Turkey on turkey day

We reluctantly left Israel and headed for Turkey. We have been to Turkey and like Turkey so we shouldn't have any reservations about going. Since we have visited Turkey before we knew what to expect, the hustle and bustle. Since this is our second stop to Izmir, with the main attraction being Ephesus and us visiting it last time we decided to keep it simple this time and just stay in Izmir.

I had done a bit of research on what there is to see, it is not ladened with tourist sites but there were a few that I wanted to hit. We stopped at the Agora, an excavated area that had some ruins that were in various states of uncovering. It was a cold morning, we hailed a taxi and piled in. He wove through the streets of Izmir like a man who just robbed a bank and was on the lamb. He pulled off to the side of the road and he waved to us to go across the street. We exited his vehicle and crossed the street and wandered down a road to a fenced off area. The Agora sat in front of us...very underwhelming. We peered through the fence, took a couple of pictures, realized how cold we were and decided it was time to move on to the bazaar, to warm our cockles by doing some shopping.

We walked 20 minutes to the bazaar and immediately realized that this could entertain us for a few hours. We had a great time wandering, browsing and just taking in everything. We found several items that we liked and most of them were extremely inexpensive. McKay found soccer jerseys for about 5 Euro apiece. We found scarves that were dirt cheap. I bought some nice leather shoes for Sunday and trainers to wear during my travels. The kids found all sorts of clothes. Sharma even purchased a small nightstand. When we were in Istanbul they had really good cherry tea, so when I saw several guys carrying around trays with tea I thought I had found heaven once again. I asked one of the runners how much they were, he told me and indicated to follow him...which we did. He poured us five small glasses of tea...except it wasn't cherry. It looked red...cherry red, but it didn't have the same taste, in fact it didn't taste very good. We tried to drink as much as we could so we didn't appear rude and not appreciative. I drank most of mine and then realized that the kids had not hardly touched theirs. I went into 'dad' mode and decided it was time to take one for the team. I drank out of each of their cups to the point that they were almost gone. I know the glasses appeared small but when you don't like the fluid contained therein, the glasses suddenly seem like 64oz. Big Gulps. I choked it down and decided it was time to move on. We came upon a mosque in the middle of the bazaar, actually there a few but this seemed to be a little larger than the others. We peaked inside but did not go in, even though I was beckoned to come in by a guy coming out of the mosque. On our way out of the Bazaar we stopped at a pizza shop and enjoyed a quick sit down meal.


We walked to the Izmir clock tower. This is probably the most famous tourist spot in Izmir. It is located in Konak square, a large cemented area near the sea. In the middle is a tall structure with four fountains, completed in 1901. We took several pictures in and around this area. After walking over to look at the sea we caught a taxi back to the ship. We were ladened down with many bags of trinkets, clothes and furniture, I think we broke a record of how much we transported back to the ship on this trip. Now my concern is getting it packed away and off of the ship.

That evening we had dinner on the ship and since it was our traditional Thanksgiving, we were all in the mood for turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie. The turkey that was served and every other dish that was supposed to replicate a Thanksgiving meal were terrible at worst...especially the pumpkin pie...inedible. At least they tried, but this instance it would have been better that they didn't.

The Holy Land-Day 2

We started the day at 7am...like we should have on Day 1. We found our bus and settled in for a ride to Jerusalem. It was little over an hour to Jerusalem and Moti did a good job of teaching us about his country and the relationship with the Palestinians. We would pass Palestinians settlements and you could tell them because they were the ones that had large cement fences with barbed wire at the top.

I felt very lucky having two people in our group who had spent time for a semester at the BYU Jerusalem center. They were a fountain of knowledge and could explain everything with a LDS perspective. I split them up on the buses so each bus had somebody who was well versed...beyond our tour guides.

As we approached Jerusalem I became more and more excited. Finally, there it was Jerusalem! We rounded a bend on the freeway and we could see the tale tale sign of the Dome of the Rock. There is no mistaking it. We drove a little further and passed the BYU Jerusalem center! So cool. It was so surreal, I really can't put it into words...seriously. From knowing Jerusalem through pictures, through biblical stories, through the news...and here I was.

Our first stop was the Mt of Olives. We pulled up and the first thing I saw was a camel...yep, a man trying to make money was selling rides on his camel...we're not in Kansas anymore. The view from the Mt of Olives was fantastic...just amazing. It overlooked Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, the outer wall, the stairs to the temple, the city of David, the Lion's gate and Bethlehem off in the distance. Here is the funny thing about the Mt of Olives, there are no olive trees on it...zip, nada. The hillside is one large Jewish cemetery, containing over 150,000 graves. From our vantage point we could see the Golden gate leading into Jerusalem through the old city wall. This gate is sealed but we know that Christ passed through this gate on Palm Sunday and upon his return he will pass through it again. The gate was sealed and a muslim cemetery was placed in front of the gate to prevent the Messiah from entering here. In front of us was the corner of the wall of the city, from here Jesus might have been tempted by Satan to cast himself down after he had fasted 40 days and nights. Next to this were the stairs leading into the city where the temple would have stood. These are the steps that one could imagine Mary and Joseph returning to Jerusalem and looking for the young Jesus as he was sitting among the learned and teaching them or you could imagine Christ cleansing the temple of the money changers on these steps. Off to our left in the distance you could see Bethlehem perched on a far off hill. Bethlehem is in a Palestinian area and therefore necessitates crossing over into Palestine, which equates to changing bus driver/tour guide and getting your passport stamped etc. We didn't have enough time for this on this go around. We could also see the City of David off to the left of Jerusalem. We had our devotional and a group picture. After spending 30 minutes here...and frankly I could have spent another hour here looking at everything, we left.

