…That’s how long this year’s 4th of July parade lasted – 22 minutes. I know this because I watch the parade from just behind St. Michael’s Cathedral in the “press section.” We see the parade come at us head on … Continue reading Twenty Two Minutes…
When I lived abroad, I idealized our holidays. Thanksgiving was always more thankful looking at it from abroad than it was when I got home. The Fourth of July was the same way. I have always loved this holiday more … Continue reading Glorious Fourth!
When I was a kid the fireworks show started with a puff, then a thud, then you saw a burst in the sky. You waited 10 seconds and it happened again. Then again, until the finale when they fired off … Continue reading Fireworks! July 3, 2019
After the fireworks on the 3rd, the parade, the food, the concerts comes the water fight. Traditionally the Sitka Fire Department takes on the Coast Guard. Fire trucks come from two different directions, meet in the middle and pass each … Continue reading Water Fight!
Back in 1993 member of the committee drafting the Albanian Constitution asked me who was right in their view of government, Jefferson or Adams. I thought about an answer and told him this story. Later I was asked to tell … Continue reading After 247 Years, Jefferson Still Lives!
June is chamber music month in Sitka. The Sitka Summer Music Festival (SSMF) has been a feature of or town since 1974. Chamber music is everywhere, at Mean Queen Pizza, on the Sheldon Jackson Fine Arts Campus, in the Tribal … Continue reading A Town Full of Chamber Music.
In which I say goodbye to a ship named Prinsendam – the second time around. I was new to Juneau, looking across Gastineau Channel from my home in North Douglas. A neat little cruise ship pulled into Juneau’s dock. It … Continue reading Goodbye Old Friend
We had planned a longer cruise on Prinsendam in July-August 2019 but Holland America sold the ship and shifted the cruises to another ship. We loved the Prinsendam and wanted to sail her one more time so we canceled the … Continue reading 2019 Norwegian Fjords Explorer, MS Prinsendam.
The MS Prinsendam (Picture on top is Prinsendam in Skye Harbor) leaves Holland America Service on July 1, 2019. Before she left the fleet, we wanted to take one more cruise on her. We had planned to travel in July … Continue reading 2019 Celtic Explorer, MS Prinsendam.
“I’m not condemning cruise vacations.” Travel writer Rick Steves wrote in his book “Travel as a Political Act. “I’m simply saying that type of activity is not ‘travel’ it’s hedonism. (And I don’t say that in a judgmental way either. … Continue reading Two Cruise Coda
You can try to shelter yourself from travel’s inconveniences but you’re never completely successful. We’re used to negotiating travel’s mine fields (sometimes literally.) We’ve done winding dusty mountain roads in third world busses, train rides with goats and chickens, and … Continue reading The Long Ride Home
Two weeks ago, I was thinking how odd it was for everyone’s bags to be out in the hallway awaiting pickup while we were still settled into our stateroom. Sunday night was our turn to put out our bags. Each … Continue reading Ending in Amsterdam.
Denmark is not the best candidate for generating hydro power. And yet Denmark is committed to generating carbon free electricity. We have an hour and a half window to sail into Esbjerg because of the tides. Entering the port we … Continue reading Esbjerg Reunion
“It looks familiar and strange at the same time.” All through the cruise people ask me if Norway is like Alaska, how are they different? How are the same? In a way sailing through Norwegian Fjords is a disorienting experience. … Continue reading Fjord Thoughts
When we got off Prinsendam in Stavanger, I noticed some buses and trucks idling. A sign proclaimed Stavanger the sister of Houston. This is oil country. Stavanger is the city in Western Norway closest to the North Sea oil fields. … Continue reading Oil Town — Stavanger
The weather turned for the better as we left Bergen giving us a beautiful sail out. One of the picture is of a place where they train oil rig crews how to get into one of those lifeboats that eject … Continue reading Bergen Sailout
…but you wouldn’t want to visit here… …is a line Sitkans sometime use when referring to people coming off cruise ships. It rains a lot and your odds of getting Sitka on a rainy day are pretty high, but when … Continue reading It’s a Nice Place to Live…
When we got on the tender in Geiranger it was 30 degrees (minus 1 Celsius) and there were a few snow flurries, although no accumulation. There was snow not too far up the mountains and a local told us that … Continue reading Geiranger’s Dilemma
In 1904 the fishing city of Ålesund burned to the ground. There was only one fatality but the whole city was homeless. Around Europe people responded. In Paris there were benefit concerts, in Germany Keiser Wilhelm personally got involved in … Continue reading Art Nouveau Phoenix — Ålesund
Trondheim is a place of pilgrimage, for two types of pilgrim, religious and rock ‘n rollers. First St. Olaf (in the Norwegian brochures it is St Olav, in English, St. Olaf. St. Olaf is pretty engrained in my brain so … Continue reading Trondheim — St. Olaf and Rock and Roll.
These are more pictures, companions to the post Flåm Railway. The final picture is the electric ferry, “Future of the Fjords” it can travel 40 KM on a charge and takes 25 minutes to recharge. I will be talking about … Continue reading Flåm Valley
This is not the first time we have ridden the Flåm Railway. One of my most vivid memories of traveling with the kids was standing on the platform at a station on the line, after having gotten off at a … Continue reading Flåm Railway
Eidsfjord has to rethink itself. It is at the very end of the fjord after which it is named which is, in turn, at the end of the Hardanger Fjord, which is one of the longest in Norway. It has … Continue reading Small Town Jack of All Trades — Eidsfjord.
Outside our stateroom window fair haired young people in Norwegian sweaters and jeans were lining up along a path right next to Prinsendam. It looked like the 1965 St. Olaf ski club including one, and only one, black kid. When … Continue reading Um Ya Ya (Arendal)