Les Andelys and the River Seine

Today we pulled anchor and headed back towards Paris. The weather was cool and overcast, but mostly pleasant enough to sit on deck reading or just watching the countryside flow by. It was interesting watching the terrain change from flat and rolling farmlands, to chalky cliffs filled with caves and crevices...

A little after 1 pm, the boat docked at a place called Les Andelys, "Les" because it was actually two villages that had grown together. Overlooking them is one of the most dramatic sights anywhere along the Seine: Richard the Lionheart's Château Gaillard. Completed in 1198, it was constructed in a position of impregnable power, high above a sharp bend in the Seine, giving it a dominate view for miles in either direction and controlling any movement on the river at the frontier of the English king's domains.

We were allowed about 2-1/2 hours on dry land, and offered two choices of activities: one was a walk through the town and it's shopping district, and the other was a steep climb up the hill to see inside one of the most famous French Castles of the middle ages. Kurt, Kara and I chose the hike.

The castle lies at the end of a steep lane that led up from the town center, eventually turning to dirt road. While not a strenuous hike, it was rather steep, and caused the various members of our group, ages ranging from 16 to 70+, to slowly spread out as we wound our way up the narrow road. Upon reaching the castle proper, we were met with the partial remains of the outer casements, a closed off Castle Keep, and a spectacular view of miles of the winding Seine River.

Kurt, Kara and I climbed up and around the various portions of the accessible castle, seeing what remained, and trying to imagine what life would have been like living in this ancient structure "back in the day." Apparently it was completed just one year before the death of it's creator, and then was used by his son. Unfortunately the French decided to take back Normandy about that time, and the Castle was set siege to by Phillip II, and finally captured in 1204. By 1573, Château Gaillard was uninhabited and in a ruinous state, but it was still believed to posed a threat to the local population if it was repaired. Therefore, King Henry IV ordered the demolition of Château Gaillard in 1599. Some of the building material was reused by Capuchin monks who were granted permission to use the stone for maintaining their monasteries. It must have been incredibly taxing to pry these massive stones from the thick walls and cart them down the hill to whatever monestary they were working on.

In 1611, the demolition of Château Gaillard came to an end. The site was left as a ruin, and in 1862 was classified as a Monument historique.

After a few pictures and a tour of the Keep's moat, we headed back down the hill to try and tour the little town before we had to set sail again. The town of Les Andelys was built about the same time as the castle, so is rich in history and interesting buildings. They even have a miniature version of the Notre Dame Cathedral, complete with flying buttresses. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but apparently the stained glass windows are gorgeous. I met up with Laura and Jill, who had toured the town with Pat, Stew and Patti. They were totally enamored of the small village, it's quaint shops and clean streets. I'm fairly certain a number of souvenirs made their way onto the boat from our family's extensive tour of the town. We definitely do our best to help support the local economies!

At exactly 3 pm, the Captain pulled way from the river bank and continued our journey. Apparently there is a set schedule of times that the boat had meet to transit the six locks between Rouen and Paris. I was impressed that with 140+ passengers with untold number of personal agendas, we had no problem making any of our scheduled events, either coming or going. That says a lot about both the crew/staff and the passengers themselves.

One of the highlights of the afternoon cruise was passing the estate Field Marshall Irwin Rommel used as his headquarters during his tenure as Commander of the forces protecting the "Atlantic Wall," including the period of the D-Day landings. It is a huge place cut into a cliffside, and if our tour director was correct, had tunnels cut into the stone cliffs that led up to an ancient castle situated on the hill above it. Good place to take refuge from allied bombing attacks.

For dinner our waiter Joey, who has taken superb care of us all week long, arranged for us to have a large table together in celebration of Pat & Stew’s 50^th Anniversary. The main course was Beef Tenderloin in a Foie Gras sauce, which I never expected to be as wonderful as it was. Again, one more dish that literally melted in your mouth! We had brought along some decorations for some type of 50^th celebration, and the wait staff was kind enough to hang them up around the table, and bring out a cake with sparklers as desert was being served. It was a nice little moment to celebrate a true milestone.

After dinner we strolled the decks as we continued our trip along the river. The weather was gorgeous and made for a great end to a very relaxing day. Tomorrow we stop in Conflans, and visit Versailles.

Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc

This morning required an early get up as we had a 2-1/2 hour bus ride to the D-Day landing beaches. This was one of the parts of the trip I’d been looking forward to, and was not disappointed at all by the experience.

Our first stop was on Gold Beach, target site of the British forces for the invasion. Gold beach is more than 5 miles wide and includes the towns of La Rivière, Le Hamel and Arromanches. Arromanches became the location of the Mulberry harbour, the first man-made port erected under combat conditions. The invasion needed a port to bring in supplies on a huge scale, so the allies built concrete pontoons that were towed across the channel and sunk to form the port’s outer perimeter. Twenty of the original 115 pontoons still defy the waves and can be seen from shore. A small museum sits in the town center with access to the beach. We took lots of pictures and had lunch at a local restaurant, 6 Juin.

It seems everyone in town has hooked into the tourist business, which is fine with me. They keep the beaches well preserved and available to people from all nations who want to visit and understand just what happened here 66 years ago. The souvenir shops aren’t too gaudy, and the locals seem genuinely happy to have folks come and visit.

Our next stop was Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Omaha beach, also 5 miles in length, is overlooked by steep bluffs which rise to 150 feet and command the beaches. These naturally strong defensive positions had been skillfully fortified by the Germans with concrete gun emplacements, anti-tank guns and machine guns. Many of those defensive positions still exist, though civilization as grown up around a lot of it in the last several decades.

Our bus parked in the cemetery parking lot and we walked to the Memorial as a group. Our guide, Christof was extremely knowledgeable about D-Day, giving us tid-bits of information all through the trip to the cemetery. After an overview of the landing, using the memorial map as a visual aid, he took us out into the cemetery. It is unbelievably humbling to stand there and see 9,387 white crosses and Stars of David arrayed in perfect formation, row upon row. There was an solid blue sky above and a carpet of green grass below, as we wandered among the silent markers, quietly noting the names, dates and states of each of these brave souls. I found myself noticing things that I could relate to: graves of guys from Pennsylvania, boys from bomber squadrons (one of my former squadrons. the 668th, flew A-20 Havocs supporting D-Day) and parachute regiments. Most were from June 6^th and beyond, but I saw a couple from days before, probably Rangers or Pathfinders who had led the way for the invasion to follow. So many stories untold and lives cut short.

