Here's another attempt to organize the blog from oldest to newest posts so I can read them more like a story. On the desktop version I think you need to click on the link called "older posts" to move forward.
All's Well that Ends Well (Spring 2023)
From June 2023:
I am back in Gommern after five months away during what I am tempted to call The Winter of My Discontent, but in looking back I can see that along with all the stress and strife, there were indeed some highlights. Our rather ambitious plan for winter 2022-23 included helping mom move to her new apartment, selling the house she was living in, and renovating an apartment/condo we had been renting out for the past 15 years. Matthias would be doing most of the renovation so also planned to come to Florida for an extended period. That being the case, we had the bright idea to add a trip to Peru, where we first met 20 years ago, into the mix. To accomplish all of this, I would travel to Florida alone in November, and then meet Matthias in Miami on December 6th so we could fly to Peru together on the 7th. What could go wrong?
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| Night sky from Gommern apartment |
I arrived in Florida in mid-November and was greeted joyfully by mom, who was pretty exhausted after going through the hurricane (Ian) that hit Sarasota the previous month. Fortunately, she (and family and friends) are okay, and the house didn't sustain any damage. However, a tree fell in the yard knocking out power for eight days, which caused a lot of strife, and didn't make the house look as appealing for sale as pre-hurricane. But then again, we got off easy.
We enjoyed a week-long visit from Laurene over Thanksgiving week and visited mom's new digs, which wasn't quite ready yet. She was scheduled to move there on January 11th. Then, Mom and I set to work getting the house ready for sale. We engaged a fabulous realtor (whom we both probably developed secret crushes on) named Fernando. I kept referring to him as Francisco and mom kept calling him Ferdinand, but that's okay because he referred to mom as Sheila, I think. haha. Fernando gave us a list of things to do, and based on his expert advice, we packed things away and moved furniture around in order to show the house at its best. We got that done in time for me to bus down to Miami and meet Matthias on 6 December, one day before our flight to Lima. And in the meantime, I got to sneak away for a night in Lakeland for a visit and very long overdue catch-up with my dear old friend Leoni, and her (German!) husband Norbert.
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| Cocktails at Michaels on East |
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| Lakeland with Leoni!! |
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| Mom's new parking space! |
Matthias and I met at the airport and then headed to Miami Beach for the night. We had a nice time walking around and then found a fun dive bar that had great chicken wings, which was a long-awaited treat for us both. The next day we boarded our flight to Lima, arriving late at night but finding our way relatively easily to our cute hotel in Miraflores, an upscale neighborhood on the coast. I had a pretty ambitious three-week tour planned: first Lima; then south to Paracas to explore a coastal preserve; up to Ica in the desert; over to Arica, Peru's second city; up to Puno on Lake Titicaca; and finally over to Cusco (where we first met, and the only city I've already visited) before flying home. So, I figured the first day we would just hang around Miraflores and get acclimated. We had a lovely walk along the coast and great lunch at the market, where we could see on TV that the president had just "dissolved congress." We shrugged that off and continued exploring, catching some world cup soccer and enjoying a nice ceviche and seafood dinner. We also caught the news that the Peruvian congress wasn't impressed with the president's power grab. He was promptly arrested.
