Stockholm

On Easter Monday we flew to Stockholm for a five-day stay there. I’d only been to Gothenburg in Sweden (with the St. Olaf Orchestra fifty years ago) so I was glad we could see this great city. Our hotel was just one block off the shopping street where the terrible truck attack had happened on 7 April, and on Easter Monday there had been a special memorial in the cathedral. So once again there were flowers everywhere along the way. It was powerful to see the continued outpouring of real strength and unity by the Swedish people. Very impressive.

We looked around our neighborhood, found some good fika in an espresso place, and checked out some possibilities for dinner later in the week. Fika is the lovely Swedish practice of coffee and pastries any time of the day!  In the evening we found some Swedish food very near our hotel and had a simple dinner.

On Tuesday we headed out to see things. We had fabric stores to find and good recommendations of things to see from our friends Ann and Peter Cohan and John and Lynn Williams who have all spent a lot of time in Stockholm. We started out to go to the City Hall and never got there. (We had two more attempts as well! Another trip.) We went to the Palace and did a tour of that and then stopped for fika. It was good that we stopped, as its was starting to snow in earnest. We enjoyed our fika at a good café call Grillsta Huset in Gamla Stan. It was very good. We spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the Gamla Stan neighborhood, which is Stockholm’s old town.

 We finished the day at a terrific restaurant called Knut - amazing cooking with an emphasis on food from the north of Sweden. Larry’s starter was divine nettle soup!

Wednesday we completed our palace tours with a walk through treasury. Then we went to the Changing of the Guard at the Palace. It was as good as Buckingham Palace with a little more initimate setting! The band a was very good and had a little concert in the middle that included an arrangement of Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling which had the audience (and the band) swinging and swaying!

We went for fika again at Grillska Huset, and the walked again through Gamla Stan and found a couple beautiful things to buy. We then headed off to the Södermalm neighborhood to a fabric store and a coffee shop. The fabric store was amazing and huge with lots of clerks and customers.

The coffee shop, called Drop, was very good indeed.

We checked out some things for dinner and ended up back in Gamla Stan at a long-standing café called Marten Trozit and once again had an excellent meal.

Thursday was a real treat. John and Lynn Williams had connected us with their friends Anders Bodén and Ingrid Backmark. They joined us for the whole day. We went to Skansen, the open air museum (the first of it’s kind in the world) and enjoyed it very much.

Sami Storage House at Skansen

A very clever Swedish Brown Bear

Ingrid and Anders confer over coffee.

After a nice fika there, we went to the Vasa Museum, which was amazing. Nothing like an exciting story of a failure from the 16th century to make for an extremely interesting time!

The Vasa

  When we left the Vasa, we had time (in the cold and rain) to indulge in the Swedish street tradition of Korv - hot dogs! Very tasty. The wind and rain were really picking up now, so Anders and Ingrid took us back to their home. Here we all are waiting for the tram:

They have recently - two months ago - moved out of a house where they lived for 32 years and into a condominium. It was very nice, and they fed us with a traditional Swedish meal. That also included snaps (schnapps) and lot of skoals! It was just a wonderful day, and their hospitality to strangers was amazing and beautiful We so enjoyed their company.

On Friday we did a little more shopping (chocolate, fabric, and Gudrun Sjöden). At 2 p.m. we went on a four hour food tour that Michlle had arranged ahead of time. It was really good. We went to all kinds of local purveyors and enjoyed significant tastes of what they serve. Our guide Gunnila was exceptional. If you are in Stockholm we really recommend this: www.foodtoursstockholm.se/en/

London

            O, To be in England                
            Now that April 's there,   
            And whoever wakes in England   
            Sees, some morning, unaware,   
            That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf            
            Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,   
            While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough   
            In England—now!

The opening of Robert Browning’s Home Thoughts from Abroad was our experience last week in London. It was rather cold and damp, but spring was definitely locked in wherever we turned. Browning was having a pretty good time living in Italy when he penned these poignant words, but his nostalgia for the homeland is truly understandable!
                               
