Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln, How was the Play?

That’s the punch line of a really bad joke, and it came to mind today as my good friend from Michigan was asking me, after a long conversation about the current disasterous state of events in our country, how AdventureMan and I are getting through the cold days in Pensacola.

Honestly, the weather is glorious. AdventureMan is busy keeping the bird feeders full (he calls them the squirrel feeders) and breaking the ice in our water barrels. The skies are clear and the stars bright and sparkly when the sun goes down.

It IS cold.We are having waves of cold weather, with a little warming in between. Because it goes below freezing frequently, we’ve got our more fragile plants covered, including 2 avocado trees I’ve grown from pits, that are over 10 feet tall 😊. My roses are the first plants I cover; I brought them with me from our former house. They are white, pure white, with a little bit of pink in the center, only visible when they are first blooming. I try to take good care of these roses! We also cover our plumbago, which grows well in this part of Florida.

“And what are you cooking?” my friend asks, she who made a huge frost covered cake to celebrate the storm in Michigan.

“Pork with Apples and Onions,” I replied, “And an Autumn Plum Torte only with peaches, which turned out to have all the taste of sugar, butter, and flour.” I should have known that the peaches I bought in January would not have much flavor.

The weather will dip even further starting Friday, so I am cooking up a big pot of chili tomorrow.

January 28, 2026 Posted by | Beauty, Birds, Cultural, Food, Friends & Friendship, Gardens, Pensacola, Weather | Leave a comment

Waiting for Snow

Lest you think I sit around between trips finding things to rant about, I will share my Saturday with you.

I am religious. I am a believer. LOL, here is where Catholics and Muslims have something in common – when I say “I am a believer” my Catholic friends think I am Catholic, and my Muslim friends think I am Muslim. Sooner or later we get it all figured out. I believe in a Great Creator, without whom nothing was created, and who is magnificent beyone our ability to understand. I believe he cares about us on an individual basis, and that he wants only good for all of us, whether we agree or not. I do not understand why he gave us all free will, and I know it would be a terrible world without it. I believe God is infinitely merciful.

So in the midst of some of the political horrors of January, I texted a friend and said “I need a meet-up.” We met up this morning at a local cafe and hashed out our lives, just normal stuff, families, husbands, children, and what we CAN do to make a difference. I have a friend from high school, and a friend from college, and friends from almost every post where we lived. We don’t always see one another, but when we need a good connection, we get on the phone – yeh, old school – and it’s like we’ve never been apart. When I need to re-balance, when my emotions are unmanageable, my friends help me recenter. Thanks be to God. At the cafe, I also saw another old friend, of a different political persuasion, and we were delighted to see one another, reminding me that our current differences are temporary, and mendable.

I arrived back home to the aroma of garlic and peppers sautéing; AdventureMan is making beans! We have been informed it MIGHT snow tonight, it is hovering just above and below freezing and a big pot of beans is a perfect hot weather meal.

Birds on the Bayou are chowing down, the fish must be running. We have pelicans plunging, an eagle chasing off a hawk, a cormorant and a heron.

Last year, almost this same time of year, we got several inches of snow. In previous years, I have seen a flake of snow here and there, but last year was a special confluence of factors – humidity, cold, polar vortex and a series of cold dry days in which the snow first fell, and then stuck around. It was like wiping away all the bad, a clean, clear new earth, few cars driving, lots of walking and lots of playing. Maybe we all need to play a little more. Pensacolians love a good snow, and it doesn’t stick around long enough to get old.

Our house is warm, we have a big pot of beans cooking, we have friends, I’ve recovered all my lost-for-a-very-short-time passwords and life is sweet. May you be equally blessed; may all your problems be little ones.

