Hobbit Update

This is a bit late but, I figured I'd post it any way. If you haven't heard, Peter Jackson settled his lawsuite with New Line Films out of court. He also signed a deal with New Line and MGM to produce "The Hobbit" and a film linking it to the Lord of the Rings films. Folks from New Line have stated that it is Jackson's project. One big question a number of people are asking is who is going to direct "The Hobbit." Jackson's schedule is very full right now. He finished shooting the movie "Lovely Bones" and he committed to making the first Tintin movie. MGM announced a release date for "The Hobbit" of Christmas 2010 with the follow-up movie coming out a year later. Jackson reportedly plans to shoot both movies in sequence one after another.

One potential big problem for "The Hobbit" is the screenwriter's strike. This needs to be resolved so that they can come up with a script for "The Hobbit." Another question is where are they going to shoot it. Supposedly, this is up in the air too though I can't imagine them shooting it any where else but New Zealand. One advantage they'll have if they shoot it in New Zealand is they'll be able to re-use the area outside Mata Mata where they shot the Hobbiton scenes. While they removed a lot the sets from this location, the Hobbit holes are still there. It shouldn't take them that long to make them usable again. Also, they could re-use the sets they had for Bilbo's home at Bag End.

I'm delighted that Jackson will be producing and hopefully directing "The Hobbit." It'll be awesome to return to Middle-Earth again. I still watch parts of the Lord of the Rings films and marvel at what Jackson did. They are film making at its best. Bring on Christmas of 2010. I definitely have a present to look forward to that year. Cheers all!

Sadists

I had to work yesterday at the Post Office. Mondays are always bad at the Post Office. You have to case, pack up and deliver two days of mail vice the normal one. To make things worse, we were going through the Christmas surge. We were getting a LOT more packages and a lot more letter type mail i.e. Christmas cards. Yesterday, I was willing to swear the clerks had turned into sadists. As I said, Mondays are always bad but yesterday, someone really seem to lay it into me. I was assigned to rural route 15 which is always terrible on Mondays. It has a large senior citizen development which gets a lot of mail as well as businesses which you have to hit before they close. Because of the businesses, you are under time constraints.

I walked into the Post Office and I heard Christmas music. Considering how things were going to be there, that was the last thing I wanted to listen to. Then, I got to the route case where I would case route 15's mail. I was floored. Someone had covered the table portion of the case with 400 plus fliers. They also dumped 12 tubs of mail. I was swamped and I hadn't even started. At this point, part of me wanted to turn around and walk out. But, I had a job to do so I gritted my teeth and got to it. It got worse. I'd managed to get through 8 tubs when they dumped the Direct to Point Service (DPS) mail on me. If you haven't read my blogs on this before, DPS mail is mail that is sorted for the carrier by machine. In theory, all the carrier has to do is put it in their case. In reality, you still have to go through because the machines make mistakes. Sometimes, they make a lot of them. The clerks dumped 8 trays of DPS mail on me. A tray will hold at least 200 pieces of letter mail so that means I had over 1,600 letters and advertisements dumped on me on top of the mail the clerks sorted themselves and the tubs they expected me to sort. I also had over 35 large packages, 50 small packages, 15 certified letters and 4 registered packages. It was going to be a VERY long day.

Ideally on route 15, you want to have your truck loaded and leave the Post Office by Noon. The reason for that is because it typically takes 5 hours to deliver all the mail on the route. Because of all the mail I got hit with, I didn't leave the Post Office till 3 p.m. Before I left, I told the Postmaster I would need help if he wanted me back before 6 p.m. Thankfully, I did get some help from fellow substitute carriers. Thanks to the help, I finished at 7:45 p.m. I drove back to the Post Office where I turned in the certified and registered mails I wasn't able to deliver. Also, I left the mail I wasn't able to deliver for the primary carrier on route 15. He'll have to try to deliver it tomorrow. I'm glad I have today off because I need it to recover from yesterday. I'm seriously tempted to tell my supervisor there I won't work any more Mondays. They're just not worth it. We'll see what I decide to do. Cheers all!

Thank You Globus

Over a month ago, I submitted a story on the Globus family exchange travel stories website. The story was about the bad hotel I'd stayed at in Bergen, Norway during the "Scandanavian" tour I did with Globus. The hotel was the Thon Rosencrantz Hotel. The single room they gave me was something of a disaster. There was a bad odor that was coming out of the bathroom which stunk up the whole room. The furniture was banged up. The curtains were put up in a haphazard manner. The breakfast buffet was poor and looked like it had been hurriedly assembled. Bacon and sausages were slapped together in the same pan. Fish portions were put out cold when they should've been heated. I found the people at the Reception desk rude and brusque. It short, this hotel really stunk. The only good things I could say about it was the free internet access at their one computer terminal and its location. It was a block from Bergen Harbor and 50 feet from the Hanseatic buildings.

When I saw that I could submit bad hotel experiences on the Globus family exchange travel stories website, I decided to tell of my experience there. I didn't expect anything to come of me submitting the story barring letting people know that sometimes, you do get a stinker of a hotel with Globus. To my surprise, my story was apparently forwarded to someone at Globus. They weren't thrilled to hear of my bad experience. They sent me an email letting me know that my case was being reviewed. I guess they found some merit to it because they sent me a voucher worth $100 which I can use toward another Globus tour. I'm delighted. I can definitely use it as I've signed up for their La France tour. I'm very much a fan of their tours and I can't wait to do another one. You meet great people and you see things you'll remember forever. I'll never forget the breathtaking fjords in Norway. Thanks Globus for the voucher and I look forward to making new precious memories on future tours with you.

Cold

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I came down with a cold thanks to the weather we've had recently. The weather was very changeable in Maryland which made it easy to catch one. My job as a substitute mail carrier didn't help either as I was out in it a LOT. Then, the weather got consistently cold which made things potentially worse for me. The reason I say that is because once you catch a cold, you are supposed to avoid going outside into the cold and making your cold worse. That's impossible to do as a mail carrier. Due to the Christmas surge, it was impossible for me to take the week off to fight the cold off. I did manage to get my hours reduced which should help me rest and stay indoors. It also makes it possible for me to drink lots of fluids so I can flush the crud out of my system. Right now, I'm coughing up a fair amount of mucus. I've noticed that when I start to dehydrate, the coughing tends to stop which is sort of nice but, that means that I'm keeping that crud in which I don't want. The mucus looks nasty. I want that stuff out of me. One annoying thing about the cold is what has happened to my voice. Because of all the coughing, my throat has gotten torn up a bit so I sound very froggy (gribbit gribbit). Hopefully, I'll kick the cold this week. It would suck to be sick on Christmas. We'll see what happens.

Upgrade

I found out recently that Sprint upgraded their data network EV-DO revision A making it even faster. However, in order for customers to take advantage of the increased speed, they have to get new PCS Connection cards. So, I had to upgrade my Merlin 620 data card to the Merlin S720 data card. For those who don't know what these cards are, they are cards you plug into the PCM1A slot in a laptop computer. When you activate the included software, they connect to the Sprint cell phone network. The cards enable a person to hook-up to the Internet any where in the U.S. at broadband like speeds. For a person like myself who is something of an Internet junkie and who likes to travel, it is really handy. The only down side to using the service is it isn't cheap. I have unlimited download with them and it costs $60 a month. That's 4 times what a dial-up connection would cost. The flip side of the service is that it can save you money as well as hassle. When I stayed at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, they charged guests 50 cents a minute to access the Internet in their business center. I was extremely glad I had my PCS connection card. It can also offer greater security as the person can also use the card to make phone calls if they have to though you must have a headset with microphone for your laptop in order to use that.

Overall, I find the cards really handy and their data speeds impressive. With the new system Sprint has installed, a customer can have average downlink speeds of between 600 kilobytes per second and 1.4 megabytes per second and average uplink speeds of between 300 and 500 kilobytes per second. Downlink speeds can reach as high as 3 megabytes per second. The new EV-DO Revision A system isn't available every where and the cards make allowances for that. The cards will hook-up to the older EV-DO Revision 0 and Vision 1xRTT networks. If you like fast Internet connections, want mobility and don't want the hassles of trying to find a WiFi site, Sprint PCS connection cards are the way to go. See you on the Net.

Herring Fillets

Trader Joe's carries 2 brands of herring fillets. As I like herring, I decided to try both of them and see what the difference was between them. Here is what I found out.

Both are smoked though the more expensive fillets are "Naturally Hardwood Smoked." Price wise, while you get more fish in the hardwood smoked fillets (.85 of an ounce), they were also more expensive per ounce vice the cheaper kipper herring fillets (43 cents vice 40 cents). The cheaper kipper fillets were the better deal price wise. Taste wise, I didn't notice any noticeable taste difference between the two. I thought both tasted very good. I liked that both were deboned. The hardwood smoked fillets are canned in their natural juices while the kipper fillets were canned in canola oil. As far as I know, this didn't add greatly to the calorie count with the kipper fillets. The hardwood smoked fillets are caught and processed in Canada while the kipper fillets are processed in Germany. I would've thought the Canada fillets would be cheaper considering the shorter distance between the countries but that wasn't the case.