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| Hotel in Miraflores, Lima |
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| Parque del Amor, Miraflores |
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| Parque del Amor, por supuesto! |
Checking the news the next morning, it seemed large demonstrations were expected in the capital, and when I asked at the hotel reception if there would be difficulty getting into the Lima center, she replied that the entire area was closed to the public. Oh well, so much for seeing historic Lima. Spent another day hanging around Miraflores. The next morning, I got an email from the bus company that our bus to Paracas was cancelled because of demonstrations blocking traffic along the Panamericana, the only road connecting to points south. In fact, people were stranded for hours on the road (could have been us if we had left earlier.) I rebooked our bus for the following day and so we spent yet another day in Miraflores. Following the news, we learned that violence along the Panamericana was increasing, not subsiding, and the road wouldn't be open for days, at least. So we had a decision to make. Should we pack it up and go home, or fly up to Cusco and tour around from there? We decided on Cusco and flew in relatively easily. We were able to move up our guesthouse reservation and in fact were the only guests there at the time. The room was a bit noisy ("street noise" at night - although on small pedestrian street, we could hear people walking by and talking quite clearly) but we were able to get another, nicer room the next day. We set off to explore the town and environs, checking out the places we visited 20 years earlier while I made plans to explore further afield. Unfortunately, the universe had other ideas for us. The next day a general strike was declared. The airport, museums, markets and most shops were closed, transportation halted, and marches and demonstrations were planned in Cusco and all around. We were advised to stay in the tourist area around the hotel and not venture down to the main plaza, where demonstrations could become violent. We rebooked our flight home, hoping that the airport would reopen soon, and spent our days in repetition (probably nice for Matthias, in hindsight) going up the hill to the ruins, which were closed, but we could still hang around and the little souvenir shop with the cart selling choclo (boiled large corn) and enjoy a snack. Places for lunch were still, for the most part, open although on the second day they appeared closed because demonstrators vandalized places around the plaza that didn't observe the strike. Fortunately, there were some nice restaurants on our side of town where we could eat dinner as long as we finished up before staff needed to leave to get home by the 8pm curfew that was imposed later in the week. We had the guesthouse to ourselves all week (and I felt really sorry for our host) as people either cancelled their trips or couldn't get there - a group of guests were among those stuck at Machu Picchu and couldn't get back. And there's not much more to write about the experience, except that we got a flight home the day the airport opened, spent the night in Miami and got back to Sarasota the next day (quite a bit later than expected after our scheduled bus was cancelled - of course!)
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| Another day in Miraflores |
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| Where it all began in Cusco - found what we think is the bar where we met. Looks quite different after 20 years, though! |
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| Cusco |
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| Saqsaywaman |
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| Some restaurants were open! |
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| Our digs for our extended stay in Cusco |
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| The one place we could hike to everyday. |
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| Okay, this one is from 20 years ago. Changed much? |
Well, we really could have used a better vacation to prepare for what awaited us in Florida.
Continued, September 2023
I had all intentions to write about the nightmare renovations of our condo, but kept putting it off so long that I suppose it's better to just let it rest. Suffice to say, my mother moved to her new digs at the Sarasota Bay Club, we sold the house where she lived, and renovated the condo my mom previously rented out so we (and family) would have a place to stay when visiting. We wrappred that all up by the end of March.
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| Sunroom at Mom's new digs! |
But wait, I almost forgot to mention the bouts of wonderfulness we did experience in Florida amid the stress. Jen and Brenda paid a visit and (although I was sick) we had a great time hanging out together and spotting alligators. Matthias and I got to meet baby Jordan Belle when Chavi and Andrew came to visit and had a super time playing in the pool, etc! Then Matthias went back home and I stayed for an extra month to try to finish up. During that time, I got to spend some time with Stu, who came to visit for a few days. Then Josh, Elisha and Iona made the trip to stay in the almost-done apartment (no kitchen yet) and we had a blast!
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| Jordan and Family |
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| With Jen and Brenda at Myaka State Park |
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| Ione and Family |
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| Stu's visit! |
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When I got back to Gommern we set to work finding a new place to live. And wonder of wonders, we immediately found a promising property right away in Passau. We contacted the landlord and within a few days took a train across the country (8+hrs!) to see the apartment. It seemed perfect, so we agreed to sign a two-year lease. This was in April, and the apartment would be available in July, which gave us plenty of (too much, in fact) time to prepare for the move. Another bout of stress, but the move went quite well and we are settled in our new home in Passau! It's even better than we hoped.
