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.

Globus Documents

I've been waiting anxiously for my Globus documents. I need them in order to go on the Scandanavia trip I signed up for. My travel agent Joel mailed them on July 31st. All of last week, I anxiously checked with the carrier who delivers my mail. He never saw them. Today, I decided for S&Gs to see if they were at the apartment manager's office. To my surprise, they were. The normal procedure if that if the mail carrier can't deliver the package to you, he will leave a 3849 or some other kind of note letting you know you have a package at the apartment manager's office. For some reason, I never got one. I plan to ask the carrier what happened when he gets back from a trip he went on this week.

I'm thankful I have the documents. They were my biggest worry. Now, I get to start figuring out what I'm going to take clothes wise and what optional tours I'm going to take. Globus has some nice ones. They have a walking tour of Old Copenhagen which would be neat. There is also a ride of the Flam Railway. I haven't forgotten the train I rode out of Cairns. It was awesome. There is also a trip to the museum housing the Ra and Kon-tiki boats. It'll be neat to get see those.

I hope to find internet cafes I can use while on my trip so I can post updates on the tour. Then, you'll get to see where I've been and hear about any sights of interest. I don't plan on posting any pictures until I get back. I hope you'll find those posts interesting. It should be an awesome trip.

Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House

Restaurant Review

Another restaurant who I deliver mail to is the Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House on Baltimore Avenue just down from the Academy Ford Dealership. From the outside, it looks like a nice enough restaurant and it has decent parking. I decided to try it out today.

When I walked in, I was promptly greeted and taken to a seat that sat to the side of the grill the chef was going to use to cook the food. In this type of Japanese restaurant, the chef slices and cooks the food right in front of you. He'll also show some of the juggling skills by throwing the spatala and cooking fork in the air and catching them. It's an impressive display.

Food wise, I decided to splurge and I ordered the lobster and a ginger ale to drink. I racked up almost 19 hours of overtime this week at the Post Office so I felt I deserved a treat. In addition to the lobster, all entrees come with a complimentary appetizer, soup and salad. I found the soup to be outstanding. My only complaint of sorts was I would've liked to have had more. It was that good. The salad was decent enough. It had some kind of salad dressing that I couldn't identify. Also with an entree, you get a choice of steamed or fried rice. I was glad I chose the fried rice as the chef did a great job with it. The vegetables were firm and nicely cooked. The rice tasted superb. Appetizer wise, I had two shrimp flambe which I found good. The lobster was wonderfully prepared and I enjoyed every bite. The restaurant did offer some desserts but I decided to pass on those.

Price wise, I thought the restaurant was good value. My ginger ale cost me $1.95 and came with unlimited refills. I know that for a fact as I put a hurting on them there. My lobster entree was $29.95 and was a very good deal. I received 2 lobster tails and the food I've already mentioned. Service was outstanding. My glass was rarely empty for long before our great waitress promptly filled it up again.

Overall, I was completely satisfied with this restaurant. I definitely plan to go back. Also, I plan to take my friend Harvey there when he comes up this way some time. I think he'd really enjoy it. This is one restaurant I'd definitely recommend. If you like Japanese food, you should try the Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood House. They have locations throughout Maryland. Their website is http://sakurasteakhouse.com. Bon Appetit!

Restaurant Review

One of the businesses I deliver mail to on rural route 15 is the Cold Stone Creamery at 13600 Baltimore Avenue. Every time I've walked in there, the place has smelled of delicious diet busting treats. Because of that, it moved to the top of my list of restaurants I had to try. Today, I visited the creamery. Here are my opinions on what I thought of the place.

I walked and found out that the creamery doesn't have small, medium and large sizes for their ice cream. They have like it, love it and gotta have it sizes. According to their website, they think this is cool though I found it annoying when trying to place my order. How much do you get ice cream wise for a like it ice cream? You get 5 ounces. The love it translates to 8 ounces and the gotta have it equates to 12 ounces. In regards to shakes and smoothies, they only have like it and love it which are different from their ice cream sizes. A like it shake will be 12 ounces while a love it shake will be 20.

After seeing what they had, I decided to try their very vanilla milk shake and a creation ice cream. Their very vanilla milk shake has french vanilla ice cream, skim milk and caramel (source: http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/drinks/drinks_faq.html#shake_serve). For a milk shake that was supposed to be very vanillaish, it wasn't. I was very UNIMPRESSED with their milk shake. I was also a bit shocked by its price. A gotta have it size milk shake will set you back a still $6. In my opinion, that is some serious change for a milk shake. Frankly, I think you could make a better one at home for less money. My rating on their vanilla milk shake is they're a rip-off.