Overall, both of the herring products Trader Joe's offers were very good. They were both very tasty and have long shelf life. Neither need refridgeration. They are something you could easily pack for a hike or a camping trip. If I had to choose between the two, I'd go with the kipper fillets because they are cheaper. If you like herring, you won't be disappointed with either product. Bon appetit!

An Accident

Monday, the primary mail carrier on Montpelier Rural Route 2 fell and fractured her left wrist. As I'm her primary substitute, I got the call that I'll be covering her route for her for 4 days every week while she is out. I would work 6 days a week but, the Post Office doesn't like paying overtime. There is another sub who knows the route and, she'll cover the route the other 2 days. For me, it guarantees I'll hit 40 hours every week. That's nice but, I wish there was some other way I could get my 40 hours. The primary carrier is a really nice lady. I was very saddened when I heard about the accident. Next week, she's supposed to have surgery on the wrist. I hope it goes well and she heals up quickly. I plan to keep her in my prayers.

Dead Battery

I got to use my Sprint Roadside Rescue service for the first time today. My car battery had acted up a little a couple times recently when it got cold but my car still started. This morning when I turned the ignition key, all I heard was a buzzing sound. The battery was big time dead.

As I'd never used Sprint's Roadside Rescue, I didn't know how to reach them. I had to log-on the Internet and find out. It turned out to be simple enough. You dial #road on your cell phone. This puts you through to a person who confirms you're signed up for the service. Then, they tell the addresses of road service providers close to you. I chose one on Maryland 198. After that, they contact the provider giving them your address and phone number. They have up to 90 minutes to show up. To my relief, the road service provider showed up in 30 minutes. To my surprise, the provider was from the Automobile Association of America (AAA). AAA has a good reputation and they showed they were worthy of it. Their rep was very professional and quick. He confirmed that the problem was the car battery. He promptly hooked up some kind of mobile starting box to the car. When I turned the ignition, the car started right up.

I found out from the AAA rep that a car's battery is normally only good for 3 to 5 years. The one I had lasted for over 7 years. It was definitely due for replacement. I found out that AAA offers a great warranty on their batteries. If anything goes wrong with it for 3 years, they'll replace for free. Also, if you have problems with the battery, you can call them and they'll come out and find out what the problem is. I decided to buy one of their batteries. With tax, it cost $117 which I thought was decent.

In a way, I'm lucky the battery died when it did. We haven't had a really cold weather yet. This way, the car will start when things really start to get bad weather wise. Plus, I know I can count on Sprint's roadside rescue if I ever have problems with my car.

A Mystery

It's possible thieves broke into various mailboxes where I live. Today, when I returned home from various errands, I noticed that all the mailboxes for the apartment building I live in were unlocked. I thought this very strange and called my friend Clinton who happens to be the mail carrier where I live. When Clinton arrived at the complex where I live, he found more mail boxes unlocked. As far as we can tell, someone between last night and this afternoon pried open the boxes. The apartment complex where I live has had several break-ins. Apparently, the thieves decided to go through and steal people's mail. There are any number of things they could steal through the mail like people's credit card numbers and social security checks. One annoying thing about the matter is that the apartment manager's office apparently didn't bother to call the Post Office so they could send someone to re-lock the boxes. My friend Clinton is going to hold on to any important mail for me. I don't want anything stolen like my retirement check or credit card bills.

Diving in Puerto Rico

I called Karen Vega at Caribe Aquatic Adventures in San Juan, Puerto Rico today. I wanted to pay in advance for the two refresher dives I need to do before I go on my Southern Caribbean cruise. By paying in advance, I'll have fewer charge card bills when I get back from the cruise. I haven't forgotten my Globus Australia tour where I was paying for it 3 months after the tour. If you can pay for various things in advance on a cruise or tour, I'd recommend you do the same. It really does things nicer when you get back from your trip.

The diving part of the cruise will be interesting it that it'll be the first time I'll take my diving equipment on a trip. Also, I've never dived in the Caribbean. I remember diving out of Destin, Florida. We'd get people who had dived in the Caribbean. They would whine about our 20 foot visibility. It seems in the Caribbean, it isn't uncommon to have 60 foot plus visibility. I can only guess that the waters there don't get stirred up like they do in the Gulf of Mexico.

I've heard the sea life is supposedly spectacular. I plan to take the cheap underwater camera I bought in Australia so I can try to take some underwater photos. We'll see how that works out. If they turn out nice, I'll post a few here.

Trader Joe's Gouda Cheese

I'm not a big cheese fan but ever since a trip to the Netherlands where I got to try some yellow wax gouda cheese, I've liked the stuff. Yellow wax gouda tends to be younger and thereby mellower gouda cheese. On my first shopping trip to the new Trader Joe's in Columbia, Maryland, I noticed they had a double cream gouda cheese imported from the Netherlands/Holland. When I went back this past Sunday, I decided to try it.

The cheese is a yellow wax gouda so it has a mellow taste to it. The double cream in it causes it to have a creamier flavor though the cheese itself is solid enough to where you can use a regular cheese cutter to slice it. The cheese comes in pre-sliced portions. Trader Joe's sells it for $7.99 a pound which isn't cheap but, it is imported. My sister Ellie tells me that Trader Joe's offers some good deals on cheese so this might be a pretty good price. I don't know if this cheese is a regular all the stores carry or it it was a one off buy that the Columbia store will offer until its sold out.

Overall, I found Trader Joe's Double Cream Gouda Cheese to be very good. It has a nice mellow creamy taste to it. It would be great for snacking or as serving as an hors d'oeuvre. It isn't cheap but, you wouldn't expect a cheese imported from Holland to be cheap. If there is a Trader Joe's close to where you live and you like cheese, this is one you should try. Bon Appetit!

Blog Correction

I found out I made a mistake concerning the Maryland Primary elections. It turned out they won't be held until February 12, 2008. I don't remember where I got the erroneous information. My apologies if I caused you to go to your polling station only to find out they weren't open. The only good thing that came out of this mistake is I definitely know where I'll vote on February 12th.

Vote!

Tomorrow, Maryland will hold its Democratic and Republican primaries. Voting is our one chance to tell the politicians what we think of how they're doing. If you don't vote, you can't complain of what they do because you didn't try to change it. Also, as I understand it, if you are listed as a Democrat or Republican, you must vote tomorrow if you want to vote in the General election next year. That election will be even more important as it'll decide who will become President and what direction this country will take for the next 4 years. So, make sure you get out and vote.

Toby's Dinner Theater

I decided to subscribe to Toby's 2008 season. It's the first time I've ever done so. They have some nice shows. Sound of Music will play till February 15th. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will play from February 21st to June 8th. All Shook Up which I've never seen will play from June 12th to August 24th. The Producers will play from August 28th to November 23rd. Forever Plaid will play from November 27th to December 31st. The 2008 season finishes with Mid-Life - The Crisis Musical.

The Sound of Music was the first show I ever saw in London. I remember Petula Clark starred in it. I think it helped hook me on live theater. I couldn't get over that the people were really up there on the stage vice a movie screen. I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in London too. I was really impressed with it. It has some great jokes and some very nice songs. The Producers was the first show I ever saw on Broadway. I had some qualms about making jokes about the Nazis. To my, the Nazis and what they did was nothing to joke about. It remains one of the sorriest periods in world history in my opinion.

The price of the ticket also includes a buffet dinner. I've been to Toby's twice and I was impressed with the food. It is good and they give you plenty of chances to get your fill.

I look forward to going to Toby's. If the subscription works out well, I may make a regular thing.

Daylight Savings Time

Just a reminder, Daylight Savings Time ends tonight. At 2 a.m. tomorrow morning, all clocks in the U.S. (European countries set theirs back on October 28th) will go back 1 hour. To make it easier on yourself, you might want to set your clocks back before you go to bed.

Trader Joe's in Columbia

The new Trader Joe's in Columbia, Maryland opened today. I checked it out and found it jumping with people. I suspect it'll do well in Columbia as it would appeal to people who live there. I bought different items to try. I had one of their sushi packs for dinner. I found it really good. I would definitely recommend their sushi.

Hours wise, the store will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. I think their hours are great. It'll make it really easy to shop there. I was also impressed with the people they hired. I found them very courteous. I look forward to shopping at the Columbia store again.

Beer Review - Elephant Beer

I tried some of Carlsberg's Elephant Beer today. I decided to buy a six-pack of it in memory of my trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I bought it at the Corridor Wine Store on Maryland Route 198 in Laurel, Maryland. The beer is a pilsner/lager. I found it had the standard lager taste to it. One thing that is different about the beer is its alcohol content. The beer packs a 7.2% alcohol content which makes it a potent beer. While the taste of the beer isn't very alcoholish, after a couple of these brews, you will feel the higher alcohol content. I know I did.

Price wise, a six-pack will cost you XXXX at Corridor which I think is pretty reasonable considering they have to import it from Denmark where it is brewed. The beer comes in 11 ounce bottles. Further information on the beer can be found at the Carlsberg website: http://www.carlsberggroup.com/ under brands. Cheers!

Update - December 24, 2012

Two changes to this post:

1st, Corridor Wine Store has changed its name to Total Wine & More. It's still located at Corridor Marketplace on Maryland Route 198 just past the Maryland 295 exit heading toward Laurel.

