The McKenneys

October Fest

2011-12-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

Este anio volvimos a celebrat October Fest. Este anio por fin pude usar mi vestido. La comida estuvo riquisima como siempre, unos chamorros fritos y cerveza para aventar para arriba.

Trunk and Treat

2011-12-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

Halloween was fun. The school PA orginizes this event where parents decorate their trunks to make them look scary. They park around the playground and then kids are welcome to walk around and get candy! Syd decided to be a cat and she was featured in the school news letter. JP was a mummy, not scary at all. They had a blast and walked away with a decent amount of candy.

JP's birthday party

2011-12-04T12:11:00.001-08:00

We finally celebrated JP's birthday party with a visit to a bowling alley that has a minigolf attached to it. We were lucky to have many of his friends celebrating with him. He had lots of fun.

Poland, part 3

2011-12-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

Day 4 – Krakow/Warsaw
The next day was our last in Krakow, so we decided to do some souvenir shopping and take a city tour. They have these covered golf carts that are used to provide the equivalent of a 3 hour walking tour in about ½ hour. We decided to do the 1.5 hour tour, which covered the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter. We learned the following on this tour:
Kraków is one of the oldest cities in Poland, with evidence showing settlements there since 20,000 BC. Legend has it that it was built on the cave of a dragon whom the mythical King Krak had slain. However, the first official mention of the name was in 966 by a Jewish merchant from Spain, who described it as an important centre of trade in Slavonic Europe.
Through trade with the various rulers of Europe, it grew from a small settlement in 1000AD to a large wealthy city, belonging to the Vistulans. However, through the 9th and 10th centuries, it fell under the influence of the Great Moravians, then the Bohemians, before being captured by the Piast Dynasty of Poland. In 1038, Kazimierz the Restorer made Krakow the capital of Poland.
In 1241, the city was almost entirely destroyed by Tatars. It was rebuilt to a design that remains largely unchanged to the present day. However, after more successful attacks by the Mongols in the late 13th century, Kazimierz the Great set about defending the city. Walls, fortifications, and the original Wawel Castle were added. The University was also established. King Kazimierz established the district of Kazimierz for Jews to live in free from persecution. This area remained mainly Jewish for centuries until the Nazi occupation.
The 16th century was Krakow's golden age. Under the influence of the joint Polish-Lithuanian Jagiellonian dynasty, Krakow became a centre of science and the arts. In 1569, Poland was officially united with Lithuania and as a result government activity started to move to Warsaw. King Zygmunt III officially moved the capital in 1609.
However, the 17th century was a return to troubled times for Krakow and Poland. After being invaded by Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Transylvanians, Swedes, and the French, it went through a phase of various forms of political control. These included being part of the Duchy of Warsaw, established by Napoleon, and becoming an "independent city". However, it mostly fell under the sphere of influence of the Austrian Habsburg Empire, in the province of Galicia.

In the First World War, Józef Pilsudski set out to liberate Poland and the Treaty of Versailles (1919) established an independent sovereign Polish state for the first time in more than 100 years. This lasted until the Second World War, when Germany and the USSR partitioned the country, with German forces entering Krakow in September 1939. Many academics were killed and historic relics and monuments were destroyed or looted. Concentration camps were established near Krakow, including Plaszow and Auschwitz. After German withdrawal, the city escaped complete destruction and many buildings were saved.
In the Communist period, a large steel works was established in the suburb of Nowa Huta. This was seen as an attempt to lessen the influence of the anti-Communist intellegentsia and religious communities in Krakow. In 1978, UNESCO placed Krakow on the World Heritage Sites list. In the same year, the Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, was made Pope John Paul II.
The Communist Government collapsed in 1989 and Krakow is now undergoing another period of regeneration, with historic buildings being restored.
Within the old town, in addition to some of the sights mentioned already, we saw:
• Town Hall Tower was once a part of the big 13th-Century Gothic-Renaissance Town Hall on the Main Marketplace. The town hall was destroyed by the Austrians in the 19th century after they took control of Krakow. Currently a museum is in the tower. You have a nice view of the city from upstairs.
• Barbakan was built in the 15th century as the biggest European defense building of its kind. The Gothic Barbakan was meant to defend the Florian Gate from attacks of the Osman, which were thought to attack Central Europe after conquering Constantinople and the Balkans in the late Middle Age.
• Florian Gate is the only part of the town where ancient walls have survived. It consists of four towers and the arsenal and gives you a good idea of what the five kilometers of walls around the Old City looked like in the Middle Ages.
Within the Jewish quarter, we saw the main marketplace with a unique circular building in the middle, the Ghetto where Jews were rounded up and forced to live, remnants of the walls around the Ghetto, a monument consisting of empty chairs, representing the empty homes of Jews who were taken to concentration camps, and Shindler’s factory. Shindler employed about 1,000 Jews and when they were captured and taken to the concentration camps, he managed to get them all back.
We ate lunch at another traditional polish basement restaurant. We had another great meal with a sampler platter and a pork knuckle. After lunch, we picked up our bags back at the apartment and went to the train station. We caught the 2.30 train to Warsaw. After getting in around 6PM, we took a taxi to the hotel, dropped off our things, and had dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel. This was a very popular place and we were lucky to get a table. By the time we left, people were lined up to get in. The atmosphere and hospitality were great. We ate in a covered heated patio outside. We liked the sampler platter that we had for lunch in Krakow, so we decided to get another one at this restaurant. We laughed and wished the table next to us “good luck” with the massive pork knuckle that was just delivered. They returned the gesture when our sampler platter was delivered. The menu said it was for two, but it could have easily fed 5 or 6. There was pork knuckle, liver, steak, breaded pork, beacon, and a huge wall of fried onion. It was a good effort, but we probably left a good quarter of it behind. We ate so much that we were too full to sleep. We got a complementary drink at the end and then headed back to the room.
Day 5 - Warsaw
In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. It was a great spread, but we were still full from the night before. We checked out of the hotel and left our bags behind. We got information on a hop on hop off tour wandered down to the pick-up point. We did the tour which covered all the high points of Warsaw and gave us also the following history:
The medieval capital of Poland was the southern city of Krakow, but Warsaw has been the capital of the country since 1596, and has grown to become Poland's largest city and the nation's urban and commercial center. Completely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, the city managed to lift itself from the ashes. Today, almost every building in Warsaw dates to the postwar era - with what little remains of the old structures being confined largely to the restored districts of Stare Miasto (the 'old city') and Nowe Miasto ('new city'), as well as selected monuments and cemeteries.
Warsaw was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1939, and was the scene of two major uprisings during the war - the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The former involved the remaining Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto, which had already largely been emptied by the Nazi extermination policies of the Holocaust, and was ended by the annihilation of the Ghetto by Nazi forces. The latter involved the Polish resistance forces, known as the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, or AK), rising up against the Nazi occupation of the city in hopes that the city could be liberated by Polish forces instead of the facing dubious Soviet 'liberation' from the east. The Soviet Union had cooperated with Nazi Germany in the invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939.
After the surrender, the German army, despite its agreements under the surrender treaty, systematically destroyed over 85% of Warsaw in retaliation for the uprising, including the historic "Old Town" which was rebuilt after the war. Of 987 historically important buildings, only 64 were left untouched by the Germans. Polish soldiers were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Warsaw's civilian population was "evacuated" with some being sent to concentration camps, or sent to Germany for forced labor. Others were sent to different Polish cities.
In the first days of the fighting, Nazi forces indiscriminately murdered about 60,000 civilians, including women and children, in the district of Wola. In the end, the Uprising cost 180,000 civilians their lives, the lives of an additional 18,000 insurgents, the capital its glory, and the Polish nation its long-desired independence. The only thing that persevered was the Polish spirit.
Most of the sites are within the district of Śródmieście, which means inner city. On the tour, we saw the following highlights:
• Palace of Culture and Science – this is Warsaw's most recognizable building. Built in the 1950s as a "gift" to the Polish people by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The building elicits mixed feelings from Poles - on one hand, the building has a controversially beautiful architectural style, however, the building was built by the man who helped Hitler rape the Polish countryside, then continued a campaign of senseless murders of the Poles when the Soviet-Nazi Germany relations soured. Today, the building is home to a movie theater, museum, restaurant, and college. Visitors can take an elevator to an observation deck, which provides a great view of Warsaw.
• The Parliament - Sejm is the name for the lower chamber of the Polish parliament (the name has also been adopted by Lithuania and Latvia).
• Umschlagplatz - A contender for the most sinister place in Warsaw the Umschlagplatz was the location Nazi officials herded Jews into cattle cars to be murdered at the Treblinka extermination camp. Estimates place the total number of persons transported from the Umschlagplatz at 300,000 or more.
• Tomb of The Unknown Soldier - Built in 1925, the tomb holds the remains of a Polish soldier who died in battle at Lwów, now Lviv, Ukraine. It also holds soil from 38 battlegrounds fought at by Poles. During the communist period, the authorities removed references to battles Poles fought against the Soviets. After Poland regained its independence in 1990, the references to the Polish-Soviet War were again added to the memorial. The tomb is located in Victory Square, which is where Pope John Paul II addressed his countryman for the first time after election to the Papacy.
• The Royal Castle - is a castle residency and was the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is located in the Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Poland were located there from the 16th century until the Partitions of Poland. In its long history the Royal Castle was repeatedly devastated and plundered by Swedish, Brandenburgian, German, and Russian armies. The Constitution of 3 May 1791 was drafted here by the Four-Year Sejm
• Saski Garden - a lovely park in central Warsaw. It's small in comparison to Łazienki, but nonetheless relaxing with its forested landscape. Prior to WWII, it housed the Saski Palace, which like the rest of Warsaw was destroyed in the insane Nazi vengeance for the Warsaw Uprising. Plans to rebuild the palace have failed to materialize due to funding. Nowadays, one of the draws aside from the escape of the city is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is on the park grounds. edit
• Lazienki Park - was built and designed for a Polish politician, but became King Stanisław Poniatowski's, the last king of Poland, residence for much of later half of the 18th century. During Poniatowski's reign, much of the buildings on the park grounds were built. The most interesting buildings are the Łazienki Palace, Roman theater, and the so called Little White House, where the King sought the worldly comfort of mistresses. The park is a wonderful escape from hustle and bustle of the city streets that surround the park and can be the setting for a picnic or a wedding.
• Monument to the Warsaw uprising.
The old town is the area around the castle. We walked around and had a nice lunch in a local restaurant. We wanted to eat in one of the communist era milk bars, but could not find one in the old town. Milk bars were originally created in the sixties to serve cheap meals based on milk products. After the fall of communism, most of them closed down but some survived and still bear the climate from the old days. Afterwards, we went to tour the castle, but found that it was closed. So we went to the Frederick Chopin Museum, who is Poland’s most famous composer/musician. The museum was highly interactive so the kids really enjoyed it.
We only had about an hour, so we did the express tour, and then took a taxi back to the hotel for our bags, and then to the airport.

Poland, part 2

2011-12-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Krakow
On our third day, we went to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz had for a long time been a German name for Oświęcim, the town by and around which the camps were located; the name "Auschwitz" was made the official name again by the Germans after they invaded Poland in September 1939. Birkenau, the German translation of Brzezinka (birch tree), refers to a small Polish village nearby that was mostly destroyed by the Germans to make way for the camp.
From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over Nazi-occupied Europe. Others deported to Auschwitz included 150,000 Poles, 23,000 Roma and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, some 400 Jehovah's Witnesses and tens of thousands of people of diverse nationalities. Approximately, 1.5 million people died at the camps. Those not killed in the gas chambers died of starvation, forced labor, infectious disease, individual executions, and medical experiments. The victims of the medical experiments were mostly children. Of the estimated 200,000 children brought to the camp, only 600 survived.
On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops, a day commemorated around the world as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In 1947, Poland founded a museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, which by 2010 had seen 29 million visitors—1,300,000 annually—pass through the iron gates crowned with the infamous motto, Arbeit macht frei ("work makes free").
Although the kids came with us on this tour, they did not receive headsets to listen to the tour. Therefore, while the kids saw only empty buildings and rooms, we heard about the atrocities that went on there. Upon arrival, families were split apart with men going one way, women and children going another way. Doctors made selections to identify those fit for work and those (usually the old and disabled) to be sent to the gas chambers. The gas chambers are enormous. Those going to the gas chambers were told that they were getting a bath for disinfection. They were told to undress and to remember the number on the hook where they placed their clothes. Dying in the gas chamber was horribly painful, with death caused by internal suffocation. After death, the bodies went to a crematorium next door and the ashes used for fertilizer.
Some people taken to the camp were told that they were being taken to a new land start a better life. Some even paid for their own trip. Once there, the Nazis took their belongings, shaved their heads (the hair was sent to factories to make clothes and blankets), and put them to work in the camps. Prisoners did not have access to water and their clothes were never cleaned. They did not get enough to eat and often died of starvation. Many prisoners worked outside the camps in coal mines, factories, etc. These people had the best opportunity to escape. However, if they did, their family and/or neighbors would be rounded up and executed on the spot. Poland is the only country during Nazi occupation in which the death penalty was in place and enforced for anyone caught helping a Jew.

The facilities at Auschwitz were brick buildings. These were the old barracks for the Polish military. The facilities at Berkinau were essentially wooden stables. Each stable could reasonably accommodate maybe a few hundred people, but was used in actuality to house thousands of people. 15 to 18 people were crammed into three level bunk beds that looked like they were capable of accommodating only six. The beds were lined with only hay and often times no blankets were provided. Although there were furnaces in the stables, no wood was provided for heating. People often froze to death. The weaker ones were attacked by rats in the middle of the night. The toilet building was a separate stable that consisted simply of two rows of benches with holes cuts into them to make toilets. Prisoners were allowed to use the toilet only once in the morning and once in the night and they had no access to water, so disease was prevalent.
The visit to the camps was one of the most psychologically painful experiences I have ever gone through. The stories behind what I saw will haunt me for the rest of my life. At the end of the tour, the guide said that the camps were made by men to be hell on earth for other men. We have to be aware and take responsibility to make sure it does not happen again.
Many of the Poles that were brought to the camps were academics, doctors, politicians, etc. Polish military that stood up to the Nazis were also taken to the camps. Based on what I have read and seen, the Polish people are amongst the bravest that I know. The visit to the camps helped me to realize what a privilege and an honor it is to be Polish.
We left the camps and took a bus back to the city center. On our first day in Krakow, we noticed a traditional Polish restaurant that was packed with people lining up to get in. We decided to give it a try on this particular day and managed to get a seat. The food was great, but it was a restaurant that catered to students, so the ambience was not the best for families. We ate our meal, picked up dessert at a local bakery and retired for the night.

Visit to Poland- Part 1

2011-12-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Day 1 – Krakow
Sandy and the kids had a week off from school in October for Fall break, so we used the opportunity to cross Poland off our list. We flew into Warsaw and arranged for a car to take us to the central train station so that we could buy tickets to Krakow. While the people in Poland are extremely friendly and helpful, that excludes the ladies working the counter at the train station. Despite that, we managed to get ourselves tickets on the 10.30 train. It was supposed to be a 2 hour 40 minute ride, but it ended up being a 4 hour trip. There were some unexpected delays, but when it turned out to be the same going from Krakow to Warsaw, we concluded that the public transportation does not have the same commitment to punctuality as Switzerland. We made our way to the hotel which advertised itself as a Bed & Breakfast. As it turned out, we stayed in an apartment and the “breakfast” was served in a hostel down the street. The room was OK, but the floors and beds squeaked horribly – difficult to sleep as we all toss and turn and get up in the middle of the night for the bathroom. Regardless, the price was right, especially given the location, right in the middle of the old town. While food is cheap, the cost of lodging is pricey so this place worked out great.
We used the rest of the day to walk around the old town called Stare Miasto. The heart of the old town is Rynek Glowny (Main Marketplace). It is the biggest medieval marketplace worldwide with more than four hectares of area and twelve streets beginning here. It is lined with shops and restaurants. In the center of the square is Sukiennice (Cloth Hall). Sukiennice was built in the early 14th century in the middle of the Main Market as a trading hall in Gothic style. Nowadays, souvenir shops are there. We scouted out the souvenirs and then walked around the old town for a place to eat. We came across a basement restaurant called Bohema. We ordered Zurek (barly based soup with sausage and onions), goulash, pork knuckle, and goose. It was heavy, but very good and incredibly cheap. Most of our dinners were well below 50, including drinks.

Day 2 - Krakow
On the second day, we woke up early to beat the crowd of teenagers at the youth hostel to the breakfast buffet. We got there just before 8AM and were successful in our quest. It was not much of a buffet, but we were glad to get seats.
After breakfast, we walked down the street to the main attraction of the day - Wawel castle, which granted free access on Mondays (today). Wawel is the name of a lime hillock situated on the left bank of the Vistula at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level. This is a symbolic place of great significance for Polish people. The Royal Castle and the Cathedral are situated on the Hill. Polish Royalty and many distinguished Poles are interred in the Cathedral and royal coronations took place there. It's considered to be the most beautiful castle in Central Europe, besides the Hradcany in Prague.
Towards the end of the first millennium A.D Wawel began to play the role of the centre of political power. In the 9th century it became the principal fortified castrum of the Vislane tribe. The first historical ruler of Poland, Miesco I (c.965-992) of the Piast dynasty as well as his successors: Boleslas the Brave (992-1025) and Miesco II (1025-1034) chose Wawel Hill as one of their residences.

During the reign of Casimir the Restorer (1034-1058) Wawel became a significant political and administrative centre for the Polish State. Casimir’s son, Boleslas the Bold (1058-1079) began the construction of a second Romanesque cathedral, which was finished by Boleslas the Wrymouth (1102-1138). In his last will of 1138, this prince divided Poland into districts, and provided that Cracow was to be the residence of the senior prince. In 1291 the city of Cracow along with Wawel Hill temporarily fell under the Czech rule, and Wenceslas II from the Premysl dynasty was crowned King of Poland in Wawel cathedral.

In 1306 the Duke of Kuyavia Ladislas the Short (1306-1333) entered Wawel and was crowned King of Poland in the Cathedral in 1320. It was the first historically recorded coronation of a Polish ruler on Wawel Hill.

The accession to the throne in 1385 of Jadwiga from the Hungarian dynasty of Andegavens, and her marriage to a Lithuanian prince Ladislas Jagiello (1386-1434) started another era of prosperity for Wawel.

The Italian Renaissance arrived at Wawel in the early 16th century. King Alexander (1501-1506) and his brother Sigismund I the Old (1506-1548) commissioned the construction of a new palace in place of the Gothic residence, with an impressive large courtyard with arcaded galleries which was completed about 1540. Close artistic and cultural relations with Italy were strengthened in 1518 by the king’s marriage to Bona Sforza.