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| One of the beautiful scenes in Passau! |
So now that we're finally settled in (and I have a new bike!!) we are about to set off on our first (and last!) bike trip of the year. Exciting to head out our door and be in the Alps (by Salzburg) in three days. We're leaving tomorrow so I just wanted to finish this up so I can start the next post fresh! Servus!!
Links to photo albums:
Home Sweet Home (apartment photos)
Back on the saddle (Summer 2023)
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| Where the Inn meets the Danube in Passau |
After moving three households this year, we finally got settled in at our new place in Passau. We had a nice summer here exploring the area, finding great bike routes (and beer gardens!) And once my new bike was outfitted (with adapter for the bike trailer, etc.) and checked, we were ready for our bike tour at the end of August! Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. The day/week we planned to leave we had so much rain that a lot of bike paths were flooded. Good thing our plan was to ride toward the Alps from home (no trains involved) so we could adjust our start date to the following week, still in early September.
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| Trees downed by the heavy rains |
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| Flooding on the downtown bike path |
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| Ready to roll!! |
We were excited to be able to set off on our tour without having to take a train. And we could see the Alps on the second day! We planned a relatively short tour along the Tauern Radweg (Tauern bike route.) Passau, our town, is at one end of the route, which includes a circuit from Salzburg. Here's the route we took.
The first leg of the tour involved riding along the Inn river, about 80km to the first campsite. 80km is long for us. Even with e-bikes, the butt still hurts, especially when most of the ride is flat (and somewhat boring) along the riverside dam. Despite the distance and a flat tire on my trailer we made it to the campsite in Marktl by late afternoon. Marktl is known locally as the birthplace of Pope Benedict, which was highly celebrated the first time we were here about 15 years ago....not so much anymore. The next day, we rode along the Salzach River to Laufen, where we stayed at a campsite on a farm that also family farm-stay vacations, complete with horseback rides, cow milking, campfires, etc. It was cute, and nice because no one else was on the camping pitch and only a couple of families were in the rooms, so we had the scant bathrooms to ourselves. On day three we rode along the Saalach river, buying a new tire for my trailer along the way, through touristy Bad Reichenhall to our first campsite in Austria, outside of Lofer. This was our first campsite in the Alps so we stayed for two nights to explore the area.
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| First campsite near Marktl |
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| View from the Farm-stay campsite |
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| Campsite near Lofer |
The next day we took our un-laden bikes up a steep and beautiful trail to our first Alm (mountain hut, for those not following past posts) of the trip, the Litzlalm. As I've often experienced, as we were heading up the hill, I had the dreaded feeling either the alm wouldn't be there, or it would be closed for the season, as we didn't see too many other bike riders or hikers. But then we arrived and barely got a table in the shade. Apparently, most people reached the alm from another hiking trail from the national park in Germany (close by, but on the other side of the mountain.) The alm experience did not disappoint! The cows were there, the food was fantastic (cheese dumplings in soup for me) and the view was awesome. After lunch we went a bit further up the trail to another scenic view, and then started to head back down toward town. I had planned to visit a gorge on the way home, but Matthias' brakes started making some really strange noises on the way down, so we went right to the campsite so Matthias could change the brake pads. Fortunately, the campsite was beautiful, too, so we enjoyed a couple of happy hour-beers and then bread, cheese and soup at the campsite (our standard dinner) before bed.
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| Litzlalm approach |
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| Yummy food at Litzlalm |
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| The hills are alive! |
The next day we set off along the Tauern Radweg with plenty of other cyclists toward Zell am See in Austria. Unfortunately, Matthias' brake problem was not solved by the new brake pads, and we had to stop along the way to make more adjustments (and somehow almost couldn't get his wheel back in.) Despite a pretty disturbing noise, the brakes were functioning and we made it to our next campsite where we also stayed for two nights. The guy at reception gave us a few recommendations for the next day's outing and I identified a bike repair shop more or less along the way. He also showed us to a lovely spot for our tent - mainly reserved for bikers - which was a relief because as when saw the "tent field" on our way in, it looked a bit chaotic. Plus, our spot was right next to the bathroom - a big plus for me! Unfortunately, at about 8pm (Matthias's bedtime) some very LOUD techno music starting playing from somewhere outside the campsite. Fortunately, it ended at about 11pm. But I had concerns about what might happen the next night (Friday.)
