The family and I are in sunny Portland, Oregon, to attend the LPGA Safeway Classic. We got stuck in wretched construction traffic late last night on I-5 and finally made it to our hotel, and bed, around 2 AM. So much for getting a good night's sleep and hitting the course early. :/ We arrived at the Columbia-Edgewater Country Club around 10 AM and, after running the gauntlet at the Free Safeway Stuff tent, hit the course on the hunt for Ashley Prange, winner of the Golf Channel's "Big Break V". We got lucky and she was still playing after her 7:30 AM start (on the back 9). Of course we took the long way around and ended up walking nearly the entire course before we caught up with her on #7. (Hint: start at the ... read more

What a difference a month of travel makes. Faithful readers will recall that in June, I got "stuck" in Copenhagen's Kastrup airport for several hours and couldn't really come up with anything to do, so wandered aimlessly in the terminal and was annoyed by things like credit cards and postage stamps. A little travel experience and a positive attitude adjustment sure help! This time, I had intentionally scheduled a 5-hour layover to give me time to bop into the city itself and have a beer, at least, before the flight home. First stop: the book shop, to look for a Danish phrasebook in English. They didn't have any, but they did have an English phrasebook in Danish, which is almost as good! So I was able to pick up the aforementioned minimum vocabulary: please and thank ... read more

I forgot that if I write about going to France under the same entry with my trip to Baden Baden, I don't get credit on my cool Blogger map for having gone to France. This, obviously, will not do. Be it known that on this date, I went to France. About 500 meters into France, to be precise. And had flammkuchen. For further details, see my entry for Baden Baden. :)... read more

I had a wonderful, leisurely morning in Trier, tying up the loose ends of sights I didn't see last night. After the now-usual hearty German buffet breakfast at my hotel, I hiked down to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, an archaeological museum that Rick's guidebook made sound very exciting. He wasn't wrong, not in the least... the wonderful Roman floor mosaics and funerary monuments were right where he said they would be. However, about half to two-thirds of the museum is closed off and utterly empty. I discovered from a German-language poster (yes, I read much of it all by belf) that they are remodeling in anticipation of some major Karl der Große celebration in 2007... new air-conditioning (desperately needed, for certain), better accessibility of exhibits, new elevator, etc. Seems like all of Europe wants me to ... read more

(Another day, another Mass....) Heilige Messe at Aachener Dom was fantastic. As a weekday morning Mass, it was small, sparsely attended (mostly by nuns, and at least one monk) and music-free. However, it was a great opportunity not only to see, but to experience the inside of this ancient church. I believe it's the oldest in Germany and one of the oldest in northern Europe. Out of respect, I did not take any photographs inside, not even after the service. It was very dark anyway and they wouldn't've turned out too well. There are a lot of nuns in Germany and Austria, by the way. Mostly older women (the vocation, like Masonry and Eastern Star and practically everything else, is in decline), but I've seen at least one young nun and at least one African nun. ... read more