2nd, a 6-pack of 11 ounce bottles of Elephant beer will cost you $8.99 which isn't bad. It's only gone up a dollar in 5 years.

Maryland Renaissance Festival

I try to make it to the Maryland Renaissance Festival at least once a year. This year, it was hard to go because I'm always tagged to work at the Post Office on Saturdays and I go to church on Sundays. The best time to go would've been on Monday of the Labor Day weekend. However, I was in Sweden then. So, I had to either get Saturday off from the Post Office or skip church. I decided to try to get Saturday off from the Post Office. I've been going regularly to church since I quit Medieval Times and I didn't care to skip church for the festival. To my surprise, I was able to get this Saturday off.

If you want to avoid a long slow moving line to get into the festival parking lot, you need to leave early and wait for the festival to open. If you don't do that, you will have a long wait trying to get into the parking lot. I procrastinated and I paid the price. It took me 30 minutes to go from the Interstate 97 exit to Crownsville to get into the festival parking lot. When I left at 2 p.m., it would've taken even longer. Once you're parked its easy to get to the entrance to the festival. Warning! Make sure you take a good look around so you have a good idea where your car is. If you don't, you could have some fun trying to find it when you leave.

I paid the $18 admission and checked the schedule of acts. I decided to check out the Rogues. Their a Scottish group based out of Houston. They play some nice Scottish music. At 11:30, they were playing at the Jury Rig stage. I made my way over there. They were their usual good selves. I did notice they had a new piper. I have no idea what happened to the other guy. After listening to them for 20 minutes or so, I made my way to the jousting area to see the knights battle it out.

Unlike the jousting at Medieval Times, this jousting was more real. These guys really did fall off their horses vice faking it. One knight actually got thrown his horse and landed with a clump. A couple other knights had problems controlling their horses. The minute they entered the jousting lane, they charged. I don't know what the horses problems were. Jousting wise, some of it was good and some of it stunk. One time, two knights went at each other 3 straight times and missed each time. I booed at that point. After the jousting was over, I made my way back to the Jury Rig stage to see the Medieval Baebes.

The Medieval Baebes are a 7-girl group based out of England. They sing genuine Medieval music. This has plusses and minuses. It sounds authentic which it is and has an interesting sound. One of the down sides is often, you can't understand a word they're singing. Babe wise, I thought the Baebes looked nice. If you wanted to get an autograph, you could buy some of their CDs and whatever else and they'd be glad to sign it. I decided to pass on that.

After the Medieval Baebes, it was time for another specialty of the the festival, smoked turkey legs. Smoked turkey legs are tasty and fun to eat. I make it a point of buying at least one every time I go to the festival. Price wise, they cost $4 which I thought was reasonable. I very much enjoyed munching on one as I wandered around the festival checking out the shops.

One of the more impressive shops is the Art of Fire. The shop makes handmade glasswear. R. Foster Holcombe is a fully qualified glassblower. He is so skilled at the craft that me can make a beautiful glass goblet in a matter of minutes while demonstrating to the crowd watching. The demonstrations are impressive if you like to see beautiful things made before your eyes. Price wise, I can't tell you how expensive or inexpensive they are. I suspect they're not cheap. Personally, I don't own of their work though I hope to some day. They do make some very nice glassware.

I didn't stay super long at the festival because the acts don't change much from year to year. Also, after spending over $1,100 earlier this week, my wallet needed a little relief. There are no shortage of tempting items to spend your hard earned cash at the festival (I saw some cool daggers at Rorik Rorikson's ironsmithy). For the sake of my wallet, I decided to call it a day after 2 and 1/2 hours at the festival.

FYI, the festival will be open only one more day, tomorrow. It opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 7 p.m. After tomorrow, you'll have to wait until late August of 2008 for it to reopen. I would definitely recommend going to the festival if you live in the Maryland or D.C. area. Cheers all!

Free Ticket

I decided to see if I could get free Business Class tickets to Paris for my friend Harvey and myself. I wanted to use them in conjunction with the Globus tour of France we plan to take. One of the aggravating things about trying to use your airmiles to get free tickets is that you have to book MANY months in advance. In our case, we won't be going on the Globus France tour for almost 11 months. You would think I would have no problem getting seats that far in advance. You would be wrong. I checked seat availability for Washingon Dulles for the dates I needed. I could get to Paris with no problem. I wouldn't be able to return until 2 days after the tour ended. I checked seat availability for Newark Liberty Airport. I couldn't any seats on the date I needed going out but, I could get them coming back. I decided to try New York's JFK Airport. Eureka! I had loads of choices going to Paris. I had one choice coming back. I checked on what the likelihood was of the tour going on the date I wanted to go on. Not surprisingly, Globus has no idea right now what tours for the La France tour will go. The catalogs only came out last week and not many people have booked yet. So, I'm taking a gamble that the tour will go on the dates I'll use my free British Airways tickets. If it doesn't go, I'll have to see if I can change them though I doubt that'll work. I'll most likely have to cancel the reservations and see about making new reservations with some airline. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the tour goes on the dates I booked the tickets for. I'd really like to fly Business Class to Paris and not have to pay for it. We'll see what happens.

Cruise Optionals

I finally started booking and paying for optional tours I want to take on the Royal Caribbean cruise I'll be going on in March 2008. They have some decent things to do. I like being able to pay for them in advance. That way, I'll have all those paid off and only have to pay for souvenirs and beers during the cruise. Also, I treated myself to an adventure pack Royal Caribbean sells. The pack comes with a tote bag, pouch thingy you can carry your boarding card in as well as a small camera, a water bottle/thermos, water bottle holder and a Royal Caribbean beach towel. I think it'll be a neat souvenir of the cruise and it'll be something I can look forward to getting when I board the ship. They'll have in my cabin waiting for me when I arrive.

Globus 2008 Europe Tours

To my surprise, I received the 2008 Globus European Tours catalog from my travel agent. I was delighted to get it. I wanted to find out what dates they were going to offer their La France tour. The La France tour is a 14 day (15 if you include a day flying out) tour of France. You get to see Paris, the beaches at Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Avignon, Carcassone and Cannes. They also have an optional trip to Monte Carlo which I really want to do. I think it would be so cool to say I'd visited Monte Carlo. Once I've done the La France tour, I'll have seen everything I'd ever want to see in France. Price wise, the tour is more expensive than the "Scandanavian" tour. The strong Euro isn't helping things. Still, if you're going to worry about the cost, you shouldn't travel. So, I contacted Joel Mills and asked him to find out what September 2008 dates Globus thinks will go for the tour. One of the bad things about escorted tours is they may cancel if they don't get enough people to sign up. I haven't forgotten when Globus did that on the G'day Australia tour I wanted to do. That can really make a mess of things, especially if you use airmiles to get award tickets like I did on the Australia tour. Once I know what dates they think will go, I plan to check the British Airways website and see if I can get free Business Class tickets to Paris. I don't want to arrive big time burned out like I did on the flight to Copenhagen. If I can't get free tickets with them, I may check into flying with L'Avion. L'Avion is an all Business Class airline that flies from Newark Liberty Airport to Paris Orly Sud Airport. They offer Business Class tickets for under $1,800. That is a lot more than an Economy Class ticket but, I know I'd arrive in good shape if I flew Business Class. We'll see what ends up working out.

The Hobbit

Entertainment Weekly within the past week rehashed a lot of information on what has been going on between Peter Jackson and Bob Shaye, the CEO of New Line Films. The two of them have been having a battle over New Line's books. Jackson claims he found discrepancies in the books from the film The Fellowship of the Ring and wants to see the books for the other movies. Shaye has refused. The bad feelings got so bad that Shaye said Jackson would never work for New Line again and was off The Hobbit. Now, things may be changing. Jackson's lawsuit in finally making progress in court. New Line was fine $125,000 for failing to comply with orders by the judge. New Line could've appealed the ruling. Surprisingly, New Line has said it will accept the ruling. This is one of the indications that something of a thaw is happening and there may be hope for a Jackson version of The Hobbit.

Entertainment Weekly has a webpage where readers of the article could voice their opinions on whether Jackson should make The Hobbit or not. Based on what fans have been saying, there is overwhelming desire for a Peter Jackson version of The Hobbit. I have to concur with them. Jackson's vision of Middle-Earth is stunning. I very much want to see him make the movie. If anyone else makes the film, people are going to have a hard time with that director's vision of Middle-Earth. There won't be the continuity and it's doubtful that WETA Workshop and WETA FX would do all the props, costumes and special effects. WETA did an absolutely phenomenal job with all of those. I've bought a number of the Lord of the Rings swords and their designs are stunning. Any other shop would be very hard pressed to equal their work. Considering the guaranteed blockbuster that New Line would have on its hands, it would behoove New Line to settle with Jackson so they can finally The Hobbit and fulfill the wishes of fans all over the world.

San Juan

I called Joel Mills from Carlson Wagonlit today. I wanted to get my airline reservations, hotel reservations and San Juan tour finalized. I was able to get the flights I wanted to and from San Juan. I'll fly out on March 7th arriving in the afternoon. I'll stay at the Normandie Hotel which has an excellent location in regards to the cruise ships, Old San Juan and the San Juan tour picks up from there. I'll have the rest of the day to explore San Juan on my own. On March 8th, I'll do the Bacardi Distillery and Old San Juan tour in the morning. I'll have the afternoon free to do whatever. On March 9th, I'll do my two check dives in the morning. I'll get back around noon and, I'll probably check into the cruise ship shortly afterwards. There won't be any point in delaying that.