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| Campsite dinner |
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| Morning coffee at the campsite |
In the morning we rode to the bike repair shop and were relieved that the technician came out, made a couple of a adjustments to Matthias' brakes, and the problem was solved. We then started off on one of the campsite guy's recommended routes, but soon found that we were riding along the road that led over the pass of the Grossglockner (Austria's highest peak) and there was no bike lane. Despite Matthias' strong protests (i.e., whining) we kept on as we saw other cyclists doing the same - many without battery power (RESPEKT! as they say in Deutschland!) After about 8km we reached a point where we could follow a gravel path to the alms. First, we had a lovely meal at the Oberstadt Alm and then continued up the steep, but quiet way to the Trauneralm - the one recommended by the campsite guy. It was lovely, and the way down the main road was much quicker and less stressful than the way up. Had a nice dinner at the campsite and we were relieved that there was no techno music as we went to bed. Unfortunately, at about 2AM, an Italian camper van snuck into the campsite and set up not at all quietly right next to our tent - Matthias was less than pleased.
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| Off of the busy road and onto the bike path |
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| Yummy lunch at Oberstadt Alm |
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| The Trauner Alm had a self-service beverage station |
After telling off the Italians the next morning (ugh) and making me promise we wouldn't be staying at this campsite again on our way back, Matthias joined me on the trail and started to feel better relatively quickly. It was a an easy ride along the Salzach River valley to the campsite near Krimml, which marked the end (or beginning) of the Tauern Radweg/bike route. Fortunately, the campground was a small, family-run site so we were all but guaranteed a quiet night. There was also a restaurant nearby where we were able to snatch the last outdoor table for a nice evening meal out, our first and only. And the area was amazing! The next day we rode up past the Krimml waterfall into the Krimmler Achental, a gorgeous valley. After a steep climb, the route became more gentle as we rode toward the glaciers. We got pretty close (actually could have hiked to them, but....meh) and of course visited a couple of Alms for some great snacks along the way. We decided to stay an extra night so we could explore another valley, which was also beautiful in a more rugged way. I could have stayed up in that area for a week, but the forecast was calling for rain so we decided to head home. I was also keenly aware of the fall festival taking place back in Passau. If we hightailed it home, we'd be there in time to catch the end. Not that we wanted to cut our trip short for a festival, but it would have been a shame to arrive back home one or two days after it finished.
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| Nearing the glaciers |
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| Beautiful River valley!! |
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| Krimmler Waterfall |
From Krimml, we back-tracked along the Salzach river to Kaprun, stayed overnight at a campsite right on the raging Kapruner Ache (a mountain river). It was lovely to hear the water rushing by but a bit nerve-wracking as it was supposed to rain hard that night (it didn't.) The next day we continued to close the loop toward Salzburg, making a short, but steep, trip to St. Johann in Pongau. It was good that we got there early because it started to rain just as we finished setting up the tent. The campsite turned out to be a great place for a rainy night, as it had a little hut with a covered porch and outlets for phones and bike batteries! It was also walking distance to town so we could don our rain gear and walk to the supermarkets to buy dinner.
