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Recovery-Part 3

12 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Another “first” person we met was Daniel, one of the two Social Services people at Solaris.  He and Melissa were the two there, and I found out that Melissa was actually Fred’s Case Manager, rather than Daniel.  However, both were extremely helpful in any and all areas of our stay there in any situation.  Melissa was the one who arranged for the wheelchair and other helpful medical equipment from Medicare for us.  At the first meeting about Fred and all the therapists there, Daniel was the one who conducted the meeting.  We were also able to phone conference with our two daughters, which was good.  They both had questions to ask the staff.

There was one other meeting about Fred, shortly before he was discharged, and Daniel was unavailable to monitor, so Cindy stepped in.  I’m not sure I ever knew her title, but she was part of the office staff, with an office in that part of the building.  She is also a nurse – she wore the blue scrubs.  She also was the one who kept the bird feeders filled.  More on that later.  Delightful lady.

I often spoke with another staff/office person, La Tonjua, who is a delight.  She’s the Admissions Director for this particular facility.  She is one of the most elegant women I have ever met, and yet is friendly with any and all who are there.  She has befriended Fred and me, and stops to talk whenever were are walking the halls.  I believe her husband is retired military (that make a good connection with us) as well as a former police officer. She is a joy to know.

There were several people who served as receptionists at this facility, but Adam is the one who stands out in my mind.  He is always gracious, greets me every morning by name, and directs me to the right person to talk to in the office setting.  There are two other young ladies who sit in that chair, but Adam stands out

I simply MUST insert a funny happening here.  Some of my readers know us personally, and know that when Fred sneezes….it’s a freight train!!  Well, one day, when we were taking him “out” of the facility, we were in the lobby – and Fred sneezed!  And that sneeze reverberated around that lobby for a few seconds. One of the ladies was on reception duty that day, and I asked her if she had “jumped” at that sound…and she had!  I told her not to worry – it was just Fred sneezing.  As it turned out, when we returned from the outing, again in the lobby…Fred sneezed again!  I looked at the receptionist (same lady) and we grinned at each other.  Daniel’s office door was open, so I stuck my head in and asked if he was okay.  He had his hand to his heart and said, “what was that??!!”  Again…just Fred sneezing.  He told us later in the day that EVERYone in the staff offices heard the sneeze and jumped!  Fred had made his mark!  I still get a giggle every time I think about it!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Recovery-Part 2

5 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Fred was in the hospital for nearly a week, then transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for two weeks.  I was quite pleased with the care he received in both facilities, and a little leery of moving him to another facility, but it was necessary.  Fortunately, he is in a facility (actually a nursing home with an excellent reputation for their therapies) that has done wonders with his therapies, all three – physical (PT), occupational (OT), and speech therapy.  He has made such great progress, especially compared to where he was at the rehabilitation hospital that I am amazed.  He is walking – with help.  He has more motion and control over his right arm and hand, and his cognitive function is improving daily.


But believe it or not, the main purpose of this posting is not to talk about Fred’s strokes and recovery – amazing as that is, but to talk about some of the people we encountered at this facility.

Two of the first people we met were the nurses on duty that day, one of which was Fred’s nurse.  She is a lovely lady from Germany, which drew us instantly, since we lived in Germany for six years…and her name is Karin, as is our oldest daughter, but her name is spelled Karen.  The other nurse is Christina.  When I asked Christina if I could use her name in this blog, she said, “but I wasn’t his nurse.”  I told her that it didn’t matter – I had watched her, and knew what a dedicated nurse she was, and how she treated her patients/residents.  She just grinned at me.  There are other nurses as shifts change, and we are impressed with them all.  They bring him his medications in either pudding or usually apple sauce.  He snagged his arm once on something in the lobby and the nurse patched him up quickly.  I am most impressed with the nursing staff.

Okay…I have to stop here and tell you that when you see the people (usually women) working in this facility (except for the office staff), you will see them in different colored scrubs.  Here is a photo of what I mean.