The visitors center was very nice. It wasn’t very big but very informative. They even had a computer system you could use to find the burial plot of people interned in the Cemetery. What I didn’t know was that their database covered ALL the American Military Cemeteries, located on foreign soil. Just on a whim, I typed in the name of my great uncle, Howard E. Robeson, who was killed while flying in North Africa in 1942. I had heard stories about him, but didn’t know any details. His name pulled up a listing that said he was killed on 19 December, 1942, and is buried in the North African American Military Cemetery, in Carthage, Tunisia. It even listed the unit he was assigned to at the time of his death, all information I didn’t know. My grandmother had given me his log book and wings when she died, but until this moment, they didn’t mean much more than a name from a family story. Being here on THIS hallowed ground brought him to life as real member of my family.

After too short a time, we hustled on the bus and drove down the road to a small sea-side village, arriving just as it started to rain a bit, giving us a more accurate feeling of true Normandy coastal weather in the summertime. Upon arriving, we had about 10 minutes to walk down to the beach, take some pictures and collect some actual sand from Omaha Beach. Luckily I had a plastic baggie with me, because the tour guides never mentioned that was going to be on the itinerary. I quickly scooped up a couple of handfuls and carried it back to the bus to share with some of the other members of our group.

After our little detour to the waterfront, we continued west a couple of kilometers to Pointe du Hoc, site of an epic D-Day battle where 225 Rangers scaled a 100’ cliff under a withering German counter-fire to disarm a battery of captured French 155mm guns, which overlooked both Omaha and Utah Beaches risking heavy casualties in the landing forces. Upon reaching the top of the cliffs, the Rangers found the gun batteries empty, the guns moved weeks before to safeguard them from the bombing attacks. Of the 225 Rangers who attacked the cliff, only 90 moved inland from the gun boxes.

The area around the gun defenses is littered with bomb craters, remnants of the allied bombing attempts to disable the huge guns from the air. There very few restrictions to visitor movement on Pointe du Hoc so kids were scrambling down and around both the craters and the busted bunkers and gun emplacements. There are a couple of elevated platforms close to the cliffs where you can see up and down the coast for literally 20-30 miles in both directions, so it is easy to see that danger this location posed for the allied invasion.

At the end of our hour on Pointe du Hoc, our day was basically done; save for the 2-1/2 hour bus ride back to the boat, arriving just in time for ANOTHER great dinner.

Tomorrow we start our journey back to Paris, with a stop in Les Andelys, site of Richard the Lionhearted's Chateau Gaillard, guardian of the Northern Seine.

When In Rouen…

Today we are in Rouen, the capital city of Normandie. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the eleventh century to the 15th century. It was also where Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431.

We sailed north from Vernon all morning, and pulled into Rouen, just after lunch, parking beneath a large bridge topped with a river-wide piece of modern art made of orange and tan 2 x 4s.

Our activity for the day consisted of a guided walking tour of the city including the famed Cathedral of Rouen, which sits just blocks from the river. Highlights of the city tour included seeing the old houses, narrow streets, and the burial grounds for victims of the Plague. The Cathedral was another breathtaking experience. The soaring towers and detailed stonework that adorned the exterior of the church is topped off by stone and iron steeples visible for miles in every direction, and made it the tallest structure in the world from 1876 to 1880.

Inside, the building is filled with huge stained-glass windows, many surviving since the middle ages including numerous bombings during WWII. One of the interesting things for me was stumbling across the sarcophagus containing the heart of Richard I (Richard the Lionhearted). Apparently, whenever he wasn’t on a Crusade, he spent most of his life in Rouen, ruling his vast kingdom of Normandy and England.

After her victory in Orleans, Joan of Arc was captured and handed over to the English. She ended up in Rouen, where she was eventually burned at the stake for wearing men’s clothing, definitely the worst punishment ever for bad fashion sense. There is now a modern church located on the site in the town square, dedicated to her as the patron saint of France.

The tour left us off in the middle of the town square, obviously providing the opportunity for shopping and sampling of the local fare. We stopped at a patisserie with a line much longer than any other in the neighborhood and stocked up on chocolate croissants. They were so good, they practically melted in your mouth!

The evening was spent with another wonderful dinner and lounging around the boat, relaxing before our big trip to the D-Day landing beaches in the morning. I think everyone is truly excited about that upcoming part of the trip.

I Went To A Garden Party...

We awoke this morning to the hum of engines and the sound of water rushing by… our first morning underway. It was a cool, misty morning, with cloudy skies, but a promised forecast of sunshine had us very hopeful for a great day touring Claude Monet’s home and gardens.

We docked at the small town of Vernon (don’t pronounce the last ‘n’) about 45 minutes north of Paris by train or 10 hours or so by cruise boat down the winding Seine River. Vernon is a city of 25,000 inhabitants, and was built in the 9th century by Rollon, the first Duke of Normandy. It’s a quaint bedroom suburb of Paris, full of winding cobblestone streets with many fun shops and cafés.

Our first event of the day was to board buses and drive the 6 km to the town of Giverny (Gee-ver-NAY), the home of Claude Monet, and a mecca for fans of Impressionist art. I don’t know much about art, but I do know that I like Impressionism because you don’t have to put in as much detail. A lot is left up to the imagination of the viewer. Kind of like the difference between reading a book and seeing the movie.

Monet’s home and gardens sit at the base of a small set of hills in a little village about half-way between Paris and the Atlantic coast. The streets of the small village are so small, coach buses have to park in a lot off the main road, but you have a nice walk through the narrow town streets past some cafés, gift shops, and several small museums of Impressionist art. It is set up as a tourist spot, and admittance costs about 6 Euros, which was covered by the Cruise.

The gardens were absolutely amazing. A large pond is surrounded by over-hanging willows, rushes, and trees hanging branches. A small path winds around the water, fed by a babbling brook, all painstakingly maintained by a hard-working staff that was busy pulling weeds and trimming trees and flowers the whole time we were there.

