Wertheim, Germany

February 11, 2020February 6, 2020 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

Our third day on the river docked us at Wertheim, Germany. What an AMAZING medieval village on a bend in the Main River. The larger cities in Germany (and much of Europe) saw a great deal of damage and rebuilding during and after the World Wars. Many of the villages and non-strategically located towns saw little to no damage and these towns are absolute gems. Wertheim fits this bill in some part.

Wertheim is located at the confluence of the Tauber and Main Rivers. It is in Bavaria, but folks here are “Franconians” – a cultural distinction they will happily tell you about! What we loved about Wertheim was the quaintness of this village. They did not have a Christmas Market, but the beauty of the town was enchanting and around every turn there was something magical.

Another fabulous feature of this gorgeous little town was the medieval fortification. First records show a fortification in this down between the 7th and 8th centuries and the castle proper grew out of this in the 12th and 13th centuries. We walked to and explored all throughout this amazing structure and stood in awe of the commanding view of the Main and the town itself. It was exactly what I was looking for on this cruise – castles!!!!

Here are some photos from Wertheim.

This is an example of the many half-timbered homes in Wertheim. These two are situated on the main village square.

The entrance to Burg Wertheim. This structure is only partially intact but is undergoing renovation efforts and it pen to the public for self guided walking tours for 2 Euros each. There is also a small cafe at the castle and an events room. The structure is amazing and the views…..priceless!!!

This the view of the Main River from the top of the tower of the castle. Absolutely stunning!!!

These half-timbered houses are just incredible!

Looking down into the town from the road UP to the Burg Wertheim.

The mighty Main from the Burg (castle)

The castle was absolutley amazing!!! How it was dug out of the hillside just boggles my mind – but it sure makes for great pictures!!

The ultimate medieval castle!

A defensive position “behind” the castle headed uphill.

Looking UP the tower!

Frankfurt, Germany

January 21, 2020January 10, 2020 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

Europeans have a wonderful commitment to their heritage. After so much of Germany was destroyed during WWII, many of the cities, towns and villages vowed to rebuild in the old style. They used photographs, paintings and what may have been remaining of architectural drawings to recreate their ancient buildings and streets. The effort to rebuild after such devastation would have been immense to begin with, but to reinvent medieval city centers that effectively embrace a thriving citizenry was herculean!

While in Frankfurt, we enjoyed a huge Christmas Market (with the lights on), Limed our way around (even getting stopped by the German police to make sure we weren’t drinking and scooting – we weren’t, by the way), visited the Frankfurt Zoo and got a real taste of the popularity of the German Christmas Markets!

Here are my favorite pictures!

Our first booth – classic!

The main “old” center square – beautifully decorated.

Christmas trees, anyone?

A gorgeous two story carousel!

The top of the main square.

Sycamore trees line the walk along the Rhine.

The Frankfurt Zoo was a lovely treat. It was quiet, well established and a fabulous example of an inner city zoo experience.

Yes, it is a cone of French fries with sauce on top…so American! hahahaha

The darker it got, the more magical it became.

I love the classic quality of the Christmas tree.

Eat, drink (but don’t drive) and be merry!

Strasbourg, France

January 9, 2020December 31, 2019 / Denise Smith / 2 Comments

I have to admit, I am a Francophile. I love France and all things French, so when we arrived at our second port of call, Strasbourg, I immediately felt at home! As this was our only port in France, I really soaked in the French culture, but also admired the unique marriage with German culture presented in Strasbourg. After all, in 1914 alone, the Alsace region of France changed nationalities eight times!

We enjoyed our Christmas Market touring and also became truly besotted with the charm and enchantment of Strasbourg. Some would say it is too German to be French, and too French to be German, but I think it is just right!

Here is my photo diary! I hope you enjoy it!!!

Many of the streets of Strasbourg are lined with beautiful sycamore trees. These nests are for storks!

The tram system in Strasbourg is pretty special! In many places, it runs on grass to help reduce noise and a couple of the trams have mower blades underneath to keep the grass neatly mowed! Cool!

How do you deliver packages to the medieval streets of Strasbourg?

The architecture!!!