Each color represents what job they have/do.  The Blue scrubs indicate the nurses (RN/LPN).  The Purple scrubs indicate the CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistant).  Pink scrubs indicate the housekeeping and laundry. Aqua indicates therapists.  Black scrubs indicate dietary/food service.  There is also a navy scrub that indicates maintenance and environmental services, but I’ve never seen them in that color – just t-shirts with the facility logo on it.

I have been most impressed with all these ladies…they are amazing.  And they have treated Fred with the utmost respect and care.  

We have become friendly with many of the residents and staff.  They talk with us, they laugh with us, and they care for us.  Many have expressed regrets that we are leaving – we have become part of their lives, and they ours.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Recovery-Part 1

28 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I suppose most people can expect some ups-and-downs in their lifetime, and Fred and I have had our share…or so we thought.

Okay, so we’re in our 80’s now, and we can expect some health issues to occur.  Knee replacement; cancer; cataract surgery; etc., etc., etc.  But on March 13th of 2025, one of those unexpected issues exploded into our lives, and our future will never be the same.  On that date, my husband suffered a stroke…actually they think he had about three strokes. 

The day before was like any other day – lunch with my brother and sister-in-law…choir rehearsal that evening at church.  Normal.  The next morning, when we got up, Fred was limping…why are you limping? ‘My back hurts.’

He got into the shower, and wet the sponge…and kept massaging the sponge.  He asked What’s next?  I’m thinking…huh?  So I told him that he didn’t need the sponge, so put it away and get the soap.  He looked at me and said soap? That’s when I knew something was definitely wrong…I mean, this is a man who showers every single day!

After we dressed, I called 911 against Fred’s wishes (I’m okay…no you aren’t okay).  The EMS as well as the fire truck arrived.  They began questioning Fred.  I guess because he could still talk coherently, and his vitals were okay, they didn’t think there was anything wrong that they could pinpoint.

  Unfortunately, one of the paramedics, a female, came to me with arms akimbo and almost belligerently said, why did you call us?  There’s no emergency here!! Her attitude rather set me back a bit.  Also unfortunately, I neglected to mention that we had been married for 63 years and I KNEW something was wrong with him!!  

They said they would take him to the hospital if I wanted…I didn’t know what to do…when this same paramedic said, Be sure to eat before you go…it will be hours before you get anything to eat. So that’s what we did.  She obviously didn’t think there was anything wrong with him.

When we got to the hospital, Fred was able to walk into the ER…and then he couldn’t walk anymore.  After examining him, the doctor asked why we had waited so long to come to the hospital?  Hesitation on my part?  Recommendation of the paramedic? 

 After a CT scan and MRI the next day (Fred was admitted), they discovered he had suffered at least two and possibly three strokes in the left side of his brain – which affected his entire right side.  They said the strokes had just skimmed the speech area of the brain, and that’s why he was still able to speak as well as he did.  Unfortunately, it has affected his memory, even to this day. 

 (Just as an aside…I wrote a letter to that particular Fire Station, explaining what had happened, and the result.  I didn’t need or want a reply, but wanted them to know that there WAS an emergency after all, and that paramedic was out-of-line with her attitude. 

Our youngest daughter was so upset by this that she sent a letter [emai] to the Orlando Fire Chief. That prompted a phone call to me, asking about details.  He tried to reassure me that the mission of the fire department is to do the best for our citizens in all situations.  I assured him that I realized that, but wanted them to perhaps use this as a training situation…taking nothing for granted.

I am grateful.

~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husban50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Coming Home

21 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

Because our flight from Budapest was at 6:30 a.m., we had to get up about 2:15 a.m. to get ready, pack, and get on the shuttle bus by 3:30 a.m.  We had showered the night before, so all we had to do was shave (Fred), put on makeup (Judy), finish packing, and off we went.  There were 14 of us from the ship that were going to make that flight.