As we wound our way around the tiny lake, every vantage point offered another beautiful vista to photograph. If only there weren’t people lined up around the path, the pictures alone would be pieces of art worthy of museum display. No wonder Monet was inspired to paint such masterpieces!

After leaving the pond, we wandered through his gardens that fronted his house. Monet apparently planted long rows of flowers based on color combinations, and let them grow fairly naturally, with little regulation other than containment. Every few steps is an assault of vibrant color and textures. I’m not a flower person, but I couldn’t help myself from taking photo after photo of these amazing plants.

Finally, we were able to tour his house. It is a typical large country townhouse, reminding me a lot of the houses in the Italian village I lived in when my dad was stationed in Aviano, Italy, back in the ‘70s. Most of the rooms were fairly small and confined, but the kitchen and dining rooms, where people tend to spend their time, where huge! The kitchen was a brilliant blue with half-tile walls, and a huge stove and fireplace. The dining room was a bright yellow, with matching yellow cabinets, table and chairs. The yellow china cupboards were filled with blue dishes, which would surely provide a wonderful dining presentation. Definitely my favorite room of the house!

Our last stop was Monet’s workshop, a large single room barn structure that is now a gift shop. Large paintings covered each wall, along with picture of the artist in his hay-day. The roof was pretty much all glass, light being such and important part of an artist’s tool-bag, with movable shades available if needed. It looked like and artist’s paradise!

After lunch we had two options: one was a walk through the town of Vernon, and the other was water-color lessons by a local artist. Laura and the gang chose the walk, while I, and seven other bold souls chose the water-color lessons. It was an interesting experience: The instructor gave us paints and water and a few quick instructions on getting started (mostly where the horizon line was), and then cut us loose! An hour later we had our first impressionistic water-color… I’m not sure anyone but the artist can tell what it is, but again, that’s the beauty of Impressionism, right???

Dinner was a bit later this evening, so I took a stroll up through town to see what I had missed. I found Vernon to be a beautiful, vibrant place with lots of neat old homes, nice stores, old churches and lots and lots of café’s and bakeries. I wish more of the towns in the US were like this. Somewhere in the rush to suburbia, we’ve lost this feeling of closeness and community. Makes me glad we’ve chosen to stay in our little house in Zelienople, where we can walk to any place in town, know a lot of the people we meet along the way, and have a Main Street that is fairly busy and vibrant.

After dinner the girl who gave the water-color lessons gave a nice little presentation on the history of Impressionism, and showed off some of her works. It was nice background to everything we had seen and done today.

Tomorrow we move on down the river, and deeper into history, to Rouen - the capital of Normandy.

Paris Deux

Our trip includes one day in Paris, It’s hard to choose what to see or do with only one day available, but the tour company offered a morning bus ride around town with a guide to see all the important sights, and then an afternoon to ourselves. There are two optional excursions offered at an extra charge during the week; one is a guided trip to the Louvre in the afternoon at 69 Euros/ a head. Tempting, but we decided that if we did that, we’d miss out on seeing anything else of Paris ourselves.

So we loaded the 140 guests into 4 buses and set out about town with a VERY French guide who knew her way around the city just fine, but her English was hilarious to listen to. To me, she sounded like Katherine Hepburn trying out a French accent while describing the sights of Paris: a very halting, breathy delivery, with lots of corrections and emphasis on all the wrong syllables for English speech. Despite the fact we never knew quite where she was directing our attention too, it was quite entertaining to listen too.

The route they took to show us the town wound it’s way back and forth through the streets of Paris, doubling back on itself time and time again. Luckily I had studied a map of Paris several times, so I generally kept track of where we were. We stopped once for pictures at the H’ospital les Invalides, which had a gorgeous golden dome, and another time at the Luxembourg Gardens where we had the chance to stroll the grounds, stretch our legs and experience our first French pay toilette.

At least in the cities and towns, the French operate public restroom facilities and charge you to use them. The fee is something like .40, and they even employ someone to sit there and take your money! The problem is its usually a two-holer that is for co-ed use, and each stall has just room enough for one person. Basically it takes forever for any group of people to use the toilet in this country. Half the sight-seeing time of our stops is wasted standing in line. Now if they served wine and cheese while you stood there, I could see it as a good mode of operation…

At the end of the tour we were left off in the center of town and left to fend for ourselves. Since we were hungry, we found a small bar/café and sat down outside to order lunch. This where encountered my first rude jerk of a French waiter. I ordered (directly off the menu) a mixed ham and cheese baguette. Told that to the waiter, and even pointed to it on the menu. He came back with a baguette with a couple of slices of ham on it. I pointed out I wanted cheese with it, and he took it back, came back 10 min later with a baguette with just cheese. I tried to explain I really wanted a ham and cheese and he said, “Non!” Either ham or cheese! I was pissed, but what are you gonna do? I checked the menu and it said exactly what I ordered, but I’m here for the experience, so I guess can check off the stupid rude French waiter off my list. At least it was a cheap sandwich.

After lunch, we headed for the Cathedral of Nortre Dame on foot. It’s not too far from our café by the Louvre, but it is a bit of a hike on a warm day, which today was. It was spectacular! Amazing architecture and beautiful stained glass windows. You truly wonder who imagined such things, and who had the money and skill to make them come true! My favorite thing is the flying buttresses. You just don’t see that construction anywhere but on buildings dating back the this period in time, It was fairly crowded; mostly with tourists from Italy, Germany and Japan, (The Euro must be way down against the Yen because everywhere we go, the Japanese are there already.)

We probably killed an hour in Notre Dame and when we emerged, we decided to split up. Kurt, Stew, Patti and Pat headed back to the boat via taxi, and Laura, Kara, Jill and I wanted to see a bit more, headed down the river to the Louvre, if not to go in, at least to see the outside and enjoy the awesome weather.

We found our way there via some beautiful, busy Parisian streets hustling and bustling with the mid-afternoon traffic. I love how the Paris drivers act like they will run you down, but if you cross on a green “walk” sign, they WILL yield and wait until everyone is across, no matter how much in a hurry they are in; you just have to beat them to the crosswalk.

