This morning, after putting the oldest grandson on the bus (thinking yet again that bus drivers are really earning their money today) making a cup of tea and sitting looking at the snow, freezing rain and gales, I realized….this is the first day in over three months that I don’t have a long MUST DO list, usually in a country other than Canada. Finally a chance to update the blog with lots of news….while I ignore the cleaning needed before the Christmas decor goes up.
September / October saw the six week adventure across the pond completed with seven newly visited countries added to the bucket list.Lovely weather for the most part, great food, smooth travels and amazing scenery. Flight to London, negotiated the express bus/underground system to St Pancras Station and our nearby boutique (funky decor) hotel. A bit of wandering, supper and an early bedtime to deal with the jet lag. A day spent on the Hop On Hop Off bus touring all the tourist sites of London with a River Thames boat tour to Greenwich and return. Perfect day. Off in the morning on the Eurostar (high speed train) from London to Amsterdam and it’s a great way to travel with lunch, wifi and scenes of France, Belgium and Holland speeding by at 345 km/hr. Lovely small hotel in Amsterdam, local suppers, visit to Anne Frank House (waited 50 yrs for that after reading Anne Frank’s Diary) strolling by the canals, enjoying hot chocolate and stroopwaffels at cafes. We joined our rivership the AmaSerena and spent a week cruising the Rhine, viewing castles, excursions to medieval towns and learning so much European history through France (Alsace) Germany and into Basel Switzerland. After an additional three days touring Basel, Lucerne and Zermatt by train we put our travel companion (shore captain’s office manager x 27 yrs) on a flight home as some people aren’t retired yet, and made our way to Davos, St. Moritz and area then back through Sargans. Spent three weekends visiting with our Argentine friends in the Bodensee area and managed to fit in a visit to Gundelsheim and supper out with our summer neighbours who own a winery there. Enjoyed the south of Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein then off through Luxembourg and Belgium to catch the Eurostar back to London. A rainy pub afternoon in London and supper with a (could be our daughter) friend we met in Mendoza two years ago. Early morning ride on the underground to Heathrow, flight home through Montreal and a stop to see the grandkids in the city. They change so much in a couple of months at age one and three years! Just a sampling of the many trip photos:
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| St Pancras Station |
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| Rhine River cruise |
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| Swiss rail |
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| Cog railway...Matterhorn |
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| Lindau, Germany |
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| Mainau Island, Germany |
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| Regensburg |
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| Belgian waffle |
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| Salzburg, Mozart in the palace |
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| Wine in Lichtenstein |
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| Brussels, Belgium |
What was my favourite country? Switzerland, followed closely by Lichtenstein....both expensive but lovely. We enjoyed all the destinations, with slower travel managed a deeper experience and felt sorry for those on tours rushing from one distant destination to another. Just because you can....should you?
Arrived home Friday 10 pm and out the door Monday 1 am for my next adventure, so a very busy weekend. Essentially, opening the mail, unpacking the backpack, laundry, repacking, organizing gifts for Cuba and off to the airport. Uneventful flights, prearranged taxi to the bus station in Holguin and….3.5 hr delay as the the bus was broken down in Camaguey. Finally underway just before 9pm and napped my way through except for Bayamo then Palma Soriano arriving in Santiago de Cuba at 1am to a waiting son in law with the vintage side car motorcycle who efficiently delivered me to my casa particular, woke the family and I was shortly in the shower and bed after a long day. Spent a busy first week as two days after I arrived our son in law’s passport was returned from the Canadian Embassy in Mexico to Canada and the shore captain was tasked with being the mule to deliver it. So, after all the waiting on November 7th our Cuban son in law flew to Montreal, navigated Canadian Immigration and joined our oldest daughter in Ottawa. They’ve since moved to a new apartment and are getting settled as they’re booked to come home for a visit over the holidays. Exciting times! The remainder of my four weeks in Cuba was calmer with visits with friends, Spanish lessons (took a while to reestablish it in my mind), ballgames, trying new restaurants and acclimatizing to the 33c days. This November was much hotter than last year this time!