It was a 30-minute drive from the ship to the airport.  And when we got there, it was a “hurry up and wait” situation.  We waited 30 minutes for the counter personnel to arrive and begin taking customers.  We were first in line, thank goodness.  Even though we had our bags with us, she convinced us to check the larger bags, as the plane from Budapest to Amsterdam was “small.”  The flight took off pretty much on time, and it was a two hour flight to Amsterdam.  They did feed us breakfast, but it was nothing like we had before – a sandwich with either deli-thin slices of chicken, or cheese, with mayonnaise on it.  Well, Fred doesn’t eat mayo in ANY form! But we were able to get him some slices of cheese and chicken that wasn’t too “polluted” from the mayo.

We had a fairly long layover in Amsterdam, which was good.  Schiphol Airport is really big, and we had to go quite a ways to find our gate.  Fred said it looked like the lady in Budapest had checked our bags all the way to Orlando, but he wasn’t sure.  So when we had the attendant in Amsterdam check, sure enough, they were checked through.  However, she said we had to pick them up in Atlanta and go through Customs there.

The flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta was nearly nine hours long.  The fortunate thing about it was that we were on an Airbus, and were in the two-seat side, rather than the four-seat middle.  I always enjoy flying with just Fred, rather than three of us across.  They fed us lunch – we both had tortellini, salad, cheese and crackers.  A few hours later they had wrap sandwiches for us – Fred had a “meatball” and I had a veggie wrap.  Surprisingly tasty.  And of course, there was always the pretzels and peanuts.

We finally arrived in Atlanta – really nice to realize we were back on US soil!  We picked up our bags and headed through Customs and Immigration.  Not a bad thing, and we got through fairly easily.  We were glad to have that done in Atlanta, rather than having to do it in Orlando, when we were super tired.

The flight to Orlando was just barely over one hour.  As we like to say, they hardly got up when they had to start down again!  They did have time to hand out pretzels and soft drinks, but they were hurrying through it.

Richard Lynch picked us up and headed toward home.  When we discovered they had not had dinner yet – and our tummys were growling – we agreed to meet at Panera for a light supper.  Pam and Piper were waiting for us.  We were able to tell them a little bit about our trip, but were so very ready to get home.

We unloaded our suitcases quickly, as I HAD to do a load of undies, since all we had needed to be washed before the next day.  So with all that done, we were able to get to bed by about 10:00 p.m.  We figured that we had been in the air about 13 hours, and had been awake about 25 hours – with only cat-naps on the airplane!  We were truly and fully exhausted!   We didn’t even set the clock to wake us up on Saturday – just decided to sleep our fill.

It was wonderful to be home and sleeping in our own bed.

But we are so very grateful and thankful that we had the wonderful experience of the Viking River Cruise Grand Tour.  A cruise of a lifetime!

~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~

Budapest, Hungary
Bratislava, Slovakia 

 

Vienna, Austria 

 

Passau, Germany 

 

Regensburg, Germany 
Nuremburg, Germany 

 

Bamberg, Germany 

 

Rothenburg, Germany 

 

Rhein River, Germany 

 

Kinderdijk, Holland 

 

The Gefjon – our long ship 

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Part 14

14 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

Since we had sailed overnight to Budapest, and had an early shore excursion, we were up by 5:30 a.m.  We had breakfast at 7:00 a.m. with Richard, Judy, Lucy, Roy and Jill, Joyce, Rick and Mary.

By 8:30 a.m. we left on the shore excursion for Budapest.  Some “Fast Facts about Hungary” from the ship’s info sheet:

Home to over a million people, Budapest spans both sides of the Danube River – historic Buda on the east bank and cosmopolitan Pest (pronounced “Pesht”) on the west.  Brimming with history, culture and attractions, Budapest is full of baroque, neoclassical and Art Nouveau architecture, and plenty to do.  Museums, shopping and restaurants are the places to be.

The bus took us around the town, then stopped at the square where we went on to the castle.

Funicular

Back to the ship by bus, we had lunch, then to our new room on the Lif, for a nap.