On March 16th, the Adventure of the Seas will pull back into San Juan at 7 a.m. I'll take a taxi from there to the airport and waste about 4 hours. I fly out around 12:45 and arrive at Washington Dulles Airport 4 hours later. The flights from and to Dulles will be the first time I've ever flown out of that airport. That should be interesting.

Cruise wise, I plan to do 2 diving excursions, hopefully go deep sea fishing and ride a helicopter for the first time. I'm curious to see what the ship is like. I've seen the photos on the internet but photos don't really convey the full impact of what it'll be like. I won't know that till I'm actually on the boat exploring the various decks. It should be something to see. San Juan and the cruise are shaping up to being another neat adventure.

By the way, if any of my readers would like some used travel guides to Scandanavia, Australia, New Zealand, London, and Scotland, please let me know. If I ever make it back to some of those places, I'll undoubtedly buy new ones so you're welcome to have them. The Australia and New Zealand guides are over 3 and 1/2 years old. I don't know how long I've had the London and Scotland guides.

Scuba Diving

One of the things I really enjoyed when I was stationed in Northwest Florida was scuba diving. Every time you go diving, it's an adventure because you don't know what you're going to see or what the conditions will be like. Some days, you can have great visibility i.e. you can see for great distances while other days, you're lucky if you can see 10 feet in front of you. Sadly, because of the cold water and distances to Ocean City, I haven't scuba dived in Maryland. I've taken a couple courses and I dived in a quarry in Virginia but, I haven't scuba dived in the Atlantic.

One really neat aspect of the cruise I'll be going is that I'll be able to go scuba diving. I've heard the visibility is incredible in the Caribbean. It should be a lot of fun but, I have run into one problem. All the dive shops down there require you have done 2 dives within the last year or two. I haven't dived since I went on my trip to Australia. I did 2 dives on the Great Barrier Reef then. So, I've been trying to figure out how I could do a couple check dives to make sure I still know what I'm doing diving wise. I figured out that the best option was to do the check dives in San Juan just before the cruise. It's the easiest option though I then had the problem of finding a dive shop in San Juan. I finally found one. So, things are looking up that way. The cruise promises to be another first because of the diving. For the first time, I'll be traveling with my diving gear. In preparation for that, I looked up the rules on what I could take on the airplane. Can I bring a diving knife? What are the weight restrictions? What other things am I allowed to bring? Are there any additional fees? It'll be interesting in that way. The lessons I learn from this may help me on future trips.

Scam Emails

I've received two scam emails in the last couple days. Both were attempts to get account information which would've been used to steal money from me. One was allegedly from Bank of America and the other was from Amazon. Unfortunately, such emails are becoming more common now a days. People need to be very careful who they give their bank or credit card information out to. If you suspect the email is legitimate, instead of replying to the email, check with the company or bank directly. That way, you can safely check into the matter. If it's legitimate, the bank or company won't mind you contacting them. If it isn't, you won't have given your account information to a thief.

I still haven't forgotten when a thief or thieves got ahold of my Northwest Airlines credit card number. They charged over $500 worth of Greyhound bus tickets to it which presumably they could return and get a refund for the tickets. I noticed the fraudulent charges on my credit card bill at once and reported them to the credit card company. I had to cancel that credit card, get a new one and write a letter to the credit card company about the fraudulent charges. I got lucky in that I didn't have to pay the charges but, it did create a lot hassle. Make sure you use caution when giving credit card or bank account information out. It can save you some possible grief later.

Daylight Savings Time

I just wanted to post an early heads-up on Daylight Savings Time. Daylight Savings Time will end in the U.S. at 2 a.m. on November 4th. It'll end in Europe on October 28th. When it ends, you'll need to move your clock forward 1 hour. It'll give you 1 more hour of sunlight in the morning. For me, it means 1 more hour of darkness when I'm trying to deliver the mail. I've already checked my miner's light to make sure it's still working. I'll be needing it soon. Cheers all!

Optionals

My friend Harvey and I have been going through the optional tours for the cruise we'll be taking in March 2008. There is quite a list for each port. I find the list aggravating in that I wish some of this stuff was included in the cruise like it would be if I was taking a Globus tour. Instead, the only thing that'll be free is if we walk around the ports we pull into. Otherwise, the cost of the various optional tours run from $30 to $200. I find this part a real turn off as far as cruises go.

Another drawback I've found to our cruise is the time we'll have to leave each port. At 3 of the ports, we'll depart at 5 p.m. That means in a number of cases that we'll only have time to do 1 optional tour and then some looking around on our own. I wish we had more time in the various ports. That way, I could go scuba diving AND do a tour on the history of the place. As it is, I'm going to have to decide what is the tour I most want to do.

Still, I look forward to the cruise. It'll be neat to watch the ship pull out of port or pull into port. I look forward to exploring the ship too. The ship we'll be on is huge so there will be lots to explore and discover on board. Hopefully, the cruise will end up being a nice time.

Hard Rock Cafe - Washington D.C.

After finishing the orange tour on the Old Town Trolley, I decided it was time for some dinner. To my delight, the tour I took finished right across the street from the Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe. I'd visited the cafe twice before but, I'd never eaten there. I went in and was promptly served. I decided to try the Tupelo chicken fingers, New York 12 ounce strip steak and a wild berry smoothie. The smoothie tasted different from what I was use to but, it was very good. I received a good serving of chicken fingers and the sauces they served with them were excellent (bar-b-que and honey mustard). Lastly, the steak was well cooked and came with mash potatoes with gravy and green beans. The mash potatoes and gravy were tasty. The green beans weren't overly cooked and were still crunchy. Overall, it was an excellent meal. Price wise, I paid $8.99 for my smoothie though that came with a pilsner glass I got to keep. I paid $9.50 for the chicken fingers and $23.50 for steak.

The cafe has an extensive rock memorabilia collection as all Hard Rock Cafes do. It was neat to look around and see the various guitars, concert posters and other stuff. They played assorted music videos on tvs that were spread throughout the cafe. Because of my All Access membership, I earned $42 credit toward my next $20 reward. If you like to eat or buy stuff from the Hard Rock Cafes, I'd strongly recommend you join their All Access club. It can earn you money back that you can use on food or clothing at the cafes.

That's all to report for this visit. I hope to visit the Baltimore cafe sometime soon and see how their food is. Rock on!

D.C. Sightseeing

I've lived outside the Washington D.C. area for over 6 years now. To my embarrassment, I've seen little of D.C. I have no excuse. It's easy to drive down to the Greenbelt station and take the Washington Metro (their subway system) into the capital. From there, you can easily take one of the hop on - hop off tours. Yesterday, I mended my ways somewhat. Initially, I planned to take the afternoon tour of the Washington memorials with Grayline Tours. I dithered so much that by the time I arrived at Union Station, the bus had already left. Luckily, there was another company called Old Town Trolley. They run 3 routes that cover all the main sights in D.C. As I was late getting out to D.C., I decided to ride the green route trolley (that route covers Union Station) its entire route. I found the driver/guide to be very knowledgeable and friendly. He told people when tours were available of the building that houses Congress. He also told which museums were closed for renovation (the Smithsonian had one that was closed). Trivia question I learned: who has the tallest statue in D.C.? Answer: Lady Freedom. She stands 19 feet 6 inches. A law was passed that no statue in D.C. can be taller than Lady Freedom. After taking their green route tour, I decided to take their orange route tour. This tour covered embassy row (62 embassies line this one stretch of road), Georgetown, the National Cathedral (did you know there is a gargoyle with the face of Darth Vader on it?) and the National Zoo (they have problems with the pandas in that all they want to do is eat and sleep i.e. they apparently aren't very interested in creating any baby pandas). The driver on this tour was particularly impressive as he was able to name every embassy on embassy row. I bet that took some memorization.

The third tour (a shuttle actually) which they offer which I didn't have time for is the one that takes you to Arlington to the tomb of the unknown, where John and Robert Kennedy are buried and where the Marine Memorial is. I plan to get back there sometime so I can see those.

Each tour on the trolleys took approximately 1 hour and 10 hours minutes (except for the Arlington tour). The company promises to stop at each stop on their routes every 30 minutes. The tours start at 9 a.m. and stop at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $32 for an adult. I don't know what it would cost for a child. I'd definitely recommend the Old Town Trolley. I found both their tours very interesting and informative. They also have the advantage that you can hop on and hop off as much as you want during the day. Their website is: http://oldtowntrolley.com/Washington-DC/.

Little Mermaid Statue

This is one of the pictures I took of the famous little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Because the sun was behind the statue, the front of the picture came in very dark. I had to use my photo tool so I could change the background and increase the light in the picture so you could see the front of the mermaid.

Concerning the statue, I learned a couple things. First, I was surprised how close to shore the statue is. You can actually step from the shore to the statue's base if you wanted to. I thought it was further out in the harbor. Second, sickos have three times mutilated the statue. Twice the statue's head was cut off. In order to prevent the head from being cut off again, authorities poured concrete inside the statue's head making it impossible for them to ever do it again. I thought it really sad that they had to do that in the first place. Lastly, as you can see, it is a very beautiful statue. It is one of the sights I'd recommend seeing in Copenhagen if you can ever visit there.