January 17, 2026 Posted by | Beauty, Birds, Civility, Climate Change, Community, Cultural, Food, Friends & Friendship, Living Conditions, Pensacola, Random Musings, Weather | , , , , , , | 6 Comments

British Isles: Dublin Uses Euros

We are already docked in Dublin when our alarm goes off. We had thought we would be caught up after a sea day, but no, we are not caught up and we have to meet early this morning for our excursion.

We are the first group off the boat, but it is more complicated because the boat is anchored, not docked. That means we will have the added adventure of being tendered, i.e. one of the smaller boats on board will ferry us to the docks where we will catch a bus which will take us into Dublin.

We are greeted by Sean, who is a great jokester. He looks at my ticket and my very Irish name and says “I should just hand the mike over to you!” ha ha. He had a lot of jokes, and kept us laughing all the way into Dublin where our first stop was the Cathedral of St. Patrick’s. He took us around, showing us tombs and chapels and restorations, and where the Knights of Saint Patrick were all seated, separately from other people, with their flags and helmets. 

Below is a replica of the ships that took the Irish to the New World during the famine. Below you will also see statues representing the emaciated immigrants seeking shelter in our country. It is a chilling exhibit. It reminds me of the words on the base of the Statue of Liberty – “give me your tired, your poor.”

Back on the bus for a short drive around, then out to the American Ambassador’s house (just a drive by) and a toilet stop – we’re that demographic. Back in Dublin, we pass great shopping stops and Trinity College to be let off at the National Gallery. 

We could go back to the ship, but we’re in Dublin. We have tickets to tour the Dublin Castle, so we ask Google to help us get there – only a 19 minute walk.

We tour the castle, an inner city castle, more of an event venue. It’s full of paintings, most on the theme of Sheherezad and the beheading of John the Baptist – dark, gruesome paintings.

The sun is out, and it is a lovely day with a nice breeze. We limp over to the Cecil Beaton museum, where I have heard there is a lovely cafe/restaurant, and indeed, there is, The Silk Road. The restaurant is popular, full, but not crowded, there are tables inside and outside. You go through a line and choose a main course, then you have a choice of three sides.

AdventureMan was holding a table, I chose a lamb moussaka, and then a beet salad, a green salad and stuffed grape leaves. The plate was heaping.  I took it to the table and AdventureMan liked the look of it and I invited him to share it with me (Please, AdventureMan!) as it was way more than I could to eat so he got a knife and fork and glass of water and it dish was plenty for both of us.


As a bonus, just across from The Silk Road was a gorgeous gift shop, with truly lovely offerings, unique and artistic and yes, a little expensive but this was not the junk of the gift shops we’ve been seeing, so we found some things we liked, and for gifts, and felt very happy. 


AdventureMan got us back to the Viking Shuttle pick up point, and a bus showed up right away, with double decks so they could take a lot of us, and we drove back to the docks, where we tendered back to the ship.

AdventureMan pulled out our wine and cheese, cut off some pieces and we had a few quiet minutes out on the balcony with our feet up, before I had to go to the port talk for our upcoming visit to Holyhead.


I am ashamed to tell you that not long into the port talk, I started falling asleep. 


We’ve been walking well over our 10,000 steps daily. One day it was almost 18K, most days are 14K-15K. In Dublin, it was 14K by mid-afternoon. I was truly tired. Fortunately when I told our old friends how tired I was, one said “I slept through half of the presentation.” I suspect a lot of us had problems staying awake; we are all in a demographic that may nap regularly back home. 


I did take a short nap back in the cabin, waking when AdventureMan tapped me and said “Honey, I don’t want you to have problems sleeping tonight.” We got to the restaurant around the same time as our friends, and our conversation and laughter revived me. 

This is our first cruise where we are traveling with friends. Not as a group, but we’ve met up. Sometimes we are on the same tour, sometimes not. Sometimes we attend the same lectures, sometimes not. We tend to meet up most nights for dinner, and occasionally for lunch. It has worked out well. We have lively discussions, interrupted by trips to the salad bar or soup or ice cream, we disuss what we’ve seen and how we feel about it. We discuss our feelings about how we are changing as aging adults, how our families are growing and changing. We never seem to run out of great topics. It has become a good part of why every day of this trip is one of our best days.

