The Global Adventures of Judy and Phil

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Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico 27 Jan - 3 Mar, 2009

It was just too cold and miserable to stay in Chicago for the entire winter so we leave 20 below wind chill temperature and arrive 4 hours later in sunny 80 degree weather in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico! It was glorious! It was almost mind boggling to be able to sit outside and lunch and then sun bathe and swim! We stayed 6 nights at the Hilton Cancun. What a gorgeous property located at 17.5km on the Kulkulcan Highway, the road built on this extended finger as a Hotel Zone between the Caribbean Sea and the lagoon. Mercedes-Benz non-air conditioned buses drive all over Cancun for a cost of 6.5 pesos per ride (14 pesos = 1US$) and they operate 24/7. This sleepy fishing village has burgeoned to one million persons servicing the tourist trade. We've never been to this part of Mexico before and wanted to see what it was really like. It felt to us like being in the US with all the branded hotels, restaurants, shops but with a latino flavor; prices were NYC. There was no sign of an economic crisis here.

We spent out first night celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary at the hotel restaurant on the beach. The city center is mostly for shopping although most tourists go to La Isla Shopping Center (all the names here) or the expensive Luxury. As usual we did more wandering and no shopping. Mostly we laid out under the palapas on the beach. We did take the bus to Tulum ruins one hot day and got a nice sunburn! It is a small excavation but lovely, built on the cliffs right on the Sea. Totally picturesque! None of the structures can be climbed or entered but many visitors did go up and down the stairs to get to the beach and play in the Sea. The bus stopped at Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Xcaret, and Xel Ha but we never went back to check them out. We ate Italian (La Dolce Vita) (Pizza Pasta), Mexican (Ty-Coz Baguetteria) (Matachi Grill), Argentina beef (Puerto Madero), burgers (Spices) and looked forward to the breakfast buffet. We watched futbol from Italy and the Copa Cuidad de Mar de la Plata from Argentina in the evenings. And Roberto Carcol was right; the Copa games had an Argentinian sports announcer speaking Spanish with an Italian accent! Julio Iglesias gave a very well attended free concert in the central plaza in Playa del Carmen. And Gijon, Asturias, Spain named a park after Lazaro Cardenas, past president of Mexico, in gratitude for Mexico taking in so many Spaniards during the Spanish Civil War.

On the 2nd of Feb, we took a non-stop first-class bus to Merida, the capital of Yucatan. It was on this very day that the retired general who had been hired by the new Cancun mayor to clean up the place was tortured and murdered. On 20 Feb, the Federal prosecutors arrest the police chief of Cancun and allege that he and his 1700 officers work for Mexico's most feared gangsters, Las Zetas! However, this news has not stopped tourism in Cancun and when we came back for our last night on 2 March, the hotels were even more packed with revelers. Apparently, there were stories in the US of chaos, mass killings, general mayhem. We never saw anything untoward or felt threatened or nervous or scared anywhere on this Peninsula. Viva! And thank God that this influenza N1H1 has not launched a pandemic but I do feel such sympathy for the Mexican people since all these warnings do so affect their livelihoods.


The Peninsula is divided into 3 states: from the Caribbean side is Quintana Roo, then the interior state of Yucatan where only the northern part lies on the Gulf of Mexico, and the third is Campeche which borders the Gulf of Mexico where it swoops down. It is a very comfortable 4-hour-drive on the mostly-empty autopista. Now we really are in Mayan land. This city which Yucatan Today lists at 1.6 million inhabitants is absolutely charming, old, lively, and friendly. We stay the entire 4 weeks at the Casa del Balam (House of the Jaguar, the sacred animal to the Maya) on 60th street. We walk into a central courtyard filled with trees and fountain, 6 stories with 7 rooms on each floor. There is our room on the 4th floor, a junior suite, with 2 beds, table and 2 comfy chairs, large bureau desk, fridge, and gigantic closet with full American bathroom everything decorated in a colonial manner. We highly recommend it to all. Staff were terrific, helpful, friendly. It is so well located only 2 blocks from the zocalo, the main plaza which is surrounded by the usual colonial structures: the cathedral, the governor's palace, the city hall, the house of the conquistador, so we walked almost everywhere. We had them do our dry cleaning but we went to the lavanderia about 3 blocks away for our weekly wash items. We took the bus (5 pesos per ride) when we went to the grocery store or out to the Hotel Zone, shopping centers and outside of town. We rode past Costco, Walmart, Sam's Club but did not stop. Liverpool has the best shops and 12 movie salas, including 4 VIP with waitress service! Parks are everywhere but so is pollution from the diesel buses that go at a rapid pace through the heart of Merida. Many of the Mexicans have sold their property to the gringos and built McMansions out in the suburbs to get away from this and the noise. Resident gringos only make up .03% of the population. So everything works in a Mexican way and for Mexicans. Most of the gringo tourists however are from Canada. A lot of them have bought property up on the Gulf outside of Progreso.

Merida is a wonderful, lively place. In addition to the buses and cars honking, music comes from everywhere bouncing off the limestone walls. Sundays our street and the ones surrounding the zocalo are closed to vehicles. Then the restaurants move tables and chairs into the street; in front of the city hall, dancing takes place and the zocalo is filled with the market. Every evening we had an activity to attend. We enjoyed especially the Monday night ballet folklorico, the Tuesday Trova in the Olimpo, Thursday at the Serenata in Santa Lucia Park (one block away) with the same Monday musicians and poet (he was fabulous and always got mucho applause), Saturday at Mexican night near Paseo Montejo. Yucatan music is of the romantic style called Trova; mariachi bands are not Yucatecan so they are usually an import. Trova consists of 3 guitars and 1 percussion. We loved the music and the audience many times joined in on the singing. I never tired of the ballet folklorico with full Yucatecan costumes. The University also has a full troop of ballet and 2 nights during the celebration of their founding, we saw these 40 superb dancers performing ethnic dances from many regions of Mexico. Two Sunday classical concerts at the Teatro Peon Contreras a beautiful marble and gold palace were attended by mostly gringo audiences.

To get an idea of the history and location of sites, we rode the Turibus one day thru the center and out to the colonias. Then we took the free morning tour of the places surrounding the zocalo. Each of them took about 2 hours! The rest of the time we're just wandering around.

Paseo Montejo is a street out of the 19th, early 20th century. During this time, plantations growing henequin, a type of cactus which looks like agave, made a bundle of money extracting sisal to make rope. The owners wanted to build something in town. They constructed the Paseo, a wide boulevard, named it after the first conquistador Montejo, and declared it a rival of the Champs Elysees! They built mansions from materials brought from Europe and filled them with furniture and artifacts from France, chandeliers of glass from Murano. Today it is a beautiful boulevard and many of the mansions are now occupied by businesses or museums. Most are still owned by the original families. One, Casa Museo Montes Molina built in 1906, can be visited by appointment. It is beautiful and full of history. Another is the Palacio Canton filled by the Museo de Anthropologia, a very good museum with good artifacts in spite of many treasures being shipped to Mexico City. One of the circles has the Monumento de la Bandera or a la Patria. It is all yellow limestone with black outlines and depicts the major events in Yucatecan history. It is stunning.

Merida has some other wonderful museums and exhibition spaces. The MACAY (Modern Art) housed in the former Archbishop's Palace next to the Cathedral is full of great paintings and sculptures. The Governor's Palace has history paintings, mural size, by Fernando Castro Pacheco. It took him 25 years to complete these epic portrayals of the Maya and Spaniards. The Museo de la Ciudad in the Old Post Office at 65th and 56th is a magnificent 3-story palace with historical items and art galleries. Across the street the Mercado Lucas de Galvez sells everything. Crammed full of merchandise with narrow aisles, the smells and chatter! At the Museo de Cancion Yucateca we are engrossed by Yucatecan songs while we learn of their origins. Then back to Mejorada Park for the Museo de Arte Popular de Yucatan. It is filled with the best folkart from Yucatan, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Guerrero, Puebla and other states of Mexico. The Olimpo next to the City Hall is a cultural center with rooms for movies, dance, music, and for exhibitions. We saw a Picasso exhibit of 67 lithographs sent over from the Museo Casa Natal de Malaga. The best part was the video on Picasso's life. Casa Catherwood on 59th is a combination restaurant on ground floor and museum on 1st floor. The collection of prints of Frederick Catherwood who drew the scenes at the discoveries of the "ruins" of Tulum, Uxmal, Chichen-Itza plus is well worth seeing. Galleria Peon Contreras across the street from us exhibited interesting paintings, sculptures by Jorge Stepanenko and unusual delightful textiles by Elena Stepanenko. 60th Street is full of wonderful galleries, most noteworthy are Nahualli Casa de Artistas run by artists Abel Vasquez and his wife Melva Medina and Soho Galleries which features the owner photographer Nicholas Lavroff's work. Then there's the Pinoteca del Juan Gamboa Guzman on 59th behind the 3rd Order Church which has some pretty dark awful religious and portrait paintings but upstairs the bronzes of Maya by Enrique Gottdiener are exquisite. He was of Spanish and Austro-Hungarian parentage, long time resident of Merida who died 6 years ago. Another transplant artist who we enjoyed is Juan Pable Bavio Figueroa from Argentina who paints bold colorful portraits.

A treat is to frequent the Merida English Library on 53rd housed in a lovely home left to the library by an English woman who was involved in its beginning!!! All the rooms are filled with books and a large roster of volunteers keep it going. Every Wednesday for 200 pesos, Keith from NY takes you on a walking tour to 3 gringo homes in the area. Amazing what each one has done, many from falling down interiors. The first time I went, he ended the tour at his own home where his partner chef David Sterling runs the Los Dos cooking school. For $75 you have a day in his kitchen and at the market making your meal for the day. Then you eat this in the beautiful dining room surrounded by 4 walls of murals depicting the zocalo. You can actually pick out people you do see there every day! Both of these activities are very popular. And if you want to buy your own books go to Amate Books on 60th at 51st. It has a terrific selection of books in English by Latino authors. It has the same owners as the one in Oaxaca across from the Convento!


The big draw in Merida is the annual Carnival which began on Wednesday, 18 February, evening in the zocalo with the "Burning of the Bad Mood" culminating with firecrackers which made all the birds and the tourists scatter. Then every night, there was a parade from the Bandera down Montejo to 60th and the zocalo. The biggest floats were from the beer companies with the scantily-clad blondes from up north. Dance schools, clubs and neighborhoods participate. They last about and hour and a half and we could watch every one from in front of the hotel.

Last but not least the food: we loved yucatecan foods like Pollo Bibil (chicken roasted in banana leaves), a layered eggplant dish, Poc Chuc leg of pork, Pavo al Kio Rojo turkey, and any kind of fish with Maya spices. Every restaurant knows how to grill fish superbly and we mostly ate this. Our favorites were Cafeteria Pop on 57th where we had breakfast almost every day; Marlin Azul on 62nd, the best seafood; La Casa de Frida on 61st which every gringo goes to at least once (the food is good but the Frida Kahlo memorabilia are more interesting); El Portico del Peregrino on 57th where we celebrated my birthday; Italian at Pan e Vino on 62nd, Casa Lucia Hotel, El Tapiche; Cafe Chiapas for expresso; Villa Maria in the atrium with Moorish arches and fountain; Pancho's on 59th, tourist trap but excellent fod under the stars; Restaurante El Convento on 61st for the Spanish tortilla; Los Almendros on the Mejorada Plaza, and La Piqua on Cupules north of Avenue Colon and 62nd. We also attest to the deliciousness of Mexican beers: Negro Modelo, Modelo Especial, Dos Equis Ambar, Sol, Bohemia, Leon Negra.

Merida is a good base for trips out of town. We went to Chicken Itza with a guided tour; the main pride of place pyramid is magnificent; also loved the huge Ball Court, the Skull platform with the sides filled with actual skulls, mostly Maya but also Toltec and Itza; the Temple of the Warriors with the Chac Mool lazing away on top; the 1000 columns, the Observatory. The biggest drawback here is that every path that lies in the shade is taken up by the hawkers tables just filled with merchandise or trinkets. Then to Kabeh and Uxmal with a different guided tour. These 2 are sites along the Puuc Route. Kabeh is small but has one facade with hundreds of Chac masks with their googly eyes and long noses. Uxmal is very good ruin; ornate pyramid with a staircase rising @ a 60 degree angle lined by Chac masks and 3/4 of the way up a huge Monster Mouth surrounds a temple door! The Nunnery Quadrangle is stunning with latticework, 2-headed feather serpents, owl shields, vaulted arch. The Throne of the 2-headed jaguar sits out in the open now that John Stephens did not succeed in taking it away in 1841! The days always end with a wonderful lunch of tasty local foods.


We take the bus on our own for a day trip to Campeche City, 2 hours and 20 minutes away. It's famous for its colonial walls and bastions, gates, and forts. The city fathers have been working away with money from UNESCO to upgrade their museums and have painted 2800 houses in pastel colors. To further this feeling of colonial days, they are burying all of that ugly overhead wiring under the sidewalks. It is a very friendly place to wander around and to visit one of the summit forts. The new modern city hall is a monstrosity, more like a dungeon. But the finished landfill project at the Gulf of Mexico has a wonderful promenade 2.5km long with works of art which is enjoyed by everyone. It has come a long way from the days when pirates came and went! This city will be on more tourist to see lists. And La Pigua restaurant serves up delicious fish!


Progreso on the Gulf is easy and quick to get to on the bus...one leaves about every 20 minutes. Fun to walk along their beach and malecon (promenade). Some of the young people from the Carnival floats are enjoying also. A cruise ship has arrived so there's plenty of activity to watch from our table at Flamingos...opens out to the beach and more great seafood.


Our last trip was to Izamal about an hour east on an Oriente bus (second class) which stopped in several interesting villages. Many schoolchildren got on and off on their way to and from school...all in uniform and well behaved. Peddlers got on also with different foods and off again at the edge of town! Izamal has a famous Convento painted in mustard yellow with a spacious 75 arched courtyard completed in 1562. It is still a place of pilgrimage and the setting, up the stairs off a main plaza, dominates the town. Pope John Paul II said mass in this open air space in August 1993. Flanking the convento is another large treed plaza where the horse-drawn carriages await passengers. Inside the town, there are many Maya ruins, the largest being Kinich-Kalmo. At the restaurant Kinich we watched 2 women making the delicious tortillas rolled out on the stone and cooked over an open wood fire. We ate a large number of them with our chicken and pork!


Our only plans now are to have a good time enjoying summer in Chicago and a week with the Carrolls in St Paul. Our children and grandchildren will also be there with us so what more can anyone ask. Enjoy!


 

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January 20, 2009

Hi,  Phil and I were in DC for JFK's swearing in, the hope
of our generation.  Today we watch with the rest of
the world as Barack Obama begins the entire world's
journey of hope.  The excitement is everywhere!

Attached is my feeble attempt to relate our trip to
Barcelona.  I hope that it evokes your own memories of
your own visits there.

Love,
Judy and Phil

The last time Phil and I saw Barcelona in the summer of 1964 it was under the heel of Franco and was struggling with its economy.  Animals pulling carts was a familiar scene.  This trip from 30 Oct to 3 Dec 2008 revealed a new city that has become a leader in how to rehab an old city.  Named for a Carthaginian general, Hamilton Barca in 230 BC, this Mediterranean port fell to successive waves of conquests by Romans, Visigoths, Moors, and Franks until it became a part of the Kingdom of Aragon in the 12^th century. This city knows something about regeneration!  Transformation after Franco’s death in 1975, Olympics venue in 1992, and a continuing move to show off has made this region, trendy and a destination for immigrants.  In 2005, Catalan language was made one of the four official languages of Spain.  It always was spoken between the residents in informal conversations; now it is used in the formal life.  When we watched the 2 Catalan TV station broadcasts, we couldn’t understand many words and never any when people were conversing on the street.  Thankfully, they would respond in Spanish or English.  There seemed to be more English spoken by ordinary people here than in Madrid.  Catalonia still has ideas of separation from the rest of Spain and the Civil War is still very much with the Spaniards.  On 20 November, after much political pressure High Court Judge Balasar Garzon declared that he would not continue with his probe into Franco.  

We rented a spacious 1-bedroom apartment in the Les Corts neighborhood, northwest of the center of town on the second floor of a new building.  We had 2 large windows in the living room looking over the wide street but the bedroom windows in back looked directly onto the balconies of another apartment building; that was ugly!  We kept the blinds closed.  It was very quiet except for the early morning cooing of the pigeons.  The location was terrific.  An upscale shopping center, L’Illa, was 2 blocks north.  Sometimes we shopped there for groceries also; in every block there was a bread store.  The fruit and vegetable lady was 2 blocks west and best of all was the huge market that sold everything only 5 blocks west near the metro station. Camp Nou, palace of FC Barcelona, the king of futbol sits like Wrigley Field in the middle of a neighborhood another 5 blocks west.   If we didn’t need the metro, we could choose any number of buses from right outside our door.

Phillip and I voted early, before we left Chicago.  I stayed up all night on 4 November to watch the election returns on CNN, BBC, and Spanish One.  For days before, channel 1 and 2 broadcast biographies of the two candidates.  There were even pictures of Obama in a few apartment windows! When everyone arrived at Grant Park, Chicago, I swelled with pride.  I wasn’t the only one in the world filled with euphoria over Obama’s win.  The next day, all the Spanish newspapers had front page pictures and articles.  Obamamania in the form of magazines, posters, etc. were displayed at every newsstand.  One afternoon after lunching at a neighborhood Catalan restaurant, the waitress and I were talking in Spanish and she asked me where we were from.  Chicago!  Her response, Obama!  I took the Obama pin off my hat and gave it to her; her eyes lit up; in perfect English she says, “Yes we can!”  

We spent days tracking down the Antoni Gaudi and the two other modernistas (Art Nouveau), Lluis Domenech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch architecture.  With the help of a book loaned to us by a friend, we followed the Ruta de Moderisme., beginning at the Arc de Triumf and the Parc de la Ciutatdella.   Mix these 100+ sites in with Roman ruins, Catalan Gothic, neoclassicism and your eyes cannot take in all the pieces.  Wandering the streets of Barri Gotic, La Ribera, La Raval, L’Eixample and much more on Diagonal and Passaig de Gracia gave us such a good feeling about this so approachable city.  The Gothic Cathedral is undergoing extensive façade renovation so the entrance was draped but that didn’t keep anyone from Mass or from looking inside.  The alabaster sarcophagus of St Eulalia, virgin-martyr under the altar is worth a peek and also to see the 13 geese who freely roam in the cloister for each year of her life!  Urban legend? In the Cathedral Square, every Sunday since only God knows when, the folk dances “sardanes” are performed accompanied by a band.  Circles form and Catalans dance slowly with very intricate steps.  We were in and out of the gorgeous opera house, Liceu, but never able to get a ticket to the Barber of Seville.  We did see the Symphony of Barcelona in their new digs, L’Auditori, a beautiful contemporary building designed by Rafael Moneo and opened in 1999. We enjoyed a zarzuela at the Palau de la Musica Catalina in the midst of the baroquey and symbolic temple built by Montaner (1908). 

At La Sagrada Familia, we marveled at the progress made in 44 years! Park Guell never fails to fascinate. How about having an apartment in the Casa Mila (La Pedrera)?  The undulating façade with its wrought-iron balconies never fail to make one smile and climbing up and down the steps of the roof is fantastic.  Are the chimneys fairy tale warriors guarding Gaudi’s legacy?  Wonderful view of the city over to Sagrada Familia and Jean Nouvel’s 2005 Torre Agbar which looks similar to the Gherkin in London but this one is multicolored in the evening. Back up in our neighborhood, we roam around the neoclassical Palau Reial de Pedralbes which now houses 2 small museums, (Franco used as residence until 1960) and soon to be the headquarters of the new Mediterranean Union.  Down the street is the Pavillions Guell where Gaudi built stables, a gatehouse, and a magnificent dragon gate, that a school group was petting and photographing.  Take the bus up to the Monestir de Pedrables founded in 1326 by Jaume I’s wife. There we got a feeling for the Poor Clares monastic lives before they were moved nearby recently.

This city’s dedication to preserving the best of its architecture is nowhere better served than in its conversions.  What a treat it was to go thru the CaixaForum at the bottom of Montjuic; Puig i Cadafalch had built a modernisme textile factory, Casaramona; Japanese architect Arata Isozaki designed a new entrance and in 2002 it was reopened as this museum; we were lucky enough to see an Alfons Mucha exposition which included a large screen DVD of all 20 of his Slav Epic; the originals can only be seen in the castle  in Muravsky Krumlov, Czech Republic.

Across the street, in the very place where it stood for the 1929 World’s Fair is the Pavello Mies von der Rohe, the original German Pavillion. Inside are 2 Barcelona chairs and the nude Georg Kolbe statue standing by the pool.  Simple lines of glass and marble belie the power of this international style.   It reminds me of Mies’ Farnsworth house.  When I mention this to the ticket seller, he tells us he has just come back from Chicago on a Mies pilgrimage and has been to all the sacred places!

On Montjuic, the Palau Nacional built for the 1929 World’s Fair, renovated in 1993 now houses MNAC (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya), a large collection of Gothic, Romanesque, 19^th and 20^th century art.  It took us 3 days to make a dent.  And we also get to see one our favorite sculptor’s, Julio Gonzalez, retrospective.  From the front you can look down at the Magic Fountains, the Plaza Espanya where they are turning a mudejar style Plaza de Toros into an upscale hotel and then look across to the other mountain, Tibidabo with its ersatz Sacre Coeur and fun fair.

Fundacio Joan Miro was built and supervised by this favorite son artist so there is a lot of his gorgeous work in this contemporary building.  I would love to be here in the summer for concerts in the sculpture garden which overlooks the city!  There is a Parc Miro on the opposite side of the Plaza Espanya with a giant colorful Woman and Bird at one corner.  Also when you perambulate along La Rambla, you step on his mosaic across from the oldest and most famous market in Barcelona:  La Boqueria.  

At the Palau Robert, we saw Spanish Civil War photographs taken by Agusti Centelles.

We loved the Museu Picasso housed in 5 medieval mansions.  Did he always believe he was going to be famous and who saved all of these early works?  The Las Meninas tributes to Velasquez are particularly stunning!

In La Raval, there are two contemporary museums that we really enjoyed.  The MACBA (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona), designed by Richard Meier opened in 1995 is all glass and all white.  The permanent collection is small but the Universal Archive temporary exhibit filled 2 floors with photos from 1850-1980.  The CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona), is a mix of an old alms house and new design.  It is a mammoth place!  We saw the 2008 World Press prize winning photos and a terrific multimedia expo on 6 Chinese Cities, Suzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Canton, Shanghai, and Beijing.  

We were crazy enough to squash ourselves in the old elevator in the statue of Christopher Columbus for a look at the city.  Then across the swing bridge to the Old Port mostly inhabited by the African salesmen and overpriced tourist restaurants.  But I liked walking on the other side on the Mediterranean in La Barceloneta with its huge Frank Gehry golden fish and through the Olympic Park, marinas, and restaurant rows.  Our last Sunday there we actually ate outside on the terrace. 

Our favorite restaurant was the 7 Puertas followed by Els Quatre Gats.  The former was somewhat formal but the latter although touristic was very comfortable.  At 4 Cats, our waiter was originally from Pakistan; he worked in Germany for 2 years and had been in Spain for 8.  He could carry on a conversation in Spanish or English but he said Catalan was much too much for him!  Murivecchi at Princesa 59 serves excellent Italian food.  In most of the small restaurants, we were treated with much respect and curiosity.

The movie house was across from the Les Corts market and we were lucky enough to see Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, The Children of Huang Shi, and Russell Crowe and Leo DiCaprio in Body of Lies.

One day we took the train and then the cremallera (a rack or cog railway) to the monastery of Monserrat to see the Black Virgin and the Museum of Art.  In the old days, you could only see her from afar.  Today you can stand right in front of her!  Just as at the Art Institute, many of the best works at the museum were out on loan but still contained more than enough of interest.  We lunched, wandered and stared at the rock formations before coming down from this mountaintop on the aeri (funicular car) to the train.  Just cannot imagine how they ever were able to build that complex!

One Saturday we took the 2-1/2-hour bus ride to Cadaques, a quintessential whitewashed village with old narrow twisting streets on the blue watered Med.  Our prime objective was to see Salvador and Gala Dali’s home in Port Lligat; we wandered until we spied the giant egg on top of the house.  Idyllic complete with fishing boats on a sandy beach!  Inside, the house is on many levels built into the hillside to afford views from every turn; surrealism at its finest; what would partying with him have been like? We particularly laughed at his giant “Christ of the Rubbish” in the “side yard”.   Then down we come to the water and lunch outside.  The restaurant owner was telling me that “la crisis” was on everybody’s mind so much that they were all even talking about it over comida!   This appeared to be true because the flower shop at L’Illa put up a cardboard sign which said “Due to the crisis, flowers for 1 Euro”!  On our way back to the bus station we fell into conversation with a native of Cadaques who was also on his way back to Barcelona.  We talked the entire time, formed a bond and exchanged phone numbers.  Two days later, we were riding the train to La Floresta, in the mountainous northern suburbs to have comida with his wife and him.  They both speak perfect English so there was non-stop conversation about a range of ideas!  

Another long day trip via the excellent train system took us to the Gothic town of Girona where we walked on the old town’s twisting streets, on the medieval stone walls and down the 90 steep steps of the Cathedral (after a visit inside).  Then to Figueres to see the eye-popping Teatre-Museu Dali, put together by the surrealist himself.   So glad we didn’t miss either.

In the end, we loved this stay and all the interaction.  We were sad to leave.

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1.5.08 Happy New Year

On Monday, 17 December, 1500 cleaners employed by 4
private companies with contracts with Metro Madrid
decided to go out on strike.  On 28 December,
Esperanza Aguirre, President of the Communidad de
Madrid announced that she had rescinded all of these
contracts and released the CCTV videos showing the
strikers strewing around garbage, cigarette butts,
spilling cooking oil by the turnstiles so people can
slip and fall, spraying foam from the emergency
canisters, etc (they say they have 350 incidents on
tape).  She promised the stations would be cleaned, by
whom I have no idea.  The vandalism started on 20
December because the stations were staying clean...the
riders obviously didn´t want to foul their own nests
so they took any newspapers, old tickets, food
wrappers with them.  Every night we see the same
videos and the stations just get dirtier.  I almost
cried the other day to see what had been done in one
of the stations...this model of public transport
brought low by wanton destruction.  We have been
taking the bus now if we can.  Of course, this has
been almost the entire holiday season when Madrid is
packed with people shopping and enjoying all the
activities the city center has to offer!!!  It looks
like all of Europe is going to be seeing these strikes
for more money and benefits in this new year.  The
talk is all about inflation and the cost of just about
everything went up on the 1st.  We see that British
Airways employees are striking the 7th, 14th, and the
17th...we will miss but hope there isn't any residual
downtime for us on the 9th.  The German engineers are
going out again also.  But at least all these unions
have announced the dates and one can make alternate
arrangements and hope that these things do not last!

Oh, the minister of finance or the economy committed
quite the stir recently when he blamed overtipping by
Spaniards as the cause for inflation!  The Spaniards,
according to the waiters, never leave more than
change!  Lots of guffaws about this by the newspeople
on all the television española stations!

In between all this frivolity, we have been enjoying
the cafes and the menus of the day.  We´ve been to
almost every museum and gallery and are frankly
museumed out, believe it or not!!!  We also have spent
days in Avila, Segovia, Cuenca, Alcala de Henares, El
Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen, Toledo,
Cordoba, Aranguez.  All of them no more than  2 hours
away by bus or train.  I love all the moorish and the
beaux artes buildings, walking in the parks and then
having a caña (beer) after, people watching, and all
the great activity of the streets.  Although we are
sick of the lines now to see all the Belens and free
concerts.  It was easier and less time consuming
before December.  Tonight is the procession of the
coming of The Three Kings with floats and
child-oriented amusements all the way from Nuevos
Ministerios to Cibeles.  Then the light and sound show
and fireworks.  I don´t know how they´re going to top
that of the 23rd of December...that was the most
spectacular show we´ve ever seen!

So for the next few days we´ll be doing all the last
minute things, packing, and bidding farewell to a
truly magical city.  We wish all of you the best of
everything and a wonderful 2008.

Love, Judy and Phil

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12.17.07 Feliz Navidad

The second component of the decision to vacate Europe
is the dive-bombing of the euro.  When our Mastercard
charge for rent was posted around Thanksgiving, it was
at $US1.523 for every euro.   So in the dead of winter
and hopefully not in a snowstorm, we will arrive in
the good ole USA to live there at half the price of
living in Madrid.  Who would have thunk that even 5
years ago?  Spain and Europe are not only loaded with
money but inflation led by food costs has reared its
ugly head.  It´s time to go!

A couple of weeks ago, a columnist wrote in the
International Herald Tribune that he was unable to
find an exuberant celebration of Christmas in the West
and finally found it, of all places, in Japan.  He
obviously never came to Madrid!  I always thought New
York was good with the Rockefeller Center Christmas
tree and all the lights, until I moved to Chicago.
Then there´s the live manger in the Old Town of Nice
complete with animals...it´s kind of hokey but a great
reminder of what Christmastime is all about.

December 6, the day of the Constitution is a national
holiday as is December 8, the feast of the Immaculate
Conception.  So the Spaniards now call this period El
Puente, the Bridge.  We saw adds in the windows of
travel agents .... El Puente, El Puente to everywhere.
This year the 6th was on a Thursday so The Bridge
lasted thru Sunday.  Since Christmas is on a Tuesday,
there will probably be a 4-day holiday here as well as
around the 1st.  Then the 5th is the Three Kings Day
parade and the 6th and the 7th are national holidays!
Felices fiestas!

Madrid has three layers of government, the federal
(PSOE, socialist, prime minister Zapatero), the county
(Communidad de Madrid, PP, conservative, president
Esperanza Aguirre), and the city (Ayuntamiento, PP
mayor, Raul-Gallardon).  All three cooperate to bring
joy and light to this city from the lighting
ceremonies onward.  There are over 9 million lights
strung overhead across all the major streets.  Every
night from 1800 to 2200, 6 December to 6 January, for
1 euro, you can ride one of "El Bus de la Natividad",
the open double decker buses.  We rode it Thursday
night for over an hour in 6-degree celsius weather up
the Gran Via to the Plaza de España, down to see the
giant green constructed tree with varigated lights in
the Casa de Campo, by the big tree with white lights
in front of the Sabatini Gardens by the Palacio Real,
down the Calle Mayor to the Neptune Fountain, up the
Paseos, right on Goya, right on Serrano, right at
Puerta de la Independencia to Plaza de Cibeles.  My
favorite lights are the white and blue ones on Alcala
between Independencia and Cibeles and the long
circular ones from Cibeles to Colon on Paseo de
Recoletos.  It´s a real treat, albeit a cold one.

In addition, are all of the "El Belen", the towns of
Bethlehem everywhere.  There are huge ones at the town
hall on Alcala and at the Communidad de Madrid at
Puerta del Sol.  We always looked forward every year
to see the medieval El Belen at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.  These are just as wonderful.  Of
course, there are displays of manger scenes
everywhere, in the museums, the shops, the churches
...the latter mostly won't have theirs up until the
21st or 22nd.  They have been building a city for
children in the Plaza de Colon with 2 theatres under
big tents and other kiosks.  The Plaza Mayor is filled
with Christmas markets.