Our next stop was the Garden of Gethsemane. We hopped back into the bus for a short 15 minute drive, which actually wouldn't have been that long if we would have walked. We got off of the bus and crossed the street, next to the old wall of Jerusalem. We walked passed an old church and onto a side street. Up the side street we came to two walls that lined either side of the street. On the right side of the street was the public viewing of the Garden of Gethsemane, on the left was the private viewing of the Garden of Gethsemane. I don't know what Moti did or who he knew but he was able to get us into the private section. It is much like the public part except it is quieter, with less people and the path winds in and amongst the trees whereas the public part appeared to have the path around the perimeter of the trees. By this time we learned that Moti was going to talk a lot at each of our stops and if we wanted to get some photos we just had to wander away. So wander away we did. I loved the Garden of Gethsemane. The trees looked like they had been ripped up by the root, twisted, wrung out and placed back in the earth. They looked so old and I could well imagine them being privy to the Atonement that took place in that garden spot. Again I could have spent another half an hour just taking it all in. There was peace in that Garden, much different than on the night of his atonement. To give me perspective of our proximity, just beyond the walls of the Garden, lay the Dome of the Rock.

Unfortunately we needed to cut our time short because we had an 11:00am appt to see the Garden Tomb. You can't see it without an appointed time and our time was coming very quickly...in fact we were going to be late. I was frantic with anxiety...we can't miss the Garden Tomb. The bus ride took longer than I had hoped, traffic and narrow streets with cars did not help us. We scrambled off of the bus and followed Moti, our fearless leader. We all looked like Lemmings, each person following the next...actually we were dysfunctional Lemmings because we had large gaps in our line, some people would stop and take pictures and others would wander off of the path. To my surprise and utter astonishment we made it to each of our destinations with each person accounted for. We entered another side street lined with cement/rock walls that curved around to the left. On the right hand side there was a small door, big enough for one person to enter, this lead to the Garden Tomb area. We met our Garden Tomb guide, he sounded British. He first led us to the far end of the garden, to a small lookout. The view was of a small parking lot, next to a building on one end and a rock wall on the other end. To the casual observer this scene wouldn't amount to too much. He started to tell a story of a British gentleman that was at a hotel near this area and as he was looking out of a window, looking at this rock wall, he noticed something odd...the face of the wall looked like a skull. Golgotha, meaning skull, he surmised this might be the place of the crucifixion of Christ. Now as we gazed upon this rock wall, you really couldn't make heads or tails out of what you were looking at, certainly no skull remained. But you could pick out the original holes and indentations of the wall where the skull would have been. And he explained this whole area would make sense for his crucifixion because from this spot they would have wanted to bury him quickly before sunset, so the garden tomb was literally a stones throw away. He led us over to a sitting area, complete with benches. He began to tell the story of the crucifixion and burial and as soon as he did the world tried to drown him out. We were not the only ones in this garden, there were several other groups here to pay their respects. We had one group next to us, probably 40 Brazilians from a church singing, now when I say singing I don't mean the peaceful, reverent songs of respect and thoughtfulness...I mean at the top of your voice, drown out any peaceful and reverent feeling you may have...singing. It was annoying, loud and disrespectful. And just when you thought it would end, a new song was begun. Our tour guide, you could tell, was a bit annoyed. Behind us we had another group chanting, albeit much quieter as they were contained in a small building. This immediately impressed upon me as I sat there. I compared our own desire to concentrate on the Lord and our desire to hear what he has to say, while the world and her distractions vie for our attention and makes it hard to concentrate on things of the spirit. This is the way I felt sitting in the Garden Tomb, trying to listen to our guide, feel of the spirit and take it all in, while the world around me shouts, yells and tries to distract me. We made our way over to the tomb area, it looked like all of the pictures that I had seen in Sunday School. The sun shown down through the trees, shadows falling across the Garden Tomb entrance. A small square hole in the side of the rock, a path worn in the rock in front of the door where one could roll a rounded rock to open and close the tomb. We each waited patiently for our turn to enter the tomb, Once inside I could see how small the actual tomb itself was, just a small room maybe 20 x 15 feet. To think, this was where Christ was laid to rest, this was where he was resurrected...wow. We gathered as a group and had our devotional, it was quiet this time and we could concentrate on the presentation and testimony given. The whirlwind around us had abated and we were finally left to feel the spirit in this serene place. The Garden Tomb was closing and we needed to leave. We walked to the exit, which led past the tomb itself. The door of the tomb was closed and on it was the inscription..."He is not here, for He is risen". I think that sums it up nicely.

Upon leaving we wanted to visit an olive wood store to buy some carvings. We knew of a gentleman that comes to the Ramstein Bazaar and sells his wares, we like him because he has a lot of LDS carvings. Our tour guide Moti had run over to his store while we were at the tomb and reported back that it was closed. We had Moti find his cell phone number and call him up to see if he would open it. We were in luck, he said he could meet us there in 20 minutes. We got on the bus and stopped at his store. We piled into his shop and started shopping. His work is fantastic. He had many carvings of Christ, scenes from the bible and he had many scenes from the Book of Mormon. Some LDS specific work included the Liahona, Father Lehi, the title of Liberty and Nephi, just to mention a few items. We bought something for each of our children so that they could remember their trip to Israel and we bought a carving of Lehi, kneeling down holding the Liahona.