December 31, 2025 Posted by | Adventure, Aging, British Isles Viking Jupiter, Friends & Friendship, Travel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

British Isles: We Transfer to the Viking Jupiter

Morning came too early, the bag handlers must have started with our room! Promptly at six, the bell rang and AdventureMan had to struggle out of bed to let them in. Fortunately we were able to get back to sleep, and slept until our alarm went off. We headed down to breakfast – no room for us! We had to wait for a table, about twenty minutes, and we had not factored that in. By the time we finished, we barely had time to rush back to our room, gather our carry-ons, and head down to the hotel lobby where we were just in time. As AdventureMan checked out, our group was called. I was one of the first to board the bus and headed to a seat halfway back where we like to sit for the unimpeded view. Just behind me another couple, who as they sat behind us said a little sourly “you got our favorite seat.” Oooh kay. AdventureMan found me, and we had an hour long ride to Tilbury, not Greenwich, where the fun began.

First, we have great admiration for and understanding of the logistics involved in last minute changes, so the awkwardness of the explanations and arrangements were not surprising, but the London Cruise Port was not ready to board a few hundred people. Our buses were stacked up, and after the one hour drive, we sat another hour on the bus. Some of the passengers got testy and argumentative, and finally they let a lucky few off to find the toilets, with the understanding that they must come right back.


Our group was called, not to line up but to sit in the terminal. Maybe fifteen minutes later (we learned there was another couple from Pensacola on board) our area was called to process in – or embark, as they call it. That process was quick, with one surprise, we had to surrender our passports, which we never do, for British immigration and customs. 

And then we boarded another bus which took us to a dismal part of the port, surrounded by piles of stones and dirt and cranes and bulldozers and roll on roll off containers and thousands of Hyundai cars awaiting delivery to dealerships. 


We were disappointed. We had made plans for Greenwich. We unpacked, put everything away – it’s easy on Viking, we ask for the same stateroom every trip and we know where everything goes already, so unpacking is quick. We decided to go to the pool grill, where a better me would have ordered the seared ahi tuna, but the spoiled baby disappointed me ordered comfort food, the Viking hamburger. With fries! 

To further soothe ourselves, when we got back to our room we went down to the gorgeous Viking spa, the only people there, and let the hot bubbling wave pool soothe our disappointment, then we napped. 

We have old friends on board! We met up for dinner; these are the kind of friends that, even though we haven’t seen one another for three years, the conversation picks right up where we left off and just keeps going. We ate in the World Cafe, picking and choosing from a fabulous welcome buffet, lots of seafood, crab and shrimp and mussels! There was also a sweet potato soup with ginger that was out of this world, and of course, a choice of ten different ice creams. It’s one of the most popular places on the ship, casual with a luxury of choices.

Bernie, who, with Augustina, below, took good care of us and were a joy to know on the Viking Jupiter.

After dinner, the ship repositions to the main terminal, grand entertainment as we turned in tight quarters, then slid through a tiny canal to the locks leading to the River Thames. It took a couple of hours to complete the process. Out on our balconies, we met our neighbors on both sides, Will and Kate on one side. We dock with our cabin facing the terminal, an old-timey building with a clock tower on top.

Look how close the ship is to the canal edge!

Here is the truth. We were disappointed. We had been told we would be docked in Greenwich; Tillbury is a ways down the road from Greenwich, and more distant from London. We were prepared for Greenwich. We were both a little disgruntled, and aware of how very spoiled we are. Another truth is, until I re-read the journal I kept, and saw the photos, I had forgotten about this altogether, it was such a small disappointment in proportion to the great adventures we had in London and the greater adventures to come. We forgot about it!

