waysofthewades

The original stimulus for our wonderful trip to Europe was for Madalyn to attend a special Dream Tending workshop at a location known for Karl Jung and other notables to meet and discuss advanced concepts, both in psychology and other fields. The developer of the Dream Tending concept, and founder/president of Pacifica University, has previously been included in such discussions in recent times, and he wanted to offer it to his students whom he sees in retreats in Montana. Gary did not attend this workshop, but rather used the time to explore some of the surroundings. Ascona is at the northern end of Lake Maggiore, a short distance from the Italian border. It is in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and most of their tourists come from northern Switzerland or Germany. As such, German and ... read more

We left Oslo wishing we had more time, but it was time for the next adventure in the Swiss Alps. The mist of the day before had turned heavier, sprinkling lightly as we walked back to the Oslo terminal. Fortunately again, it was just a few yards to the covered walkway. We had a ticket on SAS, code shared with Swiss Air, actually operated by Helvetic, a Swiss Air subsidiary. We had a shock trying to check in the night before the flight and being told “that ticket is invalid for check-in ” at SAS. It took some sleuthing but found the reservation on Swiss Air, but we still couldn’t check in. We gave some more margin to get to the airport. “Check-in” was easy by waving a barcode from an email under a scanner. Then ... read more

Welcome to our occasional blog about our wonderful trip to the Norwegian fjords, Swiss Alps, Lake Maggiore, and Sorrento, Italy. Today we fulfilled a lifetime dream of seeing the magnificent fjords of Norway - well some of them. We departed Flåm at 9am on the small ferry that serves a few villages in the area, ending in Gudvangen. The ferry could take automobiles, but it didn't look used for that very often. Most villages have good roads going to them now. It is off-season so there was lots of room to move around the shp and catch the scenery from different locations. The fjords really were spectacular, with special emphasis on the waterfalls and reflections in the calm water. The mountains were only 3-4000 feet high at most, and most with sloping sides into the water.We ... read more

Today we went on a tour to Finisterre, the end, and the Atlantic Coast with Jesus (as in heysús) as our guide. He picked us up in a van at our hotel before picking up six others at another hotel. So the nine of us headed west out of Santiago for a full day of adventures. Our first stop was a wide river with a picturesque Roman bridge, a wide, short waterfall and old mill. Everything is lush and green, we were glad to have only gray skies, no rain. Our companions were from Kentucky (a mother and adult son who spoke passable Spanish) and four Spanish men. Luckily Jesus' English was very good and easy to understand. We also visited the Waterfall of Ezaro that is much higher and falls into the ocean. It is ... read more

Today is the final day of the workshop part of our trip, beginning with a tour of the cathedral. The cathedral holds the bones said to be of James the apostle, miraculously discovered in 813, the whole reason for the Camino and the historic pilgrimage. The cathedral has been much modified over the centuries, starting as romanesque and containing Gothic and Baroque styles and more. Further there have been so many additions to the sides that most of the windows have been blocked. (There is plenty of artificial light.) The tour began in the museum and continued through the sanctuary, including a walk past the silver casket of James. There were those in the crypt who were very fervently (quietly) praying to the saint, We marveled at their spiritual dedication and gave them credit. We declined ... read more