Every night this week there is music in the Plaza de
Oriente by the Palacio Real.  But we are now in the
midst of a cold wave with overnight temperatures below
0C so I don't think Phil and I will be going to any of
these.  And because madrileños never sleep, the
starting times are always after 9pm.  We will go for
the fireworks at 2300 on the 23rd at the Plaza de
Cibeles though.  We are having dinner Christmas night
at El Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world where
we ate 43 years ago! 
 
And I´ll finish with the news of the day here in
Madrid: Quadaffi is expected today at El Pardo palace
to be greeted by the principes; then he´ll pitch his
tent on the palace grounds and tomorrow have lunch
with the king and queen at the royal palace.  The
benefits of bloody dictatorship?

Have a wonderful Christmas and we love getting all of
your joyous wishes as well. Love, Judy and Phil 
 

__________________________________________________
 

12.15.07 Daily life in Madrid

When I analyze it, daily life in Madrid is quite
similar to daily life in Chicago except the weather is
a lot better here!  But there we have family and
friends for which there is no substitute.  The biggest
difference is that we are learning a new city and
immersing ourselves into the culture.  We have pretty
much settled into a routine.  We love our apartment
and its location in a beautiful beaux artes building
with black wrought iron balconies.  We have a living
room cum dining area, a good-sized bedroom and both
have French doors opening on the balconies to the
street, Claudio Coello 14.  Big square kitchen with
American-style refrigerator, microwave, boiler for hot
water to heat tap and the radiators, and combination
washing machine/dryer.  Phil is the dishwasher.  The
TV cable is very basic...7 Spanish stations, a
German/English Eurosport, and CNN...we miss the BBC
World, but we watch the Spanish stations the most,
especially for world news and sports.  For an hour
every weeknight, there is a game show called Metro a
Metro where we learn all about the Metro and Madrid
locations and history.  TVE2 carries the English
Premier League games on Saturday and a smattering of
Champions League as well as all the European tennis
matches in which Rafa Nadal appeared.  We listen to
Radio Classica which also transmitted to Santiago.
The International Herald Tribune starts our day on
Mondays and Saturdays.  We buy The Sunday Times
(London) and read that all week! The maid comes for
cleaning and changing the sheets on Mon, Wed, and Fri.
We are very comfortable.  From here in the
neighborhood of Recoletos in Salamanca, we can walk or
go on the trains and buses to all the places we want.

We always go to Retiro Park on Sundays and stroll
through here along the pond, the regal statues, the
puppet shows, and stop for a beer at one of the cafes
here, either before or after our other activities.

Of course, we have to feed the body and the soul.  So
we spend a couple of days a week, shopping for food.
We either go to the covered mercado about 5 blocks
north of us on Claudio Coello or to 3 of the
supermercados in the basements of El Corte Ingles, the
Marks and Spencer equivalent.  We have our favorite
butchers, (one for beef and pork and one for eggs and
chicken) vegetable and fruit stand, cheeseman, olives
lady, and dry cleaner.  Phillip says his arms have
gotten longer hauling groceries down the street!  It´s
the water, soda, and wine that do it!  In Chicago, we
always have Peapod deliver those heavy things and then
we only need to go to Jewel, Whole Foods, or Trader
Joe´s to get the rest.  And of course, wherever we
are, we get a cooked chicken (pollo asado) to cut down
on the cooking.  We eat a real meal out about twice a
week, usually around 2pm; those 9:30, 10:00 eating
times are too tough to do often.  Like comida in
Mexico, from Monday thru Friday, there are business
lunches called el menu del dia.  With this you get
your wine, water, starter, main, and a dessert from
Euros 12-40 per person.  There are restaurants on
every block in the neighborhood. Our favorites are the
Cafe Espejo and La Gallette.  We have eaten in the
first McDonald´s opened in Spain in 1981 on the Gran
Via, have coffee at Starbucks or Juan Valdes, and good
food at Ferran Adria´s Fast Good on Juan Bravo as well
as bocadillos de camarones (squid sandwiches) and
cañas (glasses of draft beer) at Cafe Campana off the
Plaza Mayor.

We are ticking off the museums and galleries and
enjoying the music venues as well.  The big three art
museums of the Prado, Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen are
all off the Paseo del Prado.  And there is no doubt
that they are chock full of great art.  The Prado
opened its new addition on October 30 after 17 years
of planning and then put a lot of their 19th century
paintings into this space.  ´Last week they opened an
extra exhibition featuring the 31 El Grecos from their
collection!  We have been there 8 times and finally
only have one square left to peruse!!!  We´ve been to
the Reina Sophia 3 times and need one more to cover
the 4th floor. We´ve been twice to the Thyssen. Rafael
Moneo was the architect for their addition as well as
the Prado and also he is responsible for the beautiful
jungle and new addition at Atocha Station.  AND Madrid
is constructing another art museum next to the
Thyssen, the Caixaforum which is supposed to open next
year?

We have seen two operas at the Teatro Real:  Boris
Gudonov with our own Samuel Ramey who is no Nicolai
Ghiarov but he did well in his oversized golden cloak.
It seemed like kismet since this was opening night
and we had just come from Moscow.  Sunday we saw a
superb Tancredi.  The voices were great, are the
current opera designers coming up with weirder and
weirder stagings so you never forget them?  We loved
The Sleeping Beauty by the Ballet Clasico de Moscu
with the choreography of Marius Petipa.

On Mondays and Saturdays at noon, we go to Fundacion
Juan March at Padilla and Castilla.  These are their
general offices from which they run 2 other galleries
in Segovia and Mallorca.  Here we can listen to
Spanish guitar concerts as well as classical piano,
etc in very comfortable living-room-stuffed chairs; it
seats about 250 with overflow on closed circuit TV in
the room across the way and then upstairs you can view
landscape paintings by world-renown artists.  This
Monday was the best with a young pianist playing an
hour and a half of Grieg, Beethoven, and Chopin!  For
8 Wednesday nights, at the Cuartel de Conde Duque, a
different pianist played 4 Beethoven Sonatas until all
32 were given to us.  We were lucky enough to be there
for half of these performances, especially fortunate
to hear those sonatas I used to play for my own
entertainment...never ever approached a cintella close
to these.  They have a good amount of other music as
well.  The Conde Duque is a huge complex of multiple
buildings off 3 courtyards.  The Museo de
Contemporaneo Arte is housed in the front building and
then there are large exhibition spaces where we
recently saw Catalan journalist Agusti Centilles´
photos of the Spanish Civil War from the Republican
side (the anti-Francos) and an exhibition on Pompeii
and Herculenaeum with beautiful artifacts and video.
We go thru the security there (every public place in
Madrid requires putting yourself thru security but
it´s usually a quick exercise) and then attend one of
these shows.   Another great venue is the Circulo de
Bellas Artes just up from the Plaza de Cibeles, across
the street from the Instituto Cervantes.  We´ve seen
exhibitions of Che Guevara, the most famous photos of
stellar moments of the 20th century (many you would
recognize), and of a German painter who died in the
Holocaust. Friday nights to the Teatro Municipal for
the RTVE Orchestra programs...Mahler´s 5th never
sounded so good.

We watched the World Cup Rugby at the James Joyce Pub
but lost interest when New Zealand went out.  Mondays
we go to the internet at the Puerto del Sol after Juan
March.  We went to the Bullfights on 7 October...I had
forgotten how bloody they really are but it was fun to
be in this Moorish designed arena and enjoy the
pageantry of all the toreros in their viaje de luz
(suit of light) and the matador vs the bull but I hate
the picador on horseback with his lance grinding into
the bull.  Even the bandilleros you can admire for
their courage but I wonder if the tourists didn't
come, would the industry continue?

Once a week we journey out of town.  Also we go to the
movies...there are 5 theaters that show original
version so we can hear English.  The Young Jane Austen
was a good period drama and Elizabeth, The Golden Age
had great costumes, but was oh so ponderous.  The
Bourne Ultimatum, Fracture, Michael Clayton, Eastern
Promises, The Hoax, and a Mighty Heart kept us on our
seats.  Death at a Funeral made us laugh a lot!
Beowulf was disappointing. We have read quite a few
books...there are plenty of bookstores to buy more,
even a good second hand one (Petra´s).

In addition to our enjoyment of the Christmas season
here, we are also looking forward to coming home to
family and friends.  So we will be leaving Madrid and
heading for Chicago on 9 January and moving into The
Streeter at 345 East Ohio.  This trip has been an
incredible journey of discovery that we will long
remember.  So we´ll get back to our old lives and
begin the planning for the next adventure, one of a
shorter duration.  We hope to see all of you soon.

Love, Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________
 

11.28.07 Holidays

The day of the discovery of America, el dia de la
hispanidad, el dia de la fiesta nacional, or as we
call it, Columbus Day, on 12 October.  A Day off for
almost everyone.  This year is the 515th anniversary
of his discovery but the celebrations were no more and
no less in Madrid.  The morning started with the
¨desfile¨, basically the military parade.  The king,
queen, prince, princess, prime minister and other
governmental functionaries come by limo up the Paseo
de Recoletos to the Plaza de Colon, to the stands
built in front of the tall monument to Columbus which
stands facing the Paseo.  Then the parachutists fall
from the sky with their colorful wings, then the fly
by of old and new planes.  We were standing about a
block south and the standees were getting restless
over the delay of the start.  We learned later that
there were demonstrators up at Colon who had to be
moved out of the way before the soldiers could start
down the Paseo.  It was very colorful with every
service represented, including the horsed lancers and
some of the old uniform groups also participated.  But
we were really surprised by the full military show of
tanks, missile launchers, etc...a reminder of the
Soviet May Day parades in Red Square.  The real treat
was the evening ¨la marcha¨ up the Paseo del Prado
where the emigrants from the hispanic world marched in
full native costumes.  Bolivia lead with the most
beautiful; music followed on these huge semi
trucks...Columbia´s was the loudest and had the most
participation.  Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Mexico,
Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Domenica...I´ve
forgotten the rest. And this march was participatory.
Everyone walk along beside these people and took
pictures, danced, sang.  It reminded me of carnival
but without any security personnel like in the
morning.  I never realized that there are over a
million Ecuadoreans living in Spain and that the rest
of the New World has many emigrants living here.  The
theme here is to integrate these emigrants into
Spanish life and the government encourages projects
that show how all can benefit from working together.
Isn´t this what we wish the entire world would be
doing? 

The next national holiday was 1 November, All Saints
Day.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and many families
were in Retiro Park or at the museums...a real family
day.  Unlike Mexico, Spain does not celebrate All
Souls Day or the Day of the Dead but this year All
Saints fell on a Thursday so many people took the
Friday off.  Madrid was packed with tourists the
entire weekend.

The next public holiday was Friday, 9 November, El dia
de la virgen de la Almudena, the patroness of Madrid.
There was a concelebrated mass in the Plaza Mayor and
a procession of the Virgen in and out of the Plaza
from and to her cathedral next to the Palacio Real.
It was also a warm and sunny day and a beautiful
venue.  Tradition has been that the stage for the Mass
was set up in front of the building with the murals.
About 15 years ago, these murals were redone by a
modern artist and they contain quite a few scantilly
clad women.  This Mass is televised and apparently,
the cameras picked up the women at the same time as
the cardinal prayed...complaints were lodged so the
location to the opposite side of the Plaza ensued
today.

Monday, 26 November, we watched the sound and light
show on the Palacio de Communicationes and then all
the Christmas lights come on at 7pm at the Plaza de
Cibeles.  All the lights all over town were switched
on at the same time.  It is beautiful and secular.  We
look forward to the season and the many ways they will
celebrate it in Madrid.

Love, Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________
 

11.21.07 Happy Thanksgiving Day

We received a wonderful gift from our daughter Colleen
on Friday.  She had a business trip to London and she
took an extra 4 days to come here to Madrid to be with
us.  What a wonderful treat!  It was fun to show her
this beautiful city but the weather was less
cooperative.  Luckily it waited until Monday late to
begin raining.  But it was cold, in the 40´s F.  On
this same evening, friends Marilyn and Steve Scott
also arrived with a tour group after visiting the
south of Spain so we had 2 great evenings with them
also.  And they were booked into a hotel only 2 blocks
from our apartment!  What an irony that in the 9 weeks
we´ve been here, we would have visitors at the same
time!  It made us very happy.

We arrived here on 21 September and the flags
announcing Madrid´s aspirations for the 2016 Summer
Olympics greeted us once we were able to leave the new
cavernous Terminal 4 at Barajas Airport...it is
absolutely huge.  Depending on where your plane comes
in, you may need to take the train to pick up your
baggage.  That´s what we had to do coming in on
Aeroflot but not Colleen arriving on Iberia.

This city finished number 3 behind London for the 2012
Olympics and it certainly will give Chicago and the
other 3 contestants a run for their money.  Last week,
the aspiring logo appeared all over town, a hand of
many colors to show Madrid´s diversity all working
together.  Here we are again with an outstanding
transport system: Metro, buses, suburban trains, etc
are spotless (the cars and the stations).  All
locations are rider friendly.  Chicago CTA please take
notice!  We have been all over the city and a few
towns up to 75kms away.  The high speed trains are
great.  Altho there is a problem in Barcelona with the
new tunnel for the new high speed train between Barca
and Madrid.  Someone didn´t do their homework on the
stability of the ground and now the work in the new
has affected the old.  So they have discontinued
service on the 3 cercanias for the last month.  No
decisions on what can be done after firing the
contractor.  We all wait to see.

We now have a monthly pass for the metro and buses and
a discount card for the trains.  We do use them to get
us from place to place.  But this is also a walking
city and we get plenty of this.  Our new favorite
Street...actually 3 Paseos strung together Prado,
Recoletos, and Castellaña...from Atocha Station to the
Plaza Castilla in the heart of the new city of high
rises. The Paseos or boulevard has up to 12 lanes for
vehicle traffic, a walking strip with trees and cafes
in the middle (about 6 car widths itself).  And the
beginning of each Paseo has a huge circle with a
monumental fountain in each.  My favorite is Plaza de
Cibeles:  the goddess Cybele riding in her chariot
pulled by 2 lions.  She is surrounded by historic
buildings, probably the most photographed area by the
many tourists.

There are certainly tons of tourists here to see the
Old town of the Habsburgs. Around the Puerta del
Sol...the Times Square...there have been many
'manifestaciones'.  Especially this past week.
November 20 is the day dedicated to Franco so for the
last week we have had demonstrations by the fascists
and the anti-fascists.  It heated up when two of these
gangs met in one of the Metro stations and the 20-year
old anti-fascist was stabbed by the fascists...both of
them were on their way to a respective rally.  Then
Sunday, the fascists marched up and down at the Valley
of the Fallen to celebrate Franco and Jose Antonio (de
Rivera) both of whom were laid to rest in the basilica
there.  Spain is having a tough time with the past
history.  The wounds of the Civil War (1937 to 39) are
fresh even after all this time.  When Franco died in
1975 after the 25-year military dictatorship, he gave
his blessing to the resumption of the monarchy and
Spain adopted a new constitution and Juan Carlos I was
and still is, at age 79, the king (el rey).  There are
periodic demos against the monarchy but the ones we´ve
seen have been small.  The king is the head of state
but it´s strictly ceremonial and he has no power and
doesn't own any of these sumptuous palaces.  But he
too has been involved in a lot of controversy lately.
He and the queen Sophia visited the two Spanish
enclaves still claimed by Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla,
last week for the first time.  They were greeted by
the citizens with much glee and waving flags, but
Morocco withdrew its ambassador to Spain the week
before in protest.  No repercussions.  Shades of the
stand-off with Gibraltor, eh?  And of course the
episode in Santiago, Chile with him telling Hugo
Chavez to "shut up".  Even this morning, they are
still discussing on Spanish TV because of Chavez´
remarks yesterday while visiting Sarkozy!!!

On the last Sunday at the end of October, 499 priests
and nuns from the Civil War era were beatified in
Rome.  This is in addition to the 500 already
beatified by Juan Pablo II.  All of them were killed
by the Republican side; not one of the many killed by
Franco´s gang.  The following Wednesday, Congress
approved the Historical Memory Law which has gone to
the Senate for approval.  This has been debated for
years but now the Socialists (PSOE) who head the
government had enough votes; the Popular Party (PP)
and the Catalan party (ERC) against.  On this same
day, the March 11, 2004 bombers of the 4 cercanias
´(suburban trains) at Atocha Station were sentenced.
191 had been killed, 1800+ injured.  The judges also
made a point that this was the work of El Queda, not
ETA.  I never realized that the PP continued telling
Aznar´s lie that this was ETA´s work.  No wonder he
lost the election then and that the PP, in opposition,
is not popular!  There is so much more to tell you
about but enough for today.

We hope you are all well and have a wonderful day
tomorrow and for all of you lifes blessings.

Love, Judy and Phil

_________________________________________________
 

Moscow 17-21 September

We leave on the Aurora Express from Moscow Station at
16:00 on Monday, the 17th and arrive at Leningrad
Station in Moscow at 21:30.  The scenery wasn´t much
other than forests, quite poor villages, agricultural
fields with only two stops along the way.  One was in
Tver, an old capital and mainly industrial city.
Russia Today had been covering a young couple from
there the entire time we were in St Pete.  The woman
delivered a 7-month baby while in Antalya on vacation
and had to come home after a week because they didn´t
have any more money to stay.  The baby´s hospital bill
was up to $30,000 by then.  In the end, their travel
insurance company kicked in a few thousand, also their
health insurance company, and the rest by the
government PLUS a pediatrician accompanied the new
mother back to Turkey to check the baby and see if it
was healthy enough to travel back to Russia! When they
arrived, baby still not out of danger so mother
staying at government expense.  So goes life in the
new Russia!!!

We stay at the Hotel Budapest, about 5 blocks north of
the Kremlin so we do major walking.  Tuesday, we go on
city tour which I arranged on internet the previous
week.  So for 3 hours we walk, drive, walk the major
sites:  the Kremlin and St Basil´s Cathedral, Moscow
River, Cathedral of Christ the Savior...this was one
of the churches torn down by Stalin; he wanted to
build a palace of soviets on the site but then they
discovered that the foundation would not be stable
enough so plans were shelved; but in 1995 the church
was totally reconstructed better than ever! Actually
the best vistas of the Kremlin are from across the
River.  Then drive the Lenin Prospect; Sparrow Hills
with its beautiful views of Moscow in front of Moscow
University; all the 7 Stalin Sisters buildings...the
Ukraina and the Leningradskaya are being refurbished
by major 5-star hotels; Gorky Park; Olympics complex;
embassy row, new hi-rise apartments and town homes
affordable only to about 1% of population; Victory
Park, Borodino panorama, Novodevichy Convent (1524)
where Peter the Great sent his sister so he could rule
by himself.  We didn´t have time to go to the famous
Novodevichy Cemetery where all the Moscow notables are
buried including the recent Boris Yeltsin.  We lunched
afterwards at Sbarro in the GUM, now really a shopping
center of designer shops, not a government-run
department store with little merchandise like in
communist times.  Walk north on Tverskaya to take in
the equestrian statue of Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder
of Moscow; the statue of Pushkin with definitive
negroid features, and the Mosoow version of the
Yeliseev emporium...this gourmet grocery has
everything and the stained glass and mosaics in the
ceiling create a palacial feeling.  We eat at
Peperoni, a new Italian restaurant near our hotel, and
have a long talk with new manager who has worked all
over Europe.

Wednesday we spend 3 hours with another guide just
walking the grounds of the Kremlin...it´s like a city
complete with government buildings.  The one with the
flag on top holds Putin´s office.  This is a beautiful
18th century yellow neoclassical built by Catherine
the Great in 1767. We watch the changing of the guard
at the unknown soldier and the eternal flame.  We see
the Tsar´s cannon (1586), largest cannon in world,
incapable of ever being fired!  The Tsar´s bell,
another monster-sized attraction that never rang!
Then there are all the churches:  Assumption Cathedral
(1475-9) with 5 gilded domes filled inside with murals
in warm golds, reds, blues where all the Tsars were
crowned.  Archangel Cathedral (1505-8) where all the
Muscovy rulers from 1320 to 1690 are buried except for
Boris Gudonov; more churches and then the Armory
(1806), the jewel in the crown filled with 4,000+
artifacts from the 12th century onward.  Total
opulence in gold, silver, jewels...absolutely amazing
display of wealth...so much of which was confiscated
from the wealthy by the Soviets and brought here.
After all this we find a down to earth Russian
restaurant and enjoy a hearty meal washed down by a
few beers.  Life doesn´t get much better!

Thursday, we walk up Tverskaya to Sadovaya and into
the park there.  Who would expect to see a real New
Jersey diner parked here in Moscow center serving
American diner food?  Yes, here is the Starlight Diner
with pictures of other Jersey diners hanging all over
and the place is packed for breakfast.  We meet Lydia
at one of the stools and she takes us and about 12
more people on a tour of the fabulous Metro.  Each
station is like a cathedral: we see grand mosaics on
walls, ceilings, heroic statues, stained glass panels
depicting flowers, vines, happy workers, farmers,
gold, bas reliefs, marble everywhere, spoke-wheeled
chandeliers, crystal chandeliers.  Every station gives
you a feeling of such beauty and spaciousness.  Of
course, it is spotless. There is no graffiti and the
floors are cleaned 4-5 times a day!  The cars
themselves are also.  People are as disciplined as in
St Petersburg as to getting off and on. It´s a
pleasure!  Lydia tells me that she gets afraid in
Piter when she visits her mother because of its depth
so she thought we were very brave!

We stay in the metro and catch a train to
Kropotkinskaya which has huge marble columns and
walls.  We find our way down the street to the Pushkin
Museum of Fine Arts to see the 19th and 20th century
impressionists are.  What a treat...3 full floors of
exquisite art...every big name is here...we were
really impressed that they had 2 huge rooms of
Matisse, and 2 of Picasso, and 4 gorgeous Van Gogh
paintings I´ve never seen prints of.  Fully sated now
we have to feed our stomachs.  Finish the day eating
at Il Patio near here.  Then finish off the day by
taking the metro back to Lubyanka to see where the KGB
operated and walk home to pack.

Moscow with its 12 million people seems like just a
big business center...lots of suits and black
Mercedes.  It certainly doesn´t have the charm of St
Petersburg.  But so glad we went.  Sometimes I had to
ask Phillip if we were really here standing on Red
Square and not in some Potemkin village or Disney
world.  In this changing world, one who will not be
counted out is Putin.  We were there when he fired his
prime minister and put in another favorite in order to
muddy the waters of the upcoming elections.  He will
continue in some capacity.  It will be interesting to
see his maneuverings.

On Friday, the 21st at 4:30am we left for the airport
only to wait hours for our 5-hour flight on Aeroflot
to Madrid.  Can´t believe that we have now been here
for over a month!  We plan on being here until
January.  Have a great day!  Judy and Phil   

 

__________________________________________________
 

10.13.07 Greetings from St Petersburg, Russia #3

St Petersburg, the Venice of the North, has over 800
bridges, 22 of which are drawbridges.  One of the fun
things to do is a river boat tour after midnight when
the bridges start to go up.  The times are posted
daily in the newspapers so motorists don´t get stuck
having to go a long way around since they stay up for
4 or 5 hours.  My favorite little bridge is the Bank
Bridge with its gilded griffins altho the Bridge of
Lions near the Mariinsky comes in a close second.

Now for palaces:  My favorite is Peterhof, built
between 1709-1724 and totally reconstructed after
being all but destroyed by the Soviets between Dec
1941 and Jan 1942 to prevent Hitler from proclaiming
victory here.  Before bombing the place, they moved
everything out to St Isaacs or Siberia so almost all
the furnishings are original. We caught one of the
hydrofoils from in front of the Hermitage and cruised
down the Neva River out into the Gulf of Finland.  We
disembarked at the lower park grounds of the palace.
As we walk along the stream, bridges, we then get a
full view of the fountains, cascades, gold statuary.
It takes your breath away.  And behind all this is the
Grand Palace.  Rastrelli changed Peter´s simple
residence to a sumptuous Russian baroque palace.
There are so many people almost back to back and they
keep you moving along but there is so much to look at
you´d need weeks to even remember a fraction of it
anyway.  We spend the rest of the day in the upper and
lower parks with more fountains, some tricky, flowers,
and sculptures.

Second on the list is Tsarskoe Selo or Catherine I´s
palace in Pushkin.  We decide to take one of the 1/2
day tours from Gostiny Dvor via mini van.  We travel
along Moscow Prospect with all its war monuments,
beautiful Stalin apartment buildings and crumbling
ones built by Khrushchev and successors and then along
the hills where the Germans rained down devastation
during the 900 days of WWII.  Then we´re at the palace
built by, who else, Rastrelli for Empress Elizabeth
for her mother, wife of Peter the Great.  It is a
fabulous 2 story blue and white country house.
Inside, the reconstruction of 20+ rooms, is dazzling:
gold baroque, the white staircase, Great Hall with its
mirrors and chandeliers, the Amber Room.

Another 1/2 day trip is to the Peter and Paul Fortress
where SP got its start.  The place is largely torn up
but the views across the Neva to the ´mainland´are
wonderful.  The cannon fired daily at noon from the
this Nevsky Bastion can be heard in the city centre.
The Cathedral with its 400 ft spire matches the
Admiralty spire.  It was updated by Rastrelli and has
a gorgeous iconastasis with 43 icons and quite a few
statues.  The tombs of all the Tsars except 2 are
buried here.  Nicholas II and family were brought here
in 1998 and have place of honor in the chapel at the
back of the church.  From the pulpit, Leo Tolstoy was
excommunicated.  Interesting museum of SP history in
the former Commandant´s house. 

Parks we liked:  the Summer Gardens were Peter built a
2-story cottage and a great place to stroll among the
statues on a Sunday afternoon.  Tauride Gardens down
the street from our apartment where Potemkin´s palace
is now used as an assembly of independent states.

Churches: St Isaac´s Cathedral is the 3rd largest in
the world after St Peter´s in Rome and St Paul´s in
London.  It took 40 years to build and has a lavish
interior with gorgeous bronze doors a la Ghiberti,
mammoth pillars of Finnish granite, a great gilded
dome which can be seen all over the city.  Love to
just look at Smolny Cathedral built by Rastrelli with
its blue and white outlines and 5 onion towers.  Next
door at the Smolny Institute, Lenin and compadres
planned the overthrow of the Karensky government and
lived there until the Bolshevik move to Moscow.  But
my favorite is the most colorful inside and out: the
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood built on the
site of Tsar Alexander II´s assassination by a
terrorist bomb in 1881 imitates St Basil´s Cathedral
in Moscow.  30 artists worked on 70,000 sq ft of floor
to ceiling mosaics.  It is incredible.

Museums:  Hermitage of course.  Then the Russian
museum housed in the Mikhailovsky Palace, itself a
gorgeous venue, has Russian everything: paintings,
sculptures, folklore, icons, tapestries.  One of the
small museums is that dedicated to the last
Generalissimo, Alexander Suvorov, scourge of the Poles
and Turks, hero of the Italian campaign.  On the
outside of the building there are 2 lovely mosaics.
One depicts his departure from his rural family estate
to go to war and the other with him crossing the
snow-capped Swiss Alps with his troops in the dead of
winter in 1799.  We have a good discussion with one of
the curators about Suvorov´s place in Russian history
and his enduring status as hero.  His statue as a
youthful god of war is in a circle near the Field of
Mars and his body is interred in the necropolis of
generals in the Annunciation Church at the Alex Nevsky
monastery with only the humble words "Here lies
Suvorov".  When we found it, there were a lot of red
roses there also.

My favorite all time equestrian statue is the Bronze
Horseman (1782), Catherine the Great´s homage to Peter
the Great and immortalized by Pushkin´s poem of the
same name.  The setting in Decembrist Square on that
huge block of granite helps but the statue itself is
forever memorable.

For our last night, 16 September, we were fortunate to
get tickets to opening night of the Mariinsky Theatre
season for Glinka´s "A Life For the Tsar", a very
patriotic, soppy opera directed by Gergiev.  Loved the
music and the choral work.  The production was strange
- a mix of period costuming and modern.  There is much
tee-heeing from the audience when the Poles come into
the "hut" wearing matching down jackets!!  What ever
happend to the traditional Hussar uniforms?  But the
hall is beautiful and intimate in turquoise and gold
and we enjoy.

Lastly, the food:  we ate Russian, Georgian, French,
Greek, Italian, Japanese, and even beef at a cowboy
decorated restaurant called Montana!

The major irritant of a visit to SP is the foreigner
pricing level, always at least 5 times what the
Russians pay and when the waiter gives me an English
only menu I figure the prices are probably higher.
This kind of xenophobia gets to you after awhile.
Altho everyone was very helpful and kind to us.  We
feel we learned so much and are so glad we had such a
long visit.

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10.8.07 Greetings from St Petersburg, Russia #2

We start every day on the Nevsky Prospect, the main
street of the center city.  It has been compared to
the Champs Elysees and to Fifth Avenue.  I think it´s
the most interesting avenue.  It is about 3 miles long
and is packed all the time with cars, trucks, buses,
trams...most gridlocked since they tend to drive into
the intersection on the yellow!  But there is so much
history here.

At the southern end, in the square sits the equestrian
statue of Saint Alexander Nevsky, ruler and hero in
the defeat of the Swedes and the Germans in the 13th
century, looking magnificent all dressed in battle
garb in front of the Monastery named for him where the
Russian Orthodox still live.  We were fortunate to be
there on September 12, Alex Nevsky day, for the annual
festivities in the square with the procession of the
priests holding icons, banners and the small burial
casket of some of his remains.  Soldiers surround
standing at attention while a choir sings and a band
plays; a wreath is laid at the bottom of the statue,
lots of prayers are said and incense flows.  Inside
the monastery grounds are the famous cemeteries filled
with artists and politicians laying across the street
from each other!  Dostoevski, Tchaikovsky, Borodin,
Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.  The highlight is the Trinity
Cathedral where people are awaiting the return of the
casket to the center altar.  Like all the Orthodox
churches we saw, it is filled with precious icons some
of which keep the babuska-headed women kissing them,
lots of gold, and lots of candles.

Up a couple of blocks, you think you´re in Montmartre;
lunch at the Bistrot Garcon (#95) or coffee and
dessert at their boulangerie (#103)...love those
croissants.   Moscow Station is on Insurrection Square
(Ploschad Vosstaniya) from which we leave for Moscow
on the 17th of September.  We go to the internet at
Cafe Max at #90.  It has about 60 high speed machines
and costs 90-100 rubles (US$4) an hour.  The cafe
divides the smokers from the non-smokers!  We pick up
the free St Petersburg Times at the Radisson Hotel and
buy the International Herald Tribune at the Hotel
Grand Europe, my pick for best hotel in Piter.

Gostiny Dvor is a gorgeous square block shopping
center and a stop on the Green line Metro.  It is
filled with upmarket designers.  We never see too many
people actually shopping in there.  There are trees
and benches and travel agents hawking tours out in
front so it´s a lively place.  The old Passage arcade
(#48) also has been cleaned up and looks just like the
photos from the turn of the century now it´s filled
with upmarket designers also and a gourmet grocery in
the basement.  The famous Eliseev Food Emporium in the
Art Deco building at #56 with its huge glass windows
has closed.  I think that St Petersburg people are
still suffering from the economic crash of the early
90´s.  Most of the people in the metro and on the
street are not dressed smartly and the clothing is of
poor quality.  They are still dealing with moving from
a state controlled economy to a capitalistic economy.
There are lots of signs of entrepreneurship and the
advertising is everywhere even to the many banners
streaming across all the side streets.

Across the Fontanka River are fine statues of horses
at each corner of this Anichkov Bridge with one
horse´s private parts said to be a copy of the
sculptor´s wife´s lover´s or is it Napoleon????  Ah
legends! The nobility built many palaces along this
river and the Moyka as well as along Nevsky.  Some
that are still as beautiful are the Anichkov, the
Stroganov (yes, the restaurant still serves Beef
Stroganov), the Mikaelovsky, the Yusopov (from where
Rasputin was killed and thrown into the Moyka), etc.