The reign of Sigismund III Waza (1587-1632) also made a strong impression on the history of Wawel. After a fire in the castle in 1595 the king rebuilt the burned wing of the building in the early Baroque style.

After Poland had lost its independence in 1795, the troops of partitioning nations, Russia, Prussia and Austria, subsequently occupied Wawel which finally passed into the hands of the Austrians. The new owners converted the castle and some of the secular buildings into a military hospital, and demolished some others, including churches. After the period of the Free City of Cracow (1815-1846) Wawel was once more annexed by Austria and turned into a citadel dominating the city. By the resolution passed by the Seym of Galicia in 1880, the castle was presented as a residence to the Emperor of Austria Franz Josef I. The Austrian troops left the hill between 1905-1911.

When Poland regained its independence in 1918, the castle served as an official residence of the Head of State, and as a museum of historic interiors. During the Nazi occupation the castle was the residence of the German governor general, Hans Frank. Polish people managed to remove the most valuable objects, including the tapestries and the “Szczerbiec” coronation sword to Canada, from where they returned as late as 1959-1961.

We visited a couple of permanent exhibitions on our tour. The first one was called The Lost Wawel. This permanent exhibition, opened in 1975, presents archaeological discoveries, fragments of architecture and the history of the development of Wawel Hill from the Middle Ages to modern times. It is located in the basement of a building which encloses the arcaded courtyard from the west. The archaeological and architectural collection created here, comprises the remains of the Renaissance royal kitchens, the remnants of the Gothic castle, and above all, the four-apsed Rotunda of the Blessed Virgin Mary –later re-named the Rotunda of SS. Felix and Adauctus.
The second one was called Crown Treasury and Armory. The exhibition is located on the ground floor of the north-eastern corner of the castle. It is related to the historic institution of the Crown Treasury once located here, which was a visible sign of the independence of the Kingdom of Poland, and later of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. From the 14th century the insignia of royal power were stored here (crowns, scepters, orbs, a sword, the Book of Gospels and a tray used in the ceremony of anointing a ruler), as well as a variety of valuables and curiosities which were official state property. At the same time in the castle the monarch’s private treasury consisting of the personal insignia, valuables and ornamental vessels was established. The assets of the Crown Treasury, augmented by diplomatic gifts and royal bequests, including the last will of Sigismund Augustus, were not on public display.
Single objects were only removed on special occasions, primarily for coronation ceremonies. Lists were made of the Crown Treasury’s content during regular audits. The first special public presentation of royal insignia took place in 1792. Three years later the Prussians broke into the Treasury and almost completely destroyed its contents.
Following the destruction of the royal insignia by the Prussians and the loss of almost all the treasures, the new collection, systematically augmented since 1930, only gives an inkling of the old magnificence of the place. Yet, it does include significant works of art, among them some historic artifacts, at the head of which is the Szczerbiec coronation sword - the most significant Polish historic artifact.

We next explored Wawel Cathedral, which included the Royal Tombs, Sigismund Bell and Pope John Paul II Cathedral Museum.
Wawel Cathedral holds a very special place in the history of Poland and the Poles’ national awareness. For centuries it has been the place of worship of St Stanislaus, the saint who has been inextricably connected with the idea of a united and independent Polish State, a concept which was equally valid in the period of regional disintegration, the Partitions of Poland and communist rule. The grave of the martyr has been considered the Altar of the Homeland. The history of the Cracow Diocese and its main church reached its culmination at the election of its host, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, to the Holy See as Pope John Paul II.
Cracow Cathedral was the centre of worship of St Stanislaus (Stanisław), the Cracow bishop who was murdered in 1253 on the orders of King Bolesław the Bold. The grave of the bishop became a destination for pilgrims from all over Poland and neighbouring countries. The veneration of this saint was associated with the idea of the unification of the Polish Kingdom after the period of its regional disintegration. It was for this reason that the tradition of having coronations of Polish kings at the Gniezno Archcathedral was broken on the 20th of January. 1320, when King Władysław the Short was crowned at Cracow Cathedral, close to the relics of the patron saint of the restored Polish monarchy. After that, Wawel Cathedral became the site at which the coronations of Polish rulers took place.
For as long as a thousand years, the Cracow Metropolitan Basilica of SS Stanislaus and Wenceslaus has been the “mother of churches” in one of the most important Polish dioceses which in 1925 was raised to the rank of an archdiocese. The Lord’s service has been always conducted here with great splendour and was considered a model for other churches. In its glorious days, more then a hundred priests were involved in the cathedral services, and prayers continued day and night without interruption.
We finished our tour of the castle complex with a stop the Dragon’s Den. This is a large cave underneath the castle. Early medieval legends tell stories about a dreadful dragon that lived in a cave on Wawel Hill, about his slayer Krakus, and about the latter’s daughter Wanda, who drowned herself in the Vistula rather than marry a German knight.
After the tour, we grabbed a quick lunch, and also had our first serving of golumpki and pierogi. The golumpki was huge, filled mostly with rice and a little bit of minced meat, and covered in a gravy like sauce, only creamier. The pierogis were pretty similar to what we have back home, only a lot greasier and served with caramelized onions. One of favorites was the pierogis filled with spinach.
After lunch, we decided to find our way to the town of Wieliczka to visit the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine. The mine continuously produced table salt from the 13th century until 2007 as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines, for most of this time span being a part of the undertaking żupy krakowskie. It is believed to be the world's 14th-oldest company. The mine's attractions include dozens of statues and an entire chapel that has been carved out of the rock salt by the miners. They said on the tour that the price of our ticket includes all the salt we could lick, so the kids made use of the opportunity to lick everything in sight – they were constantly asked if it tastes like salt and apparently it did.
We took the bus back, walked around the old town for a bit and then went back to our apartment to freshen up. We noticed a Swiss restaurant (the 27th Canton) next to the apartment, so we decided to give it a try. It actually did not have much in the way of Swiss cuisine. But I had trout in this creamy walnut sauce that was fantastic.

Fall 2011

2011-11-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

Fall of 2011 has proven to be a very busy season. After comming back from America, JP started 2nd grade and Syd 1st. JP joined the cross country team. He had a total of 3 races. He came second to last in the first race, last in the second race, and managed to get 2nd place and a medal on his last race.

One more week at the 'cuse

2011-08-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Acapulco, Mexico

2011-08-08T04:01:00.001-07:00

Queretaro, Mexico

2011-08-08T03:37:00.000-07:00

No podia faltar una visita a Queretaro; a visitar a Wendy, Minnie, Fabi y Andy. Tamien nos reunimos con los primos queretanos, hasta Jenny y Gabo fueron con sus respectivas familias. Christi, que vive en Vancuver tambien fue. En dias soleados vamos a nadar, Esta vez fuimos a patinar sobre hielo. Fabi y su cuate ayudaron a JP y Syd a ajustarse a la pista. Tambien pudimos reunirnos con Vero (amiga de la secu)y su familia. Fuimos al parque Bicentenario.

Mexico DF

2011-08-08T03:25:00.000-07:00

JP y Sydney pasarom mas de 3 semanas en Mexico. En la ciudad de Mexico, visitaron la feria, parques, el observatorio, la peluqueria, y a la familia. Al final del viaje, no querian comer mas que quesadillas y paletas heladas de limon.

First week of the summer

2011-08-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

Shortly after arriving to Syracuse NY, we traveled south with the Myers to Greek Peak. It is a resort with a water park, kids programm, spa, and a lake. We spent most of the time at the water park but we had also time to go downtown, go fishing on the lake, and walk the trails.

Bonding with cousin Chelsey

Well deserved vacation

row row row....

Let's discuss the strategy

Father and son

Look at me! Fishing with real worms and a hook (we usually just pretend and just drop the line hookless, just with some weight)

look at those eyes!!

Summer 2011, take 1

2011-08-08T02:49:00.000-07:00

Tenth year aniversary was celebrated 3 months early. We traveled to Montego Bay, Jamaica for a week, and no kids welcomed at the hotel so it was only us. It was great.

Cruise Easter-Dubai

2011-05-22T03:31:00.000-07:00

April 8 - 21

Day 1

We flew overnight and arrived into Dubai at 5AM. We collected our bags, had breakfast, and thought about our plan for the day. We were not allowed to board the ship until noon, so we needed to figure out a way to keep ourselves occupied for the morning. We found that the Dubai Museum, which is described as a must see attraction, opened at 830, so we went for it. On the way, we were able to see a bit of the city. Dubai is a very big, clean, safe, and modern city. We were really impressed with the architecture of the buildings. The clearest landmark in the skyline is the Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world at the moment. Another building that stood out was one under construction that looked twisted. The museum was about a 10 min ride from the airport and we found that taxis are very inexpensive. The museum is a natural history museum, showing the development of Dubai over the years. Dubai is one of the 7 emirates in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is the second largest geographically, but the largest economically with about 3.5 million people. The original inhabitants were Nomads. A tribe settled in the area and supported themselves with agriculture, fishing, and pearl diving. That is until they struck oil and their life changed very rapidly - a real Beverly Hillbilly’s story. The sudden wealth brought infrastructure, jobs, and immigration. Only about 30% of the population are UAE nationals.

The museum had a lot of interesting displays, but what fascinated me was the traditional huts (essentially sticks and leaves). The interesting part is that they were built with a “chimney” that captured wind and funneled it into the huts to create "air conditioning".

After a couple of hours at the museum, we took a taxi to the port and tried to check in early. It was a good gamble because they were allowing people to check in early and we got there just before a big bus tour dropped off a bunch of people. We checked in quickly, got aboard the ship, had lunch at the windjammer, and then slipped into our suits for some swimming. We were pretty beat, so instead of swimming, we all took a nap on some recliners in the Solarium. After our nap, we got settled into our room and got ready for dinner.

We ate dinner in the main dining room. We were seated at a table for 8. We had requested to be seated at a table for 4 so that we could talk together as a family. Fortunately, no one else sat at our table so we had the whole thing to ourselves.

After dinner, we went to the show. It was an introduction by a cruise director, Matt Sole (who’s intro music every night was Soul Man – very creative), as well as an intro performances by the RCL singers and dancers.

Day 2

We got up late and made a gametime decision to visit the Jumeirah Mosque before the ship departed at 1PM. The only way to visit the mosque is through the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, which leads a guided tour called Open Doors Open Minds. We went on the tour which was very educational.

We watched the cleansing ritual that takes place before prayer and JP and Sandy even got to take part. They think of the cleansing ritual as what you do before any big date or interview, except that the date is with God.

We went inside the men’s portion of the mosque. The woman’s mosque is a small room off to the side. We learned that men are obligated to go to the mosque to pray while women are not. They mentioned that the women’s mosque in the shopping mall is bigger than the men’s because that is where the women spend most of their time. We learned about the 5 pillars of Islam: Prayer 5 times per day, fasting during Ramadan, charity, trip to Mecca and belief that Allah is the one and only god. A couple of other interesting points:

• On the point of charity, a Muslim must give 2.5% of their salary to those in need.
• The Berka worn by women is at their choice, but most find that it is convenient to wear it. Underneath, they usually have jeans and t shirt. It is same with the facial covering that some women wear. It is very sunny and windy in Dubai so the facial covering is an easy way to protect the skin.
• Muslims believe that they have an angel standing at each shoulder. The one on the right writes down all the good deeds and the one on the left all the bad deeds.
• Fasting during Ramadan is a way to think about the poor who do not have enough to eat.
• Muslims believe Mecca to be a holy place. Adam and Eve got separated from each other for a while and this is the place where they reunited. God asked Abraham to walk around the spot 7 times to mark its location. His footsteps can still be seen. A small black mosque is built on the spot. When building the mosque, a rock was found in the perimeter that Abraham had walked around. The rock was white and was like nothing anyone had ever seen. The builders incorporated the rock into the construction – it is contained within one of the walls and can still be accessed. Over the years it has turned black. Scientists were brought in to determine why it turned black. They could not figure it out, but could only conclude that the rock is not from Earth.

After getting back on the ship, we had lunch at the windjammer and then got reaquainted with the ship by playing mini golf and ping pong. We wanted to do rock climbing, but it was extremely windy so they closed the rock climbing wall. We ended up going swimming and spending time in the hot tub.

We tried a different table for dinner, but the table was extremely small. It was a table for two that was set for four. We had a nice dinner but decided that the bigger table would be better.

We went to the evening entertainment, which was a sax player/singer/comedian. He was very talented, but the act was better suited for adults, so we left early, put the kids to bed and tried our luck in the casino. We played the machine that pushes coins over the edge and managed to win 30.

Easter Cruise-Muscat

2011-05-22T03:11:00.000-07:00

Day 3

We awoke in Muscat. It was an early morning – we had to meet our tour group at 7AM.

Muscat is the capital of Oman. It has a population of about 800k and 50% are immigrants. They have permission to stay for two years and then must return to their home country, renew their passport and then can come back. Muscat is built in the middle of volcanic mountains. The people love the Sultan because of the development he brought after 1970. Prior to that, there were no paved roads and the donkey was the primary means of transportation. Water for bathing and cooking is brought to peoples houses. It is desalinized then delivered by truck. The dirty water is then cleaned and used again and then the third time used for grass and plants. Water is actually more expensive than gasoline: 24 cents per Litre for gas vs. 35 cents per Litre for water

It was noted that no one rides bicycles. This is because of how people dress – basically a long white shirt.

Everything is free for the locals - no taxes, no health care costs, free school, etc. Foreigners must pay a 50% tax per year.

The Sultan gives a gift to the people once per year on the day of the Sultan, which is the day he took over power. Last year, everyone who took out a loan in 2009 did not have to pay it back. One year, the Sultan gave a gift of 700 per month for people who graduated from university and could not find a job.

There are no sky scrapers. Buildings cannot be more than a certain height. The philosophy is that everyone is equal.

We visited the Grand Mosque. It is the third largest in the world. Inside the men’s mosque is a 31 ton carpet. It is a single piece from Persia. There is also a gigantic 8 ton chandelier.

We then had a short shopping visit at the Mutrah Souq and bought some cashmere silk scarves and frankincense (an aromatic substance that comes from tree sap). We were very embarrassed when we lost track of time and had to be rounded up by the tour guide. We were the last one’s on the bus, but at least we did not get boo’d like we did in Ireland. Although I got “the look” from one lady at the next stop.

We then visited the Bait Al Zubair, a primate museum that houses traditional Omani heritage items. This is a private museum owned by Hi Excellency Mohammed Al Zubair – Advisor to His Majesty the Sultan for Economic Planning Affairs. The exhibits include collections of Omani weaponry, jewelry, clothing, household items, books, photographs, paintings, maps, etc. which aim to show and preserve the rich Omani heritage and culture.

Our last stop was the Al Alam Palace, the official residence of Sultan Qaboos. The architecture is a blend of oriental and occidental styles in rich hues of gold and blue. The palace is strategically positioned between the two medieval fortresses of Jalali and Mirani, built by the Portuguese towards the end of the sixteenth century. The Sultan actually has 7 palaces around the country and no one knows where he is living from day to day. The staff at each palace cook food throughout the day and if he does not come, then they eat it themselves.

We were back on board by lunch. We hung out pool side with the kids. The water slide opened in the afternoon but Sydney was too short to go on her own by about an inch. I told her that the next time someone measures her height to go on a ride to stand on her tippy toes. The next day, she tried my technique and was able to go on by herself - she was so happy.

We decided to sign the kids up for dinner at the kids club so that Sandy and I could have a quiet evening.

We saw some of the show – it was a motown group. Afterwards, we tried out the casino. We won another 30 on our favorite coin machine and then spent another 20 on the slots – it was good entertainment.

Day 4

We left Muscat the night before and in the morning were continuing our journey across the Arabian Sea to India. I had a workout in the morning. I tried to keep up my workouts in a feeble attempt to stave off the extra inches settling around my waste from double portions, mostly at breakfast and dinner. After breakfast, we hit the rock climbing wall on the ship (a family first as the kids were too young in the past). JP made it to the top on the third try and the audience cheered – undoubtedly one of his favorite moments of the cruise. I attended the destination lecture on India and then we had lunch in the main dining room. The waterslide opened at 1PM so we spent the afternoon poolside. It was a formal night and a picture night so we cut the afternoon short to get ready for the evening. We started at 5.15 with pictures, then 5.45 for the captain’s reception, then dinner at 6.30. We put the kids to sleep and did some gambling in the casino. We tried to duplicate the success from the night before, but ended up losing 10. We skipped the show as we had seen it before – it was a Tango number featuring the RCL dancers.

Easter Cruise-Cochin

2011-05-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

Day 5

On the way to breakfast I saw that there was a special going in the spa for a facial and a massage, so I made an appointment for Sandy. I was in the mood for a massage and never had a facial before, so I decided to try something new and made an appointment for myself as well. After that Sandy got her nails done, while I went to the destination lecture on Cochin.

We went swimming in the afternoon. It was extremely hot - I burned the top of my head, yet again. We decided to hit the casino before dinner. Sandy and I won 40 on the slots. We got the kids and played games of ping pong and mini golf before dinner and in the meantime saw an incredible sun set. For dinner I had bulls shoulder - it was so tender! We were not that impressed with the food on this cruise, but that bulls shoulder was good. We finished dinner quickly so that we could catch the evening entertainment - an illusionist named John Taylor. He was pretty amazing. Sandy bought his CD for school.

Day 6

We were scheduled to arrive in Cochin at noon, so we used the morning to relax. We had a nice long breakfast while Sandy had a Spa treatment. Afterwards, we dropped the kids at Adventure Ocean so that Sandy and I could catch a movie (Salt).

We had lunch at the Windjammer and then got ready for the tour. The tour consisted of a bus ride around Cochin. I jotted down the following info on the bus ride:

• India is the 7th largest country in the world and is comprised of 28 states. The city of Cochin lies in the state of Kerala.
• There are 22 official languages in India. The national language is Hindi, but most people use English when speaking to someone from another state.
• There are 1.21 billion people in India and 33 million in Kerala.
• The main religion is Hindu. 56% of the population are Hindu (19% are Christian).
• Indians believe in making life colorful. You can see this in the houses, dresses, and even the trucks which are painted with intricate designs and pictures.
• The monsoon comes twice per year. The monsoon winds blow from west to east in the spring and from east to west in the fall. These winds were used by Vasco de Gama to establish the trade routes between Europe and Asia.
• The main shopping street is Mohammed Ghandi Road.
• As we drive, horns are honking constantly. Our driver explains this as the language between drivers. Sometimes they are saying “hello”, other times “get out of the way”.
• A system of inland waterways provides Cochin with cheap transportation, thus encouraging trade. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as Venice of the East.
• Kera means coconut. Ala means land. Therefore, Kerala means land of coconut, which is fitting as it abounds with coconut trees.
• Smoking is not permitted on the streets for locals. If caught, an Indian will be fined 100 rupees, or about 2.5 dollars.