Iceland Hard Rock Cafe

I emailed Hard Rock Cafe's headquarters today to find out what happened to the Hard Rock Cafe in Reykjavik, Iceland. If you had a t-shirt from there, you had some bragging rights as not everyone goes there. To my delight, they quickly replied. They stated that the Reykjavik cafe was a franchise cafe. The franchise owners decided to close it in May 2005. I suspect they had a real problem with costs. Things are very expensive in Iceland. Because of that, a number of the menu items would've been very pricey and a turn-off to those visiting Iceland. I can understand how that is considering I paid $67 for a large beer, order of onion rings and a 10 ounce steak dinner in Bergen, Norway. Prices like that don't encourage business. Still, I'm saddened they closed it. It was neat getting a t-shirt from there.

Last Day

It was the last day of the tour. I don't know about anyone else in the group but, I wasn't thrilled about that. The 2 weeks had gone by incredibly fast. Today, we were supposed to do a tour of Oslo. Like Copenhagen and Stockholm, a local guide showed up to tell us about Oslo. The reason they had a local guide tell about the city was because they'd be more knowledgeable about it than Arvid would be.

We were supposed to visit City Hall and Frogner Park but city elections prevented us from seeing City Hall. Frogner Park was interesting. This park is filled with nude statues by Gustav Vigeland. They are definitely more laid back in Norway than we are in the states. Some of the statues were suggestive too. Vigeland apparently was fascinated by the circle of life and showed it in a fountain he created at the park. It shows nude children playing in the tree of life progressing to mature men and women to men and women with children and finally elderly men and women before beginning again with young children. It was an interesting series of statues.

Our guide whose name I can't remember took us to a spot where we could get good pictures of the harbor. We also visited one of the piers where the Akershus Fortress is located. The fortress houses the Norwegian resistance museum, the Norwegian Armed Forces museum and a joint headquarters for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and their Armed Forces. It's an impressive fortress. Incredibly, the cruise liner Star Princess was docked right next to it. The Star Princess was HUGE. The letters spelling out its name were over a foot long which gives you and idea how big it was.

After the city tour, we had a 90 minute break for lunch before the optional tour of the viking ship museum, the Fram museum (an arctic exploration ship) and Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki museum. I used the time to dash to the Oslo Hard Rock Cafe to buy some of their t-shirts. I also bought some of their pins to give to Joyce La Chapelle, Carolyn Clancy and Greta Paulsen. The three ladies were our ladies from North Dakota. They were super nice. Joyce had given me a pin from North Dakota so I felt I had to reciprocate. I don't know if Maryland has any pins (I plan to keep an eye out for one and if I find one send it to her) so I decided to get them Hard Rock Cafe pins.

Diane Porch of our group requested I get a Hard Rock Cafe menu for them if possible. It seems they collect them. I said I'd try. I had no idea what I was getting into to. It turned out I had to speak with the cafe's general manager (I think his name was Jimmy). I told him the situation and he very kindly said he'd see if he could find an old menu. He succeeded. Only the menu didn't say Norway in it. After all the trouble he'd gone through, I wasn't able to appear ungrateful about that. I thanked him and offered to pay for it. He said that wasn't necessary. I also asked him about the Reykjavik Hard Rock Cafe. To my surprise, I found out it's gone. He didn't know anything about what happened with it. I found out that the company that owns the Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm cafes is trying to get the licence for Finland, Latvia and Estonia. There might be new Hard Rock Cafes on the horizon in those countries. More t-shirts for me to collect.

I returned to the hotel and dropped of my t-shirts. Our city guide returned to take us to the viking ship museum. The museum has 3 viking ships that were buried with important viking nobles. Two of the ships were in outstanding condition. It was something to see them. The museum showed artifacts they'd found with the ships. Some of those were also very impressive.

After the viking museum, we visited the Fram museum. The museum is built around the Fram which is a pretty big ship. You can actually go onboard the Fram and explore it. The ship made 3 exploration voyages and helped enormously in mapping these previously unknown areas.

Thor Heyerdah's Kon-Tiki museum was our last stop. It was something to see these fascinating ships. We also got to see an 8 minute film on Heyerdahl's voyage on the Kon-Tiki. It was quite a voyage.

The last thing we had on our itinerary was the farewell dinner. It was held at the hotel. The hotel did a nice job. The food was superbly presented and was very tasty. We made chit-chat one last time with those we'd become friends with. Around 8:30 p.m., the dinner broke up. We had to get up early the next morning to catch the bus to the airport. Everyone shook hands or hugged one last time. I very much doubt I'll ever see any of these people again. They were wonderful people. They made my trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway far more enjoyable. I very much enjoyed meeting them. I wish them all the very best.

The next morning, I quickly packed (I was getting pretty good at it by now) and went down to the reception area. The hotel kindly provided us with a box breakfast which I ate in the reception area. At 5 till 7 a.m., it was time to board the bus for the airport. The airport was 35 minutes away. Once there, we waited for the Continental Airlines check-in to open up. Once they did, those of use flying on the flight checked out luggage in and made our way to security. That's where I found out I should've packed my large jars of vitamins, fish oil tablets and fiber pills. Because of those, I had to open my carry-on bag so they could inspect it. At the game, security was doing random checks. Harvey got tagged and I ragged on him about looking like a suspicious character. The flight to Newark was uneventful. Thanks to the Sudoku game Harvey told me about, I was able to waste 4 hours of the flight playing it. When we arrived at Newark, we had to go through Customs, re-check our luggage and go through security again. That's where I lost a large tube of toothpaste as I guess that was forbidden in carry-ons. I plan to make sure I pack that next time.

That concludes my Scandanavian adventure. The tour reconfirmed my high opinion of Globus tours. I can't wait to take another one. I'm looking forward to their 2008 catalog where I'll be able to see the dates for their France tour. Hopefully, this time next year I'll be on a French adventure. We'll see. Cheers all!

FYI

I arrived back safely yesterday. My flights back were uneventful. Thanks to Harvey, I found out about the game Soduku. Its a game where you try to place the numbers 1 to 9 in colums and rows and 3 by 3 squares and the numbers can't repeat in the columns, rows and squares. You have to use logic to figure out where the numbers go. It's a challenging game as well as a good way to exercise one's noggin. As luck would have it, the flight had an electronic version for sale in its duty free store. I bought one and proceeded to play the game 4 times during the flight. It was a great way to make the time go by.

When I got home, I was relieved to find everything the way I'd left it. There wasn't anyone to watch my apartment while I was gone and I was afraid someone might break in while I was gone. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Once I got sorted out, I visited the Baldons to find out what had been happening while I was gone. I wanted to give Modestine (I hope I have that right) her Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. She'd asked for something from over there and I decided to give her a t-shirt from Stockholm. I found out Maryland has been having 100 plus degree days while I was gone. I was soooo glad I missed those. I wasn't thrilled when I arrived at Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport and heard the temperature was 88 degrees. I don't like hot weather. I'm not looking forward to delivering mail in it. I plan to go into the Post Office today to pick up my held mail and find out when I'll go back to work. It'll probably be Friday. We'll see.

Oslo

We departed around our usual time (8:40 a.m.) from the Dr. Holms Hotel. We had a long drive ahead of us. We head to drive to south and east to Oslo. It isn't super hard driving south in Norway but driving east can be because of the fjords. To break up the monotony of the drive, we stopped at the Torpo stave church. Unlike other places where the people totally tore down the old stave churches, this one was saved somewhat. A good deal of it was torn down and the remaining church is a shadow of what it had once been. Still, it was an interesting church. A guide told us about the church and pointed out various highlights. It has a fine example of Medieval art in its nave which has a painted story of Jesus and Saint Margaret.

After visiting the church, we drove to Gol where we took a pitstop so everyone could use the bathroom. From there, we drove over 2 hours to Oslo.

Oslo is the capital of Norway and it's a good size city. It also has an active port which sees a number of ships including cruise ships. The day after we arrived, the Star Princess from the Princess Cruise Line arrived. It was one BIG ship!

After we arrived at our hotel the Radisson Scandanavia, our guide Arvid hustled to get our rooms keys. The afternoon was free but, Globus offered two optional tours. You could visit the Museum of Skiing and see the Holmenkollen ski jump with dinner afterwards or just to the dinner. I opted to do the museum and the dinner. We left at 6 p.m. and Per our driver dropped 15 of us off at the museum. It was then that we found out our guide Arvid had committed a boo-boo. It seems he didn't call the museum to make sure it was open. When we arrived, it was locked up tight. Arvid managed to speak with the cleaning lady who was leaving as we arrived. Not only couldn't we see the museum, we couldn't go to the top of the ski jump. Lastly, we couldn't call our bus back so we could join the rest of the group that was going to the dinner. Arvid finally found Per's number and got him to come back.

Per stopped at a couple places so those of us who stopped at the museum could take pictures. One place of note was the status of King Olav V who was a very beloved monarch. He was also a very capable cross country skier and the statue shows him doing that. It was a nice statue.