At 2:15 p.m., we had a “Budapest by Boat” tour, with our Program Director, Carl West giving the commentary.  

Carl West – Program Director 

We went by the Parliament Building, which is the most famous picture shown in the Viking advertisements – red-topped building.  Really beautiful.

We were back on the ship by 3:30 p.m., where we rested/napped and read some – quiet time for us.

We had our final/farewell dinner at 7:00 p.m. with Richard, Judy and Lucy.  While it was a fun time, we had our last hugs and “wish we lived closer to you” from each of us.  While I know it was a very concentrated two weeks with them, we all feel we forged a deep and lasting friendship, that will only continue when we all get to heaven.

Since tomorrow would be a REALLY early day (we asked for a 2:15 a.m. wake-up call, with a 3:30 a.m. bus departure time into Budapest), we showered that night, and were in bed by 8:30 p.m.

The Whale 

According to Google search:  That’s the “Bálna / Whale” (formerly called CET building) a modern shopping, cultural, and entertainment centre, as well as a tourist attraction on par with Paris’s Eiffel Tower, or the Covent Garden in London – at least that’s what the city leaders want it to be.

According to Google search:  The Shoes on the Danube is a memorial to the Budapest Jews who were shot by Arrow Cross militiamen between 1944 and 1945. The victims were lined up and shot into the Danube River. They had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable belongings at the time.

The memorial was created by Gyula Pauer, Hungarian sculptor, and his friend Can Togay in 2005. It contains 60 pairs of iron shoes, forming a row along the Danube. Each pair of shoes was modeled after an original 1940’s pair. 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Part 13

7 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Since we had to change ships today, Fred and I were up at 5:30 a.m. to shower and dress and finished packing.  At 7:00 a.m. we had breakfast with Richard, Judy and Lucy.  At 7:45 we completed our packing and put our bags out in the hallway as instructed. 

At 8:15 a.m. we reported to our assigned bus to leave the ship and go to Bratislava, Slovakia.

According to the ship’s info on Bratislava:   The emergence of Slovak national consciousness dates to about the 1700s.  The written language appeared before the 18th century, and near the end of that century a national movement began to encourage a Slovak identity and the development of Slovak Romanticism with a focus on popular folk traditions.  At the end of World War 1,Slovak identity was fully formed, and in 1919 Slovakia joined with Czechia to form a union of two western Slavic nations: Czecho-Slovakia.  But its independence was greatly limited by its strong economic, military and political dependence on Germany.

It was then conquered by the Soviets, who wanted to create a pro-Soviet and Communist Czechoslovakia.  This lasted until the fall of Communism during the Velvet Revolution of 1989.  In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully in what is called the Velvet Divorce.  The Czech Republic became a democratic state.  Slovakia became an independent nation. 

We arrived at the Bratislava Castle by 10:00.

It was quite windy day but not too cold.  While we didn’t go inside the castle, the outside was interesting. Because I knew the history of SPQR, I found this interesting. 

According to Google and Ancient Rome for Kids:

The letters SPQR stood for Senatus Populus Que Romanusa – the Senate and the People of Rome.  After defeating Tarquin, the last Roman king, the people started a new type of government, a republic.  A republic is a type of government whereby people elect officials to represent them in government.

As a publicity campaign, and as propaganda, the new senate had the letters SPQR chiseled, branded or stamped on everything that they controlled.  Public buildings, new coins, and even park benches got the letters SPQR added to them.

The people of Rome were proud of their new government, and were reminded every time that they saw SPQR that they were a part of the Roman Republic, and no longer ruled by a king.