Our first stop was to the temple of Shiva, the destroyer. Shiva and Vishnu are regarded as Mahādevas ("great gods" ) due to their central positions in worship and scriptures. These two along with Brahma are considered the Trimurti—the three aspects of the universal supreme God. These three aspects symbolize the entire circle of samsara in Hinduism: Brahma as creator, Vishnu as preserver or protector, and Shiva as destroyer or judge.

Our next stop was to the Fort Cochin area, which is the old part of the city, and where the Portuguese established their first colony in the 1500's. The Portuguese fort was destroyed by the Dutch in the 17th century. The Dutch then built a fort that was destroyed by the English in the 18th century. As such, there is no longer a fort there, but the name has stuck over the centuries. The English gave Indians their independence in 1947. The main attraction here is the Chinese fishing nets. These are a series of 11 cantilevered nets that are lowered into the water and brought up again with weights and pulleys. They are said to have been introduced by traders from the court of Kublai Khan.

We then visited St. Francis Church where the remains of Vasco de Gama were buried for 14 years, until his son relocated them back to Portugal. The church was originally built by the Portuguese and then renovated by the Dutch. Many people were buried in the church crypt. When they removed the remains and buried them outside, they put their tomb stones on the wall - Dutch on one side, Portuguese on the other. St. Francis is oldest European church in India, built in 1503. Cochin is the first place where Christianity was brought to India. The Apostle Thomas brought Christianity to India in 52AD.

Our next stop was to the Mattancheri Palace, also know as the Dutch Palace also known as David Hall. This is a house built originally built by the Portuguese as a gift for the Raja of Cochin and later rebuilt by the Dutch in a traditional style and has since been converted to an art museum. We enjoyed a drink and some cookies.

We finished the tour early and were permitted to do a little shopping before heading back to the ship. Sandy bought a pendant. We were pressured to buy more, but we held our ground.

Once back, we had just enough time to get changed and then head to dinner. Entertainment didn't start until 9.15, so we opted to watch a movie in the room (How to Train your Dragon). I was actually so stuffed from dinner; all I could do was sit on the couch and vegitate anyway.

Easter Cruise-Goa, India

2011-05-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

Day 7

This was a day at sea. I finally started to adjust to the 3.5 hour time change. I worked out in the morning before breakfast.

We attended a destination lecture covering Mumbai, where I picked up a few interesting tidbits:

• Victoria Terminus – handles 1000 trains and 2 million passengers per day
• Elephanta caves - The Mahesamurti - triple headed statue of Shiva as destroyer, preserver, and creator.
• Most densely populated city in the world - 30k people per square kilometer.
• Literacy rate of 85% in Mumbai.
• Two seasons - dry and wet.

We played family dodge ball in Adventure Ocean and then had lunch at the main dining room. It was another formal night with pictures, so we only had a couple of hours of free time in the afternoon. We used the time to hit the water slide at the kiddy pool.

After a couple of hours in the hot sun, we returned to the room to get ourselves ready. In addition to the formal night with pictures, there was a reception for all return cruisers. So we hit the pictures at 5.30, reception at 5.45 and dinner at 6.30. The entertainment did not start until 9.15 so we decided to skip it in favor of getting to sleep early to be ready for our big trip to Goa the next morning.

Day 8

We awoke outside of Goa to find that Sydney had a fever. This was a bit of a problem since we had tickets for an excursion that was starting in an hour. After giving her some medicine and putting cold compresses on her head and stomach, we started getting ready to cancel our excursion. At that very moment, the captain announced some sort of disagreement between local fishermen and the port authority. The local fishermen had blocked the port. Negotiations had been going on for at least a day and there was no sign that an agreement would be reached today. The captain figured that even if an agreement was reached, it would not be safe for us to get off the ship, so he decided to spend the day at sea en route to Mumbai. We were disappointed not to see Goa, but at the same time relieved that we were not going to lose $200 for canceling our excursion. Everyone had their excursions refunded. We had breakfast in the main dining room, and then attended a lecture on the 7 wonders of the world. Sydney came with us as she was still not feeling well while JP went to the Adventure Ocean. The first accounts about the Wonders came from Greek writers and this influenced the places included on the list (All in the former Greek empire). The list was written in 225BC by a Greek philosopher. The list was argued about and edited for hundreds of years. Here is some info about the wonders:

1. Statue of Zeus - constructed by Phidias - the Greek Michelangelo in honor of the Olympic Games. Construction 435 BC. Took more than 7 years to construct. Made of ivory. In 391BC, all temples were closed - that's when the Roman Empire went Christian. Statue was transported to Constantinople where it burned in a fire in a museum.

2. Temple of Artemis - built in honor of the goddess Dianna. Largest marble temple ever built. It took over 50 years to build and was destroyed by fire by Artemis.

3. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - constructed between 600 and 550 BC. Ruined by an earthquake around 500BC. The only wonder we are not sure really existed.

4. The Mausoleum - started by King Maussollos and finished by his wife Artemisia. Built in 350BC. 140 feet high, 110 feet wide. First known cranes used to build it. An earthquake in 1494 AD ruined the museum. Built in Turkey.

5. The Colossus - built in Rhodes. Statue of sun god Helios. Built after Alexander the Great died and built as a symbol of unity. Constructed 292 to 280BC. Made of Bronze. 36 meters high. Destroyed by earthquake in 226BC.

6. The Great Pyramids of Giza - Cheop's Pyramid is the largest and was built in 250BC over a 30 year period. Until the early 1800's, it was the tallest building in the world. 450 ft high and 756 ft wide. Only wonder to survive to this day. Average weight of each stone is 1 ton.

7. The lighthouse of Alexandria - built on Pharos island in Alexandria. Built in 280 BC. Could be seen from 40km away. Built after Alexander's death to leave a mark, showing how rich the city was. About 400 ft high. It was a working lighthouse. Had a fire at night. Destroyed by earthquake between 1303 and 1480 AD.

We had lunch in the main dining room and it was incredibly slow - probably because the dining room was not planned to be open with the unexpected day at sea. It was so slow that we had to complain to the headwaiter. After lunch, we went to see a sing along version of the movie Mama Mia in the main theater. No one sang along, but it was a very fun movie. The kids knew many of the songs and did a lot humming and head bobbing. After the movie we decided to look at our pictures from the last few days. I am becoming less photogenic with every day, but there were a few we liked. By this time, Sydney was feeling much better and her fever had disappeared. She got a lot of sun the day before and I think it just caught up to her. We decided to stay out of the sun today and instead started getting ready for dinner. We signed the kids up for dinner with their Adventure Ocean friends so that Sandy and I could have a quiet evening. We had a nice dinner in the main dinning room and went to the main entertainment which was a Scottish female singer. She was really fantastic and apparently won star search a few years ago. She was good, but sang a lot of older tunes, so we decided to do some gambling. I had a 10 in my pocket, which we lost within about 5 min, so I went back to the room for 20. After pumping a few quarters into a slot machine, I won a 40 jackpot. From there, we went to our favorite machine that pushes quarters over the edge. We pumped a lot quarters in, but eventually won a 10 and two 20s. We walked away with a profit of about 60 for the evening - not bad.

Easter Cruise-Mumbai

2011-05-22T02:22:00.000-07:00

Day 9

We had a good breakfast in the main dining room, followed by rock climbing (JP rang the bell three times), followed by swimming. We went back to the room and showered up for lunch before our tour of the Caves of Elephanta starting at 12.45. After showering, Sandy and the kids got a table at the Windjammer while I double checked the time on our tour. Good thing I did, because our tour was leaving an hour early, which meant now. I ran up to the restaurant and told Sandy. We had no time to waste, so we quickly packed some sandwiches and got to the meeting point. We got there just in time.

We took a bus from the Port to another port where we saw the Gateway to India. This is where the British entered India and finally left India after their occupation.

On the bus tour, the guide noted that the King of Portugal wanted his daughter to marry the Prince of England. However, the Princess of Portugal was not so pretty. Therefore, the City of Mumbai was offered as a dowry to the Prince of England.

The boat ride to Elephant Island was about an hour. The Island is named as such because when the Portuguese arrived on the island, they saw a large elephant statue on the beach. There are no elephants on the island.

The Island is famous for the man made caves sculpted out of volcanic rock. Once we got off the ship, we walked to a little train station to transport us to the entrance to the park. The train ride is only about 5 minutes, so many people walk it as well. Once through the gates of the park, a long stairway leads up to the caves, with vendors along each side of the stair case.

The main cave is fronted by a verandah, at each end of which is a pillar carved in one of the various manifestations of Shiva. Shiva is the god that has 8 arms. There are about 10 sculptures of Shiva in the caves and most show Shiva in this form with various other characters and in various situations. From these situations, the Hindus derive lessons about life.

There is one depiction of Shiva as a phallic symbol (symbolizing creation), a couple of statues of Shiva with his wife, one statue of Brahma as half man half female, Shiva bringing the Ganges river down to earth, Shiva as fountain of Yoga, Shiva as fountain of dance, and the main attraction is a huge burst of the Trimurti – the Hindu trinity of creator, preserver and destroyer.

After visiting the caves, we checked out the wares of the various vendors along stairway leading up to the caves. We ended up picking up some traditional shirts, wooden elephants, and some other trinkets. We traveled back to the ship the same way we came. We did not get back until about 7.00. We were very late for dinner, but our waiters were able to take us anyway, despite their 8.30 seating – they just got through very fast.

Day 10

This was our second day in Mumbai. We booked a panorama tour of Mumbai. After breakfast in the dining room, we headed to the meeting point to start our tour. It was a bus tour with a lot of tidbits of info that I wrote down faithfully on my blackberry:

• More than 1000 movies made each year. Mumbai is known as the city of dreams.
• More than 80% of women are working in Mumbai unlike the rest of India. Very modern in its thinking.
• 20 million living in Mumbai. 200 families come to Mumbai every day. Half of the population lives in the slums.
• Early in its history, Mumbai consisted of 7 islands. Causeways were built and it is now one land mass.
• Mumbai is an old name - named after mother of fishermen. Portuguese changed name to Bombay.
• Most buildings constructed during British time.
• Country of paradoxes – great disparity between rich and poor.
• Around 50,000 taxis running daily.
• Until the 17th century, India was the wealthiest country in the world.
• India has never invaded another country.
• In the 16th century, the Portuguese brought Christianity and the spice trade to India.

On our tour we pass by a couple of landmarks:

• Flora Fountain – which is the main traffic hub.
• Gateway of India. In 1911 the British came to India for the first time and entered through this gate which was built to commemorate the visit of George the 5th.

We made a stop at the Taj Mahal Hotel, which is one of the most famous hotels in India. It was built by Jamsetji N. Tata a famous industrialist of the 20th century. He was denied entry to what was then the best hotel in town, the “whites only” Watson’s. So he decided to build a hotel that would treat everyone equally. His revenge was sweet and long lasting – while Watsons has long since disappeared, the Taj is Mumbai’s grand hotel, her gray and white sandstone façade and red domed roof dominating the harbor from just behind the great Gateway.

• We pass by Mumbai university and Mumbai high court.
• We pass by several fields and cricket is played on every one.
• We pass Victoria terminus station.

• We pass by the Tower of Silence, which is an interesting story: the Parsis, who originated in Iran, arrived in India almost 900 years ago. Since then they have been an integral part of the Indian society. The Zoroastrian Tower of silence in Mumbai was built by Seth Modi Hirji in accordance with the Parsi beliefs in 1672. According to the Parsis, the dead should be exposed to the flesh easting birds within the confines of the Towers of Silence to venerate the earth, fire and water. Thus, In Mumbai, the Tower of Silence serves the purpose of offering the last rites to the dead. Despite the open exposure to dead, the place has a feeling of calm and peace, owning in part to the beautiful architecture and green surroundings. However, the actual area where the dead are exposed is strictly off limits for all. Mumbai's tower of silence have come under controversy, due to the disappearance of vultures and the consequent crisis faced by the Parsis about leaving the dead for a long time in the towers. Despite this, tourists are known to take a sneak peak at the towers during their trip in Mumbai.

After the tour, we do a little shopping in the port terminal. Everything is really expensive, so we do not bother to buy anything. JP is tired so he takes up a seat on a couch and strikes up a conversation with some locals. We get back on board and have a late lunch in the Windjammer.

After lunch, we carry out our regular ritual of hitting the slide in the kiddie pool, followed by dinner and the evenings entertainment.

Easter Cruise-Dubai

2011-05-22T01:53:00.000-07:00

Day 11

This is our second to last cruise day and it is a day at sea. We have a nice breakfast at the Windjammer - Sandy and I both had Crabcake Benedict. After breakfast we drop the kids at Adventure Ocean and go see the movie Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts - it was a nice movie. After the movie, we pick up the kids and decide to hit the pool before lunch. While the kids go down the water slide, Sandy and I listen to our audio book - The Girl Who Played with Fire. I lose track of time and end up burning from head to toe, except where I am wearing my sunglasses – it’s a great look for the pictures. After swimming, we have a late lunch at the jammer and then Sandy and I attend a belly dancing class - Sandy does the dancing, I do the watching. Afterwards, we hit the casino.

We pick up the kids and get ready for portraits. At 5.30, we do the portraits, followed by dinner at 6.30. It is pirate night, so the kids eat quickly so that they can participate. After dinner, Sandy and I hit the casino and got caught up trying to win this 50 bill from the coin machine. We get so infatuated that we lose track of time and end up dumping 50 into the machine, and running late to pick up the kids. We also missed the entertainment called the rat pack returns. Once we got the kids, we decided to call it a night. We set the clocks back an hour and a half, so we are expecting a good night sleep.

Day 12

I woke up early and hit the gym. Sandy and the kids take advantage of the extra hour and a half to catch up on sleep, but are up by the time I get back from the gym. I take the kids swimming and for a game of soccer while Sandy hits a stretching class. We group back at the room and hit breakfast in the main dining room. The feature today is everything chocolate. I go for waffles topped with bananas and chocolate caramel syrup.

After breakfast, we drop the kids at Adventure Ocean so that Sandy and I can pack and make preparations for the next few fays. We pick up the kids at 11 and attend the Adventure Ocean talent show. Sydney did the hoola hoop for her talent along with three other girls. JP juggled two balls (with two hands) while walking around three street cones. It was a sight to be seen!

After the talent show, we hit lunch in the main dining room followed by a game of ping pong. We then played a game of air hockey in the game room before letting the kids go back into Adventure Ocean.

They marked down the price of the body wrap therapy by $50, so Sandy went for it.

We did some packing in the afternoon and then hit the casino. We could not keep ourselves away from the coin machine.

We picked up the kids at 5, got ourselves showered and then went for a drink in the Schooner Bar before dinner.

We had our last dinner of the cruise, said goodbye to the waitstaff and then hit the evening show. It was an amazing acrobatics duo.

After dinner, we put the kids back in Adventure Ocean and hit the casino - yes, back to the coin machine. We ended up a dollar ahead – yeah!

Day 13

We woke up back in Dubai. We ate breakfast and then had a smooth departure from the ship. We grabbed a taxi to the hotel, dropped off our bags, and then spent the rest of the day at the Wild Wadi Waterpark, next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. It was huge with about 10 water attractions. The kids’ favorite was the artificial beach, complete with wave pool. We went back to the hotel so that we could get cleaned up for dinner. We walked a couple of blocks to the marina. It is a pretty area with boardwalk and plenty of restaurants. We picked out a Lebanese place and had dinner outdoors. It was a perfect evening - the weather was breezy and warm, table by the water, skyline decorated by all the new buildings, all topped off with a great meal. Both kids fell asleep before the main course which meant more food for me.

Day 14

Our last day in Dubai before heading back to Switzerland. We spent the morning doing some shopping. First stop was Mall of the Emirates. This mall is huge! About 4x the size of the Carousel Mall and even has an indoor ski facility, complete with ski lifts. After the mall, we went to the Souk Madinat for some souvenirs. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to eat the leftovers from the night before and to get ourselves ready for the trip back to CH. We relaxed for a little while after lunch and then went on a safari. We went 4 wheeling in the desert, rode camels, had a traditional dinner in a tent and then experienced some belly dancing. It was a great way to end the trip!

Other Vienna sites

2011-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas Markets in Vienna

2011-02-14T11:09:00.001-08:00

Ice-skating in Vienna

2011-02-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Vienna

2011-02-14T10:34:00.001-08:00

Backyard- first snowfall / December 2010

2011-01-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas celebrations before Xmas

2011-01-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

Visita a la granja

2011-01-03T10:26:00.001-08:00

Legoland Oct-2010

2010-10-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

From a Saturday to Monday, we went to Legoland. If you know JP, you also know that he is a Lego-maniac. This park was just right for a long weekend and we were blessed with good weather. The kids had a blast.
Riding the lego train

...Legocar

Legohorse

Joining the Lego family

There was a 4D theater, one of the movies was about Bob the builder. He came outside before the show to great his little friends.

Outside the Lego castle, there was the lego dragon...

Riding the pirate ship

Beautiful fall colors

Riding a canoe

Another hike

2010-10-14T12:35:00.001-07:00

This time we went along the river Sihl, 15 mins away from home. We found some interesting things there, like this piece of trunk, it really looked like a giant insect laying on its back.

Weird mushroom

October Fest

2010-10-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip on September 18 to Munich to celebrate the 200 aniversary of the October Fest. Two days before, I should have celebrated the 200 aniversary of the 'Independencia de Mexico' (Independance day). It was a beautiful day full of treats for everyone. It also included rides.
These carriages from different breweries bring their best beer to the parade.
JP got picked up by a total German stranger who told us the history of October Fest. Once he finished, we told him 'We have to go, are you going to be OK with our kid for a couple of hours?' He response was: Are you CRAZY??!!!

Picnic de Otono

2010-10-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

People ask me why I don't move closer to school... this is why!

My backyard

El Otonio llego temprano este anio. Sin embargo, hemos tenido uno que otro dia de sol y cada que sale el sol, nosotro salimos al patio a comer. Verano! regresa por favor!

Cumpleanos feliz! JP ya tiene 7

2010-10-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

JP celebro su cumpleanios con sus companeros de la escuela. Sus amiguitos fueron muy generosos y le regalaron unos juegos para su nuevo Wii. La fiesta fue en el mall en us salon para ninios. JP todavia tenia sus dientes de arriba cuando cumplio 7, sin embargo ya ha perdido 3 de abajo. JP continua siendo un ninio adorable (claro, soy la mama). Simepre muy considerado y sobre todo quiere quedar bien. Cada vez escribe mas, lee mejor, y sobre todos nos hace muy felices. Te amo JP.