The middle of the courtyard encompassing the Louvre entrance was breath-taking. The Large glass pyramid with it’s smaller twins bracketed a couple of fountains. The Plaza was packed with people, most just lingering to take pictures and people watch in the afternoon sun. We certainly did our share, getting a couple of souvenir shots for the scrapbooks. Then we found we could go into the Louvre itself, without having to pay to go into the museum. The museum was about ten or twelve Euros apiece, and we decided we really wanted to spend more than just an hour or so if we were going to spend that kind of money. But the gift shops were open! Three professional shoppers and their bag carrier thought that was a great idea, so off we went, to claim some trinkets and mementos.

By the time we were done and had visited the Paris Apple Store (where Kara had her picture taken), it was getting close to dinner, so we headed back to the boat via the Tuileries Statue Gardens. We eventually caught a cab back to the boat and arrived about 30 minutes prior to another excellent five-course dinner.

Just about the time dessert was served, the ship’s engines rumbled to life and we slowly headed out onto the river and north to Vernon. Tomorrow: Monet and his gardens.

Lafayette, we are here!

The long wait is over at last! We arrived in Paris this morning after a long seven-hour flight, a 45 min wait at the airport, and another 30 minute drive to the boat. As bad as that felt at the time, things actually went pretty smoothly all along the way, and we are now comfortably on board the “Viking Spirit.”

We got to airport with plenty of time to spare, eased through ticketing and security, even finding the time to sign up for frequent flier miles for everyone in the family!

The plane took off on time, and the flight was pretty smooth all the way across, however, just as I feared, the seats were pretty cramped, and the guy on the aisle just had to read all night, so his lamp shown down on us the entire night, making sleep pretty much impossible. On the plus side, each seat had it’s own entertainment screen with videos on demand, so time passed pretty quickly. I know Kurt was in heaven getting to watch a couple of movies there was no way I’d be renting at home. I watched “Date Night,” which I thought was really funny.

We were met immediately by Viking personnel upon exit from the baggage area, and had a pleasant bus ride to the boat, arriving around 9:30 in the morning. We were so early that most of the passengers from the previous voyage were still waiting for their taxis.

Our boat is parked just down the road from the Eiffel tower, right along the Left Bank of the Seine - in fact you can see it from the deck of the boat. Our rooms weren’t available until 3 pm, so we stored our luggage with the crew, and took the kids for a walk-about to fight-off the creeping exhaustion and give us all something to do for a couple of hours. The weather was amazing: sunny, but not hot, with a tiny bit of breeze to keep us cool as we walked. Our trek took us about half an hour, but with the blue skies and interesting sites, we didn’t even notice the time.

The base of the tower is open and had lines formed at each of the four legs, people qued up waiting to get their turn to either ride the elevator or climb the stairs to the top of the tower. The typical souvenir vendors were spread out all around the monument hawking their wares: mostly various sized replicas of the Eiffel Tower which could be had for 1 to 3 Euros. We took a bunch of pictures and headed back to the boat, as lunch and the other part of our group, Patti, Stew, and Pat, were due in soon.

After lunch one of the event staff from the boat led a short walking tour of the local area near the boat. We visited a small bakery (one of thousands in the city), saw the local supermarket (Monoprix), and learned how the Paris subway system (Metro) works in case we want to use it during our stay.

Promptly at 3 p.m. our cruise director announced via the ship-wide PA that our room were ready. There are about 70 rooms on the boat arrayed on three decks. Each room holds two people, and obviously the higher you are, the better your room. Our rooms are on the first deck with our windows just above the water line. They are quite comfortable, but you do have to learn to move around in a coordinated fashion when both people are in the rooms. The beds fold up to provide some extra space during the day, though to be quite honest, I don’t think we’ll be spending much time in the rooms between breakfast and bedtime. There is a lounge/meeting area in the bow with large picture windows and a bar, and a large dining room which can seat all 140 people in the stern. The top of the boat has a large deck area with lawn chairs and beach umbrellas for lounging while we are in port or underway. All in all, very clean and comfortable accommodations with a very attentive staff.

After meeting up with the rest of the group and having a wonderful five-course dinner, Stew, Pat, Laura, and I walked over to a nearby island (reachable by a main road bridge right near our parking location), to watch the Eiffel Tower “sparkle” at 10:00. The sky had just darkened fully when at exactly 10 p.m, lights positioned all over the tower began to pulse and sparkle in a very impressive lightshow, which lasted a good 8 or 10 minutes. It wasn’t fireworks, but it was definitely the next best thing. It was a great cap to a long, but very exciting day for us.

Tomorrow: Touring the City of Lights!

Countdown to Paris!

The hours are counting down. Only 48 more to go until we're airborne, heading to France! It's been a pretty hectic week, and I'm sure it will just get busier as we get closer to our departure.

Things have been crazy all summer, but they really reached a fevered pitch Saturday afternoon when Laura drove her parents, Patti and April out to the airport. They are spending this week on another Viking River Cruise touring the Rhone River and enjoying the sights, tastes and fragrances of Provence. I think we are all jealous of their experiences, but excited for our own upcoming adventure, starting when we join the group Sunday morning for our cruise down the Seine.

Kara and Laura have been hard at work all summer. Laura ran two one-week summer camps up at Allegheny College, the last one ending only a week or so ago, so she's barely had any down time to do much more than wash clothes and pack a suitcase. Kara hasn't quite finished her first year at her job, so her days off are still pretty limited. She assures us she hasn't minded a bit saving up her vacation days in anticipation for the trip.

On Tuesday I started back to work after my 4 month deployment and subsequent 2 months of leave. Counting back I don't think I've had that much time off in one chunk since the summer after my Junior year in High School! It was almost too long when you have a job to go back to... you start to feel like the world is moving on without you and you are going to be REALLY far behind when you finally start back. It did feel a bit like that, but there are so many of us in the same boat, that I found am only a little behind... It was a bit surreal walking around the office trying to get into things, especially since I knew I would be leaving soon for another two weeks... eventually I just gave up!