Kazan Cathedral all black from pollution is a small St
Peter´s in Rome; the gorgeous Art Nouveau Singer
building now houses Dom Knigi bookstore; Catherine the
Great´s huge statue with all of her lovers staring up
adoringly at her feet; Cafe Literatura has almost a
shrine as the last place Pushkin had a drink before
his fatal duel over his gorgeous wife Natalia G. 

At the other end of Nevsky is the Admiralty with its
gold spire that can be seen all over the city and the
Winter Palace, aka The Hermitage, home to some of the
greatest artwork in the world.  We spent a solid day
there from opening to almost closing and we only saw a
fraction of what is available.  Books have been
written on these contents.  Suffice it to say its
magnificent and from the time you walk up Rastrelli's
elegant Jordan staircase to the time you leave you are
in thrall.  I have to keep pinching myself that I am
actually here viewing all these gorgeous rooms filled
with such treasures.  The next day our legs were still
screaming!  But it was worth it.

These are the favorite places we get to see most days.
I´m sure I´ve forgotten other ones too because
Nevsky, of course, has plenty of other interesting,
shopping and eating places.  And we haven´t even
spoken about all the great places that fan off of this
great street.  Enough for now.  Take care.  Love, Judy
and Phil


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9.16.07 Greetings from St Petersburg, Russia

We left Helsinki on 3 September at 7:30am on the
"Sibelius" train heading for St Petersburg.  The Finns
stamped our passport out and the Russians climbed
aboard and stamped our visas in, so there was no
border hassle whatever.  We lost an hour to make us
now 9 hours ahead of Chicago.  It rained all the way
here but cleared outside of the city.  When we got to
Finland Station where Lenin sneaked out of town on his
way to Helsinki and where he triumphally returned
later.  Big statue of him with good fountain out in
front facing the Neva River.  But we weren't thinking
of that when we tried to not get a rogue taxi driver.
It all worked out and he got us to the Austrian Yard
mini-hotel with no problem although it took forever for
him to even get on the bridge.  Traffic is horrendous.
Bumper to bumper, blocked intersections.  We have
avoided taxis these 2 weeks by taking the metro and
the trolley buses.  Our hotel consists of 4 apartments
and we're on the 3rd floor.  Only one administrator
speaks English but it has been a wonderful stay; all
the people are friendly and nice.  We overlook a
courtyard which we share with another apartment
building and the Austrian consulate.  We are just east
of the centre.  Our metro stop is Chernyshevskaya.

Our first day, Tuesday, we decided we might as well
brave the metro so Elena told us to take the train to
Ploschad Vosstaniya.  Fine.  We buy our tokens and
then descend into the bowels of this deepest metro
system.  It takes a full 3 minutes on the fast
escalators to get to the bottom.  People read
magazines, books, hug, kiss on the way.  And here we
are, right or left?  All the stations are listed but
first we have to decipher the Cyrillic; there is
absolutely no Arabic lettering!  We do it and arrive
at the right place only to have to figure out in what
direction to go to get out!  Boy did we feel great
when we accomplished this!  Since then we have mastered
the system, switched stations and lines...only have 4
lines.  And learned to recognize a few Russian words!
It is really a good metro; costs about 50 cents per
ride; and moves a lot of people in this city of 4.8
million.  It is always crowded except early Sunday
morning!  We do not feel intimidated even tho people
stare at us while we're in line.  But we can't hide
that we're foreigners and so we just go about our
business.

We have had a great time here and seen so much that
it's going to take a few emails to sort it all out.
Now I'll just give you some of our impressions.  The
worse thing is that about 1/3 of the city is wrapped
in that awful green netting to hide the replastering
and painting etc to restore all of these gorgeous
buildings.  When Churchill said that Russia is an
enigma wrapped within an enigma I don't think he had
this in mind.  People here are upset that all this
restoration is going on all at once.  And protestors
are against Gazprom's intention to build a 300meter
skyscraper that will be seen in the centre.  It would
ruin the symmetry that has been in vogue since Peter
the Great; none of the buildings are taller than the
Winter Palace.  And only the gilded towers of the
Admiralty and SS Peter and Paul Cathedral stand out
all over town. But Russia Today, the new 24 hour news
TV station analyzers say that the Russia of today,
guided by Putin, are ruled by pragmatism and not
ideology.  So the leaders will do what is good for the
country and get the economy up to Western standards;
will trade with whoever as long as good business
sense.  Putin just completed $1billion deal with
Australia to buy uranium and $1billion deal with
Indonesia to sell them arms.

Anyway, we like the buildings that are not shrouded:
baroque, neoclassical, style moderne, a few art
nouveau.  It's a pleasure to walk down the Neva,
Fontanka and Moika Rivers as well as the Kanal
Griboedova in this not quite Venice of the North.
Strolling in the many gardens and parks gets us away
from the crowds.

On our street, Furshtatskaya, there is a Palace of
Marriages in which brides, always in long white gowns,
and grooms are married, I think around the clock.
There is always a bridal party waiting out in front to
be later whisked away by white stretch limos.  Then
the custom is that they go to all the tourist sites
and have their pictures taken there so you see bridal
party after bridal party at every outdoor assembly
place.  It's very fun.  They do this in the Baltic
countries too.

The food has been good, Russian, Italian, Japanese,
Greek, French.  Our breakfasts are so huge, we usually
have the pate, sardines, salami, and ham in the
evening when we get home.  We are leaving tomorrow on
the train to Moscow so will answer emails once we get
to Madrid.  Happy days!  
 
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9.9.07 Greetings from Helsinki, Finland

The SuperSeaCat ferry from Tallinn 82km to Helsinki
only takes and hour and 40 minutes on 24 August.  We
arrive in a rain storm but it eventually clears and
we're able to investigate our surroundings.  There is
a beautiful harbor with a market and an esplanade off
it past the Presidential Palace and City Hall.  Manolo
Valdes has placed the sculptures of Las Meninas based
on the Velaquez painting in the entire center path. It
is dynamic; looks like all the princesses are parading
in their hooped gowns at a ball.  This time we have
landed in an Art Nouveau building in the Toolo
neighborhood, full of parks and trees, and only a few
blocks from the Center City.  The studio is big and
has a full kitchen which we don't use much except for
the refrigerator but glad to make coffee in the
morning before heading off to the cafes. We have to go
up Elevator A, down a corridor to Elevator B and then
up to the 3rd floor.  It's fun.  And there are good
laundry machines and a sauna in the basement. We like
our entire 10-day stay here. Finnish people live well,
dress well, and are the friendliest people we've ever
met.  One night, there was a fireworks competition
that went on from 10:30 to 11:40pm.  We felt like we
could reach up and touch the bursts they were so big
and near!

The #1 tourist attraction, is the Rock Church or
Temppeliaurio.  It is an ecumenical chapel dug down
into solid rock in 1969; they left the rock exposed,
installed a 24 meter roof with 22km of copper
stripping.  It is stunning.  The center city is
compact but with a lot of ugly utilitarian glass and
steel buildings from the 70s and 80s.  The old
buildings around the Senate Square from the early
1800's in classical style by Carl Ludwig Engel are the
pride of Helsinki. Eliel Saarinen's Art Nouveau
railway station is also impressive, built around 1917.
He had Daniel Burnham-like ideas for the city which
have been somewhat followed but it's still evolving
and I'm sure he wouldn't recognize.  He left for
America in the early 1920's after he placed 2nd in the
competition for the building of the Chicago Tribune.
Glad #1 won, even though his is not bad.  We went out
to the house he built in 1904 and where he lived with
his family and his architect partners; family spent
summers there until 1949 when he sold up.
Another architect that built a lot of good stuff is
Alvar Aalto.  His Finlandia Hall is lovely sitting on
Toolo Bay.  We were lucky enough to go there for 2
concerts:  Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducted the Oslo
Philharmonic with Leif Ove Andsnes pianist who played
the Grieg Concerto like noone we've ever heard.
Standing O's and he played an encore.  The next night
was 80year old Herbert Blomstedt conducting Swedish
Radio Symphony, the Brahms Symphony #1 and the Piano
Concerto #1 with 28 year old Artti Siirala on piano.
Wonderful! This house holds 1700 patrons in roomy
black leather seats, totally open feeling.  The lobby
is huge and everything has been done at intermission
to make the patrons comfortable...no long lines for
drinks...lots of stations...water coolers with cups
provided free.  A totally wonderful experience to go
with the great music.  The Jean Sibelius monument is
up the street and we met a blacksmith artist there one
day.  We also journeyed out to Ainola, his humble home
for 35 years with wife and 5 daughters.  It felt like
a pilgrimage!

Besides architecture, Finland is known as a designer
mecca and there are a lot of shops with wonderful
sleek patterns, small appliances, etc.  Marimekko has
large shop on the Esplanade.

Finland was a part of Sweden for over 700 years until
1809 when the Tsar won it as reparations in Sweden's
defeat.  He allowed the Finns to keep the Swedish laws
and language and encouraged a growing nationalism in
the vain hope that this would keep the Finns from
wanting to be reunited with Sweden.  The Russian
Revolution of 1917 gave the Finns their chance for
independence and Lenin wasn't too concerned since he
figured everyone would be Bolsheviks in a few years
anyway!  He got the eastern part of Karelia and then
they survived the Nazis and Stalin, unlike the
Baltics.  The first woman President was elected for
her second 6-year term on Jan 2006. The unicameral
parliament of 200 members is elected by proportional
representation for 4 years.  The Prime Minister is
appointed by Pres from majority party with approval of
the Parliament. We took a tour of this mammoth place
which overlooks the downtown area...lots of Carrera
marble.

Helsinki, the capital, is spread out all over an
archipelago and has most of the 5.3 million
population. The best museums are the Ateneum,
Sinebrychoff, and the National Museum.  The Kiasma is
total rubbish...much heralded when it opened in 1998
(American architect) but total waste of resources in a
prime position.  Trams are great getting around when
we get tired of walking.  Visit Suomenlinna, the
UNESCO sea fortress, on a few islands and still used
today by the Finnish Navy...interesting Gibraltor of
the North.  At the harbor, Phillip buys that Big Hot
Dog he's been salivating all day for.  He gets 3/4 of
it done when a seagull comes flying in, grabs the
entire dog and bun, and off he goes to enjoy!  Talk
about the two of us being startled!

We had to break out the winter coats on the 29th;
temperature dipped to high of 13 degrees Celsius and
we froze the day before.  Ever since the highs have
ranged around 12-15 but thankfully the sun has been
out so it's great travel weather. So much good stuff.
Hope everyone is well.  We're here in St Petersburg,
Russia now until next Monday.  Then it's off to
Moscow.  Then on the 21st we'll be flying to Madrid to
our new home away from home.  Eight weeks of travel is
enough.  Til later, all our love, Judy and Phil

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9.1.07 Greetings from Tallinn, Estonia

To answer question of the food, it has been delicious
and plentiful.  Yes, there are national foods in each
country but to be honest we try to avoid the sausages,
puddings,  and general fry ups with all those gravies.
International food is available everywhere and we
have had whatever pleases us that day.  In Vilnius,
breakfast consists of breads...lots of rye, light and
black which I love, french, also pastries; fruit,
oatmeal, corn flakes, any kind of eggs, lunchmeats,
cheese, and crepes. Great coffee, each cup prepared
individually.  For lunch and dinner, we seemed to eat
a lot of Italian, Greek salad, calamari.  But we had
one of the best steak dinners and French meal also.
Ate all of our meals outdoors.  In fact, outdoor
restaurants are the norm during the summer in all the
Baltic and there are umbrellas against the sun and
flannel blankets to wrap up in when the winds begin
and the weather turns cool.  They stack these on a
table or chair and you need only ask or take one when
you like. In this way, the women can dress fashionably
and not worry about freezing while they are eating or
drinking.  I tried the cider...it's alcoholic but much
too sweet for my taste.  The beer is the best in
Lithuania!!!  Drank a lot of that.  Love the whole
cafe scene and culture.  In Riga, breakfast is much
the same with additional varieties of fruits, lox,
caprese, yogurts, cooked veggies, cream of wheat.  For
dinner, pizza, pastas, schnitzel, Latvian chicken and
beef and pork dishes.  Lots of good salads.  In
Tallinn, the hotel's breakfast was a disappointment...
not so varied and not presented so well...Phillip had
a tough time picking out something he wanted to eat.
Very good restaurants here, even a Georgian one (the
country, not the state)! The grocery stores are filled
with great stuff and we shopped a lot at the Latvian
chain Rimi in all 3 cities.

Tallinn has 412,000 people out of a nation of 1.3
million!  It is the economic success of the Baltic
region.  Its large scale privatization, free trade
agreements have brought in hugs investment.  Some call
it E-stonia because of its leadership in the cyber
world.  You will recall the unsuccessful Russian
attempt in May to disrupt their economy by attacking
this cyberspace.  One event that has impressed us
about their drive for independence is on 23 August
1989, they joined hands with Latvians and
Lithuanians...2 million people...formed a human chain
stretching from Vilnius to Tallinn, demanding
secession from Soviet Russia.

The air conditioned bus trip from Riga to Tallinn was
beautiful along the Gulf of Riga and then inland
between forests of birch and pine.  Only stop was at
the border where customs took all of our passports and
we stood around while they stamped them all.  Taxi to
the hotel in the Old Town.  We step into another
medieval environment.  The porter takes some of our
luggage and leads us down two rounds of the library
stairs, thru the restaurant corridor, turn right down
another corridor, turn right and up 4 flights of
stairs to our room with a large opening window
overlooking a big courtyard which we share with the
Swedish embassy and Sisalik restaurant.  We are
wondering what we have gotten ourselves into.  But it
is very comfortable with  a luxurious tub to soak our
bones at the end of the day.  We especially like the
sunrises reflecting off the bright yellow stucco of
the Embassy.  We smile when we get to the Breuegel,
only one more flight to go! (Lots of antiques!)

Down Pikk Street two blocks to the main Town Hall
square which reminds us of Warsaw's Old Town, altho a
little smaller; cafes on 3 sides.  Perhaps it is
because both cities were bombed to smithereens and
were rebuilt in the old style.  It is lovely.  The
Estonian beer is much lighter, almost flat but luckily
The Beer House on a street off the square is a brewery
with great beer and around the corner from the hotel
is The Good Soldier Sveik serving good Polish beer!
This Old Town has lots of wall and round towers which
you can go into.  Also up on Toompea Hill, there are
great views to see the Town.  This is where the
Parliament now meets in Catherine the Great's Pink
Palace and across the way is the Alexander Nevsky
Russian Orthodox Church and down the street the Dom
Church which was used by the Lutherans.  The best
views are in the new town on the 24th floor of the SAS
Radisson.

We love the Kadriog Park, a tram ride away, where
Peter the Great built a palace.  It now houses a good
collection of foreign art.  Across the way, in one of
the old outbuildings is a very good Museum, a rich
Russian named Mikkel who donates his entire collection
to the City.  Up the street is the contemporary art
museum (KUMO)just opened last year, a terrific place
to see art displayed.  The architect is a Finn and the
building is a true work of art.  This is a contrast
with the Nigileste Museum in Old town which has a
large fragment of the Bernt Notke medieval 'Dance of
Death' painting.

One night we take the bus out to Pirita where all the
yachting events of the 1980 Moscow Olympics took
place.  Like a lot of the Soviet architecture, the
concrete is crumbling away.  Across the street are St
Brigit's Ruins... this time it was Ivan the Terrible
(1577) who was the destroyer.  We were so lucky to see
the Imperial Russian Ballet from Moscow perform
Bizet's Carmen and Ravel's Bolero (never seen these
Russian choreographed ballets before) while seated in
among what is left of this 15th century building.  The
wind howled that night but we toughed it out and were
richly rewarded.  We have been so lucky in every place
to be where there are music festivals.  We've seen and
heard a lot of really good stuff. One evening we get
to see a Welsh men's chorus and an Estonian mixed
chorus sing for 1-1/2 hours!  At all these concerts,
we are so impressed by the size and quantities of
flowers given to the soloists.  Imagine stems as thick
as your thumbs and 3 feet long, flower size is
enormous...gladioli, sunflowers, roses, mums.  Flower
markets abound. 

To summarize, we find the new town not attractive but
the neighborhoods are along with the Old Town.
Everything is very Western and European.  Think they
have benefited from close association with Finland.
It has been a pleasure to spend time in all three
capitals, spotless, crime free and envision even more
tourism in their future.  They have come a long way
and need to take that next step.

Love, Judy and Phil

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8.29.07 2nd greetings from Riga

When I left the internet last time with you and joined
Phillip at the Double Coffee, he was surrounded by
Americans off one of the Celebrity cruise ships.
Every 
day after there were groups all over Old Town all
enthusiastically following the words of the guide with
the numbered paddle. But the place is big enough to
handle everyone.

I fall in love with a Russian cellist while he plays a
Schubert concerto.  Phillip and I like him and his
confreres, violinist and pianist composer that we are
lucky enough to see them play in the gorgeous Small
Guild Hall another night also.  Lots of Mozart,
Beethoven, Brahms, Donizetti, Mendelssohn.  Riga was
part of the Hanseatic League dominated by the Germans
so there are quite a few guild buildings still in use.
They are as beautiful with the stained glass windows
as any in Lubeck or Hamburg.  Altho this one actually
was built by the British in NeoGothic in 1864!

The main street for Art Nouveau buildings, Alberta, is
rather torn up from rehab...anyone want to buy a flat
here?  But the really baroque ones have already been
dressed up so we can enjoy.

We get lost in the Open Air Museum north of the city
...there's 100,000 hectares of forest and over 200
thatched roof buildings that exemplify Latvian life in
the main 3 regions.  Saunas abound next to the out
buildings for the animals.  We eventually find our way
to the main lane and there is a wedding party complete
with trailing bride heading for the one of the old
churches!  What a sight to see in here long white
dress and high heels and all of her attendants in red
long dresses!

The Museum of Occupations tells the story of when
Latvia was occupied by Soviets, Nazis, Soviets
complete with a mockup of a Siberian barrack where
dissidents were sent.  Grim place but nonetheless
fascinating.  We went to a couple of art museums after
that to perk ourselves up and then finished the day at
St Peter's Church for a very good performance of
Verdi's Requiem.

Not to be missed is a beer up on the 26th floor of the
Reval Hotel Latvija to get 360 degrees of the sights
of Old Town and Riga City.  We are now able to pick
out most of the sites.  What I think I like about this
city is that they have a good mixture of old and new;
the food is good;  the place is spotless and even
though the people are a little dour, when you speak
with them they brighten up.

Will let you know about Tallinn next time.  Til Then,
Judy and Phil

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8.13.07 Greetings from Riga, Latvia

Riga is a feast for the eyes.  Between the exquisite
architecture of the Old Town and the many Art Nouveau
buildings all over the city, we are constantly looking
up and trying not to stumble on the cobblestones.  The
architect for many of these gorgeous Art Nouveaus was
Mikhail Eisenstein, the father of Sergei, of
"Battleship Potemkin" fame. When we arrive here after
a very hot bus ride from Vilnius (air conditioning in
this part of the world means hot air blows out), we
discover that not every taxi driver is authorized to
go into the Old Town.  A few guys discuss it and one
agrees to drive us about 200 metres for $10!  And then
we still had to haul the luggage over the cobblestones
another 25 metres.  We were so happy to get into our
lovely, real a/c suite, and we love our hotel...Hotel
Centra...as much as our Vilnius one...Mano Liza.  The
location cannot be beat and we are enjoying immensely.
We've been to the beach and a gorgeous concert by the
Latvian Symphony Orchestra in the suburb of Jurmala,
an old village of Sigulda which celebrated its 800th
year old birthday this weekend, the Latvian
Ethnographic Open-Air Museum filled with the old
thatched buildings from years ago besides the usual
Old Town stuff, the Latvian Museum of Art, tour of the
Opera House.  Did you know that Mikhail Baryshnikov
made his name here?  The season of opera and ballet is
long...end of August til end of June.  It's a gorgeous
old gold encrusted decorative beauty from the 19th
century; only holds over 900 so it's intimate. We
haven't heard any American except for the pop music!
The only thing that is a bargain here is the public
transport.  They have buses, trams, and trolleybuses
to haul you whereever you want to go and even if they
look old on the outside, they are as spotless inside
as the sleek new ones.  We took a beautiful electirc
train to Jurmala, about 30 minutes from Old Town. Wish
Chicago had some of this equipment!

Latvia is a country a little smaller than Lithuania
but they are much richer and Riga is the hot spot for
tourism altho they have been warned that a crash is
coming in the next 6 months because housing turnover
has stopped.  The Russians have been buying...they
have the money.  The Latvians are worried.  They have
only 59% of the population...Russians are at 30% so
the conversion to Latvian as the national language has
been much slower...in some of the predominately
Russian areas, there has been no conversion.  The last
President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Canadian was able to
hold out against the Russian lobby to have
co-languages but who knows if the new guy (since July
7) will be as successful.  Corruption is the rule not
the exception and the parliamentary government has
changed many times since independence in 1991.  The
City of Riga with 772,000 out of a countrywide
population of only 2.2million is more Russian than
Latvian.  But approximately 25% of population is
disenfranchised under the new Constitution.  To combat
the Russification of Latvia (the Soviets moved
Latvians to Siberia and allowed military officers to
retire here), the new Constitution allows anyone
living here in 1940 to have automatic citizenship.
Those who came from 1941 to 1990 may apply for
naturalization but must pass language requirment!
Russia continues to give problems at the border...it
has been taking an average of 4 days for the trucks to
pass thru controls,  The drivers recently
demonstrated; the new president made a visit; what can
be done here?  And we worry about our border problems!
Today we are finally taking a day off...you know one
tries but when something is going on, who is going to
miss it?  The weather has been very hot for at least
10 days, highs of 29C every day and even north it is
just as high.  But it certainly makes dining on all
the restaurant terraces a real treat.  We leave for
Tallinn, Estonia on Thursday.  Hope everyone is well.
We are.  Love, Judy and Phil    
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8.8.07 Greetings from Vilnius, Lithuania

Yes, we are on the road again.  We've put everything
into storage after 15 wonderful months in Chicago.
Lithuania, a country of only 3.34 million people about
the size of West Virginia, joined NATO and the EU in
2004 and have imposed a republican democracy since
independence in 1991.  The president is an 80-year old
Lithuanian-born American who graduated from Chicago's
IIT and retired from the EPA in 1997, came back to
Lithuania, and was elected president.  He is in his
2nd term.  The government led by a prime minister is
dealing with a lot of parties, none of which has a
majority, a la Italian style, I think.  Lithuanians
make up the majority of the country with about 6%
Poles and 6% Russians so the switch to the national
language of Lithuania has not been so dramatic. 

Vilnius, the capital has about 550,000 people spread
over a large area.  The UNESCO Old Town is the draw
for tourists.  1009 is the beginning of recorded
history so the city has been named Cultural City of
Europe in 2009 to celebrate its 1,000 year old
birthday.  Consequently, the Old Town is getting a
complete face lift.  It almost seems Disneyesque
especially when you look at the Royal Palace which was
destroyed by the Tsar in 1795 being rebuilt brick by
brick.  The National Museum has a display of artifacts
that will be put in the Palace when finished next year
and that should be a real draw.  We have walked about
5 miles a day up and down the hills to see up close
the Hill of 3 Crosses, dedicated originally to 3 monks
who were beheaded here; to the cemetery to see the
beautiful memorial of the Madonna cradling her son
with the 17 graves of independence protestors killed
by the Soviets as well as the memorial to the 2000
soldiers who died in Vilnius with Napoleon's retreat
from Russia in Dec 1812 (these bodies were only
discovered in 2002).  This is a city of a church on
each corner and a few have been turned back into
functioning churches, some used as music venues or
museums.  The fashion street, Gedimino, has shops from
all the international designers and whoever is not
here is on the main streets near the Town Hall.
Pilgrims gather daily to the shrine of Mary atop the
Gates of Dawn.  It is so quiet here compared to
Chicago; much less hustle and bustle although the
weekends are especially crowded with visitors, mostly
from other Eastern European countries.  Food is
international so we are eating well. It is definitely
a university town filled with young people.  Building
cranes can be seen all over.  So it appears they have
joined the rest of Western Europe in the drive to
capitalism.  We like it here very much...it's been a
perfect place to start our touring adventure.  Next
stop is Riga, Latvia.

Til then, Judy and Phil 

 

7/26/07 Our move yesterday went smoothly and we are looking
forward to this new trip to Eastern Europe (Lithuania) and this
morning I have finally finished the saga of our South
American adventure so here I am taking you back a year
ago.  Hope you enjoy the narration.

Love you all, Phil and Judy

Argentina is a fascinating country slightly less than the size of all of the USA’s Western states from Washington to Colorado. It borders Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. It has a population of almost 40 million people making it #33 in the world. Its people are primarily white: 97% are of Spanish and Italian ancestry. Although 92% profess to be Roman Catholic, only about 20% actually practice their religion.

Before the Spanish arrived, present day Argentina was sparsely settled by a few small tribes of Indians. In a small section of northern Argentina are even remnants of the Incan Empire. The Spanish were interested in gold and silver so they concentrated their efforts on extracting these precious minerals from the Potosi mines in Peru. Argentina was a part of this administrative district and had no rights to shipping or to a port. All of the booty was shipped out of Lima back to Seville. As Spanish rule continued and as mestizos, Indians and other immigrants moved into Argentina, Buenos Aires filled with pirates, traders, and other business types. Since Buenos Aires could not legally ship anything in or out of the Rio Plata, it grew on the backs of the contrabandists. It was only after the Revolution of 1810 that Buenos Aires could legally do its own thing. It had a natural port on the Rio de la Plata (the River Plate or the River of Silver) and when you are sailing on it, it looks and feels like the ocean. However, it no longer shines like silver; it is more a muddy brown. We were unable to tell when we left the Atlantic Ocean and entered the Rio because it is very wide and no land was in sight.

As a legacy of colonial rule by Spain, Portugal, or Holland, each independent country in South America has its traditional enemies and friends. They feel drawn to their country of ancestry but they fight with their closest neighbors. There has been a lot of talk in the news, especially since Evo Morales won the presidency in Bolivia, about land-locked Bolivia’s desire for an opening to the sea and they want Chile to give it to them in exchange for natural gas. When the independent countries were mapped out, Bolivia did have plenty of land on the Pacific Ocean. However, they lost that territory in the War of the Pacific that Chile won! Argentina signed a treaty with Chile recently over disputes concerning a few outlying islands; they still contest Chile’s occupation of 2 other islands. The expression “he lies like a Chilean mapmaker” is used derogatorily today as an example of that enmity. We were told by Chilenos that before the beginning of the Argentine recession of September 1998, staid Chilenos loved to come to Buenos Aires for its party and fun-loving atmosphere, even though costs were high. Today the Chilenos are buying property in Argentina, a reverse of fortune.

After Juan Peron died, the country plunged into chaos and crisis. It was “rescued” by a brutal military dictatorship, now referred to as the dirty war of 1976-1983 when an estimated 30,000 Argentines disappeared (los desaparecedos). General Galiteri decided in 1982 to invade the British-held Falkland Islands off its eastern coast. Margaret Thatcher sent the fleet and the necessary army to dislodge the Argentines. Even though the government has renounced any territorial demands on these Islands, access to the Falklands, Las Islas Malvinas, is only from Chile and the Argentine Navy continues to pick up Falklands fisherman to say they are fishing in Argentine waters….200+ miles away from Argentine land! Where and when will it end?

Economically, the recession of September 1998 continued. In December 2001, Argentine defaulted on its $155 billion foreign debt payments, the largest in history. In 2002, new president Eduardo Duhalde devalued the Argentine peso which had been pegged to the US$ for a decade. This plunged the banking industry into crisis and wiped out much of the savings of the middle class, “plunging millions into poverty”. In May 2003 Peronist Nestor Kirchner, the former governor of Santa Cruz, became president. The economy has been rebounding since K took office at an impressive 8% growth rate. In Jan 2006 he paid off the remaining multi-billion dollar IMF debt early. He has frozen prices on a list of 200 “necessities” which includes mostly food so that every Argentine will have access to what is considered to be a necessity. When he told the beef industry that domestic prices must be frozen so that all Argentines could still purchase meat, there was a move by the powerful beef producers to expand the export of the beef. And then eureka, foot and mouth was discovered in Corrientes province on the border of Paraguay! Oops, there goes exportation! Still 2 out of every 5 Argentines live in poverty.

During our stay in Argentina, there were a rash of wage demands, environmental stands and political demonstrations in support of an idea or a person. On 1 February, holiday traffic was stopped between Buenos Aires and the Atlantic beaches by the former workers of a company no longer in existence…it left them high and dry, no wages, and no pension. And so they took to the streets to get attention to their plight. They were successful! This is the turnover day for holiday renters during the summer season, so the roads were bumper to bumper…about 10 hours later, traffic moved again. A few days later, oil workers in Patagonia who had been striking for wage demands, stormed a police station to obtain release of one of their organizers and killed one of the policemen guarding the jail. The biggest standoff is the environmentalist blockade of two of the three bridges over the Rio Uruguay which link Argentina with Uruguay. Two pulp mills are being constructed on the Rio in Uruguay by 2 European companies; one is Spanish and the other Finnish. This is the largest private sector manufacturing investment in the history of Uruguay; these companies are coughing up US$1.8 billion to build these 2 mammoth plants. The Argentines say that the mills will further pollute their common river. The Uruguayans say that the mills are environmentally friendly and that the mills are being built in Uruguay because the companies refused to pay the enormous bribes to the Argentina governor of the neighboring province. Kirchner says he’ll take to the World Court. President Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay, also a leftist, says Mercosur should settle the matter first. Mercosur is the trade organization which binds Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. As of today, there is no solution. Environmentalists are continuing to demonstrate albeit on a smaller scale than last summer. Environmentalists have a rough time combating the very rich non-South American companies who wish to continue exploration, drilling, and exploitation of their natural resources. In Southern Chile, an environmentally friendly pulp mill was received by this depressed area with open arms only to find out after it was built, that it polluted their source of drinking water and the fishing. Everyone is skeptical of any assurances.

Politics in Argentina are discussed by every man every day, second only to futbol. In 2004, 194 young people died in a fire at a Buenos Aires rock club, Cromanon. The mayor was blamed for slipshod enforcement of any security inspection and suspended. His impeachment trail was conducted in February. He ended up as the sacrificial lamb and lost his job but no jail time. Taxi drivers loved to tell us “no Bush, yes Hillary”! No hiding that we are Americans! We read the English daily, Buenos Aires Herald which we purchase each day at our newsstand at the end of our block. On Sunday, it reprints full page articles from The New York Times.

