By now, all of you must be wondering when this trip is going to end !!!!! This will probably be the last entry. On Saturday, I did the boat ride to Konstanz and showed the Swiss railroad guy the eMail to get the laptop. He got all confused and, while on the phone with Berne, looked over in the corner to a big fat sealed envelope and guess what.....my laptop!!!!!! Lets give the Swiss a rowzing three cheers for honesty and efficiency!!!!! Walked around Konstanz for a bit, but it wasn't that great a day for sightseeing, so I soon was [View Full Entry]

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I have yet to go to the upper town....most probably cause it is 160 steps to go up there, but yesterday I noticed a bus near the boat landing that goes up the hill and has a stop right across the street from the entrance gate to the upper old town. And only costs 50 cents!!!!!! Also today is the start of a 3 day Renaissance market so I'm glad I waited. Turns out that I got up there a couple hours before they started charging 5 Euros to get in....so all the better. By 2 PM, all the kiosks and [View Full Entry]

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Made the morning call to the Swiss railroad and guess what...........they said they had my laptop. Of course they weren't sure if it was in Konstanz, Zurich or Berne, but they knew they had it and would send more details in an eMail later today!!!!! What a relief !!!!!! The flower island of Mainau is only a 20 minute boat ride from Meersburg or across a causeway from Konstanz and is really worth a visit. The round trip boat plus admission to the island is 21.20 Euros (close to $25.00). They had a guest comment form that asked when my last [View Full Entry]

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Back on the 10:02 boat again today, but this time going for a total of 2.5 hours (passing yesterday's ports) to the island of Lindau. This is as far south as one can go in Germany so I guess I'll now have been to the 4 corners. For some strange reason, I've wanted to go to Lindau for about 35 years, so it was finally happening. This very old island city did not disappoint me with its seaside promenade (even better than Meersburg), narrow lanes, restored 14th and 15th century buildings, market squares and greenery all over the place. It could [View Full Entry]

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Today, I decided to take the boat 3 stops to Friedrickshafen to visit the Zeppelin Museum. After the typical German hotel breakfast of cold cuts, cheese, a hard boiled egg, yogurht, juice and coffee I walked down the sea promenade for the 10:02 boat. The lake was a bit foggy, but an hour later, I was in Fried. and the museum was directly across the street from the boat dock. Having paid a small admission, I first came across a great history of the Zeppelins (including the USA efforts) then walked up some aircraft type stairs and found myself in a [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Hollywood, FL............... By yesterday, the 30th, the trip up to spend time with the parents was over. By 6:45 AM I was in a cab to the New Bedford bus terminal to catch the bus to Providence where I was to board my first Amtrak train. That part went fine. There was even a trolley type bus from central Providence right to the door of the Amtrak station. And Amtrack was right on time at 10:16 AM to New York. I was a bit disappointed that my friends Georgia and Charlie didn't throw me a sandwich when the train [View Full Entry]

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Greetings everyone!!!! Thursday morning I left the house at 5:45 AM to be sure that I would not have any problems making my 8 AM flight. Arriving at AirTran at 6:00 AM, I checked the suitcase in curbside and headed for the security checkpoint carrying only my laptop and a muffin. By 6:05 I was thru security and at the gate eating a muffin, drinking a coffee and reading the paper. I guess flying to Boston is different than flying from London !!!!! Speaking of the whaling capital.....back in the 1800's, a good portion of the world's whaling fleet sailed from [View Full Entry]

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First of all.......welcome to all the new folks on my subscriber list. Some of you asked to be put on and others I just chose to put on cause you're good people. Everyone has the opportunity to "unsubscribe" if you get tired of reading these blogs!!!!! The big news is that the entire journey on QUEEN MARY 2 has been cancelled for reasons beyond my control. The last third, however remains as scheduled so on 17 August, I fly up to Massachusetts to spend 12 days with the parents. The cost of driving up there and back is out of hand, [View Full Entry]

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This is the final day of this vacation. Time to sort, pack, and look at all that has happened in almost 4 weeks! I've been to 10 countries. Spent a bit over 2 weeks with my brother Michael...stalwart, patient and great traveling companion that the is; Georgia and Charlie who are slightly insane and always willing to add new aspects to what might be mundane; Janice and Cliff with whom I waited too long to again travel with and Randye and Ron who have that dry wit and humor. Georgia and Charlie's 2 friends fit in so well and quickly learned [View Full Entry]

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Today was a day for a bit of exploring. Stuart dropped me off at 8:45 at the Red Funnel ferry terminal in Southampton so that I could make the 9 AM departure to East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The island sits as a natural barrier/protector for the harbor at Southampton. The conventional ferry takes just about one hour . Upon arrival, I bought a day bus pass and set out for Newport, the largest town on the island. After taking a look at 1400s this and 1500s that, I took another bus to the southeast and the town of [View Full Entry]

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