SOME AUSTRALIAN FUN

                               A Variety of Fun Experiences

           While in the outback we decided to take a camel ride. The camel handler gave us some advice on what to expect when the camel got up and down. There wasn’t too much of a jolt as the camel got up, but going down we let out a whoop! We both were propelled forward, but we managed to stay in the saddle.  We were quite taken with the animals  peach-size eye balls that are covered with 3-inch long lashes.

         The camel gets up on his hind legs first, which tends to propel one a bit forward, then up go his front legs. When lying down   the camel puts his front legs down first! Then the hind legs go down with a plop.

         We learned a bit about camels also. The animals hump is full of fat, not water, as is commonly thought. A camel chews his cud giving him rather bad breath. They do not spit as their close relative, the llama, does. They can close their nostrils in a sand storm. A camel is gentle, patient and affectionate.

       A camel moves both right legs together, then the back legs, so he can pace but not trot. They have great endurance. Their feet have no hooves but two fig-size toenails and walk on flex pads on their feet that mold over stones and gravel. A camel is born football size and is  hump less, has an ostrich-like head and gangly legs that can fold up.

       You don’t bounce like on a horse; the ride is more swaying like on a boat. I wouldn’t want to ride a very long way or a long time on a camel, but it was fun for a short while. A camel’s dung can be used for a fire. It is an interesting camel.

            We couldn’t resist a sunrise balloon ride while in the outback. The day started with a wake-up call at 3:15 AM!  Leaving a paved road we bounced over a washboard dirt road for 8 kilometers to the balloon site. Because the basket was a large one, holding 12 passengers, the balloon was proportionally large. It took a good while for the big balloon to inflate. We all managed to get in the basket, some with more help than others.

            Then suddenly with a blast of air we were off the ground! As daylight appeared, we saw cattle browsing, and wild horses running down on the plain. To the right we saw mobs of kangaroos hopping along the plain. As it got lighter, we spotted other hot air balloons in the air.

            The ride lasted a little over an hour. We made a smooth landing and when all were out of the basket we helped deflate the balloon and pack it into its compact carrying case. We headed back to town to a closed tavern where we had the traditional champagne and then we were served a nice breakfast which we enjoyed very leisurely on the patio. We were much more comfortable than we would have been on camp stools in the field. (Done it that way also)

            Having taken other balloon rides, I convinced my travel buddy to take her first. I was happy she thoroughly enjoyed it and allayed all her apprehensions and fears.

        In a large shopping area in Sydney our shopping was greatly hampered because we kept stopping to watch some excellent street performers and mimes. A statue of liberty mine was exceptionally good.

       In Fitzroy park in Melbourne there is a wonderful fairy tree. Many years ago a large tree had to be cut down. A local lady requested the stump be left, as she wanted to do something to delight children. Between 1933-35 she carved little fairy figures all around the approximately four-foot tree stump. It must have taken hours to carve, but it is a really delightful addition to the park.

            Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne covers 17 acres and contains 1000 stalls selling everything imaginable. Originally, in 1837, the area was a cemetery. In 1877 part of the cemetery was converted to the market, requiring the relocation of only three graves. In 1917 Parliament authorized the relocation of 10,000 remains, razed the cemetery, and by 1922 the market was in its full glory. We finished shopping just as the market was closing up, and walked out to the tram stop.

         When the first tram arrived we asked the female conductor if it went to Spring Street. When the conductor asked if we were looking for the free city tram, we said we knew it stopped at 3PM. We just needed to get back to Spring Street. With a big smile she told us to just pretend we didn’t know that  and she would take us to Spring.  She alerted us at the right stop, ending with, “You ladies have a nice visit.”   

        That’s just one of the many nice things people did for us down under!

EUROPEAN BIKING MEMORIES

                                       Wonderful Fun Times

We stopped ten kilometers outside of Linz, Austria and our guide said, “For the rest of the ride today you must use extra caution. We are about to enter an elevated bike path. It is a concrete sidewalk about three feet above street level. Traffic will be moving fast on your right and bikers going in the opposite direction will be passing on your left. Keeping your distance is very important. I caution you to be especially alert.”

           It was a hairy ride and a stressful six miles. We arrived safely at our hotel about 5:00PM

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         Every turn in the Danube River held a new scene and photo op. We biked through wheat fields, over farmland, and near the end through thousands of acres of vineyards. We stopped each day mid-morning for coffee and in mid-afternoon for pastry.

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      Approaching Grein, Austria we biked over part of the old horse path where years ago horses trod pulling barges up and down the river.

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      In Denmark, no right turns on red. At many intersections large white triangles, called shark’s teeth, are painted across the street that must yield.

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      When entering a traffic circle one must yield to all traffic already in the circle, and in Denmark everyone must yield to bikers who follow a blue path painted on the outer edge of the circle. Traffic circle turn offs are particularly dangerous.

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      In Denmark clean well-stocked bathrooms were always found in churches.

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     Loose gravel on the road is a real hazard  as are sticks and debris on dirt bike paths

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     Rode many ferries, all sizes. Biked along the Baltic Sea. Biked on six different Danish islands and the full length of one of them.

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    In Bordeaux enjoyed a frog and cuckoo serenade the first three days.

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    Lost in France for about three hours.

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    A biker dressed all in black, hiked over handlebars, almost getting hit by a truck.

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    Biking through construction in France being stressful.      

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    Sand and high winds at the beach and out of Soulac, France.

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    How  interesting and how much fun   each trip was. Each of the guides was fabulous!

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   A great way to see a country and visit with its people!

 

STOCKHOLM'S CITY HALL

A gorgeous Building

   In Swedish, city hall is Stadshuset. In Stockholm the brick tower  of the city hall is 395-feet high and topped with three crowns. There are three explanations for the three crowns. They represent the three tribes that inhabited Sweden; they represent the three wise men; or they represent Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the three Scandinavian countries. Take your pick.

   Each year the Nobel Prize is awarded here in December. In 1923 eight million bricks went into  making one of Europe’s finest public buildings. The brick work is 3- D in some places and is some of the finest brick masonry I’ve ever seen. Each room is finer than the previous one. The city hall is more like a palace.

         The Blue Room, 1911, used for Nobel Prize presentations, was finished in 1923 with interruptions of WW I. The cost was estimated to be 6 million crowns, but actually cost 18 million crowns. All materials used are from Sweden. The staircase has steps wide enough and not too deep so the Nobel winners can glide down the stairs. There is a 10,000 pipe organ in the room and 1360 people can be seated for dinner.

         The Parliament Room has high ceilings with wooden beams that represent the Viking past. The roof is V shaped. The doors are beautifully carved. The original Parliament had 100 members, 14 of whom were women. The women had their own red velvet room to confer, while men would go off to the ‘smoking room’. Today there are 54 women in the 101 member parliament. There are 20 provinces in Sweden. Members are elected for four years.

         The tower is popular for weddings. The open ceiling has glass between it and the wall. Next to the tower is a room built specially to house several beautiful French tapestries.

         The Prince Gallery is a long hall with large windows. On the wall opposite the windows a prince painted the reflection in pastel of what is seen out each window so all people seated in the room would be looking at the same thing. The windows were inset with top to bottom granite-type reliefs. In effect they frame the huge windows. They were beautiful and each one was different.                
      The Three Crown Room contains 19 million 1/4-inch pieces of  glass and gold mosaic chips. The designs, done by a 27 year old, depict Sweden’s history and were completed in three years. The entire walls are covered. The people all have big eyes which was the artist’s desire. Its glitter is earth shattering and there are 200 shades of color. About 30 tiles disappear each year, the majority of them on Nobel Prize night. The kitchen is above this hall. I’ve never seen a public building like Stockholm’s city hall; it is spectacular!

SENSE OF DIRECTION--SOMETIMES

                                      A Couple of Examples

               

In Koblenz, Germany we were moored at the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine Rivers.

After lunch I decided to stroll back to the point to better see the Kaiser Wilhelm statue. It only took a few minutes to stroll the cobbled promenade to my destination.

We had unseasonably hot weather on this trip all the time we were in Germany and Austria. The normal temperatures of 72-75 became mid to high 90s with several days over 100. This was a 90s+ day. My travel companion decided it was too warm for her and elected to stay aboard the boat.

             The  bronze  statue  of Wilhelm on his horse is huge. The original statue was destroyed, but replaced in 1990. Many concrete steps lead up to the monument, but I chose not to climb them. I walked all around the statue and then strolled along the Rhine River for a short way.

            It seemed as if I should be able to cut over to the Mosel  River by taking any street as the two rivers form a triangle of land. I walked through a residential area for some time, but the Mosel was elusive. I was just about ready to turn around and retrace my steps when I saw a couple of young men speaking to a girl getting into a car. It sounded like English.

            “Do you fellows speak English?” I asked.

            “Yes.”

            “I’m trying to get to the Mosel. Can’t I cut across here somewhere?”

            They started to give me directions and then said, “We’re headed that way. We’ll show you, if you like.”

            As we walked I learned they were Mormons doing their missionary work in Koblenz. It’s hard to miss them dressed in their black pants and white shirt and tie. They were most pleasant and we had a nice visit while walking. I was  grateful to the kind boys for their help.

When we reached the alley/road, which I would never have given a second glance to, I was glad they had walked along with me. I made a right turn and suddenly I was on the Mosel only a few feet away from the boat.

After a tram ride to Helsinki’s city center we decided to do a bit of site-seeing before returning to our hotel that was a bit out of the city center. Our guide had taken us on a city orientation jaunt. The  tram  stopped right in front of our hotel.

My regular travel companion has a great sense of direction so on the trips we make together I defer to her to get us around. This trip I was with a new travel companion  so I paid close attention to how the tram traveled as we planned to walk back to the hotel. Since this gal knew it all I caved on her insistence that she read the map. We started out okay, but before long nothing looked familiar and I said, “I think we missed a turn. We should have followed the trolley tracks.”

She was sure we were going the right way, so we kept walking. It was a nice walk through a neighborhood, but it still is not smart to wander around in unknown places in a new and strange city. To make a long story short we walked our bloody legs off for three miles. The streets were quiet and of course there was no car, cab or bus any where in sight.

Finally we spotted the hotel and as it turned out we had taken the VERY long way back following the waterfront. After that and a bit of annoyance on my part she spent  the rest of the trip proving to me she could read a map, and we never got lost again! The following day we walked downtown and it took us less than 15 minutes----easy when you go in a straight line!

COSTA RICA CONSERVATION

                                      Conservation and Wildlife

            In Los Chiles, Costa Rica we boarded a boat for a ride down the Rio Frio. The river borders the 24,600-acre Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, which sits in the migratory flyway of hundreds of thousands of birds. It is a birder’s delight.

            Moving down the river was a slow process as the tree lined banks were full of birds and monkeys. We saw white face and Howler Monkeys, including a couple of Howler babies.

            White face monkeys will eat anything, but Howlers are vegetarians and eat early in the day because they need sunlight to digest their food. Their scrotum is white and that is how they thermo-regulate their bodies.

            The boat driver got us close to a tree where we could see tiny tiny bats spread out on the tree trunk. They looked like part of the bark. They weren’t more than 2-3 inches long and they were lined up vertically 6-7 in a row. We saw several kinds of lizards. The river eventually opens up into a shallow lagoon.

            The beautiful macaws live high in the forest canopy so we did not see any that day, but we saw numerous other birds and the guide and driver knew them all. I heard toucans in the jungles in Panama and Belize, but could not see them as both times they were high in the canopy. However, it was in another preserve in Costa Rica that I was most excited to finally see toucans.

            I had read and our guide confirmed that Costa Rica is one of the most ecologically aware countries in the world. In fact one quarter (26%) of its land has been set aside as national park or preserve; 13% land is National Parkland, and an additional 13% of the land is private reserve abiding by government agreements. These nature and biological preserves protect a vast array of animals and their habitats, and insures the survival of over 850 species of birds, 205 species of mammals, 376 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and more than 9000 species of flowering plants, including 1200 varieties of orchids.

            Until 1970 there was hardly a protected area in the country. The country’s conservation efforts are even more remarkable considering that it is not a wealthy country, having limited resources. During the first years of the country’s park systems, conservationists raced against rampant deforestation to protect as much of the nation’s wild lands as possible. Infrastructure is still lacking, and many of the areas can only be reached on foot, or horseback.

            Out hotel in Chachagua was located in the depths of a rain forest in a private preserve.  We crossed a waterfall and walked through lush vegetation to our single cabin. Looking out our windows we could see nothing but lushness. The cabin was cozy, and each night I was lulled asleep by the sounds of the waterfall.

            The lodge had a resident green macaw that was a little on the cantankerous side. Its mate died a couple of years before, and since they mate for life, more than likely she’d be alone for the rest of her life. She flew about at will, but often perched on the dining room rail, always watchful for fallen crumbs.