Visiting family

The rain continued throughout Thursday night and on into Friday morning making our commute into Quincy, MA, even more interesting than normal. The plan was to bring coffee and Dick's homemade apple muffins to Uncle Frank and spend a little quality time catching up with my mother-in-law's sole remaining sibling. 

We left 52 Linden a little before 9:00 am and headed off north. The rain persisted but it didn't stop us, although it had caused at least two accidents along the way, one of which appeared quite serious.

Nevertheless, Dick knew the way and before long we pulled into the Atria assisted living part of Marina Bay in North Quincy. Frank was waiting for us and after grabbing our picnic breakfast from the back of the car, he led us to the 3rd floor cafe sitting area where we spent the short hour chatting and catching up.

the usual suspects: Steve, Susie, Dor, Dick and Uncle Frank

After we said our goodbyes the four of us returned to the car and headed back to Douglas. where we relaxed until our next family meetup later that evening.

Dor, Mallory, Dick and Susie

About 4:30pm niece Mallory returned to D & D's and the five us piled into our car and headed off on the backroads to Connecticut. Our objective was the new Macdonald home in Glastonbury to be followed by all of us going to dinner at Max Fish near the new MacD homestead.

Traffic was slow going through the countryside but the drive through rural Connecticut was lovely. Once onto I-84, we moved a lot faster and traffic picked up, too. But drive along this stretch bought back memories of the many times we came down this way when we lived in Vermont to visit the Bergman family. 

Anyway, with Dick's assistance -- and that of the woman inside his phone -- we found the Macdonald house with little difficulty. Hugs all around was the first order of the day followed by a grand tour of the new space. Just a couple of days before they had received the last delivery of their personal  belongings and the house looked ready for the next phase of their life: Glen's retirement from the army and his new job adding to the large stock of changes awaiting them all.

After a tour and a glass of wine we followed Glen and Christina to the restaurant (the kids were relieved that they could stay home and not be bothered by the adults). We settled in for the evening, enjoying wonderful service, very tasty food (Glen and I each had the local fish, Tautog), and lots of warm conversation.

Glen, Dor, Dick, Mallory and Susie

Dor and Dick

Christina and Glen

Tautog with Hoisin sauce and Jasmine rice

Exiting the restaurant into the cool night air there was one more time for plenty of hugs to go around before we said au revoir. 

The day had been a good one to be sure: We got to see not one, not two but three parts of the extended family: Uncle Frank, Mallory and the MacDonald clan. Pretty good indeed.

Tomorrow we begin the return trip home stopping in the Berkshires to meet up with another old friend and slipping across the state line into Vermont to find a very special grave.

Oh, and in case you wondered, the Tautog:

Color in Massachusetts and old friends

Thursday we relaxed in Douglas, which was just as well since it rained off and on for much of the day. Of course, relaxing for some meant working in the garden at 52 Linden preparing it for a nice long winter sleep. Susie was up for that challenge and pitched in with gusto. 

I, of course, remained indoors. . . But the colors around the home eventually pulled me outside.

Susie and Dor cleaning pots

Brother and sister taking a break

Gracie the family cat

That evening we braved the rain and headed south to Providence and dinner with some old friends at Persimmon Restaurant. Back in our Providence days we had eaten at Persimmon, chef-owned and operated by Champe Speidel, when they were located in Bristol, RI. Sometime after we departed for Michigan in 2015 they moved to a location on Hope Street not too far from Brown University. The food, unsurprisingly, is still excellent and the service superb.

We arrived at the restaurant a bit early but, not long after we were seated, we welcomed friend Lee Forbes and soon after Andrea Feldman and her mother Barbara. Lee and Susie worked together at Susie's shop at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket; Andrea and I were colleagues at Johnson & Wales university and many a dinner she and her mom shared with us over the years we lived in Rhode Island.

it was a wonderful evening of swapping stories, catching up on each others' lives and enjoying a wonderful meal together all washed down by some delicious wines. 

The evening, as all must, came to an end and after a round of hugs we went our separate ways. Until the next time. . . 

Back on the road again

[Warning: besides some nice color photos this may not appear to be a very exciting trip to some of you who are not familiar with the cast of characters involved. We beg to differ.]

Sitting here in Dick and Dorothy's kitchen in Douglas I have time to catch up on our 2022 Eastern US road trip to visit family and friends. 

This past Tuesday was a gorgeous autumn day in West Michigan as we pulled out of our driveway and headed for Port Huron and the Canadian border. Before our departure we had just learned that Canada had lifted all restrictions which included having to use the ArriveCan app within 72 hours before crossing. Another travel hassle avoided.

