The Great Flood

When we arrived back in Sandia Park, a disaster had occurred prior to our arrival.
Although we weren't sure of the exact day or time, however, the water was still
flowing out of our water heater through the brick flooring to the wine cellar
below.  The water was about two feet high and still rising.  I quickly shut the
water intake valve to the house and called Roy.  He insisted that all was well
the previous Wednesday.  After surveying the damage, I called Servpro, the outfit
that deals with house disasters like this and, fortunately they responded with
a team of men in high boots.  At the same time, I called multiple plumbing
companies about replacing our now defunct water heater that same evening. It was
Saturday late afternoon one difficult time to round up willing plumbers but after
calling about 7 outfits I managed to get a positive response from one company
who dispatched two men who brought an appropriate tank.  They worked until 11pm
to install the heater with the right connections for our solar system.  At least
we were able to have hot water that same evening.  Servpro worked for an entire
week to bail out the wine seller and dry all the areas.  You can imagine the cost
for all this service on a Saturday.  Fortunately, my insurance covered most of
the expense,  however, it took awhile for on adjuster to make his appearance but
he did a fair appraisal of the situation.  This past week, we had a contractor
work on the wine cellar damage and today, Saturday, March 30, the job is over
and we are waiting for the sealant to dry on the concrete below.

It was a difficult two weeks, that began after our long drive from Austin only
to find this situation.  We were looking forward to a rest but confronted this
disaster before us. We are now thinking that managing a home of this size may
be too difficult especially since we spend at least 4 months away in Texas.

Despite all the turmoil with The Great Flood, today April 7, we completed our
bottling of 2012 wine.  Sadly, it may be our last wine harvest since both of
us are finding the task of growing grapes, harvesting them and finally, the
arduous task of bottling them.  I know all of our wine recipients will be
sorry to see us close shop.  Right now we are completely exhausted from the
task.  An interesting thing happened during the flood cleanout when the workmen
broughtn out some of the debris.  They uncovered a stash of wine bottles from
1987 somehow unused.  They look intact and in the near future I plan to uncork
one in celebration of our 26 years of wine making.  Quite an accomplishment.

The photo below is our now replenished wine racks.  The eagle above is on guard.

Hamburg Über Alles

To all the loyal followers of Despicable Tours, your patience will be rewarded because Annabelle,

my beautiful Frau and I are boarding the QM2 on August 15 for a journey to Hamburg, Germany

by way of Southampton, UK.

This will be a follow up to our previous visit to Berlin immediately after the fall of the infamous
Wall where half of the local population was making a living by selling small chunks of

said wall to eager tourists.  It was a memorable journey since we were able to spend a few days

in East Berlin exploring different sights previously hidden from tourists especially Potsdam,

which was the venue for one of the major conferences that settled some issues regarding Germany

following WW2.

Today, Sunday March 3, we met Barri near Costco for our walk around Arbor Trail then
Ducked inside for the weekly hot dog. The weather was Spring like and the traffic was fierce
since the kite flying festival was in full swing at Zilker Park.

We are happy to announce to all followers that Jenny will be joining us on the QM2 to Hamburg.
This will be her second trip with Cunard.  In 2000,  Jenny, Peter and Anna made the crossing
with us on the Elizabeth 2 to the UK.  It was a wonderful voyage.  Anna was a mere lass of 12,
who was anxious to see all the places made famous by the legendary Sherlock Holmes.  It also

included the music of Dave Brubeck and Co.on the cruise.

We are leaving our home in Austin for New Mexico early Friday March 15.  Tomorrow we're
having lunch with Pam and Rob who plan to spend some time at the South by Southwest" SXSW"
celebration here in town.

The photo above was taken at Barri's home with Aubrey and Walter  while the one of Annabelle, along the trail around Lady Bird Lake.

Our 4 month stay in Austin has been wonderful.  Most of the time, the weather has been moderate
with only 2 days of light rain.  I'm going to miss our time here especially the chance to visit with
Barri, John and the children.

It's Saturday March 16 and we're halfway home.  Stopping in Brownfield, Texas for a night's
sleep.  If you're ever out this way, stay at the Holiday Inn Express.  It's the best hotel in mid-Texas.
So far the trip has been pleasant, nice weather and little traffic even though the driving has been
tedious, few sights except miles of newly planted cotton fields interspersed with oil pumpers.
Occasionally there are arrays of wind turbines which is a big thing in western Texas.

The Hermitage......A Must See

We made it to the Hermitage and with the help of our guide, Melishka, we had a most enthralling
experience.  We walked for almost three hours through magnificent rooms and corridors viewing
many of the world's priceless objects, portraits and sculptures.  This note is for granddaughter, Amber,
if you have the chance visit this Museum in St. Petersburg.

It was an exhausting trip on this day, August 2, and although we often had to navigate many marble
staircases, Annabelle was up to the task.  She probably did as well as other folks half her age.

It is clear that the Russian Tsars had expensive tastes because money was no object as they scoured
all of Europe for the art treasures in this collection.  The collection is so vast that they tell you it would
take almost 11 years to see everything if you spent just one minute looking at each object.  We
walked at a rather brisk pace to keep up with Melishka who kept on speaking about the objects
in front of her.  Fortunately, we had an electronic device on our ear to listen as she broadcast her
information on a microphone.

This will be my last blog from the ship.  We sail this evening to Estonia where, in Tallin, we're
scheduled for a lunch and tour, then on to Gothenberg, Sweden for a visit to the Volvo museum..
Back to Harwich, where we will have transportation to Heathrow and a flight to New York.
We should be back at the homestead on August 8 if all goes well and we don't get caught in
the Olympic crush around London.