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| Our new friend and hitchhiker Schaffi joined us on the way home. She now lives in Baltimore with cousin Ione. |
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| Campsite in Sankt Johann |
Fortunately, we were warned by a fellow cyclist that the middle part of the next day's journey included a significant portion along a busy and narrow road. Not that it made this portion of the ride any less harrowing, but at least I knew we were on the right route. Apparently, it was made worse because the highway was under construction, so a lot of trucks were diverted to our street. It was a white-knuckle-ride (literally!) but at least it wasn't raining and we (obviously) made it no worse for wear. It was also mostly downhill, which made me feel for our fellow cyclist at the campsite who made the trip in the opposite direction, and without an ebike! The last portion of the ride was more relaxing and our campsite outside of Salzburg was peaceful. The next day we rode straight through Salzburg and found a nice place for lunch on the river in Oberndorf, Austria, just across the river from Laufen, Germany (where we spent our second night at the farm campsite) and the town where the song "Silent Night" was composed. Taking a different--more direct--route home, we headed up to a campsite on a lake in a lovely but non-descript area. And finally, the next day we rode a butt-busting 90 km home back along the Inn River dam. We busted our butts so we would be home early enough to enjoy dinner at the Passauer Volksfest! And we did!!
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| Prost! |
Link to bike tour photo album
Snow Day! (January 2024)
After about two weeks of gray, rainy weather, it's finally snowing! A treat for me, but Matthias has committed to shoveling the driveway so he's not very enthused. It's not supposed to snow much, though, so he should be fine.
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| Matthias had a bike tune-up appointment |
I'm using the snowy Sunday as an opportunity to update the blog with this year's trip to the USA. Matthias decided to sit this one out, so I set out all alone on my flight from Munich Airport. I was delighted that I could leave our place in Passau early in the morning and catch public transport directly to the Airport for my 1pm flight. Despite an hour delay on the train (unfortunately becoming the norm in Germany) I made the flight easily and arrived on-time in DC for a two-night visit with Jen and Brenda, who were fortunately in town that week. Brenda and I set out immediately for a free concert at the Kennedy Center and Jen met us for dinner. The next day we took a nice walk, attended a cocktail reception at the restaurant in their building (good timing for me!), hung out, watched movies and even did some puzzling. It was a lovely visit and a great stop before the big Bar Mitzvah weekend in Atlanta.
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| Walking along the Potomac |
But wait, I just went to grab some pictures to include in this post and came upon pics from a trip last year I forgot to post. In June 2023, right before we were set to move to Passau, Matthias and I met Jen and Brenda in Spain. It really deserves more than a few sentences, but that's all it's going to get right now. We met the gals in their lovely accommodation in Sevilla, and despite the SEVERE HEAT (100+ degrees F) we had lots of fun roaming around and eating tapas. Then we went on to Granada where it was a just a tad bit cooler and did some fun wandering, the obligatory visit to the awesome Alhambra, Hammam visit, and more tapas! Matthias and I stopped in Malaga for a pleasant night before heading back to Gommern to pack!
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| Sevilla! |
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| View of the Alhambra from our adventure walk! |
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| At the Alcazar |
Okay, back to October 2023 in Atlanta. I met Charlene at the airport and we caught the MARTA to the hotel where we met up with the rest of the family for cousin Danny's son Kemp's BM extravaganza! That included Friday evening Shabbat service and dinner, Saturday morning Bar Mitzvah service and lunch, the fancy party that evening and then Brunch on Sunday!! In between, we played with the little ones, Ione and Jordan, and of course found time for cocktails. We also made a trip to see Fred, my mom's 91 year old cousin in memory care (he did seem to know my mom, though!) and met Sue, Noah and Ari for pizza on Sunday. As the family left on Monday, I stayed behind to visit with Sue, Noah, Ari and Esme, who graciously invited me to stay at their place. Unfortunately, Danny and his family were under the weather throughout the weekend. But fortunately for us, Danny couldn't attend a concert he had five tickets for--Queen at the downtown arena--so he generously gave the tickets to us! It was the first concert I attended in many many years!! And fun!
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| Fun in the hotel lobby |
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| mom's photo bomb! |
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| Hanging out with Noah and Ari |
The next day we went downtown for lunch and I headed to the airport for my flight to Baltimore. I stayed with Josh, Elisha and Ione for three days and had so much fun playing games with Ione and Josh! I was supposed to continue on to NYC but was exposed to COVID at some point (never got it) so Stu disinvited me and I went straight to Florida.