Hiking back in Zurich

2010-10-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

After comming back from our long summer vacation, we have been trying to go for a hike every weekend. Everytime we go to the top of a mountain or even to the top of a hill, we fall in love with the scenery, again and again.

Summer in the US

2010-10-14T11:48:00.001-07:00

. We eventually made it to Syracuse. Mom and Dad were there to meet us at the airport. The kids were so excited.

Friday was spent relaxing at Mom and Dad's house. We did some laundry, made some calls, the kids relaxed, ate popsicles and watched TV.

On Saturday we visited the Dehm family and checked out Griffy's new go-kart. Griffy has all the greatest toys. Then we visited the John Orzell family and the new backyard pavilion - the ultimate party spot! We picked up pizza and wings and ended the day over at the Myers - our new home for the next several days.

On Sunday, Paula, JP, and I went to Mom and Dad's to do dome yard work while Sandy stayed back with the girls. We did some weeding, but the real fun started when we cut down a dead tree in the backyard - JP and I got to clear away all the branches - what fun! In the afternoon, we went on the Myers boat. We did some tubing and water skiing. Sandy got up the first time and I got up after three tries. In the evening, Jay fired up the grill and threw on some ribs and sausages - the sweet corn was delicious. Dave came over later for a Nelson tradition of hot tubbing.

On Monday, we signed the kids up for a week long art course that ran from 1PM – 4PM. Paula and Sandy went out for the morning, so I took the kids to a local playground followed by some swimming. When Paula and Sandy came back, we quickly ate lunch and then sandy and I got the kids to their art course. While in the art course, Sandy and I went to the mall on a scouting mission. We had an ice cream at Cold Stone. We picked up the kids from art class and went to Chuck E Cheese. The kids behaved well in their class, so this was their reward. Afterwards, we went back to Paula's for dinner.

On Tuesday, Paula had courses most of the day, followed by dinner and a night on the town with Jay - they went to see Tower of Power at the Turning Stone. So we had the kids all day. We hung out in the morning until noon, and then we had a quick lunch and went to the art class. While at the art class, Sandy and I went to the mall for some serious shopping. The coupon we thought was valid for the day was not actually valid until the next day, so we picked out all our stuff and asked that they hold it until the following day. After the art class, we decided to make another trip to Chuck E Cheeses. We had a coupon for pizza and tokens, so we decided this was easiest way to get four kids fed and entertained. Chelsy impressed us by eating 4.5 pieces of pizza - an impressive feat for a five year old. Piper followed in her big sisters footsteps by putting away 1.5 pieces, the same as JP and Syd. Mom and Dad joined us for some pizza and played their favorite game of “deal or no deal”. Dad had a chance to walk away with 15 tickets as the brief case he picked held 25 tickets, but ended up walking off with 6 tickets instead. We went back to Paula's and started the bedtime routine early as we had four kids to try and coax to sleep.

On Wednesday, Paula had more classes and a big party planned for the evening. We made party preparations for most of the morning, had lunch, and took the kids to the art class. Sandy and I went back to the mall to finally use our coupon. While there, we did a little more looking and unfortunately for my credit card, found a bunch of other stuff. We had Piper since Paula was in her class, which turned out to be a very helpful disincentive to continued shopping. Sandy would not be deterred, so she left Piper and I while she ran some errands (i.e., did more shopping). Paula picked us up when she was done with her class and we went back to her house to make the final preparations for the party. The party was a great success as representatives from all fractions of the family were in attendance. The highlight was a video assembled by Uncle Don about the McKenney family - it even drew tears from Mom. Unfortunately, JP slept through most of the party - he was not feeling well, but perked up when we lit the fire and roasted marshmallows.

On Thursday, we hung out in the morning. I went through some emails and then gathered up golf equipment - Sandy and I would try golfing today on our afternoon break. After lunch, we dropped the kids at art class and then hit the links. We went to Burnett Park - a short 9 hole, par 3 course. It was a lot of fun. After not golfing for a year, I even parred a couple of holes. It was a real confidence booster, so I decided that we would try golf on a real course the next day. When we picked up the kids, we got the report that JP had fallen asleep toward the end of class. We thought perhaps that he was getting worn down with all the activity, so we took him to Mom and Dad's house for some R&R. We then brought the girls back to Paula's. Sandy made dinner - chilaquiles. We then hopped in the car and went to Rome to hear Claire play in an outdoor concert. After that, we came back to Syracuse and hit the movies: Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. It was complicated, but good. We got back home after midnight - unusual for us.

On Friday, Paula had an appt in the morning, so we had the girls. Sandy entertained them while I was looking for our golf shoes - I thought they would come in handy on a real course. Finally, Jay pointed me toward the attic and I found the shoes. I was nervous about Paula making it back for our 10.20AM tee time, but she did with a few minutes to spare. We got to the course and were paired up with two guys in their late fifties. Sandy and I played horribly. After the first hole, we did not think we had enough balls to finish the course! The two guys were very nice and not great golfers either, so we all had fun. The crowning moment was when the two guys took off in their golf cart while Sandy was teeing up at the lady's tee saying to themselves "she'll never hit us". This was a pretty safe bet since Sandy had been duffing it off the tee all morning. Wouldn't you know that this time she connected and hit the two guys in the cart as they were driving towards the hole along the tree line. We ran out of time and had to skip the last three holes. It was the final day of the art class and the kids were having an art exhibit at 3PM. We came to find that JP had slept through the class. By this point, it was clear that he was not feeling well, so Dad and I took him to an Urgent Care facility, while Sandy and Paula took the kids to an Arts and Crafts festival downtown. The doctor saw JP right away and concluded that it was strep throat, so he put JP back on the antibiotic he was on before. We got JP back to Mom and Dad's house for some rest and I made my way downtown to rendezvous with the girls. I was very excited about the weekend because of all the fests: Jazz fest, Bavarian fest, St Patrick's Irish fest, and middle ages brewery fest. I went downtown to the jazz fest and the rest of the crew met me over there. We got some dinner and listened to the music while the kids ran around. It was enjoyable, but short lived - the kids cannot stand to be in any one place for an extended period of time. As we were heading out, a fire truck pulled up and the kids were invited to sit inside - it was a cool experience for them. We went home, watched a movie and then hit the sack.

On Saturday, we spent the morning poolside and then got ourselves ready for the two fests going on today - jazz fest and Irish fest. We went directly to Irish fest to try and catch the bag pipers. We had no chance, as we found out, because they were scheduled for Friday and not Saturday. We instead saw some Celtic dancing which absolutely captivated the girls. We ate some fest food and then dropped off the kids at Moms and Dads. After getting them settled into their pajamas and cranking a movie, Paula, Jay, Sandy and I went back down to the jazz fest for a couple of hours.

On Sunday we hit Bavarian fest, followed by a BBQ at Aunt Suzzy’s, followed by the Middle Ages Brewery Brew Fest, followed by some drumming at Uncle Dave’s house – it was a busy day.

We decided on Monday that we had not spent much time with Mom and Dad and therefore resolved to spend out last two days over there. We relaxed most of the day as JP was still recovering from strep throat. It was terribly hot outside and the kids were content just to stay in, eat popsicles, and watch TV. Sandy and I did some shopping in the morning and then had lunch out. It was nice to have some time just the two of us. We got back in the afternoon and Sandy went back out shopping again while I stayed behind with the kids. We enjoyed having lunch on our own, so we decided to do it again for dinner. We went to Colemens and afterwards went over to Roger and Amy’s house since they were out of town when Paula threw the big party the week before. It was a fun visit and we were encouraged to hear that they were seriously thinking about visiting us this winter. If they go through with it, they will be our first non-parental visitors in Switzerland – we are very excited and keeping our fingers crossed!

On Tuesday, we went to Albany to see our godchild Sabina, as well as my colleagues in the Albany office. I dropped off Sandy and the kids at Alberto’s house and proceeded straight to the office. I was a little nervous going back, but the nerves disappeared once I saw the first familiar faces. It was a great visit. I passed out a bag of Swiss chocolate and caught up with my old co-workers. Upon return to Alberto’s house, we enjoyed spending quality time with Alberto and Sabina and treated them to lunch at Applebees. On our way back to Syracuse, we made a stop at Chuck E. Cheeses to use up our remaining tokens. We then went to Mom and Dads for our final dinner of surf and turf – it was a feast to remember.

Wednesday, August 4
Departure day – Travel to Zurich

Wednesday came quickly. All good things must come to an end and this was our travel day back. We hung out in the morning. Chelsy stayed overnight so the kids played together most of the morning. We got ourselves together in the afternoon and eventually made our way to the airport. We had a 6.20PM flight. This worked out very well as we could spend a full day in Syracuse and then had an overnight flight back to Zurich. The late flight is great because you actually felt like sleeping. We awoke just before arrival in Zurich and mentally prepared to reacquaint ourselves with our life before vacation.

Family Picture in Syracuse

2010-10-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Atlanta reunion

2010-10-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

Thursday, July 22
Departure Day – Travel to Syracuse

On Thursday, we spend all day travelling to Syracuse. We flew through Atlanta and used the opportunity to meet with our good friends the Kelsos. Jared jumped on an earlier flight to spend more time with us. Unfortunately, his flight got delayed and we did not see him at all. We did however get to see his wife and three beautiful kids. It was a short but wonderful reunion.

A la feria de Cepillin

2010-10-14T11:27:00.001-07:00

Queretaro con el Tio Tico

2010-10-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

Acapulco

2010-10-12T04:30:00.001-07:00

Mexico

2010-10-12T04:26:00.001-07:00

Saturday, July 10
Departure Day – travel to Mexico

We got off the ship and traveled to Heathrow to catch our flight to Paris. We flew the brand new Airbus A380, which is the biggest plane in the world, seating about 500 people. We met up with Sandy’s cousin Ale at the airport before jumping on the plane to Mexico. The flight was pretty smooth. We arrived at about 9:30PM. Mario and Tico were there to pick us up and get us back to their place for a late night snack of Tacos al Pastor, one of my favorites.

On Sunday we ate barbacoa (barbecue) in the morning. Barbacoa consists of pork tacos with a soup called consume. It is perfect to fix you up after a night out on the town. The afternoon we spent just hanging out with the family. We watched the final world cup match (Spain won over the Dutch 1-0). Tia Elena and family stopped over for a visit.

On Monday, we traveled by bus to Acupulco. It was a comfortable 5 hour ride with air conditioning and a movie. We spent five days eating at 100% natural, relaxing in the pool, and eating seafood, usually at El Amigo Miguel. The second to last day we went to the Cici waterpark and swam with the dolphins. The day started off cloudy and rainy, so we did not bring sun block. By late morning, the clouds disappeared and we all got sun burns. We traveled back on a Friday and went out Friday night with Thalia and Tico for flautas - hard tacos in the shape of flutes, filled with beef or chicken.

On Saturday we traveled to Quareterro. On a good day it takes about 2 hours in the car, but on this day, it took 5 hours due to traffic and construction. We made a quick stop at Wendy’s house and then went to the cousin’s reunion. We got to see Gabo's family and we met all the Quereterro cousins.

Sunday was spent just hanging out in Querretaro. We got hair cuts, followed by barbacoa, followed by walking around the town center in the afternoon. In the evening, I played chess against my nephew Fabian, who is getting very good. At his current rate of improvement, I am guessing that I will not be able to beat him next year.

On Monday we traveled back to Mexico City. After relaxing, we got ready for a night out on the town with Sandy’s parents. Mario took us to the restaurant "Florida" for my new favorite "cabrito" (baby goat). Afterwards, Mario took us to the mall for our Christmas/Birthday/New Year/Cinco de Mayo presents.

On Tuesday, we started the morning at the park with the kids. Later I finally got a workout in. I had been pretty consistent working out on the cruise, but my workouts came to a screeching halt when I arrived in Mexico. I got two workouts in in Acupulco and now this was my third since arriving in Mexico. JP and I spent most of the afternoon constructing a lego motorcycle. We then got ready to go out with Sandy's college friends. We took a 30 min cab ride to the location – the cost was about 6 dollars. Sandy’s college buddies are a great group of guys. I had met two of them two years ago: Abel and Emilio. I concluded at that time that those were two of the funniest guys I had even met. This time around, I met three more and these guys, individually and as a group are some of the funnest people I have ever met. This was one of our best nights in Mexico.

On Wednesday, JP was not feeling well so we went to the local public doctor for a consultation - cost $2 (I love the prices in Mexico). JP was diagnosed with a throat infection, so we got him on antibiotics. In the afternoon, we relaxed. In the evening, we had a night out on the town with Sandy’s school friend Marco Antonia, better known as Maca. I have not seen Maca since the famous bachelor party he through for me 9 years ago - a party of such epic proportion that it probably can never be repeated without serious physical injury. We had a great dinner at a steak house and then did some karaoke afterwards. Maca still has the voice of an opera singer. He was good enough to spare me from taking the stage, but did not have the same mercy on Sandy – but she held her own and it was another great night.

Stockholm

2010-10-12T03:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 8
Sea Day

We had watched the second half of the Spain/Germany Worldcup match on TV in the stateroom (Spain won 1-0) the night before. It ended shortly after 10PM, so I was up early and went for a jog on the treadmill while Sandy and the kids slept in. When I came back to the room, the family was still sleeping so I went up to the Garden Café for a cup of coffee and to do so some blogging. When I ran out of battery, I came back and the family was up and ready for breakfast. We had a nice meal in the Pacific Heights restaurant and saw our friends the McDonalds towards the end. We agreed to meet at the pool for some swimming. It was a bit cool and breezy on the bridge, so we stayed mostly in the hot tub. There was a design your own cup cake activity, followed by a cup cake eating competition in the kids corner, so we concluded the swimming and signed the kids into the kids corner, their favorite place. Sandy and I had an early lunch. Afterwards, I attended a lecture on the history of art while Sandy read a book. At 3.30, there was a family activity in Pacific Heights – make your own pizza. So at about 3.15, we got the kids and headed for Pacific Heights to make our first family pizza.

Friday, July 9
Sea Day
Friday was our last sea day. It was perfectly uneventful.

Stockholm

2010-10-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 7
Stockholm

On Wednesday, we arrived into Nynashamn, which is the port city of Stockholm. We were signed up for a tour called the Stockholm Sampler - a 6 hour tour covering all the major sites of Stockholm. The ship was anchored at sea, so we took a tender boat to shore.

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. The city is made up of 14 islands connected by some 50 bridges on Lake Mälaren, which flows into the Baltic Sea and passes an archipelago with some 24,000 islands and islets. The Stockholm archipelago is one of the world's most spectacular, stretching 80 kilometers east of the city.

The islands offer a wide variety of nature, from the lush green of the inner archipelago to the bare cliffs of the more distant outposts. Some islands have restaurants, youth hostels and country stores, while others are entirely deserted islands.

The city's a very lively, cosmopolitan place with both modern Scandinavian architecture including lots of brass and steel, along with fairy tale towers, a captivating Old Town (Gamla Stan) and lots of green space. Over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces, giving Stockholm perhaps the freshest air of any European capital. There is apparently not longer than 300 meters to a park wherever you are in Stockholm.

Stockholm is not the oldest town in Sweden, but after its establishment in the 1250s it rapidly became a national center, with its strategic location between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city is in almost every respect the most important city in Sweden, even though more peripheral regions feel they survive quite well without the political centralism exerted by the capital.

The city contains buildings from all ages since the 15th century. Like the rest of Sweden it was untouched by the World Wars, but particularly between 1955 and 1975, hundreds of old buildings in Norrmalm were demolished in a large-scale modernization process, encouraged by similar projects in other European cities. Since then, little has changed in the architecture of central Stockholm.

Sweden's beautiful capital has a picturesque setting that makes the city unique. The difference between seasons is quite large, the summers green with mild nights, and the winters dark, cold, rainy, sometimes snowy, and with millions of Christmas candles in the windows.

Our first stop was the Vasa museum. The Vasa Museum features the Vasa, an original warship built between 1626 and 1628. It sailed for 15 minutes before sinking in its maiden voyage. It was meant to go to Poland to collect taxes. It was very top heavy and the wind blew it over. There were 450 people on board and 50 died. Vasa was built by a Dutchman. The ship was raised and the museum was built around it. The ship spent 333 years under water before it was excavated. It was retrieved from the water in 1961. The ship is almost wholly preserved and is the only one of its kind and quality in the world.

We received from interesting facts from the tour guide on our way to the next stop:

• Sweden was part of the 30 year war, which was basically 30 years of Catholics and Protestants fighting each other. It appears that the Protestants won as Sweden is a Protestant/Lutheran country.
• Stockholm has a population of just under 1 million. There are about 9 million in Sweden.
• The Swedes are outdoors people - usually vacation in July in cottages swimming, fishing, hiking, etc. There is a Swedish saying that goes “there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. There are moose living in Sweden. The moose is the symbol of the country. The moose shed their antlers every year and the antlers become smaller as the moose gets older. Reindeer live in the north and both male and female have antlers.
• Finland was for along time part of Sweden and then was lost to Russia. The 6 June 1523 is when the first king, Vasa, was elected to power. 6 June is therefore National Day. The king freed the country from Danish rule and also changed the official religion from Catholic to Protestant/Lutheran.
• Stockholm founded in 1252. The name “Stockholm” easily splits into two distinct parts - Stock-holm, "Log-islet", but as no serious explanation to the name has been produced, various myths and legends have attempted to fill in the gap. According to a 17th century myth, the population at the Viking settlement Birka decided to found a new settlement, and to determine its location had a log bound with gold drifting in Lake Mälaren. It landed on present day Riddarholmen where today the Tower of Birger Jarl stands, a building, as a consequence, still often erroneously mentioned as the oldest building in StockholmBuilt on 14 islands.
• The second largest city is Gothamburg. There are two auto manufacturers there - Saab and Volvo.
• The city has strong German and Dutch influences.
• It was noted that the author of the Millenium trilogy is Swedish.
• Only 2 percent of the women in Sweden are housewives.
• There are 600 noble families in Sweden.

We also passed by a number of notable sites:
• We passed the Cathedral, Royal Palace, Parliament, and Opera House. The Stockholm Cathedral is the oldest church in Gamla Stan. Originating as a 13th century Gothic structure, the exterior was remodelled in Baroque style around 1740. The church is the seat of the Church of Sweden bishop of Stockholm. It contains two pieces of famous artwork: the 15th century wooden statue of Saint George and a copy of the oldest known image of Stockholm, Vädersolstavlan ("The Sun Dog Painting"), a 1636 copy of a lost original from 1535.