Cold Stone Creamery features 3 types of ice cream dishes. You have just ice cream, you have what they call a creation which is ice cream with 1 item of your choice and they have their signature creations. As to what you can get mixed with your ice cream, the creamery offers a large and impressive choice of items. You can get gummi bears, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, sprinkles, walnuts, pecans, Heath toffee bars, Snickers candy bars, Butterfinger candy bars, Reeses peanut butter cups, Oreo cookies, almonds, M&Ms, brownies and still many more. You decide what items you want mixed in though the more items you choose, the more you pay. Signature creations are ice cream dishes that the creamery has come up with and found so popular that they are part of their regular menu. Examples of these are Banana Caramel Crunch, Berry Berry Berry Good and Cookie Minster. If you want to see the full list of signature creations, see this webpage: http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/icecream/original_creations.html. For your information, as the signature creations have the most ingredients in them, they are the most expensive ice cream dishes the creamery has though the largest size signature creation cost $5.40 not including tax at the restaurant I visited.

I decided to try their gotta have it size butter pecan with pecans added. I found the ice cream decent. I enjoyed the pecans I had added. I found it interesting to watch the person filling my order mix the pecans in. They have a special counter where they slap the ice cream, flatten it, pour the ingredients to be added on top and then knead the ice cream like you would bread dough. Once the person is done mixing the ingredients, their scrape the concoction off the counter and put it in the appropriate size cup. If you tell the staff that it is your first visit to the creamery, the entire staff will cheer out FIRST TIMER. They will also cheer out a happy birthday if you or someone in your party is having a birthday. Cost wise, my ice cream was $4.79 plus tax. For what I received, I thought that was reasonable. Their prices are comparable to Dairy Queen with the plus that you are getting better quality ice cream.

Overall, I thought Cold Stone Creamery to be pricey and in the case of their shakes, a rip-off. Their ice cream is all right but in opinion, it isn't better than Breyer's or Hagen Daz. If you are in the mood for an ice cream treat but don't want to mess with fixing it yourself, you might want to try them. Their website has a restaurant/shop locater tool that will help you find the closest creamery to where you live. http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/. Cheers!

Pasta Nostra Restaurant Review

I've been wanting to try out the restaurant Pasta Nostra for a while. It's located in Laurel and, it sounded like a decent restaurant. Pasta Nostra is located just off Van Dusen Road at the Laurel Park Shopping Center across the street from the Laurel Regional Hospital. It serves Italian food including pizzas and calzones. The restaurant is a bit different in that in you walk up to the counter, place and pay for your order, they give you a number and then, you find a seat and wait for your food. There aren't any waitresses. or assigned seating.

Food wise, I tried their fried calimari, salmon imperial and profiteroles. Their fried calimari was approximately $7. They gave a decent serving and, I thought it was good calimari. They didn't give any pieces that were rubbery i.e. impossible to eat and they gave a reasonable portion of marinara sauce. The salmon was nice and included a small portion of pasta topped with crab meat. I thought the salmon good but the portion seemed small. The salmon cost approximately $11. The profiteroles which are cream puffs covered with chocolate sauce/pudding and chocolate powder were good. You received three cream puffs with plenty of chocolate sauce. The profiteroles cost approximately $6.

All totalled, I spent under $30 for lunch. I thought the food was decent. The decor of the restaurant isn't anything special. Service was good and courteous. Overall, I'd say Pasta Nostra is a decent restaurant though not one I'd go out of my way to try. Location wise, it isn't very easy to get to unless you're travelling on Interstate-95 in which case you take the MD-198 exit for Laurel, turn right at Van Dusen and look for the center on your left. There is plenty of parking. Bon Appetit!

Update: This restaurant has either closed or changed its name to Bella which is operating in its location. I don't know when Pasta Nostra closed.

Pictures

I've been posting some of the pictures I took of Australia and New Zealand on http://www.exchangetravelstories.com/. I've tried to post pictures that others haven't posted already like my picture of people climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge or my underwater photos of the Great Barrier Reef. I plan to post a picture I took of Independence Hall and a couple I took of Colonial Williamsburg. To my annoyance, I can't find the pictures I took of New York City. I suspect I may have dropped them off at Sam's Club to be developed and forgot to pick them up. Because of that, I may have to make another trip to the Big Apple. For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple pics I took of Colonial Williamsburg.

Updating Resume

I worked on updating my resume today. I haven't touched the thing in months and that was a big mistake. I had a lot of updating to do. I remember either Marjorie or Ellie telling me I should keep it updated but, I didn't because I didn't think I'd need to use it again. Once you pass your probationary period with the Post Office, you have to mess up BAD in otder to get fired. I wasn't going to mess up that bad. With me planning to leave the Post Office in a couple months, my resume became very important again. I checked a temp agency and one of the things they asked you for was your resume. So, I've updated the thing and I may send it to my sister Ellie to review. She is extremely knowledgeable about such things as she played that game for years.

Globus Travel Site

As I mentioned previously, Globus now has a website (http://www.exchangetravelstories.com) where travellers can tell of their adventures on various tours with the Globus chain (they have 5 different travel companies). I decided to tell of the G'day Australia tour with Auckland add-on I took back in January 24, 2004 to February 8, 2004. It was the best tour I've ever been on. Our tour guide Jann Elphinstone was absolutely fantastic. I got to do so many cool things and the people in our group were so nice. I was terribly saddened when it was over. It's because of that tour that I'm looking so much to the Scandanavia tour.

Anyway, I had to do my narrative in six parts: Sydney, Cairns, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Melbourne and Auckland. We'll see if they post them. Also, I looked for stories on their tours to Scandanavia. I'd like to know how good they are. Sadly, no one has posted anything from those countries. It looks like I'll have to find out when I go on the tour.

Oxygen Senser

Thanks to sensers and small computers, cars are able to run far more efficiently than ever before. The down side is when one of these gizmos decides to go kaput. Sometime either Saturday or early Sunday morning, the oxygen senser on my car decided to bite the dust though I didn't know that was the problem. The only thing I knew was the check engine warning light came on and stayed on. I checked the owner's manual and it said take the car to the dealership. To me, if you have to take the car to the dealership, it has to be something serious. I was scheduled to work today at the Post Office but, I didn't want to keep driving my car if there was something seriously wrong with it. I never forgot the time I drove my Plymouth Laser and I thought the alternator was acting up. It turned out I was wrong. The timing belt had slipped and the intake valves were smashing into the piston heads. I ended up trashing the engine. Because of that experience, I decided to take the car to the dealership as soon as possible. I called the primary carrier for the route I was supposed to work and thankfully, she was able to work. I called my acting supervisor (the regular one is on leave) and he said it would be fine as long as she covered the route.

This morning, I drove to the dealership before it opened so I could be one of the first one's in line. To my annoyance, the dealership was booked up and the repair representative said it would be tomorrow before they'd get to my car. Damn! As the Post Office wouldn't like me missing two days of work, I decided to rent a car. That ended up costing $40 a day.

Then, luck shined on me. The dealership was able to check my car and it turned out to be the oxygen senser. Better still, they had one on hand. Better better news, I'd be able to get my car back today. The bad news, it was going to cost $340! Ouch!

Oh well, I'll keep my fingers crossed that this will be the last car repair for a while. We'll see.

Dogs

Since I was a kid, I've liked dogs. However, I'm learning to be a lot more careful around them as a mail carrier. Dogs are one of the major hazards of being a mail carrier. At my initial orientation, I remember the mail carrier who briefed us telling us of the two times he was bitten. I was less than thrilled at the news of this danger. I don't like the thought of getting bitten. I find it very annoying when owners assume their precious pooches won't bite. The way some of the dogs have charged at me, I wouldn't bet on that being true. One carrier I know at the Laurel Post Office broke his right shoulder because of a dog. What happened was a German Sheperd sized dog snuck up on him and the next thing he knew there was this 100 pound dog with snarling teeth nearly on him. The carrier tried to get away from the dog but unfortunately he tripped on a tree root which sent him flying into a tree. The impact broke his right shoulder. The shoulder eventually healed but, he still has a good size knot in his shoulder from the break.

The main defense we have against dogs is dog spray. As far as I know, it's a form of mace for dogs. I haven't gotten to try it out yet so I don't know how well it works. I make sure I carry it with me on city routes as there is a higher risk of dog attack on those routes. On a rural route, I can retreat to the safety of my truck. When your on foot, there aren't any places of safety. To my annoyance, the one time I really needed the dog spray, I didn't have it. I was helping a city carrier on a route that was mounted i.e. one you deliver from your truck. In order to deliver mail on one part of it, I had to get out of the truck. When I approached one of the mailboxes, a small black dog came charging out at me barking its head off. Twice, it charged me. Luckily, I was able to keep enough distance between us. I'd have sprayed the dog with dog spray but, I'd left the dog spray at the Post Office. I plan to keep the dog spray with me just in case.

Review

I wrote another review for tripadvisor.com (http://www.tripadvisor.com/). This one was on the Laurel Museum. Part of the reason I visited the museum was just so I could write a review on it. A little stupid I suppose but, I wanted to write another review. To my annoyance, the internet ate my first draft of the review and I had to write it again from scratch. Still, I think it turned out all right. Now, I have to wait for tripadvisor to review it to make sure I didn't use any profanity or other no-nos. It should appear on their website in 3 or 4 days. It's kinda cool being an author of sorts. Now, I have to find another place to visit so I can write a review on that. I may need to take a trip to Washington D.C. or Baltimore. We'll see.

Gift Shop

Yesterday, I made it back to the Laurel Museum so I could check out their gift shop. My previous visit, I arrived so late that by the time I was done looking at the exhibits in the museum, they had closed the gift shop. The lady who ran the shop highly recommended so I made a mental note to come back and check it out.

Like the museum, I found the gift shop to be small. They have some books on Laurel as well as Maryland for sale. They also had some children's books that explained various things like how a mill worked and who the miller was. There were also some fancy mustards produced possibly by one of the members of the historical society. It was a decent enough offering considering the size of the museum.

Another reason to visit the gift shop was you got to see what the kitchen areas would've looked like for those who lived in the house. They also have a 20 minute video you can watch that can tell you more about them and possibly about the house. The volunteers who ran the gift shop were very helpful and one was very knowledgeable about Laurel.

Overall, I found the gift shop to be all right. Like the museum, it is very small. Another problem the museum has is its location. Barring a visitor taking Interstate-95, it isn't easy to get to. Parking is also a problem during the summer as you have to compete with swimmers for spots on the street. Lastly, the volunteers are a blessing and a curse for the museum. They are a blessing in that they are very enthusiastic about the museum and Laurel. I found them to be very informative. They are a curse in that they limit the hours the museum can be open. The museum is only open 3 days a week and never more than 4 hours at a time. This can make it difficult to visit the museum. If you happen to be in Laurel on a day the museum is open, it would be worth a short stop but, I wouldn't make any special trips to see this museum. For all the hassles, it isn't worth it.

Beer Review

I continue to try different beers and ales from Corridor Wine Store on MD-198 (see earlier blog on that store). The latest I tried was Lord Chesterfield Ale. It's made by the Yuengling Brewery at its plants in Pottsville, PA and Tampa, FL. I thought the name Yuengling was Chinese but, it isn't. It's actually German. The brewery founder David G. Yuengling emigrated from Aldingen, Germany and founded the brewery in 1829 (Source: http://yuengling.com/faq.htm). The Yuengling Brewery is the oldest in the U.S.

Lord Chesterfield Ale sells for $5.49 for 6 12-ounce bottles at Corridor Wine Store. I found the ale itself to be a bit bitter and harsh. However, it doesn't have a strong alcoholic taste. I was surprised to find out it was rated at 5.4%. It is the most potent of all Yuengling products.

Overall, I wasn't terribly impressed with this ale. Price wise, it is very affordable. Per the Yuengling website, Lord Chesterfield Ale is currently only available on the east coast except for Alabama (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina & Alabama). However, the brewery is expanding their markets and it may become available in time in your area if you don't live in one the areas they currently distribute to.

Sven

I visited a person I knew at Medieval Times today. Herb, also known as Sven, was the chief castle guard at the Baltimore/Washington Medieval Times that I used to work at. After I gave notice and left the castle, I didn't have any contact with anyone from the castle nor have I visited the castle since. I tried to contact Herb because I ordered a chainmail shirt which I latered cancelled. Since I was leaving the castle, what did I need a shirt of chainmail for? I asked for a refund and Sven promised to give me my money back. Unfortunately, I didn't get my money back before I left and, I didn't feel like calling him as I was leery of having any contact with anyone from the castle. I sent Sven a postcard reminding him of the refund I was owed and, I didn't hear anything from him. I assumed my money was gone. It was a great surprise when I heard from Sven yesterday. He had my money and, he wanted to give it to me. He suggested I come over the next day. I said "Sure!"

Sven lives in the Northeast part of Baltimore County. I'd never visited that part of Maryland so it was interesting to drive out there. I found Sven and his wife live in a small home there in a pleasant enough neighborhood. When Sven contacted me, I was stunned to find out he'd left Medieval Times. Sven had been there since they opened the Baltimore castle. He is extremely knowledgeable about the Medieval age. He is fantastic around kids and he did an awesome job of working one of the spotlights. I couldn't imagine the castle without him. They have lost someone priceless and who was very devoted to the castle.

We chatted about the castle. I found out Randy, the person in charge of the actors at the castle, was found to have a benign tumor the size of a football. After the operation, he started taking therapy which continues to this day. I hope its successful. I also found out that the new storyline should be out in November. I'm curious about the new show and, I'd be willing to go back to the castle to see it. I found out that Corwyn, who became the new chancellor, is doing an awesome job. I was delighted to hear it as Corwyn paid some serious dues at the castle. He worked there for 3 years in security before finally getting his shot at chancellor. He is also a super person and is a case where a good person came out on top.

Sven showed me his weapon collection and some of the weapons he was making. He told me of his re-enactor days when he was Duke of a re-enactor Duchy. It sounded seriously cool. Sadly, a real life schemer became Chancellor and ultimately dethroned Sven and became Duke. I hope one day Sven and his wife can start a new group as I'm sure it would be an awesome and fun group.

Sven also mentioned his movie career. One day, you may get to see him on the silver screen. He has been auditioning for various parts. I hope he gets one as it would be cool to see him in the movies providing it isn't a horror flick. If it is a horror flick, I will congratulate him on getting the part but, I'll pass on the movie. Sometimes, I have too good a memory. When I watch a horror flick, the images stay with me a LONG time. If I want to sleep well, it behooves me to stay away from horror flicks.

It is amazing how time flies when you're having a good time. I arrived at Sven's house around 1 p.m. In no time, I found it to be past 7 p.m. It was time to head back. I'd enjoyed hearing the stories of Sven's family and their various adventures. They've done some incredible things and, they're not done yet. He and his wife have a great zest for life. I look forward to visiting again, hearing more of their adventures and finding out about some cool part he'll win in some movie.

Music Review

On November 22, 1977, John Denver recorded the album John Denver - Live at the Sydney Opera House. It was originally intended purely for Australian audiences. Later, it was released in the U.S. with a few changes. In the U.S. version, the album producers included the songs Today, Calypso and Me and My Uncle. The album showcases why Denver was a favorite in concert. Easygoing and appreciative of his fans, he encouraged them to sit back and join in on any songs they felt like joining in on. Combine this with some great songs like Rocky Mountain High, Today, Annie's Song and his signature songs Thank God I'm a Country Boy and Take Me Home, Country Roads and his fans were assured of a magical night.

The album has a superb set of songs. It starts off strong with Rocky Mountain High and keeps a pleasant tempo throughout. For U.S. fans, there is one song that may throw them. For his Australian audience, Denver performed Moreton Bay which tells of the terrible treatment of an Irish convict banished to Australia. Early in its history, Australia was used a dumping ground for convicts by Mother England (as the U.S. was until the American colonists complained). The album also features It's A Sin To Tell A Lie which apparently was a favorite of Denver's mother. Denver tells of when he first performed the song for mother at Carnegie Hall as she and his Dad sat in the audience. For me, Take Me Home, Country Roads was an early Denver favorite. My Grandmother Wilkes lived in a trailer in the backwoods of Bowling Green, Indiana. It was thoroughly country. I remember visiting my Grandmother, hunting for crayfish in a stream nearby, nearly jumping out of my shoes one time when I saw a large black snake in another creek I was exploring as well as fishing for catfish in a lake about a mile away. The song resonated with my memories of the visits to my Grandmother.

Overall, the album is excellent and a pleasure to listen to. It makes me wish I could've seen Denver in concert. Sadly, I never did. If you would like to experience what John Denver was like Live as well as relax to some of his best songs, this would be an album for you.

Laurel Museum

Today, I visited the Laurel Museum in Laurel, Maryland. I've been wanting to visit it for a while. It's one the main attractions of sorts in Laurel. The museum is located on 817 Main Street, just across from one of the city pools and nearly at the end of Main Street. It's housed in a house that was built for mill workers. Where the swimming pool is located, a cotton mill was operated that made cotton cloth for Clipper ships built in Baltimore and Conestoga wagons. The first floor of the house holds the various exhibits. The museum has a hodge-podge collection of articles. They run from a 12-pound steel cannon ball from the Civil War era to a gown worn by Mamie Eisenhower, wife of President Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower is the only U.S. President to have ever lived in Laurel. He and his wife lived there for a short time while he was stationed at Fort Meade. There are also old photographs of school classes as well as businesses from days gone by. The museum has a nice little collection. To take in the whole museum which isn't that big, it should only take 20 minutes at most. Admission is free.

There are some problems with the museum. First, the only parking available is on Main Street. The swimming pool makes the parking situation worse as visitors would have to compete with swimmers during the summer months. Conversely, I suspect visitors could use the swimming pool parking lot when it's closed during the fall, winter and spring. The second problem is that the museum is only open 3 days a week. It opens on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lastly, the museum isn't in a location easy to get to. The quickest and easiest way to the museum would be to take Interstate-95 to the MD-216 exit for Laurel. You would turn right at Main Street and go nearly to the end of the street. The museum is located on the right and has a sign in front. The museum's website can be found at http://www.laurelhistory.org/museum.html. The museum is run by volunteers from the Laurel Historical Society.

Additional Note: One additional plus for visiting the museum is the chance to take a quiet stroll in the Riverfront Park. A sidewalk leads from the museum to the park where one can walk among numerous shade trees and view the Patuxent River. The park has 1.5 miles of paved hiker/biker paths. It has 3 small picnic pavilions for rent. When not rented, the pavilions are available on a first come first served basis. For further information on the park, check the following website: http://www.laurel.md.us/prfac.htm#Riverfront.

Update

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July. Mine was terribly uneventful. I used it to catch up on some things like laundry and grocery shopping. I made a trip to the credit union so I could deposit my paychecks and my retirement check. I had nice conversations with Harvey and my Dad. I found out from Harvey that he paid off the Scandanavia trip. Now, both of us get to wait for our documents from Globus. The documents are the official notification from Globus that were going. I don't remember if there is anything in them we have to give to our guide when we reach Copenhagen. There will also be a couple luggage tags that we're suppose to put on our luggage. Lastly, they'll contain information on optional tours we can take while we're on our tour. An example would be a trip to the Wasa Museum in Stockholm. The Wasa Museum is a museum the Swedes built to hold the Swedish warship Wasa which sank on its maiden voyage. It was top heavy and capsized. Thanks to it sinking in lots of mud and the cold waters of the Baltic, it was superbly preserved. In the 60's, the Swedes raised the ship and a museum was built for it. It is the only surviving 17th century warship in existence (I think). I plan to sign up for that trip. Another optional tour is one where you can see Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-tiki and Ra ships. Heyerdahl was a famous adventurer who proved via the Kon-tiki that it was possible that people in South America could have had contact with the Polynesians. A documentary film was made of Heyerdahl's Kon-tiki voyage which won an Academy award. I think it would be interesting to see the ships.

I found out from my Dad that my sister Ellie will be flying home for a visit in a couple days. I hope she has a nice time.

For me, the rest of the week, I'll be working at the Post Office. The primary carrier for rural route 10 took the entire week off so she could go to Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. She was really excited about it. I had mixed feelings . I was pleased to get 40 plus hours i.e. a very sweet paycheck but, I hate doing her route. Recently, we received three more new substitute rural carriers and my supervisor had to find work for them. He decided to take rural route 7 from me so he could give it to one of the newbies. I wish he'd taken rural route 10. I like 7 because it has a nice mounted part. 10 is all multi-boxes. Also 10 has a lot of people that move in and out which means you end up taking a lot of mail back to the Post Office where you try to forward it on (depends on if they put in a forwarding order). It promises to be a hard week.

That's all that is happening at my end. This coming Sunday, I hope to visit the Laurel Museum. It's a small museum run by the Laurel Historical Society. I'm curious to see if it's any good. I plan to write up a review on it for tripadvisor.com. I'll let you know what I thought of it. Cheers!

Caribbean Cruise

I paid off my future Caribbean cruise sort of. By that, I mean I made the last payment on the cruise via charge card but, I still have to pay the charge card bill. Also, Harvey and I have to decide on a hotel in the San Juan area where we'll stay one night so we can do a tour of San Juan before the cruise starts. Joel Mills, the travel agent we use is trying to find out what hotel would be best for the tour and the cruise. Once he knows that, he'll advise what to do.

Concerning my cabin on the ship, my step-mom/mom Kay got me to check into if I was getting the best deal cabin wise. Right now, I have a reservation for a Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom which has 173 square feet of space. The next cabin up would be a Junior Suite which has 280 square feet of space. The cost to upgrade would be a whopping $1,500! All I would get for that money is the roomier cabin. There wouldn't be any better food or other perks. When I learned that from Joel, I told him I'd stay with the cabin I have. It's on the 8th deck, seven decks down from the top of the ship but, it is the 3rd highest deck as far as cabins go. The passenger decks are deck 2 to deck 10.

The ship itself "Adventure of the Seas" must be huge. It can accomodate 3,114 passengers. It has 4 swimming pools, a rock climbing wall, an in-line skating track, an ice skating rink, a 9-hole miniature golf course and a full-size basketball court. It also has a spa and casino. It weighs an inconceivable 138,000 tons! It sounds like it's a floating town. I wonder how long it takes them to get everyone on board. I'll find out next year. Cheers all!

Humidity

One of the bad things about Maryland summers is the humidity. While the humidity isn't as bad as it is in Northwest Florida (I remember my glasses fogging up every time I walked outside), it still saps you when your outdoors. I feel certain it causes you to sweat more which is annoying. Yesterday was particularly bad. I was working at the Post Office and I could feel the humidity in the air as I cased my mail. It got worse when I hit the street to deliver my mail. The only good I could say about it was it sure did make you appreciate air conditioning. When I finished delivering my mail, I returned to the Post Office to turn in my undeliverable accountables (the people weren't home), packages I couldn't deliver (the people weren't home) and undeliverable mail (the people had moved). When I walked into the Post Office, the air conditioning hit me and boy did it feel GOOD! Sadly, the humid summers here last into August. So, I'll get to sweat and suffer for a good while. :-(

Crabs

One of the food specialties you'll find in Maryland are crabs. During crab season, a number of restaurants offer all you can eat deals. One such restaurant is Captain Jerry's Crab House in Laurel, Maryland. The last time I ate crabs was at the SHARE warehouse in Bladensburg, Maryland. I found it really neat though very messy. I've been wanting to eat crabs again and today, I decided to find a place. To my surprise, I found out there was a restaurant in Laurel called Captain Jerry's Restaurant (http://www.captainjerryscrabs.com/door/). I called and I found out their basic all you can eat crabs was $25.95. For $37.95 (I think), you're guaranteed to get only medium-sized crabs. Considering what crabs cost, it isn't a bad deal. You also get hush puppies and french fries. All you can drink sodas are $2. I managed to eat 2 platters of crabs which I thought was a respectable effort. It took me over 3 hours to do that.

Overall, I was very pleased with Captain Jerry's. I'd definitely recommend them. The service was very good and the place was clean. Parking was plentiful. I definitely plan to eat there again. If you're in the Laurel area and want a nice restaurant that offers all you can eat crabs, you might want to give them a try. Cheers!

Montpelier Mansion

Without a doubt, one of the surprise jewels in Laurel, Maryland is the Montpelier Mansion. The mansion was built by Major Thomas Snowden in 1781 and likely completed in 1782. The mansion had a number of distinguished guests including George Washington and Abigail Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams. The mansion is located just off of Maryland 197 and Muirkirk Road. Visitors can do a self-guided tour of the mansion for $3. The mansion has a number of rooms set up to what they would've looked like in the early 1800's. The mansion is situated in 70 acres of land. The greens around the mansion would be excellent for a picnic though I wouldn't do one right now with the summer heat and humidity.

The mansion has a gift shop in its carriage house. The gift shop is called The Little Teapot http://www.the-little-teapot.com/. The gift shop has the typical tourist t-shirts as well as an outstandting selection of loose teas (over 50) and tea sets. This shop may be the finest tea shop in Laurel and in the local area. It offers afternoon teas in the mansion on select Fridays. Reservations are mandatory. For information on future tea dates or to make reservations, you need to call 301-498-8486.

The mansion holds various special events during the year. One particulary noteworthy one will be hold on July 7th, 2007 from 10 a.m. till noon. Visitors will get to see what life was like for a Revolutionary War soldier. Admission for this event is $10. For further information on the mansion and other upcoming events at the mansion, check their website at
http://www.pgparks.com/places/eleganthistoric/montpelier_visitor.html.

Teeth Report

Yesterday, I saw Dr. Ronnie Jones, the Periodontist who was treating my case of periodontal (gum) disease. The visit was to check on how my gums were recovering. Once I had my teeth descaled, I had to use Listerine regularly, brush and especially floss. Listerine is important because it kills the germs that can cause gum infection. Flossing is very important because there are a lot of areas around the teeth a tooth brush doesn't hit. If you doubt, take one of those tablets sometime that shows you all the areas that has build-up on them. You'll be shocked.

Anyway, the visit went well. Dr. Jones measured how much space there was between my gums and teeth. The more space there is, the greater the chance of the teeth shifting or eventually coming out. Thanks to the descaling and my consistent efforts, my gums had improved enormously. The spaces between the teeth and gums and decreased markedly. This is good because you want the gums to be snug around your teeth. If they're snug, your teeth won't move. Also, it means that there isn't any infection below the gums which could cause teeth loss or cavities. I was pleased about the news though I kick myself for letting it get as bad as it did. It was an expensive mistake. It ended costing me over $400 though it would've cost over $1,300 if it weren't for the Delta Dental of California plan I received from the Air Force. Many thanks to the Air Force for helping taking care of me after I retired.

Middle East

David Horowitz has put together an outstanding presentation explaining what the situation really is in the Middle East. We often hear that all the Palestinians want is their own state and that Israel stole their land. Horowitz shows that the issue isn't about Palestinian statehood (the Palestinians were offered their own state in 1948 and 2000 and both times they turned to violence instead of accepting the terms) or Israel stealing their land (there wasn't a Palestinian state to steal the land from), it is about driving the Jews into the sea and completely out of the Middle East. Horowitz shows that Israel has much right to exist as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon or Syria. When it comes to who has lived there longer, the Jews have lived in this region for over 3,000 years. The Arabs who claim all the land in this region didn't arrive until the 7th century during the Islamic expansion. In my opinion, the presentation also shows why there is little chance of peace between the Jews and the Palestinians. There is too much hate among the Palestinians and they won't give up their quest to drive the Jews out. Until they give up their hate and accept Israel's right to exist, there won't be any chance of peace in that troubled land. The presentation can be found at http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/. The presentation file is large and it may take you a few tries to download the whole thing. I know it did in my case.

Heat

Yesterday, summer hit Maryland with a vengeance. The high was supposed to be in the 90's and it felt like it. One of the bad things about working as a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office is you have to work in all kinds of weather including high heat. Because of the heat, it was a real trial delivering the mail yesterday. I hate being sweaty. Unlike the cold where I can put on an extra jacket, with the heat, there is nothing you can do but suffer through it while you're delivering your mail. The heat can also make me irritable. I had to do my best not to get frustrated. Today is supposed to be more of the same but, I wasn't scheduled to work today and I don't plan to help out on the city side. I plan to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid it. Hopefully, it'll get cooler soon. We'll see.

New Line's Greed Strikes Again

New Line Films, the folks who produced the Lord of the Rings films, has struck again. A number of lesser known actors and actresses who had minor roles in the Lord of the Rings movies are suing them over royalty issues. It seems that New Line has made a good bit of money on lunch boxes, posters, toys, etc. but claims that after all the various charges are made, they don't owe the actors and actresses anything. In one case, New Line reportedly took in over $9,000,000 from the marketing of the Gil-Galad character alone but, after all the various charges were taken out, it supposedly posted a $400,000 loss! Something doesn't sound right here. Plus, with the way they've treated Peter Jackson, New Line is showing itself to be one of the greediest film companies out there. I definitely don't plan to see any of their movies. Also, I hope they lose the film rights to The Hobbit. If they do, and Jackson finally makes the film, they'll have mud on their face for their greed as the film will be a monster hit. Bob Shaye, the CEO of New Line, has shown himself to be a conceited jerk. Best of luck to the actors and actresses in their lawsuit with New Line.

Source of information: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10443373&ref=emailfriend

Music Review

When BMG had a special where you buy one CD at regular price and get 4 free, I looked for music I'd never listened to. One artist I decided to try was David Arkenstone. His music is new age and is put out by Narada. The CD I ordered was The Best of David Arkenstone. It turned out to be a very nice CD. Arkenstone creates various acoustic pieces of beautiful music. Some have nice beats like Under The Canopy while others sound use bells a lot as with his Night Wind. Some, I don't understand how the music ties into the title of the sound such as the song Temple of Vaal. Still, the music is beautiful and easy to listen to. I felt the CD finished strongly with the piece The Southern Cross (not anything like the Crosby, Stills and Nash hit).

Overall, if you like New Age music, I think you'd like The Best of David Arkenstone. It's a very nicely done CD. It is great music to sit back and relax to (to my embarrassment, I fell asleep 3 times while listening to this CD so I had to listen to it repeatedly so I could give a proper review on it). My only complaint with the CD is I wish he'd included more music on it. The entire CD lasts just 49 minutes 18 seconds which seems short compared to other CDs. Price wise, I believe it would cost $18.98 plus shipping and handling through BMG. You may be able to find it cheaper if you shop around. Cheers!

Recycling Depot

I did my quarterly trip to the Glen Burnie, Maryland recycling depot today. It's my bit for the environment. I took a load of cardboard, paper, cans, jars and plastic bottles and jugs to the depot. I had enough to fill up the trunk of my car and the back seat. I wish I could drop the stuff off here in Laurel but because of the trash collection rules, I have to drive to the depot in Glen Burnie. I think it's a little messed up. Anyway, it was nice to do my bit for the environment.

Discount Shoe Warehouse

I got an incredible deal yesterday at Discount Show Warehouse (DSW). I'd earned a $10 off my next purchase certificate from them through their shopper's reward program. The certificate was going to expire on the 10th. After procrastinating for a couple weeks, I finally got myself to their Columbia, Maryland store. I looked at their selection and tried to think of something I actually needed shoe wise. I'm not a shoe-aholic and really didn't need any new shoes. One thing I knew I could use was a pair of water-proof boots for when it rains. When I'm delivering mail, I'm outside a lot and I can get soaked if it really pours.

I decided to check out DSW's clearance section. They were offering double reward points for any purchases in that section. I found a pair of water-proof boots but, I wasn't sure they'd fit. To my delight, they did. The boots were on clearance but, I wasn't sure how much was going to be taken off their $40 price tag. It turned out, they were priced 80% off! That dropped the price to under $10. With my certificate, I ended paying just 1 penny for my boots. I was delighted. So, that is how I got a great deal yesterday at DSW.

Secret Shopper

I notified ICCDS that I didn't want to do any more secret shopper assignments. I felt that it was too much hassle for too little money. Before doing a secret shop at a Weis supermarket, I'd have to check out the ad for that particular store and figure out what I was going to buy. I'd also have to think of at least one question for each of the six departments. Depending on what store I inspected, it could take from 10 to 30 minutes to reach the store. Then, I had to spend a minimum of 35 minutes in the store itself. Once I'd finished my shop, I had to do a survey telling the good and bad things I'd found. Once the survey was complete, I had to file my assignment voucher. I ended spending some where between 2 and 1/2 and 3 hours for $10 plus up to $5 for whatever I bought a the store. It just wasn't worth it. Still, ICCDS was nice about it. If I decide I want to start doing shops again, all I have to do is email them my field representative number and I can start doing it again. Kudos to them for being so nice about it. If you like doing secret shopping, you should give ICCDS a try.