We made good time through Michigan passing some nice color along the way, a harbinger of color yet to come.

There was hardly any traffic at the border which was a plus and we passed through quickly; the border guard was smiling as he welcomed us into Canada, a nice touch.

Traffic was light as we zipped through Ontario, until we reached the 401 when, of course, vehicular volume really picked up. One stop for lunch at the Onroute Service Area near Woodstock and we were back on the highway soon switching to the 403. 

We skirted Hamilton via the Lincoln-Alexander Parkway and before long found ourselves parked at the US border at Lewiston. Cooling our heels for about 25 minutes along with hundreds of other folks, all the while spewing more carbon emissions into the environment than necessary, we passed through into the greater Buffalo area in the search of I-90 and the New York Thruway. The state of New York is in the process of redoing the service plazas on the Thruway, a serious nuisance to be sure, and quite a few are open for gas only. This will undoubtedly affect our planning for the return trip this Sunday.

As we neared Rochester we turned south onto I-390 and headed for Corning, New York, our first stop of the trip. 

We had never driven down I-390 before and found the road in good shape but it was the stunning autumn color along the route that we couldn't stop talking about: Mile after mile of huge swatches of golds, reds, and various shades in between. This visual chorus would be pretty much the story for most of the rest of the trip but we would never tire of it.

quick bathroom stop off the QEW

After about nine hours we arrived at our hotel in Corning. It was fourth time we stayed in this lovely town and the third time at the Hilton Garden Inn, a great location right next to Corning's headquarters and a short walk across the river to the main part of town. 

After checking in we opted to just hang out at the hotel and sitting outside with a glass of wine. For dinner we grabbed a couple of salads at the hotel before turning in for the night.

relaxing in Corning

Leaving Corning Wednesday morning a little after 9:00 am we traveled up I-86 and switched to I-88 at Binghamton, New York. Upon arriving at Oneonta we got off the interstate onto Rte 23 and the casual driving of back country roads. After a total trip of about 3 hours we pulled into the Archer driveway in the hills over looking Prattsville.

Gloria had prepared a tasty lunch for us - egg salad, Tabouli, Salmon salad, slaw and focaccia. The four of us sat and caught up on all the news, sharing stories and trials from the past year. (We last saw them  on our 2021 driving trip out east.)

outside at the Archer's

brunch with the Archers

Eventually we said adieu to the Archers and returned to the highway. Making our way out of the Catskills and onto I-87 north for just a few miles before we switched to I-90 east just south of Albany. We continued to revel in lovely fall color until reaching the Connecticut River Valley when the trees turned drab with little character. Leaving the I-90 at I-395 we headed south towards Connecticut getting off on Rte 16 at Webster wending our way on backroads until we reached D & D's home in Douglas, MA.

Rte 23 heading down out of the Catskills

view looking down in to the Hudson Valley from Rte 23

After unloading and unpacking we were greeted with hugs and glasses of Prosecco awaiting one final guest for dinner, our niece Mallory.

The remainder of the evening was spent swapping stories, trying to keep all discussion of health issues to a minimum and enjoying a delicious meal of stuffed shells, a specialty for which sister-in-law Dorothy is widely known.

Update from Grand Rapids

Things have been pretty quiet in our corner of the planet this summer. 

We have kept a fairly low profile since returning from our swing through Northern Europe this past spring. Susie has given a couple of presentations at several of the local library branches and is scheduled to do three demos at the Forest Hills Adult Enrichment Center later this autumn. I'm on tap to do a travelogue of our 2022 trip at OLLI at Aquinas College in December.

The one dark side to the summer was hearing of Lena's death in Vermont. She and Susie were good friends and spent many an hour handcrafting when not working together in the Rutland ER. Susie flew to Vermont for the funeral and on her way back to Burlington to catch a plane home stopped for lunch in Warren, VT with Dick and Dorothy who just happened to be in the area celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary!

Early August was spent preparing for and enjoying the "holidays" as we call them: Susie's birthday on 2 August, our anniversary on 6 August and Bern's 95th birthday on the 9th, the last event to include celebrations at Pilgrim Manor, her church and a family get-together at Clear Lake. Dick and Dorothy drove out from MA and helped us make Bern's day truly memorable.