December 30, 2025 Posted by | Adventure, Aging, British Isles Viking Jupiter, Customer Service, Friends & Friendship, Geography / Maps, Travel | , | Leave a comment

Diwali: A Light Sparkles in Dark Times

Today, Labor Day, when dark events are taking place in our country, shutting down the light of liberty and democracy, we got an unexpected invitation – to a Diwali party, coming up in a couple months.

We are so honored. And we know Diwali; we were living in Al Fardan 1, in Doha, Qatar, when an Indian neighbor invited all the residents of Al Fardan to come over for Diwali. We didn’t know what Diwali was, and our internet was dial-up and irregular, but we asked around and were told, with big smiles, to go and find out.

The night of Diwali came, and we walked to our neighbor’s house, along with many of our Al Fardan neighbors. We could see it long before we arrived – thousands of candles set out in patterns in the yard, lining the sidewalk, leading us inside, to more lights and a feast of sweets, platters of sweets, all illuminated by gleaming candlelight.

Such open-hearted hospitality. Such generous sharing. No one was excluded; everyone was welcome, and there was plenty for everyone.

Our neighbors’ beliefs were different from ours, and yet, I believe all such generosity, freely given, springs from the same spirit.

We can’t wait for this upcoming Diwali.

September 1, 2025 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Biography, Civility, Community, Cross Cultural, Cultural, Doha, ExPat Life, Faith, Friends & Friendship, Living Conditions, Qatar, Quality of Life Issues, Spiritual | , , | Leave a comment

International Cooperation: How to

I came across this article by accident, and it communicates how I believe we can make this world a better, safer place – by rubbing shoulders with “the other.”

I spent many years living in Germany and a variety of countries in the Middle East. It was always, initially, very uncomfortable. Slowly, in each country, I met people who were kind to me. At first, I would hear their strange languages as harsh, even hostile. As I rubbed shoulders with them, I came to learn that we had important things in common. Most of my friends were religious, just not the same religious expression as mine. Most loved their families and wanted the best for their children. Some were as suspicious of me as I was of them, and as time passed, surprising thngs happened – we became friends.

This article confirms my own belief – working together, spending time together, diminishes fears and hostilities.

80th Flying Training Wing at SAFB celebrates ENJJPT graduation
KFDX Wichita FallsTYSHIN DAWSON
October 18, 2024 at 9:05 PM


WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — It’s a program unlike any other in the world, where students from the U.S. and 14 NATO countries train side by side to become the best pilots in the skies.
The Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program is one of a kind, and here is why.

“We like to focus on how do we break down that communication barrier, with other nations, how they interact with us, as well as build out those relationships with each other, to kind of further our combat capabilities, around the world, as well as fostering those relations so we can work with them more clearly.”


ENJJPT Wing Commander Jeff Shulman said with so much going on overseas; this program is especially important.


“For some of these nations, we are the sole source and production of their fighter pilots, so if I do not produce quality fighter pilots on time for that nation, they do not have a combat air force, including right now is doing a lot of things in Europe. And he’s right in their backyard. So for them, right, it’s a strategic imperative that my program produces quality fighter pilots on time for the need of minds,” Shulman said.


As you can imagine, these pilot graduates are put through a very rigorous process. They take about a year of training, which involves 12-hour days, 5-6 days a week. These are some of the top academic graduates in the world.
ENJJPT Graduate 1st Lt. Giles Beebe talked about his experience in the program.

“I think, and just has kind of some advantages that a lot of pilot training is doing. Mainly international, working with people from different nations. I think that’s huge for multiple reasons, and really, we have, like, instructors that are worth their weight in gold here,” Beebe said.


His parents praised the mentorship aspect of the ENJJPT Program.
“We could see as our son was going through that, the journey, how incredible the program is in terms of all that mentoring and leadership that’s embedded throughout even before this. It’s really, really quite a program.”

When the call of duty rings, we can proudly say that the aviators who are walking out of this program will be more than prepared to hold the line.