We also passed by the Nobel Institute. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He amassed a fortune with his various inventions, but had no wife or children. He established the Nobel Institute with his fortune. He figures that it was better to give it away to those who can do something for mankind. At a brief just down the road from the Nobel Institute, our tour guide pointed out an imposing brick building in the city center. This is the Stockholm City Hall, which is where the Nobel Prize Banquet takes place every year.

The bus dropped us in front of the Opera House in the midst of the city center. We had a couple of hours to look around, so we decided to venture on foot to Gamla Stan. Gamla Stan, situated on the island of Stadsholmen, is Stockholm's old medieval town that emerged in the 13th century. It is the beautifully preserved historical heart of Stockholm. The picturesque old town is a major attraction in itself with narrow streets and houses dating back to medieval times. Gamla Stan is home to the present Royal Palace. A ceremonial changing of the guard takes place at noon on weekdays. The Royal Palace was built between 1697 and 1754 and is one of the largest inhabited royal castles in the world.

On our way back to the ship, we also passed a couple of interesting sites:

We passed by the Ericsson Globe. The Globe is located just south of Södermalm. The giant white sphere that is "the Globe" has been one of the most eye-catching features of the Stockholm skyline since its inauguration in 1989. The 16,000-seat arena claims the title as the world’s largest spherical building. It is frequently used for ice hockey games but is also used for other sporting events, as well as concerts and galas. The globe is 90 meters high.

We also passed by the Skogskyrkogården cemetery, in the southern suburbs, is one of the very few UNESCO World Heritage sites from the 20th century. The Skogskyrkogården, the Woodland Cemetery, is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the southern suburbs and is famous for its architecture. The two architects Gunnar Asplund (who later also would design the Stockholm Public Library) and Sigurd Lewerentz were 30 years old when they won the architecture competition in 1915. All chapels and other main buildings are designed by Asplund, with the exception of the Chapel of Resurrection, designed by Lewerentz, the landscape architect. The site also features works of art by famous Swedish artists such as Sven Erixson, Carl Milles and Otto Sköld. With some 100,000 graves spanning 102 hectares, Skogskyrkogården is the second largest cemetery in Sweden. The film star Greta Garbo is one of several notables buried there. In addition to the large Christian Protestant section, there are also Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim sections.

At the end of our excursion, we came back to the ship and got about an hour in at the pool. We fed the kids and then had dinner again with our friends the McDonalds. We did dinner at Pacific Heights which turned out to be a truly underutilized restaurant. Afterwards, we went to Dazzles lounge, where they had a big screen TV set up to show the Spain/Germany world cup match.

Visit to Helsinki

2010-10-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 6
Helsinki

On Tuesday, July 6th, we docked in Helsinki. Helsinki is the capital of Finland. Founded in 1550, the "Daughter of the Baltic" has been the Finnish capital since 1812, when it was rebuilt by the czars of Russia along the lines of a miniature St. Petersburg, a role it has played in many a Cold War movie. Today, Helsinki pulls off the trick of being something of an international metropolis while still retaining a small-town feel. A beautiful archipelago surrounds the Helsinki city center. There are 380 islands around Helsinki.

Helsinki's current population is about 575,000, but the Greater Helsinki region including the neighboring suburban cities of Espoo and Vantaa has a population of over 1.3 million.
Helsinki was founded in A.D. 1550 by King Gustav Vasa of Sweden as a trading post to compete with Tallinn to the south in Estonia, which was Danish at that time. The growth of the city was slow until the establishment of Sveaborg (nowadays Suomenlinna) Maritime Fortress in the front of Helsinki in the middle of 18th century. In 1809, Finland was annexed by Russia during a war of that period and the capital of Finland moved from Turku to Helsinki in 1812. The Czar felt the Grand Duchy of Finland needed a capital of grand proportions. The architects Johan Albrecht Ehrenström, a native Finn, and Carl Ludwig Engel, from Germany, were given the task of rebuilding the city in the Empire style. This can be seen today around the Lutheran Cathedral, which was completed in 1852. The same style, and even architects, are also a part of Saint Petersburg's history.

We had an afternoon tour, so we spent the morning poolside after a light breakfast in the Garden Cafe. It was our first cloudy since Copenhagen, but at least it was warm and we did not have any rain. In the afternoon, we had a quick lunch again in the Garden Cafe and proceeded to the meeting point for the tour - the Stardust Lounge. The tour was called "Discover Helsinki" and hit all the highlights of the city. The tour guide was very informative. Here are some of the facts she shared:

• Finland has 5.2 million people. 20 percent live in Helsinki.
• There are two official languages: Finnish and Swedish.
• There are two official religions: Lutheran and Orthodox.
• Finland has the largest shipbuilding industry in the world. Finland built the last two giant ships for Royal Caribbean (the “Oasis of the Seas” is now the largest in the world). Helsinki has eight ice breakers - these are huge cruise like ships that break through the ice in the wintertime. We passed by five of them.
• Traffic lights came to Helsinki in 1952 for the Olympics.
• There are two official theaters - the National Theater for Finnish performances and the Swedish Theater for Swedish performances.
• Finland was the first European country to allow women to vote in 1906. Most people in government are women - the president is a woman.

The first stop was the Church in the Rock - built in 1969. From above, it resembles a crashed UFO.
It is dug out from a huge solid piece of granite, so it has the feeling of being in a large stone cave. 22 km of copper strips formed into circles compose the dome of the church. There are services in Finnish, Swedish, and English. It is the most popular place in Helsinki for weddings and baptisms. There are seats for 1000 people. When we visited, someone from the local university was playing the organ. The acoustics were amazing.

The next stop was the Sibelius Monument. The world-famous composer Jean Sibelius' monument was designed by sculptress Eila Hiltunen and unveiled in 1967. It is one of the most well-known tourist attractions in Helsinki as nearly every guided tourist tour is brought to Sibelius Park to marvel at this unique work of art resembling organ pipes, welded together from 600 pipes and weighing over 24 metric tons. No one is quite sure what it actually represents.

As we traveled to the next location, the tour guide provided some additional facts:

• Most children attend public school. The parents must pick the schooling language - Swedish or Finnish. Every child receives warm meal free of charge at lunch. Finnish children have the possibility to study four foreign languages while in school, starting with the first grade.
• The winter is very long – about 6 months. With so long without sun, adults and children are encouraged to take vitamin D.
• Mothers get 9 months of paid maternity leave at 60 percent of salary. Mothers receive a child allowance of about 100 Euros per month per child until they turn 17. All residents are guaranteed a minimum standard of living - there is no poverty. There are no beggars. There is practically no cost for health care – it is all included in the taxes.
• The average salary is about 2,500 Euros per month. Tax ranges from 25 to 60 percent. There is a tax for eating out (restaurant tax) which is 22 percent.
• All houses have saunas. Saunas are generally used over the course of a couple of hours and can be somewhat of a social activity. You go in for about 20 min and then jump in the water to cool off. Then drink a beer and do it all over again. If not built near water, then people jump into the snow to cool off.
• Most people know the company Nokia. Nokia is actually the name of a village in Finland that grew into a town. The company actually started manufacturing rubber products and then at some point switched to mobile phones.
• We noticed some areas near the water that looked like picnic tables. It was explained that these tables are for cleaning your rugs. There are actually 14 places like this around Helsinki where you can clean your rugs.
• Fins are number 1 in Europe in the consumption of ice cream, milk, and coffee.

We passed by a number of noteworthy sites on our way to the next stop:

Olympic Stadium and Olympic Tower - Helsinki is an Olympic city, the host of the 1952 Olympic Games. Olympic Stadium, was originally built for the Olympics and renovated for the 2005 World Athletic Championships. The most popular building in the complex, though, is the Uimastadion, Helsinki's largest outdoor pool. After the war, the pool was used to store herring and potatoes! The stadium features 72m high tower that offers a great view over the city.

Parliament House - The House of the 200-seat Parliament of Finland was designed by J.S. Sirén in the classic style of the 1920s and officially inaugurated in 1931. The interior is classical with a touch of functionalism and art deco.

Uspenski Cathedral - is a classical onion-domed Russian church prominently located near the Market Square, Uspenski Cathedral serves Finland's small Orthodox minority and is the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe. The name comes from the Russian uspenie, from the Dormition (death) of the Virgin Mary. The five domes are topped with 22-carat gold, and some of the icons within are held to be miraculous.

Suommenlina island fortress - Suomenlinna is known as the "Gibraltar of the North" and was once the greatest sea fortress in the Baltic, built by the Swedish in the mid-1700s at great expense to protect their eastern flank. But when the Russians invaded in February 1808, the bulk of the unprepared and bankrupt Swedish army hastily withdrew, allowing the Russians to conquer Helsinki without a fight and besiege the fortress. With no reinforcements in sight, Commander Carl Olof Cronstedt surrendered unconditionally two months later, and Finland was ceded to the Russians. Cronstedt's actions probably saved countless civilian lives, but King Gustav IV needed a scapegoat and sentenced him to death for treason; fortunately, the losing king was himself soon overthrown, and Cronstedt lived out his years gardening.

Today's Suomenlinna is still living in its own time with only old buildings, few cars, fewer than a thousand inhabitants and lots of old fortifications, catacombs and cast iron cannons. But it's not just a museum: the sprawling complex houses restaurants, cafes, theaters and museums, and is a very popular place for a picnic on a fine summer day, watching the vast passenger ferries drift by on their way to Estonia and St Petersburg. It was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1991 as a unique monument to European military architecture.

The last stop was for Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral. The statue of liberal Russian czar Alexander II stands guard in front of the church. There are four statues surrounding him representing law, light, labor, and peace. Lutheran Cathedral is the unofficial symbol of the city. This striking white cathedral dominates the central Senate Square. Based on designs by Carl Ludvig Engel and completed in 1852, the cathedral has recently been refurbished and looks better than ever, with the 12 apostles on the roof once again looking down at the world below. These 12 statues on the building are made of Zinc – this is the largest collection in the world.

The tour guide gave us a little bit of history on the way back summarized below:

12th century - Christian crusaders
1515 - Gustav Vasa founded Helsinki.
1808 - war between Sweden and Russia. Sweden lost Finland to Russia.
1812 - only 4,000 residents and 11 stone houses. Alexander I invited architects from Russia to build the city.
1917 - Finland becomes independent.

Day 2 in St. Petersburg

2010-10-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 5
St. Petersburg, Russia

On this second day in St. Petersburg, we did not have any land excursions. Instead, we spent some family time together in the library playing games as well as poolside taking in the sun. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

2010-10-02T03:28:00.001-07:00

Sunday, July 4
St. Petersburg, Russia

On the 4th of July, we docked in St Petersburg (spending Independence Day in Russia was an interesting twist), which was the highlight of the cruise. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second largest city, with a population of 4.7 million perched at the eastern tip of the Baltic Sea and the Neva River. The city was formerly known as Petrograd, and later Leningrad. The Historic Center of St Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments are UNESCO world heritage sites. However, due to plans of the city to build a 403m high Gazprom skyscraper , UNESCO is considering to withdraw this listing. Most of the citizens dispute against the plans, but local authority stays deaf to them.

Our stay was for 2 days. We had tried to book tours for both days, but the tours booked up fast, and our desired tour for the second day was already filled. it would have been to the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is where the all of the Romanov Czars of Russia from Peter the Great (bar two or three) are buried. However, we did get our first choice, which was a full day tour of the Hermitage Museum and the Church of Spilled Blood. We were told to be prepared for long lines and uncomfortable bus rides. Fortunately, the immigration lines getting off the ship were not that long and our bus had AC. Additionally, it was Sunday and there was not much traffic on the streets. Our tour guide said that there are only 60 sunny days per year and we were lucky enough to get one – which turned out to be a good omen for the day. St Petersburg sits on 47 islands. There are four main rivers in St Petersburg - two “male” and two “female”. It is considered to be the Venice of the north. But instead of gondolas, hydrofoils are used to transport people. It was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, but actually named after St. Peter. There are 320 bridges in St Petersburg. The bridges on the Neva River are actually draw bridges and open two times in the evening to let boats pass. The city is filled with brightly covered buildings so that people do not feel depressed. The sailboat is the symbol of the city.

We went first to the Hermitage museum, one of the top museums in the world - right up there with the Leuvre and the Prado. There are 500 rooms, over 100 staircases, almost 3 million pieces of art, and the largest collection of paintings in the world. If one were to stand just 30 seconds in front of each work of art, it would take 6 years to tour the Hermitage. Fortunately, we had a tour guide to show us the highlights. Additionally, the museum opened an hour early just for the cruise passengers.

5 buildings comprise the Hermitage:
1. Winter palace - where Catherine the Great lived
2. Small hermitage
3. Large hermitage
4. Theater building - we did not visit
5. New hermitage

The tour went through the rooms below. This listing probably won’t make any sense, but is more to aid in my recollection of what we saw.

• Waiting hall
• Hall with vase
• Throne room
• Temporary exhibit of Pablo Picasso
• Coat of arms (of Russian provinces) hall
• Gallery of war of 1812 - portraits of Russian generals. This room was interesting because the columns were made of fake marble. The interesting thing is it was actually more expensive to produce fake marble than to bring real marble from Italy. The reason for using fake marble was that it was in style for things to be something other than what they appeared to be.
• Throne chair hall - most important visitors invited to this room. Patterns on the ceiling were reflected on floor, except for the double headed eagle, which is the symbol of Russia. This is so the double headed eagle could not be walked on. The double headed eagle signifies two rulers - God and the czar.
• Apollo room
• Gallery
• Special collection of impressionists called hidden treasures. This was a private collection stolen by Russian soldiers. It was later turned in, but the original owner was never identified.
• Minister corridor
• Pavillion hall – contained the very elaborate peacock clock as well as a mosaic based on one uncovered in Rome – it took 4 men, 6 years to duplicate the Roman mosaic. Note: there are two types of mosaics: Glass - roman style, Stone - florentine style)
• Italian art - extensive collection 30 rooms - venetian gallery
• Small field marshall room - 2 works by leonardo di vinci
• Passageway based on room in Vatican painted by Raphael - got permission from Pope to copy it - took 28 artists 6 years
• Raphaels room - many ceramic pieces by Rahael. Two paintings by Raphael, one of which is the “Holy Family” containing a beardless St. Joseph. Another interesting piece is the “Crouching Boy” by Michaelangelo.
• Spanish gallery - second largest collection in the world after Spain itself.
• Collection of Rembrandt - 28 paintings – most important is the “Return of the Prodigal Son”.
• Tent hall - houses the collection of art that started the Hermitage. 228 paintings - Dutch artists - collected by Catherine the Great.
• Collection of Antoine van Dyck and Ruben.
• Collection of French artists.
• Golden room - where royalty spent time chatting.
• Crimson room
• The dark corridor - collection of tapestries
• Rotunda room
• Cream room - Provisional government hid here
• Living room of Nikolaus the second.

After the Hermitage, we had lunch, which was fairly uneventful. We were hoping for something traditional, but instead ate what appeared to be a chicken cordon blue coming from the freezer isle of the local supermarket. Afterwards, we went to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Spilled Blood Cathedral).

The Spilled Blood Cathedral is where Alexander II was assassinated by terrorists. The Church is prominently situated along the Griboedov Canal. The embankment at that point runs along either side of a canal. On March 13, 1881, as Tsar Alexander's carriage passed along the embankment, a grenade thrown by an anarchist conspirator exploded. The tsar, shaken but unhurt, got out of the carriage and started to remonstrate with the presumed culprit. Another conspirator took the chance to explode another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounding the tsar. The tsar, bleeding heavily, was taken back to the Winter Palace where he died a few hours later. A temporary shrine was erected on the site of the attack while the project for a more permanent memorial was undertaken. It was decided that the section of the street where the assassination took place was to be enclosed within the walls of a church. That section of the embankment was therefore extended out into the canal to allow the shrine to fit comfortably within the building and to provide space on the exterior wall for a memorial marking the spot where the assassination took place. Inside, an elaborate shrine was constructed on the exact place of Alexander's death, garnished with topaz, lazurite and other semi-precious stones. Amid such rich decoration, the simple cobblestones on which the tsar's blood was spilled and which are exposed in the floor of the shrine provide a striking contrast. The inside is covered floor to ceiling with 7000 sq meters of mosaic tile. The highest point of the church is 81 meters, because Alexander was assassinated in 1881. The second highest point is 62 meters, because Alexander was 62 when he was assassinated. Alexander II apparently did a lot for the country. One item in particular was abolishing slavery in 1861.

In the 1900’s, the Soviets started blowing up churches. This church was also slated for destruction. It was actually saved by WWII because the soviets needed to conserve their gunpowder for the war.

After the church, we passed by Palace Square with the Alexander Column, erected to commemorate the Russian military victory in the war with Napoleon. We also traveled briefly along Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of the city. We passed by Michaels Castle, where Czar Paul was assassinated. St. Michael's Castle was built to the south of the Summer Garden and replaced a small wooden palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Afraid of intrigues and assassination plots, Emperor Paul I didn't like the Winter Palace where he never felt safe. Due to his personal interest in Medieval knights and his constant fear of assassination, the new royal residence was built like a castle with rounded corners in which a small octagonal courtyard is located. The castle was surrounded by the waters of the Moika River, the Fontanka River and two specially dug canals (the Church Canal and the Sunday Canal), transforming the castle area into an artificial island which could only be reached by drawbridges. Ironically, Paul I was assassinated only 40 nights after he moved into his newly built castle. He was murdered on 12 March 1801, in his own bedroom, by a group of dismissed officers headed by General Bennigsen. We also passed by St Isaacs Square and St Isaacs Cathedral. It was built in 1818 and is a major attraction in the city. It is the third highest cupola cathedral in the world.

After the tour, we went back to the ship, got the kids out of kids corner and hung out by the pool the rest of the afternoon. We ate dinner together poolside and then at 6.15, it was time to get ready again - this time for a night of Russian Ballet. Everything we've read says it is a must see - so we went for it. It was a long time to leave the kids in the kids corner, but we did not have anything planned the next day, so we could make up for it tomorrow.

The bus ride to the theater was about 30 min and we passed a couple of sights from this morning like Nevsky Prospekt and Spilled Blood Cathedral. The theater was The Grand Palace Theatre on Italyanskaya St and was unimpressive, both inside and out. It was packed with what appeared to be 100 percent cruisers like ourselves. The performance was Swan Lake - ultimately, it was a good performance. The dancers were a little unsynchronized at the beginning. Once they started to feature their main performers, the show got tremendously better. The music was fantastic. The performance ended at 10.30PM and it was still light outside. They call the time now white nights because there are only a few hours of darkness at night.