Notre Dame Cathedral of Strasbourg

The decorations were beautiful and sometimes, a bit outrageous!

We were in Strasbourg during the day and did not get to see the lights, but I bet it was gorgeous!

Classic Europe

The old winding city streets were so charming!

Vin chaud? White or Red?

Even early in the day, the Christmas Markets were busy.

The rivers are the lifeline of Strasbourg.

Some new friends – swans everywhere!

I was in France – a banana and Nutella crepe was a MUST!!!

More bird friends outside my Juliette balcony on board.

Strasbourg river walk.

The happy tourists!

Amazing Alps

January 7, 2020December 24, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

When we travel, we love day tripping!!! We have day tripped our way around the French countryside, southern and northern Italy, Scotland, England and now, the Alps!

Day tripping allows for a GLIMPSE of a place. It is hard to “dive in” when you only have a short amount of time, but when we travel abroad especially, we want to see as much as we can, so the old American pastime is right up our alley!

This trip to Germany, Switzerland and France for our Christmas Market river cruise really lent itself well to a day trip. While staying in Basel pre-cruise, we took a day and headed to the Alps. We picked up our rental in Basel early morning, drove about an hour and 45 minutes to Interlaken, and decided to go a bit further, up to Grindewald (elevation 3,392 feet). There, we parked and bought the world’s most expensive train tickets (about $200 US per person – YIKES) for a 45 minute cog train ride up, up, up to our first train station, Kleine Scheidegg (elevation 6762 feet).

Grindelwald, Switzerland

Grindewald from the window of the train.

The cogs! The lifeline!

This teepee is at the Kleine Scheidegg station. I do not know why!

Time to change trains! And yes, it was snowing.

Here, we checked out the place, and boarded the Jungfrau train – another cog that brought us THROUGH the mountains to the highest train station in Europe (which happened to be IN the mountain) – Junfraujoch, elevation 11,333 feet!!

One of the small settlements on the way up to Jungfrau (young girl). Do you see the glaciers in the background? Amazing!!!

The train station in the mountain.

Outside the observatory. It was cold and windy!

In the ice castle IN the mountain!!!

We explored but it was snowed in – but we wouldn’t have changed that experience for anything! It was so cool!!!!!

After we got back down from Kleine Scheidegg, we drove to Lauterbrunnen, explored briefly at dusk, went to a pizza place (yeah, seriously) and then drove back to Basel. This was a fabulous day trip and we took SO many gorgeous pictures.

Here are the rest of our favorites!!!!

Looking back as we journey towards Klein Scheidegg.

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. We had spent much of the day in Grindelwald and climbing Jungfrau (by cog railway), then decided to take another small mountain pass at dusk and were treated to this delight!

This gorgeous waterfall is the first thing you see when you enter this valley. Absolutely stunning!

If a cemetery can be pretty, this one fits the bill.

Well, you have to have beer with pizza!

Any European road trip must include a stop at the Autogrill. The rest stations in Germany (just like Italy) did NOT disappoint – adorable trinkets, great food options, but expensive water – you should buy it in town at the local corner store – not here – oh, and if you need to use a bathroom – bring along a Euro!

My German isn’t that great, but the word for “exit” is kinda funny! And I feel like a 10 year old when I say it:)

Basel, Switzerland

December 31, 2019December 24, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

As with many flights to Europe from the east cost of the US, ours was an overnight affair. We departed Boston Friday evening, arrived in Munich, Germany mid morning Saturday, then flew to Basel, Switzerland – arriving early afternoon. We flew Lufthansa as it was the best price (paid to pick our seats and for stowed luggage) and while we were a bit cramped, we had a fine flight. Great in-flight entertainment and the service was just fine.

We arrived easily in Basel, picked up our luggage, and sought to navigate the public transportation to our hotel in the Old Town area. This was free (it seems that all hotels in Basel offer guests a “Basel Card” that gives them free access to public transportation – buses, trams and the like) and we are pretty adventurous, so we took on the challenge.