At this point there was a divide of what people wanted to do, a few wanted to go to the BYU Jerusalem center and the majority wanted to go to old Jerusalem. Our group walked down to the Damascus gate and entered in. It is a lovely gate, very large and formal. As we passed through the gate and into the old city I soon realized that old Jerusalem did not differ much from Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. Old Jerusalem consisted of shops, merchants, small restaurants, falafel stands etc. There are four distinctive quarters of old Jerusalem, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. I honestly don't know which quarters we visited as we just wandered without direction for most of the time. We purchased three falafels and drinks, I bought freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which was very good. The only direction we had was we needed to meet at the western wall (wailing wall) at a predetermined time to meet our group. In hindsight, I think I would have opted to go with the other group to the BYU Jerusalem center. I felt like old Jerusalem was so much like Istanbul that I had seen it before. In order to get to the western wall we had to pass through a metal detector, which I though was interesting. The only place that I saw a lot of military presence was at the western wall. Israeli military were all over this area. After meeting with our group briefly and getting the low down on going up to the wall, we decided it was time to approach. Sharma and the girls had to go to the 'female' section of the wall, a much smaller less prominent area of the wall. McKay and I donned on our yamakas and approached the wall, at first just holding back and observing. We were told that we could take pictures as long as we weren't being obtrusive and disrespectful. We took some pictures and just let it all sink in. There was one guy sitting in a chair, dressed all in black, with locks of hair, rocking back and forth repeating his prayer. Nearer the wall was where all of the action was happening, men, young and old, citizens and military line up against the wall placing their notes in the wall and praying. There were a few gentlemen standing around what looked like an old cart and inside the cart there were these long leather strips, connected to a small box and inside of the box there were contained prayers. Men would come up and have the orthodox Jews wrap these boxes to their arms or their foreheads and then they would go to the wall and pray. McKay and I each had a note that we had written and we took them up to the wall and placed them into the crevices of the wall. I had to touch it just to say that I did. We then stood around a bit longer and upon leaving I decided that I wanted to get my picture taken with one of these orthodox Jews manning the cart. As I asked him for the picture, several in our group gathered around as well. The guy running the cart, that I had asked, picked out Ian Price and started to question him...no, not just question him but badger him and really put him on the spot. He first asked Ian "Where is God" Ian, being a shy boy anyway, didn't answer at first, instead was looking to his father for help. The old man seeing this, said "Your father an't help you". The answer the old man was looking for was "Everywhere". After a few minutes of Ian trying to figure this out, the old man then asked "Is God in the heart of the Devil?". Again, Ian stammered around a bit, he had that 'deer in the headlight' look to him. As I stood there, wanting to help Ian out, it dawned on me, that Ian only being 13 but holding the office of Deacon in the Aaronic priesthood had more power assigned to him that this old man who had studied the scriptures for many years beyond Ian's age. Ian held the power of God, whereas this person didn't even know who God really is. I did get my picture taken and we hurried back to the group.

We walked to the bus and caught it for the final time back to the cruise ship. We sat in silence as we drove back to Haifa, I think some of us were tired and I think others were thinking about everything that we just experienced...I was in the latter group. One of the things that struck me as interesting was to see where each of these historical places were in relationship to another. I always thought that each place was miles away from one another, yet as we traveled most were in walking distance of one another. I was also amazed that all of the places we saw were in the midst of the city, surrounded by sidewalks with people rushing by on their way...to do who knows what, yet within walls just a few feet away the most important things in this world happened. I felt like day 2 was the highlight for me. As I thought about day 1, although I knew what I was seeing, I could imagine the things I was seeing as being anywhere back in the states. What I mean by that, the river Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, Mt. Tabor didn't look like anything special they could have been placed anywhere in America and they would have belonged. But it wasn't until day 2 that I really had the sense of being in Israel. The dome of the rock with its iconic gold dome, the temple mount with graves lining its side, olive trees in the Garden of Gethesemane, the Garden Tomb and finally the western wall all reminded me that Kansas was definitely a long way from here. I was in Israel, the land of Christ.

The Holy Land-Day 1

The main reason we took this cruise was to get to Israel. My bucket list coming to Europe was Israel, Egypt and Russia. One down. I did a lot of research in preparing for coming to Israel. I knew that we needed to do a tour in Israel so we could see as much as we could. I emailed five different tour companies and whittled them down to one who gave us the best itinerary and best price. His name was Moti and he did a pretty good job. I can't give him a ringing endorsement because at times he spoke too much and had too much of a Pro-Israel slant. Don't get me wrong, I love Israel and the Israeli people but please don't put down my country or build your country up unnecessarily...just give me the facts of what we are seeing. Also, you have to realize that our tour guides (we had two buses and each bus had their own tour guide) are Jewish and therefore don't believe our Christian beliefs.

We got off to a rocky start, somewhere along the way I thought we were supposed to meet Moti at 9am. We got off of the ship a few minutes before 9 and there he was. He asked what took us so long because he was expecting us at 7am...your kidding, we wasted two hours on the ship? Man! So we had to adjust our itinerary for the first day and reverse the order. Once loaded on the buses we left the port area. We spent the first 40 minutes in the bus driving past Mt. Carmel, leading to the Jezreel valley (Valley of Armageddon). It was foggy to begin the drive and I prayed that the fog would lift so we could see everything we came to see. Within 30 minutes the fog was gone. As we drove through this large and spacious valley I imagined the armies of the world gathering in this valley and waging a devastating war. Could not believe I was here...this will be the theme of the next two days.

Our first stop was Mt. Tabor, where it is believed that the Transfiguration of Christ occurred. We had to disembark our buses at a base camp and take smaller shuttles to the top. We all filed into the shuttles, which took a little while to get everybody up to the top. It was a long and winding road to the top, but it gave a fantastic view of the valley below. There was a Franciscan church at the top of the mountain to celebrate the Transfiguration of Christ. There were three tabernacles built into the church, one for Christ, one for Moses and one for Elias (Elijah). As a side note, each place we were to visit was assigned to a member of our group. They were expected to do research and present a small devotional at each place where we could hear what happened there and read it in the scriptures. Hailey had the opportunity to read the account of the transfiguration out of the scriptures at this stop. We had a group photo here and then moved on.

Once down from the mountain we climbed aboard our buses again. Next stop was the River Jordan. The road wound through the mountains and then we could see another valley. This valley had a large lake in it, the Sea of Galilee (lowest fresh water lake on earth). It was much bigger than I imagined it to be. On the other side of the Sea of Galilee we could see the Golan Heights, Syria and Jordan. Wow! Seriously? These countries you hear about in the news...they are right there! We took our picture next the "Sea level" sign, which is interesting because you are used to the sign being near water. This one was half way down the side of a mountain.