At 10:30 we left for Old Town with a walking tour.  We saw many fascinating sights.  Here are some:

This little guy is called Cumil (pronounced as Chumil).   As the story goes, Cumil was a mischievous person who while working, used to emerge from under the manhole to look beneath the ladies’ skirts! (Tripadvisor)

Statue of Bratislava Cavalier Schoner Naci

Napolean – one of the few places to sit

We were given two hours of free time, to look around Bratislava on our own,  which is really too long.  We found no place to sit – no public benches. We finally went into a bakery and had a hot chocolate and a chestnut pastry.  We met and shared a table with Iris and April, sisters from Calgary, Canada (Richard called them “the sisters”), who were also on our cruise.  We complained to Carl West (who is from Bratislava, as is Billie, our concierge), that there were no public benches where we could sit and rest our feet.  He just laughed.  We think it is the city’s plan so visitors have to go into a shop to eat or drink in order to sit and rest.

At 1:00 p.m. we had lunch in the Austrian Trend hotel – it was a very good meal and the entire upper level was set up as a restaurant for our entire ship’s compliment. 

At 2:30 p.m. we were back on the bus for our trip Budapest, Hungary.  All the buses stopped for a restroom break at 3:45. The bus trip to Budapest normally takes only three hours, but took us four hours instead.  We were finally on board the Lif at 6:15 p.m.

At 7:00 p.m. we had dinner with Richard, Judy and Lucy.  Richard told us their tour guide, while going through Transylvania, told a story about “wampires… and the bus erupted with laughter. 

We were in bed by 10:00 p.m.  It had been a long day.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Part 12

24 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

After breakfast, we began a partial bus-and-walking tour of Vienna, Austria.  There’s just so much to see.  It seems strange to have an ultra-new building with the old buildings, but they seem to fit together rather well.  For the entire six years we lived in Germany, I hounded Fred about taking me/us to Vienna.  Never happened!  So this trip finally put us in that beautiful city.

I’m not a terribly good historian, but I have heard of the Hapsburg Dynasty.  Austria was the home for that dynasty.  The ship’s info sheet stated:  The rise and fall of the House of Hapsburg began along the Danube’s banks in 1276.  With Austria firmly in their grasp, the family gained new territories by marriage until their serial nuptials put most of Europe under their power.  As their wealth and territory grew, few royal families remained to help them acquire more kingdoms.  Their solution to this problem may have also been their undoing.  While the dynasty actually had its beginning in 1020, it wasn’t until 1273 when it moved to Austria.

The info sheet also said:  The Hapsburgs sought to retain their massive power through intermarriage between cousins or uncle and niece.  “The best spouse for a Hapsburg is another Hapsburg,” went the proverb.  The last of the Spanish line, Charles 2, was disabled from birth, perhaps from a genetic disorder typical in children born from siblings, and died.  It’s likely that the Austrian Hapsburg line ended for the same reasons.

While there are still living relatives of the Hapsburgs, for all intents and purposes, the dynasty died out in 1918, at the close of World War 1.

We walked through Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, which has a really dark interior.  I was unable to get any good pictures there.

But the outside is remarkable.  There is even a bronze model of the cathedral outside, that is to scale. 

We then walked through some of their Christmas Market.  It was still rather early in the season for the Christmas Market to be up and running, but there were a few booths set up already, and we enjoyed seeing them.

At 12:45 we met under the clock on the square and headed back to the bus and into the ship for lunch, which we had with Richard, Judy and Lucy.

At 2:00 p.m. we took a tour of the Schönbrunn Palace.  It’s very opulent, but beautiful.  

On our way into the Palace, there was a man on the sidewalk, covered in gold.  He was standing on a box, and was singing some Mozart – advertising a concert.  I just thought it was cute.  I gave him a short curtsy, and he replied with a small bow.

We had an early dinner (6:00 p.m.) with Richard, Judy and Lucy.  At 7:00 p.m. some of the group left for a Mozart and Strauss Concert, that was free to all who wanted to attend, since we had to change ships again.  Fred and I decided to stay onboard and pack.  Then we read some, and then were in bed and asleep by 9:30 p.m.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Part 11

17 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

November 16th, Monday.  We were up at 6:00 a.m. to shower and dress.  We had breakfast at 7:15 a.m., with Richard, Judy and Lucy joining us (they don’t get up as early as we do).  By 8:00 a.m. we arrived at Emmersdorf, Austria.