Kurt has been at the Boy Scouts 100th Anniversary National Jamboree down at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia for the past 10 days. He got back late last night after an all day bus ride, dead tired, with no voice and a huge grin on his face. You spend months getting ready for these events and wonder if the cost, hassles and all the preparation are worth the effort. Then you see that ear-to-ear grin when they get off the bus, and you know it was. He's been talking non-stop, sharing stories of his activities, patch-trading, the "awesome!" Switchfoot concert at the Arena, and the guys he hung out with.

Jill has been down in Washington D.C. all summer working a summer intern program with the American Forestry Foundation. She's headed out with us to Paris, so in the midst of all the normal chaos, we needed to get her back home in time to unpack and repack for the trip. We were thinking Jill wouldn't get done until Friday afternoon, but things worked out, and she was released after lunch today (Thursday), so Laura drove down to Washington last night to be ready to bring her and her gear back home. They rolled in about 9 tonight, road-tired but happy to be heading to their own beds.

So, for the first time since May, everyone is home at the same time. Unfortunately there's not much time to enjoy that togetherness just yet: It's time to wash clothes, make our lists, pack suitcases, brief the dog sitters, and practice our french! The excitement is building for the start of our big adventure, and we can't wait to get going! The e-mails and blog posts from Patti, April and Pat & Stew have really whetted our appetites for our aventure européenne. Let's get this party started!

Vive la France !

The Best Paid Plans

If you want to visit Paris, the best time to go is during August when there aren't any French people there.

~ Kenneth Stilling

Only eight days till we head to Paris! It's that once in a lifetime trip we all dream about taking, only this one is becoming a reality!

My In-Laws, Pat and Stew, are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year, and they decided the thing they'd like to do more than anything is to take the family, as a group, someplace no one had ever been. That's a pretty tall order since there's been a lot of traveling in this family. Pat & Stew have been to Greece, Austria, Hungary, Ireland, Alaska and most of the interesting areas of the US, including Hawaii with Kurt. Patti and April spent last summer in Amsterdam and Brussels, and I think both have been to Germany. Kara went around the world, stopping in 10 different countries on her Semester at Sea trip in college, and Jill spent three weeks in China after her freshman year at Pitt. Laura took a day trip to London with me once, when I worked for US Airways, but that's about it for overseas travel. I've been a lot of places with my job, but rarely have I had the chance to actually sight-see for more than a day or so.

The spring was filled with numerous meetings where all sorts of ideas were tossed about (I was in Qatar, so I missed out on these epic brain-storming sessions): Ireland, Germany, the Caribbean, the Baltic Sea.... and when the dust settled, it was decided that we would venture forth on a Seine River cruise called Paris and the Heart of Normandy.

I've never been on a cruise before. I had seen the river cruise boats working up and down the Rhine River when I flew out of Germany in the 90's flying relief supplies into Sarajevo, and wondered what that was like, but didn't think that would ever work it's way into our family vacation plans. Pat and Stew took a similar cruise on the Danube a few years ago, loved it, and wanted to show us what a fun experience it is. I have to admit, the idea of moving all over a part of Europe and never having to change hotel rooms has a certain appeal!

The cruise itinerary is truly exciting:

• Day and a half in Paris (Louve?)
  
• Giverny & Vernon (Monet's garden)
  
• Rouen
• Normandy Beaches
• Les Andelys & Conflans
• Conflans & Paris (Palace of Versailles?)
• Paris

The plan is to fly out of Pittsburgh via Delta Airlines on 7 August, arriving to Paris on the morning of 8 August. I'm not so sure about 8 hours on a 757, but I've never been on one configured for international flight, so maybe it won't feel like the cattle car I've flown to Seattle on. Maybe. We'll see.

The cruise package is through Viking River Cruises, who seem to have set up quite an operation all over Europe and Asia. Pat and Stew graciously made all the arrangements for the Cruise itself, so the nitty-gritty details of transportation and lodging to and from the cruise was left to us. Laura and decided that since we were going all the way to Europe with all the kids, probably for the very last time, we should do a little something extra while we were there. Looking at the map and tossing out ideas for interesting things to do and see for the days we had left, we settled on a trip to London, another new experience for all of us.

Since we weren't confining our activities strictly to the cruise, we decided to get our own airline tickets to and from Paris (Delta flies non-stop from Pittsburgh to Paris, pretty much the only international flight out of Westrn PA), then see how much time we had left to fill in London. I scoured the Internet a couple of different days and finally found a pretty good fare through Kayak.com. It probably saved about $500.00, but then I gave it right back by arranging transportation from the airport to the cruise dock through Viking, so it was pretty much a wash. We probably could have taken taxis, but it will be a lot less hassle finding someone there waiting to pick us up, and who knows exactly where we're going, and already has a vehicle big enough to transport all five of us.

The 8 day cruise ends Sunday, August 15th, and our plane reservations home are for the 19th, so we have 3+ days available to us to see London. The next trick was figuring out how to get there and back. There are pretty much three choices:

1. Rent a car and ride the ferry across the English Channel then drive up to London (9+ hours, assuming you know what your doing/where you're going)
2. Take a bus either through the Chunnel or across on a ferry (9 hours)
3. Ride the Eurostar train through Chunnel (2-1/5 hours)

The price seems pretty steep at first blush, but the Eurostar Chunnel train ended up being our choice. Laura did the research, picked our times and seats, and made our reservations, all on-line! For five of us, two round-trip tickets are going to cost a bit more than $800. That's really not bad when you break it down, and we don't waste two whole days traveling. Plus (Wait! There's more!) - we get the experiences of the high speed train ride, the Chunnel, and views of the French and English countrysides!

Next: where to stay in London for just three nights. That seems like it would be easy, right? Especially when you start looking for rooms two months out. The problem is it's summer in London and apparently EVERYONE is looking for rooms to rent.

I contacted a travel agency, but they really didn't want to have anything to do with the process... a couple of hotel rooms just wasn't a money making proposition for them. So... I hit the internet again... looking at all the different sites, trying to gage location vs. pricing for 5 people. Obviously the closer in to downtown London the higher the prices. The question was, how far away was too far?