We made our way to the Jordan River. Now this isn't the place that Jesus was baptized, it apparently is 100 Km to the south but for tourists sake they have created a stop to sell souvenirs etc. They have built a fenced off area of the River that you can go into. There is the opportunity to perform mock baptisms in the river. There were many many people that had paid money to dress in white, enter the river and have themselves 'baptized' by who knows who. I stood there in awe of what I was seeing...in my mind, making a mockery of a very sacred covenant that a true follower of Christ makes. But I had to take a picture. The river was teeming with huge catfish and muskrats, I don't think I would have entered the river even if I was paid. We had our devotional which was very nice. I bought a small bottle and went down to the edge of the river and filled it up with water. Pretty dirty, but who cares. The river itself was pretty with overhanging beaches from trees near the river bank, much like the pictures I saw in church of where Christ was baptized.

We left the River Jordan area and drove the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was Tiberius along the shore. Not much happened here specifically, but it is in the general area of where many miracles occurred. We stopped here and had lunch. We all had falafels (pita filled with lettuce and deep-fried chickpeas) for lunch. After 30 minutes for lunch we were back in the bus and on to Capernaum. This city did hold several stories from the bible. This is where Jesus came to preach after leaving Nazareth. He chose many of his apostles from this small town. We stopped at a synagogue that Jesus preached at, not much of it left now. We also saw the spot that is claimed to be the home of St Peter, a small circle structure made of rocks and mortar. Over the top of his home are the foundations of several churches that have been built. Those have all been destroyed except for their foundation, now there is a modern church/structure that has been built, which still stands. While here many people had the chance to wander down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and gather some rocks and sand.

Our next stop was the Mt of Beatitudes. Much like several stops there is no clearcut evidence that the Sermon on the mount was held where we visited. But it seems likely that it could have been here. And much like many places we saw, religions have built their churches over/on the spot where they think things occurred. The Mt of Beatitudes was no different, there was a Catholic chapel built at the top of the mountain and another edifice built half way down the mountain. Unfortunately, the manicured lawns, landscaping and buildings detract from what this place truly is. I wish it would have been left in its natural state. It was hard to get an idea of how people would have been gathered due to the planned landscaping.

We jumped back into the buses and started on our way back to the ship via Nazareth. Unfortunately we hit unexpected traffic on the way back and spent excess time in the bus. We would have hit Nazareth in the morning but because I was late getting our group off the ship we had to wait until the evening to see Nazareth. Everything was dark and it was hard to get an idea of what Nazareth really looked like. We stopped at the Basilica of Annunciation in Nazareth. This church was built by the Roman Catholic church and described as the place that they believe it happened. Whereas the Greek Orthodox church says that it occurred at a local spring and therefore they built their edifice there. Because we were running late we didn't have much time in the church itself. The outside of the church had some very interesting carvings in the large wooden doors of the church. We made it in the church and had just enough time to walk through the church without stopping. We went from the second floor down a spiral staircase to the first floor. It opened up into a large chapel that held made different versions of the the birth of the savior, each one from an artist from different countries. We left the church and wandered the grounds. As we were standing there the bells of the church started to chime...I love the bells on churches. And even before the church bells had stopped the Muslim call to prayer began. I also love the call to prayer. Hearing both of these sounds competing for my attention? I just loved it.

We made it back to the bus and drove back to the port. What a great first day. We felt tired but knew that we had seen so many wonderful things. What made it even better was that I was helping my children's testimony of the Savior grow. They got to see places that, up to that point time, they had only read about in the scriptures...in the words of MasterCard...priceless.

Katakolon and Days at sea

I have opted to group our Katakolon, Greece stop with our days on the ship in this blog post.

Our days at sea (there were four of them) consisted of sleeping in, usually after a late evening. We would normally get up just in time before the breakfast offering ended. The rest of the time was a game of cat and mouse with everybody, sometimes you would see several people that you knew throughout the day and other days you literally wouldn't see anybody from our group, and remember we approx 70 people in our group. I have to admit that I really enjoyed my days at sea, more so on this cruise than any other cruise that I have taken. I don't know why this was the case, but it probably had something to do with that everybody had their own agenda. Hailey, McKay and Maddi simply wanted to be with their friends all day long. Sharma had a chance to relax with friends, family or by herself and therefore she was contented. I fell into the same boat as Sharma, but I must admit most of my time was spent on sea days to myself. Most of the time I spent my hours in the "Around the clock lounge". This was a large, usually empty lounge that overlooked the sea. There were nice couches and chairs that one could lounge on. I usually had a book, iPad or iPhone in hand to keep me company. If this lounge was busy I was go to "Rick's Piano bar" or the "Wien Wien ballroom", both of which were next door. One of my fondest memories was hanging out in the Wien Wien ballroom with my children and all of their friends while they did homework. They did home work for several hours with a couple of games of chess thrown in just to keep their sanity. My daughter practiced for jazz band on their grand piano in this ballroom. It was awesome to sit in the ball room listening to my daughter play the piano while I was adrift in the Mediterranean sea.

We attended most of the shows at night, sometimes we opted to skip the performances, usually if it was the dancers. The entertainment for the most part was mediocre at best, but we appreciated a few of the acts. Breakfast and lunch were usually on our own, meaning there was no preplanning to eat, sometimes you ate by yourself, other times you had a large group. We opted for late dinner seating, which meant that we ate at 9pm. Very unusual for us, and probably will not opt for the late dinning again. We chose this option because we had some long port days and wanted to make sure that we could make it back on board in time for dinner. We started out with everybody in our group doing late dinning, by the second night, there were probably only 15 of us. We knew coming on to this cruise that the food wasn't their forte and it lived up to our expectations unfortunately. There were a few things that they did really well and there were several that were just 'okay' and there were a few that were complete strikeouts. Their version of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving is the first thing that comes to mind. 'Horrific' I think best describes it. It looked inedible and it tasted even worse.