At 9:30 a.m. we took a bus to the 900-year-old Melk Abbey.  It is situated on an outcrop rising above the Danube, crowned by twin towers.

Here is a model of the Abbey 
As you can see…we are fascinated by pipe organs 
They were not without music 

While the abbey was founded in 1089, and given to the Benedictine monks, the current abbey was renovated between 1702 and 1736.  It was originally a royal palace with ceremonial courts, guest apartments, grand halls and a library – which contains around 80,000 medieval manuscripts.

Courtesy Wikipedia 

The abbey has a blue room,

 a green room,

a marble room, and the mirrored room.

Many of the floors have beautiful wood-inlay.

This beautiful stairway is the beginning of the grounds.  However, since I still couldn’t maneuver stairs very well, we walked down (and later up) the ramp.

By 12:10 p.m. we were back on board the ship, and had lunch in the Lounge with Janice and John from Ontario.  We were also joined by the couple from Los Angles (originally Denmark) but we still did not get their names.

At 2:00 p.m. we sailed through the Wachau Valley.

The countryside is stunningly beautiful.  Both banks are dotted with ruined castles and medieval towns and are lined with terraced vineyards.   The Wachau is described as “an outstanding example of a riverine landscape.”  Noted for its cultural importance as well as its physical beauty, it is described:  “The architecture, the human settlements, and the agricultural use of the land in the Wachau vividly illustrate a basically medieval landscape which has evolved organically and harmoniously over time.”

At 4:00 p.m. we docked in Krems.

Fred and I decided to stay on board the ship because it would be getting dark soon and it was cool and windy.  Before dinner Fred and I watched the Monuments Men movie in our stateroom.  Really good movie, and gave us some insight into the Nazi greed and stupidity.

At 6:45 p.m. we went to the preview of tomorrow’s Vienna excursions.  Carl West told us we have to change ships again.  Following much groaning from the passengers – during which he remained silent – he said, “thank you.”

At 7:15 p.m. we had a traditional Austrian dinner.  We had our first schnitzle with potatoes, a small piece of chicken, wurst, and dessert.   Richard, Judy and Lucy ate with us. 

We sailed to Vienna overnight.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Part 10

10 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

This is the day we would be transferring from the Gefjon to the Skadi. 

Therefore, we were up at 5:30 a.m., dressed and finished packing.  We had breakfast at 6:45 a.m. with Richard, Judy and Lucy, and Danny who is retired military.  Richard liked to tease Danny, so we had a lively breakfast conversation.

We had to have our bags outside our door by 8:30 a.m.  We were also to have our room keys turned in by 8:30 a.m.  We boarded bus number 3 and left at 9:00 a.m. along with three other buses bound for Passau.  We rode the bus for one-and-a-half hours to Passau.

We moved from the Gefjon to the Skadi.  It was essentially the same ship, just a bit older.  We even had the same room number, 325.  We unpacked our tote bags (they would bring our suitcases later), then at 11:30 a.m. we went on a one-and-a-half-hour walking tour of Passau.

Passau (pass-ow) is known as the “City of Three Rivers.”  It lies at the confluence of the Inn, the Danube and the Ilz rivers.  It was originally a settlement of the Boil Celtic tribe, and later the site of the Roman fort, Castra Batava.  Passau was an important medieval center for the salt trade, the “white gold.”  It was transported from the Alpine salt mines to Passau, where it was processed by entrepreneurs called Salzfertiger.  The salt imports to Passau were forbidden in 1707, and that trade was lost.

During the Renaissance, Passau became famous for making high-quality knife and sword blades.  Local smiths stamped their blades with the Passau wolf, and superstitious warriors believed that the wolf granted them invulnerability.

When fires ravaged the city in the 17th century, it was rebuilt to reflect the baroque character that survives today.  Today, Passau is home to 50,000 people.