The population of Buenos Aires is about 3 million; greater Buenos Aires 13 million. One of the unique sights is the dog walkers taking at least 10 dogs at a time out for a stroll or playing in the park. We found it mesmerizing to watch them strut their stuff; no barking or chasing strangers or out of step! And the tango is everywhere, in the clubs, milongos (dance halls), restaurants, and in San Telmo on Sundays to amuse the tourists. We came to love the music and the dancers and wandering in the shops selling all the paraphernalia that one needs to tango! We see a lot of movies at the Village Cinemas; they have 17 salas and you get a reserved seat for your $5! We too eat a lot of beef at all the parrillas, barbeque restaurants. And drink the red wine from Mendoza! We feed our souls at the many museums. We particularly like Argentine artists such as Xul Solar, Antonio Berni, Rogelio Yrurtia and Emilio Pettoruti. We stand in the Plaza de Mayo gazing at the balcony where Eva Peron addressed adoring crowds of Argentine workers; visit her grave in Recoleta Cemetery and the huge monument near the Library. Parks and wide boulevards are a treat for walking, even in the high heat of summer where we look for all the shady parts. The Congreso resembles the US Capitol with its central dome spreading over 2 wings built in Greco-Roman style with strong Parisian Beaux Arts influences. The Pink Salon here is named Salon Eva Peron to commemorate her influence in getting the women the vote and where the women legislators gather. After her death in 1952, she was placed under the central rotunda so citizens could view her body. But then she was taken out of the country and hidden for awhile because there was fear that she would be desecrated; it was many years before one of her sisters could rebury her in the mausoleum!

One day we rode the ferry across the Rio Plata to Colonia del Sacramento, the first capital of Uruguay. Cobblestone streets and small museums in this historic town give a sense of the colonial era when the Spaniards and the Portuguese were exchanging fiefdoms. Good lunch, fun local bus ride out to the Plaza de Toros make for a pleasant day.

On Valentine’s Day, we tour the new mosque, the largest in Latin America, built by the Saudis on land donated by ex-president Carlos Menen, who is of Syrian Muslim descent. In March, we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the 1st Anglican Church building in South America at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. At the reception, Phillip was interviewed by the BA Daily Herald and was actually published on March 18, 2006!

Every Thursday at 15:30 the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo demonstrate against the previous governments for their cover-up of the 30,000 “disappeared”. It is moving to watch these mothers and grandmothers carrying banners and pictures of their loved ones while walking around the obelisk of freedom in the shadow of the government houses. The founder of the Madres has a street named after her in the Puerto Madero area where all the streets are named for famous women. Santiago Calatrava, famous architect, acknowledges all women with his beautiful bridge: Puente de la Mujer, said to abstractly illustrate a couple dancing Tango. In March, Michelle Bachelet made history to become the first woman elected president of Chile.

In March we fly north to Puerto Iguazu for 3 nights of waterfall viewing…a full day on the Argentine side wandering along the tops of the Falls, the boat ride into the Falls, further along the River Parana to look right into the Devil’s Throat. On three sides, the deafening cascade plunges down and you feel like you could go down with the water. It’s absolutely mesmerizing and awesome. After all the miles of walking and climbing over rocks, we are happy to have the train take us back to the parking lot. The next day we enter Brazil. The bus leaves us right at the waterfall path and there is this stunning view looking across at the Argentina Falls now from ground level. The boardwalk is only 1250 meters long but we can see the entire 2km of this extraordinary wonder of the world where we walked yesterday. Finish the afternoon at the mammoth Itaipu Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, a joint project between Paraguay and Brazil. It provides 25% of Brazil’s power and 95% of Paraguay’s! The next afternoon, there was chaos at the PI airport when we were checking in for our return to BA. Luckily we were ticketed on LAN Argentina for those who arrived to fly on Aerolineas Argentinas were told that they had suspended operations as there had been no settlement with the unions…no notice, no contact. Very few were able to get a seat on LAN.

The rest of the week, we wondered what would happen with this airline since we were booked on it to San Carlos de Bariloche, a picturesque Alpine town at the base of the Andes. Got there without a hitch! Walking around the many lakes and riding the telefericos up mountain peaks are de rigeur. The panoramic views are to die for. Meanwhile on national television, the nation is watching the Perito Moreno glacier breaking up. It’s sort of like watching paint dry but everyone watches. Unfortunately, the final breakup occurs at night when there are no cameras on in the dark! The ski resort here is expanding to accommodate more and more Brazilians; hence they now refer to the town as Braziloche! And if we didn’t have enough lakes and mountains in Bariloche, we had to make a 300 mile journey to see more 3 more parks and 7 more lakes on our way to San Martin de Los Andes. They have a lot of araucaria (monkey puzzle trees) and many roses in their parks. We enjoy lunch on a balcony overlooking town. In the afternoon, the landscape changes to huge vistas of dry, yellow grey tufted plants, rugged low mountains, mesas, some interesting rock formations…think South Dakota. Herds of guanoco are eating the plants and when the driver honks his horn, they look up but don’t move! We also see flocks of flamingos, swans, geese, cormorants.

After such a long day in the van, it feels good to just walk around town the next morning. In the afternoon, we fly south to El Calafate, with a desert-like landscape, mountains, and the largest lake in Argentina. Our wonderful hotel sits up overlooking the town and Lago Argentina; it’s new with Arizona colors, wooden rafters, and huge windows. The next day we spend in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciars. We are about 45 degrees S across the Andes and a little north of Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales, Chile. We board a boat for a day on the “River of Ice”, one glacier after another: Seco, a small one compared to the non-receding tallest (80-135meters) Spegazzini (66sq km) fed by Mayo Norte and Peinita Glaciers; up to the Upsala, 60kms long and 10kms wide, a surface of 870 sq km. Between 1997 and 2003, Upsala receded 13.4kms. Our approach to it is spectacular, full of icebergs, calves from the glaciers, some very large and so blue. Our boat is diminished by the size of this glacier. Later we dine in an antique estancia used only as a tourist restaurant in the middle of a forested island serving full meals. The waiters are pointing and whispering at us, Americans, like being a monkey in a zoo. Then it’s three more glaciers, Onelli, 45 sq km, Bolado, and Agassiz. It is an exhilarating, almost surreal day in spite of the extreme cold; we are bundled up in winter coats, hats and gloves but with the nearness of such expanses of ice, we can’t remain out side of the boat for long; lots of in and out!

The next day we’re back in the Parque to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. On the boat, we see where the rupture occurred on Monday at 10:45pm (today is Saturday). We lunch on the bus and then freeze in the rain while wandering up and down the balconies and boardwalks (a 400meter drop from top to bottom) so that we can see Moreno from every angle! It is a fourth of the size of Upsala, total surface 257 sq km only 30km long and 70 meters high. What an experience! Another spectacle, so brilliant. It took us the return trip to dry off. I survived but Phillip got a cold which lasted for weeks. We were the only English speakers on the trip but the guide knew enough English and one of the Argentines helped translate some of the Spanish. Back in El Calafate reminds us of a US Western town – all the wooden facades and upscale shops with merchandise from all over the world. How could this be part of the Patagonian Ice Field atmosphere?

Back to Buenos Aires for 4 more days and then on Monday, 22 March, we say goodbye and fly to Confins International Airport, Sao Paolo, Brazil where the plane skidded off the runway and everyone was killed last week. Change planes to Belo Horizonte, a business city in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. The next morning we take the bus to Ouro Preto, our destination 96km away. What a gorgeous drive through the mountains, green jungle-like trees in a lush red earth. This earth provides 95% of Brazil’s gemstones. Ouro Preto has a gold rush 100 years before California and Alaska. At that time there were more than 120,000 people living here while only 50,000 were in NYC. Our hotel is housed in an exquisite 200 year old mansion with wood floors, beautiful doors and barred windows. Crime is not isolated to the big cities. We came here to see the interior and to see the architecture of Brazil’s most famous sculptor and architect, Aleijadinho (1730-1814), Antonio Francisco Lisboa. His work is in many churches not only in Ouro Preto but also in Congonhas and Tiradentes where we travel with a guide and driver the next day. We are blown away by the Twelve Prophets at the Sanctuary Basilica de Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Congonhas. These 12 soapstone life size figures are placed around the courtyard and in front of the church; Aleijadinho sculpted them in 1800-1805 when he did not have any fingers left due to his leprosy! Below the church are 6 pavilions which house 65 life-size sculptures made of wood in tableaus depicting The Passion of Christ; he made these between 1780 and 1790; they were then painted vivid colors by another artist. We are definitely in the jungle; it is so hot and humid every day here. After 4 nights and another stopover night in Belo Horizonte, we fly to Rio de Janiero.
Rio is everything people say it is: spectacular beaches, gorgeous vistas, unmerciful poverty. We spend most of the time on our beach in Ipanema; we are faxcinated at the beach football; it is like the volleyball that is everywhere but instead of hands, all the play is with the feet; on the weekends we watch one particular extraordinary group who manage to keep the ball in play for minutes. Then lunching mostly at “The Girl from Ipanema” café (where this song was composed) and where we get to know one of the waiters who greets us like a friend when we arrive. But we also do the wonderful touristic things over the 9 days we are here. Retrace the Carnival celebration on Copacabana beach where the Rolling Stones performed this year to more than a million people (we saw some of it on TV in Santiago); learn about the samba route and wander by the permanent stands (sambodromo) where the favela performers strut their stuff; go atop Corcavado mountain to ooh and aah at the gigantic Christ the Redeemer statue; ride the cable car up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. Both of these journeys provide us with fabulous vistas of Rio; you definitely can see the Christ from everywhere. Maracana futbol stadium is one of the largest in world and the modern style Cathedral is interesting to see. We did not go to any of the favelas or go inside any museums. We walked a lot in Ipanema, Leblon, and down to Arpoador. These areas of the city have beautiful homes and tree lined streets. Anywhere else, one needed to take a taxi and talk of hold-ups and murders were rife. Rio is a city of 6 million with double that in the surrounding area, most of the population in the favelas, shanty towns up in the hills run by the drug lords who pretty much control most of Brazil. They have the money!

Brazil is slightly smaller than the US and shares a border with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador. Total population about 188 million, 7th most populous nation in the world (US is #5): whites 53.7%, mulatto 38.5%, black 6.2%, nominal Roman Catholic 73.6%. We saw more of the eastern towns of Brazil once we sailed on the Holland American Rotterdam for our 15 day trip from Rio to Lisbon. Lisbon to Chicago we live for the next 15 months. We loved our trip to South America and hope to return someday once again to experience those countries we missed this time.

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2/28/07 Happenings

Dear Family,
Today we are signing a new 3-month lease on our same
apartment at the Bernardin in Chicago.  This means,
after much discussion, that we will be pulling up
stakes again at the end of July.  This time we are
planning on going to Eastern Europe and then wintering
in the south of Spain.  Much planning and work still
ahead but we can't wait.  Since the weather has been
so cold here, we are dreaming of the nice hot summer
to come and swimming in the Lake.  Who really knows
what's to come next???

In addition, surprise, surprise, Matt and Laurie are
expecting a baby girl sometime in June.  They are very
excited and yesterday we received the pictures after
they languished 20 days in US Postal Service
limbo...truly amazing. So if everything works, we'll
get to see our first grandchild before we go!

Hope everyone is well and take care,
Love, Judy and Phil  

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5/12/06 Hello Everyone

I know that I owe you four months of "adventure
stories".  It has been a wonderful journey in South
America; however, we broke our own rule to rest every
other day.  Instead we were on the go every day.  The
day before we left Buenos Aires, I finally agreed with
Phillip that we should return to Chicago...he was
exhausted, had picked up a bad cold and persistent
cough which lasted until he got medication 6 weeks
later, and no longer interested in studying another
culture; besides the thought of the crowds in Europe
gave him shudders; thoughts of summer and the
wonderful music in Chicago kept entering our heads;
and most important of all we dearly missed our kids,
family, and friends.  So went to the internet but
could not find a reasonable fare from Lisbon to
Chicago. Friend Gail came to the rescue and found us
one on British Airways leaving the morning when we
were to dock in Lisboa.  Now where to live...we are
now in Ouro Preto in Brazil when we settle on the
travel arrangements. During the time we are in Rio and
on the ship, we are going back and forth with friend
Sheila and The Bernardin about leasing an apartment
from them.  Sheila and her friend who lives in the
building personally looked at all the available
apartments and we decided to sign up for the one that
they liked the best.  So when we finally had internet
access again in Cadiz, Spain, we completed the
application via email.  Now we were to arrive in
Lisbon the next day and where to lay our weary heads?
The daughter Colleen to the rescue.  Stay at her house
for 3 nights until she can retrieve our futon mattress
from Michigan...all of our household goods are in her
and Michael's new house there.  We arrive Thursday
night, 20 April, sign the lease on Friday, buy a new
bed and new couch after that for delivery the
following Friday.  Colleen and Michael deliver the
mattress on Sunday along with our folding chairs and
we camp out for a week in the new apartment.  Brother
George has discovered we are in Chicago and he has a
meeting out at O'Hare so we have dinner with him and my
sister Jeanette who bless her heart drove round trip
from Oconomowoc WI...I am still in culture shock from
returning; actually, I am in depression about it so
I'm not much of a guest.  However, I am finally coming
out of it now after 3 weeks!!!!

The new stuff arrives on Friday.  The son, Michael,
arrives in a Budget rent a truck on Saturday and he
and Colleen drive to Michigan (2+ hours), unload his
stuff (he's transplanting from Las Vegas to Toronto
but only taking a few suitcases until he sees the lay
of the land with the new job in Toronto) and refill
the truck with all the furniture and as many boxes as
they can fit in.  On Sunday am, the four of us unload
the truck; they take it to Budget near Colleen's where
son-in-law Michael picks them up and brings son
Michael to our new digs.  He stays for a week while we
unpack, get a phone and cable.  He spends the weekend
in Michigan with Colleen and Michael and they bring
back more boxes...we have too many photo albums.  We
are so sorry to see him go but he's looking forward to
another adventure...where does he get that from?

So now we are looking forward to enjoying this summer.
We love our new apartment in the center of all of the
activity near the Magnificent Mile and Water Tower.
Our new phone number is 312-280-1324.  We haven't made
our return a secret; it was such a hurried decision
and then we were in a busy traveling schedule and then
no access to the internet and then too much going on.
You know we are thrilled whenever we hear from any of
you.  Eventually I can bore you with south American
and Chicago tales.

Take care and enjoy each day, Judy and Phil
__________________________________________________
 

2/21/06 Hello from Buenos Aires

Attached, finally, is a recap of our January journey
from Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We
hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did
experiencing it.  The nature is so fabulous.  I so
wanted to stay longer in amongst these cathedral
mountains...the time goes so quickly.

We are having a good time in BA and will relate this
tale hopefully some time next week.  Hope you are all
well and thanks again for all of your messages and the
news they bring.

Love, Judy and Phil

     The bus ride from Santiago to Viña del Mar, Chile takes us through vineyards and great agricultural valleys.  It is wonderful to spend 4 nights is this Pacific Ocean resort town.  The Hotel Cap Ducal was designed by a student of Le Corbusier in the 1930’s; it is Art Deco style in the shape of a boat jutting out in the sea.  Pablo Neruda must have loved it!  Our large sliding windows on the 4th floor allow fabulous vistas of the beaches and down below are the crashing waves and the feeding seals.  Seagulls swoop to get the fish from the seals.  The water is a dark green and the waves very agitated from storms hundreds of miles out to sea.  We love every minute.

     Sunday, 8 January, we taxi to the sister city of Valparaíso to board the Celebrity Millennium for our 15-day journey.  This is a magnificent ship which has a capacity of 1950 people.   The weather changes dramatically as we head South…here is our first rain since leaving Chicago! And the seas become more turbulent…some passengers have discomfort for a few days but we are fine.  Our first stop is Tuesday at Puerto Montt, Chile.  We are treated to volcanoes, pristine lakes, glaciers.  One of the surrounding towns, Frutillar, is Bavarian in carácter; Puerto Varas has a gorgeous church on the hill based on the Marienkirche of the Black Forest.  Up before dawn on Wednesday for our first sighting of the Chilean Fjords.  This is also our last sight before bedtime.  You can’t beat snowcapped mountains amid desolation.  Another early morning Thursday brings us up close and personal to the gigantic Skua Glaciar.  The skies are full of giant, brooding, dark clouds but it stays clear and we can see and feel the glacier for a long time and see all the tops of the mountains behind it…3 hours of unadulterated beauty!  Everyone is psyched for our entrance into the Strait of Magellan later on in the afternoon…impossible to tell where the Pacific and the Strait come together in this vastness.  Should there be a signpost somewhere, on a buoy maybe?  The Strait is 11 to 15 miles wide and 300 miles long so it takes us until morning to tender into Punta Arenas, Chile, our first stop in legendary Patagonia.  The Magellanic penguin colony entertains us for almost 2  hours…we could stroll on the walkways, be within 2 feet, and these little guys just continue their trek down to the sea where they frolic or set further out to sea to get food for the little ones.  The babies hunker down in their burrows.  We see ñandú (emu), condors, rabbits, and 3 red foxes stalking on the edge of a group of sheep waiting for one of them to lay down so they could have lunch.  A huge open pit coal mine with slag heaps all around operated not far from this colony. Closer to town, there is the world’s 2nd largest producer of Methanol.  Fishing, especially salmon, is another means of livelihood at the edge of the wilderness. In the center of town is a monument to Magellan where all of us tourists rub the foot of the Selk’nam and wish to return here.  Saturday, we arrive into the Beagle Channel at the end of the world, Ushuaia, Argentina in Tierra del Fuego.  This is the jumping-off point for all the ships to Antarctica; I hope some day to make this trip.  This is a fascinating place and we are lucky to have a sunny pleasant day.  We hike around the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego with its Glacier, beautiful lakes, huge trees.  Argentina used to send its incorrigibles to the prison here.  What views they had! Wish we had a few more days to spend here!   We continue down to Puerto Williams, Chile, the other contender for “end of the world” status, in order to get clearance to reenter Chilean waters.  There is a gorgeous sunset and beautiful cloud formation about 10pm. 6am Sunday we are at the Horn…who would have thought that the infamous Cape Horn waters could be so placid.  The Cape itself rises to 424meters and we can see the monument to the albatross and the Chile naval outpost.  We stay here and go completely around the Horn before sailing away at 9am.  We were at 56 degrees South and 67 degrees West before we head east and north.  Later the weather turns nasty, overcast and rocking. Monday am, winds of 60 knots make it impossible to come anywhere near Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.  The whole ship is depressed; we want to stand on these far-away lands and see all the monuments where the Brits and Argentineans fought it out in the ill-fated War of 1982.  The wounds are still fresh in Argentina who call them the Malvinas Islands.  There are monuments to the Argentine fallen in Ushuaia and Buenos Aires…to this day, no one can access the Falklands/Malvinas from anywhere in Argentina.

     Meanwhile on Sunday, Michelle Bachellet wins the Presidential run off in Chile with more than 53% of the vote to become Chile’s first woman president.  When we arrive at Puerto Madryn, Argentina on Wednesday, there is a near mutiny when the winds again prevent us from docking.  We watch the fishing fleet with envy as it chugs along near the land. The captain tries to make it up to us by giving free drinks for the entire evening and gets us up the muddy Rio de la Plata to Montevideo, Uruguay late Thursday night. Friday we don’t need to wait for clearance now and can spend the day walking this city of 1and a 1/2 million, ½ the population of Uruguay with many outstanding mansions in need of repair and gorgeous bronze fountains with no water running through.  The Teatro Solis (1856) (Spaniard who named the Rio de la Plata) has outstanding acoustics, comfortable seating, gorgeous 1906 crystal chandeliers and original marbles from all of Europe.  Caruso, Pavlova, Toscanini, Sarah Bernhardt all performed here.  But the jaw-dropping beauty is the Congreso.  The Italian architect used 52 different kinds of granite.  All the crystal chandeliers are from Murano.  Stained glass windows, mosaics, statuary, Turkish carpets, Slovenian oak, engravings on patio walls, a library full of Italian marquetry vie with the chamber of deputies and the senate for one’s attention.  Uruguay is a republic and the congreso is modeled on the USA style.  10% of the legislators are women.  Congreso appoints the Judiciary; President and Vice President are elected by the public every 5 years.  We finish the day watching sheep being herded onto a freighter bound for Saudi Arabia.  It has about 6-8 stories of permanent steel cages stacked on top of each other.  Speculation is rife as to how long a trip that could be!  Saturday am we arrive across the Plate to Buenos Aires, Argentina but the tale of this city is for another day.      

__________________________________________________
 

January 21, 2006

Each time that I step out of an airplane, a bus,
a train, a ferry or a ship, I get butterflies in my
stomach as a new world spreads out in front of me.  On
the way to our new residence, my eyes scour the city
or countryside and I am beset with impressions:  the
smells of industry belching, vegetation rotting,
flowers blooming, different or reminiscent of
something I've smelled before; the clogged roads seem
to be ubiquitous no matter where we arrive; the
structures: tall or low, gritty, pockmarked,
balconied, made of glass, brick, stone, no gardens or
outlined with flora.  My ears throb with sounds of the
traffic, music, horns honking or birds chirping,
rivers running.  Then we come into our new
neighborhood and the ambience of it flows through, for
better or for worse, and then there is is...our new
home for the next days or months.  The immediate
impression is usually the one that stays with us until
the end.  These feelings, sights, and sounds are with
us all day today as we disembark from the Millennium
on to the soil of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

     With our new friends who make up our nightly
table, we hire a guide, Bebe, to take us to Tigre,
about 28 kilometers from the center of Buenos.  The
guide books tout it as a little Venice.  It is
definitely no Venice but has a charm of its own.  We
board a long boat that skims across the rivers running
through this delta region.  Here is where many city
people maintain summer homes.  All transportation
involves watercraft...rowboats, sculls, canoes,
motorboats, and barges full of groceries.  Some pull
up  along side to make purchases through the "service
windows".  Some residents sit on their docks patiently
awaiting the arrival of the supermarket.  Everyone is
friendly and wave at the gawking tourists.  Since
these rivers are tidal and have a tendency to flood,
most homes are built back from the shores.  There is
one large palatial home that is fully enclosed in
see-thru plastic panels secured by steel rivets to
ever preserve this residence of a former president!!!
There are magnificent Victorian rowing club mansions.
The majority of homes are modest, similar to those
found on the lakes in any of our northern states.
There is even an amusement park with rides.

     Then it's back in the van and into the city of
Buenos Aires.  We are literally blown away by the
beauty:  spacious avenues, many turn of the century
French and Spanish mansions, the Obelisk, symbol of
Buenos Aires and Argentine independence from Spain.
Bebe takes us through the neighborhoods.  La Boca, the
jumping off point for all the Italian immigrants,
still a rough neighborhood surrounding the Boca
Juniors futbol (soccer) stadium, colorfully painted
houses and an immigrant museum.  San Telmo has its
famous Sunday Market with street performers, tango
dancers, and "parrilla" restaurants.  The "parrilla"
is basically a very large indoor grill where the meat
is cooked.  We come to love the grass-fed beef, so
lean, delicious, free of hormones....it just melts in
your mouth.  There are parrillas everywhere in
Argentina, Chile and Brazil.  But enough about this
because we only discover this during the next two
months!  Back to the neighborhoods: the downtown,
financial and governmental areas, the Plaza de Mayo
and the Casa Rosada where Eva Peron stood on the
balcony and talked to her people.  Then it is on to
Recoleta, the upscale site of French mansions and the
famous cemetery where Evita is buried along with other
luminaries.  She is a beloved icon to the Argentine
people still today.  As we turn the corner, I see the
name of the street where we will be living, Azcuenaga;
it runs into the wall at the back of the cemetery.  We
are 6 blocks up from here! Along the boulevards filled
with museums, outdoor sculptures, gorgeous fountains
we make our way to Palermo, another upscale yuppie
neighborhood, site of the zoo, botanical gardens, and
American Embassy.

     By now it is almost four o'clock and we are
hungry and happily exhilarated from the day.  Our
first impressions are "WOW".  We are so excited that
we have six whole weeks to investigate.  And this city
becomes our favorite place in South America.  We will
find that it is not nearly long enough.  But that's a
story for another day.


__________________________________________________
 

January 2, 2006 Feliz Año Nuevo

We are attaching ruminations about Chile's political
and economic situation, if interested.

We are almost at the end of our stay in Santiago.  We
are busing to the Pacific coast on Wednesday for 4
days...Viña del Mar and then on Sunday, we are
boarding the Celebrity Millennium for 15 days to view
Southern Chile and Argentina, around the Horn to
Buenos Aires.  It's been a good visit and we have
mastered the area.  It is a beautiful city and easy to
get around in with the sparkling Metro and the
kamikaze bus drivers in their soon to be defunct
yellow micros!  Not a cultural haven but we did see
some good opera, ballet, and symphony...probably the
best Carmen ever.  Restaurants and food and wine are
excellent...not enough time to try them all!!!
Enjoyed shopping in the California style malls and
going to the movies at least once a week at the
multiplex...all in original version so all the
American films are in English with Spanish subtitles.
Don't think King Kong we could have sat thru in our
limited Spanish!!!  Great Christmas at one of the most
beautiful Hyatt's.  Then enjoyed multiple fireworks
shows from the roof (12th floor) of our apartment
building at the stroke of midnight 1 January 2006.

Hope everyone is healthy and has a great and safe new
year.  Thanks to all for their Christmas greetings.
We really appreciate them and miss you all.

Much love, Judy and Phil

Attachment:

Chile is a long, slender country spanning approximately 4500km from 32S to 60S from the equator.  All but mining, agriculture, and fishing are centered in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago.  Consequently, this Region which encompasses Santiago has been expanding and now has a population near 6 million out of the 15 million in the entire country.  The Chilean economy is based on a free market and global trade.  It must export. It has free trade agreements with more countries than any other nation in the world. Financial business seems to be booming here with construction cranes everywhere in the eastern suburbs.  With the high price of copper, revenues to the government have risen and it is spending money on the infrastructure, expanding the metro, exchanging all the yellow black-smoking microbuses with sleek green buses which burn natural gas, constructing real homes for those occupants of the shantytowns.  Surprisingly, almost everything in Chile is privatized, including all of the above and even the toll roads!  The major trading partner is the USA.  Of course, copper is number one but also the Haas avocados, the Driscoll strawberries, salmon, timber, and the wine.  Since 1990, poverty was reduced from 38% to 19% in 2003.  As Chile’s peso strengthens, the US$ weakens and exporters are nervous.  Two years ago the $ was at 750 pesos; October 2004 it was 607, but today only 510.  How low can the $ go?

It has the most stable democracy in South America.  There was a general election on Sunday, 11 December but Michelle Bachelet, a doctor, ex-minister of health, ex-minister of defense received less than 50% of the vote (46%) so she (leftist agnostic) is in a run-off on 15 January against her closest finisher, Sebastian Piñera (25%), a billionaire entrepreneur (rightist).  There was only a 30-day campaign for the 4 candidates and the chamber of deputies.  There have been some changes to Pinochet’s 1980 Constitution but not the ‘binominal’ system of voting which assures the right-wing of seats even when they don’t get the votes!  The current President, Ricardo Lagos (center leftist Concertacion) has been lobbying for a change but the opposing right-wing Alianza isn’t going to commit hari kari.  Polls say Bachelet will win by 3%, not much wiggle room!!!  It seems that the continent is shifting to the left.  Bolivia just elected Evo Morales, the first indigenous president in Latin America.  He takes office this month.  Bolivia and Peru lost land to Chile as losers in the War of the Pacific (1874-84).  Evo now says gas for sea; Bolivia has great reserves of natural gas.  All of its exports are shipped from non-Chilean ports.  He wants access to the sea for his country through Chile.  This is going to be a busy month for the Supreme Court of Chile.  On the 5^th, it will begin its review of the extradition request from Peru for ex-President Fujimori who landed unannounced in Santiago last month and was sent to the Police School for detention.  His daughters visited him there yesterday.  Then 90-year old ex-President Pinochet must stand trial for his misdeeds…lots of government money in his personal accounts at the Riggs Bank???  Even though the military and the Catholic Church still exert much pressure, this Court last month approved dispensing of the morning after pill in its public health system. 

 The weather is almost the same every day: dry, 30C (87F) and sunny during the day, 14C overnight.  The air quality is good but the UV indices are in the extreme…the hole in the ozone layer?  Life is tranquil, similar to Southern California.  It seems like the 50’s in the US: no political correctness:  Christmas crèches in all the public spaces; the media calls people punks and delinquents before any trial; and the people are so friendly and helpful.  Santiago is such a safe place.  We walk late at night from the Metro without worry.  Would you believe the hot dog (complete) is the favorite fast food?  Not sure because of German or US influence. 

__________________________________________________
 

November 25, 2005 Happy Thanksgiving

We are happy to give thanks for our lives and the
ability to live it as we wish:  when we left you last
month; we were in san miguel de allende; Mexico
absorbing all the Mexican history we could of the
independence; the French intervention; and the
revolution:  the walls of the casita were closing in
on us before we left at the end of October:  one must
get accommodation on the heights of sma to enjoy the
views:

next stop was Mexico city which we loved:  we rode the
mini buses up and down the reforma; walked everywhere;
were enthralled by the anthropoly museum and the
murals of the bellas artes; we also saw a pianist; the
orchestra; and the ballet folklorico there:  our hotel
imperial was built for porfirio diaz and had tall
ceilings and modern services:  we particularly loved
the day of the dead celebrations in the zocalo along
with the other millions of people!!!

on to Quito, Ecuador which turned out to be a
disaster:::everyone telling us very dangerous; must
take taxi everywhere:  we did walk during the day near
our hotel but took the taxis at night:::no way to
live:  on a Saturday morning; i woke up wretching out
of both ends and finally the cipro kicked in and i
could leave the bathroom:  slept all day; Monday we
took a tour of the city and got to the equator; that
was fun:  but early Tuesday am Phil woke up unable to
breathe and kind of hallucinating:::two of the danger
signals of altitude sickness:  Quito is over nine
thousand feet high:  luckily we were able to get
flights out and hotel rooms for the next six days in
Santiago, Chile:  we felt we had better bypass all of
the mountain regions:

so now we are in Santiago and have been here for over
a week:  we found a beautiful apartment where we can
sit on our terrace and living room and stare at the
snow capped Andes:  we are at five hundred meters so
the altitude sickness is gone and we are happy:
yesterday to celebrate thanksgiving; we met with
fellow English speaking persons at the community
church where they served pumpkin pie; then lunch at a
Spanish restaurant and then the first day of Harry
Potter Goblet of Fire:::it was very good and we
enjoyed:

we are staying in this neighborhood called vitacura
next to las condes area:  the subway is wonderful;
clean and beautifully tiled:  the station is only a
fifteen minute walk and the same time to the upscale
shopping mall of Parque Arauco:  we will be here until
the eighth of January when we board a fourteen day
cruise to Buenos Aires:

hope you are all well and enjoying life:  take care;
love; Judy and Phil


__________________________________________________

October 2005, Hello from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

We arrive here Saturday after a very comfortable
4-hour bus ride from Mexico City.  As we leave MC, the
congestion opens up to bright green fields of alfalfa,
corn, huge cacti.  The annual parade of Indian
dancers, the huge paper mache figures, floats, and
floral displays along with the fireworks to pay homage
to the patron saint of St Michael the Archangel is
gathering as we are lucky enough to get a taxi to our
new abode in the center of town.  This is a hill town
and every evening we huff and puff climbing our way
back home!  The door on the street opens up to 13
steps leading down to a garden of grass, bougainvillea,
roses, etc all in full bloom.  Our casita, off this
garden, is one of 5 condos and consists of 2 rooms.
It is very comfortable.  We go to sleep with the sound
of fireworks and awake to the sound of church bells
pealing.

We spend our time reading the daily Miami Herald and
the weekly Atencion, wandering the streets, trying out
the restaurants, sitting in the central Jardin, and
riding the bus to the Gigante grocery store.  There is
a wonderful Spanish/English library, a museum in the
house where Ignacio Allende was born, multiple
churches.  Tuesday we saw a Bollywood film, Hera
Pheri, in Hindi with English subtitles.  Thursday we
saw a play, Stage Fright.  Friday we spent the day in
Guanajuato, the capital of the province, which is
celebrating its annual Cervantes festival (3 weeks
long).  It is a gorgeous UNESCO hill town surrounded
by the hills; the center is accessed thru a number of
tunnels.  Guanajuato and San Miguel are the center of
the 1810 revolution so there is a lot of history in
each place to learn about.