Then...

2010-09-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 3
Tallinn, Estonia

The next day, we arrived in Estonia. The name Estonia seems to derive from Aestii, used by a Roman chronicler in 100 BC to describe all the tribes east of Germany. Its capital, Tallinn, was first mentioned in written chronicles in 1154 by a famous Arab explorer Alldrisi, who back then marked it on his world map as Kolovan. The present day Tallinn was first inhabited in the 10th century when a stronghold was built on Toompea Hill, which ever since remained the seat of the ruling power and the church authorities. The location was chosen by the first settlers for its favorable geographical position – a hillside in the immediate vicinity of the port, which conveniently remained on the East-West trading route. The advantageous position of the town was an object of desire to many neighboring nations, which, at the end, turned to be motive for continuous warfare.

Tallinn is a historic city dating back to the medieval times and it was first recorded on a world map in 1154, although the first fortress was built on Toompea in 1050. In 1219, the city was conquered by Valdemar II of Denmark, but it was soon sold to the German Teutonic Order for 19,000 silver marks. in 1285. The city, known as Reval at the time, prospered as a trading town in the 14th century, and much of Tallinn's historic center was built at this time.

Tallinn then became a pawn in the geopolitical games of its big neighbors, passing into Swedish hands in 1561 and then to Russia under Peter the Great in 1710. By World War I and the ensuing brief Estonian independence (starting 1918) Tallinn's population had reached 150,000.

Estonia was eventually occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, only to be conquered by Nazi Germany (1941-44) and then retaken by the Soviets. In World War II, the city was quite extensively bombed by the Soviets, even though luckily the medieval town remains. The Soviet Union undertook a program of massive Slavic migration, and just over 40% of Tallinn's current inhabitants are Slavic (compared to an average of 28% for the entire country). On Aug 20, 1991, Estonia declared independence and Tallinn became its capital once again.

We started the day with a tour of Tallin. Tallin means “danish city”. Alas, the new town sprawling all around is largely built in typical concrete Soviet style, now joined with glass-and-steel cubes celebrating the post-Soviet economic boom. The new centre of town is Vabaduse väljak (Freedom Square) at the edge of the old town, and nearby is the giant matchbox of Hotel Viru, the former Intourist flagship and notorious den of Cold War intrigue (every room was tapped and monitored by the KGB!).

Close to 50 percent of the land is covered by forest, so forestry is a big industry, as well as tourism. Most of the tourism is by Finnish people. Finland is only 80 km away and the prices are much lower in Estonia than in Finland. We also learned that the average monthly salary is about 800 euros, the average pension is 400 euros, taxes are 20 percent, and education and health care costs are included in taxes.

We first visited the song festival grounds. It is an outdoor stage that accommodates up to 30,000 singers. They have a three day festival every five years during the first week of July. Although we were visiting during the first week of July, they just had the last festival last year. They sing traditional folk music, which sounds like church coir music.

On our way to the city center, we passed by Kadriorg Palace, an imperial Russian summer residence built by Italian architect Niccolo Michetti for Tsar Peter the Great in 1718. It is situated in a 90 ha (222 acre) park in the eastern part of the city. The Tsar himself, a classic and mysterious Russian soul, preferred to stay in a modest house nearby. This event signified the beginning of Tallinn's fame as a summer resort for noble and rich Russians for most of the 18th and 19th centuries. Currently the palace is housing some paint collections and other art. A portion of the complex is now occupied by the Office of the President and not available to the public.

The next visit was to the old town. The old town is split between the upper town at the top of Toompea Hill and the lower town. The noblemen lived in upper town while merchants, craftsmen, and peasants lived in lower town. This distinction still exists today. Government buildings, churches, etc are in the upper town, while shops, pubs, etc are in the lower town. The bus dropped us at the top of Toompea Hill. According to myth, the hill was built on top of the grave of legendary Estonian king Kalev, but more historically, it's solid limestone and the site of the Danish castle that founded the city in 1219. Toompea was the home of the Danish aristocracy and relations between the toffs and the plebs were often inflamed, which is why it's surrounded by thick walls and there's a gate tower (1380) guarding the entrance. The Upper Town was completely destroyed by a fire in 1684 when all the wooden structures burned down.

We stood in a large square with a long pink building one side and a beautiful church on the other side. The pink building is the Parliament House. It is known as the old castle because it is built on the former site of the old castle. Some of the remnants of the old castle like a stone wall and turret still remain and sit directly adjacent to the Parliament building. The church standing across from the Parliament House is the Russian Orthodox Church also known as the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a classic onion-domed 19th-century Russian Orthodox church that has become a touristy symbol of the city, much to the annoyance of nationalist types who regard it as a symbol of oppression. It was almost demolished in 1924 during Estonia's first brief spell of independence, but the Soviets left it to moulder and it has been restored to its former glory. It was built in 1900 and is the largest church in Estonia. Only 10 percent of Estonians are religious and most are Lutheran. So the church is predominantly for the Russian community (about 40 percent of the population). Masses are every morning and evening. The main mass is on Sunday morning and lasts 3-4 hours. It was interesting to see that there are no pews in the church (imagine standing through a 4 hour mass!)

We next visited the Estonian Lutheran Church (also known as the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin). The Cathedral of the Holy Virgin was mentioned in chronicles in 1233 and is the oldest church in Estonia. After the fire of 1684 destroyed the church, the Swedish King ordered that it be rebuilt and even donated money for this purpose. The new church was completed in 1686. The best carpenters worked to build it. The pulpit and the frame of the altarpiece, decorated with woodcarvings, were made by the celebrated craftsman Christian Ackermann. This church started as a Catholic Church and was converted to Lutheran in 1517 when Martin Luther brought Lutheranism to Estonia. It was interesting to see that there are tall separations between the pews. Masses are on Sunday morning only and last 45 min. We saw that the walls were decorated with incredibly intricate wooden carvings of the coats of arms of the old guilds of the time. These woodcarvings were also made by Christian Ackermann.

We walked down into the lower town via Long Leg Street. There is also a parallel street called Short Leg, which is why Tallin is known as the limping town.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Le Chateau and had beef stew with boiled potatoes, a traditional dish. Afterwards, we walked around the lower town and admired the old medieval buildings. Afterwards we visited the town hall square and then walked down St. Catherines Street for a concert of medieval music and dance.

We ended the tour going through Viro Gate, one of the original medieval gates of the city. Viro gate is the entrance to Viro Street, the main street of the lower town.

We took the bus back to the ship, got the kids from the kids corner, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. It was a great, sunny afternoon. The pool water was so warm that it was more refreshing to get out of the pool than to go in. We watched the second half of the Germany vs Argentina match (Germany won 4 to 0) before sitting down for dinner with the McDonalds. We ate at the specialty steakhouse restaurant. We had huge shrimp cocktails and huge filet mignons - well worth the 25 cover charge.

next...

2010-09-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

Thursday, July 1
Warnemunde, Germany
On Thursday, we arrived to Warnumunde, which is the port city of Berlin. Warnemunde has 800 years of history and 160 years of tradition as a seeside resort. The site is attractive for white beaches and romantic fishermen’s houses. Living modestly from fishing, ferry traffic, trade and handicrafts, the inhabitants of Warnemunde waged a constant struggle against floods, gales and the enemies of the Hanseatic city. The old fishing village had been property of the wealthy town of Rostock, ever since the provincial rules, Heinrich of Mechlenburg, sorely in need of ready cash, sold the left bank of the Warnow River, including Warnemunde, to the town in 1323. This commenced a dismal period marked by poverty and lack of rights, until Warnemunde was discovered for tourism. Word spread that salt water and bracing air worked wonders against many afflictions, and bathing spas along the Baltic coast were becoming more and more attractive.

We did not see Warnemunde as being all that exciting, and we have already been to Berlin, so we signed up for a tour of Wismar, which is a Unesco world heritage site. The tour did not start until 2.30, so we spent the morning poolside with the McDonalds. It was beautiful weather and we had the pool practically to ourselves since most people had chosen the full day tour to Berlin. Eventually, we dragged ourselves from the pool, showered up, and had a nice relaxing lunch in the main dining room. We always prefer the main dining room as you generally have a few options that are not available at the buffet. At 2PM, we got the kids into the kids club and then got on the bus to Wismar. It was an hour and a half bus ride there, as we took the scenic route. The tour guide was pretty good and gave us some details about the history of the area. Of primary interest was the fact that the town has a bit of Swedish history. It went under Swedish rule at the end of the 30 years war, as explained below:

1229 – first documented mention of the city of Wismar
1648 – at the end of the 30 years war, the city of governance of Wismar is awarded to Sweden according to the Peace Treaty of Osnabrueck.
1716 – Sweden has to surrender the governance of Wismar to the High Nordic Allies during the Nordic War.
1803 – Wismar goes back to the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg for 100 years via the deed of security for 1,250,000 talers.
1903 – The Kingdom of Sweden, after the expiry of the 100 years period, waives its claim to the redemption of the deed of security. Wismar is finally integrated into the Duchy of Mecklenburg.

Our tour guide took us on a brief walking tour of the city. We visited a number of different churches, and at the end of our tour, visited a brewery. We learned that during the Middle Ages, water was filled with bacteria and was not safe to drink. However, beer, because of the brewing process, was safe to drink, so most people at that time drank nothing but beer. At its peek, there were 183 breweries in Wismar, serving a population of about 7,000 people. Today, there is only one. We had a visit there and had a chance to try their Mumme beer, a dark beer brewed since medieval times. We received an introduction to the brewing process. We learned that in medieval times, all beer was dark. Pilsner, when it was created sometime later, became a popular alternative to dark beer. So we had a chance to try their signature Pilsner beer as well. After the tour, we hopped on the bus and headed back to the ship. This time, we took the highway, which was about 30 minutes faster. We got the kids and enjoyed the rest of the sunny afternoon poolside. The kids had a late lunch, so we decided to leave them in the kids corner, while the adults had a nice meal on their own. We caught the evening entertainment again, which this time was a magician. As a time saver, we picked up the kids directly before the show and brought their meal into the theater. It worked out well as we could shovel food in their mouth while they were being mesmerized by the magic tricks.

Friday, July 2
Sea Day
The second sea day was fairly relaxing. I attended a lecture on Catherine the Great, who was quite a colorful character. She led a coup against her husband to steel the throne. She had a vast number of boyfriends that she rewarded with money and power when the relationship was over. She even had former boyfriends pick the new boyfriends and in her later years was dating guys half her age. We spent some time in the library with the kids playing games and practicing our letters. All in all, a pretty relaxing sea day.

2010-09-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 29
Sea Day
The next day was a sea day. The sea days are great for relaxing and recharging the batteries. We spent time together exploring the ship, playing golf and ping pong, and we also let the kids spend a little time in the kids club, while the adults checked out the casino – we started off strong on the roulette table and ended in the black. It was cold at sea, so we did not use the pool. Additionally, it was dress up night, so we cut our afternoon short so that we could get ourselves ready for pictures and dinner. We ate in the main dinning room and had rack of lamb with mint jelly. After dinner, we hit the shipboard entertainment, which was Cirque Pan, a kind of Cirque du Sole, but with a Peter Pan theme – the kids really enjoyed it, as did the adults.

Wednesday, June 30
Copenhagen, Denmark
On Wednesday, we arrived to Copenhagen. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and has a population of about a million. Copenhagen was first mentioned in the twelfth century and was referred to as Portus Mercatorum, which is really just a fancy Latin version of Købmannahavn. This has since been mangled into København in modern Danish, and even further mangled into Copenhagen in English, but all it really means is "merchant harbor."

We did not have an organized tour. We wanted to see the Carlsburg brewery, but that tour was sold out. Instead, we ate a late breakfast, got off the boat, and made our way to Tivoli Gardens, which is one of the world’s oldest leisure parks, dating back to 1843. This is the amusement park that we hit on our very first cruise that went from Amsterdam to Copenhagen to Oslo. That was three years ago, so it was nice to have the opportunity to go back and see it again. The kids still remembered it from the first cruise. At that time, they were too little to go on any of the rides, but they made up for it this time around.

When we came three years ago, we did the hop on hop off bus tour and saw a number of the great palaces: The four identical classicist palaces of Amalienborg, make up the main residence of the Danish royal family. The octagonal courtyard in the centre is open to the public and guarded by the ceremonial Royal Guard. The relief takes place every day at noon and is a highlight for any royalist visiting the city. There is also a small royal museum on the premises. Rosenborg Palace is a small but pretty renaissance palace, surrounded by the lovely King's Garden which is one of the most lively parks of the city. The palace both serves as a museum of Royal history and as a home for the crown jewels which are on display in the catacombs beneath the castle. Unusual for a well-founded democracy, the palace that houses the parliament, Christiansborg, is also a royal palace. It is usually possible to visit the Royal reception rooms, stables and the old court theatre here.

We decided to spend the afternoon at the amusement park and not visit any of the other historical sites, so I got my fill of the history of Copenhagen by visiting Wikipedia. Here is a summary if you are interested:
***Around 1160 AD, King Valdemar handed over control of the city to the archbishop of Roskilde, Absalon, one of the most colorful characters of the Middle Ages — a curious mix of great churchman, statesman, and warrior. As the country's only city not under the king's control, Absalon saw it thrive and erected a castle on what is today Slotsholmen (the remains are still visible in the catacombs under the present day parliament). As a man of religion he also built a great church, and with those necessities taken care of, Copenhagen quickly gained importance as a natural stop between the two most important Danish cities, the old royal capital Roskilde and Lund in present day Sweden. Endowed with an enviable location on the banks of the important Øresund Strait, it slowly but steadily surpassed the old urban centers. Copenhagen's rise was greatly aided by entrepreneurial trading with friends and foes alike and by prosperous fishing which provided much of Roman Catholic Europe with salted herring for Lent. But with prosperity comes envy and in the years to follow Copenhagen was laid waste and pillaged time and time again, mainly by the German Hanseatic League, which at one point completely destroyed the city.

But like a phoenix, Copenhagen repeatedly rose from the ashes. When the Danes kicked out the Pope during the reformation, Roskilde lost its importance as a Roman bishopric and after taking control of the city twenty years earlier, the king moved his residence to Copenhagen. Not terribly keen on seeing their new capital laid waste once more, successive kings built massive fortifications around the city. None more so than King Christian IV, who embarked on a building rampage which not only included the ramparts still visible throughout much of the city but also many present day landmarks like the Round Tower and the stock exchange. Since then Copenhagen was besieged by the Swedes, and then famously bombarded, set ablaze, and nearly destroyed by the British vice admiral Lord Nelson, who in one of two battles for Copenhagen, famously responded to the order to withdraw by saying "You know, Foley, I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes," and then raised the telescope to his blind eye and touted "I really do not see the signal."

Again, the city shook off its struggles and the population mushroomed during industrialization. When a cholera epidemic did a fine job of killing nearly everyone there wasn't room for, the King finally conceded that long range cannons would render its constraining walls irrelevant, and thus allowed the city to grow outside the now antiquated ramparts. But it was not long before a new modern fortification was built (known as Vestvolden today), which made Copenhagen Europe's most fortified city of the late nineteenth century.

After being subjected to yet another invasion during WWII, the whole idea of a fortified city was thrown out the window and replaced with one of the finest examples of urban planning anywhere — the Finger Plan. Copenhagen is one of few cities in the world to devise a long term plan for growth and then actually stick to it; try placing your hand over a map of Copenhagen with the palm as the city centre, and it's quite obvious why it's called the finger plan. Despite being the laughingstock of the country through the seventies and eighties when wealthy residents all moved out into the fingers, leaving behind an impoverished bankrupt city, a visit these days will prove that the Phoenix has risen once more. End of history lesson.***

After spending three hours at the amusement park, we made our way back to the ship for a late lunch. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner and we were meeting our friends the McDonalds for happy hour. After happy hour, there was a teddy bear party for the kids at 6PM. So the kids did that while the adults had a quiet meal on their own. After dinner, we picked up the kids and took them for a late dinner at the buffet and then got them to bed. The ship left around 5PM from Copenhagen, so we decided to try our luck again at the casino. We went back to the roulette table, but were not so lucky this time around. Our friend Brian showed up and won $50 in the first 2 minutes, so we decided to stick with him. We made our way to the blackjack table and played for about 2 hours. We ended up winning about $150 when we decided to call it a night.

Summer Vacation 1st take

2010-09-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 28
Departure Day – Travel to Dover, England
The kids and Sandy had six weeks off from school, so I decided to take some extra vacation time to spend it with them. We started our long vacation with a Baltic cruise with our good friends the McDonalds. Brian and Megan have two daughters: Marion (4) and Betty (1). This family has been in Switzerland for two years and they return back to the US in August, so this was our last hoorah together. We signed up for this cruise about a year ago, so it has been a long wait. We flew from Zurich to London and then a car service took us to the port in Dover. The kids enjoyed sitting together in the same row on the plane and then again in the same bench seat in the car. The first day on the cruise was uneventful: we got unpacked, went through the standard emergency drill (which we found has been shortened significantly as we now just need to know where the muster station is) and got the kids signed up for the kids program. We left port somewhere around 5PM and were anxious to hit the casino, but we were pretty beat from the travel, so we ate dinner and then hit the sack early.

Before the end of school year

2010-09-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Before the end of te school year, I have to take 20 kids to a 5 day overnight fieldtrip. Before doing so, we had to scout things out and went on a Sunday with my team and my family to Kandersteg.

Una granjera en la familia

2010-05-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sydney fue a una granja con su clase. Se divertio a montones!

Ay! Feliz cumple Sydney

2010-05-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Sydney cumplio 5 hace 6 semanas aprox. Tuvimos que cambiar la fecha, sin embargo todas sus amigas vinieron a festejar. Tambien tuvo otra fiesta con sus amiguitos de la escuela, 15 en total.