Public transportation is big in Europe – especially the cities where parking is at a premium – it is not unlike the US, but Europeans embrace this opportunity to take the bus, ride a bike or scooter, or walk. Finding our bus stop at the airport was easy, thanks to the clear and helpful directions from our hotel, and while we had to figure out the switching of bus lines once, it was easy and the bus literally dropped us off outside our hotel!

Our hotel was Hotel D and the location was fabulous! I paid $149.00 per night, which for Switzerland is a deal! Our room was small (typical for Europe) but very comfortable and quiet. The bathroom was great as well and we were very happy. Our hotel stay did NOT include breakfast, so we winged it each day and were very happy with that. Breakfast at Hotel D was continental style and cost 26SF (Swiss Francs) per person – um, no thanks! Have I told you yet that Switzerland is expensive!!!

Outside our hotel window….

Where do you keep your liquor cold?

Our first night we roamed, explored the walk along the Rhine, got my hubby set up with LIME (the best thing EVER), scooted and walked around a small portion of the Old City and enjoyed a most fabulous al fresco dinner (Europeans eat outside all year long….with those big propane heaters and a blanket – it was awesome!).

Warm goat cheese salad! Heaven!

White wine, beer and pumpkin soup!

LIMES! You download the app, scan your ride and off you go! We LOVE these!!! In Switzerland it was 1 SF to unlock it then .35cents per minute.

People….the sweets were AMAZING!

The next day, we got up and rented a car (about $100USD for the day) and drove to the Alps (about 1.45 hours away) and spent the day fulfilling a dream!!! That post will be coming up soon – it deserves its own!

The Rhine River at around 7:15am. Stunning!

We wrapped up Basel with a lot more walking around, getting breakfast and lunch from one of the many local corner stores (I HIGHLY recommend this because restaurants are SUPER expensive in Switzerland) and having a picnic lunch by the river. It was everything I wanted it to be!!!!

Look at the detail on the soffit of this roof!! Amazing!

Many European cities have free flowing fountains perfect for drinking! They are functional AND beautiful!

Gorgeous post structured home.

The “munster” in Basel.

Another gorgeous fountain.

(Free) public bathrooms! Gotta love the Swiss – they aren’t uptight about life!

Look closely at the AGE of these homes.

The detailing of this home is amazing.

Our stash from the corner store – about 20 Swiss Francs total!

Best bite in the city!

My Yearly Travels as seen through my Ornaments

December 24, 2019December 21, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

I used to find it really hard to choose a special keepsake from each of our trips. I loved so many cool “things”, but it just isn’t reasonable to get them all! So a while back, I decided to get an ornament from each of our trips.

Every year, when we put up our tree, it is a wonderful opportunity to remember our travels and stories as a family. It is something I treasure and our tree is really full of US.

Here are the ornaments I got this year.

Paris. January 2019

Disneyland Paris. January 2019

Symphony of the Seas. February 2019

February 2019

Disney World. February 2019

Tuscon Arizona. April 2019

Tombstone, Arizona. April 2019

Bearizona. April 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada. April 2019

O’hau, Hawai’i. October 2019.

Strasbourg, France. November 2019

Switzerland 2019

6 Things I learned in Hawai’i

November 26, 2019November 17, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

I loved so much about Hawai’i. Not the least of which was visiting my sister and nieces. But some things surprised me about Hawai’i and I wanted to share those thoughts with you! I loved visiting a state in the US that was so different and because of its distance from the mainland and/or its unique history, has maintained so much of its Polynesian heritage and held tight to the characteristics that make it so wonderfully distinctive.

Here is my list….

1. Everyone called me “Auntie”. I heard this a dozen times or more from Hawai’ians – as a sign of respect in their culture, a woman (I cringe to say “older”, but let’s face it, I AM older than those who called me Auntie) who is older is afforded this lovely term of endearment. I would imagine this is similar to women being called “ma’am”. Now, I am guessing with how foolish some people are, some women would be offended by this title – but clearly they do not understand the honor. An Auntie is a mother – but better! Someone who can nurture and love; direct and give advice. They are the favored adult as they offer much of what a parent does, without the harshness that should befall parents as they train their children. Being called Auntie was a treasure.