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| Guys Frenchy's |
Back to Canada at 1 am last Tuesday and in to hang out with the city grandkids as the teacher daughter headed back to work after maternity leave. This milestone was further complicated by conjunctivitis…first the baby, then his older sister and of course the inability to go daycare while infectious. We enjoyed two lovely days of walks to the playground, reading lots of books and playing and an ice cream cake party for the birthday boy. I left to pick up my car from my nursing class buddy on Wednesday evening as required by a Thursday morning dental appointment. Friday brought another appointment and two Frenchy’s stops. The quote of the days at the checkout….cashier to senior customer…..I’m gonna sell it to ya, no need to explain :) Then one of the clerks posed in a mascot head for a customer to take a photo and said…I get paid by the hour, so whatever. It’s the happiest place on earth…like a visit to Disney World but a whole lot cheaper. Scored some lovely finds and had fun while doing so.
The oldest grandson (9th birthday last month) spent the weekend and we had lots of good times. Had gotten him NHL-OPOLY for his birthday and we played that Friday evening - of course Grawmp won. Good thing when the question was ‘name a team which has won the Stanley Cup’ and he answered Toronto Maple Leafs, they didn’t ask for a timeline eh? On Saturday the grandson and I took a trip to the Ten Thousand Villages annual sale which was a great opportunity to study geography, fair trade, social justice and pick up some neat things. He insisted on a drum from Indonesia (grandfather’s rule that it can only be played when he is not in the house) and was amazed by the collection. We made our way to Simply Pho You which is a new Vietnamese restaurant in town…won’t be our only trip as the spring rolls, pho, salad rolls and noodles were wonderful. Nice to see new Canadians doing well. Over to the Cineplex and we (and a sold out crowd) took in the matinee for Frozen II…overwhelming number of Elsa gowns, just sayin. Sunday saw us enjoying a video chat with the electrician daughter and hubby in Ottawa, a game of Battleship which Grawmp won as well, lots of books, making a batch of chocolate chip cookies to share with the grade four class. We even managed to fit in some writing practice and multiplication….what is with this boxes of numbers vs memorizing a times table now? My nerves!
Have set myself a goal this week of navigating the labyrinth of northern nursing contract for January/February. There has been a huge issue with the government network being hit with the ransom virus in October so all the hard drives have to be replaced or factory reset. This has taken out all the government email so faxes and phone are the new normal. I sent my proof of RN registration to a hotmail address....yes, this is the level HR is functioning at two months in. The short version is that the former jobshare partner is urging me to come to the first community we were roommates in (where she has returned to do homecare) and I could do a public health contract - no TB, not many STIs but a large population of babies and children so lots of immunizations which sounds ok to me. We'd be able to hang out and catch up and I could revisit folks. However, tracking down the manager to see if this is possible (see above communication snafu) is nigh on impossible. And of course it wouldn't take me to the eastern region of the territory....meaning the gateway is Edmonton not Ottawa. Another option is homecare (or alternatively public health) in the Baffin region, which would allow for Ottawa visiting so I'll pursue that as Plan B. If I don't get a few weeks in January/February...I'll run out of year with all the plans which come up. I can see how semi retired people talk about being too busy to go to work.
Speaking of which, tomorrow is a retired nurses luncheon and I'm looking forward to visiting with former coworkers and colleagues. Haven't been able to make the event for a couple of years what with work and travel so will be nice to make an appearance. Got to get those pies baked which I promised.
Well, enough procrastinating with the cleaning/decorating, even the kitties are suggesting I get busy. Lots of holiday prep this year as it's the first year for the Cuban son in law to experience a Canadian Christmas. He's heading down for a visit a few days before his wife as he's not able to work until his permanent resident card is issued so is taking advantage of this. He'll get a chance to check out the lobster industry and see some of the local landmarks, hopefully the weather cooperates. We'll have an open house to welcome him to the family/country so lots of good times.