Cinque Terre, the pictures

2010-05-15T07:09:00.003-07:00

Cinque Terre, Italia

2010-05-15T07:09:00.001-07:00

We all met back in Switzerland in the middle of the second week so that we could recover from the jet lag before school/work. We decided to make a long talked about trip to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre means “The Five Lands”. It is a series of five fishing villages built into the cliffs along the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. The five villages (from north to south) are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside.
A walking trail connects the five villages. The trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola is called the Via Dell'Amore ("Love Walk") and varies in difficulty from an easy stroll to a rough and physically challenging hike. The stretch from Manarola to Corniglia is the easiest to hike, although the main trail into Corniglia finishes with a climb of 368 stairs. The trail from Corniglia to Vernazza is steep at certain places. The trail from Vernazza to Monterosso is by far the steepest. It winds through olive orchards and vineyards and is rough in places, but offers the best view of the bay and the spectacular approaches to both Monterosso and Vernazza.
Our first day, we took the train to Riomaggiore and explored the village in the morning. We covered the whole village in about an hour and spent the late morning/early afternoon at a cliff side restaurant overlooking the water. We ate plenty of seafood, brochette, and olives. In the afternoon, we hiked the Love Walk. We found this to be a very smooth walking path and thought the information on the internet significantly overstated the difficulty of this trail. It was so smooth that we kicked ourselves for not bringing the kids’ scooters. We spent the afternoon exploring Manarola, which was one of our favorites. The main street leads right down to the water and is filled with restaurants and shops on both sides. This main street is also littered with fishing boats that never seem to move. This is also one of the most scenic villages as the houses and buildings are all brightly colored.
The next day, we took the train back to Manarola and then hiked the path to Corniglia. As we thought all the paths were similar to what we experienced the first day, we brought the scooters with us this time – big mistake. The treck to Corniglia was very rocky and hilly and we ended up carrying the scooters that whole way. We received many strange looks from fellow hikers and one woman even stopped to ask “what’s with the scooters?” I had to explain that we started from the South with the Love Trail which is very easy and smooth. She had started from the North and the trails so far for her had been nothing but rocky and hilly. We eventually made it to Corniglia, and finished the journey with a punishing climb of the Lardarina, a long brick flight of steps composed of 33 flights with 377 steps. Corniglia, unlike the other villages, does not sit directly adjacent to the sea. It is surrounded on three sides by vineyards and terraces and the fourth side descends steeply to the sea. We took a lunch break and explored the village. It was still pretty early in the day, so we decided to hike to the next village, Vernazza. Vernazza I believe was our favorite of the five. Like Manarola, it also had a restaurant and shop lined street that connected the train station with the water. But at the water, there was a nice little beach area that was also surrounded by restaurants. Most restaurants opened for dinner at 7PM, but we found one restaurant that opened at 6.30. So we made a reservation and then spent the rest of the afternoon at a café on the main drag and did some people watching. The food was delicious - again, we ate mostly seafood, olives, and this time, some pasta.
On our last day, we promised the kids we would go to a bigger beach and build sand castles, and we knew Monterosso had the best and biggest beach. We debated in the morning about whether to hike or take the train. Since we had hiked to all the other villages, we decided to hike this final leg, and therefore took the train back to Vernazza. This final stretch between Vernazza and Monterosso was not the most physically demanding, but certainly the most treacherous. In some spots, there was nothing more than a narrow ledge along which we had to inch along slowly and carefully as we held each others hands. JP and Syd proved themselves to be great little hikers. We never carried them once, despite hiking for up to 2.5 hours at a time. We made it to Monterosso in the late morning and immediately found a place to eat. After lunch, I explored the village while Sandy and the kids hit the beach. Monterosso does not have the old world charm of the other four villages and is a bit more touristy because of the beach. However, I found it to be an interesting town with some nice shops and restaurants. The five villages are also connected by boat, so in the afternoon we took a boat ride from Monterosso to Manarola. We had dinner in Manarola at a restaurant we spotted our first time there and then took the train back to La Spezia. The weather could not have been more perfect over those three days – each day was sunny and warm with a nice cool breeze. On Sunday, we awoke to a cloudy, rainy day, which was fine since we were doing nothing more than driving back to Oberrieden. We could not have timed the weather any more perfectly!

Mexico Lindo y Querido

2010-05-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Nuestro corto viaje a Mexico estuvo muy relajado. Familia, amigos, comida, y muy buen clima.

No faltaron las visitas a parque de los coyotes
La foto familiar; si, la fotografa necesita unas clasesitas

Parque

Mas parque

Andy y Syd disfrutaron mucho esa semana. Gracias Andy!

Easter Break

2010-05-15T06:57:00.001-07:00

The ski season came to an abrupt end when Jim tore some of the muscle fibers in his calf one Sunday on the slopes. Fortunately, it was at the end of the day as well as at the end of the season. This last time skiing was great, because it was the first time we all went down the slope together as a family. We are definitely ready for ski season next year!
The kids and I had two weeks off from school in April around Easter. Jim took some vacation time and we split up to visit our respective families: Jim and JP went to Syracuse while Sydney and I went to Mexico. JP must have picked up a flu virus on the plane, because he was sick as soon as he and Jim got to Syracuse. He was a couch potato for the first 4-5 days, although I think Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed the slower pace and were happy to watch cartoons with him and feed him popsicles. Despite being under the weather, they managed to visit Beaver Lake to see how maple syrup is made, participated in an Easter Egg hunt in Paula’s neighborhood, make a visit to Jim’s high school, and make a visit to Aunt Suzzy’s work to bring flowers for her birthday. The second half of the trip was better – JP spent quality time with his cousins Griffy, Chelsey, and Piper. They worked in a couple more trips to Chuck E Cheeses (JP’s favorite place) and topped off the week with a fantastic Easter dinner at Mom and Dad’s – Jim managed to pack on an extra 5 pounds over the course of the week.

More skiing

2010-03-28T14:37:00.001-07:00

The Winter

2010-03-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

The last three months have been all about skiing. JP and Syd have enjoyed the Swiss Alps to the fullest. During the ski week, we traveled to Thusis for some extra skiing.

Christmas holiday

2009-12-29T12:21:00.000-08:00

The next day was Christmas Eve, which we were spending with our friends the Monsch’s. We spent most of the day running errands and getting ready for the party that night. Christian Monsch cooked lamb on the grill as well as his famous chicken/potato salad – it was a feast to remember. The kids also opened a few of their presents. Christmas morning started around 7AM. The kids were excited to find that Santa had come, left presents, and had also eaten the milk and cookies left out for him the night before. JP got the violin he had been requesting for months while Sydney got a “Fur Real” Lamb and a number of “Hello Kitty” items. Presents sent by grandma and grandpa ensured that the kids were unwrapping well into the morning – they loved everything and I think they even got tired of opening presents after a while. We spent the rest of the afternoon organizing and trying to figure out where to put all the new toys, books, and clothes. The day after Christmas is called St. Stephans day and is also a holiday, so everything is closed. Therefore, we did some more organizing and in the afternoon went ice skating for the first time as a family. I had only been on skates once before when I was 4, so it was like the first time for me. JP picked it up very quickly and after only a few minutes was making laps around the rink. Sydney eventually got the hang of it and by the end we were all doing laps together - it was a great time. Afterwards, we went to visit our neighbor Frau Bauman who was in the hospital over Christmas for a shoulder operation.

On the 27th, we celebrated Sandy’s birthday by going skiing. This was another family first. We took a family ski lesson that went from 10-12 and 2-4.

On the 28th, we were exhausted (as grandma Lorrie likes to say). The skiing took a lot out of us, so we recuperated by going to the thermal baths in Baden. The kids were still full of energy and apparently unphased by the long day of skiing the day before.

The 29th was a true recuperation day. I took the kids to Sihlcity, where they play in an indoor playground/daycare center called Kinder Paradise. Sandy hung back to write some reports for school. In the afternoon, we just took it easy and caught up on emails, bloging (hence the amount of updates) and internet surfing.

Kids during Christmas Eve. I will try to get other pictures from the hosts.

Vienna take 3

2009-12-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

The temperature was frigid (-15C) and the streets covered with slush, so we decided to spend the day indoors. We hit the first hot spot on our list which is the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). This is one of the world's greatest art museums and in a palace that's a work of art itself. The mother of all Austrian museums – there is no other word to describe the "Kunst" other than mind boggling. It contains a world-class exhibit of the Habsburgs' art collection, including Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Bosch, and Brueghel. Its, at the very least, a full day’s worth of sightseeing, however, with two kids, we cut that down to about 3 hours. The Museum also has an excellent collection of ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. The coin & medals collection is also exhaustive in its scope. A great attraction of Vienna at Christmas time is its Christmas Markets. They have about 8 in different locations around the city. Right outside the museum is a square called Maria-Theresien-Platz, which is home to one of the Christmas Markets. We braved the cold for about half an hour to explore this Christmas Market before wandering off to find a restaurant for dinner. We passed by another travel information office which happened to be open, so we went inside for a recommendation. The recommended spot was right down the street, so we went for it. It was a little pricy, but worth it for some traditional Viennese food. Portions are pretty big, so we would usually end up ordering food for 3 and splitting it amongst the four of us. Traditional food is also fairly heavy with soups like goulash and main dishes like wienerschnitzel. The next day, we decided to hit the Natural History Museum, which sits opposite the Museum of Fine Arts in Maria-Theresien-Platz visited the day before. This museum was erected as a mirror to its twin museum, Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). It exhibits various minerals (e.g. a collection of meteorites), fossils, stuffed animals, and skeleton reconstructions (among others, dinosaurs' skeletons). It also includes an anthropological section, where you can see the beautiful Venus of Willendorf which is 25,000 years old! It was a big hit with the kids. After taking a lunch break, this time Greek food, we ventured out to visit some of the beautiful churches. The first stop was Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), in Stephansplatz. This is a patchwork of architectural styles, but predominantly Gothic. None of the original construction remains—the oldest extant sections are the thirteenth century Giant Gate (Riesentor) and Towers of the Heathens (Heidentürme), both of which are Romanesque. The 448 ft South Tower (Südturm), often known by its Viennese diminutive Steffl (also a nickname for the entire cathedral), was finished in 1433. This is where the Pummerin, a huge bell cast from melted-down Turkish cannons, hangs. Steffl's intended twin, the North Tower (Nordturm), was never finished. In 1511, building in Gothic style ceased due to being out of fashion. Over fifty years later, in 1579, a Renaissance spire was added to the Nordturm to make it look less like the builders had stormed off the job. The main altar has a Baroque panel showing St. Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr. The next stop was the Augustinian Friars' Church (Augustinerkirche), in Josefsplatz. It's said that other dynasties waged countless wars to acquire new lands, but "you, happy Austria, marry." Even in death the Habsburgs placated three different churches with the honor of caring for their remains. The best known, the Kapuzinergruft, contain their actual bodies. St Stephens holds their innards (intestines and other parts taken out during the preservation process). But the Augustinerkirche holds, in the Herzgruft (Heart Crypt), all the Habsburgs' hearts. The tradition began in 1627 with Emperor Ferdinand IV, who wanted to "lay his heart at the feet of the Mother of God" - literally. His heart, and those of his descendants, are preserved in silver jars which are carefully cared for by the Augustinian friars who run the church. The final stop on our church tour was Karlskirche in Karlsplatz. This is the largest Baroque cathedral north of the Alps, designed by the famous architect Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Frescos done by Michael Rottmayr and paintings from the Italian Baroque painters Sebastiano Ricci and Giuseppe Antonio Pellegrini, and the Austrian painter Daniel Gran. Again, at end of the day, we visited another Christmas Market, this one right outside Karlskirche. Since we were close to the Opera House we decided to see if we could get some tickets. Friends of ours (the Kelsos) told us about standing room tickets that were available at a fraction of the price of regular seating. Since we did not have a baby sitter, we would not be able to sit for the entire theater anyway, so we tried our luck. We waited in line for about half an hour, but were lucky enough to get standing room tickets for only 4 Euros each to see that night’s performance of Macbeth. We grabbed a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant and then came back to the Opera. The Opera House is probably the most-beloved symbol of Viennese arts, and one of the first buildings to be rebuilt in the postwar era. It was built from 1861-1869 under the direction of architects Eduard van der Nüll and August von Siccardsburg for then-emperor Franz Josef I. The first performance was Don Giovanni, an opera by Austrian native Mozart, on 25 May 1869. Though now as well-loved as any member of the family, the architecture of the Opera was barely tolerated by the picky Viennese when it opened. Van der Nüll did not take these criticisms of his work lightly and committed suicide. A few weeks later, von Siccardsburg died of a heart attack. Doubly cursed, the Opera building succumbed to bombs less than 100 years later, during WWII. After ten years of Allied control after the end of the war, many cultural institutions reopened to celebrate the birth of the new Austrian state. This time the Opera opened with an adopted son of Vienna's work: Beethoven's Fidelio. The lush curtains and overall elegance contribute to the atmosphere of the Opera (even the nosebleed seats, so steeply pitched and close to the ceiling a nosebleed becomes a distinct possibility). We managed to see the first act which lasted about 25 minutes, before the kids started to get restless. We watched the second act on a TV monitor in the bar area and then decided to call it quits for the night. It was disappointing to not see more, but with the kids, we had no expectations to see more, and were just happy to experience Viennese Opera.

The next day we got up early to try and get tickets for the morning practice session of the Spanish Riding School - Spanische Hofreitschule which was first mentioned in a document dated 1572 and is the only equestrian institute in the world which follows a Renaissance model of classical schooling. Eleves, or students, begin their training immediately after completion of Austrian primary education (age 15 or 16), and are expected to be both sporty and clever. The school takes its name from a Spanish breed of horse first mentioned in Roman writings. In 1562, Emperor Maximilian II brought some of these Spanish horses to Austria to found a royal stud farm in Kladrub (Bohemia), housing them for a time in the "Stallburg" (oldest section of the Imperial Palace). The present school location was built in 1572. In 1580, Maximilian's brother, Archduke Karl, founded the stud farm in Lipizza near Trieste (now Slovenia). Interest in elegant riding had been growing for about fifty years at that point. During Renaissance times, powerful gentlemen who had already conquered the worlds of finance and politics looked to the writings of antiquity for new learning and an educated lifestyle to which they could aspire. Horsemanship which followed the ancient models described by Socrates and others became the fashion. Xenophon (430 – 354 BC) wrote "Men who understand the art of horsemanship, in truth, look magnificent." Who wouldn't want that? In the new Winter Riding School (built 1729-35), tournaments, masked balls, and other entertainment was held, but this would soon draw to a close – the royal stud farms at Lipizza were threatened by Napoleon several times and twice the precious stud horses were evacuated to Hungary. We were successfully in getting tickets and watched about an hour and a half of the 2 hour practice session. Many of the horses are white stallions and are really remarkable to watch. We had also hoped to get tickets to the Vienna Boys Choir, but as it turned out, they only perform on Sundays. The Vienna Boys Choir was founded at the pleasure of the Habsburgs. On 20 July 1498, Emperor Maximilian decided to hire six singing boys, the first permanent boys choir attached to the court. He also made arrangements for their education – fringe benefits that are difficult to get from a modern employer. The choir served the monarchy until its demise at the beginning of the first World War. The last Imperial Chaplain, Monsignor Josef Schnitt reestablished the Boys Choir as the "Vienna Boys Choir" in 1924 as a private institution. To earn money, the Choir began to perform outside the Imperial Chapel. Even though they are a not-for-profit organization, the rising costs of educating the choristers from a very young age as well as providing music and all the other variables required made establishing the Verein Wiener Sängerknaben necessary. In the afternoon, we headed to Schloss Schönbrunn. Schönbrunn is the ultimate palace experience in Vienna, because the Habsburg summer palace can be found here. It is comparable in grandeur to Versailles and is definitely a must-see in Vienna. The palace has also seen its fair share of excitement over the years, including a meeting between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khruschchev at the height of the Cold War. The Palace Park offers a lot of attractions, such as the Privy Garden, a Maze and Labyrinth, and the top-of-the-hill Gloriette with its Panorama Terrace. We took the Grand Tour, which is an audio guided tour of 40 rooms. The kids did surprisingly well as they had their own audio guides. There is a Christmas Market at Schönbrunn, which we visited after completing the tour and then went to the Christmas Market at the Rathaus (town hall). This one is more of a fairground than a Christmas Market, and is Vienna's largest and busiest. It is located on the large town square between Rathaus and Burgtheater. There was also an indoor portion where kids can build crafts like candles and picture frames. JP and Syd were interested in taking part so they each built their own Christmas gift while Sandy and I took advantage of the break to relax and warm up. After the Christmas Market, we found a great local restaurant and had a nice relaxing final dinner.

The next day, we were traveling back to Zurich, but wanted to hit a couple of spots before we got on the road. We went to KunstHausWien (Vienna House of the Arts), which we only wanted to see from the outside. The architecture of KunstHausWien would be a bastion against the dictatorship of the straight line, the ruler and T-square, a bridgehead against the grid system and the chaos of the absurd. Starting with the façade of the building, adapted from its prior life as a furniture factory, there is a Gaudi-in-Barcelona feel to the place. Windows peek out like eyes from curvy, rounded plaster and colorful paint. It's a Disneyland for grownups! Aterwards, we went to the Hundertwasserhaus and the shopping village situated about 300m from KunstHausWien. Again, very similar to Gaudi. We had hopes of seeing two other places, but it was not in the cards for this trip:
Freud Museum - This small museum is situated in Freud's historic flat where he practiced psychoanalysis for almost his whole life. However, the collection is limited mostly to documents of various kinds relating to Freud's life. Almost all of the flat's contents, including the famous original couch, went along with Freud to London when he fled the Nazis in 1939 and are now in the Freud Museum there.
Mozart House - This is the Viennese residence of Austria's most famous composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and a branch of the Vienna Museum.
After visitng the Hunderwasserhaus, we started our drive back to Zurich. We thought about visiting Salzburg on the way back, but decided to power through and save Salzburg for another day. We got home about 6PM, relaxed for a little bit, and then went straight to bed.