After the photo stops, we proceeded to the restaurant which was at a hotel at the top of Holmenkollen. I don't remember its name. The dinner itself was a fine example of fine dining. All of the food was superbly presented and it tasted great. My only complaint was how LONG they took to serve it. Like at the Dr. Holms Hotel, I was ready to chow down and they took forever to serve the food.

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the tour was what happened after dinner at Holmenkollen. The group walked to the bar where those who wanted it could have coffee. Then, we walked out onto the terrace. The terrace overlooked the city of Oslo. By now, it was dark and you could see the city all lit up. It was incredibly beautiful. This would've made a perfect ending to our tour but, we still had a tour of Oslo as well as a farewell dinner at the hotel. Stay tuned for my next hopefully interesting episode of my Scandanavia adventure. Cheers!

Geilo

Because the tour itinerary promised that people would have a chance to walk around Bergen in the morning, we left later than usual. Normally, this would've hurt us at our arriving destination. However, in the case of Geilo, there wasn't anything to do there. Geilo is a known Norwegian ski town. As it is late summer, none of us were going to do any skiing so there wasn't any rush to get to Geilo. Still, our drive to Geilo wasn't entirely boring.

We stopped at one large waterfall called Stein something. The thing that is so interesting about this fall is that you can walk behind it. It was pretty neat. Another neat thing we did was take a short ferry ride across Hardangerfjord. The crossing only took 20 minutes but, I found it neat.

The rest of the drive to Dr. Holmes Hotel was uneventful. The hotel itself was founded as a place to treat respiratory diseases and became very successful. Later, it served those who liked to ski in Geilo. The hotel has a 6 lane American bowling alley which surprised me. It also has a spa with a wading pool, whirlpool, hotpool and good size swimming pool. I saw the swimming pool and decided a swim would help me burn some pre-dinner calories. The swim ended up being fantastic. Afterwards, I changed back for the group dinner.

The dinner was supposed to be a buffet but, the summer season was over so the hotel changed it to a set meal. Each of the course was superbly presented BUT I found the staff were incredibly slow to serve them. I was ready to chow down. I wanted FOOD! Instead, the meal dragged and we ended up not finishing till past 9 p.m. It was very annoying.

After the dinner, it was time to crash. The hotel's breakfast buffet turned out to decent though we had the same cramped seating we had the night before. We finally departed the hotel at 8:40 a.m. for Oslo.

Note: The rest of my adventure blogs will be reported from home. Tomorrow morning, I'll fly back to the U.S. It saddens me that the tour is coming to an end. Yet, it has been a fun tour. I can't wait to take another one. Harvey and I are looking at taking a Globus tour of France late next summer. It would be a lot of fun. We'll see if it happens. Cheers all!

Bergen

We boarded the ferry around 8:45 a.m. It was a strictly passenger ferry. (they have 2 kinds, the other is a combination car and passenger ferry) There were at least a couple groups heading for Gundervegan (I hope I have that spelling right). Unlike the train, the boat travelled slowly which made it easier to take pictures of the waterfalls, towns along the fjord and the fjord itself. One town called Diordal could only be reached by boat. It was reported that villagers there lived to great old age in part because of the pure water they drank. We saw farms located far up on the mountains. One farm at one time could only be reached by ladder! The views were extremely scenic. All totalled, the cruise lasted 2 hours. It was seriously awesome.

At Gundervegan, we left the ferry and boarded our bus. Our guide then offered us the choice of taking the dull boring way to Bergen or the more adventuresome route. We chose the more adventuresome route. Little did we realize what we were getting ourselves into. The more adventuresome route went along a twisting turning road with mere inches to spare on the sides. A driving mistake could be disastrous. Our respect for your driver Pere increased dramatically. Still, the views were awesome and we saw two more stunning waterfalls during the climb. It was an incredible drive.

After surviving the adventuresome route to the main Bergen road, things became more quiet. We had a long drive to Bergen. Interestingly, we had to pass through 38 tunnels to get there. It gives you an idea of how mountainous Norway is. We finally arrived around 4 p.m. I think. It was grey and drizzly. Harvey and I checked out the fish market which was interesting. We also visited Harald's Hall which dates from the beginning of Bergen and Rosencrantz tower. While there, we saw a re-enactor group that was skirmishing. It was interesting to watch them fight. They had real swords, spears and axes. We also checked out the buildings from the Hanseatic League times. They were neat old wooden buildings. Bergen was one of the towns in the league. I forget what they traded for there. After wandering around a bit more, we had dinner at the Big Horn Steakhouse. The place showed just how expensive Norway can be. I order a large beer, an order of onion rings and a 10 ounce steak with baked potato and corn. The onion rings alone were 70 Norwegian Kronor which breaks out to approximately $12. I received 7 onion rings. That breaks out to over $1.50 per ring. Serious ouch! Still, the meal was good.

After dinner, I called it a day. The next morning, Harvey and I took the funicular up one of the mountains that surrounds Bergen. The views at the top were awesome. You could see the whole harbor from up there. I was able to get some really good pictures. After that, I headed over to Harald's Hall and Rosenkrantz tower to take pictures of those. Then, it was time to get back to the hotel. We were departing for Geilo and further adventures. Stay tuned.

Flam

The Norwegians are incredibly blessed. I've never seen such beautiful waterfalls, massive mountains and stunning fjords. You can point out the difficulties the fjords cause trying to cross them. You can point out that the massive mountains make it very hard to get around Norway and, it does. And, waterfalls don't do a lot of good barring looking pretty. Still, the waterfalls, mountains and fjords make this one of the most picturesque countries I've ever visited.

We arrived at the Fletheim Hotel in Flam just in time to catch the Flam-Myrdal train. The train goes through some incredibly beautiful countryside. I kept getting excited about every waterfall and tried to take a picture of each one. By the time we returned to Flam, I must've had over 30 pictures of waterfalls. I couldn't believe how many they had. Before I went to Australia, I'd never seen one. I know of only four waterfalls in the U.S. There is the Niagara Falls and Horseshoe Falls in New York and there are two waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park. I've never seen any of them. Because of that, it has been a treat to see a waterfall. Norway is a waterfall paradise. After a while in this country, you become a connoisseur of waterfalls. They have so many kinds. It's really incredible.

After the train ride, I managed to satisfy my internet fix and posted a blog on Lillehammer. Then, it was time for dinner. The Fletheim Hotel did itself proud. It was another one of those buffets where if you didn't leave stuffed, you weren't trying. Another nice thing about the hotel was its location. Its snuggled between mountains and right next to a beautiful small harbor. It was a very pretty location.

After a super dinner, it was time to crash. We had more exciting things to look forward to. We were to take a 2-hour cruise on the Sojnefjord, Norway's largest fjord. After that, we were to drive to Bergen, once a member city of the Hanseatic League. New adventures awaited. Stay tuned for further posts on my exciting Scandanavian adventure.

Lillehammer

I have to play catch-up today because the internet connection at the Radisson in Lillehammer was so poor. I had problems trying to check my email and I didn't care to try to type up a blog entry.

We departed Karlstad bright and early and headed toward Norway. At the Sweden-Norway border, I got to claim back the tax I'd paid on the Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts I bought in Stockholm and Copenhagen. I wasn't able to claim my refund for Gothenburg because I forgot to get the refund form you have to have to receive the refund. I found that annoying but, I remembered the form too late. Thankfully, I was able to get 150 Norwegian kronor back which will buy me a few Norwegian brews. FYI, in order to get any tax you pay in the EU back, you must spend $50 plus at one store. They must fill out a form they will give you that you will present to the tax refund desk at either one of the borders between countries or at your departing airport. You'll have to show your passport, fill in your address on the form and sign it. Once that's done, they'll give you your refund in whatever currency you request. Since I was going to Norway, it made sense to get Norwegian kronor.

After we departed the border, we still had a long drive to Lillehammer, Norway. We finally arrived 4 p.m. First, we visited the Maihaugen Open Air Museum. The museum has 200 buildings from Norway's past. It's a very nice museum. We received a guide name Cary who was a riot. When we entered the old school house, she had all the men sit on one side of the school and all the women sit on the other like they would've in back in 1865. Then, she asked if we knew any American songs. Some suggested Old McDonald Had A Farm. So, the entire group sang Old McDonald Had A Farm with Cary picking the animals. I'm not sure who laughed more, she or us. By the end of our brief tour, the heavens started to open up. The next stop was the ski jumps for the 1994 Olympics. The ski jumps were very impressive and it was seriously cool to stand in the landing area where it had taken place.

From there, we had a short drive to our hotel. Our guide Arvid had told us they had a phenomenal smorgasbord at the Radisson and it turned out he wasn't kidding. I couldn't believe all the food they put out. It was another one of those where if you didn't leave stuffed, it was because you didn't want to. It was a fantastic meal.

The next morning, it was wake-up call at 6:30 a.m., breakfast anytime after 6:30, bags out at 7:30 a.m. and departure at 8:30 a.m. We would have another decent drive to Fram, Norway. Stay tuned for the next chapter in my Scandanavian adventure.