October 22, 2024 Posted by | Adventure, Character, Civility, Community, Counter-terrorism, Cross Cultural, ExPat Life, Friends & Friendship, Living Conditions, Quality of Life Issues, Relationships, Stranger in a Strange Land | , , , , | Leave a comment

On Friends and Friendship

I love the Lectionary. I learn so much. Today’s is one that I feel like I have never read before. I must have, I’ve been reading the Lectionary for over 30 years, but it feels fresh and new:

Sirach 6:5-17


5 Pleasant speech multiplies friends,
   and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies.
6 Let those who are friendly with you be many,
   but let your advisers be one in a thousand.
7 When you gain friends, gain them through testing,
   and do not trust them hastily.
8 For there are friends who are such when it suits them,
   but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.
9 And there are friends who change into enemies,
   and tell of the quarrel to your disgrace.
10 And there are friends who sit at your table,
   but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.
11 When you are prosperous, they become your second self,
   and lord it over your servants;
12 but if you are brought low, they turn against you,
   and hide themselves from you.
13 Keep away from your enemies,
   and be on guard with your friends. 
14 Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter:
   whoever finds one has found a treasure.
15 Faithful friends are beyond price;
   no amount can balance their worth.
16 Faithful friends are life-saving medicine;
   and those who fear the Lord will find them.
17 Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright,
   for as they are, so are their neighbours also.

October 22, 2024 Posted by | Community, Friends & Friendship, Lectionary Readings | 1 Comment

“We Call Her Meanie”

We are sitting in our backyard with our neighbor, Marvin’s person, and I asked her if she had ever had any other cats, or knew of any other cats in our neighborhood, who were neutered and microchipped but didn’t seem to belong to anyone. I had my reasons.

She named a couple – Cindy Clawford, and one we call Fuzzy Tail, and Goblin. And then she says
“And there was one, we call her Meanie, who used to hang around, but I haven’t seen her for a long time.”

I didn’t say anything. “Meanie” is likely the cat who bit my hand the first time I fed her, she was so hungry and had no manners. I had to have antibiotics for the first time in 30 years, and a shot of some kind. She wanted to live with us but she was too feral. She lived outside for a year.

It was a very very hot summer, and she had a thick fur coat. When Goblin or another cat would go after her, she would run to the drain in the street and hide inside. We were terrified we would find her body in the street one day. And it was hot, too hot for her to live on our porch living in a fur coat. AdventureMan wanted to bring her in. She adored him.

A friend helped us trap her to get her neutered – and we discovered she was already neutered and chipped, but had no registered owner.

“Meanie” was a scary cat. You couldn’t move too fast or she would hiss, and occasionally lash out with her sharp claws, or even bite. We have to keep the door closed between the front and back areas of our house so she won’t attack our two very domestic male cats. Slowly, slowly, we have gained her trust and she is learning manners which are more suitable for living with people. We have taught her to cuddle, by moving slowly with her. She no longer bites. She no longer uses her sharp claws, except to knead when she is cuddling, purring and happy. (Ouch!)

We call her Zenobia, after the warrior queen of the Syrian desert, who ruled in Palmyra.

August 30, 2024 Posted by | Family Issues, Friends & Friendship, Living Conditions, Pets, Relationships | | Leave a comment

There’s No Such Thing as Heat Lightning

Waiting for a lane to open at the Y, my friend and I are looking out the giant windows at the sky, which is violently beautiful.

“I was surrounded by heat lightning this morning, ” I said, “In every direction!”

And my friend started laughing. He laughed so hard, he was bent over.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, fully confused.

“There’s no such thing as heat lightning,” he gasped, “and I just had this same exact conversation with my Lady Love.”

I started to indignantly deny what he was saying, but he is smart, very smart. He might be wrong, but (and I laugh as I say it) I am going to the internet to see what the internet experts say.