Hope you are all well, Love, Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

Trip to Mexico, 16 Dec 2004 to 1 Mar 2005

Greetings once again from frigid Chicago!  Southern
Mexico opened a whole new world to us.  After nightly
posadas, celebrations to the Virgen de la Soledad, the
displays of the Night of the Radishes, a festive
Christmas Eve, and the Guelaguetsa show, we immerse
ourselves in the pre-Hispanic Indian civilizations of
the Olmecs, Zapotecas, and the Mayans.  We study the
drama of Mexican history, yesterday and today.  The
politics intrigue us; the Zapotecas are protesting
almost daily to the government, with little result.
On Candelaria, a huge rally and march by the Triquis
envelope us.  Judy studies the Spanish language,
history and cooking for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week
for 4 weeks at the Instituto.  It is exhausting and
exhilarating at the same time! Phil explores the city
in the mornings and reads by the pool in the
afternoons.

A full two months in Oaxaca City gives us time to
visit almost every surrounding village and the Sierras
where we almost touch the clouds!  Monte Alban, Mitla,
Yagul, and Zaachila, Zapotec ruins much earlier than
the Mayans, captivate us.  We watch potters, carvers,
weavers, painters as well as sellers of the black
pottery, alebrijes (the brightly colorful fantastical
animals), natural dyed wool rugs, paintings,
sculptures, shawls, green pottery, and gigantic
balloons and blowups.  We marvel at the extent of the
fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts, clothing,
appliances, etc at the central markets and at our own
two Friday markets around the corner from our
apartment.  Rufino Tamayo, Rodolfo Morales and
Francisco Toledo, world-famous artists from Oaxaca,
portray local life and feeling.  At the museum and
gardens of Santo Domingo, the Tamayo museum of
pre-Hispanic art, the Artes Graficas, and the
Fotografico Alvaro Bravo, we read and peruse many of
the books in these extensive libraries.  We even walk
on an aerial map of Oaxaca to find our apartment and
all the other places we've discovered from our many
walks!  I now can read the letters, in Spanish, on
exhibit of Frida Kahlo to her doctor friend.  Oaxaca
is famous for its cuisine and we delight in everthing
it has to offer; we try almost all the moles:
amarillo, verde, rojo, negro, coloradito served over
chicken and pork; also, the chapulines (fired
grasshoppers)!  And the hot chocolate is ubiquitous.
Our favorite oasis is an outdoor seafood restaurant.
All this and warm and sunny every single day!  Somehow
the music played under the laurel trees in the zocalo
sounds sweeter.

The Zapatistas and the Mayan ruins draw us to the
State of Chiapas, where we spend a week roaming the
Spanish colonial town of San Cristobal de las Casas,
the villages of Chamula and Zinacantan, the waterfalls
of Agua Azul and Misol-Ha, the ruins of Tonina and
Palenque.  Living conditions haven't changed much over
the centures!  70% of the indigenous people are
full-blooded tribal Mayans and many continue to live
in the same manner as before Cortes.  We never do
encounter masked or hooded revolutionaries!

The overnight first class bus takes us to the Pacific
Ocean for six nights in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca where
we relax and enjoy the sun.  The 6-seater plane back
to the capital city takes us over the high rugged
beautiful southern Sierras in just a half hour; the
bus is 8 hours!  We hope all of you have a chance to
spend time in this part of the world...it is an
enchanting experience!

_________________________________________________

Greetings from Chicago: 12/14/04

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
We did a whirlwind journey to Europe for seven weeks
in the fall.  Memorials, monuments, mountains,
murmuring rivers, humming cities, restored Old Towns
filled our days.  This was a journey into history.  It
was our first time "behind the Iron Curtain" since the
60's.  All along our journey, we meet up with friends
and family.  And the walking, walking!

In London, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park provide
entry to the water memorial to Princess Diana.  It is
a lovely "river" that travels the ups and downs of her
life.  Strolling along the Thames, we have "the
Gherkin" rising above the city; onto Tower Hill, we
see an entire new complex to handle the influx of
tourists.  There is no way for anyone to stroll over
to Ann Boleyn's chopping block without paying; there
are new entrances over moats.  Development along the
River still seems feverish.  We arrive in Salzburg for
the opening of Octoberfest (in September) so the Dom
Square is awash with white-tneted kiosks.  The
medieval signs above the shops provide puzzles for
deciphering.  At Schloss Hellbrunn, we follow in the
footsteps of The Sound of Music actors.  At Fortress
Hohenzoller, the valley and the mountains envelop us.
A boat ride on the Danube brings us to the Wachau
Valley town of Melk.  The abbey here has been
refurbished to display all their treasures and the
library.  In Vienna, celebrations to commemorate Phil
and his former classmates at the University of Vienna
sailing on the Queen Mary in September 1957 are
ongoing.  We talk, eat, and drink for days.  If that
isn't enough, some of us meet again in Budapest.  We
visit the old towns along the Danube Bend and marvel
at the reconstructed Parliament building, a
Westminster wannabe.  I think Budapest and Prague do
the best lighting of their castles and cultural icons!
Warsaw is a city with beautiful parks and monuments to
the uprisers of 1944 and 1945.  We are in awe at all
the reconstruction; the Old Town looks like it did
before WWII.  The Palace of Culture given to the Poles
as a gift from Stalin has many derogatory names and is
the ugliest building we've ever seen.  We discover
that Poland is filled with pilgrims; there are many
sites with religious significance here.   It is the
only country where we see the churches packed with
worshippers.  Krakow and Prague are very similar as
old capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and both
are crowded with tourists.  The Old Towns, castles on
the hills make for a fairyland experience.  Down in
the Tatra Mountains, we visit Zakopane and Chocholow,
villages made of wood but different from Alpine.
Auschwitz/Birkenau take us back to the horrors of
WWII.  Berlin is rising rapidly from the ashes.  We
walk where The Wall and the death stip stood.  Cranes
rise all over town building, building.  The Ku'damm
and the Unter den Linden provide leafy boulevards for
walking.  At a visit to the Pergamon Museum, we walk
up the stairs of the ancient Pergamon Altar from Asia
Minor (Turkey) and process beside the lions to enter
the blue-tiled Ishtar Gate that once led into Babylon.
We want to spend more time in Berlin; a week only
scratched the surface.  By the time we get to Paris we
are exhausted.  Phillip says we came to eat and eat we
did.  No museums.  Just walking along the Seine, in
the Luxembourg Gardens, and in the streets.  It is a
fitting end.

This Thursday, the 16th, we are leaving Chicago to
spend two and a half months in Mexico...our first trip
there.  The end of one adventure, the beginning of
another!  Our very best to all of you!

Love, Judy and Phil______________________
_________________________________________________

8/19/04

Hi Family,
I've been writing an essay a week for the last couple
of months for a writing class and yesterday I wrote
one which I'd like to share with all the family.  I
was influenced by all the political talk and about an
event from last week.

The title is Heroes:
This word is bandied about quite often these days.
Who do we designate heroes? Is it the men and women
who show defiance of danger or is it a habit of
bearing so nobly under trials, danger and sufferings?
The synonyms of courage, fortitude, unselfishness,
bravery, and valor further define heroism.  I would
like to tell you about the two heroes in my life: my
sister, Jeanette and her daughter, Shannon.

Almost 28 years ago, Jeanette gave birth to Shannon.
Immediately it was evident that Shannon's spinal
column was imperfectly closed; she had a congenital
birth defect called spina bifida.  The first days of
her life were precarious but she exhibited a real
strength of will then and in the years to come.  Her
mother's legacy!

She had many operations to implant a shunt to prevent
fluid from accumulating in her brain; this shunt has
been mnoved many times.  She is subject to infections,
viral and biological, so she has been on numerous
drugs.  She has no feeling below her waist so she had
braces fitted on her two legs that had to be refitted
as she grew.  Many men who had been in Vietnam and
exposed to Agent Orange had fathered children with
this birth defect.  During the Clinton Administration,
these children were placed under the Social Security
system and awarded benefits under the Veterans
Administration.  None of this can possibly compensate
for the pain and agony that this family has suffered.
Her father left her and her mother when she was a
child because he couldn't take the day-to-day pain; to
this day, he rarely speaks to her; even after a
predatory neighbor raped her.

During all of her life, first as a poster child for
the March of Dimes and then no matter what disaster
befell her, she has kept her optimistic outlook on
life.  She graduated from high school and has taken
college classes.  She mastered driving a cr with hand
controls and puts on about 25-30 thousand miles a
year!  She is also the cell phone maven in the family.
These two things give her the freedom to go where she
pleases and the ability to stay in touch with
everybody.  She has worked at every franchise in
Oconomowoc.  Now, since an auto accident almost 2
years ago, she is unable to work.  But she volunteers
at two different senior centers, three to four times a
week.  How these seniors' faces light up when she
comes into a room!  I should say, as she bounces into
a room, full of greetings and excited talk.  She knows
everyone in town and they love her.

A week ago Monday, she had her 29th surgery before her
28th birthday!  This time it was to remove her
diseased left kidney.  She had Jeanette count the
staples needed to sew her up: 21!  She had these
removed yesterday.  The long-term pain is gone.  She
will be able to drive the day before her birthday;
she's counting the days!  My sister's life is bound up
with Shannon's; they have gone through all the trauma
together.  I love to watch the two of them interact.
They are like kids sometimes with the give and take.
It is wonderful!

Emerson said, "Each man is a hero and oracle to
somebody."  My sister and niece/godchild are my
heroes.  They are people you should know.

Enjoy your days, Love, Judy
_________________________________________________

7.23.04 We are enjoying Chicago this spring and summer and
looking forward to our trip to Europe in September.
Take care, Judy and Phil

"Chicago is the greatest city in the world as far as contemporary architecture." So spoke Frank Gehry, the 75-year old world architect who was persuaded by Cindy Pritzker to design a new music pavilion to be named for her late husband, Jay Pritzker. This past weekend, the entire Park opens to the public with all day celebrations. The citizens of Chicago happily turn out to enjoy this gift. Gone are the unsightly trashy areas surrounding the Illinois Central Railroad tracks; now all covered over with green grass, trees, plants, flowers, restaurant and café, and lots of world-class art and architecture.

During the winter, ice skaters enjoyed the new rink facing Michigan Avenue. The classical Greek peristyle at the corner of Michigan and Randolph is a smaller replica of the one torn down in Grant Park in the 1950’s. It’s made of limestone quarried in Indiana and France. Its fountain’s brass spout is made from a mold of a finial from the Wrigley Building. "Family Albums", large photographs of families from all over the world, is temporarily exhibited here. The Harris Theatre too has been open all winter. Friday we are treated to all the newly constructed areas. Gone are the fences and billboards.

Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain near Monroe and Michigan may be the new century’s answer to the Buckingham Fountain. This Spaniard’s playful idea of 50 foot towers of glass brick with cascading water into a black granite plaza only 1/8 of an inch deep and changing faces on two facing LED screens who purse their lips in unison to become spouts of water a la medieval gargoyles delights everyone who ventures into the water as well as those on the sidelines.

A landscape architect, an artist, and a perennial expert design the Lurie Gardens. Walkways and seating are provided to enjoy the peacefulness here. The landscape architect project leader, Kathryn Gustafson, also unveiled her Diana Princess of Wales memorial in London earlier this month.

The London based artist, Anish Kapoor’s 110-ton sculpture delights all that view it from afar and near. "The Bean", so nicknamed because of its jellybean shape, a stunning steel structure actually named "Cloud Gate" acts as a 3D mirror. I first saw the reflections of the Michigan Avenue buildings from a bus window. Everyone pointed and oohed and aaahed. There was a lot of that this weekend! It is most thrilling when you walk toward it and then under it…inside it looks like mirrors on mirrors so you see yourself in many places and sizes.

Friday night, the people involved in the Park, including Mayor Daley, formally open the glass doors of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion stage and the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus play a mix of music from Bach to Corigliano. We have plenty of time to sit and marvel at the Douglas fir-paneled stage, the beauty of the steel-ribboned structure, and the stainless steel trellis over the lawn. The sound is wonderful. Many, many speakers hang from this trellis and from the sides of the stage. Only one emergency vehicle’s siren is heard, unlike the continuous din at the Petrillo bandshell. As night descends, colored lights reflect off the steel panels. After the concert, the Redmoon Theatre performers promenade with Buddhist-like lanterns, white flags, bells, gongs, and burning smoking pits from the Pavilion to other parts of the Park for their performance. The Park Café is in full swing, the ice skating rink now filled with flower planters and tables and chairs and a bar. The serpentine stainless steel with wood decking bridge over Columbus Drive provides not only access to Millenium Park from Grant Park but views of the city. This bridge, the only one ever designed by Gehry, also acts as a sound barrier from the traffic on the Drive.

The best-kept secret is the new Bike Parking structure on Randolph, next to the Harris Theatre. It houses 300 spaces for bikes and there are showers and lockers on the lower level. And Renzo Piano, another world famous architect whose design for the Art Institute addition begins construction in September, designs the two structures on Monroe for the elevators to the car parking garages.

The numbers are staggering. "This feat of urban renewal" covers 24.5 acres and cost $475 million, $270 million from the city and $205 from private donors. 92 private donors each gave $1 million or more. Their names are engraved at the base of the peristyle. "The Gehry" soars 120 feet in the air. The "trellis" covers four football fields. There are 4,000 permanent seats in the pavilion and 7,000 places on the lawn. It only takes 15 minutes for this lawn to be dry enough to sit on after a hard rain. 250 varieties of native perennial plants adorn the Lurie Gardens. 1,046 trees are in the entire park. 11,250 gallons of water cycle through the Crown Fountain daily. With all of this weight, the underground pillars and structures had to be strengthened before the parking lot could go in and the park built above it. It is mind-boggling that all of this beauty is built on air! What other city would even contemplate such a project?

__________________________________________________

December 23, 2003

Happy Hanukkah, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, Merry
Christmas, Happy New Year and any other greeting for
this most special time of the year!!!

Thanks to everyone who has already sent us holiday
greetings.  Some of the cards are hilarious.  We are
enjoying the autumnal-like weather here in the
northern clime...no real snow yet.  Chicago is decked
out in all its winter finery, a really great place to
spend the holidays.  All the trees are aglow with
lights circling their branches and trunks; the stores
are decorated with trees, balls, ribbons, storied
windows; the outdoor Christkindlmarkt is packed with
holiday makers eating German food and visiting all the
colorful kiosks selling quality merchandise; the tree
at Daley Plaza is majestic...actually an accumulation
of 50+ Christmas trees so it's quite wide as well as
tall; the ice rink in Millenium Park is open every day
now.  During the cold days, we use the underground
pedestrian way to walk to our destinations. And of
course we go to musical concerts about 4-5 days a
week. The Apollo Chorus sang a mean Messiah Sunday!!!

We're looking forward to celebrating Christmas Day
with the daughter and son-in-law at their home in
Michigan along with Michael's family who will come
from Indiana and a few neighbors. At the end of
January we'll be going to Ft Myers, Florida for the
month of February.  Son Matt lives there so plan to
spend quality time with him and his good friends.  Son
Mike is planning on coming from St John's, US Virgin
Islands during his time off...he's working on a
charter yacht this winter.

Hope your holidays are wonderful too.
Love,
Judy and Phil

_________________________________________________

November 22, 2003

Happy Thanksgiving

We are off the road!!! Living in downtown Chicago.
All during the trip thru the West, we kept hearing the
siren call of Chicago.  At each stop, we asked
ourselves, do we want to spend the next six months to
a year here? And the resounding chorus of nos
continued. The only mark against Chicago is the
weather.  Could we survive a winter? We've done it
many years before so why not now?  We can always
leave!!!

We loved visiting the beautiful mountain town of
Ashland OR, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
walking the cliffs of Half Moon Bay CA and the parks,
zoo, ballgame, concert in sunny San Diego.  By the
time we got to Tucson AZ, we had had it.  So we
finished up the "circle " in the Texas hill country
with friends outside San Antonio...the Alamo was so
much smaller than we envisioned...and headed north.

We've rented a new, lofty (41st floor) 2BR apartment
which faces northwest so the city lights are all
around us.  At night we marvel at the scene laid out
before us...living room is all floor to ceiling
windows on the 2 sides...and we are content.  The
location is perfect for walking everywhere...one block
south of the Chicago River, 2 blocks east of Michigan
Avenue, 2 blocks north of Millennium Park with the new
Frank Geary band shell under construction and the new
Harris Dance Theatre just opened, 2 blocks west of
Lake Michigan.  Public transport is just out the door.
We have all the things we love at our doorstep so
we'll be here for at least a year.

Today is the 40th anniversary of JFK's assassination.
We both remember that day like it was yesterday, where
we were, who said what, and then a day or two later
how we were standing with thousands of other DC
residents watching the cortege carrying his body past
us when a kid behind us with a radio started yelling
that some guy had shot Oswald.  The long wait to view
the body in the Capital.  It was a weekend of utter
desolation, a loss of energy and hope.  Where were you
forty years ago today?

Keep in touch.  Much love, Judy and Phil __________________________________________________

August 3, 2003

 Greetings from Portland, Oregon 

Yes, we have survived the 100+F (40+C)last 3-4 weeks;
can't believe how long this heat wave has lasted here
in the West.  But when the prevailing westerlies blew
down the Columbus River Gorge Thursday, the sound was
heaven.  Windsurfers/kite boarders came out in force.
Relief is here.

When we left Chicago over a month ago we visited
friends and family in Wisconsin and St Paul Minnesota
and then drove thru the corn and wheat fields of MN,
the cattle country of South Dakota, and across the
wide Missouri to the Badlands.  What a joy to sit in
the evening with a glass of wine and watch the sunset
play with the yellow, blue, red, sand colored rocks!
The biggest ball of twine wasn't enroute but we did
tour The Corn Palace and Wall Drug!  WD and all the
monuments around Rapid City and in the Black Hills are
bigger than ever.  Last time I was here was 1989;
Phil's first visit.  The 4 Presidents carved into Mt
Ruchmore are about the only unimproved part; at Crazy
Horse Memorial, his face is complete and down off the
mt are new roads and bldgs an dexhibits; the bison in
Custer State Park are thriving and the lodges
expanded; even Deadwood has new facefronts and a clean
image altho almost every shop has gambling; new bust
of Wild Bill Hancock just the beginning of further
glorification; only Devil's Tower remains the
same-still awesome to see on all the approaches and
you can still walk around the base and watch the
climbers.

In Wyoming and Montana, keep the Rocky Mts, sagebrush
and cattle ranches in sight.  Out in the middle of
nowhere, The Little Big Horn Monument is solemn and
awe-inspiring - after 133 years, the victors (the
Indians) finally got a beautiful sculpture and
memorial on the hillside just 3 weeks before we got
there; there already wee stone monuments to the losers
(Custer and his men); one of the hillsides contains a
national cemetery for US armed forces dead.

We cross the Bitterroots in Idaho weaving and curving
on scary high roads without guardrails and steep
abrupt edges and arrive at paradise in the Wallowa Mts
and valley of NE Oregon.  We love glacier-fed Wallowa
Lake, town of Joseph with its world renowned bronze
sculpture foundries, Hells Canyon, the deepest in the
US, and of course the snow capped 10,000' Wallowas. We
watch a pair of bald eagles soar and deer with nursing
"bambis" stroll nonchalantly by as we read the paper.
All of NE OR is beautiful but oh so desolate.
Following the famous pioneer trails - Lewis and Clark
(this is bicentennial year), Oregon Trail which over
400,000 settlers used and the Nez Perce where Chief
Joseph lead his people in their attempt to escape to
Canada makes us appreciate their achievements.
Crossing the Hells Canyon Wilderness, Wallowas, the
Blue Mnts, and then coming down the Columbia River to
the Pacific Ocean was no easy trip.  Outside Baker
City is a terrific Oregon Trail Center complete with
Conestoga wagons atop Flagstaff Hill.  In Cove, OR,
surrounded by cherry orchards (picking season), the
Eagle Cap Wilderness and looking toward the Blues, we
meet up with Jim and Carol Raphael who entertain us
even tho their well has broken and there is no water -
they have the pioneer spirit and a most gorgeous site.

The western weather has been the big story - drought
and high heat.  We could understand why there were so
many archeological finds in the John Day Fossil Beds,
the OR badlands...doesn't look like it ever rains
there.  Arrive in Bend, Central OR, gateway to Mt
Bachelor and the 3 Sissters, in time to experience our
first forest fire burning about 5 miles south of the
town - it continued for 4 more days, burned about
4,000 acres before it was put out, blotted out the mts
and the sky one morning.  Definitely small scale
compared compared to the Clark fire south of Eugene
which has been burning for over 2 weeks and the
Glacier Park fire in MT just keeps growing.  Predict a
hellish next 2 months. The signs - remember this is
fire season- reminds us of Australia.  We're learning
more about water flow and rights, timber infestations
and cutting, volcanology, high desert climate and how
to find shade!

In Hood River with son Mike, we just chill out and
even celebrate Harry Potter's birthday and the opening
of the new library. 

Time running out.  Take care all of you.
Love,
Judy and Phil
_________________________________________________

 June 2, 2003

Greetings from Baroda, Michigan, USA

Realize it's been two months since we've written but
it's been a whirlwind. During our two weeks, we
wandered all over the most beautiful city of Florence
and reveled in the art, architecture of the Basilicas
of San Lorenzo, Sante Maria Novella, Santa Croce; the
San Miniato church, the Medici chapels, the Uffizi and
the Accademia galleries; the wide open piazzas and the
piazzale Michelangelo; Ponte Vecchio, the wonderful
restaurants.  Visited picturesque Siena, the hills of
Tuscany, Pisa's Field of Miracles, walled village of
San Gimignano. Holy Saturday, while enjoying the
pre-Easter festivities, we tried to get money from an
outside ATM around the Duomo, we not only didn't get
any money but our card was swallowed...or at least
that's what we thought.  Actually as we are entering
our pin number to extract the card, our "helpful
Italians" made off with the card and spent the 3-day
weekend extracting money from our bank account.  Still
can't figure out how they did it but the fraud officer
says they're professional and you're not supposed to
be aware. Of course, we didn't know this until Monday
afternoon when we could get a hold of the bank in
Chicago to find out why the ATM said no money. So as
ignorance is bliss we spent a wonderful Easter morning
in the Piazza del Douomo to watch the lighted dove
come bursting out of the cathedral door to the
medieval 20-foot high wooden cart filled with
explosives.  An annual event called Scoppio del Carro,
it dates from the year 1101.  The cart is accompanied
by a procession of people dressed in Renaissance
costume. By the time the Roman candles, pinwheels,
firecrackers, etc finished (about 15mins), the square
was obscured by all the smoke. Continued to Mass which
was concelebrated by the archbishop and all his
underlings...great music and pageantry. So on to the
police department on Tuesday to file our report...we
were followed in by a man from Michigan and a couple
from England.  They have a full time English-speaking
woman who directs us victims in filling out the form,
relating our tale of woe.  We all seemed to be in a
state of shock and it took a few more days to get over
the violation.  In addition, as you're all aware, the
dollar has been sinking like a rock so when we had to
pay US$1.2197 for every euro on our cash advance from
American Express, we decided to make plans to come
back to the States.  We felt we were not getting any
bang for our buck and, unbelievably we were bone
weary.  Once we made this decision, we were able to
enjoy the month that was left in Europe. Celebrated
Liberation Day, the day the Allies arrived in Italy
during WWII, with parades and parties.

Off to Venice...still one of the most unique places.
We were blessed to have son Mike join us there to
share in this beauty and to arrive on Phillip's
birthday.  The best part was he got to meet our
friends Paolo and Simonetta and their 18 and 21-year
old boys when they wined and dined us at their home in
Treviso. We all spoke a kind of Italian-anglais
searching for mutual words.  Paolo wins the linguistic
award for speaking both languages well.  It was a
wonderful evening.  Mike even got some good recipes
from Simonetta.

What fun to ride the vaporettos up and down all the
canals, to wander the streets and over the bridges,
and to visit the islands of Lido, colorful Burano,
picturesque Torcello, glass-making Murano.  This time,
our apartment with a patio was in the Castello
district next to San Marco. Great location, close
enough to everything but far enough away from the
hubbub of all the tourists. This was a real
neighborhood, where the local bar set up a TV outside
in the campo for everyone to watch together the
Champions League semi-final game between Real Madrid
and Juventus and the one between AC Milan and
InterMilan the next night. We did check out some of
the churches which had art we were interested in such
as the Frari church, San Marco, and the Scuola San
Rocco for the fabulous Tinterettos, the Galleeerie
dell'Accademia for its 14th-18th century art, the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection for 20th c art, the
Arsenale, the Campanile, the Rialto . Music: since the
burned down Opera Fenice is not reconstructed, the
opera season is held in a "big top" a la Cirque de
Soleil.  It was better than we thought it would be.
Also did the Vivaldi music thing at the Church of San
Vidal; the Pieta where he conducted was never open.
On May Day, 1 May, we found the best restaurant,
Trattoria Corte Sconta in the Castello and enjoyed the
cloistered garden. After 2 months of strictly Italian
food, we couldn't look at another plate of pasta but
we sure did enjoy those months of having our taste
buds fully satisfied.

On the trans alpine train to Vienna, a great beautiful
ride.  This time our apartment in an area of the city
a couple of blocks from the Stephansdom, 2 blocks from
the Ring, in the center of all the good restaurants.
Our goal was to eat every Viennese specialty by the
end of the week and we did accomplish that.  We also
toured like crazy...love Vienna and it was a welcome
change...hardly any tourists, less pressurized
atmosphere, and great weather.  One day we all went
our separate ways...Mike to relax, Phillip to trace
his student living quarters and some of the places he
used to hang out in, and me to ride the Metro to
different parts of Wein and to enjoy the
KunstHausWein, this wacky museum dedicated to the
works of Friendenreich Hundertwasser, an artist,
architect, peace-activist whose work we first saw in
New Zealand. And the 3 of us did the Stephansdom, the
Graben, Hofburg and Schonbrunn Palaces, the
Kunsthistoriches Museum, rode the trams to Grinzing to
the Heuriger Reinprecht for gemutlich music and wurst
and wine. Favorite Viennese restaurant, Zum Wissen
Rauchfangkehrer. Finished Vienna with visit to evening
performance of Mozart's Abduction from the Seriglio at
the Volksoper while Mike enjoyed jazz at a club down
the street on the Reimergasse. Hated to leave.

Another beautiful train journey to Zurich.  Say
goodbye to Mike at the airport...he's off to JFK and
we're off to London Luton; stay in South Kensington
and then off from Heathrow to Chicago.  We've been
here about a month, first in Chicago and now in
Michigan and Colleen and Michael's country place.  We
have really rested and gotten our affairs in order.
We bought wheels so we'll be off to Oregon in the next
week or so now that our license plates have come in.
Really looking forward to a road trip!!!!

As always, enjoy!
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

April 14, 200

Happy Easter 

Have a great Holy day.  Here in Italy, national
holiday from Saturday thru Monday.  But everything we
need should be open.  Going to the Cathedral for the
Easter celebration tomorrow.  They have this Explosion
of the Cart in the piazza to celebrate the risen
Christ.  Should be interesting to see the now
mechanical dove of peace light the cannon...a bit
ironic, no?  Especially since Italy is big into
PACE...the rainbow flags are hung everywhere in this
country.

Take care,
Love,
Judy and Phil
________________________________________________

April 14, 2003

Greetings from Florence, Italy 

We're on the road again.  Had a good winter in Nice -
could have been warmer - and had wonderful visits from
sister Joni and daughter Nathalie and from our
daughter Colleen and our two adopted daughters Kim and
Mary.  Phillip managed with help from a kindly Scots
doctor and antibiotics to get over a bronchial
infection that had laid him low.  On the road to
health when we boarded the train thru the snow clad
Alpes Maritimes headed for Torino (Turin, Italy).
Shrouded in mystery with beautiful 17th century
palazzos with porticoes (arcades) that can shelter you
for approx 18kms, the view from the palace to the
train station is to die for.  (Olympics coming in
2006)We were wined and dined by friends Mario and Lori
who we hadn't seen in 15 years - they hadn't changed a
bit.  We needed more time but on to another grand city
of the North, Genoa which is sprucing up for its stint
as European City of Culture 2004. After 2 nights, we
took a ship down the Mediterranean to Palermo, Sicily
where we picked up our bus tour of the island.

We spent 6 full days from 6:30 to 22:30 touring,
eating, talking. Our favorite spots were Taormina,
Agrigento, Segesta, and Erice.  We loved the ruins but
feel we should have come here first before Greece and
Turkey.  We were exhausted by the time we got on the
train to Naples...it was really cool how they put the
train on the ferry to cross the Straits of Messina.
Less vigilant probably from lack of sleep, Phillip got
his wallet stolen, we think on the platform waiting
for the train to Sorrento.  That was like the black
hole.  And they worked fast to charge things. But with
the great help of Colleen, we had our cards replaced
and in our hands within 2 weeks.  Spent a lot of time
worrying about cash needs.

Sorrento was great and we had an apt overlooking the
marina grande and Mt Vesuvius beyond...though the
constant haze made Naples and the vicinty look faded
out.  We went to Pompeii, Capri, Amalfi Coast, Monte
Cassino and Caserta and loved every minute of it.

Eurostar train to Rome and our historic apartment in a
16th century palazzo on the Via Giulia, one block from
the Tiber, across the bridge from the Vatican.  We
felt like we were living in a museum; great.  We feel
like we walked every street in the Centro Storico and
a lot of the tourist spots, of course.  We even walked
one Sunday from our apt along the Tiber, the Baths of
Caracalla to the Appian Way and almost to the end of
it before we gave up...about 10 miles.  It was a great
2 weeks.

Last Saturday we arrived in Florence and are loving
our modern apartment across the Arno, one block up
from the Piazzale Michelangelo and just below the
Church of San Miniato.  We sit on our terrace and look
over all of Florence to the Duomo and the Tuscan hills
in the distance.  It's great.  We are doing all the
tourist things also.

We are having wonderful food, beautiful sights but who
said no one was traveling.  Italy is packed with
tourists everywhere we go.  Sometimes it gets to be
too much especially when we remember our last time
here 39 years ago when you could go everywhere without
a care in the world and no booking and no tourists.

Hope you are all well despite all the war news.
L, Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Bonnee Annee, Happy New Year 2003 

January 8, 2003

Thanks for all the holiday messages and the great
musical e-cards.  We really enjoyed them.  We are into
our daily routine now, reading The Sunday Times (GB),
International Herald Tribune, Nice-Matin, The New
Yorker, numerous books, daily walks thru the city,
old town or the beach, listening to English language
Riviera Radio which broadcasts BBC News, watching
French TV news.  Movies are the best alternative to TV
so we spent the rest of the month at the Cinematique
watching Fred and Ginger, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse,
even George Burns and Gracie Allen on the big screen.
Hope you all have seen the second Lord of the Rings
movie..."The Two Towers"...to at least revel in the
gorgeous New Zealand scenery.  And we roared with
laughter at the ending in Woody Allen's "Hollywood
Ending"---ah, the French!  "Gangs of NY" opening
today.

Before Christmas, we went about 25 kms into the hills
to a lovely medieval village named Luceram.  This is
the 15th year the villagers have created around 200
crèches depicting village life, the Holy Family,
shepherds and Magi in practically every crevasse in
town...huge ones in the churches and then varying
sizes in caves, window boxes, over doors etc.  We were
stunned by the beauty of the santons (figures in a
crèche) and the lighting, overall decorations.  Fun
hunting them for them up and down those narrow
streets.