I am the Auntie of these two adorable princesses!! Here we are at the beach at Hickam AFB!

2. While I did see some stray kitties here and there, chickens roam the island at will! This was fun to see, as all the hens had chickies following them around this time of year! They were fun and adorable and we got to see a lot of Hay-Hays!

Hay-hay!!!!

3. I don’t believe there are any squirrels in Hawai’i – but they have the mongoose, which takes its place as they island scavenger.

I didn’t get an mongoose pictures, but here is Char with one of the resident kitties at Hanauma Beach.

Sable meets a kitty that lives at Kualoa Ranch

4. This makes sense but I hadn’t thought about it before in these terms – the cost of things in Hawai’I are really high. Of course, that is somewhat a reflection of the tourist economy, but it more so a reflection of the cost to import all these everyday goods to an island stuck literally in the middle of the Pacific!

I have some group space reserved on a Hawai’ian island cruise for June 2021 on Norwegian’s Pride of America. This is probably one of the more expensive cruises most people I know will take, but there is a good reason for that. This particular ship, Pride of America, is one of the only sea-going cruise ships registered in the US. That is really important to note because of regulations for vessels registered in the US – the crew MUST be Americans (who demand a higher wage, require health insurance, workers’ comp and so on and so forth) and the registration is much more expensive than the typical cruise ship registrations in the Bahamas (where most US market cruise ships are registered). Add to the US regulations for US registered vessels, and you have the high cost of goods needed to outfit such a cruise weekly – once these things are examined, it is easy to see why Hawai’i is so expensive. For the traveler considering either a Hawi’ian island cruise or a trip in general, you have to ask yourself is the cost worth the trip?

5. Black Sand Beaches are hard to find!!! This was one of my desires, but it just didn’t work out!!! This leaves something cool for me to seek out when I go back in 2021!

I’ll be searching for those black sand beaches when I go back….but clearly, there was nothing to complain about!!!!

6. All beaches in Hawai’i are public! This is so cool and neat to think about – even the fancy hotel BEACHES are public (not the pools and amenities) so you can go to Aulani on O’ahu and even if you are not staying at the resort, you can still swim in the cove that has so many neat tropical fish and snorkel there!

Hanauma Bay

Beach and cove at Aulani

I really enjoyed my trip tremendously and look forward to the next! I would love to hear about what YOU found interesting about your visit to Hawai’i! Explore the world, learn from your surroundings, and bring home the best souvenir available; a new perspective!

Dole

November 19, 2019November 17, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

One of the cool places we visited during our trip to Hawai’i was the Dole Plantation. The grounds of this beautiful farm were luscious, well manicured and a delight to enjoy for a few hours. There was a FABULOUS gift shop with all manner of hand-made, authentic Hawai’ian gifts as well as the “cheap” touristy baubles you may expect to find. And of course – there was DOLE WHIP!!!!!

At the Plantation, one can get lost in the “World’s Largest Maze” – this was gorgeous – and the maze was made out of hibiscus plants!! Also, you can tour the Dole Plantation botanical gardens (which we did not do in the interest of keeping the toddlers with us entertained) and you can also take a 22 minute train ride tour of the plantation. Char and I did the maze (again, no toddlers – we would probably still be searching for them) and we all did the train ride!

Such beautiful gardens….and Char and Sable make it even more beautiful!

This maze was gorgeous!!!

This lei gets around!!!

The beautiful red soil of inland O’ahu seems perfect for growing not only pineapples, but also sugar cane, bananas, veggies of all sorts and fruit! In fact, I am not sure what wouldn’t grow there!!! The train tour highlighted many of these plants and told the story of the Dole Plantation as well as the rich history of cultivation on the island. It was fun and informative!

This old machinery was pretty cool looking!

Banana groves

Check out that gorgeous soil!!!

Sable on the train wearing her fancy Hawai’ian gear!

Something else I noticed a lot of on the island as a whole and certainly at the Dole Plantation, was the initiative to use green energy – Dole has a small solar farm on the Plantation and I would guestimate that somewhere between 20-40% of the homes on the island also use solar energy. I mean – why wouldn’t you???? Every home in the military communities near where my sister lives have solar arrays and businesses do as well. I haven’t had a chance to research the incentives or company practices for solar, but I love seeing communities embrace the advantages of green energy!