This is what those fraudsters at Weather.gov say:

Heat Lightning

Weather.gov > Safety > Heat Lightning

The term heat lightning is commonly used to describe lightning from a distant thunderstorm just too far away to see the actual cloud-to-ground flash or to hear the accompanying thunder.

While many people incorrectly think that heat lightning is a specific type of lightning, it is simply the light produced by a distant thunderstorm.

Often, mountains, hills, trees or just the curvature of the earth prevent the observer from seeing the actual lightning flash. Instead, the faint flash seen by the observer is light being reflected off higher-level clouds. Also, the sound of thunder can only be heard for about 10 miles from a flash.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Friends & Friendship, Pensacola, Weather, YMCA | Leave a comment

Christmas Markets on the Elbe: Prague Day 2

An Even Better Day Than We Had Planned

We woke up fresh and decided to walk to Prague Castle from Clock Tower Square. We had a lavish buffet breakfast with friends departing very early the next morning, and then we headed out to find Bus 194, which came within moments.

Our intention was to get off at the Astronomical Clock Square, from where we could cross the bridge and hike up to the castle.

Once again, Bus 194 traveled the back roads but did not stop at the Clock Tower Square, so we just stayed on, and discovered it took us up a steep hill to the German Embassy, where we got off. On the advice of some friendly Czech police, we headed straight up the hill, and then across what I call a meadow and AdventureMan calls a park.

They have the most beautiful manhole covers!

The first photo above is the road we have walked up. The second is the road we will walk up to get to the path that crosses the meadow. You can see the monastery in the upper right of the above photo.

It was cold and snowy, but we were bundled up and happy to be out hiking. I have my clunky walking shoes on, and although the path is treacherous, snowy, icy and slick, my sticky soles have a good grip.

We came to a Monastery with a fabulous overview of Prague, and met up with several groups of happy Germans.

We continue on towards the castle.

We had some good laughs, and headed toward the Prague Castle, happily all downhill. Entrance was free, and the castle, on this cold, snowy December day was packed with tourists from all nations.

There is slush and ice everywhere, and these crews are in all heavily touristed areas, trying to clear paths and streets so they will be less dangerous. Meanwhile, the snow continues. Magical for us, a pain for them.

We hurried through the castle, and headed down the hill back to the city, stopping only at The Best Christmas Shop in Prague (and I believe it!) and the Lobkowitz Palace, where we had hot drinks – hot chocolate with whipped cream, a hot ginger lemonade, fabulous and not too sweet. We split a half-sweet chocolate cake and delighted in the surroundings – lots of families with bundled-up children, and lots of people from other places.

As AdventureMan paid, I went out to use the rest room which had a turnstile and coin machine. I started to put a coin in and a woman stopped me and said “No! I saw you in the restaurant! Your chit will let you in free! Go back and get a chit!” so I went back and got a token, and when I got there, another woman said “No! No! Don’t put in anything! The code is 1-1-1-1, just put in the code.” So I did.

When I had finished, on my way up the stairs, I saw a young couple trying to figure out how the machine worked, and I, in turn, said “No! Just put in 1-1-1-1!” and they did.

As we headed back into the city, I found a shop with garnets and amber, and I had hoped to find some new garnet earrings to replace the pair I bought there in 1990, my first visit. The shopkeeper was lovely, and a great saleswoman, and when I told her I could not take the large garnets I had been looking at, she asked if they were too heavy, and I laughed and said “No! Too expensive,” and like my good jewelers in Doha and Kuwait, she offered to make me a special deal for Christmas.

I chose a smaller pair, and she still gave me a better price, so I was very happy. As we completed the deal, we asked her for the name of a good Czech restaurant, a place she might eat with friends, not fancy but with a good atmosphere, and she sent us just up the street and around the corner to Potrafena Husa, in a less traveled part of town.