Christmas Mass at Sainte Reparate, the cathedral of
Nice, was concelebrated by Archbishop and 9 other
priests with a lovely Latin sung mass; even the Creed
and Our Father was sung by the congregation in Latin
with much gusto;; we haven't seen that in the US since
the 70's.  Then we spent the rest of the day with
friends at Marie's flat on the Port.  We had all the
traditional foods associated with French celebration
of Christmas.  Oysters on the half shell...boxes and
boxes of oysters, mussels, snails, orsins, and other
shellfish were in abundance at every marketplace and
Christmas morning the Cafe Turin couldn't shuck
oysters quickly enough for the demand.  Foie gras,
crevettes (large shrimps), baguettes and mache (local
greens); roast beef, turkey with vegetables (even yams
with brown sugar); cheeses; buche de noel; and of
course, lots of champagne and other wines
accompanying...about 9 hours of eating and drinking.
The next evening we enjoyed Prokofiev's ballet
"Cindrella" at the Opera de Nice.  Had a scenic bus
trip to Toulon on following Sunday to see a french
operetta...La Belle de Cadix...it was a riot, a blend
of American burlesque and English music hall with
gorgeous costumes and beautiful songs.  Missed the
double entendres but got the gist of it.  At lunch,
filled our stomachs with more shellfish.

Picked up some kind of bug on New Years Eve so missed
all those celebrations but could hear all the
fireworks, horns honking, etc.  New Year's Day
sufficiently recovered to make our way to the
Acropolis for the free concert by the Philharmonic of
Nice...good way to start a year.  Now that the
holidays are past, the Italians have gone home,
businesses reopened, and kids are back to school.  The
weather has been warm and sunny but now the winds are
coming from the north so cooler temps are in store for
us this week; snow in the hills.  Unfortunately this
also seems to mean the step up of the impending war in
Iraq.  Chirac announced this morning he may send
troops as long as UN war; French troops have recently
had to go to Ivory Coast to keep peace.  Mr Blair who
is recovering from Cherigate and the backstabbing by
Chirac and Schroeder, has cooled on pushing GB to adopt
the euro but will Bush reward Blair's steadfastness by
adopting any of his suggestions re Israel?  Meanwhile
North Korea thumbing noses at the entire world.  Will
the dollar keep plunging against the euro? Always so
many questions.

Hoping we all have a peaceful and joyous year,
Judy and Phil


__________________________________________________

Happy Thanksgiving 

November 25, 2002

The British tradition of panto (pantomime) is still
alive and well!  Jack and Beanstalk at the local
theatre with the lead Dame (Jack's mother) a very
talented and funny large man with outrageous costumes.
His competition for best actor was the other
dimwitted son. Feels like Benny Hill running rampant.
Lots of uproarious fun really.

Lunchtime concerts showcase so much musical talent
performing works by composers unfamiliar to us...J N
Hummel, friend and rival of Beethoven, Dave Heath who
was so taken with the incredible Jacqueline dePre
confined to her wheelchair that he wrote "On Fire" in
1986 for cello and piano telling the story of her
spirit triumphing over the disease...completely
awesome in its power.  Gabriel Pierne, pupil of Cesar
Franck and Massenet; British composers John Ireland
inspired by visits to the Channel Islands, Frederick
Delius influenced by Grieg and always the familiar
Beethoven and Brahms.  We both talked about how many
concerts this year have been with piano and cellists
rather than the usual piano and violinists - perhaps
this is the new instrument with cachet?

Crossing over the Cotswold Hills thru the Vale of
Evesham, over the Malvern Hills into the red clay
grasslands of Herefordshire, home of the white-faced
Hereford cattle, to the cathedral town of Hereford on
the River Wye on the border of Wales.  It began as a
garrison protecting the Saxons from the Welsh tribes
and has been a cathedral town since beginning of the
8th century.  It has numerous churches but the
cathedral is renown for its purple-red color begun in
the 11th c which now houses the 13th c Mappa Mundi -
fascinating view of the world at the time, created by
Benedictine monks, with Jerusalem as its center and
the Med Sea taking up a large portion and lots of
drawings of exotic animals in their countries of
origin and even a skier in Norway!  Of course, no
America!!  Also has this great Chained Library from
the reign of James I besides other historical and
musical tomes, unchained, from the 15th c.  Wonderful
architectural features - am a sucker for intricate fan
vaulting.

Managed to survive and enjoy "Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets" especially after 25 mins of ads
and trailers.  "Pollock" with Ed Harris as Jackson
Pollock such a talented alcoholic and Marcia Gay
Harden as wife Lee Krasner followed their lives from
1941 to his fatal auto crash in 1955.  Such a short
time for him to enjoy his fame.  She continued to
paint after his death while relentlessly promoting
his.
The new James Bond film "Die Another Day" was too
filled with gadgets and stupid one liners.  The old
Sean Connery ones are still better.

All the Christmas decorations are everywhere,
beautiful lighting of the trees for the 4 blocks of
the Promenade in Cheltenham with spotlights on the
Regency buildings with Xmas trees and cascading lights
hanging down from the roof like a waterfall.  But no
Santa will be having any kids on his lap anymore.
Everyone so afraid of perverts.

A rainy day, but which day hasn't been, is perfect for
museum strolling and the Ashmolean in Oxford is a
treasure trove of everything collectible from Egyptian
antiquities to Renaissance art to Buddhist sculptures
to Powhatan's mantle (yes, Pochahantas' dad's cape
made of deerskin and shells very prominently displayed
with other curiosities), Guy Fawkes' lantern which he
was carrying when arrested in the bowels of Parliament
in 1605.  The 17th c Dutch still lifes are to die for.

Finished the day with tea at the Inspector Morse bar
where Colin Dexter's hero spent many of his days over
a pint or two in the Randolph hotel.

Have a very wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  We are
leaving Broadway on Thursday for London so will be
there for the long weekend.  Then Monday it's off to
Nice for more adventure and renew old acquaintances
and hopefully more sun.

Love,
Judy and Phil

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November 11, 2002 

Another greeting from Broadway 

Today is Remembrance Day (Armistice Day) where the
nation kept silence for 2 minutes at 11:00 today, on
the 11th day of the 11th month.  Yesterday most of the
laying of the poppy wreaths were done at the
cenotaphs, including ours here in Broadway followed by
moving ceremonies at the local Anglican Church...lest
we forget.  We were one of the youngest people so the
wonder is how long these ceremonies will be around.

A visit to Edward Elgar's birthplace museum near
Worcester made us aware that in 1908 he was awarded an
honorary doctorate from Yale for his Pomp and
Circumstances which led to the tradition of its being
played at US graduation ceremonies.  Here in Britain
part of the Prom nights.  He was much inspired by the
surrounding Malvern Hills which Turner painted.
Another town in the hills, Ledbury, claims John
Masefield, the poet laureate and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning (she moved there as a youngster; parents
buried in church there) and has a great collection of
beautiful black and white houses.

A visit to Hampshire, in the south of England to see
the New Forest where Henry VIII hunted deer and the
Isle of Wight where time stands still.  Glad we had
come here because we could appreciate the David Hare
play "Breath of Life" with Judi Dench and Maggie
Smith...what a treat watching these two on stage...
wished they would go on for hours.

At St Peter's Church in Winchcombe, a Saxon village
near us, they still display an altar cloth
needlepointed by Catherine of Aragon and used up until
the 20th century...is in remarkable shape.  Hiked up
into the Cotswold Hills to Belas Knap long barrow
ancient monument built about 3000BC...great views of
surrounds and fun to duck inside under the excavated
burial mound!!!

So fascinating to watch the entire Chicago marathon on
TV to cheer on the 28 year old GBR Paula Radcliffe to
break the world record by more than a minute.  But
then came the Bali bombing and all those young people
killed.

Imagine our surprise at the Royal Shakespeare in
Stratford for the "The Winter's Tale" and it was
performed in American accents in modern dress; king of
Bohemia and his subjects with Kentucky accents
complete with a hoedown.  Too weird!!!  Jane Austen's
"Emma" at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham was
performed in the traditional manner which was
thoroughly enjoyable. "The Merry Wives of Windsor" was
modern dress but with British accents.

Laughed a lot at the movie "About a Boy" with Hugh
Grant.  Cried and cheered at "Iris" with Judi Dench,
Kate Winslett, Jim Broadbent...should have all won
Academy Awards.  Wonderful "Dark Blue World", a Czech
film with English subtitles about Czechs who flew with
the RAF during WWII...their reward when they went back
to Czechoslovakia was imprisonment with common
criminals and ex Nazis because the Communist govt was
afraid they would rebel and lead people against them!!

Gale force winds knocked out electricity and closed
down the entire rail network 2 Sundays ago...96MPH
down on south coast of Wales.  Guy Fawkes night aka
Bonfire Night 5 Nov complete with fireworks...all in
the same week as Halloween night where the British
kids are now following American tradition of trick or
treating.  Then came the news that the Butler didn't
do it...Queen intervened, he was not a thief, and now
he's sold his story about palace doings to the Daily
Mirror.  The media frenzy continues...the mystique of
Diana lives on.

Hope you are all well.  Take care.
J&P
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October 11, 2002

Greetings from Broadway, Worcs, England 

In the pursuit of music, plays, history, we rented a
4-door stick shift Fiat to tour the countryside; our
month is almost over and its been the warmest, driest
Sept on record, lucky us.  The countryside march
brought over 300k marches into London so the
organizers feel it was successful in that respite;
whether #10 will feel the pull is another story...now
the crisis over the Good Friday agreement in Northern
Ireland where David Trimble and party want to oust
Gerry Adam's Sinn Fein is more pressing.

We had a 4.8 earthquake on the 23rd during the middle
of the night; felt just like the one 2 yrs ago in
Nice! Ginna and David were staying with us and all 4
of us felt it.  The same week, the high court of the
EU ruled that tips on credit cards belong to the
restaurant not to the servers; so if you want to make
sure that our server receives a tip, leave cash.

Visited with sister Joni and her husband Tom who is
working in Somerset county with the Ministry of
Defense since July; they'll be here for 2 years; they
have a lovely semi-detached home in Sherborne a good
sized village with train service.  It seems that most
villages have manor house and or castle plus stately
church.  Sherborne has a castle built by Sir Walter
Raleigh which QEI took over when she sent him to
prison and sold it off to the Digby family who still
own it, the huge grounds, and everything south to the
sea!!!  Their Abbey began in the 8th c by the Saxons
and added to by the Normans has the oldest fan
vaulting in the country. Around there is one of
Britain's best known chalk figures carved out on the
countryside, the Cerne Giant; amazingly real; looks
like he's walking along with his club for a stroll in
the countryside.

We have had some lovely walks in the Cheddar Gorge in
Somerset, Lydford Gorge in Devon, and on the moors in
Dartmoor each totally different - the waterfalls,
forests, and then the gorse and heather and bracken of
the windswept moors.  Thru Hailes Abbey ruins near
Broadway destroyed by Henry VIII's dissolution of the
monasteries...had been a global pilgrimage destination
in the 12th-15th c...thought to have contained the
blood of Christ. Quite impressive.

Also following some of the literary giants thru Thomas
Hardy country around Weymouth and Dorchester in
Dorset; at the Cobb in Lyme Regis where Meryl Streep
stood looking out to sea in ~The French Lieutenant's
Woman~, the setting of Jane Austen's ~Persuasion~; and
Lewis Carroll used to read extracts from ~Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland~ to Alice Liddle and her
sisters on outings to Godstow, the Trout Inn, an
excellent restaurant on the banks of the Thames near
Oxford built in 1133.

We climbed over ramparts and into towers at the
Castles Conwy and Caernerfon in North Wales built by
Edward I as part of his defense against the Welsh in
the 13th c...they are in great condition, no roofs but
the walls are so thick and the sea locations so
picturesque, we're glad they weren't fully destroyed.
The town walls surrounding Conwy still can be walked
upon to give good views of the town.  Ooohed and aahed
at Snowdonia National Park, scenery is spectacular -
lakes, rivers, woodland, "mts", foothills, bucolic
sheep and cows, winding roads - especially the drive
thru the pass to Llanberris; of course, nothing as
high as US but impressive none the less.

Splurged on stays at manor houses in Devon and North
Wales complete with English gardens, wonderful food,
large suites...very posh.

So far 3 Shakespeare plays at Stratford-upon-Avon -
Pericles, The Tempest, and King Lear (2to go); in
London last weekend we saw ~Vincent at Brixton~, a
fictional account of Van Gogh's stay in London;
terrific and we got to the Royal Opera House to see
Verdi's ~I Masnadieri~ which we've never seen; a
singer's delight.

Tuesdays we spend in Cheltenham at the morning movie
and lunchtime concert.  If you like soccer, you must
see ~Bend It Like Beckham~; and Jodie Foster and
Forrest Whitaker in ~Panic Room~ kept us nailed to our
seats; ~Importance of Being Ernest~ is filled with
wonderful actors, a must see.

Yesterday we spent the day with old friends from
Phillip's Procon days, Dick and Jill Wrightson who
showed us around their villages in the Southern
Cotswolds.  They send greetings especially to Dick and
Harriett.

We hope all of you are well and enjoying life. 
Judy and Phil


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September 6, 2002 

Greetings from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England 

Well we made it to the Cotswold Hills yesterday...back
at our apartment in Broadway...everything seems the
same as 2 years ago.  Our landlady picked us up at the
train station and we're running around today doing
errands.

Spent a lovely summer in Chicago with trip to NJ/NY to
see ground zero, friends, and medicos...too fast,
missed seeing a lot of you...next year will have to
spend more time or we'll miss out again. Even missed
friends in Chicago too.

Landed at London Heathrow last Wednesday, 4Sept.
Stayed at lovely Georgian townhouse hotel in
Kensington across the street from Kensington Palace
and Gardens.  Aug 31 was the 5th anniv of Diana's
death and her admirers had filled the fencing in front
of the Palace with messages, flowers, etc.  We toured
the state apartments there as well as Buckingham
Palace which was definitely built to impress; filled
with fabulous treasures, gold everywhere, silk
tapestries and upholstery.  Queen has allowed the
commoners in at £11 a head to tour the state
apartments during August and September for 10 years
now.  First time we've been here at this time of year.
London is packed with visitors, lots of Americans, as
usual. Such a great city to walk.  So familiar to us
now that we have to spend a lot less time getting
oriented. 

Spent a day in Greenwich...stood on each side of the
prime meridian to be in the eastern and western
hemispheres at same time...royal observatory very
interesting, especially the 28meter telescope.
Interesting town, good maritime museum...too much to
see in one day.  Cruise along the Thames from
Westminister Pier to Greenwich was great way to
approach the Georgian buildings there.

Spent a day in Windsor and visited the Castle and Eton
College.  Well worth the hour train trip from
Waterloo.  Have to go back there; lots of walks along
the countryside and Thames to do besides the usual
tourist venues.

In the evenings, we had Viennese music by candlelight
at St Martin in the Fields; Midsummer's Nights Dream
at the Globe (ironic that Sam Wannamaker, US movie
mogul was the mastermind behind recreation of the
Shakespeare theatre on the Thames complete with
thatched roof and open arena for standing room); yes,
walked across the unswaying Millenium Bridge to St
Paul's from the Globe; Spanish music at the Proms at
Royal Albert Hall...exhilarating.

Everyday was sunny and in the low 70's.  Rained cats
and dogs on travel day so really didn't affect us...
totally lucked out.  Today is marvelous and ride from
Broadway lovely with green hills and sheep.  There's a
planned march on Sept 22 in London being billed as the
largest march since WWII by people from the
countryside and their supporters.  Country people are
fed up with the government what with the way they
killed the livestock during the foot and mouth 2 years
ago and now the govt is planning on banning hunting
with dogs...a livelihood, freedom to do what people
have done for centuries issues.

Of course, the Times and all media are consumed with
talk of the War and Tony Blair's total support of
Bush...his Labour party is meeting in Blackpool and
the Trade Unions have come out against...he'll have to
show a lot more evidence of Sadaam's perfidy before
the 72% against the war turn around. Hear people on
the street talking about with each other.

So we're all in a waiting mood. Resting this week and
catching up with all the evening soaps!!!
England-India Test Match ended in a draw.  Feels good
to be on the move once more.

Take care and love to you all,
Judy and Phil

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Happy Fourth of July 

Hope you all have a wonderful Fourth.  We are going to
Grant Park tonight for the music and fireworks and
then to Colleen and Michael's house in Michigan for
the 4th and 5th.  Looking forward to it.

The heat in Chicago this past week is like being in
Singapore or Darwin and last night the power was off
for about 6 hours so not too much sleep was had
without the air con, not a leaf stirring, only the Con
Ed workers trying to fix the transformer out back of
the house.  We survived.

We arrived back in US in time for the Carroll Reunion
the first week in June...so glad we were able to renew
old friendships and meet new generations under happy
circumstances.  Matt came from Ft Myers, Mike from St
John's Virgin Islands and Colleen from Chicago.  More
than 200 came and we talked ourselves hoarse...it was
fabulous...3 and 4 generations...needed the name tags
that's for sure.  Hats off to Penny Van Kampen for
getting the ball rolling and all the family that
helped out...your efforts were much appreciated.

We're in Chicago for the summer, mostly living in
Colleen and Michael's vacant apt...til the tenant
arrives in August.  Then we're going back to Citypoint
apt on the 35th floor where we rented last year.
Spending our time at Ravinia, Grant Park, Chicago
Cultural Center, St James Cathedral for all the great
summer music.  Somehow the days are flying by.  Will
make trip to NJ/NY at end of July. 

We're in the discussion stages of where to next.  We
have rented the same apt in Broadway, the Cotswolds,
England beginning Sept 9.  After there, where to spend
the winter?

Have a great holiday and we love hearing what you are
all up to.  Keep those emails coming.
Love,
Judy and Phil

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May 21, 2002

Greetings from Hong Kong 

We are definitely where East meets West here in Hong
Kong.  The high-rise buildings are being built as fast
as possible in spite of the Asian crisis.  It appears
HK is doing very well and enjoys tourists from all
over the world.  The views of HK Island, Kowloon, and
the New Territories from Victoria Peak are stupendous
and at night the entire area is lit like nowhere else
in Australasia...NY Times Square in many
neighborhoods. Have been riding the ferries and
walking the streets altho not too easy for
pedestrians.  Half the town is torn up either for new
bldgs, new MTR stations, or new subways to cross
intersections. 

We traveled Sunday to Macau also a Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of China since the
Portuguese handed it over to China on 20 Dec 1999 and
had the same type of celebration as when the British
turned over HK on 1 July 1997. Saw what colonial
buildings are left and the icon of Macau, a fascade of
St Paul's Cathedral, the largest church in Asia at one
time before it burned almost to the ground. It is much
poorer than HK, powered by 11 gambling casinos.  The
talk there is of the end of one syndicate owning all
casinos...apparently Steve Wynn of Belagio fame and
the MGM Grand owners are talking with Macau SAR about
building casinos but no papers have been signed. We
went to the glitziest and liveliest...Lisbao
Casino...packed with punters and wonderful art works
worthy of any intl museum.  This is also where all the
designers have sweatshops sewing their clothes...DKNY,
Versace, etc.  All over southeast Asia, all the
upmarket shopping centers are loaded with beautiful
designer clothes with a lot more selection than even
Manhattan...must be the source is so close and so many
people with big money...just saw a gorgeous red
Maserati covertible parked in front of the Ritz
Carlton.  Quite a contrast to the government sponsored
housing estates!!! All this against the background of
3 day national holiday celebrating Lord Buddha's
birthday.  Mobs on the ferries everywhere...we were
practically stampeded every time we crossed into a
passport control area...4 times actually. It was quite
an experience and we laughed alot; typically
Asian...there is no queueing here; everyone's on their
own; mad rush of humanity.

All is quiet today...crossing from Kowloon to HK
Island was a snap.  Almost felt weird.  On reclaimed
land, HK has built a wonderful complex for the
theatre, arts museum, space museum, and a promenade
for walking from the New World Centre to the Star
Ferry.  This weekend was packed with people walking,
sitting and enjoying the museums.  Some of the outer
islands held special festivities.  Everywhere we go we
manage to be there for special holidays...so lucky.

We're leaving here tomorrow night and going to Chicago
probably for the summer...Carroll reunion on June 8 in
St Paul so looking forward to long rest before we
travel up there.  Anxious to see everyone.

love,
judy and phil

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May 15, 2002

Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand 

Thailand is the most exotic place we've been so far.
We traveled about 3000kms in northern Thailand to the
fabled areas of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, the Golden
Triangle (where Laos, Burma, and Thailand meet at the
Mekong River).  Visited ancient ruins of temples with
golden Buddha's, tall chedi, prangs, (pagodas) where
ashes of deceased are kept.  These ruins at Sukothai
and Ayutthaya are really temple compounds filled with
many temples, shrines, pagodas...the most extensively
preserved is the Grand Palace compound in Bangkok with
the Emerald Buddha dressed in his summer gold dress
(he has two other seasonal outfits: rainy season and
winter).  This palace area is filled with gold,
jewels, exquisite sculptures.  Buddhas which are
standing, reclining, walking, and standing.  Thailand
is a land of 35,000 plus temples!!!

We rode on elephants through the Karen hilltribe
village; rode in long tailed boats on the Kok river
and the Chao Praya attempting to keep spray from
hitting face...all the rivers are  polluted.  Visited
the Akha tribe village with only the children and old
crones about while the men and young women are in the
fields...no longer growing poppies for opium...that is
left to Myanmar and Laos.  But you can see that these
old women have smoked their share.  Visited the Opium
Museum in the Golden Triangle with many exhibits of
pipes and how they extract the "black gold".

Have eaten marvelous food we have no names for. And
tried fruits which we'll never forget...durian,
jackfruit, mangosteen, rambutan...to go with
pineapple, paw paw, applesand watermelon we already
know.  Visited village markets.  Bangkok is teeming
with approx 13 million people and fast food
abounds...cook right on the street so you don't have
to go far.  The people are mainly Buddhist; hence all
the temples and the monks strolling around.

Leaving this afternoon for Hong Kong and new
adventures!!! Talk more later.
Love,
Judy and Phil

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May 6, 2002

Greetings from Singapore

We have had a very interesting 9 days in Singapore
from a historical, geographical, and economic
standpoint.  This part of the world has always been a
confusion...between all the wars and changes in types
of government.  Singapore is an island across the
Straits of Johor from Malaysia and across the
Singapore Strait from Indonesia, both large entities
of Muslim inhabitants.  Singapore has 3.2 million
people, 77% Chinese, 14% Malay, 7% Indian. It is a 1st
world lying between 3rd worlds.  It was a part of
Malaysia until 1965 when it went off on its own and is
the leader economically for this area.  Interesting
politics. 

We visited the Changi museum commemorating those
internees and POWs who suffered under the Japanese
after the fall of Singapore on 15 Feb 1942.  Surprised
to find that 1000 American POWs were housed
here...thought only British, Aussie, NZ, Dutch,
Malays, and Indians among the 30,000+.  This is where
the Japanese got workers for the building of the Death
Railway in Thailand, Burma.  Very moving place. We
tested our metal by riding the MRT, the Singapore
version of the Metro...boy, does it put the NY subway
and even the DC metro to shame...spotlessly clean,
cheap, and speedy.  They are very computer savvy here.
Have Smart Tag to get tolls from cars and farecards
for all public transportation...just debit your bank
account when you run low.  Speed cameras too just like
Britain, Aus, NZ.

Of course, we had to go to the Long Bar at Raffles
Hotel...it definitely is beautiful place, all
rehabbed. Singaporeans love shopping and eating so
there are centers devoted to these pastimes
everywhere in the city/state.  There's even a
hypermarket Carrefour here at Suntec City...a 5 tower
mecca.  Fun walking around Little India, Chinatown,
and the Arab Quarter...lots of temples and mosques.
This is a place where all the buildings are high.
Need to house and work in small area.  Beautiful
parks, expressways lined with flowering shrubs;
orchids have their own part of the Botanic
Gardens...some named for famous people.  Biggest port
in SE Asia...when we flew in we could see all kinds of
ships waiting their turn in the Strait.  11 oil
refineries. Weather is almost the same every day...33
Celsius, humid, with afternoon showers...doesn't last
long.

Saturday we took all day trip to Malacca, Malaysia, a
500km 12-hour day...worth it to find out about
Malaysia and visit the oldest town in SE Asia.  Not
much left of the glories of the sultans but
Portuguese, Dutch and British remnants are still
visited.  Phillip and I got caught in the downpour and
had to dry off while riding back to Singapore. 

Best thing about Singapore was hooking up with niece
Aimee Carroll Goldthwaite...both she and husband Matt
working here.  Able to get together 3 times...they've
been here about 4 months so they knew some good
restaurants.  Taxis reasonable so can get around this
way also.  Friday was Phillip's birthday so we
celebrated with great Chinese restaurant and concert
by Singapore Symphony Orchestra and then walked home
in the light reflected off all the buildings.  It is
quite a beautiful city and we've enjoyed our time
here.  So fast...we seem always to be sad on leaving a
place but anxious to go to the next destination.

Anyway, we leave tonight (Monday) for 2-1/2 hour plane
trip north to Bangkok.  Wednesday we're off to check
out the old kingdoms of Thailand up in the Golden
Triangle so will let you know about this when we
return to Bangkok following Monday.

Take care.  Enjoy.
Love,
Judy and Phil

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April 22  11, 2002

another greeting from Auckland 

Hi everybody, we finally made it back to Auckland
after 4 weeks on the road...Phillip has that driving
on the left hand side down pat, only turns the
windshield wipers on for a turn when he gets
excited!!! We had wonderful weather and drove over
3700 kms only on the North Island.  Lovely going up to
Northland, standing in awe at the largest kauri tree
in NZ with about a 15 meter circumference...the sap
from these trees were as sought after as gold, looked
a lot like amber, still digging up old swamp
kauri-thousands of years old-and making furniture out
of it; riding along 90 mile beach (much like Daytona
Beach but no hotels or houses on it); toboggans down
the high golden sand; sailing thru the Bay of Islands
on the "cream run" delivering supplies to island
residents; checking out historic Russell and Waitangi;
smelling the sulphur and watching the geysers and
mudpools in the thermal valley of Rotorua; lazing away
the Easter holidays at Lake Taupo, largest lake in NZ,
lots of houses around this one; amazed at the Art Deco
buildings in Napier completely rebuilt in this style
after the 1931 earthquake...much influence of Louis
Sullivan here; visiting THE museum of NZ, Te Papa on
the one rainy day in Wellington; riding the ferry
across the Cook Strait to Picton, South Island and
back again thru the Marlborough Sounds; hiking around
the great 4 volcanoes of Taranaki, Ruapehue (which
last erupted in 1995), Ngothagoe, Tangariro all in the
snow and all seen at their full beauty.

Now we are planning our return journey...leaving for
Singapore on Saturday. So trying to do the
housekeeping chores that go with that.  We are having
a wonderful Indian summer and see that spring in US
and rest of northern hemisphere is coming.  How about
that 33 degree Celsius in NY last week?  We will miss
this island weather since the rest will be in the 30's
with high humidity.

News from the Southern Hemisphere: NZ has lost the
chance to be co-host to the Rugby World Cup; another
Aussie victory over the Kiwis...they get the whole
thing; great disappointment in Rugby crazed land; lots
of finger pointing.  Helen Clarke, Prime Minister of
NZ, was happy with her visit with Dubya...glad she was
treated well.  Now she is being referred to as
Helenardo da Vinci since last week she was discovered
to have only signed the back of paintings which her
staff did back when she was opposition leader; these
were sold at school charity auctions as her work; very
embarrassing for her especially since she is also the
Minister of Arts and Culture...we sat near her on
Friday night here in Auckland at the opening night of
the NZ Symphony Orchestra.  She'll survive this
without too much trouble; everyone is very supportive
of her but it makes good newspaper copy. While we were
in Wellington, we signed the condolence book at
Parliament house for the Queen Mum and stayed up all
night watching the funeral...started here about
10pm...no other nation can put on such a show as the
Brits.  Late last night an 8 day kidnapping saga ended
happily with the return of Baby Kahu to her very
prominent Maori family...the police did good with help
from Scotland Yard and the FBI. Anzac Day is Thursday,
solemn day for the Kiwis and Aussies in remembrance of
WWI, especially Gallipoli, where all make lifetime
pilgrimages. We can relate since we had such a
profound experience when we visited there ourselves
last year.

That's all folks! Be happy!
Love,
Judy and Phil

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March  11, 2002

Hello from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand 

Yes, we finally made it to the North Island.  Auckland
is beautiful sitting on a great harbour surrounded by
the seas and 7 extinct volcanoes give great vistas of
the area.  We got here Wednesday after finally getting
to see the dusky dolphins frolicking in the Pacific
and a sperm whale...only one...stayed with him, all 45
tons and then got to watch him dive but he stayed
under too long for us because a southerly was coming
and we had to race back to shore...and it hit full
gale force about 5 mins later...quite a sight.

The next day we went to the Antarctic experience in
Christchurch.  The displays make you feel like you are
actually there.  New Zealand has a base on Ross
Island, (the only NZ island without sheep!) near the
US base which they maintain all year round...the
summertime is when a couple thousand scientists go
down and spend time collecting data.  During the long
winter, only skeleton crews monitor... you have to be
tough to last 6 months with complete darkness and only
10 other people to play with...their highlights are
visits to the US base where living looks a lot better
and around 200 people.  Princess Anne was in
Christchurch last month before and after trips to Ross
to mark the 100th anniversary of Scott's first
expedition...they're going to rebuild some of the
huts...she flew down there one day and they couldn't
land because of the storms  (a 10 hour return) but she
lucked out and got there a few days later...she was
there when they notified her of Princess Margaret's
death.  She continued her visit and just made the
funeral. 

Then Queen Elizabeth II and husband Philip came.  They
stayed in a posh lodge on Lake Taupo for a few days to
recover from journey and for the Prince to fish.  Then
on to Wellington where she got together with the Prime
Minister, Helen Clark, head of the Labour Party and
then on to Christchurch before they all left for the
Commonwealth meeting on the Sunshine Coast,
Queensland, Australia.  Helen got taken to task by the
media for not being here when the queen arrived (she
was at PMs meeting in Stockholm); then she wore a
lovely silk pants suit for the state dinner where the
queen wore her crown and a long dress; then she would
not say grace before the meal ("we do live in a
secular country now"); then she almost sat down before
the queen.  It was hilarious reading of course.  No
one took any of it seriously because they all really
like Helen...she tells it like it is and everyone
tells us she should win again in November.  They do
love the queen here but the scuttlebutt here is the
same as in Australia that the country will vote for a
republic as long as voters can choose the president or
prime minister and not the legislature.  Very few want
to see Charles on the throne and that will be the
catalyst for change of government.

Both countries are very upset over Bush's unilateral
decision to put tariffs on steel imports.  The
editorials are asking:  What happened to the free
trade stance?  Their conclusion: Only when it's in
Bush's favor so he can get elected.  Helen is meeting
with him in two weeks and no one expects that she will
be given much notice since this country only has 3.8
million people.  1.2 million live here in Auckland,
33% of them are Polynesia and Asian.  Downtown is like
living in Chinatown...lots and lots of students here
studying for degrees and just English.

Friday night we were coming home from the 3 Irish
Tenors concert and these kids were all out on the
streets and sidewalks, revving the engines and
cruising up and down Queen St, the main commercial
street.  We felt like we were back in the 50's.  In
many ways, NZ and Aus do live in the 50's...laid back,
friendly, so easy going, not much crime but they are
technologically ahead of US in active phones where you
can use text messages, play games, etc on phone while
US still using "dumb phones".  So it's very
interesting.