Everything seemed so expensive: I was faced with at LEAST two hotel rooms, maybe three, and the cheapest I could find was $200/night. Things were looking pretty bleak when I decided to see if there were vacation properties available... apartments big enough to sleep five people that might be close enough. Sure enough, I found several websites that offered vacation rentals, including HomeAway.com where I thought I found a winner titled, "Central and spacious - London Eye & Big Ben short Walk! SUMMER AVAILABILITY NOW!"

I contacted the owner who replied back that, yes he had availability for the dates I wanted, but oh, did I know there was a 5 night minimum? I looked all over the web page and couldn't find anything that said 5 night minimum. Oh well. But luck was on our side. I kept looking and suddenly, on the same site, stumbled across "Hip, chilled and bohemian mansion apartment, Central London nr Camden Town." Now that sounded interesting.... Upon further investigation, it turns out it's a complete two-bedroom apartment in a swanky tree-lined neighborhood about a mile north of downtown London, sleeps 5, is available for the three nights we need it, AND only costs 570 Pounds total! It even has a name: "Yobaba Lounge!" It looks art deco fun, and the owner has been terrific to deal with, so we are totally psyched to see if it's all it purports to be.

The final logistical item was finding a final night's stay in Paris, for the night we return from London, and prior to catching our flight home then next morning. That took another trolling through the web pages trying to find someplace that would accommodate 5 people in only two hotel rooms. Laura wanted to be somewhere in town to enjoy one last afternoon and evening among the sights and sounds of Paris, so the pressure was on. Finally I found a site called Booking.com that listed rooms with their no-kidding sleeping capacity. At the Best Western Empire Elysees, just a few blocks from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysées, I found two rooms, (one supposedly really sleeps three!) for less that 300 Euros. Not bad for Paris in August. I have some trepidation on this one (Best Western in Paris?), but it's one night, and the various ratings from other visitors say it's not a bad value for the money and location. If we can have a fun evening, get a good night's sleep and get to the airport the next morning, I'll be happy.

Now we just have to pack and figure out to do once we're there! Anyone have any suggestions? ;-)

Everyday Heroes!

An old Squadron Commander sent the following e-mail with notes from his wife's recent work with Red Cross flood relief in Tennessee. Reading through it, I am struck by how much it sounds like a military deployment, which isn't surprising when you think about it. People helping people - getting organized is the first step.

It is amazing to me all the people out there willing to take leave from their daily lives to help out when needed. Joan Bowden is just one of many American heroes that take up the gauntlet everyday in this great nation:

Here are Joan's notes from her Red Cross deployment to Tennessee. It's appropriate I send it tonight since this afternoon she got a call from Red Cross to open a shelter about 30 miles west in Fremont to take care of locals forced out of their homes by flooding. She's there now. She'll probably be there for about two days. Joe

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nashville update:

I left for Nashville on Sunday, May 9. I had about 36 hour notice. That is typical of a national disaster – if you are contacted and able to go you must be ready to leave within a 24-36 hour time period. Otherwise, someone else may take your slot.

When I arrived in Nashville, it was a week after the terrible flood. The flooding was caused by a slow moving storm that dumped around 17 inches of rain in a short period of time. That caused the river to overflow as well as the many streams in the area. It was considered a 1000 year flood. No one was prepared as initially there was just supposed to be about 2-3 inches of rain at the most.

I was fortunate enough to be traveling with another person from our chapter, an 81 year old man, a retired college professor who was very spry and sharp. He had been on a few nationals before, so he was very helpful to me. Upon arrival, we picked up a rental car (provided by the Red Cross) and went directly to headquarters, which was a vacated Dr’s office building loaned to the RC for this time. It was amazing – I felt like I was showing up for first day of enlistment in the service. I had to go to one place to sign in, another place to get my lodging, another to get a staff card (a credit card preloaded with $ for expenses). I then went to another floor to sign in with Client Casework (my job for this operation) and give them my info, fill out a couple of forms). Then, I went to the hotel to settle in. The next day was one of orientation and training.

The next day, Tuesday, was my first day in the field.

RE the motel: Each person is assigned to a hotel, some were nice ones like the Hyatt, some not so nice, such as the Days Inn, where I was. The Red Cross works with various hotels looking for the best rates. You must share a room with another RC volunteer. The RC cross keeps track of each room at each hotel and as someone leaves the operation, another person is assigned to the room. I was fortunate to have two very nice roommates. I was at 2 different hotels. It is suggested that you don’t unpack too much in case you are moved to another location, which I was. The key is to be FLEXIBLE.

Here’s a sample of my daily schedule: I woke up at 6 (showered either in the AM or at night), as I was sharing the room. Left the room by 6:45 am to carpool to the headquarters. Breakfast was served from 7:15 to 8 AM. My first meeting was held at 8 AM – for the entire staff. Between 8:15 and 8:30 AM was another meeting, for caseworkers (that’s the activity that I was assigned to). After that, I picked up all my necessary paperwork that I would need when meeting with clients. My “team” would then meet up and we’d head out to our neighborhood. At the 8:30 meeting, my supervisor was given “street sheets” which told which neighborhood we’d go to. We’d then go to that neighborhood and start knocking on doors and meeting with people. Unfortunately, many people were not home as their house was unlivable. We would then leave a note with a phone # on it for them to contact the Red Cross. When they did, we would go back and visit with them. Those that were in their neighborhood we would talk with and assist them with money for food, replacing bedding, and some clothes and shoes, and referrals to other agencies depending on their needs. RC helps with IMMEDIATE needs, not long term. FEMA helps with that. My day ended with a meeting at 6:30 pm each night. Then we were released. I’d then meet up with my carpool and then go get a bite to eat and then back to the hotel. So, many times I was eating around 8 or so at night. When I returned to my room, I’d visit with my roommate, sharing info on our day, then lights out, generally around 10:30 or 11 pm.

Carpooling: RC people would congregate in the hotel parking lot and get rides from one another.

Eventually, you rode with the same people to/from most of the time. If you missed your ride, you just hopped in with someone else going to the same place.

My team consisted of a supervisor, 3 caseworkers, a mental health person and a nurse. The nurse and mental health people had to rotate between teams, so we didn’t have them every day.

A few statistics:

• Approx 2000 people lost their homes state-wide.
• 37 shelters were opened statewide
• 2400 cases were opened (meaning that many families were assisted by the Red Cross)
• 63 ERVs were assisting in the area. An ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) is like an ambulance that has been revamped. Ervs drove around specific areas giving out hot meals (prepared by the Southern Baptist kitchens), snacks, water, and some cleaning supplies. The ERVs were brought in from RC chapters around the US.
• Total RC staff statewide: 3084 (approx)
• Meals served in the shelters: 148,915
• Clean up kits distributed: 20,377 I’m not sure what they contain.
• Comfort kits distributed: 10,845 A comfort kit is basically toiletries.
• Bulk items distributed: 329,021 (this could include buckets, brooms, gloves, masks, tarps, etc)

It was a great experience. I learned a lot, met some wonderful, dedicated people. When I met with clients they were so appreciative. Got a few hugs, saw a few tears. It was somewhat easier since it was more than a week since the flooding, so the initial shock was over. Now, they faced recovery. We always wore our vests, so people would stop us occasionally in parking lots, in restaurants, etc. thanking the Red Cross for coming and helping. Many were amazed that RC volunteers came from all over the country to help. On my day off (after almost 10 days in the field), I went to a plantation with my 81-year old “boyfriend”. When they found out we were with the Red Cross, we were given free admission. Some of the restaurants gave us discounts also.

This is probably a lot more information that you would be interested in, but it has helped me to remember some of what went on. And, I am sure, I have left out a lot of info.

To every thing there is a season

Well the last mission has finally come and gone. Sometimes it feels like the last four months have just whizzed by, and yet, looking back, it feels like our deportation back in the beginning of February was years ago!

Yesterday was my last mission for this deployment. Unfortunately I couldn't share it with my crew; due to scheduling issues, a staff Nav didn't feel up to the 1215 a.m. alert/4 am takeoff! While I can't say I blame him, it meant that I had to swap crews for the last flight. My mission was an out and back to Peshawar, up in the northern reaches of western Pakistan, someplace I've never been before, so it was a pretty easy sell.

The crew consisted of Shawn Donahey, Aircraft commander, Charlie Baker, freshly minted co-pilot, Rich Reynolds, Flight Engineer, and Loadmasters Jim Ferrebee and Rich Signorelli. I have flown with all these guys back at the home station, but this was my first ride with them as a hard crew. They've been working hard the past four months, and you could tell they have bonded pretty strongly.

Our flight took us down the Persian Gulf, over the United Arab Emerites, and to the eastern side of Pakistan through Karachi, then up to Lahore, and then back west to Peshawar. I couldn't for the life of me, figure out why we went all the way over to Karachi, but each of these countries have their little idiosyncrasies, so it's not unusual to do things somewhat contrary to common sense. However, half-way up to Lahore, it became apparent the Air Traffic Controllers were having a difficult time understanding why we were flying the route we were on. There were numerous calls for identification and clarification and finally they just directed us to fly BACK across Pakistan to the western side of the country and then up to Peshawar. Luckily we had put on more gas than we normally do, and no problems complying with their every whim.

Peshawar has some mountains surrounding the city, but they are not like up in Afghanistan where your inclination sometimes is to descend in a spiral over the field in order to stay comfortably away from the high terrain. The area around the city is generally flat with lots of farm areas nearby. The city is highly populated and consists of multitudes of densely packed one-story housing units made out of brick and mortar. The thing that struck us most was the green grass and trees! Lots and lots of trees. What a refreshing sight!

Our task was to pick up an Army three-star General, and transport him and four aides back to our base after their tour of Pakistani frontier forces and training. The plan was for him to show up shortly after we landed and refueled, climb aboard, and we would briskly whisk him back to our home station. That was not quite what happened. The guy was out on a tour with a Pakistani General, and according to the Lieutenant assigned to liaison with us, there was no telling when the two of them might show up.

So, we sat and waited, refueled, re-filed our flight plan with the approved diplomatically cleared routing home, watched a couple of civilian airliners come and go, ate from our box lunches and cooler, and speculated whether we would be going home anytime soon. At about the two hour mark, the sound of helicopter blades reached us from behind some trees, and a couple of armed helicopters dropped down beside us, discharging the Generals and their various entourages.

After that, it was just a matter of them clearing customs and immigration and a long 5-hour ride back home, punctuated by a SATCOM message about an hour from landing announcing the successful arrival of most of our replacements! Seemed pretty certain that we would be done after this one.

Our landing field was obscured in blowing dust and thunderstorms upon our arrival, but Shawn flew a flawless approach to minimums, picking up the rabbit lights about a mile and a half from touchdown. With the screech of the tires touching down, the Loads, Flight Engineer and I all started clapping, celebrating the end of a long, but highly successful deployment! We've got four days of flying remaining till we're home with our family and loved ones, but it sure felt good at that moment to know we were done with our part of mission, at least for now.

Next destination: Western Pennsylvania!

Bring Me Men...

“Bring me men to match my mountains: Bring me men to match my plains: Men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brains.”

~ Sam Walter Foss

My wife received an e-mail from my son's High School Tennis coach. He asked each of the boys' parents to participate in this year's Tennis team end of year banquet:

Parents,

Please be prepared to say a few words to your sons.

Dad’s Assignment

1. Pick a SV Tennis Core Value or a Family Core Value
2. Talk about what that core value has meant to you over the years
3. Give an example of how that core value has led to success in an area of your life.
4. Challenge your son to discover and live a life committed to core values.

Mom’s Assignment

1. Pick a good quality that your son possesses
2. Share how and when you have seen that quality come to life in your son’s life
3. Tell why that quality is so important to his future.
4. Share your love and affirmation with your son.

The talks do not have to be long, but our desire is to make a lasting memory.

Thanks for your participation.

Coach Grove

The Banquet is today, and I am unable to attend, being something in the neighborhood of 6900 miles away. My first reaction was to just say, ''that was nice," and delete the e-mail, knowing it was one more thing in my kids' lives that I was going to miss. But then I thought about it, and it struck me that this Coach was taking an interest in the lives of these boys that went way beyond the locker room or tennis court, which is really all he needed to care about. He is asking us to help mold these boys into the young men who will be the future of our families, communities and even our nation.

My son is a great kid, though not a great tennis player (yet), and he may never be, but I think he is extremely fortunate to have this type of mentoring and leadership in his life, especially coming from outside the family. It shows that our society expects great things of our youth, and not only do we have high expectations, we are committed to helping them be the best that they can be.

So, I sat down, wrote out what I would stand up and read if I was there at the banquet, and sent it to him and my wife. My thoughts may not be included in what goes on today, but I am hopeful that at some point my son will either see these words on paper or get them from me directly (when i get home), and he can think about what it takes to be a man in today's society. We can use all the good ones we can get.

The core values that have stuck with me the most are the ones that I have grown up with in the Air Force. There are three, and they are tied together.

1. Integrity First,
2. Service Before Self,
3. Excellence in All We Do.

Integrity first. Be true to yourself, your family, your team, the people you work with. People have to rely on you to do your part, and if they can’t, you make whatever group you belong to weak and unable to accomplish the goals you have set for yourselves. Be there when you say you will be, do the things that are yours to do. Be responsible and the one people can count on. Treat your friends, teammates, classmates and competitors with respect, and they will respect you.

Service before self. This is where the whole Boy Scout attitude comes into play. Do a good turn daily. Think of others ahead of your own needs. Think of what the team, your family, your neighbor, or your job requires of you, and see if you can’t easily take care of the things that spell success for that person or group, then tend to your own wants and needs.

Excellence in all we do. You don’t have to be the best, you just have to try your best. When you recognize you aren’t the best, do the work that will take you to the next level. That means study, train, practice… repeat. Don’t say you’ll do something unless you are willing to do it to the utmost of your ability. The old saying is, “a thing isn’t worth doing unless it’s worth doing right.” When you are on a team, committed to winning a game, a match or a season, your teammates expect you to show up prepared and to play. To do less is to fail them, and waste everybody’s time. Being successful in school and life is exactly the same.

Team sports are a learning laboratory for life. Enjoy the competition, savor the victories and learn from the defeats, but more than anything else, you need to embrace the experience that working together for a common goal provides. Your lives will be filled with challenges, but if you can set goals, ask for assistance when needed, help those who need your assistance, and do your best at all times, you will be successful men.

Humpin' Yeminis!

Today was something new.

We've been flying pretty much non-stop to either Iraq or Afghanistan for the last three months. We did get the flight down to Djibouti, which was a nice change of pace, but it was a place I'd already been a couple times. Several crews have been flying over to Egypt and Yemen over and over again, and while none of these places are anything special, they are new and different places to say you've been. It's also good training for the young guys to experience flying in different countries, dealing with foreign controllers, and complying with different procedures.

Today's mission came down for yet another trip to Iraq, but at almost the same take off time, another crew was tagged to fly to Yemen for the second or third time in a row. None of us had been to Yemen before, and we had been talking about wanting to go there on a recent flight. When the preliminary schedule came out, I e-mailed the scheduler, suggesting that if no one objected, our crew would really like to go down to Yemen. Surprisingly, no one on the staff or the other crew minded, and when the final schedule came out, we were headed south!

The trip down was a bit eventful at the start, as we encountered icing just as we crossed into Saudi Arabia. The anti-icing was working overtime and you could actually watch the ice build on the windshield wipers and propeller blades. It took a decent of a couple thousand feet to catch up with the icing, and we were able to fly out of it after fifty or sixty miles.

The capital of Yemen is Sana'a, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. At an altitude of 7,500 feet, it is also one of the highest capital cities in the world. It sits on a high arid plain surrounded by mountains on three sides, and presents some performance challenges with the altitude and high temperatures. It has a population of over 1.7 million, making it the largest city in the country.

Our mission was to drop off pallets of ammunition to aid in the training of the Yemeni police force. Each pallet probably weighed 2,500 -3,000 lbs, so there was a lot of weight back there. When we taxied in, we were met by the US Station Agent, the airport operations personnel, some US Army guys in mufti, and a bunch of Yemeni officers and troops. Lots of smiles, greetings and handshakes all around.

Everything went pretty smooth until it was discovered that no one had paid for a forklift to unload the pallets. The Army (the user) wouldn't spring for it, and the Embassy wasn't going to pay for it. What they really wanted was for us, the Air Force to pick up the tab. Unfortunately we had a set of orders with what the planners had authorized payment for, and a forklift was NOT on the list. I don't think it was all that much, but if we had signed for it unauthorized, it is just like our finance folks to say it was the crew's bill. Not something we were willing to kick in for, not on $3.50 a day.

So, we went back and forth on this for awhile, even considering using all the extra bodies to manually unload the cargo. In fact it began to look like a PENDOT project with all the folks standing around trying to figure out how this was going to work. The last thing we wanted to do was haul the cargo back to Qatar.

Finally, our loadmasters, old hands that they are, figured it out and the mission proceeded. The first pallet was artfully offloaded, and situated at the base of the tail ramp. The Yemenis quickly hooked it up to a little Toyota pick-up by some chains, and attempted to drag it across the tarmac. The Toyota spun it's wheels, got some traction, moved it a few dozen feet then stalled, gathered itself and moved farther again... Finally the driver got the idea of not losing the momentum and he was able to move it, struggling and straining off the active ramp, wisps of smoke wafting from beneath the hood.

After that, the system got better; the pallet came off, chains were attached (the Toyota was replaced by a stake-bed truck), and the pallet drug off. In no time all six pallets were downloaded and hauled away.

The only thing left was to pay our fees. This was a bit of concern. None of us were really up on conversion factors and what really cost what. The Co-pilot (in possession of a LOT of money) had the fun task of fiscal negotiations (including paying for the airport fees and the fuel), and went off with the airport folks and the US station agent. They were gone for quite some time, and we were beginning to wonder if he got mugged or something, but by the time we were done refueling, he returned and even had a few Yemeni Rials left in his satchel. Only a cash count by the finance folks back home would truly tell if he had got it right....

As a final show of friendship, we posed for a picture with our new found friends, the Yemeni troops who had helped in the unloading. We gathered on the ramp, smiled for several cameras and exchanged farewells. It had been a good afternoon in a new and interesting location. Hopefully there will be many more like this in the future.