Visiting the Dole Plantation was super fun day and a stop in O’ahu that I would certainly recommend for anyone! It was easy going, informative, entertaining and worth the money for the tours we took! I think when my family returns in 2021, we will definitely go back to the Dole Plantation!!!

Hanauma Bay

October 29, 2019October 30, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

As I ventured around the island of O’ahu, I could easily see how import the preservation initiative is there in Hawai’i. There is definitely a lot of development, but the afterthought of that development is on the minds of Hawai’ians and those who visit. The conservation effort and protection of the ‘aina, or land, is viewed as a matter of Hawai’ian kuleana (responsibility and privilege) and I wanted to highlight one of the efforts I saw on this short trip.

We visited the amazing Hanauma Bay State Park. This bay has a long, beautiful history that includes use by native fisherman to the recreation of kings. In the mid 1900s, this location gained fame as a fabulous snorkeling area due to its unique horseshoe bay shape and volcanic rock coral beds. This area is home to species of fish that are only found in this sweet little bay. By the early 1990s, efforts to “save” this bay from over exposure to humans and maintain the rarity of its ecosystem spurred a conservation effort whose results are seen today.

The snorkeling here is nothing short of amazing! I saw more species of fish here than I have anywhere else! And we even saw an octopus that was beyond amazing!!!! I tried to get a video, but my phone in a water-safe bag just didn’t do the trick as well as I would have liked!!!! Our video isn’t the best quality, but you can see the really awesome octopus we saw! Thanks to my videographer, Char!

One of the fabulous initiatives at the Hanauma Bay State Park is the request that those who enjoy the park’s gorgeous swimming area adhere to the upcoming Hawai’ian Reef Safe sunscreen law that will take effect January 1st, 2021. Hawai’i is the first state in the US to ban the sale of sunscreens containing the coral-harming chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate. With my own reef safe sunscreen in hand, I enjoyed the beautiful snorkeling in this gift from mother nature!!

There are so many ways we can help maintain the glories of this earth and still enjoy them. Using Reef Safe Sunscreen is an easy choice to make. Also, making sure we pack out what we pack in, we didn’t feed the fish (although I wanted to) and we did not step on or remove any coral from this reef. Here are a few more pictures from Hanauma Bay. I look forward to returning here with the rest of my family and enjoy once again the majesty of this gorgeous place!

Heaven on Horseback

October 16, 2019October 15, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

Today (Monday), was a very special day for us! Today, the “big girls” got to hang out! Char and my sister, Becky and I, got to spend most of the day together – we did some shopping for our Aulani trip and then headed across the island to take a dip and go for a horseback ride. It was a fabulous day!!!

We decided to stop for a swim before we took our ride and stopped at a beach at Kane’ohe Bay called Chinaman’s Hat (named for the distinctive basalt rock feature in the bay). We took a dip, got some great photos and Char climbed some trees!

Afterwards, we headed across the street to Kualoa Ranch for our 2 hour horseback ride. The Kualoa Ranch is UBER famous for the beautiful setting and stunning views! You would recognize this place as the setting for hundreds of small and big screen events – Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Lost, Tour of Duty, 50 First Dates, Godzilla, Hawai’i 5-0….and so many more!

I can’t even tell you how many pictures I took! And with geography like this, you can’t go wrong! I will share my favorites with you – but if you ever come to O’ahu, check out the Kualoa Ranch – they not only have horseback riding, zip lines, ATV tours, Jurassic tours on a cool bus and so much more, BUT this is a working cattle and horse ranch that has been in the same family for 8 generations. They are eco-friendly and on the National Register of Historic Places. A definite MUST SEE!!! When we come back here in 2021 we will absolutely come back to Kualoa Ranch! Oh, and if you’re curious – my horse’s name is Reckless (said to be named after a general and not his demeanor), Becky rode Hollywood and Char’s horse is named Mercury.

PS – the lighting in some of these photos is just stunning! All mother nature and camera phone – you can’t fake beauty like this!