Our English liaison on board was able to arrange for all of the families with children in our group to have a chance to go up to bridge and meet the captain and see what it looks like to steer the ship. It is a marvelous opportunity, one that doesn't happen very much, in fact in the 13 cruises that we have been on, we have been to the bridge only one other time. I don't think they liked it too much when I tried to commandeer the ship...but hey it was worth a shot. I am sure there was a moment when the captain thought to himself "What did I get myself into?" when he saw 15 noisy, energetic children on his otherwise quiet bridge.

The ship was very nice, large and relatively empty. This made the cruise even that much better, the less people the better. Usually ships are filled so full that you have to reserve space on it just to sit down. The ship also had soft serve ice-cream. This may not sound like much of a luxury, but when you have kids that love ice cream this is a life saver. They may have eaten more ice cream than actual food.

The only downside to this trip was that some sort of sickness spread like wildfire through each of the families in our group. Our family had three people get hit with sickness. But literally every family had a bought of sickness-stomach ache, diarrhea, vomiting and just plain feeling bad. Luckily it only lasted one to two days and then it was gone.

The other thing about this cruise was that it was the best weather and calmest seas we have ever had. Everyday was sunny and 65 degrees. For three hours one evening the ship rocked moderately, other than that there was no rocking, so smooth you couldn't tell you were on a ship...calmest seas of all our cruises.

This brings us to our first stop...Katakolon. We have been to this stop before and did the only thing to do here...go to Olympia. Therefore because we had been here and McKay and Maddi were both sick we opted to get off of the ship and just find a beach and hang out there. Talking with a taxi driver at the port I found out there was a beach right next to the dock...literally 50 feet, it was called Plakes beach.

When we first got to the beach there was nobody there so my kids chose a couple of large rocks to sprawl across and catch some sun and just rest. Sharma and I did some exploring along the beach and collected sand and some small shells. Then I found a rock and found a comfortable position and let the sun beat down on me. After 30 minutes another person joined us, then 10 more minutes and four workers from the ship came and took a dip in the sea. Then 20 minutes after that another three joined us and so we decided it was time to pack up and go. We wandered into the town of Katakolon, there is not much there. One street 1/2 mile long with shops on either side. The most interesting thing happened however. I was in a shop with Sharma, she had picked out a couple of things so I was given the task of paying for the items. I struck up a conversation with the shop keeper as she spoke perfect English. We started making small talk and realized that she was from the US...then from Washington state...then from Tacoma...then had gone to my high school. She was a bit older than me so I wouldn't have known her, but still, what a small world. She gave me the 'Tacoma' discount on my items...nice.

By that point we were done and decided it was time to go back to the ship. We walked 10 minutes back to the ship and found our way to our cabin. Stop #1 completed.

Bastogne, Garmisch and Savona

My vacation started off with going with my son on a scout campout to Bastogne, Belgium, where part of the battle of bulge was fought. We drove into Belgium near the town of Bastogne where we had secured a scout cabin. It was a perfect place that slept 20+ people, the boys upstairs and the adults downstairs. We spent the first several hours outside cooking our food under a full moon and playing capture the flag. After three games and eating chicken, potatoes and apple turnover. We then had a testimony meeting and enjoyed the spiritual side of being together as a quorum. We sat around and talked for a bit and then called it a night around 11pm. The next morning we arose early and then drove to the city of Bastogne where we took a walking tour through the city. We spent a cold day seeing the sites, answering questions for a scout worksheet and taking pictures.

The next day I left for a conference in Garmisch, Germany. I was dropped off early at the hospital in order to catch a bus to Garmisch. I decided it would be easier to take the bus to Garmisch and then have Sharma come and pick me up. Our friend's the Pextons flew into Paris a few days earlier and then took the ICE train to Germany while I was in Garmisch. I spent three days learning about exercise and manipulation, it was a great class. This winter has been warmer and drier than normal so all of the mountains around Garmisch had no snow. It wasn't as spectacular as I would have hoped but still majestic, you could picture how beautiful it would be normally. I was assigned to room with another therapist from Vicenza, somebody I didn't know before, but he was very easy going and easy to get a long with. Sharma loaded the van with luggage and 5 other people and off they drove to pick me up. I tried to sleep a little prior to them arriving, but like normal, I can't calm down enough to get any sleep prior to a big drive before starting our vacation. I tried, I tried but to no avail. The family and friends arrived at 10pm. I knew if we left at that point we would arrive in Savona several hours before we should be there. We decided to hang out in the lodge for several hours and use their free wifi and time our arrival into Savona better. We left at 1am with the car all loaded up and every seat filled. We drove out of Germany and into Innsbruck Austria within 30 minutes. I was able to make it three hours and then suddenly got very tired. I pulled off at one of the gas stations stops along the Autobahn. I was able to sleep for 30 minutes and then I was back on the road again. As we pulled out of the Alps the fog was as dense as I could remember in recent memory. Our first destination was trying to find the parking garage that we had reserved online. We drove into Savona and found this little side street and practically passed up this tiny little garage. We pulled in and this little Italian man met us at the garages entrance. He didn't speak English and I didn't speak Italian, but I showed him my receipt and he motioned to me to give him the keys to the van. I did and he hoped behind the wheel of the car and I got into the back, next thing I know he is driving us to the port, dropping us off and then taking our van back to his garage with the instructions to give him a call when we got back into port. As we pulled up, we parked next to the bus carrying the rest of our group from Germany. They got in literally 15 minutes before us, so it was great timing. We unloaded all of our items from the car and hauled them upstairs to the terminal to await our boarding. We all got there pretty early and therefore could stake our claim to all of the benches that we needed. We took up a large section, full of luggage and kids. Our boarding group number was 5. We waited patiently until our number was called. We were reminded quickly that lines and waiting patiently don't work if you live in Italy...it is fend for yourself, push and cut to get on the ship. We made our way onto the ship and quickly found our cabin to drop off our luggage. Our whole group was in the same area of the ship, it looked like all of the mormons infiltrated a section of the ship...a section that they lost money on because nobody gambled or ordered alcohol. We made our way to the buffet and loaded up on food. Once there we caught word that the Prices lost one of their young daughters and was looking for her. About an hour later she was discovered, not lost, just with another group of kids and her parents didn't know. We waited for two of our pieces of luggage to arrive, they were sent with the bus because we didn't have enough room in the van. Once it arrived we unloaded all of our clothes into a compact room meant to fit two people instead of five. We employed our inner creativeness to find cubbys, nooks and secrets spots to put all of our items. We attended the 'welcome show' and had a late dinner in the dinning room. So ends the first night on the ship.