We were shepherded around the suburbs and coastline of
Auckland yesterday by a couple we met last year in
Raratonga!  We'll be in Auckland for another week at
least...we came to chill out but haven't had time to
do that yet! Too many things to see and do.  Went to a
great ballet "Hunchback of Notre Dame", a Northern
Ballet Theatre (UK) production on Sunday night
...fabulous.

We are enjoying the freedom and excitement still.
Take care of yourselves,
Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

March 2, 2002

Hello from Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand 

Hi everybody,
Yes, we're still alive and kicking although exhausted.
We're soaking in the thermal springs this afternoon
and then a massage to get the weary bones relaxed.

We have almost completed our circumnavigation of the
South Island...it is simply beautiful.  We've seen
mountains of every color, white capped, tree green,
brown, tan, no vegetation; rocks of every formation,
sentinels out in the middle of nowhere, spheres on the
beach (Moeraki boulders), stacked pancakes
(Punakaiki). Great huge rivers, little streams and
creeks...water is everywhere here.  We are in the
midst of the norwesterlies where the winds flow across
the Tasman bringing rain to the West coast, gale force
winds to the interior, and big winds to the east
coast. One is much more in tune with weather here
since it influences whether you get to see the
Southern Alps, Milford Sound, Farewell Spit, etc. or
not.  We spent 3 lovely days at Mt Cook worshipping at
the bottom of her snow capped peak and the surrounding
glaciers.  Lots of glaciers, Franz Josef, Fox, Tasman
all small compared to Canada and Norway but impressive
nonetheless.

We have bedded down on boats, B&B's, deer, sheep,
dairy farms, cottages on lakes, hotels...each with
their own charm.  Met some very interesting people
along the way. Tramped on tracks on sea, mountain, and
plain.

We have not been tempted by the adventure trips so New
Zealand; therefore, no tramping 4 to 5 days from high
mt hut to hut, no parasailing, bungy jumping, jet
boating, whitewater rafting, adventure caving, horse
trekking, surfing, fishing.  Enough adrenalin rush
from walking across those swing bridges over the
cascading glacier rivers!!!

We hope you are all well and happy.  We enjoy each and
every email we get.  Thanks to all of you for keeping
us up on the news.

Take care,
Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

February 8, 2002

Greetings from the South Island, New Zealand 

Hi everybody,
We left Tasmania for Sydney; spent 5 great days there
... Australia Day was particularly wonderful with all
the ships in the harbor and the ceremony of the
Buddhist monks and nuns blessing the fleet; riding the
ferry to Manly and back; seeing Mozart's opera The
Marriage of Figaro at the Sydney Opera House...great
cast...very funny.  Then it was off across the Tasman
Sea to Christchurch, New Zealand.  Spent a few days
recovering from all the partying and then punted along
the Avon River in this very English city... altho they
did plant willow trees which came as saplings from
cuttings from St Helena, Napoleon's old digs.

Sunday was Judy's birthday which we spent in the Church
botanical gardens where there was a hive of
activity...first the Scottish pipe band with Highland
fling dancer, then the brass bank playing old
favorites; near the daffodil park was a play called
"the history of New Zealand - abridged" where 3 guys
acted out 1000 years of history in 70 minutes...it was
a riot; then on to the big park for the 1950's music
extravaganza complete with Elvis impersonator; rest;
Japanese restaurant for dinner...wonderful day.

Monday we left for 30 day road trip of the South
Island.  We have cruised with the dolphins, shags,
terns, fairy penguins, fur seals; survived one of the
largest storms in NZ history...we have never seen
waves so high and so much white water...debris of
rocks, driftwood, trees, seaweed by the bushels...snow
on the Kaikoura ranges!!! It came from Antarctica so
not only was there rain and snow but cold
temperatures...got down to 5 celsius, 40
fahrenheit...and this is summer!!!  But it is a
gorgeous country and we are ooohhhing and aaahhhing
our way around every corner in the mountains and at
the sea.  We are presently in the warm at the top end
of the South Island in Nelson.  It's great.

Take care,
Love,
Judy and Phil

________________________________________________________  

1.24.02

Greetings from Tasmania 

Returned to Sydney after a  wonderful trip to
Tasmania,   home of beautiful mts, lovely green, wild
rivers, convict built ruins (tourists get to follow
the convict trail...Phillip has had enough of all
these jails, especially after Melbourne Gaol and then
the Port Arthur which was an entire colony set aside
for the convicts, including Irish rebels!!!),      
comfortable picturesque B&B's most with spas,
uncrowded roads, waterfalls, clear lakes, pristine
white beaches, good bushwalking, magnificent views,
great seafood, and no flies! Wild life sightings:
echidna (the Aus porcupine), kangaroos, wombats, and
gaggle of short tailed shearwaters (birds who fly down
from the Arctic Circle to nest here making the
15,000km journey both ways each year-truly amazing.)
We really enjoyed ourselves immensely.  We are
catching up with Sydney and tomorrow is Australia Day
with all kinds of celebrations especially in the
harbour. Then on our 40th wedding anniversary, Sunday,
we are leaving for Christchurch, New Zealand.  And a
fond farewell to  Australia...it's too bad it's such a
long trip to get here, but definitely worth it.

Biggest news here is still the hunger strikes  and the
sewing up of lips by detainees at the Woomera
detention center where Australia h olds the boat
people for processing.  On the lighter side, and so
you probably don't get these gems: In Queensland,
there was a fish nicknamed the Grumpy Groper who
partly swallowed a Swedish tourist diver (his head)at
a wreck, tore off his mask and mouthpiece,  and then
spit him out; now all the divers are going there!  In
Port Philip Bay south of Melbourne, the fur seals
rejected a brand new roofed $210,000 platform for them
to play on, preferring the old one bringing one
taxpayer to call it a frigging Taj Mahal for
seals...feng shui disastrous, perhaps? Lots  of fun
for the newspaprs and the political opposition.

And to leave you with the answer to the riddle...what
is every Australian males fantasy?   A blond heiress
nymphomoniac who owns a pub.  Keep them laughing!!!

Ta,
Judy and Phil
               

________________________________________________________  

1.9.02

Another Hello form Melbourne

Well, the little penguins were awesome.  About 9:15 as
the night is closing in, these little guys and girls
(can't tell the sex) come waddling out of the sea,
form up into groups of 10 to 15 and come up winding
their way thru the seaweed mostly in single file,
making a run for it once they hit the unobstructed
beach, and then toddle thru the grasses to their
burrows.  Before dawn the next morning, they make
their way down to the sea, swim around 50 or more
kilometers eating fish as they go, then hit the
beaches for home again...every day occurrence.  We are
so fortunate to see them and hear them talking.  It
was a lot of fun.

This trip was filled with wildlife visits...thousands
of seals on the rocks in the Bass Strait and koalas
sleeping and eating in the gum trees.  It was a lovely
hot day and warm night so the adventure was sublime.
Got back to Mel around midnight.

It was a better trip than the Great Ocean Road which
was another Grey Line trip along the coast.  Lot like
traveling US 1 in CA or the low corniche on the
Rivera.  Boxing day we watched, in between the rain
drops, test cricket between Australia and South
Africa. Not as exciting as the one in Brisbane,
especially because of all the rain delays.  And it was
cold.

We love how everything in Australia has Great in its
name.  Not without reason.  Great Dividing Range which
stretches along the sea from Queensland thru New South
Wales thru almost all of Victoria...kept explorers out
of the interior for many years.  Great Australian
Bight, a part of the Southern Ocean which has
treacherous winds and shipwrecks.  Great Barrier Reef,
Great Sandy Natl Pk and Great Keppel Island all in
Queensland which is great in itself.  And then there
are the highways:  Great Western, Great Eastern and
Great Central.  No Great Northern I guess because
there aren't too many paved roads in the Top End.

During one cold day, we went to the IMAX for
"Shackleton's Adventure"...gripping story.  A must
see.  For something different, we saw Mira Nair's
Bollywood film "Monsoon Wedding", a colorful,
hilarious tale.

Melbourne itself is very flat situated on the Yarra
River which flows into Port Phillip Bay. This is where
all the cruise ships, container ships come in...about
a 15 minute tram ride from the central city.  Yes,
they have retained their trams and it's easy to get
from the CBD to the close in suburbs on them and the
buses.  Commuter trains to the outer suburbs. Has a
population of 3.8 million spread out about 75 kms.
During the gold rush days known as marvelous Mel and
built beautiful Italinate Renaissance bldgs to show
off wealth...a few public bldgs remain.  It's ironic
that the largest gold nugget, the Hand of Faith, found
in Victoria is on display at the Golden Nugget Casino
in Las Vegas...they bought some years ago.

And lastly, as most of you know, Phillip's older
brother, Bobby died December 28th.  Phillip will
always remember how he taught all the boys to drive
and watched out for them and how proud they always
were of him. Sure he's with God.

We are well and looking forward to going to Tasmania
in the morrow.  Take care of yourselves,
Love,
Judy and Phil

________________________________________________________  

1/4/02

Happy New Year!
Yes, we are still in Australia. We've been vegging
out in the second city for almost a month. Realize we
left you as we got to Perth, Western Australia. We
were very busy there. Liked it very much...great
weather-sunny and warm; flies which were everywhere
down in the Margaret River region were seldom felt. 
The flies really do drive you crazy in the heat always
landing on your face and trying to suck out your
juices from your lips, eyes, and ears...yuck!

Perth's transport system is great; you can ride free
on all the buses within the City...they have 2
designated routes - the Red Cat and the Blue Cat -
which stop at all the tourist sites except for Kings
Park way up high overlooking the City but then you
just climb aboard the #33 and you're whisked back to
the CBD. Great influence of Asia here and, in
Melbourne too.

We saw the Rodin exhibit "Magnificent Obsession" on
its last week; opening night of "Alegria" @ Cirque du
Soleil - magnificent; Ballet "Don Quixote" in the
Nureyev and Baryshnikov tradition - we had never seen
before - fabulous cast and costumes and dancers;
watched gold turned into liquid into bar and weighed
ourselves at the Perth Mint - I was worth almost
$A1.7mil and Phillip a paltry $A1.1million!!! The
cruise down the Swan River from Perth to Fremantle and
out into the Indian Ocean to Rottnest Island was
especially refreshing on our way back as the sea kept
hitting us and some young people as we laughed and
tried to dodge the waves.

Movies we've seen: "Moulin Rouge" with Nicole Kidman
fabulous so different, great sets, costumes."The Man
Who Sued God" with Billy Connelly and Judy Davis was a
hoot. "Tailor of Panama" with Pierce Brosnan was
enjoyable John La Carre thriller. "The Friendship of
the Ring" too long but sat on edge of seat and jumped
a lot, especially at beginning. 

We should have stayed longer in Perth but Christmas
was coming and we wanted to be settled so we came to
Melbourne to the coldest summer ever. Tomorrow we are
supposed to get to 35 celsius and today's 24. It's
been averaging about 20 which is only 68 F! We have no
wool or any really warm clothing. So yesterday we
went up north to the Murray River and rode one of the
paddlesteamers and got nice and warm in the outback!!!

We've been watching Xmas parades, shopping in the
stores and the Queen Victoria markets, cooking, eating
out and just enjoying wandering around in the many
parks here...it is the greenest part of Australia. 
They had a lot of gold in Victoria in the late 1800's
so the Parliament bldg is loaded with gold
inside...the most decorative we've seen in Aus. A few
Victorian era (you know the Queen) bldgs
remain...rehabbed to their former glories. Lots of
restaurants on the Southbank of the Yarra River. Ate
at one on Christmas Day. Fabulous 5 course meal
Christmas eve at the very Victorian Windsor
Hotel-gorgeous place!

Saw an Irish play "Stones in his pocket" which was
excellent and had fun at Opera Australia's La Boheme.
Tomorrow we're going down to the Mornington Peninsula
and play with the seals and koalas, boat cruise, and
then watch the penguins come parading out of the sea
at night...is that touristy enough? Hoping the western
and southern winds don't pick up and bring really cold
weather from Antarctica!

The bush fires around Sydney and in the Blue Mountains
is just getting worse...there's so much oil in those
eucalypts that they just keep burning. Doesn't help
that there are quite a few firebugs running around
starting new ones. "Elvis", the firefighting
helicopter on lease from the US is having a good
impact but the areas involved are huge. We are now
into day 12. Firefighters on loan from Victoria came
home yesterday because the fire danger in the north is
at extreme...yesterday all the towns we went thru up
there had their arrows at "high".

That should take us up to date. We're going to
Tasmania on the 11th. Hope everyone has a wonderful
2002.

Love,
Judy and Phil

________________________________________________________  

12/21/01

Hi everybody,
Happy Belated Chanukah and a very Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year to all of you. Can't believe it's
almost Christmas Day. We are spending the entire
holiday season in Melbourne. Have been to lots of
holiday music concerts and since we're right in the
middle of the CBD, we're milling with all the shoppers
every day and queuing to see the windows in Myers
department store on the Bourke Mall.

We miss you all especially at this time of year. But
we are having a wonderful time and have booked
Christmas Eve and Christmas Lunch out and plan to have
a festive time pulling the crackers while wining and
dining!

Will send you news later. Enjoy.

Love,
Judy and Phil

_____________________________________________________

12/10/01

Just spent 10 days in the capital of Queensland...it
was a good time and a pleasant surprise. Most
Australians just use this city of 1.5 million as a
jumping off place for the Sunshine Coast and the Gold
Coast. It used to be considered a hick town with
nothing to do. But all changed when they got the
World's Fair in 1988. They tore down all the old
wharves on the Brisbane River in the CBD and have
created a wonderful complex of museums, concert halls,
theatres, parklands, restaurants, outdoor sculpture
and even a meandering beach complete with white sand
and salt water and a rainforest complete with
boardwalk. We spent many hours walking bridges, thru
parks and at the theatres. Lots of good restaurants. 

Watched the 7th game of the World Series at a sports
bar with a bunch of other Americans who happened to
also be from NJ!!! Also went to our first Test
Cricket match at the Gabba...Australia vs. New
Zealand...lucky for us, the man sitting next to Judy
was a long time cricketeer and was more than happy to
give a tutorial on the game and the finer points of
strategy. It is certainly a most civilized contest.
It started at 10; 2 min drink break at 11; 40 min
lunch break at 12; then 20 min tea break at 13:40; 
theoretically over by 17:00. Once we knew what we
were looking at it wasn't at all like watching paint
dry!!! We had a good time and it was a lovely day in
the low 80's. The next 3 days of the Test were lousy
weather and we had to slosh around in the wet and they
don't play cricket in the rain. Did the museums then.

Unfortunately during this time our wonderful nephew,
Kevin Carroll, age 38, died suddenly of a heart defect
for which he had had major surgery to repair less than
a year ago. Oldest son of Leo and Cathy, he will be
missed by everyone who ever knew him. We were shocked
and saddened and so glad we had seen him in August
before we left the States. With all that's happening
at home, we didn't want to hear that someone close to
us had died at such a young age. He was a great
person. 

We flew Monday to the national capital of Canberra and
will write from there later. 
Love,
Judy and Phil


______________________________________________________

12/3/01

We left Fremantle driving the South West Region along
the Indian Ocean thru Yanningup and Augusta. Lots of
pristine white sand beaches, reefs, surfers and big
waves, just like the movies. Great bed and
breakfasts, towering trees, kangaroos, parrots of all
kinds and of course, wineries everywhere. We thought
they were just in the Margaret River region but it
turned out the whole journey could have been made
winery to winery...some even more gorgeous than Napa
Valley! We basically drove down the coast roads first
the Indian Ocean and then the Southern Ocean-gorgeous
scenery and views. Many national parks preserving the
giant karri, tingle and jarrah trees. You can climb,
precariously, 3 of the karri trees which are each
about 65 meters high around Pemberton, Walpole,
Denmark, Albany. Then we stood in the base of the red
tingle tree out in the middle of nowhere...car can fit
in it just like out West in the redwoods/sequoias. We
left these forests and continued East thru the
wheat fields just like the Midwest, part of the
breadbasket, to Esperance. By this time the fine
weather disappeared and driving rain for two days. 
Then North thru Norseman, the crossroads for the +2000
kms drive to Adelaide across the Nullabor Plain where
the gas stations are sometimes 300kms apart. On thru 
the bush to the outback goldfield town of Kalgoorlie.
They haven't seen any rain for months so we could
wander around town. Is this a typical outback town! 
Beautifully restored 19th century hotels...one on each
corner of town...hotels mean pubs and they're all huge
places and tourists like to go to see the "skimpies",
girls in skimpy clothing. Lots of blokes and sheilas
in their utes. The highlight was going to the Golden
Mile Super Pit, a currently operating open pit gold
mine to watch these huge ore trucks come out of the
bottom of the pit 1.5km down...from the lookout these
trucks look so small but if Phillip stood next to it,
the top of his head would only come to the middle of
the hubcap!!! We spent Boxing Day last year in
Edinburgh with a girl named Brenda, from Kal, who had
driven one of these trucks for 7 years; decided there
was no future in this and came to work in London; she
was a lot of fun just like most of the Aussies we've
met. We saw 2 or 3 girls driving that day. These
Aussies are a tough lot. Then at 5:00 we were treated
to watching a blast of new rock, lots of smoke. We
missed the tour of the brothels but we took a picture
of the outside of one on our way out of town! Now we
headed West to York, a very English town where we
spent the night in a 1873 house...low ceilings. On to
Perth where we are now going to veg after this 2500kms
trip. Weather is still fine, in the 20's. Guy told us
we wouldn't have rain here now until June!!! They are
on constant water rationing but if you have native
plants they can take it and will always survive. Water
is a most precious commodity all over Australia 
...that's why no development in the interior. But we
love the bush and the red centre and were happy to be
back in it.

Hope you are all well.
Love,
Phil and Judy

______________________________________________________

11/22/01

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone,
Doesn't seem like Thanksgiving here for us...no
mention except on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer! We've
been very busy since Brisbane.

We flew to Canberra, ACT (Australian Capital
Territory). When the six states of Australia decided
to federate on 1/1/1901, they decided to stop the
squabbling between Sidney and Melbourne and create a
capital city from scratch. Picked an area in New South
Wales where they could plant English trees!!! Over 300
architects contested for the honor...Walter Burley
Griffen, an architect from Chicago who had worked for
Frank Lloyd Wright at the turn of the century won this
honor. And a gorgeous city it is built on the high
near the Dividing range and the snowy river mountains.
It has the most memorable war memorial we've ever
seen...like a huge museum with dioramas, keepsakes,
paintings, sculptures for all the wars Australia has
participated in. The new Parliament House, also by
American architect (the newly elected, actually old
Prime Minister, John Howard was in residence with his
party organizing the new cabinet) and the new
Australian National Museum are wonderful...broad
avenues with scultures everywhere, pedestrian malls in
the city centre. It was a lot cooler than Brisbane
but livable in the high 60's.

We've seen the new Aussie films, Lantana and La
Spagnola which we enjoyed. Want to see Moulin Rouge
and The Man Who Sued God in the next week.

After 7 nights in Canberra, road trip thru the mts to
the east coast along the Princes Hwy south to
Gippsland and Wilson Promontory, in the state of
Victoria the most southern point in mainland
Aus...gorgeous green...looked like England or Wales
actually with the cows, sheep and the green. We saw
kangaroos...a big grey and a mother with a joey in
pocket...slow moving emus...and tons of parrots. 
Views of sea, mountain from our B&B. Then on to
Melbourne from where we flew to Perth, Western
Australia on the Indian Ocean...4 hrs with 3-hour gain
on the change of time.

We are staying in Fremantle just across the Swan River
from Perth in a 19th century house...very Victorian...
all to ourselves in a neighborhood north of the prison
where they used to house the transported convicts and
present-day prisoners up until 1992... it's
formidable...now only a museum. Great harbor
restaurants. We'll be here until Monday and then we're
off on another road trip to southwest Western
Australia.

Now that the election is over, it's war news only and
Australia's role in it. Very few anti war
demos...most people here supporting the US. Yesterday
announcement made that 16% fewer visitors to Aus from
abroad. We have been very fortunate in being able to
get excellent accommodation when we want it. 

We think of you all often. Hope you have had a
wonderful Thanksgiving; no turkey day today. We have
to wait until Jan 26th for Australia Day, their
similar day...commemorates the first landing by the
white folks.

Be safe,
Love,
Judy and Phil 

______________________________________________________

10/31/01 

Hi guys,
We stayed in Darwin 4 nights...it was in the high 80's
with 90 to 100% humidity everyday!!! This was the real
tropics...did you know that Darwin was bombed by the
Japanese for 21 months in 1942 and 1943 right after
the fall of Singapore. Luckily, they were never
invaded. The Aussies thank the yanks for all their
help...MacCarthur brought in almost 500 thousand men,
armaments, planes etc. Built the air field which is
still used today by commercial and military planes!!! 
Of course, the cyclone that hit on Christmas Day
(1967?) pretty much destroyed downtown so it's a
rebuilt city. Darwin is definitely out there by
itself; bush not far and closer to Indonesia that
Canberra!!!

Quantas brought us to Cairns in Northern Queensland...
still the tropics here between the equator and the
Tropic of Capricorn. Not so humid here but in the 80s
everyday. Came north to Port Douglas, a resort town
on the Coral Sea...quite lovely. Bill Clinton was
here at the Sheraton Mirage resort when the attack on
America occurred and a US military plane came out from
Guam to pick him up. Our landlord said where there
was a lot of excitement one day with Bill mixing in
with the locals, so quiet after he left.

We decided we needed a rest so most days we've gotten
up and walked along this beautiful 4 mile sandy beach
with coastal mountains behind it and then take a
lovely swim in the calm calm sea. Went snorkeling on
the Great Barrier Reef and taken a couple of trips to
the rainforests. Catching up on our reading...
learning more about Australia, eating lots of
barramundi, coral trout, prawns, oysters, mud crabs,
lobsters but also rack of lamb! Aussie wine and beer
great. This northern part of the continent is
definitely for the outdoors person...all this water
and bush create lots of opportunity for fishing and
caravanning.

Wish things were better back in the USA...news is
grim. All the Aussies tell us we're safe here! Think
of you all often. Take good care of yourselves.
Judy and Phil


_____________________________________________

10/14/01

Greetings from Darwin, Northern Territory

Hi everyone here from the Top End, 
How about the irony of the day the US bombs
Afghanistan we are riding on the legendary The Ghan
train from Adelaide to Alice Springs following the
Afghani cameleers track? This train ride was a lot
smoother and shorter (3pm to 10am next day) than the
ride from Sydney to Adelaide. Met some more
travelers. Two American tour groups were on the train
and ashamed to say they were loud and
boisterous...hung out with the Germans and Brits! 

The next four days were very hectic and long but saw
some fascinating sites and great sunrises and sunsets.
Alice Springs is smack in the middle of the outback,
lots of nothing for 1,000+ kms in every
direction...Darwin 1,500 kms away. But the desert is
in bloom so instead of seeing just red dirt, there
were tons of wildflowers, bush, etc...birds,
kangaroos, and camels. Took the bus to Ayers Rock...
absolutely great time there along with walking in the
gorges of the Olgas, another rock formation in the
same national park, almost as impressive as Uluru
(Ayers Rock)which was awesome with the changes of
color depending on the location of the sun. Then bus
to Kings Canyon. While Phil hiked up about 500
'steps' and walked the rim, I walked the boulder
strewn canyon floor with the creek alongside and then
saw all of the Canyon by helicopter! Great!!! This
is a very special place. We had this great spa room
with the desert park in our backyard! 

For all you 'Priscilla' fans, the hotel in Alice
Springs is Lassiters Casino and they've changed the
entrance. The dressing room is in the theatre in the
center of Alice Springs. Where they did the outdoor
show is on the Kings Canyon rim. Really neat looking
out to the outback. But the areas are now very green
instead of that thick dark red. It's been raining
these past 2 years and they have more green than
they've had for more than 20 years. We all expected
it to be hot, dusty in Alice and Ayers Rock and it was
cool and rainy! Luckily the rain quit before the
sunset and didn't appear again until we were back in
Alice.

We touring Darwin after arriving Saturday via
Quantas..plane packed...and are leaving for Cairns
Wednesday morning at 5:45am! It's an international
flight so with all the security we'll have to be there
by 4am. We hope everyone is coping with all the scare
talk. We are affected here by everything that occurs
in America. In fact, the Aussies seem to identify
with America more than Britain. We are in the middle
of the national election, Nov 10. The debate between
John Howard, current PM...Liberal Party and Kim
Beazely, leader of the Labor Party was televised last
night. Looks like Beazely won the debate but Howard
still in the lead for election. Howard was in NYC
during the attack and has been one of Bush's and
Guiliani's staunchest allies. We also have the issue
of the illegal boat people which are being intercepted
in the Pacific and being turned back to Indonesia or
offloaded leaking boats to island of Nauru where the
Aus govt has built 'processing center'. Most of the
refugees are from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan. They
are guarding against anthrax also. It seems unreal
that we are, here in Darwin, only one hour from East
Timor. But very isolated here in the bush. It does
feel like the end of the world.

Thanks to everyone for all your emails...we really
appreciate hearing how you're doing. Please take
special care of yourselves.

Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

10/7/01

Greetings from Adelaide, South Australia

Hi everyone,
We had a good look at the interior of New South Wales
and eastern South Australia on our journey on the
Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Adelaide. Food
was good, beds were comfortable and the bathroom
compact; noise was loud and the train never seemed to
get a rhythmn you could sleep to. Guess we got some
sleep because we were alright the next day...we were
on the train for 25 hours!!! The bathroom was a pull
down variety...toilet and sink above it...shower very
good with curtains round the entire room!!! Doable
but glad we were only on for one night.

Adelaide quite lovely city surrounded by green
...flowers, especially roses, leafy trees, much better
architecture than Sydney, and lovely suburbs. Our
accomodation is exquisite just up the hill in
Thorngate, North Adelaide so 30 min walk to center of
town for the museums and theatre. Lots of restaurants
only 10 mins away. The Art Gallery of SA we liked
very much...they are having a particularly good
exhibition of federation art, mostly landscapes from
the turn of the century. South Australia is the only
state that was not populated by convict labor.
Australia is only now celebrating its 100 years of
federation this year!!! We went to the theatre 2
nights and symphony once. We particularly liked "Life
After George" and Jeffrey Tate conducting the Bruchner
9th! Only bummer has been the weather. Decided to
bring back winter this week so we have been freezing
in our 4 layers of cotton...boy would wool feel good
against the skin these days...rainy and windy too. 
But we're leaving on the Ghan train this afternoon to
Alice Springs following the trail of the Afgani
cameleers who brought goods throughout Aussie land.

Our taxi is here so must go. Take care.
Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

9/30/01

Greetings from Sydney, New South Wales

Hi everybody,
Yes, we're still in Sydney but leaving this afternoon
on the Indian Pacific overnight train to Adelaide
which is directly west in the state of South
Australia. Because of the collapse of the airline
Ansett, there was a devil of a time getting a
reservation. We certainly don't regret the time spent
here. It's been wonderful. We've wandered the parks,
eaten a lot of seafood, ridden a lot of ferries and
buses and trains, saw the funniest Barber of Seville
at the Sydney Opera House (yes the one that looks like
sails...just as lovely as the pictures) and enjoyed
great weather. About the only thing we didn't do was
climb the Harbor Bridge!!! A lot of people do but
heights are something we don't do very well. Went to
the Blue Mountains about 2 hours from Sydney...called
the Blue because when the euculypts breath, a blue
haze forms. Did you know there were 430 species of
euculyptus tree? And they are considered a menace by
Aussies but exported to places like Indonesia (to dry
up the swamps) and Israel (to repair the scarred
countryside...they grow quickly and in poor soils).
Rode down the scenic railway, the steepest r/r in the
world...it was like riding a roller coaster but didn't
last as long. Here I was going to take a picture of
what was in front of me. Instead, had to hold on for
dear life! Also, went to Homebush Bay to see the
Olympic Site...we were fortunate to see the fire lit
for the first anniversary of the Sydney games.

Also, toured the Hunter Valley wineries...tasted about
70 wines...lost all the taste buds half way through
but everybody enjoyed the day. And we have just gone
through Grand Finals weekend. This means that "footy"
was the talk of the town and the continent for weeks
on end a la our Super Bowl. Saturday, it was AFL
(Assie rules football league) in Melbourne with
Brisbane Lions winning over the perennial champion
Essendon, a suburb of Melbourne. Last night, it was
NRL (National Rugby League) upset with Newcastle
Knights over the Parametta Eels in Stadium Australia,
site of the Olympic games. All are off work today
because it is labor day! We were laughing yesterday
that we have gone thru 3 springs and 3 labor days in
just one year!!! Nice, US, Aus.

We are keeping close tabs on the news. It almost
feels like we're in US. Miss you all. Take care.
Love,
Judy and Phil


______________________________________________________

9/17/01

 Thank you, thank you all for letting us know where you
were when you heard or saw the attack on America. We
too are still shell shocked, numb, unbelieving. All
of the people who we have come in contact with are
reaching out to us and everyone around them. No one
can believe what they are seeing. Everyone tells us
all the latest rumors, news, etc. and that we all are
in this together, that the US is not alone and that
the attack was on everybody and everyone feels the
pain. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in
their voices. 

On Thursday, the 13th, we left Rarotonga in the early
am for Auckland. unfortunately, that morning, which
became the Friday the 14th after we crossed the
dateline, the Anstett airlines was grounded by its
parent Air New Zealand. ANZ had been trying to sell
this loser practically since it overpaid for it 15
months ago. It put 16,000 Australians out of work. 
Needless to say, they did not take this sitting down
but stormed the barricades at Sidney airport and
surrounded the Prime Minister of New Zealand's plane
in Melbourne effectively preventing Air New Zealand
from Flying in or out of Australia. We, therefore,
spent the day in Auckland airport wondering what was
going to happen because the information was sketchy at
best. We finally saw what was going on in Australia
on the TV monitor across from our boarding area. And
God was watching over us because ANZ was able to get
us all on a 747-400 which had been grounded from going
to the US and got us to Sidney. The Perth and
Melbourne flights also got out. All was quiet except
for all the Muslim families meeting people on our
flight which was very eerie for us to see on opening
the door after going thru the exit x-ray. We got to
our hotel and safely in bed almost 24 hours after we
started our day!!! We felt blessed.

Sunday we went to high mass at St Mary's Cathedral
where they were having a special remembrance for the
US. The place was absolutely packed, lots of young
people all anxious to show solidarity with America. A
NYC policeman was guest of honor. We spoke with him
after...just two people among the many who came up to
touch him. Aussies were wearing the American flag
around their bodies and everywhere we went that day
people had USA flags in their lapels, on their
clothes. I haven't stopped crying since Tuesday.
Everybody wants to talk about the tragedy...there are
wonderful people out there...we can never lose sight
of that. Aussie TV carries McNeil Lehrer report, BBC
World and CNN so we too have seen the searches for
loved ones go on. Both of us continue to have to
reach out also.