Lastly, there was a small reunion of several VH cousins here in Grand Rapids. The California and Chicago contingents were in town and after dropping by to see their aunt at Pilgrim Manor joined several local cousins for dinner at Maru on Cherry Street. Lots of catching up to do among these folks who have known each other all their lives. A shared meal is always better when sharing memories and that night was exceptional in the recollections of years past. . . 

Be well and be safe!

Eaglecrest offices and condos

Reed's Lake in East Grand Rapids, home of the rich and sketchy

fishing by the not-so-sketchy in Reed's Lake, East Grand Rapids

a street in Paris (just this past June!)

Comstock Park branch of the Kent district Library

Cranes and geese coexisting, our summer neighbors in Eaglecrest

Susie, Dick and Dorothy outside a pub in Warren, Vermont

Susie and her baked goods for her mom's 95th celebration at Beckwith Hills Church

Dorothy, Dick, Bern, Susie and yours truly

Barb DeKorne and Ben Schaap at Clear Lake

Melissa Loaney

Dick and cousin Brenda

Steve Schaap, Dorothy, Susie and Dave DeKorne

Dave and Barb DeKorne and Susie

father and son

Me, Clark, Susie, Mark and Tess, Scott, Jen, Sharon, Lisa and Brenda outside Maru

Jen, Lisa and Sharon

Scott, Jen, Brenda, Lisa and Sharon

Cousins: Susie, Tess, Jen, Brenda, Lisa and Sharon

Europe 2022: planes, trains and automobiles

So, as the character Tom Haverford would say in the TV show "Parks and Rec", here are the deets (as in "deetails") from our 2022 trip to Europe:  

Using 19 trains, 3 airplanes and a handful of automobiles we traveled to 8 countries, visited 19 places in 55 days. Tiring to be sure but what an experience! 

Countries and major cities visited: 

Austria: Salzburg
Czech Republic: Prague
Denmark: Copenhagen, Roskilde
France: Paris
Germany: Hamburg, Hohenfels, Munich, Nurnberg, Regensburg
Netherlands: Delft, Gouda, Utrecht
Norway: Oslo, Flåm, Bergen
Sweden: Stockholm

Transportation:

Air Travel: We used British Airways and their partner American Airlines for flights between the US and Europe and KLM for our one-way flight from Bergen to Amsterdam.

Automobiles: We rarely used automobiles but did rely on Uber four times: twice in Grand Rapids to and from the local airport, once in Munich and once in Prague. Uber was not available in Denmark. We did use a taxi to get to our AirBnB from the train station in Munich. Oh, and our host in Bergen kindly picked us up in his car at the train station (it was raining which precluded our walking to the apartment).

Trains: This was our primary source of travel between countries and cities. We both had senior Eurail passes (15 days in two months) and arranged for our required seat reservations well before the trip. We used the mobile passes which allowed us to upload tickets with the QR code directly to our phone.

Local transportation: We relied on local public transportation nearly everywhere we traveled, including getting to and from airports and train stations. And getting from one town to another by train, especially in the Netherlands, was easy, simple and inexpensive.

Accommodation: 

We used Air BnB for apartments, and Expedia, Hilton and The New York Times for finding hotels.

Four hotels: Hamburg, Stockholm,  Flåm and Gouda. Reichshof Hotel in Hamburg was very nice, Hotel Slussen in Stockholm wonderful, Weeshuis R & C in Gouda less so.
Six apartments (Munich, Prague, Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen, and Paris). The shortest stay was in Copenhagen (4 days) and the longest in Paris (14 days). The quality was generally good with some relatively minor issues (see notes for Munich and Prague). 

Communication: 

Nearly everywhere in Czech and Scandinavia the preferred language was English. Curiously, nearly everyone we came across assumed by looking at us we were locals and began by speaking their language until we looked blankly at them and said "English please".

Food: 

We ate quite a few meals in our apartments -- we love going to local grocery stores and small markets; for us it's always been part of the experience of traveling. Also, eating out for nearly two months straight would have been prohibitively expensive and not great for our health.

Transportation.

Eurail passes. Slick interface and with two exceptions worked surprisingly well. Customer service virtually non-existent, however. No way to get immediate help while on the road. 

Also, a question remains for us regarding reservations. Eurail drives you to another part of their website and many reservations can only be mailed. In any case, all require some cost, ranging from $3 or $4 up to $30 and higher per. When we had to make reservations at the station in Oslo for our next leg (to Myrdahl) the ticket agent informed us that because we had 1st class Eurail passes reservations were free! 

Our few Uber experiences generally worked fine where available, but the company is not allowed in Denmark. We didn't use Uber in Sweden or Norway.