metros, trams and buses...oh my!

It has been a little while since we last took an extended vacation and boy was it needed. It is just so easy to get into a mundane rut that never really gives a lot of satisfaction. Much like I recharge my spiritual batteries every week at church, I find it is also needed in other aspects of life. Work is work, and although I like me job, I need to recharge my 'daily grind' batteries.

We had talked about going to Amsterdam for several months but the price of hotels never seemed to be a great deal and therefore just kept putting it off. We finally decided this was going to be the week, partly because it just needed to get done and partly because we were going to an annual Wine Festival at Bernkastel-Kues which is located in that general direction anyway.



Last year we were invited to go to Bernkastel-Kues by our friends the Jasters and enjoyed it so much have decided to make it an annual event. Last year we probably had about 10 families from the ward ("ward"= our local congregation) there in our little section along the bank of the Mosel river. This year we decided to keep the tradition alive by 'unofficially' making sure that all of the new families in the ward were aware of this little gem. We sent out the info and planned caravans to make sure everybody had at least some knowledge of this event. We met at our usual meeting place for anything that happens in the ward 'The Netto' in Spesbach. It is just a grocery store that is pretty centrally located in our ward and we tend to take up half of their parking lot anytime we gather for scouts, caravans or any other ward function that might need a meeting place. We drove an hour to Bernkastel-Kues, arriving at 3:00pm. This is an excellent time because, although it is busy, you have beaten most of the crowd and can still find excellent parking. We happened upon this wonderful parking spot last year and again found it this year. We got out, loaded ourselves down with blankets, chairs, cooler with food, Eddie and his carrier and off we went joining the throngs of people. This year it was quite warm, into the 80s, which you might think is rather pleasant, but the summer this year has been cool and therefore we are not acclimatized very well to this kind of weather. We found a nice shady area, it sat back off of the river bank but still had a perfect line of site to the fireworks display. We laid out our blankets, making sure to touch everybody's blankets together, much like a patchwork quilt. You see, this ensure that the Germans don't squeeze in between the blankets, because if they see green it is fair game. The parade of church members kept coming and coming. I don't know officially how many people we had from the ward but it was a lot. I could only guess that there were 30 families there. The adults left first and went into the little village for the festival part. We had two main objectives, mushrooms and grape juice, not necessarily in that order. They have the best grape juice right from the vineyards in that town. The word for the non-alcoholic grape juice is 'Traubensaft'. There is white and red grape juice, they range in price from 2.50-5 euro for a bottle. We ended up buying 4 bottles. We also found a stand that sold fried mushrooms in an excellent garlic sauce and decided we needed some more of that this year. Our walk through the village took us past three different bands playing their traditional German music, with the crowd entranced and entertained. We headed back to the river banks and found the kids there ready for their turn. I gave my children money and off they went in the other direction to the amusement park area, This little area could keep up with any of the carnivals back home. They had every ride that spun, twisted, whirled etc. and my kids loved every minute of it. We all planted ourselves on the banks of the river just as the fireworks show started. It is arguably one of the best firework shows that you will ever see, in my honest opinion, especially for just a tiny village putting it on. The barge shoots fireworks from the Mosel river and the castle shoots fireworks, representing a battle.



We quickly exited after the show because it was going to be a long drive to Amsterdam. The drive itself was pretty easy for the first two hours. Then we could see lightning off on the horizon, just a foreboding of things to come. The Netherlands are also working on their highways, which I think is a European thing in general, you can't travel more than 50 Km without having road construction somewhere along the way. In the Netherlands they simply just closed down the Autobahn and detoured you several Kilometers out of the way. Then the storms hit. It was dark, windy and rainy, not a great combination to be driving in a foreign country. The wind blew the rain straight down, front behind and sideways...I think I even felt it under the car. We made it to our apartment. I was able to find a relatively inexpensive apartment, there was no pictures of this place, no reviews and it was quite far from Amsterdam but the price was right. All I knew about the place was that it was an old converted Cheese farm. Awesome! Let the adventure begin. We drove through pastures, canals, cattle crossing, fields with sheep, cows and lakes with Swans. We had advised the owner that we would be coming very late at night and so she decided to leave the keys to the front door in the door so when we arrived we could just go right in and sleep. When would that ever happen in America? We opened up our door and lo and behold it was like the Shangri-la of apartments. It was this ultra-modern two story loft style apartment. Very cool! We rolled the dice and won. Since we didn't get to bed until 3:00am we slept in a little later than we normally do on vacation. I looked for our landlord to let her know we arrived and to pay her the money but she was no where to be found, and nobody around there seemed to know where she was. So we left for the day, not really having a concrete plan but ready for an adventure.