We went there, and oh, what fun we had. I ordered the duck confit and ginger lemonade, and AdventureMan had a schnitzel and a beer. We both love the Czech beer.

We wandered through the market, and enjoyed one of the hollow hand-held cinnamon breads traditional at this time of year. They come with different fillings, but I just wanted the plain – it has cinnamon sugar on it and that is enough for me. I could eat them forever; they are so light and tasty; they taste like Christmas!

A great time, loved the experience of the Christmas Market, but it is time to think about our return. Once again, we were over 15,000 steps and getting a little anxious about making sure we were packed and ready for our departure tomorrow. We found the 194 bus, headed home, were held up by a narrow-street accident and six police cars, but finally made it back to the Hilton.

We packed, we organized, and just as I was lying in bed working on the Bad Schandau section of this journal, I got a text from Delta. Our flight has been canceled out of Prague.

No offers of help to rebook. I read the message to AdventureMan as I hurriedly dressed. I was in shock, and at first, AdventureMan thought I was kidding.

No, I wasn’t kidding. We needed help. We needed to get to the Viking desk in the Hilton and get some serious juice working to resolve this, to get us home. Fortunately, we had booked with Viking and used Viking travel. They are so good when things go wrong, and can make it right.

Eve, the Cruise Director who had made everything so smooth on the Beyla, is still with us, and as soon as we see her, we tell her our news and she gets right on a call with Viking Travel. Although the wait seemed excruciating, soon Eva had us booked on another flight getting us into Pensacola the same day, a little later but the same day. She had worked a miracle. Our bags would be picked up later, we had a later departure, and we were on Air France, our favorite airline.

AdventureMan mentioned that our pick-up time for the canceled flight also had another couple, so Eva called them. They had also been resting (it’s the demographic). They checked their messages and they, too, had been canceled. By the time we left, we saw just how capable Eva was, dealing calmly with so many anxious passengers who needed rescheduling.

Another passenger who had used the Hilton ATM to change money found a $16,000 charge on his card that he had not made, his card was blocked, and he and his wife could not use Uber, could not charge anything, food, drinks, anything! And, of course, he was very concerned about how $16,000 could be charged to his card when he did not do it. 

One by one, Eva patiently handled these individual disasters, without drama, but with great calmness and competency. We admired her before, on the cruise ship, organizing and re-organizing as things came apart, always calm. Watching her in action with such a variety of needs only increased our admiration.

We had some goals for this trip. We wanted to enjoy the sights, eat winter foods, and find some garnet earrings. Done. AdventureMan wanted a real Afghan kebab for dinner, and we had seen a place near the Hilton where we catch Bus 194, so we headed out, ordered kebab from an Afghani young man who told us he works like a robot, just work, and friends, and send all his money home. We have heard this story so many times; these young men work so hard to support their families far away, not just with food but with money for school tuition, clothes, and their families’ many needs. The kebabs were huge, full of tasty vegetables, and heaped with lamb. We brought them back to the hotel and couldn’t eat half, they were so big. 

Now, hoping and believing we really do have a flight tomorrow, we are packed, and hoping to get a good night’s sleep before rising early to get our bags out in the hallway for transportation to the airport. As a last-minute change, we are checking our carry-on bags and taking with us only what we need.

We agree, for so many reasons, this has been one of our best vacations ever. We loved the magic of the snow the entire journey and the walk over Glienicker Bridge. The Beyla is a small ship, and we got to know several people well, and have great conversations over noticeably great meals on board. We found that almost every Viking guide we had, particularly in Berlin, Potsdam, and Dresden, was outstanding. The markets were so much fun. The people were welcoming and engaging. We hate for this vacation to end.

December 30, 2023 Posted by | Advent, Adventure, Aging, Air France, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Cross Cultural, Cultural, Customer Service, Exercise, ExPat Life, Food, Friends & Friendship, Geography / Maps, Quality of Life Issues, Restaurant, Travel, Wildlife | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment