Inside The Stave Church, Bergen Norway

Medial wooden churches in Scandinavia.

All wood made like a ship of the age.

 

 

The Normandy Beaches, France

After sailing down the Seine, we took a small antique military vehicle to the beaches at Normandy. It was quiet during the ride. Each of us knew what was up ahead. It was a gray day and we were all gray inside.

While we toured the various cemeteries laying a wreath at the American one, we came to the beach. Those of us that had seen "The Lonest Day" or "Saving Private Ryan" were taken by the silence. Those movies full of noise as it must have been that day, were drawn toward introspection. The beach was bathed in stillness...

 

Waterfall amongst the fjords

 

Many of the the fjords are long and narrow. They are impossible for large cruise ships. The photo shows a sister ship to ours 

along side a common sight of a waterfall.

Uninhabited lighthouse in fjord, Arctic Circle, Norway

There are hundreds of lighthouses and signal lights

all along the path.

There to guide the ships and boats, the only connection for some.

 

The Spanish Windmills

I often say that the surprises are the best events from any trip. We went to the major cities in Spain and when done we rented a car in Madrid. Away we went on a circle of the country seeing the sites (sights). Almost done, the navigator was reading Lonely Planet and looked off to the west and saw something of interest. We had an encounter for lunch with people who spoke no English and we having spoken little Spanish and then it was up the hill to these windmills. What a great visit looking over the Spanish valley.

 

Bergen Norway is a great visit - don't listen to those who say it always rains

View of the famous shops of Bergen. They seem to pride themselves on the amount of rain they get. When we were there it rained one out of five days and it did not rain much. Do take an umbrella.

 

Tail camera: SAS A350 from SFO to BGO - lots of numbers and letters

I have taken planes of all sizes for the last 60 years. I do not relish the lines, the waiting, the possibility of a hijacking. I do like the fact that I can get to New York in five hours as opposed to five days by car.

I cannot remember all the airplanes like 707, 737, MD80, A380, DC10...

Yet, in recent years I have learn to enjoy two airplane types: A380 and A350:

In the early days I flew Pacific Southwest near and Jet Blue far. They were economy airlines and paid for by the church.

Today I fly Alaska several times a year and Air France overseas.

This last trip, however, I was booked on SAS. The photo above is a tail photo on the A350. While I like the two decked A380 it has been discontinued by most airlines and replaced with jumbos like A350. I like it. SAS does a good job with it.

Some note: I once flew coach because I was young and now fly business class.