spots – but the weather forecast is not very encouraging. Fingers crossed!

AJ