Vienna take 2

2009-12-29T12:09:00.001-08:00

We spent the first part of the holidays this year in Vienna, Austria. We left on a Saturday morning and began the 8 hour drive to Linz, which is located just outside Vienna. Our plan was to get in early so that we could explore Linz, but the weather was not agreeable. Once we got out of Zurich, snow began to accumulate on the highways, so the traffic was moving pretty slow. We made a couple stops for food before arriving at our hotel at about 8PM, so no opportunity to explore Linz. Fortunately, the small family operated hotel also had a restaurant, so we ordered up some food and just ate in the room. The next morning, we were up early and on our way to Vienna. We arrived about 2 hours later and since the travel information office was closed, we went straight to the hotel located right around the corner from Prater Park. The Prater Park began its life, as so many European parks did, as a carriage-riding area for the nobility. The Park houses “The Riesenrad” (the giant Ferris wheel) and has become a well-known symbol of Vienna, featured in many movies (most famously The Third Man; also Before Sunrise and Ethan Hawke). The weirdest attraction in the Prater, though, is the Kugelmugel, a spherical house that, after failing to get a planning permit, declared independence from Austria. Originally built elsewhere, it was forcibly carted off to the Prater by Austrian authorities and now sits uninhabited and fenced off with barbed wire. We got the hotel and were fortunately able to check in even though it was only about 11AM. On our final leg in to Vienna, we did some quick reading and decided the best way to get around is with the Vienna card, which allows 3 days of unlimited public transportation not to mention discounts in quite a few museums and restaurants. As we were only going to be there 3 days, it was the perfect solution for us. So we ditched the car, purchased our Vienna cards, and headed by subway into the old town (The subway system in Vienna is very good. It also has trams and buses and like Zurich the transportation network is very reliable).
Sandy hates it when I do this, but here is just a little background info on Vienna:
Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria. It is by far the largest city in Austria (pop.~ 1.7m), as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. As the former home of the Habsburg court and its various empires, the city still has the trappings of the imperial capital it once was, and the historic city centre is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The low-lying Danube plain in and around what is now Vienna has had a human population since at least the late Paleolithic: one of the city's most famous artifacts, the 24,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf, now in Vienna's Natural History Museum, was found nearby. Vienna's own recorded history began with the Romans, who founded it in the 1st Century CE as Vindobona, one of a line of Roman defensive outposts against Germanic tribes. Vindobona's central garrison was on the site of what is now the Hoher Markt (the "High Market" due to its relative height over the Danube), and you can still see the excavations of its foundations there today.
Vienna hosted the Habsburg court for several centuries, first as the Imperial seat of the Holy Roman Empire, then the capital of the Austrian Empire, and later of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which finally fell in 1918 with the abdication of the last Emperor Karl I. The court tremendously influenced the culture that exists here even today: Vienna's residents are often overly formal, with small doses of courtliness, polite forms of address, and formal dress attire. One of the many paradoxes of the quirky city is that its residents can be equally modern and progressive as they are extremely old-fashioned.
Vienna has a reputation for having an excellent coffee culture. Vienna prides itself of its dozens of varieties of different coffees: Order a "Kleiner Schwarzer" if you want black espresso, a "Kleiner Brauner" if you want espresso with a little milk, a "Melange" if you prefer a cappuccino-style mix of coffee and milk and a "Kaffee Verkehrt" (or in the more modern places a "Kaffee Latte") if you like latte macchiato-style coffee with lots of milk. Most cafés in addition to coffee serve beer and wine and sometimes liqueurs. Many serve meals, especially at lunch, and these are often cheaper than in restaurants.

Vienna before Christmas

2009-12-29T11:51:00.001-08:00

JP playing the violin

2009-12-29T11:32:00.001-08:00

Santa brought JP a violin. He has been practicing and today he played seven consecutive notes of Twinkle Twinkle. This violin is borrowed. Our music teacher from school is bringing JP a new violin from Poland. We are very excited for him. This is a family effort though: Sydney taking the back seat, while Jim teaches me the very basics and then I teach JP; poor guy! He might be able to join the beginners strings class at school.

Ice skating in Zurich

2009-12-29T11:21:00.000-08:00

Jim found a place to ice skate in the city, right in the court yard of the Landes Museum. It was another first as a family. JP took some lessons a couple of years ago but he didn't seem to care much about it. We tried it last week and it was really funny to see the kids (and Jim) in action.

Skiing at Hoch-Ybrig

2009-12-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

Sydney tried for the first time skiing. She was fantastic, better than expected. JP of course is a natural and just wanted to get to the next slope after trying three small hills for beginners. We all enjoyed a family class with a great instructor who spoke great English with us and Swiss German with the kids. This was actually my bd present and I highly enjoyed it. There are no travel plans in the future except for skiing day trips over the next couple of months.

Let the skiing season begin

2009-12-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

We got our ski equipment for this season. JP is super excited to try again this year. Sydney spoted some pinkish boots and that made her change her mind to try skiing too. Here are some pics of the kids choosing their stuff.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

We chose the Lindt Chocolate Factory - Zurich - as the background of our Christmas picture. We hope everybody enjoys this holiday season and we send best wishes where ever you are.

Sami Claus - Dec 6

2009-12-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

We were able to catch the official charity ride for the Kinderspital Zurich. This is a parade of close to 100 Santas on Harleys. It started at Sihlcity - certainly a spectacular show to watch and hear.

Ginger bread house

2009-12-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

Sandy had to put together a ginger bread house for her classroom. Here is the final product and it was all edible.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

No pics from Thanksgiving. We did have a blast celebrating with our friends the Monsches and the McDonalds. The kids had fun and we ate almost as much as we could've had in Syracuse. We of course missed Aunt Suzzy's pies assortment.

Jim ventured and prepared deviled eggs with no recipe... it was a hit and had no left overs =)

Visita del raton

2009-12-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

La hada de los dientes, mejor conocida como el raton en Mexico, visito por primera vez la familia McKenney Guendulain. JP perdio su primer diente en Nov 20. Estaba comiendo pizza y de repente se le cayo el diente en el plato haciendo un sonido 'clinck'. El raton le trajo 5 francos que ahora estan en un frasco a lado de su cama. El dentista nos advirtio que JP lo visitara muchas veces pues no tiene mucho espacio. De hecho el nuevo diente viene rotado casi 90 grados....

Christmas in a shoe box project

2009-12-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

This past November, the KPMG International Accounting Dept. donated money, time and labor to put togehter 39 shoe boxes sent to Moldovia for Christmas 2009. This was a great project to work on and we are looking forward to working on it again this next year.

Happy Anniversary

2009-11-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

8 years and counting =)

Halloween

2009-11-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

Halloween was celebrated to the fullest! yes, even if the Swiss can care less about it.
1st, Halloween carnival the week before; kids get to play different games and then get candy.
2nd, Jo (friend from NY) organized a bunch of parents in the Horgen-Oberrieden area to pass out candy. We drove around and visited like 12 houses. It was fun and again... full of candy.

JP was Spiderman for the 3rd year in a row; it was a little tight but he managed well.
Syd was a cheer leader and a princess.
I was a fairy and a witch.
Jim was a golfer.

Last part of Budapest

2009-11-02T11:28:00.001-08:00

The third day, the weather turned rainy again, as well as really cold - it felt like it could snow. We ventured out in the morning to the Gellert thermal bath, which is the largest thermal bath in Budapest. Once inside, it is quite a maze and no signs telling you where to go, so we had to ask a few times where to go. The baths are separated between men and women, so JP and I went one way and Sandy and Sydney went the other way. I would say that half the bathers go in their birthday suits while the other half not. Sandy agreed with those stats on the ladies side as well. The baths are split in two with one pool set at 38C and the other a little cooler at 36C. It was warmer than JP was used to, so we actually spent most of our time in the much colder community pool. In the baths, there is not much in the way of swimming, unlike the ones in Switzerland. Additionally the one we went to was all indoor, also unlike the Swiss ones. This one did have beautiful old statues and frescos everywhere, making you feel like you were back in the roman times. After the baths, we went back to our favorite restaurant for lunch. We were disappointed to find that the pork shank that we saw two days ago was no longer available. The owner promised to make a special order of it if we came back later for dinner - we agreed. After another great lunch (bean soup was out of this world), we went to the Terror Museum, which used to be the Nazi headquarters in Budapest. Its closed on Mondays so we walked a few blocks down to the Opera House to see if we could get tickets that night for the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. We were in luck - they head tickets for the 4 of us at a price of about USD 2.50 per ticket. After getting tickets, we decided to go on our second boat cruise. It was a horrible day for it, but at least we would have some cover from the rain. After the boat tour, we went souvenir shopping, and then proceeded back to the restaurant for dinner. They had prepared the pork shank as promised. It was a mammoth portion - Sandy and I both working together could not finish off the single portion. Unfortunately, it was dry and was not worth the effort to finish off. We had more bean soup as an appetizer which also was a bit disappointing as they made it with ham instead of the spicy sausage at lunch time. Regardless, they went the extra effort to make us happy and we left stuffed so it could not have been all that bad. Following dinner, we walked over to the opera house and found our seats. The seats were not great, (we could see maybe half the orchestra), but we could hear the performance just fine. They had a guest piano player that could really tickle the ivories. He played so effortlessly, it was amazing. At the intermission, the crowd was absolutely relentless in their applause. He ended up playing two solo encores to quiet them down. At the end of his second encore, JP, who was sound asleep, sprang up clapping with the rest of the audience. Since we paid so little for the tickets, we did not feel bad ditching the rest of the concert. We went back to the hotel feeling very satisfied with the days events.By Tuesday, we were exhausted, so we slept in and relaxed in the room. We packed up and were on the road by 10.30. We took the public transport to get back to the airport. The public transport is pretty comprehensive and easy to use. The subway has three lines and the subway stations maintain their same look from 130 years ago. The people of Budapest for the most part speak either English or German, so we did not have much problem communicating. They seemed pretty helpful, but were not particularly friendly to tourists. When staying clear of the touristy areas, I think we got good value for our money. We will contine looking for opportunities to explore Eastern Europe.

Budapest, Hungry take 2

2009-11-02T11:15:00.001-08:00

The next day, we got up, hit a little breakfast at Coffee Heaven (a Starbucks knockoff) , and then walked over the Elizabeth bridge and up Gellert Hill to the Citadel. The Citadel was a fortress built in 1854 and became a significant military object during WW2. The Citadel is now a museum consisting of a bunker and various wax figures from the war. We did not fully understand the history, only that Hungary was occupied by Germans that battled the Soviets as well as the Americans. The Jewish population was hearded up into a ghetto, was provided less than 700 calories per day of food and was eventually decimitated by the Nazis. There were many photos of children that were victims of the war. It was a good lesson for the kids to learn that there are people out there that try to hurt other people and they need to be respectful of other peoples rights and freedoms and defend people that need help. The weather was still bad, so we waited around for the hop on hop off bus so that we did not have to walk any more. We hopped on and got off at the stop for the castle district. The castle district is the old town - a fortified city sitting high up on Buda hill. There are numerous shops and restaurants, as well as St. Matthias church and nearby Fisherman's Bastion. St. Matthias Church is Budapest's most attractive and most famous Catholic church. Fisherman's Bastion is situated on the place of the medieval fish market and the walls protected by the guild of fisherman. We explored the area above ground as well as the area below ground - there is a labyrinth of tunnels below ground that existed from the caveman days. It also served as a military station for 20000 German soldiers during WW2. They have made the labyrinth into a self guided tour of discovery - very fun for the kids. After exporing the labyrinth, we toured the inside of Matthias Church and then caught the bus to the stop for the Parliament building. We had a coupon for a place called the Strudel House. It is a pretty upscale place and its specialty as you might guess is Strudel, which they make right in front of the patrons. We ate a light meal and then ordered up an apple strudel to go, which they gave us on the house. We jumped back on the hop on hop off bus and listened to the rest of the tour. Also included in the tour package were two boat tours, so we decided to do an evening boat tour. By this time, the rain had cleared and it was shaping up to be a nice evening. The tour went up and down the Danube and we got excellent views of all the main sites, as all the buildings are lit up in the evening. Following the boat ride, we grabbed some food and went back to the hotel for some rest.

Budapest, Hungry

2009-11-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

On Oct 10 we left for a long weekend to Budapest. Consisting of two very different cities, Buda on the west bank of the Danube River and Pest on the east bank, Budapest offers travelers Viennese romanticism at an affordable price. However, Budapest is unique in its own right. Hungarians are proud of what this ancient capital has to offer and its contributions to European culture, especially in the field of music, a language one doesn't need to speak to appreciate. Budapest first appeared on the world map when the Romans founded the town of Aquincum around 89 AD, in what is today Óbuda. It soon became the capital of the province of Lower Pannonia, and the Romans even founded a proto-Pest known as Contra Aquincum on the other side of the river. The Romans were replaced around 900 by the Magyars, who went on to found the kingdom of Hungary. The Mongols dropped in uninvited in 1241, but the Magyars bounced back and built the Royal Castle that still today dominates Buda in 1427. In 1541, Buda and Pest fell to the Ottomans and stayed in the hands of the Turks until 1686, when the Austrian Habsburgs conquered the town. Now at peace, both sides of the river boomed, and after an abortive Hungarian revolution in 1848–49, the great Compromise of 1867 made Budapest the united capital of the Hungarian half of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Budapest emerged from World War I battered, but now the capital of an independent Hungary, and its population reached one million by 1930. Air raids and a terrible three-month siege towards the end of World War II resulted in the death of over 38,000 civilians, and up to 40% of Budapest's Jewish community were murdered during the Holocaust. A total of 400 000 Jews in the area were murdered by the Nazis and their Nyilas sympathizers. One man noted in history was Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish humanitarian sent to Hungary under a diplomatic cover, who tried to make a difference by distributing Swedish passports to as many Jews as possible. After the war, the city recovered and became a showcase for the more pragmatic policies of Hungary's hard- line Communist government. It was, however, site of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against unpopular policies such as collectivisation. The revolution against communist rule only ended when the Soviets sent in the tanks as they felt Hungary slipping out of their influence and control. Today's Budapest is by far the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan city in Hungary and is increasingly popular with tourists. In 1987, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for the cultural and architectural significance of the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue.On our first day, we checked into our hotel and then wandered around the city. Our hotel was located on the Buda side of the Danube, and we had a short bus ride into the city. We were dropped off close to the Dohany Street Synogogue, which is the second largest Synagogue in Europe (only Synagogue in Amsterdam is larger), built in the Byzantine-Moorish Style. There is a metal weaping willow tree in its rear gerden and each leaf on the tree represents an individual that was killed in the hollocaust. Sandy had a lunch recommendation from one of her colleagues at school, so we wandered around until we found it. What a great spot. It is called Hunyadi Kisvendeglo. It is in a shady part of town and lacks on the decour, but we had a feast. We had Mutton goulash, chicken cordon blue, pistazio covered pork schnitzel, and a chicken cordon blue stuffed with, beacon, spicy sausage, and smoked cheese. We ate so much that we could not eat dinner that night. After lunch, we went to the banks of the Danube near the Parliament building. There was the first Nazi mass murder in Budapest. Whole families were pushed into the river in the winter. To mark the attrocity, several sets of shoes were bronzed and placed at the edge of the boardwalk overlooking the river - a really sad sight. We had bought tickets for a hop on hop off bus and decided to use them since we were pretty tired from walking and it was a nice afternoon weatherwise to enjoy the sights of the city at dusk from the comforts of an open top bus. The first stop was a busy square close to St Stevens Basillica - this is the largest church in Budapest and built in on honor of Hungary's first king. It took 50 years to build. We rode up the Andrassy St. This is the main boulevard of town with a promenade on both sides where bicycles and joggers have their own lane. The Opera house is one of the very prominent buildings on this street. Elegant villas line both sides of the street which nowadays accomodate the various embassies. At the end of the street, we see the Heroes Square. The Milleniun Monument was built to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar Conquest. Archangel Gabriel stands atop the huge column at the foor of which are scultures of the seven tribal chieftans. The semi-circular pantheon surrounding the ensemble has depictions of famous kings, generals, and great historical figures. The heroes stone in the middle commemeorates the heroes of the revolution of 1856. On one side of the square sits the museum of fine arts. The building on the right is the art gallery. Past the heroes square is the budapest zoo and botanical garden. Next to the zoo is an amuzement park and across the street is one of the public baths. Just in back of the heroes square is a huge skating rink. We travel back to our starting point via Kiraly St. - called by the locals as "The Avenue". There are a lot of villas and mini palaces similar to Andrassy St. Also known as the street of nobel prize winners given the number of nobel prize winners educated at the local lutheran school. By the middle of the bus tour, the kids were falling asleep, so we jumped off at the starting point and decided to save the Buda side of the tour for the next day. We took a bus back to the hotel and all layed down for bed. Our plan was to get the kids to sleep and then sneak down to the restaurant, but Sandy and I passed out right along with the kids.

Oktoberfest

2009-11-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

The annual Oktoberfest is held in September to celebrate the coming of Fall. There are many Oktoberfest celebrations around Germany, but the biggest and most popular is held in Munich. I went this year with a coworker and a neighbor. It is about a 4 hour train ride to Munich from Zurich. Our train left at 715 from the zurich main station. The atmosphere on the train was very festive, even at that hour of the morning. There was a group of kids on board that had started drinking at about 5AM. They were walking up and down the train talking to passengers, so they eventually struck up a conversation with us and then some more English speaking passengers joined in. Before long we were in Munich. The faigrounds are just a couple of blocks from the Munich train station. There are about 10 tents each accomodating up to 10,000 people. Even at 11.30 on a Friday morning, the place was packed with people. We made our way into one of the tents and found a table partially accupied by a few guys from Italy. We quickly made friends and ordered up some liters and Oxen pork knuckle - delicious. After a little while, a couple of girls joined the table and we quickly bought them some beers to make them feel comfortable. Before long we were all good friends. It was a wild time - see the pictures below.

one more accomplishment

2009-11-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Besides all that, JP is learning to retell stories, and nothing like the classics. We have a great librarian at school so he is learning from the best.

Part 1

Part 2

JP turned 6

2009-11-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

Many accomplishments for JP on his 6th bd. He learned how to ride his bike (no training wheels), 2 visits to the dentist with no tears and no cavities!, joined a big kids school where he interacts with kids from all over the world, and most importantly, he is still the same loving JP that everybody adores... especially me!
We celebrated with friends, inlcuding JP's groupies =)

Working hard

2009-11-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

Jim has been working hard teaching JP and Sydney how to help more in the kitchen. Syd has turned out to be a great dishwasher and looooooves doing it.

Munich de nuevo

2009-09-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Pucho se va esta semana asi que lo invitamos a Munich el fin de semana. Nada como ver castillos, tomar cereveza and comer cerdo como cerdos =)

Escape to Disney

2009-09-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

We had a chance to go to Orlando for few days and it was fantastic! We saw our good friends the Parkers and it was a pleasure to see them again. The kids got along wonderfully!

Sydney and BFF Kelly Moms and daughters

The little ones!

There is always a first time... like the time a chatted with a garbage can! From tomorrowland =)

Flying a rocket

We love the little Einsteins... we do!

Dinner at downtown Disney

Magic Kindom

I can't believe we managed to have two family pictures!

Syracuse

2009-09-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

The visit to Syracuse involved many trips to the playground

4th of July after the parade

2009-09-07T11:12:00.001-07:00

This year, we had a pinata for the kids and they loved it! Dale, dale, dale!

4th of July

2009-08-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

4th of July in Syracuse was fantastic... the family, the food, the parade, the pinata, the banana cream pie... it was all good.

This was a geat parade! One of the cars was advertizing a Karate Academy and the sensei defended Obiwan and defeted Darth Vader! Red white and blue!

Pony rides were fun too

All the McKenney cousins

Junio con Abu

2009-08-05T09:33:00.001-07:00