We were back on board the Skadi by 1:30 p.m. and had lunch in the lounge with Richard, Judy and Lucy.  By the time we had finished lunch, our suitcases were in our room, so we unpacked them.  We hoped this would be the only transfer we would have on this cruise.  One nice thing about a cruise – you usually get to stay in the same room for the duration, which makes it quite nice.  This was just a small disruption.

After we had unpacked, we went back into town.  We saw St. Michael’s cathedral first, 

and then Saint Stephen’s. 

It is one of the town’s foremost baroque landmarks and boasts the largest pipe organ outside the United States.  Beautiful.  It has 17,974 organ pipes, 233 stops and four carillons.  All five parts of the organ can be played from the main keyboard, one at a time, or all together. 

The Skadi sailed at 5:00 p.m.  At 7:00 p.m. we had dinner with John and Denise from California, and a couple from Los Angeles who were originally from Denmark (never got their names).  He was a German teacher in a high school in Los Angeles.

More interesting sights in Passau:

Remember, we were told that the incomplete “8” equals a “4” – therefore, the date shown is 1499. 
A plaque on the wall in the Glass Museum 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Cruise of a Lifetime-Part 9

3 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

Saturday was a sailing morning, so we slept in a bit, and went to breakfast at 8:15a.m.  We had our breakfast with Richard, Judy and Lucy. 

Lucy and Judy 
Richard and Art, our server 

We are now on the Danube River. We went through the last two locks on our journey during breakfast. These are the first locks that lower the water level rather than raising us up a level.  Most interesting process to watch.

We spent time with the Richard, Judy and Lucy until lunch, which we shared with them.  They are such fun people to be with.  Still reminiscing about Albuquerque.

Carl West had informed the passengers that we would be able to purchase a flash drive with all the pictures he had taken on this trip.  Fred purchased one for us.  I had taken quite a few pictures, but thought that the ones Carl had taken would just add to our experience and memories.  NOTE: Carl West followed each day’s excursions, and was snapping pictures all the time – usually of the groups and what we were seeing.

We docked at Regensburg at 1:30 p.m.

At 2:00 we began a walking tour of Regensburg.  Regensburg is the oldest city on the Danube, and one of Bavaria’s most beautiful, best-preserved medieval towns in Europe.  The Roman Gates of 179 AD are still standing.  It was a very cold and very windy day, so we were back on the ship by 3:45.  As Fred’s Mother, Kitty Wills once said when we were with her and Charlie in Edinburgh, Scotland, “I’m just about as cold and wet as I care to be!”  So we returned to the ship.

There is an area in Regensburg that has brass plaques in the bricks with people’s names and dates on it. They were murdered by the Nazis during World War 2.  Their relatives never wanted them to be forgotten, so this was their way of memorializing them.

Occasionally the Danube overflows its banks, and the river water floods the city.  Here are a few markers with dates – about 15′ to 20′ above the river’s normal level:  February 1893 and June 2013.

Oskar Schindler (of Schindler’s List fame) lived in Regensburg from 1945-1950 in the Goliath House.

Notice Goliath’s left arm around the window frame 

He immigrated to Argentina in 1950.  He died in 1974, and at his request, is buried in Jerusalem.

A point of interest:  Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013) grew up in Regensburg.  He was the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. 

We stayed on the ship the remainder of the afternoon, since the weather was not too good.  We had a short nap, and just rested.

At 6:45p.m. we were in the lounge where Carl West gave us all the information on the ship transfer the next day.

We had dinner with Jane and Steve (Colorado) and another couple. 

By 9:00 we were back in the room to pack is much as we could of our clothes for the transfer the next day. Because we would have to get up early the next morning, we took our showers before we went to bed. 

Some interesting pictures in Regensburg:

Greenpeace was making a statement  
A Christmas store 

A Christmas store

It’s beginning to look like Christmas

This beautiful wood-inlay table in a shop window 
Notice the horse-drawn carriage on top of the sign 
Cathedral artistry 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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