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| Complicated gaming! |
Back in Sarasota at the beginning of November, Mom and I saw some shows, had some good eats and drinks and spent time together with family and some of her friends. Patrick came to visit and we were able to celebrate his 60th birthday together, as well as do some sightseeing and play more games!! Had a fabulous time together! Then mom and I had a fun day with Leoni and Norbert, who came down from Lakeland. Their visit was cut short due to illness, but Leoni did come back later on (in December) for another really fun visit!
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| Patrick at O'Leary's! |
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| Mom and Leoni at the beach |
And THEN, since we were invited to join family for Thanksgiving in Long Beach, Long Island, I jumped on the opportunity to make it a special Thanksgiving + birthday weekend for mom. So on the day before Thanksgiving, we took a quick flight from SRQ to JFK and walked right off the plane and into the TWA hotel at the airport. It was AMAZING! The lobby and restaurants were in the original refurbished TWA terminal at JFK and it was super cool! The next day we took the airtrain and LIRR from the airport to meet Andrew, Laurene and Jordan in Long Beach. While waiting for family to arrive for Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel, we walked along the boardwalk, went to a playground and hung out in the lobby/cocktail bar. We had a lovely dinner together with the Bunte family - cousins that we don't get to see often enough!!
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| Mom at the TWA hotel. This album is a must see!! |
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| Family at Thanksgiving dinner |
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| Fun-loving cousins! |
The next day, mom and I set out on the LIRR to our hotel in midtown Manhattan. The booking.com reservation said we could request a high-up room and the hotel delivered by putting us on the 33rd (top) floor! Amazing view! They also gave us a voucher for two drinks (each!) in the hotel bar, which we enjoyed after a birthday dinner of delicious Thanksgiving leftovers (and a fun game of Scattergories!) at Stu's apartment. The hotel bar itself wasn't a fabulous venue, but it was karaoke night and we had a blast!
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| Birthday dinner at Stu's |
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| View from our hotel room! |
The next day, Laurene came to join us at the hotel and we met Lauren for lunch and some very fancy happy-hour cocktails. Then I got to spend the night at Stu's for a long evening of chatting/catching up. On Sunday, Mom, Laurene and I took the subway out to Queens (the actual Queens, not quasi-Queens [Stuy-town], where Stu lives 😂😂) to visit with cousin Roz, whom we hadn't seen for years. Another great visit and delicious bagels to boot, yummmm! We celebrated my mom's birthday that day with drinks in a up-high (kind-of a rooftop) bar and dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. On Monday, mom and I flew back down to SRQ and as we went outside to find a taxi/uber, Mom said, "Can't we just take a bus?" and as it turned out, we could. Made it back to her place in 10 minutes for $1.50 (seniors over 80 ride free!) Fun end to a great (but not so little) trip!!!
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| Fancy cocktail hour! |
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| in Queens with Roz |
Finally, back in Sarasota, Sue came to visit for a week. We also had a wonderful time catching up (including old photo albums and yearbooks, ugh!) and doing some Sarasota stuff like catching the sunset at Siesta Beach and wandering around the Ringling Museum. And throughout all this, we dealt with a leak of unknown origin at the Willow Links (henceforth to be known as Willow Leaks) condo, the one we just renovated last year. Just need to mention it here, not going to dwell on it. Also had an interesting experience on the way home to Germany. My second flight leg was cancelled which meant I had to overnight in DC. Fortunately, the next day I got to have lunch with Brenda, Jen, and Stu, who all happened to be in town! Yay!
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| Cornhole! |
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| Siesta Beach sunset |
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| Impromptu DC meetup!! |
So that pretty much wraps up the early winter. I wanted to get this sloppy summary out before Matthias and I set out on our next adventure, to Vietnam. Leaving tomorrow!
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| Of course some time for Christmas markets in Germany... |
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| ...And Austria! |
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| And a few weeks in Passau before our next journey. |
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