Karlstad

After my last post, I walked over to O'Leary's Sports Bar. It's a nice restaurant filled with memorabilia from Massachusetts. One wall had an advertisement promoting Ted Williams Root Beer. Another had an newspaper article telling about the retirement of Carl Yeztremski's number (he played for the Boston's Red Sox). Because this is Sweden, they were showing British Football matches on the numerous television screens they had on the walls. Food wise, I was very pleased. I ordered they Celtics Bar-b-que hamburger with fries. The burger was large and so was the order of fries. Beer wise, I wasn't impressed with their selection of international brews. I had a Newcastle Brown Ale and a local brand export lager. They were nice. It ended up being a nice meal and I'd recommend the place if you're ever in Stockholm. After this fine meal, I chilled in my hotel room till I crashed.

The next morning, it was time to depart Stockholm. I quickly packed my bag and left it outside my hotel room for pick-up. Because it was Sunday, we left later than usual. Gripsholm Castle doesn't open till 11 a.m. on Sundays. The castle was originally built by the Lord Chancellor of Sweden back in the 13th or 14th century. Later, King Gustav Vasa bought it and changed it into a royal residence. The castle is filled with portraits of royalty and other nobles. It has something like 4,000 such portraits and is the largest such collection in the world. The people who run the castle provided us a guide who showed us around the castle. She was fantastic. If you ever visit Mariefred, this castle is worth visiting.

Also, at Mariefred is the Mariefred railway. It's a small train that runs on small gauge track. It's a beautiful train and looks like it would be a lot of fun to ride. It actually runs all the way to where you could catch the modern trains to Stockholm so it actually serves a legitimate purpose besides providing a neat experience to those lucky enough to ride it.

Once people were done seeing Gripsholm Castle, it was time to continue our journey on to Karlstad where we spent the night. It's a nice enough town and on our way to Norway. At Karlstad, we checked into a hotel that had been a former prison. It supposedly housed some of Sweden's most notorious criminals. Its a neat hotel.

This morning, we depart for Lillehammer, Norway. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!

Stockholm Continued

Last night, I got to do a walking tour of the Old City of Stockholm. There are buildings there that date from the time of the Hanseatic League. It was something to wander the cobblestone streets. The Old City is filled with shops and restaurants. Our guide took us to one that has a 13th century wine cellar. There, we enjoyed a glass of wine, a bowl of onion soup, reindeer stew (or fish) with mash potatoes and linden berries and a slice of apple tart. The food was fantastic and with the tour of the Old City made for a wonderful night.

This morning, we had the tour of the city proper with an optional tour of the Wasa Museum. Our guide was a city guide. She knew the ins and outs of Stockholm and was a delight. She had a very funny personality. With her guiding us, we got to see the city hall where the Nobel awards banquet is held. It's a beautiful building reminiscent of an Italian piazza. After that, we visited a spot where we could get a good shot of the hall. Then, we were off to where we could get good views of the harbor. We also drove around with her giving us a narrative of the city.

After the city tour, those who didn't sign up for the Wasa tour either returned to the hotel or were dropped off by harbor where they could take a harbor tour or do some shopping. Then, it was on to the Wasa Museum.

The Wasa Museum holds the 16th century warship Wasa. It was commissioned by Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus the II. It was the first double deck warship. Unfortunately, it was top heavy and sank on its maiden voyage. It remained on the bottom of Stockholm harbor until 1961 when it was raised. The warship is a striking ship because it is so well preserved. It also has over 700 statues adorning it. The museum shows a 25 minute movie clip that tells of the history of the ship and how it was raised. The museum is fascinating and worth doing if you like history or sailing ships.

After the Wasa Museum, everyone had a free afternoon. I chose to go in search of the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get some Stockholm t-shirts. I got one heck of a shock when I finally found it. It isn't close at all to the harbor. I had a long walk getting there and a long walk getting back. Still, I got my t-shirts.

I'm a little pooped so I plan to check out a sports bar and restaurant that is close to the hotel. I'm hoping they'll have some Victoria Bitter. If not, they'll hopefully have a good burger. For some reason, I'm really in the mood for a good hamburger. We'll see. That's all for now. Cheers all!

Stockholm

I've arrived in Stockholm. Now, I'll fill you in what's been happening since my last post. Globus provided a free dinner for us last night at the hotel. It turned out to be so-so. I found it disappointing after the awesome dinner we had in Arhus, Denmark. We had an early departure so I hit the sack early. To my annoyance, I couldn't get the air conditioning in the room to work right. Because of that, I didn't sleep well.

One good thing about not sleeping well is it makes it easy to get up early. I did and had my bag ready and waiting. Then, I headed to breakfast. It turned out the hotel did a better job on breakfast than it did on dinner. I was pleasantly pleased.

After breakfast, I chilled for a little before boarding our bus. We had a long drive as we had to drive completely across Sweden and then go North. It ended up being a 6 hour trip with a 1 hour stop for lunch. The drive was nice as we got to see the Swedish countryside and some of their numerous lakes. It rained some but that wasn't a problem as we were inside the bus. Finally, we arrived in Stockholm around 3:15 p.m. Ironically, we arrived early and the hotel wasn't ready for all of us. Cleaning ladies were still working on our rooms. As they finished, we received our room assignments.

Tonight, for those of us who signed up for it, we get to do a walking tour of the Old City of Stockholm. After that, we have dinner in a 13th century wine cellar. It should be a nice evening. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!

Tour Update

I've arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden today. We took a ferry from Fredericshavn, Denmark. The ferry crossing was uneventful. Harvey and I explored the ferry and there wasn't anything exciting. After we arrived and got back on the bus, Arvid our guide, took us up a hill where we could see all of Gothenburg Harbor and the city. It was an impressive view. I took a few pictures. Then, we drove around the city a little before arriving at our hotel. The Scandic Europa is all right. After I dropped off my bag in my room, I headed for the Gothenburg Hard Rock Cafe where I bought t-shirts for my sister and I. There are only 2 more cafes on my list: Stockholm and Oslo.

Now, I'd like to catch you up on everything else that has happened. Yesterday, it was time to depart Copenhagen. We pulled out around 8 a.m. and drove to Odense. Odense is the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson. We visited his home/museum. It was very nice. I was particularly struck by all the hardships Anderson suffered in his life. He showed incredible perseverance.

After Anderson's home, we headed to Arhus where we visited Den Gamle By. Den Gamle By houses a number of old Danish buildings from the 16th to early 20th century. I found the old buildings fascinating. We had an hour and a half to explore and I wish we'd stayed longer. It is definitely worth visiting.

It was time to head to our hotel. We stayed at the SAS Radisson. According to Arvid, it is the best of the hotels we'll stay in. My impression was it is a superb hotel. I wish we had stayed in something like it in Copenhagen. At 7 p.m., we had a group dinner though dinner doesn't do it justice. It was more of a feast. If you didn't leave stuffed, it was because you didn't want to. The dinner was outstanding. The next morning, I cut back on breakfast because of the dinner the night before.

That's all to report. Tomorrow morning, we depart for Stockholm. It'll be a bit of a long drive, over 300 miles. Still, we'll get to see lots of Swedish countryside. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers!

Arhus Update

I have to make this quick as the internet connection at the Arhus SAS Hotel costs 40 cents a minute. Serious ouch!

We had our first group meeting Monday evening. I found out we have 43 in our group. We had 44 but the next day, Sherry Jensen fell at Christianborg and broke both her elbows. I felt terribly sorry for this lady. To come all this way and to have an accident just when the tour begins that forces her to return home. What a serious bummer!

Tuesday, we did a city tour of Copenhagen with a local guide. She did a great job. We had a break in which Harvey and I caught a boat tour of the canals. It ended up being really nice. It was fascinating to go through them. I thought they looked a lot nicer though not as old as Amsterdam's.

In the afternoon, I took the optional tour that took us to Fredericsborg, once a royal palace. It was very impressive. After that, we visited Fredensborg which is the Danish royal families summer residence. We got to see the outside and it was nice. Last, we visited Elsinore Castle, the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet. The ramparts were VERY big and VERY impressive. I wish we could've seen the inside of it but, we didn't have the time.

Last, everyone received a ticket to the Tivoli Gardens which is a very famous amusment park. I found it all right and pricey. It turned out all the ticket did was allow us in so we could spend more money at the restaurants and on the rides. I rode some of the rides which was fun. I haven't done that in years. Around 9 p.m., I called it a day as we had to get up early this morning for our trip to Hans Christian Anderson's home. I'll talk about that in my next post. Cheers all!

Arrived

I arrived safely in Copenhagen this morning. My flight on Continental was uneventful. I did think the seats were smaller than usual in economy. Also, the breakfast they served us was totally pathetic. We received one hot croissant and a small bowl of pealed orange slices. I also thought their beer was expensive. It cost $5 for a can of either Foster's, Heineken, Miller's or Miller's Lite. I'm not looking forward to flying back with them when the tour is over.

Danish immigration and customs was very easy to my relief. To my annoyance, our tour guide didn't show up till 10 a.m. It would've been nice if he had been there to meet us.