On the first day we left with a metro destination in hand and a cell phone with a map and we hoped we made it. We made it to the Metro stop closest to us...a 15 minutes journey in our van. I tried to buy tickets at the unmanned kiosk, but it didn't like my debit card. There was an information tower that you could use to call somebody for help, which is what I decided my best option was. I explained my situation to the nice man in my most needy voice. He told me to go to a certain stop, which was a hub, and there I could purchase tickets with cash. I asked him what if one of the security personnel ask to see our tickets? He said "just have them call me". With this bit of re-assurance we boarded the metro, nobody else was on it. Over the next couple of stops a few people joined us on our journey...and then it happened. Security showed up, entered the doors right in front of us. I made eye contact and gave him my best "I got a ticket" face that I could. He and two other security officers went and stood by a door not too far away from us. I sat there waiting for the inevitable to happen, but nothing. He got off a few stops later, and after 20 stops from our starting point we also got off. We purchased tickets and grabbed a bite to eat. We decided to go all the way into the city, to the main metro station so we could change metros. Wouldn't you know it, they closed down a section of the metro so we were forced to disembark and followed the crowd outside. Where it became apparent we needed to catch a bus in order to get to our next stop. So we got first hand experience on how the Dutch bus system worked, for the record, it is not much different from America's system. We waited in a long line and eventually got on and to our destination. We walked to a central square in Amsterdam that contained the Koninklijk Paleis. From here we walked over to Anne Frank's house. It was a little walk but nothing the Shumate clan can't handle. We crossed several canals and admired their beauty. We saw thousands of cyclists going every direction and it almost made you dizzy from all the commotion on the street. Along the way we passed several "Coffee shops"...these are not traditional coffee shops, these are Marijuana shops and as you would walk by you would get a nice big whiff of it's unmistakeable smell. We made it to Anne Frank's house and this was one of my main reasons for going to this city. I remember reading this story in school and again thinking this was so foreign, so far, so different. To have this opportunity? I couldn't pass it up. We bought tickets and I stayed outside with Ed while everybody else went it. Soon it was my turn and I was in awe of everything I saw. It actually wasn't spectacular in the strictest sense of the word but if you adjusted your perception just a bit it was awe-inducing. To think this room was were Anne Frank wrote her deepest feelings and desires, and to see the cutouts, pictures etc still glued to the wall where she put them. Just amazing. To walk through the swinging bookcase, knowing beyond this partition she spent many formidable months just being. Wow. From here here kept walking along the canals and just taking it all in. We decided to head back, this time to get to our metro we were told to take the tram to our stop. So we did, and felt just like a local, once you figure out how to get around...Europe in general, it is all pretty easy.



The next day we decided the main attraction was going to be the Van Gogh museum. We got there just as it started to rain, and again, I was stuck with Eddie. So Ed and I waited out the rain under the roof of the entrance of the Van Gogh museum, I am sure they didn't want me loitering around there, but they never said anything. I needed to use the restroom pretty badly and because I had Ed it limited my ability to use the facilities. I knew McDonalds would provide the relief I was looking for so I plugged it into my GPS and away we started. As we were approaching our destination I encountered a red-light district. Amsterdam has three of them, not really situated in the heart of any tourist destination so it is fairly easy to avoid these places. But it just so happened as I was getting ready to cross one of the many canals I noticed a bunch of red awnings all the way up the side of this building, and the next, and the next. Then I noticed all of the windows, wide open, with what looked like people standing in them. As I got closer I realized what I was seeing, the selling of women. I quickly crossed the street making sure that I kept my eyes straight ahead. That was my one and only time encountering the red-light district in Amsterdam. Once getting back to the Van Gogh museum we swapped Eddie out and it was my turn. I have really started to like art and Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists. I enjoyed my time in there, couldn't believe how many paintings they had of his. The most astonishing thing was my realization that he only painted for 10 years...amazing! We left Amsterdam and made our way back to our apartment.



We drove our van to The Hague...I love that name, anytime you can put 'The' in front of a city I think it is cool. The LDS temple is near the Hague so we stopped and saw the temple. Really interesting little temple, the immediate grounds of the temple were well manicured but that area led out to a front lawn that really wasn't kept up very well and the perimeter was not surrounded by a fence like they normally are. I am not sure if this is a city ordinance or not but it was just different. There was a little bridge that crossed a small man-made canal to enter the temple...how very appropriate for Amsterdam. From there we drove to Rotterdam to see a cluster of 19 windmills, called Kinderdijk. You could park your car and walk along the path of the windmills, which would have been great if we had time. It was late in the day and we decided that a bunch of pictures taken looking at the windmills from a distance would have to suffice. It was very surreal to see the windmills of Holland. Oh and in case you were wondering we did buy several small wooden shoes...technically they were made of ceramic, but they reminded us of wooden shoes. What a great, quick trip.

Some funny things with money happened to us. I always wear a waistband with a pouch tucked into my pants, with my shirt pulled over it, to prevent any pickpockets. This has always worked, but sometimes it is hard to get the money in/out of it. As I got money out to pay for something I became frantic because only half of the money that I knew I had was not in my pouch. I looked all over, everybody checked their pockets. I took off the waistband and checked it thoroughly. Sharma said wouldn't it be funny if it was in your pants...Yes, Ha Ha, we all laughed. After another few minutes of searching I checked inside my pants around the waist, there was my money tucked neatly in between my pants and my underwear. Man, good thing I keep my pants tight enough or I would have been littering money all over the streets of Amsterdam. But since I was feeling in a giving mood I eventually did lose some money. I got 200 Euro out at an ATM with McKay and somewhere along the way it dropped out...so I can't give an endorsement for the Dutch being too honest, but I can speak to my own stupidity. And in case you were wondering I have never been pick pocketed here in Europe, a well known problem... I can lose my money on my own...thank you very much. That bothered me the rest of the trip, as my family can attest to.