We are now booked into Sydney until Monday. We
haven't figured out what we're going to do next. 
Everyday we go to a new area in Sydney and lose
ourselves in the beauty of the harbor and the gardens
and the people. Keep those emails coming. We love
you all.
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

9/12/01

Here we are frolicking, walking the beach, swimming
and kayaking in our lovely Muri lagoon on this small
dot in the middle of the south pacific. It is lush,
friendly, laid back. When Phillip turned on the radio
yesterday morning (9am our time, 3pm NYC time), we
thought we were listening to a replay of Orson Wells'
War of the Worlds. It took us a few minutes to glean
from the announcer exactly what he was saying about an
attach on the US. Here we are so islolated from the
world, and it came crashing back in on us. We finally
stirred ourselves to get dressed and get to reception
where the TV was tuned to the one Cook Island station
with feed from New Zealand and BBC World. Everyone
was sitting ther stunned, no one talking trying to
absorb what was happening and watching the horrific
scenes in front of us playing over and over all day
long. We all wandered in and out. We can't tell you
how many people came up to us and expressed their
condolences, commisserations for our pain. They too
took on this pain, New Zealanders, Aussies, Cook
Islanders, Brits, Canadians. Just when you see only
evil, good people show up also. We are heartened by
this and are thankful that our family is not in NY or
at the Pentagon. We pray for all the families that
have lost someone. Phillip is still in shock at
seeing his old office on the 95th floor in bldg 2
disappear into rubble. As you all know we love NYC
and cannot comprehend the enormity of the tragedy. It
is true that all of our innocence is gone and life
will never be the same. The whole world is with us
and feeling pain just like us.

Our Air New Zealand plane to Auckland and thence to
Sydney is on schedule to leave here tomorrow morning.
So we are safe. The Cook Islands catholic churches
held prayer vigils last night and the police and
airport security people were on TV assuring everyone
that more stringent measures would be instituted. 

Please take care of yourselves in this terrible time. 

Love,
Judy and Phil 

__________________________________________________

9/3/01 H

Hi everyone,
Greetings from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia!!! 
We are one more day on the R3, Renassance cruise 10
day visit to 5 of the 118 islands in FP; what a great
time we are having; the weather was absolutely
perfect, not one drop of rain; it's winter here; every
day has been in the high 80's; so lucky. 

We had a fun time visiting with Mike in Napa valley;
drove up the coast of CA thru Santa Barbara, San Luis
Obispo, San Simeon, Monterrey; all places we hadn't
seen in 30 years! Mike escorted us to all the best
wineries and then dined at his restaurant, Bouchon in
Yountville. The chefs made some special treats for
us: pays to have a son who is a chef. Came back to LA
from Sacramento thru all the valleys full of fruit and
vegetables as far as the eye could see; mountains
always on the right providing contrast of brown next
to all the irrigation green; quite a sight.

Caught the red eye to Papeete arriving at 4:30am
Tahiti time. Toured Tahiti before boarding our ship. 
A real mix of French and islanders here; noone works
very hard; very laid back; most everyone is covered by
cradle to grave benefits; like France, they close down
everything for the proverbial 2 hour lunch; France has
charge of all the defense (?), external policies;
there is an independence movement but not majority;
mad at France for the nuclear testing debacle. The
islands are gorgeous just like in the movies; the
colors of the water vary startingly from greens to
blues of all hues; much more dramatic than the
Carribean; sunsets and sunrises are awesome; everyone
was talking about the full moon last night; it lit up
the ocean for miles while we were at sea: we spent
time in Moorea, our favorite island (we're going by
ferry there on Wed to visit with new friends);
Huahine, the smallest and most non commercial; Raiatea
and Tahaa also lush and beautiful; and last but not
least Bora Bora, the most beautiful island in the
world filled with expensive resorts where the nightly
room rates begin at 500 dollars and continue up over
1,000!!! The bungalows over the water are really
awesome.

We're leaving Papeete via Air New Zealand at 4am on
Thurs to Raratonga, Cook Islands. Will spend a week
at resort and then to Sidney, Australia. Will catch
up with you at the next internet cafe.

Love you all,
Judy and Phil


__________________________________________________

8/31/01

Hi everybody, Well we can report without a doubt that Amtrak has no
competition from other modes of transportation. It is
probably the only one that unerringly goes through the
worst neighborhoods; never saw so much concertina wire
in my life. Phillip got more than he bargained for
sleeping in the upper berth for 2 nights from Chicago
to LA...a/c blew on him so he got the worst cold ever.
He wanted to recreate those train journeys he and
brothers took as children from St Paul to Seattle. The
scenery was great in New Mexico; dark in AZ; fabulous
art deco bldg at Union Station LA. The meals were
decent: staff friendly and laid back; time did go
quickly. Our CA sojourn great; Store closing; More
later.
Love, Judy and Phil 

__________________________________________________

August 8, 2001

Hi everybody,
We just spent a week in St Paul MN and Bismarck ND
where we enjoyed wedding festivities in 106 degree
weather. Phillip's brother Dan's youngest son was
married in the Art Deco Cathedral in Bismarck. We all
had a great time; the bride was gorgeous, bridegroom
handsome and the attendants beautiful. Does this all
bring memories of the Prairie Home Companion? Phil and
I rode the train from Chicago to St Paul; stayed a few
days to visit and then drove with Leo, Cathy, and
Donny to the flatlands of North Dakota where we were
attacked by squadrons of yellow and white
butterflies!!
They were literally plastered on the grillwork and the
windshield. We thought it was snowing...only 100
degrees Friday.

We're finishing up the paperwork and getting ready to
go to LA on Tuesday. We're riding the rails again on
the "Southwest Chief". We have a sleeper this time so
we can hide away from the screaming kids!!! Since son
Mike is working in Napa Valley, we're spending some
time with him. Then on the 23rd of August, we are
starting the second part of our adventure. We're
flying from LA to Papeete, Tahiti where we should
sojourn for 2 weeks, includes 10 day cruise in French
Polynesia. We are really excited and can't wait to
get going again. The South Pacific will be our oyster
for the next year.

Take care and keep those emails coming.
Love,
Judy and Phil


__________________________________________________

Happy Fourth of July! We celebrated here with our
friends Ginna and David along the lakefront at the
traditional concert in Grant Park followed by the
fireworks. We only had to walk home after. Fun
day!!! We have been having a blast here walking and
riding the buses, els, and trains. I think we're
averaging one concert a day. There are all kinds of
music at the Chicago Cultural Center, Navy Pier, the
churches, Ravinia, Grant Park, Music Mart, Public
Library...and almost all of it is free. This city is
a constant surprise...it's being rebuilt, rehabbed,
lots of energy. We love to watch the boats on the
Lake and the River. We are, of course, tourists so we
have taken the architectural tour on the River,
programs at the Art Institute, and tours of historic
buildings as well as Taste of Chicago in Grant Park.
Cubs games are still as fun at Wrigley Field and
hopefully we'll be there a few more times. Wednesday
and Saturday nights bring us to our balcony for the
fireworks from Navy Pier; we don't seem to tire of
these. We have been visiting with friends and of
course, the daughter and son-in-law; this is a special
treat for us to see them a couple of times a week. 
Sister Jeanette from Wisconsin spent a great weekend.
Son Matt is coming next week for a few days. We're
having such a good time we haven't worked out our next
stop!!!

Take care.
Love,
Judy and Phil


_________________________________________________

May 24, 2001

Greetings from the Windy City,
We're freezing here in the rain in Chicago! It's a
good thing we travel with our four season wardrobe! 
If you want to contact us til July 31, we can be
reached at 312-464-7164. We have an apartment a block
from Navy Pier at 400 N McClurg Ct...can see the Lake
and all the buildings north...quite awesome especially
at night from our 26th floor. 

We'll be a tourist in the city we left 12 years ago...
it sure changed during that time.

Take care,
Judy and Phil


__________________________________________________

March 20, 2001

Can't believe it's been over 2 months since we sent
our last general message. We arrived here in Nice
from London on Jan 12th. It was quite a change for
good weather from rainy and cold England. We've had a
mixed weather condition here-some warm days but also
some cool rainy days-much better than anywhere else!
The best thing is that it's mostly sunny; we even had
an earthquake one evening...4.6 on the Richter scale,
just enough to shake things a little; followed by
major snow of 20+ inches in the mountains near us. 
Spring is upon us now, more blooming flowers. Waiting
for all the plane trees to flower and shade the men
playing boules in the central squares. Every late
afternoon the squares are filled with the players with
their attendant onlookers.

Nice has been blessed with visits from all three of
our precious children. It has been great playing with
them, hitting the sights, shopping, and eating. Although
going to bed @ 9-10 at night is not exactly their
lifestyle they have put up with us. We have adopted
the French habit of the 2 to 3 hour lunch, the 3
courses with wine, mostly rose from Provence, which
are much tastier than any roses we get in America. 
Basically, we are living much like the Nicoise, living
in apartments, food shopping in the local markets,
walking the city, running errands, going to the
English library, clothes washing in the tiny capacity
machines, cleaning apt. Travel out of town about
every other day. We can travel to most towns easily
by bus; sometimes faster by train. Nice finished
celebrating 3 weeks pre Lent with Carnival...festive
with 4-5 parades a week with costumes and floats day
and night with the central Place Messina and streets
leading into it strung with lights a la Times Square. 
Simultaneously, there was the Lemon Festival in
Menton-sculpted nursery rhyme tableaux made of lemons
and oranges surrounded by flowers-pretty awesome. 
Love the museums, opera, symphony, the sea, the food,
and the medieval villages. Last week, we even hiked
down the Nietzche Path from Eze Village...should be
called the rocky goat trail; exhilarating experience. 
Mike endured adventure day trip to Genoa, Italy for
performance of Italian opera 'Andrea Chenier" - best
we've seen-absolutely fabulous. The 3 of us are off
to Paris tomorrow for a week-really looking forward to it.

Between the stock market fiasco, the mad cow and foot
and mouth diseases, and Phillip's not adapting to the
nomadic life, we've decided to come back to US at end
of April. At this time, we're planning on NJ, then
Chicago. It'll be good to see all of you. Take care
till then.
Love,
Judy and Phil

____________________

January 9, 2001

Happy New Year everybody,
Can you believe it...we're in 2001,a space odyssey?
As usual we are on the road! We left Edinburgh day
before new years eve and spent the eve back in
Broadway. Made our goodbyes to the Cotswolds on
Friday after visiting our last cathedral in Worcester
and headed off to London. We are in a lovely flat in
Belgravia on the border of Chelsea and Knightsbridge.
The location is excellent. We took a ride on the
London Eye, this giant Ferris wheel where you can see
all of London and down the Thames. Participated in
Evensong at St Paul's Cathedral! Went to mass at
Westminster Cathedral on Sunday. Then on the British
Museum to see the new spectacular Great Court where
they have glassed in the entire courtyard to enclose
the Reading Room...a must see. Took in the highlights
with thousands of other museum goers. Somerset House
has a new exhibit of Catherine the Great's collection
from the Hermitage in St Petersburg...she kept
thousands of artisans working in gold, silver,
precious stones!!! Also, the Courtauld Collection of
art is small but exquisite especially for
impressionists and 13th-15th century artifacts. We
have 2 more days of museums to take in. But each one
has been different from the other so fun. Of course,
not all educational...Great food and music too. We saw
a Matthew Bourne production of 'The Car Man' which is
a contemporary dance, a la West Side Story, based on
the music from the opera Carmen. We loved it...lots
of energy and should play well in NYC...locale is
garage and diner in Harmony USA, ie Detroit! We're
seeing 'Swan Lake' tomorrow night. Friday flying to
Nice, France for rest and relaxation (at least for a
few days!)
Talk more later,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

December 29, 2001

Yes, that is happy new year in Scottish. Greetings
from Edinburgh! We arrived last Saturday via train
and are leaving tomorrow morning back to Broadway.
Rail travel is still hectic like a third world
country. Can't figure out how Britain's pound
sterling is so strong vis a vis the rest of the
world's currency considering her infrastructure has
fallen apart. But these people keep the stiff upper
lip in spite of it all.

This is a gorgeous city dominated by the Castle on the
hill overlooking the city. Everything is lit up like
a Christmas card. We had great Christmas, very
festive atmosphere in the hotel and good dinner. We
were even treated to a white Christmas. The streets
were pretty deserted that day and the next because
everything was closed down, even the trains and
buses!!! However, Boxing day brought a cold snap so
the touring was a might frosty. Especially when you
consider that there is no central heating anywhere and
all the toilets are outside!!! Boxing Day (the 26th)
and the next day we toured outside Edinburgh into the
highlands, glens, and moors...especially gorgeous with
the snow on the scenery. We got as far as Inverness,
near to where Madonna married Guy Ritchie at Skibo
Castle in the village of Donnach. Unfortunately, the
baptism of Rocco and the marriage were all completed
before we got there!!! She got great publicity but
probably not as much as Zeta Jones' wedding to Michael
Douglas because she actually is from Wales and only
Guy Ritchie is a Scot!! Anyway, it's fun to read
about.

Thanks to everyone for their cards and Christmas
greetings. Can you believe we're really going into
the real millennium in just a few days? We just came
from the 'dynamic earth' exhibit (one of the UK's
millennium projects) where we did time travel to
beginning of the earth in about 68 seconds!!!

We wish you all a wonderful new year.
Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

December 19, 2000

Hi everybody,
Merry Christmas and Happy Hannakah! Hope that
everyone gets everything done and enjoys the holidays
to the max. We are going to Edinburgh on Saturday via
Railtrack so that should be an adventure in itself!!
We'll be there for a week before coming back to
Broadway on the 30th and then to London on Jan 5th,
Nice on Jan 12th. We're very excited about finding a
flat in London for the week.

We spent a day in Oxford walking from one college to
another and catching a glimpse of the outside of the
room where Bill Clinton lived his first year at
University College...knew you would all be dying to
have this spot of info! It was very busy and exciting
with all the Xmas crowds and fun seeing some of the
sights featured in the Colin Dexter 'Inspector Morse'
locations.

We also went to Bath last week to see the excavated
Roman Baths...just like in Greece and Turkey, although
less plundered...and lunched in the Pump Room. The
last time we were at the Baths, the 'pool' had no
water and there really was no tourism so this was fun.
You can travel at leisure with your very own audio
wand. The day was mostly sunny, instead of mostly
cloudy so everyone was in festive mood. The Bath
cathedral has great facade of angels climbing ladders
all the way up (to heaven!).

We've been to the movies too...Meet the Parents with
Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro; Chicken Run..absolute riot
seeing with the Brits; Billy Elliott we're seeing this
afternoon.

Hope the new President keeps the economy going so we
can keep going!!!

Keep those emails coming.
Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

December 6, 2000

Greetings from Cheltenham, England

Happy St Nicholas Day everybody. Here we are in 50
degree weather, still raining every day, pansies,
geraniums, even roses still blooming. Green
everywhere.

London was great. Took the Big Bus tour of all the
sites; saw Mamma Mia, the Abba songs, absolutely
fabulous; Hampton Court Palace, a definite must see
with its maze, gorgeous gardens and grounds and rooms
guided by people in period costumes-full day there; 2
hour verger guided tour thru Westminster Abbey-he gave
us a personal view of the funeral of Diana.

All the Brits are asking us if we are ever getting a
president; it seems that Europe is more concerned than
Americans. But they have their own problems with
their elections next May!

Hiking in the hills I contacted some suspect plant and
my right hand swelled up to as far as it could and was
coming up the arm. Went to the casualty department of
Evesham hospital, a quonset hut with treatment rooms
from the 1950's...but doctor prescribed antibiotics
and antihistamine tablets...cost me nothing for visit
or drugs!!! the NHS good for emergencies, not so good
for surgeries...people are waiting up to 2 years for
hip and knee replacements and at least a year for
bi-passes!

Daughter Colleen, her husband Michael, and his mom
Rita came for a week to stay in Broadway. We visited
Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Stratford-on-Avon
(our second home), Warwick Castle. But the best was
our Thanksgiving together...the Broadway Hotel went
out of their way to make just for us a turkey dinner
with cranberry sauce, dressing, and many other
trimmings...great to share with each other. That week
flew. We dropped them at the train and went to see
Tewkesbury Abbey...just in time for mass...what a
gorgeous church this is...only 12 miles from Broadway.

Niece Natalie came out last week before starting her
new charity job this Monday. We saw the musical "A
Secret Garden" at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in
Stratford. Then we got word that my 91-year-old mom
had had a heart attack and died around 3am Wednesday,
11/29. My sisters tell me the funeral on Friday was
just what mom would have liked. I know that I said my
goodbyes to mom in June but didn't expect her to go so
soon. But she had been in such pain for the last year
with one thing or another, she was ready to go. I'm
sure she's in a better place and happy with my sister
Debbie. We'll all miss her.

Please take care all of you,
Love,
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

November 3, 2000

allo, 'allo everybody,
We have just arrived in London for a long
weekend...the weather is great and we are very
excited. About 5 weeks ago we left beautiful
Stockholm for the city of Gothenburg-the most
fantastic symphony hall and orchestra and great old
trams make it look very old world. We saw Carmen in
Swedish at the new nautically inspired opera house and
the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra performing Leonard
Bernstein's "Jeremiah" and Mahler's 1st
Symphony...absolutely glorious. On to Copenhagen for
a final weekend in Scandinavia. We survived the fuel
crisis! Flew to Heathrow with car hire to Broadway in
the Cotswold hills, one of the most beautiful towns in
England. All of the buildings are constructed of
Cotswold stone - honey colored. Beautiful. Cotswolds
are manicured, green hills dotted with sheep and
cattle separated by hedgerows, stone walls, wire. We
walk and hike a lot looking for stiles to get from one
field to another trying to avoid sheep paddies.
Decided to stay here in a 2-bedroom flat until
January. We are using as base and the adventure is to
figure how to get to destinations by bus and train.
Especially since we had a major train derailment north
of England with fatalities and major gale force winds
Sunday downed about 1000 trees on the rails. Now
there is a massive effort to fix the rails and there
are cancellations and speed restrictions but at least
they're running. The south and the west country are
in the midst of major floods, extent larger than 1947.
We have been saved from that but we saw major
standing lakes on the way into London today.

We've been to Wales; Blenheim Palace in Woodstock,
home of the Duke of Marlborough and where Winston
Churchill was born; 9th and 10th century churches;
medieval abbey ruins mostly made so by Henry VIII;
castles, beautiful Regency and Victorian towns.

Keep the mail coming. Miss you all.
Judy and Phil

__________________________________________________

September 27, 2000

Yes, we've traversed from the North Sea to the Baltic
Sea via Ullenswang on the Hangerfjord with its
desolate wild high mountain plateaus strewn with
lakes, no trees, lots of low growing scrubs,
reindeers, and hunters; to Fagernes in the opposite
mountains from Littlehammer; to Karlstad, a beautiful
university town where we participated in the car-free
day of last Friday (celebrated in about 1200 towns
across the EU, cars allowed out of town by a
designated route, none allowed past a specific spot;
to Stockholm which lies on 14 islands amongst an
archipelago of over 24,000 islands between Lake
Malaren and the Baltic Sea.

Pam, I had a wonderful Swedish massage plus spa day in
Karlstad...first one since May!!! Not that I didn't
want to, just no time. You're still the best.

Stockholm is a beautiful city with gorgeous 17th and
18th century palaces and residences. Unfortunately,
in the city centre, in the 1950's and 60's, in the
rush for 'modernity' they tore down all of the
previous centuries bldgs and put up modern glass,
steel, and concrete boxes which are ugly ugly ugly.
Luckily, most of the beautiful ones are along the
water so you don't have to look at the ugly ones all
the time. We went to the Opera house on Monday night,
gorgeous rococco built by Gustav III in the 1700's.
He was assassinated there at a masked ball; hence
Verdi's inspiration for Un Ballo in Maschera. It was
the funniest Barber of Seville we've ever seen.
Sunday, we were at concert at symphony. So we are
getting our culture fixes along the way!!! Another
history thing I thought was interesting was that Count
Bernadotte, the general for Napoleon, was adopted by
the King of Sweden and became the King of Sweden and
Norway in 1818 and today all of the royals in power in
Scandanavia are direct descendants!

We are leaving here today for Gothenburg, Saturday for
Copenhagen, Monday for London. We'll be in England
for a couple of months in the Cotswolds. It'll be
great to put away the suitcases for awhile. We love
all of your messages. Keep them coming.
judy and phil

September 17, 2000

yes, Bergen, Norway. It is living up to its name and
raining just like we understand it rained this summer
in Bergen County, NJ. We left Oslo after seeing the
Kon-Tiki and Ra II sailed by Thor Hyerdahl across the
Pacific...can't figure out how they could spend all
those days on such small rafts. truly amazing.
headed north to Lillehammer, site of the 1994 winter
olympics. what a picturesque village especially
standing at the top of the ski jump i'm sure you all
remember from TV. Then on to Fjord
country...awesome...words fail to describe the beauty
and grandeur of these geological wonders. Definitely
worth the trip, lots of climbing mountains (in the
car), fjords, waterfalls, glaciers, lakes galore.
every turn in the road is worth a picture. we loved
the geirangerfjord and sognefjord the best so far.
the weather has been excellent...sunny and about 60
during the day. friday, we hiked up to briksdalsbreen
glacier. up close and personal. you can hear it
moving, sounds like thunder.

bergen is colorful place even though the rain started
yesterday and doesn't seem to want to quit. but we
can't complain since we've been so lucky so far.

keep those cards and letters coming,
judy and phil

September 9, 2000

Greetings from Oslo,
yes we finally left copenhagen last saturday, after
enjoying the city very much and seeing the opera and
symphony, in the rain, but not cold and headed north
along the coast to a charming beach town named
Hornbaek. We have been moving and going somewhere
every day. Everytime we say we'll take a day off we
see something lovely and end up checking it out and
the day somehow is over!!!

Entranced by Fredericksborg Castle with its beautiful
formal gardens, waterfall complete with full moat.
Elsinore castle of Hamlet fame not as depressing in
the sunshine as in the rain rising out of the mist on
the promontory all by itself. Saw where Karen Blixen
(Isak Dinesen+Out of Africa) came back to after her 17
years in Kenya-much taken with her simple grave under
the spreading beech tree at the back of the property.
Crossed from Zealand to Fyn over the Store
Baelt...awesome bridge and causeway which cost us
almost 30 dollars!!!On to Odense, the home of Hans
Christian Andersen. Then, in the rain, across Jutland
to the North Sea...great dunes, pebbly beaches,
holiday cottages tucked into the dunes...miles and
miles. Then back across and North to Frederickshavn
where we and the car embarked on the ferry for a great
ride along the Kattegat and the Skaggerak to the
Oslofjord...almost 9 hour trip. For the last 2 hours
we stood at the front of the ship, 10 decks high, to
watch this gorgeous sight unfold in front of us. We
are now investigating Oslo and next week we'll be
going into the wild and the mountains and fjords.
Will report in when able. We have lucked out on the
weather so far. Phillip is breathing a lot better
now. I'm wondering how many layers of summer clothes
I'll have to put on in the mountains!!!!
Love you all,
Judy and Phil

August 29, 2000

greetings from wonderful copenhagen!
surprise, surprise. we had a wonderful day last
monday doing the mud baths, the thermal baths, the
ruins baths, and the sandy turtle beach (real
turtles)in the mediterranean. actually, it was a
really sstrange trip down this river surrounded by
high reeds. the man from israel sitting next to us on
the boat said it looked like vietnam. and sure enough
it did. phillip and i were waiting for rambo to
appear at every turning in the river. and then
wednesday we were on the bus to antalya...all day ride
through the mountains, very interesting, cotton
plantations too. we stayed in the old city which is
built into the cliffs, charming little hotel and very
nice turkish restaurant overlooking the harbour. very
beautiful at night. our waiter, mustapha, looked
after us each night; he had spent part of his navy
service in san diego training with the americans and
was a great fan of americans as everyone else in
turkey seems to be. antalya was entremely hot and
humid. we saw some interessting sights such as
perge...fabulous and aspendos, the greatest preserved
roman theater, and the great antalya museum which
contained a lot of statuary from perge (2nd century
AD). outside of that not much else except for the
beaches and we had enough of that in hisaronu.

phillip had our travel advisor from istanbul going
crazy trying to get us space out of antalya to europe.
we didn't realize that all of the turks who work in
europe were returning from their holidays in turkey.
we learned later that there are about 150,000 turks
here in denmark. but she managed and we were able to
come to copenhagen via ankaara on saturday. of
course, we had to get up at 230 in the morning to
start our trek. and then what a chinese fire drill
ankara was. this is when we found out what we were up
against getting to europe. it was like ellis island
except we were the only non turks in the group trying
to get on these buses to get to the planes going to
not only copenhagen, but zurich, stockholm, oslo, all
leaving at the same time out of the same gates.
turkish airlines people were not in control and no one
knew what the hell was going on and which bus was for
which plane. it was an event we'll never forget!!!
then we get to copenhagen airport which is absolutely
lovely and the hotel booking agent only had one good
hotel room left in the city, near the airport...we
took it, of course. then we came into the heart of
the city...wow! the weather was about 80, the sun
shining and millions of people around. tourist
information verified that there was not one room
anywhere in copenhagen. so we just walked around and
sat in a cafe in the radhausplatz and watched humanity
stream by. it's like piccadilly circus or times
square. monday we moved into the plaza hotel in the
city across from the central train station and the
tivoli gardens, the famous park in the middle of
copenhagen. we went to the gardens last night for a
classical music program and then walked all around in
the beautifully lit park; it's like being in a fairy
tale from hans christian andersen. we got danish
haircuts today and look like new people. we've seen
the parliament and the queen's reception
rooms...stunning baroque. what a beautiful city with
its old buildings, many spires, canals, museums,
castles and of course the little mermaid. how tourism
has deteriorated was demonstrated at this famous spot.
some guy climbed up and had to put his finger on the
mermaid's nimple just for a picture...he would have
been carted off by the turkish police and never been
heard from again. here people were more tolerant of
the gauche behavior.

we are going to the opera tonight, la traviata and
symphonies the rest of the nights. leaving here on
saturday with a rental car to see the rest of denmark,
sweden, norway, and finland; should take about a
month.

love,
judy and phil

August 22, 2000

greetings from the land of ever-present sunshine and
heat!

no wonder that the turks built like 125 huge "holiday
villages" better known in north america as "beach
resorts" on the mediterranean coast between marmaris
and antalya. the weather is always predictable; you
never have to worry about rain. they bring tourists
in by the plane loads from all over northern europe
and britain (where the weather has been rainy and cold
in july and august) for all inclusive club med type
packages. we, as americans, are looked on as exotic
because they don't see hardly any of us...the security
guard at the local shopping center told us he had only
met one couple last year!! the turks want to tell us
of their desire to visit america or about someone they
know who is in america...mecca is never mentioned!!!
america is the mecca, at least for the young people.
we give them a chance to practice their american, not
british english. but learning very little turkish in
return; the tongue just won't go around the words very
smoothly, but we do manage to get along very well.

we have made a home at the asuhan beach resort motel
where we have now been for 2 weeks. our waiter asked
us to adopt him and become our fourth child...he's 25,
married with a one-year old boy. we have been unable
to say his turkish name so phillip said we'll call you
Chuck and he said ok and could he have a last name of
Willis after Bruce. of course he is turkish speaking
only and tries in vain to teach us turkish and now
greets us with good morning mother, father, i love
you. it's great fun and everybody gets a big kick out
of it. 2 other young men, brk and mart, who work
there during the summer are at university and they
speak very good english so they fill us in on the
culture of the young and the neighborhood gossip.
there's another young man, jem, who lives around the
corner that hangs out here with the other boys who was
born in the canary islands, lived in istanbul, ankara,
went to university in belgium last year and is going
to the university of vienna this fall with his girl
friend.

we are leaving this paradise tomorrow taking the bus
eastward to antalya, a mediterranean city with many
historical sites surrounding it. enough of this
lallygagging!!! we will talk to you again from there.

thanks for all the email,
love,
judy and phil

August 11, 2000

Greetings from Marmaris, on the southern aegean sea,
the turquoise coast, the turkish riviera!

we are at a beautiful 7 room hotel in the village of
Hisaronu, about 25km from Marmaris. we walk out of
our room about 100 yards to the beach in a beautiful
bay surrounded by mountains. the heat is still with
us, gets below 90 only at night. consequently, we are
going to stay in this idyllic place for awhile until
the heat dissipates.

our blue voyage was wonderful. sailed from bodrum all
along the gulf of gorkova. the routine of the day was
to get up, swim, breakfast @ 8, sail to another bay,
swim, lunch, sail to another bay to anchor for dinner
@ 830 and for the night. repeat for 7 days! we were
18 people on a 120ft wooden sailboat with a crew of 7;
12 from different parts of austria, 4 turks, and us 2
americans. english was the common language, of
course.
food was super and everyone was great fun. lucked out
with a good group of fellow voyageurs. nice to be
back on terra firma!

we are practically the only people travelling who
don't have a cellphone. everyone checks their email,
play games, make and receive phone calls. all of
europe, incl turkey, are connected by a gsp operator
so no matter where they are they can access and
receive calls.

musing: highways, except for the few autobahn
stretches, have no painted lines, no stopping lane.
usually the sides just drop off most major hiways are
2 lane with lots of overloaded lorries whih look like
they're going to topple over. the road from hisaronu
to marmaris looks like the road to hana except for the
waterfalls.

thanks for the messages; we really look forward to
reading them. we have met some great people but no
substitute for you.

love,
judy and phil

August 1, 2000

Greetings from beautiful Bodrum, on the Aegean Sea!
What a gorgeous town it is and we have the most
beautiful suite with patio overlooking the harbor with
bouganvilla, roses, etc. Breathtaking!!!!!

we have had a wonderful week into the interior of
turkey, following the ancient Silk Road thru
Cappadocia with its wild fairy chimneys; to Konya home
of the whirling dervishes; to Pammukale with the
largest cemetery from the Roman times; to Aphrodisias
dedicated to the goddess of love and fertility,
Aphrodite; to the greatest archeological site of all,
Ephesus with its gorgeous library and churches
dedicated to the virgin mary and st john the baptist;
to legendary Troy, excellent; gallipoli battlefields
with its military cemeteries, very moving powerful
feeling. Anyone who even thinks to start a war should
visit here first. unfortunately this week has been
thee hottest time in turkey in 50 years; everyday
visiting these digs it was at least 100 degrees;
drinking lots of water and turkish beer. but we made
some new friends from barcelona, buenos aires,
bangkok, milan, and ankara! we spoke enough spanish,
italian, german, and of course english to be able to
communicate with each other. greaat companions.

some of you have asked about food. it is very fresh
and this past week we've seen where it all was grown.
for instance, breakfast basically consists of black
olives, green olives, cucumbers. tomatoes, watermelon,
honey dew melon, breads, bagels, jams, butter, feta
and cheddar cheese, coffee and tea. lunch and dinner
are somewhat the same type of foods: all off the above
plus stuffed eggplant, peppers, grape leaves; lots of
kebabs made with chicken, beef, lamb. no pork, this
is an islamic country! also veery rich desserts made
with honey, yogurt, fruits-calories galore!
eveerything is delicious!

Tomorrow we are going on a 7 day yacht cruise! it is
called the blue voyage. life is tough!

love and kisses,
judy and phil

hi everybody
yes weve arrived in turkey safe and sound. flight was
blessedly uneventful. istanbul is fabulous, hot,
sunny, and exotic. we love our hotel, the empress
zoe, named after an ottoman empress from the 11th
century. it has a balcony overlooking a beautiful
garden, where we have breakfast, and room is decorated
in the turkish style complete with high canopy bed.
blue mosque, hagia sophia, topkapi palace all around
the corner...blows our mind that we walk past them
everyday. the money exchange is 625000 to 1 dollar so
paying 1 million to 4 million for a beer is a
riot...we re getting more accustomed. doing a lot of
walking and people watching besides enjoying views
over the bosphorus.

thanks for all the messages; keep them coming. fun to
pick up mail and will keep us from getting homesick.

love,
judy and phil