The hotel (First Vesterbro on Vesterbrogade) I'm staying appears to be good. It's just down the street from the Tivoli Gardens. After I checked in, Harvey and I went exploring. We managed to find the Hard Rock Cafe to my delight. I bought my sister her promised Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. After that, we went to a pizza place that had an all you can eat pizza and salad bar. For the money, it was a good deal. It cost $11 approximately (55 Danish Kronor), and had decent pizza. The salad bar was all right too. After our pizza lunch, we explored down the other end of Vesterbrogade. I was very surprised by how many 7-11 stores they have here. I had no idea they were that popular here. We also visited a Danish supermarket. It was interesting. I couldn't tell you what a number of the items were. I was astonished to find a post office inside the supermarket. I plan to go back there when I want to mail some postcards.

Tonight, the entire group will meet for the first time. Members of the group will be arriving throughout the day. I'm curious to find out how many are in our group. I heard from Joel Mills that the tour was totally booked up but, I have no idea what that means in terms of numbers. Tomorrow, the tour will begin in earnest at 8:30 a.m. when we do a tour of the city. It should be interesting. That's all for now. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!

Advantages of a Globus Tour

Three days ago, I decided to check reviews on http://www.tripadvisor.com/ on hotels I'll be staying at. I couldn't imagine Globus picking some dumps. From what I read, it sounds like the hotels will be all right though the rooms may be smaller than what I'm use to in the states.

While looking at the hotel reviews, I also took down the price per night of each hotel. I wanted to see if the tour I'll be going on was a good deal. Based on what it would cost to stay at each hotel for the number of nights I'll be staying there during the tour, it is a good deal. If I booked each hotel via one of the on-line booking services, I could expect to pay $2,969 alone for hotels. This doesn't include the breakfast buffet many of these hotels offer. The buffet can add another $15 or more per day. The price of my tour was $2,319 with an additional $595 single room charge for a total of $2,914. That means, I'll save at least $55 on hotels but, that doesn't reflect the total savings.

For starters, my transportation is included with the price of the tour. For 14 days, there will be a driver and bus to take the troup I'll be with to all the places we'll be visiting. Also, the tour includes 7 dinners. Figuring on a minimum of $25 per dinner, that would be worth at least $175. It also includes the ferry crossing from Frederickhavn to Gothenburg and a cruise on Sognefjord. I have no idea what those would cost but I doubt they're cheap. Lastly, there are guided tours of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo as well as orientation visits to Gothenburg and Bergen.

Another item that would be hard to put a price on is the use of a guide the entire time. This is one thing I particularly like about the tour. I'll have the services of someone who is very knowledgeable about the countries and who can answer any questions I have about them. They can probably speak the languages of the various countries and so interpret for me if that is needed. They can help me avoid any number of pitfalls I'd be likely to fall into if I were on my own. Remember, I've never been to Denmark, Sweden or Norway. Once I've been to these countries and got a feel for them, I'll feel fine visiting on my own but, for my first visit, I like having the services of someone who knows the ropes as us Americans say.

Overall, I feel Globus tours are a good value. If you booked the various tours and hotels yourself, you'd probably end up paying more. They are also very convenient and easy. From the time you arrive at your destination country, they take care of you. The hardest part of the Australia tour I went on taking my bag to and from my hotel room. You don't have to mess with keeping track of various reservations or making sure you arrive for such and such tour in time. When Harvey and I went to New York City, we found out how much Globus had spoiled us. No one met us at Penn Station when we arrived. No one took us to where the Greyline tours started. No one told us how to get back to our hotel or where Radio Music City Hall was. Globus would've done all those things. The nice thing about Globus is they allow you to concentrate on having fun. Isn't that what vacations are supposed to be about?

Disclaimer: Just so all my readers know, I'm not in any way affiliated with Globus i.e. I don't work for them. I have contributed stories and photos to http://www.exchangetravelstories.com which is run by the Globus family of travel companies. I have received 1,300 GO points for those stories. When you earn enough GO points (2,400 points for a $10 gift certificate), you can exchange them for gift certificates to Amazon.com and GiftCertificates.com. I feel my stories have told both good and bad things about their tours.

Maryland Renaissance Festival

They finally posted the entertainment schedule (it was supposed to be posted the beginning of the month and wasn't posted till nearly the middle of the month) for the Maryland Renaissance Festival. A number of perennial favorites will be returning. The Rogues will be warming things up with their fantastic bagpipes. Hack and Slash will be back with their whip mayhem. The excellent juggler the Squire on the Wire will be back to do more juggling derring-do. And Fight School will be back to teach audiences about various swords while making them laugh with their funny repartee. To my delight, I'll get another chance to see the Medieval Baebes. They return the last weekend of the festival to knock out festival goers with their beauty and their music. I definitely plan to see their show.

A little reminder, the festival kicks off the weekend of August 25th and 26th (just 5 days away, mark your calendars!). The festival runs every weekend through October 21st. There is tons of free parking. Admission is $8 for children (7 to 15 years old), $18 for adults (16 to 61) and $15 for seniors (62 plus). Their hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. rain (I can testify to that) or shine. For further information including how to get to the festival, please check out their website at http://www.rennfest.com/. Hope to see you there.

Gandalf Staff

One of the items that I had in my Lord of the Rings collection was a Gandalf Staff by United Cutlery. It's a replica of the white staff that Gandalf uses after he returns in The Two Towers. It's a very pretty staff and I was delighted to own one.

While working at Medieval Times, I took various items of my collection in to show them to my co-workers. They were equally appreciative of the beauty or the coolness factor of getting to see some of the items. Accidents happen and my Gandalf Staff was damaged. It was accidentally knocked over and broken by Mike Vertelli, the head of Sound & Lighting. He very kindly offered to replace it. I wasn't worried about the matter and didn't press him to replace it. Then, I had my falling out with him over the castle guard thing and the staff was never replaced. Part of that was because I didn't care to talk to him after the way he told me when my last day was at the castle.

So, I needed to replace my broken Gandalf Staff. Things have changed since I bought that one. United Cutlery went bankrupt and lost the license to make any of the Lord of the Rings items. Once something is no longer made, the price tends to go up on it and that was the case concerning the Gandalf Staff. I went in search of one on Ebay, found one and managed to win the bid on one. It ended up costing me $50 more than my first one. Oh well. I knew it wouldn't be cheap but, I wanted one for my collection. Now, my only concern is getting it before I leave for my Scandanavia trip. I emailed the seller and told him when it had to arrive by. If it can't arrive by that date, I asked him to hold it till I return. We'll see what happens there.

Correction on Laser Comb

I have a correction to make concerning the laser comb. I spoke with Steve Hodgkins who is the one who told me the various options out there concerning hair loss. It turns out that the laser comb won't cause new hair growth. What it does do is break up more of the DHT hormone in the scalp. This can increase the blood flow to the hair strengthening the hair roots that are already there. Concerning the percentages, there isn't a set consistent effectiveness percentage using the laser comb i.e. 40%, 50% or whatever. The big advantage it has over Propecia is that it is considerably cheaper to use vice the drug. One year's worth of Propecia would cost you over $744 at Costco. The comb costs approximately $580. Medical Hair Restoration offers a treatment called laser therapy which does the same thing the laser comb does. The comb offers the advantage that you don't have to schedule visits to their offices. You can do the therapy yourself whenever you want. You must use the comb 10 to 15 minutes, 3 times a week for it to have any effect.

Personal Propecial Trial Update

I felt it was time to post an update on Propecia. Propecia is a drug that decreases the amount of DHT hormone in people. For men, what this drug does is stop hair loss. This means it can prevent a guy from going bald. As far as I know, it the only drug on the market that is 90% in doing this. The drug also has very few side effects. There are three downsides I've seen to the drug. First, there is the cost. The drug is very expensive. A 3 month supply will cost you $182 from Costco. You may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere. Vanity in this case isn't cheap. Second, you must take the drug at the same time every day. I have to watch the clock every morning to make sure I take it around the same time. This can be a bit annoying. The reason for this presumably is to ensure you keep a steady low level of DHT and thereby ensure your body continues to grow new hair to replace lost hair. The third downside I've seen is that you must take it for life. If you stop taking it, your DHT levels will go back up to where they were before you started taking the drug and you'll start losing your hair again.

After 3 months of taking the drug, I can see that I'm not going any balder. Appearance wise, I appear to have a normal head of hair which is nice. It's only when you push aside some of the hair that you can see scalp. In the future, I hope to try a laser comb. The comb isn't as effective as Propecia but, it reportedly can start new growth. I'd like to get my hair thicker if possible. To any who may read this blog, if you suspect you are going bald and you don't want to, you need to see about getting yourself on Propecia as soon as possible. The reason I say that is because, the sooner you start taking the drug, the sooner you stop your hair loss and the more hair you'll retain. This is the only regret I have in my case. I could see I was gradually going bald but couldn't decide whether to really pursue the matter or not. Fortunately, I saw Dr. Ballon about the matter before I needed a more radical and expensive solution which is hair transplants. Those can cost you up to a whopping $4,000! Serious ouch!!!!!

FYI, I'm not an expert in hair loss matters nor Propecia. I'm merely stating what I know and what I've observed using Propecia. You may have different experiences with the drug. Propecia is not recommended for women or children. Before taking the drug, definitely talk to a doctor about it so you know what you're doing.

Update March 9th, 2014: Two generic versions of Propecia have come out in the United States making the drug a LOT cheaper (see blog entries about them). My latest refill cost me $72.50 for a 3 month supply at Sam's Club. However, in order to get that price, you must be an Advantage Plus level member.