Goodbye to all you patient readers.  This was a great journey and glad you came along.

Duz vidania or Hasta Lavista!

St. Petersburg....We made it

We will spend two days in this town.  This morning we took a panoramic tour of the highlights and tomorrow The Hermitage Museum.

Our guide, Yanna, opened up with the statement that if you want to get things done here you have to bribe the officials.  All during our ride, she kept describing the bad conditions in Russia; the low
salaries, poor housing, etc. I began to wonder how she ever obtained a job as a tourist guide.  When
I was here 50 + years ago as a guest of the Russian gov't everything was milk and honey.  Of course,
that was under the Soviet Union.  Nevertheless, St. Petersburg is a remarkable city, filled with history
of the early Tsars, founded by Peter the Great in the 1700s after his visits to Western Europe where
he was enchanted by its culture and buildings.

I tried to get a picture of the last tsar of the Russians but I could only find one of the early monarchs
and his royal family. (Please note that this photo was taken many years ago)

I'll try to write tomorrow after our visit to the Hermitage.

Helsinki....few people can speak Finnish

The program at the Coral Theater last night, Tango in Buenos Aires was excellent with a troupe of
Argentinians on deck.

Today we toured Helsinki, a small country with very cold winters and pleasant the rest of the year.
Population 5.4 mil.
Our guide, Cynika, struggled with her English but was diligent in getting people back on the bus
when it was time to leave for the next venue.  She kept on advising us that it was dark and gloomy
in the winter so Finns always celebrated too much when the warm summer months arrived.

Two famous Finns, Paavo Nurmi, the flying Finn of Olympic fame years ago and Sibelius their
famous composer.  I remembered Nurmi from my youth and Sibelius from his Finlandia Symphony.

The Finns have a long history of being overrun by their neighbors, Swedes and Russians.  Both
of these countries have left some cultural vestiges of their occupations.

As for the economics in 2012, the Finns have a type of socialistic system with a tinge of capitalism.

They have a long tradition of shipbuilding and manufacture many of the world's cruise liners.

To show the complexity of their language check out Annabelle below a hair emporium sign.

The memorial to Sibelius is constructed of stainless steel pipes to portray an organ.

Tomorrow, at last, St. Petersburg and the object of our long journey.

Monday, It must be Sweden

We arrived early in Stockholm and the good weather is still with us.  The temp. is a cool 65F.
Took a panoramic tour of the city with a tall Swedish gal, Amanda as our guide.  The walk to
the terminal was quite long but fortunately, a cart pulled along side and we hopped aboard for
ride to our bus.

I'm impressed with Stockholm.  It is a beautiful city. many flowers in bloom, trees everywhere.
The city is situated on 14 islands and everyone here seems to have some type of boat.  We were
told that there are more than 600,000 boats in the country that has a population of about 9 1/2
million population.  City was founded in 1252 and is famous for Alfred Nobel, he of the Peace
Prize, etc. and Greta Garbo, she of "I want to be alone" fame.  Annabelle also informs me that
she had tea with the great Garbo while in Vermont where Garbo was visiting the author,
John Gunther.
By the way the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway while the other prizes are given in
Stockholm.  Taxes average about 31% but all Swedes are entitled to free education as well as
universal health care for all under 18.

Onward to Copenhagen

To the tooting of a brass band and beating of drums, the graceful Jewel of the Sea left its berth at Harwich.  It was 5PM and after the passengers' muster in the Schooner Bar on deck 7, we gazed
from our balcony, enthralled once again at our good fortune in beginning another sea voyage.

This vessel is not as ample as QM2 but the service is good.  Most of the waiting staff appears to
be Indian which is the case among Cruising personnel.  The Manager is Indian and probably brings
his group with him.  Our waiter, Mishela hails from Mumbai.

We spotted the tower of our hotel off to starboard as we left and although we had a pleasant respite
at Harwich, it was good to be leaving.
Annabelle as usual, is scanning the horizon with her binocs as we plow Northeast.  "I can actually see the window of our room at the Tower Hotel, she bellowed."  I responded with a grunt, "check out
the bar."  We then passed The Pier where we gorged on fish and chips a few times.  The sky is clear
and the temperature, a comfortable 68 degrees F.

The dress code for the evening is casual, not even elegant casual as per QM2.  Back at our stateroom,
Katcha, our gal attendant from Trinidad was busy getting things set for our first night at sea but no
chocolates on our pillow this trip.

Saw the movie, My Fair Lady and thought that Aubrey and Walter would find it better to understand
since they had their first experience in England.  A great musical based on a GB Shaw story.
Also attended The Capt'.s welcome on board party.  Captain Stig Nielson is a Norwegian with many
year's experience in the Baltic.  There were a few Scotsmen in kilts which also added more color
to the celebration as well as caviar goodies and champaign to wash them down.

Saturday, our first city tour and we started in the Windjammer Restaurant early in the morning.
The Windjammer is a food court with different stations where you run about to locate the items you
want.
Elizabeth, our tour guide, a Danish gal with a perfect command of American English spouted off
a string of statistics about Copenhagen...1.2 mil people out of a total Danish population of 5.4 mil.

Of course, Hans Christian Anderson of fairy tales fame is their famous son and we stopped to see
where he grew up.  Remember the story of the Little Mermaid well her statue is sitting on a rock
offshore.  Just a bit of trivia, Harold Bluetooth was an early Danish king.

Meearsk Lines is one of their largest employers along with Carlsberg, our favorite brew.