German local train service was fine and very useful.

Czech metro was nice with pretty much all escalators and/or elevators but it was the tram system that won us over: widespread through the city, very accessible and free to everyone over 65!

Copenhagen metro also nearly all escalators and elevators, very modern and fast.

Stockholm metro showed its age compared to the other previously visited cities but very extensive. Plenty of escalators and elevators available at the stops we used.

Download local city metro apps (free and in English), allowing you to see station locations, plot our journeys, etc.

Trains and stations.

German train system is DB
Czech system is CD
Danish is DSB -- app COPENHAGEN CARD
Swedish is SJ and metro is SL - apps
Norwegian is Vy - app OSLO PASS
Dutch train system is NS
French system is SNCF

German and Czech trains ran on time and were generally clean and comfortable. The Munich station was largely a mess with new construction. Hamburg station was huge with massive crowds of travelers but easily navigable with lots of facilities and amenities.

The Czech station was large and we thought oddly laid out, with no taxi stands, and little or no signage assisting the traveler in finding the tram stops. In fact, one had to walk several hundred meters to get to the tram system. Alternatively, the metro was clearly marked within the terminal.

Danish train from Hamburg was a half hour late getting into Copenhagen but quite comfortable and only one so far to provide snacks and coffee in 1st class.

Copenhagen station easy to navigate at first glance but the relationship to the metro system was awkward and it took us some on-the-ground research to find our way from the underground into the station without wandering around outside aimlessly.

Swedish train system sent me an email the day before our journey explaining how to find our high-speed train for Stockholm -- pointing out that it was on a track not easily discovered through the existing track layout.

Stockholm station is easy to navigate and well-connected to the metro system.

Oslo station is perhaps the most modern and well-appointed station so far. Very helpful TI office, plenty of restaurants in a lovely indoor courtyard environment as well as a grocery store (COOP)! Location is ideal and very close the waterfront attractions. Check out the SKYSS APP.

Norwegian trains ran a bit slow off and on but generally arrived at their destinations on time. Clean and lots of room in 1st class; 2nd class (Myrdal to Bergen) would be quite cramped when full.

Bergen station is small but centrally located to the waterfront. 

Dutch train stations very modern and well-run, most using the turnstile method for checking tickets in (and out). All well-located to the center of the city.

Generally, the trains were very busy and mostly full in 1st class.

A good reason  going 1st class is the use of the various station lounges, managed by that country's national train system. Clean, comfortable with free drinks and snacks they also have departure boards and are easily accessible and provide wifi. There is always an attendant to ask questions (which we often had to do). Note that general seating in most stations is often severely limited if not nonexistent.

City passes.

Most provided discounts for seniors (typically over 65).
Copenhagen City Card. Cannot revisit an attraction.
Stockholm transport pass.
Oslo Pass. Can revisit attractions.
Bergen card. We opted to "pass" on this. You get free transport but only discounted admissions to most of the key attractions.

Masking and vaccination.

Germany required masking on trains and public transportation.
Austrian border patrol only ones to check proof of vaccination.
Czech seemed indifferent.
Denmark also seemed indifferent.
Sweden and Norway generally indifferent to masking.
Except for Austria no one asked to see proof of vaccination.

Currency and money.

Each Scandinavian country and the Czech Republic each had there own currency. Credit cards widely used in all countries but AMEX not so much. 
Used ATMs infrequently for incidental cash.

Language and translation programs.

Czech and Scandinavian languages challenging but Google translate helped in certain circumstances. English widely spoken through Scandinavia.

Odds and ends.

Bathroom facilities - requires a nominal fee to use; one even took a credit card (contactless).
Grocery carts - a nominal fee to use but coin is returned upon returning the cart

Overall:

This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience notwithstanding my getting Covid and almost not getting to return home with my wife. It was made even more special being able to reconnect with old friends and spend quality time with family. Even so, it was tiring to be sure. Until we got to Paris we were never anywhere long enough to really get into a rhythm, a genuine feel for a particular place. But we did go and see and do. Time to catch one's breath now.

If we had to chose a favorite, it would have to be Norway. It was stunningly gorgeous.

cruising the fjord, Bergen to Mostraumen

After we returned home we we given the wonderful opportunity of seeing Bob and Carol, our familiar Sandhill cranes, with their newborn, Teddie. Seeing those three and finally getting to sit out with our neighbors for a warm conversation to catch up on the local news is something worth writing about.

Now it's your turn to go and have an adventure. . . big or small, it doesn't matter just go. Life is short.