As an aside, we found the people of The Netherlands to be very nice and cordial, and they spoke English really well, which was a nice departure from being in Germany.
Info Transportation to city: drove from Germany Transportation in city: Metro 10.50 Euro/person, two days Lodging: Appartementen Huis ter Lucht, 3 nights/200Euro, 5 people Sites: Van Gogh museum 14 Euro/adult, under 17 free; Anne Frank's house-9 Euro/adult, 10-17 4.50 Euro, under 10-free; Kinderdijk windmills (Rotterdam)

Luxembourg-Koln

At this point we are one car down, the van died, it lived a good life. It has seen so much and been through many trials and tribulations with us. At some point though you just have to let nature takes it course and go the way of all old reliable cars. We junked it. We were lucky enough to borrow our friend's van while they were away for three weeks. We decided to drive to Luxembourg and Cologne for the 4th of July weekend. We left early on a Saturday and drove one hour to Luxembourg (hard to believe it is so close to us). We first went to the American cemetery, next to the Luxembourg airport. There were many headstones, all either in the shape of a cross or the Star of David. We were able to meander around the cemetery thinking of all lost lives that preserved our freedom. The highlight was seeing General George Patton's headstone. He is placed prominently in the cemetery. From here we drove through Luxembourg city. It seemed like a nice city, as it almost appears to be an island without the water. We had to cross a high bridge to get to the city, which lead us to a nice lookout from the city center. After driving through the city for a few minutes we decided to head out.

Our next stop was Aachen, a small town outside of Cologne. There is a Lindt chocolate factory store there, which sells discounted items. Chocolate + discount= I am there. On our way there we were hungry so we stopped at a McDonalds for a quick bite to eat. As we pulled out there was a divider in the street and we needed to be on the other side going the opposite direction. No cars coming either direction as I pulled out. So I thinks to myself "self, I am going to slyly pull into the far lane and make a u-turn around the divider", seems like a good idea. As soon as I do, a Polizei pulls out of nowhere and is on my tail. I turn at the intersection and as soon as I do, the Polizei turns on its readerboard which tells me to 'stop'. Great! I am driving somebody else's car and I just got pulled over. The lady was really nice and explained what I did is very dangerous. She takes my registration and license and then looks into the car and sees that I have my wife and kids with me. I can hear her say "This is usually an expensive ticket", then she says I am going to charge you 10 Euro for this offense. She beckons me to come back to her car where she whips out a portable debit card machine and charges me 10 Euro on the spot. Now that was a neat experience, even if I did get pulled over. The receipt is now in my journal. Then I realized that we were quickly running out of gas and there were no Esso gas stations in the local vicinity (this makes a difference because through the military we get deeply discounted gas rates compared to the local economy, as long as we use an Esso gas station). The GPS shows a gas station coming up and wouldn't you know it, I make a wrong turn. Now the van says I have exactly 5 kilometers until I run out of gas. I am just praying that a gas station appears on the horizon. This isn't like the USA where gas stations are like weeds, sometimes you won't see one for 10 miles or farther. Luckily, a gas station appeared and we were able to put a few Euro into the tank.
We got to the Lindt store with 20 minutes until it closed. We browsed around and got a general sense of what they were selling and then we made our move. Everybody picked out several items, then several more and then just a few more for good measure. Some of the highlights were chili flavored chocolate and mango centers.

We drove to Cologne, which was only a few miles away. On our way, I needed to fill up the car with gas, easy enough. I pull into the Esso station and right behind me pulls a Polizei...again. This time I knew I didn't do anything wrong, he was just buying something at the store. But I was using my van gas card with that car's info on it. If he checked the card against the van's license number he would notice they don't match. They never check at the German stations, at least until today. The first time I am checked and I am driving a different vehicle...and...the Polizei is in line right behind me. The guy behind the counter looks at my card, turn on his camera to show the license plate on my van, check my card again. I put the most confident, yet innocent look on my face...last thing I wan't to do is look guilty. Thank goodness he doens't say a word to me about it and I am on my way. We find our hotel, which is 20 minutes outside of Cologne. We had to sneak an extra person and dog into our room, no problem.

The next day we took the train into Cologne, my first hint that something wasn't quite right was the larger lady decked out in rainbow colors. We get off of the train near the Cologne cathedral, there was energy in the air, a lot of people gathering and mingling...mostly in rainbows. Uh-oh. Yes, you guessed it, we picked the annual gay pride parade in Cologne on the first weekend in July. Oh boy. After taking a tour of the Kölner Dom cathedral and hiding Eddie in a large bag to get him in we decided to walk to old town. As we did, we noticed we were following the crowds...we were heading to the parade unbeknownst to us. And let me tell you, it was a parade, a festive, loud and flamboyant parade. We saw many things somebody should never see, sadly, my kids saw things they should never see. We walked over to the Lindt chocolate factory and museum. Because we had a dog we had to go in shifts, the girls went first and then McKay and I went. It was interesting, worth the 10 Euro for the whole family, but not more than that. Then we walked over to the Ludwig museum, but we had to take a circuitous route since the parade cut a swath right through the heart of our path. We made it to the art museum and again, because of Eddie we had to go in shifts. The museum was neat and had Picasso and Matisse on exhibit. After that we caught the train back to the hotel and decided to get McDonalds back at the hotel. We just relaxed the rest of the evening.

The next day we jumped into the car and drove to Bonn, Germany. A neat little city where Beethoven was born and lived for the first twenty years of his life. We took the tour of his home...in shifts. They had a strict no photo policy...which we broke again and again. We took pictures of compositions, his pianos, organ, viola etc. Oh yeah, we were just snapping away...but we had to avoid to roaming security. After the museum we walked down to the main square and did some souvenir shopping and then grabbed lunch. The girls had Currywurst, McKay and I had Bratwurst and Sharma had McDonalds...again. We finished the day going to the Birkenstock outlet and doing some shoes shopping. We all got some birkenstocks except for Maddi, they didn't have anything in her size. We drove home and crashed because we were tired. An excellent adventure... Info Travel to city: drove van Travel into city: S-bahn (Spich) Lodging: Holiday Inn Express Cologne Troisdorf (located in Spich) Sites: