Today we’re having a day at sea while we cross the Timor Sea from Komodo to Darwin, Australia. It’s very relaxing and gave us some time to wander around the ship. It’s all decorated for Christmas. I appreciate the cruise company’s thought, but it’s just weird to be under a blazing sun with temperatures near 90 degrees while looking at Christmas trees and decorations, and garlands decorated with twinkle lights.

The library bookshelves are trimmed with garland and twinkle lights.

Reindeer at rest near a snack bar.

I think this tree is made of large, flat pieces of driftwood.

Even the pool is decorated with garlands and lights. It’s really weird to see people in swimsuits surrounded by Christmas garlands.

The coup d’état is the grand stairway into the lobby. (The dark thing at the bottom of the stairs is a grand piano, in case it’s hard to identify on a small screen.) Behind it is an arrangement of gingerbread houses.

Here’s a picture of the gingerbread houses in the lobby (left) and at the entrance to one of the restaurants (right).

Underneath the stairway to the lobby is a mosaic that reminds me of a salad bar.

On our way around the top deck, I was trying to determine where to stand to take a picture without facing the sun. Ted and I quickly realized it didn’t matter much–the sun is almost directly overhead. We checked our shadows, and they’re pretty short. This was at about 1:30 p.m. Playing “step on your shadow” requires a short step.

Our ship leaves a “path” beyond the infinity pool on the deck below.

There’s not much on the horizon. It looks like North Dakota, only blue.

Back in our room, we discovered that the refreshing beverages in our mini-fridge look different in Asia.

We thought it was best that we eat the Toblerone bars in the mini-fridge before they spoil. The good times just keep on coming!

Today we explored Lombok’s (Indonesia) capital city, Mataram and the surrounding countryside. We visited a temple, a pearl shop, a market, and a museum. As usual, it was hot and humid, but still interesting and fun.

Unlike Bali, which is predominantly Hindu, Lombok is mostly Muslim. Our guide said there are so many Muslims that there is a mosque nearly every 100 feet. That was a bit of hyberbole, but not much–there were always 2-4 mosques within sight as we drove from place to place. We drove by the largest mosque in Lombok, but didn’t stop, so it was hard to get a good photo of it.

The temple we visited is an important temple complex on the island because it is a place where four religions worship and pray together on special occasions–Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. In the center of the complex is a fountain containing fish that are believed to appear only when a person’s wish is going to be granted. Several of our group members threw coins into the fountain and made wishes, and a fish leaped out of the water after one of the wishes. The temple, built in 1714, hosted a major festival yesterday, so many of the festive decorations were still visible as the clean-up crews worked to pick up litter from the festival.

Black and white cultured pearls are grown in a number of places around the world, but only Lombok grows gold cultured pearls.

At the market, we were welcomed with a stick fight dance performance. While men beat on drums, two boys try to hit each other as hard as they can with rattan sticks. A referee (the third boy in the courtyard) determines who scores points. The boys have shields to protect themselves, but when their opponents find an opening around the shield, the fighters can be injured and bleeding. This dance is done only on special holidays. After the performance, we entered the market, which was arranged in a quadrangle and was very colorful.

Our guide told us not to pay the asking price for anything in the market. I didn’t plan to buy anything, but I saw a pretty little basket that Ted and I thought would be a nice souvenir of Indonesia. I told Ted I wouldn’t pay more than $5 for it and we agreed it would probably be $4.95 at Target in the U.S. The seller wanted $20 USD, so I just said no. He asked how much I wanted to pay and I told him not more than $5. He came down to $10, then $7, but I just turned away to leave. I was probably supposed to meet him in the middle on price, but I really didn’t think the basket was worth more than $5 and I could live without it. As I was leaving, he called out that he would accept $5. Then his boss (I assume) came over and asked if he could help. I asked if he’d take a credit card or USD and he said he’d take USD for the $20. So I had to do the same negotiating thing with him. He asked the vendor if it was true that the vendor had agreed to sell it for $5, the vendor affirmed his decision, Ted handed over a $5 bill, and we left with the basket.

At the museum, we were welcomed with a variety of traditional Lombok cakes that were delicious. It was a nice place to visit, because it was cooler inside. We saw many interesting things from Lombok’s history–fabrics, musical instruments, weapons, farming tools, household items, etc. Like the First Ladies’ dresses in the Smithsonian, my favorite display was the formal wear of past royalty in the country.

The most unusual exhibit I saw was these horses.

They look like children’s toys, but reading the description on the sign presented a very different story. There is a little bench/step on each side of each horse. Young boys would sit on these horses with their feet on the steps, holding on to the horses while the boys were held in place by men during their circumcision. The horses were described as “comforting” to the boys. Yikes!

In the city, we saw lots of scooters (just like in Bali) and a different kind of taxi, pulled by a horse. Our guide joked that these taxis have a one-horsepower engine with enough power for a half day. (The taxi drivers have two horses, and use each for a half day.)

Lumber strong enough for building is scarce in Lombok, but bamboo is plentiful and very strong. We saw a lot of building construction that was framed with bamboo, and a number of lumber vendors with cut lengths of bamboo instead of pine 2x4s like in the U.S. Lombok is planting forests of harder wood, but it will take many years to grow enough wood to use it for housing. Meanwhile, much housing is framed with bamboo and sided with corrugated metal. Concrete is another popular construction material.

Housing in Lombok is nearly always enclosed by a wall with a split gate. Compared to U.S. houses, the homes are small (10 m x 10 m is considered roomy) and often shelter multiple families.

The city sidewalks are very decorative, and not only in a few areas–they were decorated with a variety of patterns everywhere we saw a sidewalk. The black and white curb indicates good (white) and evil (black), and the pattern reminds people that everything in life must always be in balance.

We saw pretty scenery wherever we went, but this is equatorial country and it’s literally a jungle, so it was hard to take landscape scenes without trees in my way.

As we neared the ship on our return, the skies darkened. The wind became fierce (Ted thinks a least 50 mph), and it started raining just as our bus parked at the dock. Ted and I had travel umbrellas in our bags and debated if we should use them or run for it. Since the wind would most likely either (1) turn our umbrellas inside out, or (2) blow the rain sideways against us, we opted to run for it. We just cleared the ship’s doorway when a cloudburst-type downpour started and thunder boomed. (We were on a metal gangplank oceanside. Not good with lightning.) The people behind us got drenched. Those still on returning buses were told to stay onboard while the ship’s crew members brought them umbrellas and plastic raincoats. At lunch after everyone dried off, we all agreed the morning ended with an adventure. Here’s what the rain looked like from our stateroom when we got inside.

Our guides in Bali and Lombok both told us that life is good here. Crime is minimal (someone might steal your chicken); road rage doesn’t exist (horns are used to indicate a desire to pass or to take the right-of-way and drivers yield with a smile and a wave to each other); kindness to others and caring for family and community members are deeply ingrained in the culture; and people of all religions get along well with each other and often have communal worship services. Not everything is perfect, of course, but the United States could become a kinder, gentler nation (cf George H. W. Bush) by practicing these values.

Tomorrow: the Indonesian Island of Komodo.

Batik artistry is a fabric dying tradition in Bali. Today we visited a small batik production in Tohpati Village. (I saw three artists.) Batik can be done in several ways: (1) drawing freehand; (2) stamping; or (3) adding and removing layers of wax to allow specific areas of the fabric to accept the dye. The lady in the photo below measures the distance from her previously stamped designs to determine where to place her next stamp.

There were many beautiful pieces of batik work available for sale.

Our next stop was the 17th century Taman Ayun Temple in Mengwi, Bali. Everyone in shorts (most of us–it’s hot and humid) had to put on a sari to enter the temple grounds. We entered the outer courtyard first and saw this representation of a cockfight. Cockfights are popular fund-raisers and the roosters are eventually used as food, so nothing is wasted. The cockfights are sometimes held in auditoriums that seat 3,000 people. At the equivalent of $3 per person per ticket, that’s a pretty decent fund-raiser.

We then moved on to the inner courtyard, where religious rites take place. I wish I could remember more of what our guide told us about the Hindu religious practices. The buildings were interesting. The thatched roofs are made of palm fibers and last about 25 years.

Balinese Hindus eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A GMO variety of rice that ripens in only three months is making it possible for Bali to become self-sufficient in growing enough rice to feed its population. Because rice is so important, the people give thanks to the rice goddess, represented by this sculpture at the temple.

We had traditional Balinese foods for lunch. The only thing that was familiar to me was the Sprite I drank, but the six or seven things I sampled on my plate were all delicious.

Then it was time to go to the 16th century Tanah Lot temple, also called the Sunset Temple. As we approached the temple, we walked through a colorful shopping district and then entered the temple grounds through a split gate. All Hindu temples and many houses have split gates at the entrance. The right side indicates good and the left side represents evil. Together, they bring balance to life.

The towers of the Tanah Lot temple are made of black lava and are dramatically built on a narrow rocky promontory that juts into the Indian Ocean. The tide was low while we were there. At high tide, the temple is surrounded by water. It is the most photographed site in Bali. Just beyond the temple is a cove with a striking rock formation.

Now, Ted and I have seen the Indian Ocean. Cool! Not only that, but we also saw a tiny gecko. Life is fun.

Our tour bus dropped us off at the ship and our cruise begins tomorrow. Internet on the ship will be spotty at sea or slow, so I might not be able to keep up with daily entries of Ted’s and my adventures. Our stateroom has a balcony and a bathroom with a heated floor (we don’t need that in this heat and humidity!), but it’s smaller than a Best Western hotel room. After living onboard for 30 days, our house is going to seem huge!

One of our choices of activities today was a tour of the city of Denpasar, Bali (where we’re staying) from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. After 40 hours of travel from leaving our house to arriving at our hotel yesterday, Ted and I voted “no” for an early morning start and a ten-hour tour. We chose to get some sleep and to spend our day relaxing. It was awesome!

First, we had brunch in an open-air restaurant. I’ve never seen so many brunch choices–a huge room with ten large stations of different types of food. Everything we chose to eat was delicious.

Our brunch was included with our room, but we checked out some of the other restaurants. Take a look at these prices. “IDR” is “Indonesian rupiah,” the local currency. One thousand rupiahs equal approximately seven cents. It’s easy to be a millionaire in Bali.

After brunch, we took a walk to check out the area. We were told that we are safe within the resort section of the city (there are six resorts in a row where we’re staying), but it is not safe to go beyond the resorts. We didn’t. I think we walked about four miles and were repeatedly offered taxi rides or scooter rides. We always replied, “No, thank you. We’re just walking.” The puzzled looks we got made us think walking was an unfamiliar idea.

All that walking in an equatorial country made us hot, so we went to the pool. There is a lagoon that wends its way around the resort, and it’s possible to swim anywhere in the lagoon. That’s Ted in the chair on the left. My chair is on the right. The water was probably around 88 degrees, so we were surprised when we got out and the breeze made us feel quite cool. Since it was a hot day, we were glad to be cool. No problem.

Next on our lazy day agenda was a walk around the resort to check it out. The landscaping is so lush, it looks as thick as a jungle in some places. One wing of hotel rooms is set on the lagoon. Just climb down the pool ladder from your terrace and you’re in the lagoon and ready to swim like the guy doing laps in the photo below.

The last stop on our tour was the open air hotel lobby. When guests arrive and enter the hotel, the man in the first photo below strikes the gong. Then you go up the stairs behind him and the two girls in beautiful dresses greet you. On your way to the check-in desk, you hear the music a young man plays on a xylophone-like instrument made of bamboo sticks. Orchids are everywhere in the resort. I wouldn’t be surprised if they grow wild here.

Our tour featured Christmas decorations too and I was surprised to see that they are just like those in the U.S. There’s a jar of pine cones on the check-in desk and a big (artificial) Christmas pine tree with presents beneath it in the lobby. I’d be shocked to find out pine trees grow in Bali. (Yeah, right beside the palm trees.) There are also numerous Santa figures. The one in the picture below is set against a backdrop of orchids–yes, Santa in his cold-weather suit with hot-weather flowers behind him. Contradictory, right? I assumed tropical places would have more location-specific ways to decorate for the holiday. I’ll be sure to let you know how they decorate in Brisbane, Australia, where we’ll be for Christmas.

After all this activity, we needed a snack, so we went to a deli and had a piece of dessert.

Every Tuesday evening, there is a short fire dance performance at the resort. It’s Tuesday today, so we went.

Then it was time for dinner. We had a buffet that cost over one million rupias. Apparently, we are millionaires in Bali.

We ended our day walking back to our room under a full Bali moon.

I said there are six things I’m looking forward to on this trip.

#1: We crossed the equator yesterday and today I filled the bathroom sink with water and watched it swirl counterclockwise as it went down the drain.

Check! Five to go.

It takes a long time to go nearly halfway (10 time zones) around the globe. Our three flights were uneventful (always good news) with only a minor delay taking off at Hong Kong. We had an eight-hour layover at LAX, so there was plenty of time to walk around the airport, read, get something to eat, etc. This was a pretty piece of digital art at LAX. It spanned several stories of airport floors and was always in downward motion (water falling slowly in a variety of patterns). Very eye-catching and mesmerizing.

We left LAX at midnight and made a toast to upcoming good times. Ted had champagne; I had o.j. The main cabin passengers were in the boarding process. Business class is really nice.

The guy across the aisle from me got comfy before he even took his seat. He pulled off his shirt and shoes and settled in for the duration. The guy across from me when we went to Europe stripped down to his boxer shorts at bedtime, so this was pretty tame.

The girl behind this guy might have been the same one who sat across from me on our flight to Europe too. She stowed her luggage, got out the bedding, and buried herself with only a little of the top hair on her head showing. (It would have been too weird to take a picture of her while she was asleep.) She apparently slept the entire 15+ hours from LAX to HKG because she didn’t re-surface until we landed. Ted and I slept about 7.5 hours. It was a long flight. After arriving at HKG, we went to our gate to depart for Bali. It turned out that 190 of the passengers on that flight were heading for the same cruise as we are.

It was an interesting drive from the airport to our hotel in Denpasar, Bali. The architecture is heavily Asian/Hindu-influenced. There’s a huge bridge network across a large body of water that even includes cloverleaf intersections as it takes you across the water. Since I’m traveling with a meteorologist, we had to note that, since it was late afternoon, thunderstorms were developing.

The first thing we noticed when we landed was that the air was warm (85 degrees) and humid. We were each given a lei as we entered the airport, and Viking (our cruise company) had staff ready to walk us through the airport in small groups, speed us through customs, load our baggage to be delivered to the hotel, give us our hotel room assignments and keys, and put us on our shuttle bus. The air-conditioned shuttle to the hotel was appreciated by all of us, and the most frequently heard comment among our fellow travelers from the U.S. was “I just want a shower, some clean clothes, and some sleep!” Our (air conditioned) hotel is lovely.

The room has a feature that is romantic (in a way), but weird (in more ways). There’s a large window above the double jet-spa bathtub that overlooks the bedroom and provides a view of the outdoors. On the other hand, the window is directly in line with the toilet, the tub/shower, and the exterior window, providing a clear view from outside the bathroom of everything that happens inside the bathroom. We closed the blinds on that window.

This morning, we enjoyed the view from our balcony. We heard unfamiliar bird songs and saw lots of miniature squirrels playing in the trees.

*For those who have not seen “South Pacific,” Bali Ha’i is a mystical island, visible on the horizon, but unreachable. Romantic. Bali, on the other hand, is a real island and we’re on it. Also romantic.

Lots of people traveled last weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday and don’t need to go anywhere this weekend. That made checking in for our flight(s) to Bali easy. We were first in line at the international check-in counter, first in line for the TSA security check, and first in line at the runway for takeoff. Even more amazing, there was no line at Starbuck’s, so Ted had a cup of coffee and I had some hot chocolate while we waited to board our flight.

We’re off to a good start. That’s a good omen for lots of fun coming up.

The more we travel, the better and quicker Ted and I can pack. Not only that, but our luggage keeps getting lighter. As measured by our luggage scale, our suitcases have dropped from 47 pounds to 42 pounds to 39 pounds on our last three overseas trips. Personally, I’d like to get down to 35 pounds. We’re getting better at not packing “just in case” items, and that helps a lot. This time, we both have empty spaces inside our suitcases. That might mean objects may shift during flight.

Our flight schedule says that, with no delays, we will spend 35 hours going from airport to airport–not including the time on each end to arrive at the airport early, and to go through customs, pick up our baggage, and check in at our hotel when we land. We flew business class to Europe in June and I actually slept seven hours on the plane. Compare that to the hour-and-a-half I slept on our previous overseas flight. We’re flying business class again and will have 16 hours in the air between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, so I’m hoping to arrive well rested.

I wonder how hard it will be to adjust to jet lag after crossing the international dateline. That mysterious geographic marker makes our schedule look like we will arrive in Bali two days after leaving home, but will be home two hours after leaving Sydney. Weird!

Things I’m looking forward to on this trip include: (1) crossing the equator and watching water go down the drain the other way; (2) seeing the Southern Cross in the night sky; (3) summer in December; (4) seeing the Great Barrier Reef; (5) taking an off-road trip to Mt. Tamborine near Brisbane; and (6) hearing someone say “G’day, mate.” We have lots of activities planned, so it will be interesting at the end of our trip to see what our favorite memories are.

Question: If we go “Down Under” from the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, do those folks travel “Up Over” when they visit the U.S.? I’ll ponder that for a moment or two, but for now, g’day mates.

In my post about our day at Gornergrat, enjoying picture-perfect views of the Matterhorn, I included an error in my description of this photo.

I mentioned that our lunch-time waitress told us there is a footpath in the snow on the right that leads to a climber’s hut behind the rocky ridge. I thought the dark line in the snow just below the exposed rock was the footpath. Thom, a mountain climber, told me that line is actually a bergschrund–the high point of a glacier where it separates from the rock above.

I admit, I was surprised that a footpath could be seen from such a distance, but I figured it must be a wide path, and I’d never heard of a bergschrund, which makes a lot more sense. According to our waitress, there is a footpath, but it’s not that visible dark line. Thanks, Thom. I like learning new things from my readers.

Ted and I had a great time on our 50th anniversary European trip. I decided to put together a little collection of interesting and amusing things we observed while we traveled for a month.

Do you know what a Shakespeare stop is? Hint: To pee or not to pee, . . .

What’s the most popular tourist destination in France? Wrong. It’s Disneyland Paris.

In Geneva, there is a restaurant called Au Carnivore. It’s for meat lovers. Really.

We flew from home to London in business class on Air Canada and had such a nice experience, we were actually looking forward to the long flight back to St. Louis, instead of dreading it. Aaahhh, to be so naive. What did we know?

Our trip home started yesterday when our alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. Rome time for our shuttle pick-up to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 10:50 a.m. with a 4:00 p.m. connecting flight from Newark to St. Louis that would get us home by 6:00 p.m. St. Louis time. After we arrived at the airport, we were told that our plane was coming from Newark and had been delayed due to thunderstorms, so our flight would be delayed at least three hours. That made it a close call for our connecting flight, but it turned out to be a moot issue because we left three hours and forty minutes late. As we were waiting to leave, we talked with some other passengers. Two of them had spent two days trying to leave Rome on United because their flight had been cancelled. The earliest flight they could get was this one–with another delay.

Ok, we got on the plane, took flight, and landed in Newark without incident. We had business class tickets for the flight home as well, but we quickly learned that United’s business class is not much better than coach except we had more leg room and might have had better food. (Our food wasn’t great, but I don’t know what they served in coach.) Not to mention that United’s business class seats are arranged in groups of facing seats, so half of the business class passengers fly backward–including us.

Because we were in business class, Ted and I were the third and fourth people to get off the plane. We hustled to the United customer service counter to re-schedule our flight to St. Louis, and were next in line for an agent. During the flight delay, several of us had been looking for possible connecting flights, but since we didn’t know when we’d be leaving, we couldn’t schedule anything. The next possible flight for us to take was at 10:00 p.m. and indicated there was one seat left. Luckily for us, we made our flight arrangements through our cruise company (Viking) and they were keeping tabs on us. When it was our turn to speak with an agent, she said, “It looks like a company named Viking already reserved seats for you on our 10:00 p.m. flight,” and she printed our boarding passes. Thank you, Viking!

Unfortunately, United wasn’t finished tormenting us. We had repeated delays for our flight home. First, there were thunderstorms in Newark, so the airport was closed. All planes on the tarmac were de-boarded so passengers could shelter in the terminal, and that threw every following flight off schedule–at least for United.

Another announced delay informed us that the crew flying us from Newark to St. Louis was late. When the crew finally arrived, we learned that the pilot had flown too many hours and United needed to find another pilot. (Didn’t the pilot or anyone else check how many hours he’d be flying today?) While we were waiting for a pilot, United announced six flight cancellations. Thank goodness, our flight wasn’t one of them. We had time to get something to eat and, while we did, we saw the United customer service line after the cancellation announcements. The continuing delay announcements became so ridiculous, Ted and I laughed when we heard them. I think we were giddy with exhaustion by then.

Around midnight, we were finally told we could board the plane, but we still couldn’t take off, and this was the dumbest excuse of all: Our plane couldn’t be pushed back from the gate because the planes on each side were so close, we’d hit their wingtips. Good grief! Airports have painted lines on the tarmac for the pilots to steer their craft to the gates. Didn’t anyone measure the distances between the painted lines???!!!

We left the gate–thankfully, without hitting another plane–at 12:42 a.m. and arrived in St. Louis at 3:00 a.m. (10:00 a.m. the following day, Rome time), after nine hours of delays for two flights. Ted and I were so exhausted when we got home that we showered (we’d been awake for 28 hours) and fell into bed. We slept 30 hours during our first two days at home. After that, we went shopping for e-bikes, just as we’d planned.

Never, never fly United. I contacted Viking, thanked them for looking out for us, and advised them to schedule their passengers on other airlines.

Ted and I had a private tour of the Coliseum. It was just the two of us and an outstanding guide who really knew her Roman history. The tour included Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the Coliseum. Our guide said we needed to begin our tour with Palatine Hill, which is beside the Coliseum, because Rome’s history starts on Palatine Hill.

The seven hills of what is now Rome stood above the Tiber River. People built on the hills because the lower land was a swamp. Nero decided to build the largest palace in the world on Palatine Hill. Would you believe the Palace included central heat and air conditioning back in 68 A.D.? Fire warmed the Palace floors in winter and an elaborate water system sent water throughout the Palace to fountains and pools to cool it in the summer. The system sent waste water into the Tiber River.

The following photos show only parts of the Palace, but the ruins indicate how large it was.

Some of the Palace floors were double. Heat from fires was directed into the space between the double floor to heat the stone. Radiant heat from the stone floors then warmed the palace rooms. Sometimes, the stone floors became so hot that they warped (second photo).

Note: The top-heavy trees in the photo above are called umbrella pines. They can be seen everywhere in the city. The trees grow so wide and heavy that they fall over unless they are pruned, giving them an umbrella shape.

The Palace, the Roman Forum, and the Coliseum are all on Palatine Hill. I took the following pictures from the hilltop near the Palace.

The House of the Vestal Virgins was home to the priestesses of the goddess Vesta. Six priestesses between the ages of 6-10 were chosen to serve for 30 years. During that time, they had to remain chaste. Punishments for infractions of their rules were severe, including lashing, pouring molten lead down their throats, and burying them alive. (Certainly an incentive to obey the rules!) After their service, they were allowed to marry, but usually didn’t because it was considered bad luck to do so after being consecrated to Vesta. When the Roman Empire fell, many blamed it on the conversion to Christianity and forsaking the old gods.

The Coliseum was built for entertaining palace guests. There is as much of the Coliseum below ground as above. The foundations are 40 feet deep and 10 feet wide to support the weight of the building. There was a point at which the government could no longer afford the upkeep for the Coliseum, so it was shut down around 500 A.D. and used for simple housing–no more than a room with walls, a ceiling, and a door. During this time, Rome’s population decreased from 1,000,000 to 25,000.

There were two stages for performing in the Coliseum, so two performances could occur simultaneously. Four tunnels provided access to the Coliseum from different points. One tunnel connected the palace to the Coliseum for the Emperor’s convenience. The Coliseum had 24 elevators, operated by over 200 slaves turning wheels to operate pulleys. The entrances were numbered, just like today’s stadiums, and some of the gate numbers were still visible. Our guide pointed out entrance IIII. At that time, IIII was the Roman numeral for 4. It is now written as IV.

Part of the Coliseum has been restored, and work is progressing on other parts. Some of the restored central arena is now used for concerts. (Steven Tyler performed in the Coliseum in 2017.)

Mussolini tore down much of the Forum, the Palace, and the Coliseum because he wanted to build a road for his military parades. He then built a palace for himself on Palatine Hill. People disparagingly called it “the square Coliseum.”

There is a saying that “all roads lead to Rome,” but our guide said it should be the other way around: “All roads begin in Rome.” Rome was considered to be the center of civilization, and there is a marker on Palatine Hill to indicate the center of Rome (cf the first paragraph, above). Markers were placed on Roman roads throughout the entire Roman Empire to indicate the distance from the marker to the center of Rome. Many of those roads still exist, including the Appian Way, ancient Rome’s most important military and economic artery.

Mythbusters: (1) Ben Hur’s chariot race did not take place in the Coliseum. The races were held in the Circus Maximus in the valley between Palatine Hill and Aventine Hill, an area that could seat 250,000 people. (2) Gladiators did not fight to the death. It was expensive to train and outfit gladiators, so they were not supposed to kill each other. Their contests were more like today’s wrestling.

Tonight: Another classic Italian meal–spaghetti. We topped it off with the best cheesecake we’ve ever had. It made Cheesecake Factory look like a beginner.

Ted’s and my Vatican Tour was actually three tours in one: the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. That’s too much to cover in a single blog post, so here are parts two and three.

Sistine Chapel

The second part of our tour was the Sistine Chapel, and I’m sad to say that I was disappointed in it. There was a minor religious service in progress when we (and many other tourists) entered the chapel and we were cautioned by our tour guide to remain silent and respectful. The spoiler of the situation was the security guards in the chapel who were constantly shouting “Get over to the right,” “Keep moving,” and other instructions to the visitors. They showed no respect for the service or the setting at all and, in fact, detracted greatly from it.

Although the guards did their best to ruin a respectful atmosphere, I couldn’t help but marvel at the paintings in the chapel. The biggest surprise? Like the Mona Lisa, it was smaller than I had expected it to be. It’s a chapel, not a cathedral, but still–I thought the painting panels on the ceiling would be larger. People say “It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling” as though less time would have been preferable. In spite of it’s surprisingly (to me) small size, I’m amazed he could finish the job in only four years. The walls of the chapel tell the stories of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations–the Old Testament on one side and the New Testament on the other. No photography was allowed, but I found some photos online to include here.

Michelangelo’s contributions to the chapel paintings are the ceiling and the altar wall. The ceiling is divided into scenes from the Book of Genesis, including The Creation of the World, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve, and The Story of Noah. Of course, the center panel, The Creation of Adam, is the most well-known, with the hands of God and Adam. Take a moment to marvel at how Michelangelo found such a perfect way to depict the event of Creation–an event that still cannot be adequately described.

Twenty-five years after completing the chapel ceiling, Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the altar wall. Titled The Last Judgment, it is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final judgment by God of all humanity. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates as judged by Jesus Christ, who is surrounded by prominent saints. Altogether there are over 300 figures in the painting. (Ed. note: The Sistine Chapel walls overtly depict Christian doctrine and humanity’s need for salvation as offered by God through Jesus, but some experts, including a Vatican art historian, have also noted “concealed” and “forbidden” subject matter in the paintings.)

St. Peter’s Basilica

St. Peter’s Basilica was the last part of our tour. It is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest Catholic church in the world. It covers almost six acres and took 219 years to build. Beneath the Basilica, 201 popes are buried. In Rome, no building may stand higher than St. Peter’s. Its size is intended to show that God is the greatest and St. Peter is his most important apostle. Only the Pope conducts services in St. Peters.

Michelangelo’s Pieta is carved from a single piece of marble and was commissioned for a cardinal’s funeral. It was first housed in a mausoleum near St. Peter’s Basilica, but was moved to its current location in the Basilica in the 18th century. Michelangelo sculpted this piece at the age of 24, and many people didn’t believe it was his work. When he overheard someone attribute the Pieta to another artist, he sneaked into the mausoleum and carved his name into Mary’s sash. He later regretted his vanity and vowed to never sign another piece of his art. This sculpture of Mary holding her dead son, Jesus, was the most moving thing I saw on our entire trip. It brings tears to my eyes, even when I look at my picture of it.

After today’s tour of the Vatican, I have four words of wisdom to share: Skip the line tickets. The Vatican has 20,000-30,000 visitors each day. Unbelievable! Our skip the line tickets allowed our tour guide to take us immediately into the Vatican for our tour. In addition to saving time, this kept us cooler because we didn’t have to wait in line outside. The Vatican is crowded with visitors, it is not air-conditioned, and Rome is hot in the summer–especially during a heat wave like Ted and I are experiencing on this trip.

The Swiss Guard is an honor guard that protects the Pope. Since the failed assassination of Pope John II in 1981, a much stronger emphasis has been placed on the Guard’s non-ceremonial roles. They now complete advanced training in unarmed combat and small arms. Members of the Guard must be unmarried Swiss Catholic males between the ages of 19-30, and must have completed Basic Training with the Swiss Armed Forces.

The Vatican museums contain one of the most important art collections in the world. The collection includes roughly 70,000 works of art, with 20,000 pieces on display. The four Raphael Rooms comprise a suite of reception rooms in the palace (the public part of the Vatican), and are famous for their frescoes that were painted by Raphael and students in his workshop.

The Gallery of Tapestries and Geological Maps is a highlight of the Vatican museums. There is a series of tapestries on one wall depicting stories of Christ’s life, beginning with his birth and ending with his resurrection. Maps of all the known continents were on display, as well as some of specific countries and regions.

Our Vatican Tour isn’t over, but there’s too much to include in a single blog post. There’s more coming.

Before leaving home, Ted and I scheduled a city tour of Rome. Since this is our first visit to Rome, we thought it would be a good idea to get an overview of the city before we started trekking around on our own. The tour included the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, which we saw yesterday, as well as the Pantheon, the original capitol building, and the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs.

The Pantheon is the only ancient Roman building that has remained nearly intact through the centuries. It has the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. A circular opening in the dome known as the oculus (about 30 feet across) has several purposes. (1) It is the only source of light in the Pantheon; (2) it lightens the weight of the dome to avoid collapse; (3) it allows worshipers to contemplate the heavens (probably during boring sermons); and (4) it helps cool the building during the hot Roman summers by allowing rising heat to escape. There is speculation that the oculus also served as a sundial. Because the oculus is an open hole, when it rains, it also rains in the Pantheon. To deal with this, the floor is slightly convex so the water flows away from the center into an effective drainage system.

Our next stop was the capitol square. The original Capitol building and the square were designed by Michelangelo, who also created the paintings and sculptures in the buildings and the plaza. It’s hard to picture him as a contemporary architect/artist who was in demand, rather than as an extremely gifted historic genius.

I found an online copy of Michelangelo’s plan for the Capitoline Hill complex that shows the spiraling pavement design and the entire square.

Our guide described our final stop as an unexpected treat. The church of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it was designed by Michelangelo, and that makes all the difference.

It’s really hot in Rome, so Ted and I walked to the Medici Palace (also near our hotel) and sat in a shady park across the street from it for awhile. We had a very nice overview of the city and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Dinner tonight was another Italian classic: pizza!

The hotel Ted and I stayed in during our visit to Rome was . . . different. It was called The Art. The first odd thing we noticed were the pods in the lobby (one is behind the pillar) that served as a check-in desk and a concierge desk. (A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, . . .) Check out the lobby chandeliers too.

We couldn’t help noticing the next unusual feature. It was eye-boggling when the elevator door opened. Having the room numbers printed on the floor instead of on or beside the door was not the major eye-popper.

Then there was the artwork scattered throughout The Art. I included pictures of a few items below. Very ultra-modern. The hotel is located in an area of art shops and museums. If I knew more about art, I’d probably know the name of the art style. Readers, help me if you can.

The decor was a surprise (especially the bright green hallway!), but the hotel was nice. At breakfast one morning, we heard a grandmother ask her grandson if he liked this hotel or their last one better. He didn’t hesitate. He said the other one was good, but this one is better because they have waffles and bacon for breakfast. Food. That’s what’s important to a ten-year-old in a hotel, right?

Today, Ted and I flew from Geneva to Rome and checked into our hotel in the mid-afternoon. We immediately went back outside to do some sightseeing. As soon as we walked out of the hotel, we thought, “We’re in Italy!” because it definitely looked Italian.

Our hotel was about a five-minute walk from the Spanish Steps, so we headed in that direction. Of course, we climbed the 132 steps to the top. The steps are grouped in 12s to represent the Apostles, but that would only be 11 x 12. Does Judas not count? Do the groups of 12 represent how many Apostles there were, but one set is left out because Judas betrayed Christ? Or doesn’t the grouping mean anything? I don’t know; we just enjoyed the experience and the view.

The Trevi Fountain was only another half-mile, so we continued onward. We thought the Spanish Steps had a large crowd, but we hadn’t seen anything until we got to the Trevi Fountain. We had to wiggle and squeeze our way to (near) the front to see the water in the fountain and to take some pictures.

We saw a lot of good-looking gelato as we walked around and had to buy some. It’s Italian gelato–a must-have in Italy.

There were a lot of military camo jeep-type vehicles as well as military and local police with assault rifles everywhere we went. I asked about it and was told it’s just the kind of post-9/11 security that’s now needed wherever large crowds gather.

We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant recommended by the hotel concierge and then walked around some more. We sat in the plaza at the Quirinale (police station/jail) and just people-watched for awhile in the warm night air before going back to our hotel.

Geneva is a very international city and is the headquarters for numerous international organizations, among them the Red Cross and the United Nations. Switzerland’s neutrality also makes it an inviting location for nations to discuss international issues with each other, so diplomats abound in the city. On a literary note, the Villa Diodati, set on the shore of Lake Geneva, was once a favored destination for traveling literary giants. One stormy summer night in 1816, Mary Shelley was staying at the villa and was inspired to write Frankenstein.

Geneva has a long tradition of watch-making. Throughout Switzerland, there are more stores selling watches than I’ve ever seen. There might be more watch stores in Switzerland than there are Walgreen’s, CVSs, and Wal-Marts combined in the U.S. I thought watches were going out of style in favor of cell phones, but our guide told us that, in Switzerland, even if you don’t look at your watch, you wear it for decoration. My favorite watch-makers’ slogan is that of Patek-Philippe: “You never really own a Patek-Philippe. You just care for it for the next generation.”

The English Garden in downtown Geneva features the L’horloge fleurie, a clock made of 65,000 flowers and plants, created as a symbol of Geneva’s watch-making tradition.

In 1859, Henry Dunant, a young Swiss man, came upon 40,000 dead or dying men following a bloody battle between imperial Austria and the Franco-Sardinian alliance. He organized local people to bind wounds and to feed and comfort the soldiers. Afterward, he called for national relief societies to care for those wounded in wars. In 1863, Dunant and four other Geneva men set up the organization that later became the International Committee of the Red Cross. They chose the inverted Swiss flag as their emblem. The following year, twelve governments adopted the first Geneva Convention, offering neutral medical services on the battlefield. Today, Ted and I toured the Red Cross Museum.

At the United Nations headquarters building, a forty-foot tall chair stands in front of the building. The chair has a broken leg to represent those who have lost limbs due to land mines. It makes a powerful statement. This was supposed to be a temporary exhibit, but the people of Geneva voted to make it permanent.

That was the end of our official touring. It was a heavy morning, so it was time to do something more lighthearted. Ted and I got on a bus and headed for the train station. The concierge told us the main train station includes a large shopping mall in which we could find the best chocolatier in town. Mm-mm, let’s go!

On our way from Zermatt to Geneva, we stopped at a winery for lunch. The tour of the winery was basic: the vineyards are on the hillside; here’s the cellar; there is wine in these casks. To make up for what the tour lacked, we had a beautiful view of Lake Geneva and four delicious wines to taste with our food on a beautiful summer day

Then it was on to two days in Geneva, located at the foot of the French Alps. Snowcapped mountains are visible from the city year-round. Geneva’s iconic symbol, the Jet d’Eau, was originally built in 1886 to control and release the excess water pressure of a nearby hydraulic plant. Over time, it became a symbol of the city, so it was amplified and relocated more centrally in Lake Geneva. It is one of the tallest fountains in the world, shooting water up to 460 feet in the air. It takes 15 seconds for a drop of water to fall from the top of the plume to the surface of the lake. Really. You can watch a spot of spray and count one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, all the way up to fifteen-Mississippi while you watch it fall.

During the Protestant Reformation, Geneva was the center of Calvinism. The University of Geneva was founded by John Calvin. The Reformation Wall was built on the grounds of the university to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Calvin’s birth and the 350th anniversary of the university. It is built into the old city wall to represent the fortification’s importance to the Reformation, and it honors many of the main individuals, events, and documents of the Reformation with statues and bas-reliefs. One of the Calvinist themes was “After darkness, comes light.”

On the other side of the Reformation Wall, under the street lights you can see in the above photos, is the longest park bench in the world. It is as long as 180 regular-sized park benches. The bench extends far beyond what my photo shows.

The Protestants eschewed elaborately decorated places of worship, so they stripped the Roman Catholic churches of decoration and created simpler, plainer interiors. In Switzerland, there is an optional one percent religious tax. Most people pay it for the tax benefit, so the Swiss churches tend to be well funded.

The original Geneva City Hall had some slanted floors to allow horses to pull carriages and drays into the building for unloading.

The paintings on the wall in the photo below represent three phases of Geneva’s history. The left panel depicts Geneva flourishing after the arrival of Ceasar. The middle panel shows markets from the Middle Ages. The right panel pictures the arrival of the Huegenots, French Protestants who were persecuted by the French Catholic government for following the teachings of John Calvin. The paintings are so elaborate, I wouldn’t have known what they were if the guide hadn’t told us.

Our cruise ended in Basel on July 29, but there was an option to continue with the cruise company (Viking) on an “extension” to Switzerland, and Ted and I chose to do it. All of our activities in Switzerland were part of the cruise extension. For our last two nights, Viking booked us in a five-star hotel. I really liked the interior decorating. You have to admire this table made of logs and the wall-size wooden world map. A bookcase blocked my camera’s view of the full map.

Zermatt is accessible only by train and there are no gasoline-powered vehicles in the city, so electric vehicles serve transportation needs. Overall, the city reminded Ted and me of Banff–a high-end ski and hiking resort.

We had some time to walk around the town. It’s a small town, so it didn’t take long.

The main street (above) was so packed with people, it was difficult to get through after 5:00 p.m. (Note: I took this picture in mid-afternoon. The evening crowd had not yet begun to gather.) Why was the crowd so big? Because it’s August 1, Swiss National Day. This is the day that commemorates the Swiss Federal Charter of 1291, the founding document of Switzerland. It’s like our Fourth of July celebration. Sidewalk food vendors lined both sides of the main street from end to end (about a half mile) and there were varieties of live music all along the way. The crowds thinned after 10:00 p.m., but those remaining were rowdier. You know what I mean.

Official acts of celebration included a goat parade in mid-afternoon, complete with bells on the goats and goatherders. (How Heidi-like!) The alpine descent of cows and goats is one of the most iconic traditions in Switzerland, so it’s part of Swiss National Day. We were still coming down from the Gornergrat at that time, so we missed the goat parade. At 10:00 p.m., all the church bells in the city rang for 15 minutes. That was really beautiful. I wish we’d do that in the U.S. on the Fourth of July. Following the bell-ringing, bonfires were lit on the mountainside above the city. They burned for about ten minutes and then were extinguished. The bonfires are lit on elevated spots, to commemorate the expulsion of foreign bailiffs in the 14th century, the news of which was spread by bonfires in those days.

And then it was time for fireworks, also launched from the mountainside. There were a lot and they lasted a long time–at least a half hour. Zermatt put on a good show. Now Ted and I have celebrated Bastille Day in Paris and National Day in Switzerland. The fun never ends!

This morning, Ted and I rode Europe’s first electric cog-wheel train upward 5,000 feet from Zermatt to the 10,135-foot top of Gornergrat, a rocky ridge in the Pennine Alps. From the summit of the ridge, there is a 360-degree view of 29 Alpine peaks standing more than 13,000 feet high, including the 14,692-foot-high Matterhorn. (Ed. note: Darn! I didn’t even think of taking a panoramic photo!)

The weather couldn’t have been better. It was clear, calm, and warm. One man in our group said his parents have been here three times and have never seen the Matterhorn because of the weather. We’d expected this to be the coldest day of our European trip, but Europe’s heat wave continued and we eventually removed even our light jackets. The views were beyond words.

We climbed to the top of the ridge (about 200 feet up a rocky slope) to get these views.

Here’s the Gorner Glacier, Europe’s second-largest glacier.

The Matterhorn is a “paramount ambassador” of global awareness of plastic waste, so there were some displays to call attention to the problem. The granular plastic is approximately a cubic meter of plastic. It represents the annual share of plastic waste for each individual on earth, so multiply this by 7.67 billion people–the 2019 world population–every year. The other plastic display is meant to call attention to the widespread litter of plastic. If each person’s share of the plastic granules was made into plastic bottles strung end-to-end, the string would circle the globe 1.5 billion times.

When Ted and I are in the Rockies, we always marvel that bicycle riders bike uphill and go downhill in a van. Today, the hikers and bikers we saw rode the train to the top, then hiked/biked down to Zermatt. We were technically on our own after we arrived at the top, but our guide said she was going to hike down two train stops for lunch at a hotel and she invited us to join her. Eight of us did. First, we hiked to “the lake.” It didn’t look like much from above, but it was awesome when we reached the lake level.

Our waitress was a climber and has climbed the Matterhorn many times. We asked her how long it takes to reach the summit and she asked, “For me or for regular people?” She can climb it in 3.25 hours; most people do it in about 4.5 hours. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see a footpath in the snow on the right (north) side of the mountain at nearly the top of the snow line. It looks like a dark horizontal line in the snow. The view of the footpath is blocked by a rocky ridge in the right center of the picture. There is a hut behind the ridge. The waitress’s climbing times begin at that hut.

During the next hour, on our way down to the next train station, we had another beautiful view of the Matterhorn. What a day!

Today’s excursion was a six-hour journey described as “the most scenic train trip in the Alps” on “the slowest express train in the world.” I’m just going to use the description provided to us, because I can’t describe it better. The trip “spans dramatic aqueducts that cross plunging gorges, remarkable tunnels [including the longest railroad tunnel in the world] that bore through hillsides and some of the most inspiring alpine landscapes you are ever likely to see.” We crossed 291 bridges and went through 91 tunnels as we traveled through the Rhine Gorge, the Grand Canyon of Switzerland, and crossed the Oberalp Pass at 6,670 feet to St. Moritz and the Upper Engadine lake district. The Glacier Express was an elaborate engineering project that took decades. When it was completed in 1930, it became possible for everyday travelers (like us) to see some remote areas of the Alps. We boarded the train in Chur, had lunch onboard, and arrived at our destination–Zermatt–in time for dinner.

At the Chur train station, the train arrived from our right. People rushed to climb onboard and grab seats facing left so they could look forward as the train moved. Ted and I have a philosophy about mass transit: no matter what you pay for your seat or where you sit, everyone takes the same route to the same place. We waited in line for our turn to board and, naturally, all the left-facing seats were filled, so we took a seat that faced “backward”–just like half the passengers. When we left the station, the train reversed directions and all the people who hurried to sit facing forward ended up riding backward! Patience sometimes has its rewards.

It was a cloudy day, but there’s nothing you can do about the weather. The scenery was still beautiful. It was difficult to take good pictures through the train’s huge observation windows because there was a lot of reflection. but that’s life. Now, here come the pictures.

We’re ready to ride the Glacier Express.

The scenery was beautiful, even with the clouds–except when we traveled through the clouds.

Somewhere along the way, it was lunchtime.

Some of the tunnels were really long. Perhaps even boring for some people. Note the photographer in the window reflection.

About halfway through the trip, when we emerged from one of the tunnels, this is what we saw. Everyone on the train cheered for the sunshine.

When you have to cross a gorge, you need a pedestrian bridge–and some brave pedestrians to use it.

Our hotel in Zermatt was a short walk from the train station. When we crossed the street from the station, our guide told us to turn around. This is what we saw. Definitely an ooh-aah.

At about 1,200 feet elevation, Zürich is lower than yesterday’s 6,762-foot-high Kleine Scheidegg pass. As a result, Zürich gets some snow that covers roofs and grass, but the streets usually stay clear in the winter. We learned that Switzerland has no raw materials except salt, so everything else must be imported. Salt is available because the land was once covered by sea water. Switzerland has a very high standard of living. It is a world financial center, and most people rent their housing from a bank or from an insurance company, spending about half of their salaries on rent. It is very expensive to live in Switzerland, but salaries are high and unemployment is under three percent. Example: The Swiss franc is nearly equal in value to the U.S. dollar. Ted and I bought two beers and a hamburger to share for 49CHf (Swiss francs).

We took a cruise on the city’s namesake lake and learned that Zürichers love water. Lake Zürich is 25 miles long, 2 miles wide, and 450 feet deep. It doesn’t freeze, and its shoreline must be shallow because it’s usually about 77 degrees in the summer–warm enough for lots of swimming. The west coast of the lake is called the “cold coast”; the east coast is called the “gold coast.” These are not economic distinctions. The gold coast receives more warm (golden) sunshine, while the cold coast falls in the shade of the mountains.

The water in Lake Zürich is very clean. Workers in Zürich often spend their lunch time at the lake, swimming or just relaxing. There are a number of swim events in the city each year. For the December Santa Claus swim, people swim across the much narrower Limmat River in Santa Claus caps. The summer swim across the lake attracted approximately 7,000 people this year. Sometimes, people swim across the lake just because it’s there. They wear yellow swim caps so they can be seen (and not hit) by boaters. No jet skis are allowed on the lake–only small motorboats and rowboats.

Our tour guide told us that taxis are so expensive and buses are so easy to use and so inexpensive, that no one takes a taxi in Zürich unless they are drunk. In fact, if someone takes a taxi, friends ask, “Were you drunk?” (We saw some people at our hotel getting into a taxi. Since they didn’t appear to be drunk, we assumed they were naive tourists.)

After our guided cruise and walking tour, Ted and I did some more walking on our own. We took a bus from our hotel to Zürich’s Old Town, the city’s core that was once enclosed by walls.

We found lots of good food while we were walking around the city.

Our destination today was the Alps in CH. Where??? I wondered why CH is the abbreviation for Switzerland. Thankfully (sarcasm here), Google had the answer. When it was part of the Roman Empire, “Helvetia” was the name of the region now known as Switzerland. The area was divided into canons, three of which united to form a confederation in 1291. Confoederation Helvetica is the Latin form of Swiss Confederation, thus the country’s abbreviation is CH. Now that we’ve answered that question, we can move on to our activities in CH today.

It was a cloudy, drizzly day, but Ted and I were on a schedule, because we’d already paid to take a train ride called “Highlights of the Alps,” so that’s what we did. The day’s journey began with a bus ride from Basel to Interlaken. One review of Interlaken mentions that it’s worth visiting for a day, and that you can easily stroll the entire city within an hour. Interlaken used to be advertised as a spa town to cure ailments; today, it lures hikers who want to climb to the nearby mountain summits. I think it would have been prettier on a sunny day.

We got back on the bus and headed for Grindelwald, where we boarded a cogwheel train that took us to Kleine Scheidegg, described as a “breathtaking mountain pass with stunning mountain views.” The pass is 6,762 feet high. The views, however, were less than stunning because, as the train climbed higher, we moved into the clouds.

We had a traditional, delicious Swiss lunch at the pass. As our guide was describing what we’d be doing and seeing while we paused at the pass, he nicely segued into an unplanned event. A young man in our group went down on his knee and proposed. She said “yes.”

We took the cogwheel train back down to Grindelwald, got back on the bus, and headed for Brienz, a small town known for its woodworking.

After enjoying some time in Brienz, we boarded the bus one more time and went to Zürich, our final destination of the day.

On our way to Heidelberg, we passed Mannheim. It looked like an industrial, not an artistic, city but the Mannheim School of classical music composers had a far-reaching effect. One of the things the school did was establish the number of musicians and the number of each type of instrument in an orchestra. These numbers are now used around the world as standard. The Mannheim School also introduced grace notes to musical composition and a three-note sequence (da-da-DUP’) referred to as the Mannheim roller. A dramatic effect introduced by the Mannheim School is the Grand Pause, where playing stops for a moment, resulting in total silence, only to restart vigorously.

And then it was on to Heidelberg. Before I insert pictures of Heidelberg, see if you agree that our tour guide brings Mary Poppins to mind.

Another trivia fact: Dueling is still allowed in Germany, but combatants must be 18 years of age and are required to wear face and neck protection. It’s not like the old days.

Our first port of call today was Worms, Germany, the city in which Martin Luther was declared a heretic for his religious beliefs. Luther was given the opportunity to recant his theses. His response was that some of his theses had been adopted by the Church, therefore it made no sense to recant them. Other theses were his questions and opinions, which he had the right to voice, so there was no reason to recant those. The remaining theses questioned the Church, and Luther expressed a willingness to recant them if the Church proved him to be Biblically in error. He was convicted and excommunicated–except in Saxony, where he lived. Scholars believe this was a political deal made between the Church and the government. After his trial, Luther married a runaway nun. They had six children and adopted four more, and he continued to teach at Wittenberg University.

Question: What do these two men have in common? Answer: They both made printing history. But first, a look at Mainz, Germany.

Our guide began by telling us that Germans are taught to be punctual. In fact, there’s a saying they use for guidance: Early is on time; on time is late; late is left. These guidelines are then fine-tuned. For example, ten minutes early is perfect; thirty minutes early is too much. There’s nothing productive you or the people you’re meeting can do with an extra thirty minutes, so it’s time wasted. Our guide was time-precise as well. She announced that we would walk for twelve minutes and then she would speak for four-and-a-half minutes. As one man near me remarked, “The French trains are faster, but the German trains run on time.” And so, we promptly set off on our city tour.

After touring the Old City, we went to the Gutenberg Museum, which was founded in 1900, five hundred years after Gutenberg’s birth. As we all know, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type, making mechanized book printing possible. He also invented a way to print designs in color to enhance the pages of black print. We toured the museum and were admitted to the room in which three copies of the Gutenberg Bible were on display. (No photos allowed in that room.) Naturally, the docent came in exactly fifteen minutes after we entered and suggested that our guide move on, since the next group was ready to view the display.

We also visited a room in which there was a replica of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. The guide explained how it worked and then asked Ted to assist her.

Our guide was good at finding shady places for us to stop while she told us about Mainz, but the high temperature this afternoon was 103 degrees, so it felt good to return to the air-conditioned ship.

Tonight’s lounge game was music trivia. We thought we had a good team put together, with several of us feeling very strong about recognizing songs and artists from a variety of decades. Unfortunately, the questions weren’t that simple. We had to know more detailed things. What does ABBA stand for? What was Freddy Mercury’s real name? Where was CCR from? How many Village People were there? How many actual von Trapp children were there? Teams received extra points if team members danced to the music played for each question, so lots of people danced–including Ted and me. I think I can say with assurance that a good time was had by all.

The Middle Rhine gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with historic villages, castles, and vineyards set in spectacular scenery.

When we cruised the Middle Rhine in 2015, it was a cool, cloudy day. We sat on the upper deck of the ship wearing jeans and jackets, with deck blankets over our legs. Today, it was so hot that no one (not a single person) sat on the outside decks. We all enjoyed the scenery from behind the large windows in the ship’s air conditioned lounge.

We had an interesting three-hour walk around the city of Koblenz this morning.

There is also a story in Koblenz about the Peppermint Lady, but my picture of her statue didn’t turn out. It was well known that she liked her schnapps; however, she couldn’t always afford to pay for both her schnapps and her rent, so she started selling peppermint in the bars. Men would stop at the bars for a beer after work, then buy the Peppermint Lady’s candies to cover the smell of beer on their breath before going home. This made it possible for the Peppermint Lady to pay her rent and to also keep buying her schnapps.

There are a lot of vineyards along the Moselle River in Germany, and most of them are planted in vertical rows. This allows cool air to flow downward, protecting the grapes from early frosts. Another reason for the vertical rows is to make it easier to move harvesting equipment up the steep hills to the tops of the vineyards. Over eighty percent of the vineyards along the river are harvested by hand.

This was the longest day of travel for the cruise. After a long bus ride from Paris to Trier, Germany, we had a full dinner onboard the ship. Unfortunately, the after-dinner entertainment featured a father-son duo on violin and piano. They were very skilled musicians, but it would have been a challenge for anyone to entertain a group of 100+ tired people who just finished a big meal. The two men played very slow songs, and not even Strauss’s “Blue Danube” made us want to sway in our seats. I counted eight people near me sleeping through the music. Zzzzzzzzzzz. . . .

Since July 14, we’ve had some really warm weather in Europe.  Before that, London and Paris were 85-90 degrees, but it keeps getting warmer.  In the past three days, our high temperatures in Luxembourg and Germany have been 100, 102, and 103 degrees.  In contrast, on our previous visit to Germany during the first week of August 2015, it was much cooler.  We wore jeans and jackets, and put deck blankets over our legs when we sat outside on the cruise ship.

We should have packed more shorts.

Until Ted and I saw the option to visit the American Cemetery near Luxembourg City, we didn’t know it was there. Well, we learned that no matter what others might say, Luxembourgers are grateful to the United States and have only good things to say about our country and its people. Our tour guide repeatedly told us the United States saved Luxembourg during World War II. She might be a stronger American patriot than many U.S. citizens.

Do you know anyone who’s been to Luxembourg? If not, you do now because Ted and I have been there. Luxembourg City, the capital, is described as “one of Europe’s most intimate and compact cities.” (Translation: small town.)

This is our last night in Paris. Tomorrow, we’ll be taking a bus to Trier, Germany, where we’ll begin the river cruise portion of our trip with a stop in Luxembourg City on the way.

We arrived at our hotel a few minutes before midnight following the cabaret show. The Eiffel Tower grounds border the hotel grounds and, at midnight, the Eiffel Tower was lit with twinkling lights from top to bottom for three minutes. It looked magical, and it was a beautiful way to say good-night and au revoir to Paris.

Tonight’s entertainment was dinner and a show at Paradis Latin, a Paris cabaret. As Ted said, if you’re going to a cabaret, you might as well do it where it started–in Paris. Paradis Latin is the oldest cabaret in Paris (older than the Moulin Rouge) and is in the same neighborhood as Le Protrope, our anniversary dinner restaurant–the oldest restaurant in Paris. Paradis Latin burned down and was rebuilt by Gustave Eiffel during the same period in which he was building his famous tower.

The dinner was a delicious three courses, and there was a show during the dinner. We were allowed to take pictures during the dinner show, but not during the after-dinner show.

The after-dinner show was amazing (and “unbridled,” according to the playbill), but what happens at the cabaret, stays at the cabaret. Yes, they performed the “showstopping” (also in the playbill) French cancan. And that’s all we have to say about that (cf Forrest Gump). Except for our new code words: “Ok?” “Ok.”

Today, Ted and I went to Versailles, another place near Paris we didn’t have time to see on our 2016 visit to the city. Versailles started as a small hunting lodge for the king. It was enlarged by each of its three resident kings–most famously Louis XIV, the “Sun King”–and its opulence became the model for future European palaces. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our guide shared two very human stories about Versailles’ history. First, Louis XIV, France’s longest reigning monarch (72 years) waged many wars. By the time he died, the country was tired of war (and broke). If a king isn’t waging war, he has time to make babies so, not surprisingly, Louis XV had 10 children–he made love, not war. Unfortunately, only one of his children survived.

The second story was about Marie Antoinette, and portrays her in a sympathetic way. She was only 14 when she married 15-year-old Louis XVI, and she was only 19 when she became queen. As a result, she was more naive than heartless when she reportedly said that if there was no bread for the people, “let them eat cake.” She and Louis XVI did not have children for a number of years. In fact, pundits were asking “Can the king do it?” Eventually, they had four children, although one infant died. Marie Antoinette was a very good mother, and cared deeply about her children. The portrait pictured below shows her with her three living children and an empty cradle to symbolize the child who died.

It was good to get back to our air-conditioned hotel, but the opportunity to see Versaille was worth the time. Tonight, it’s party time!

We began our visit to Paris at the Cambon Hotel. We stayed there last time and liked it so much, we decided on that visit to come back for our 50^th anniversary.  The Cambon is across the street from the Tuileries, a few blocks from the Champs Élysées, less than a mile from the Louvre, and just a little farther to Notre Dame.  In other words, very convenient for places we wanted to visit.  Our pre-cruise extension, however, began today at a hotel right beside the Eiffel Tower, several miles from the Cambon, so we transferred to that hotel this morning.  That put us exactly where we needed to be to visit some other Paris sights and to be handy for the bus pick-ups for our cruise-organized activities in Paris.

Today, Ted and I had lunch at a Parisian café we enjoyed on our last visit.  The waitress said we looked so “cute,” that she should take our picture.  Cute?  Not an adjective I’d use to describe us, but the result was quite nice.

As usual, we spent our afternoon walking—but not as far as yesterday—maybe only nine miles.  We found the Moulin Rouge (translation, “red mill“) behind road construction fences.

To the right of the Moulin Rouge, we saw a lovely promenade, so we walked a mile or more on the promenade, then sat down on a park bench and had a short conversation with a Parisian man who was also relaxing in the shade.

We needed to get back to our hotel early because this was the night of our anniversary dinner in Paris.  About a month ago, our travel agent contacted the hotel concierge for restaurant suggestions.  We checked out his suggestions online and selected Le Procope, the oldest restaurant in Paris.  The concierge made reservations in advance for us for this evening. 

The restaurant was founded in 1686 in the St. Germain district of Paris.  It was very charming and the food, of course, was delicious.  We’re convinced there is no such thing as bad food in Paris.

To honor its history, the restaurant has several menu items that are made from its original recipes.  We chose the ancient lemon meringue pie for our dessert.  It looks like marshmallows on top, but that’s the meringue.  It was baked to the crispness of a melt-in-your-mouth schaum torte meringue with a lemon filling and a very flaky crust.

When we returned to our hotel, there was a surprise for us in our room.  Our travel agent mentioned to the concierge that we were celebrating our 50^th anniversary at Le Procope.  Given this information, the front desk staff chose to help us celebrate by placing a bottle of wine, a corkscrew, two glasses, and a lovely note in our room.  The language barrier might have been the reason for subtracting ten years, but it didn’t change the thought. 

We had a lovely anniversary celebration in Paris, our favorite city.