Larry and I are traveling with my cousins Sharon and Michelle Stoffel on a rather whirlwind journey to London, Stockholm, Luleå, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Oslo, Vangsnes, Ålesund, Bergen, Manchester and back to London. Phew! 9 plane rides, three car rentals, two train trips and a boat - a lot more moving around than we usually do when we travel. But we’re doing a lot of family places. Sharon and I are cousins by virtue of our fathers being brothers. Her maternal grandparents came from the area around Luleå n Sweden, and mine came from Vik i Sogn and Ålesund (my grandmother) and Bualandet (my grandfather) in Norway. Sharon and I are almost exactly one year apart in age and the same grade in school - even went to the same Junior High in Seattle - Marcus Whitman. Our families were small and we got together a lot all through the year, so we knew each other’s maternal grandparents as well as our fathers’ families. Our Winder ancestors are English, and we’ll be visiting that area in Lancashire as well.

We started out in London (always the best start!) and a convenient beginning. Michelle owns an  internet fabric business (www.stylemakerfabrics.com) so they’re looking for fabric stores everywhere. Michelle identified certain places she wanted to see along the way. So in London we headed right off to Liberty of London and also to other smaller shops. It’s interesting to have a theme like this when you travel as it often puts you in neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally see.

Easter Saturday began at the the Borough Market - a big favorite of mine. Larry hadn’t been there before either. Larry and Michelle had a great time with their cameras, and we stopped on Monmouth Coffee, one of the roaster on Michelle's list. Along with her fabric business she works for Seattle Coffee Gear - - www.seattlecoffeegear.com - and was looking for highly rated local roasters to bring some treats back to her colleagues.

 On Saturday afternoon we headed for two fabric shops: Sew Over It in Islington and the amazing Shaukat fabrics in South Kensington. Going to Sew Over It also allowed me to go to my favorite London knitting shop, Loop. Here are a couple shots from the fabric shops:

Just one room among many at Shaukat Fabrics!

This was the Easter weekend, which is a big holiday not only in the UK but all through Europe. Friday and Monday were Bank Holidays, and pretty much everything was closed on Sunday as well. We had our Easter feast on Saturday by going to tea at Fortnum and Mason, which was lots of fun and really good. Then we made our way to Westminster Abbey for the Easter Vigil there. Right next to Westminster Abbey is St. Margaret’s Church. Way back there in the 11th century. The Benedictine monks of the Abbey were annoyed (really!) that so many people were coming to the services at the Abbey. So they built St. Margaret’s right next door for the “regular” folk. Our 6th  great-grandparents were married there in the 17th century, so here’s a picture of Sharon and me in front.

We waited in line in quite cold wind to get into the Abbey for the service, and had a nice time visiting with people from around the world. The vigil was was beautifully done, with baptisms of two the Abbey choristers,  and we enjoyed welcoming Easter with about 500 other people in that glorious building.

On Easter Sunday we took the Tube to Kew, to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a moderately nice day, and it is clearly an Easter favorite for the London area. There were lots of families there enjoying the rather cold and windy day. The children had a scavenger hunt featuring the Finnish character Moomin, and it was fun watching them all run around looking for the botanical features for the next step of the hunt.

There is an incredible current installation at Kew called The Hive. It actually connects digitally with a real hive so. The lights on the installation turn on and off when the bees move and you can hear their hum inside. Here's a picture of this amazing construction:

We made our way back to London in the later afternoon. Easter night’s dinner was an excellent pub meal at The Victoria near our Paddington Hotel.

For all of you who have followed us here, I'll add to it when we travel again this Spring to Scandinavia. In the meantime, you might want to check out my new blog on books and reading: https://theincompletereader.com

Australia 2016 - Easter Monday

We had lunch today with Normal Habel. Norm is a pastor, an Old Testament Scholar, and a Holden faculty person from the 1970's who lives in Adelaide. He is from here. He ended up in St. Louis at Concordia Seminary and then returned to Adelaide in 1974 after everything blew up in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Norm is a fascinating and creative person with a deep passion for the environment. He is part of the planning for a big conference here in July, 2017, called EcoReformation. It sounds really good. We talked a lot about Holden, and church, and many other things. A very lovely time.

We then made our way back to our apartment, including a stop at St, Peter’s Cathedaral, the aforementioned Anglican cathedral we did not attend! It was an interesting and beautiful place.

I then remembered that I had not bought sago, that important South Pacific starch that is an integral ingredient in the Norwegian fruit soup I make. Over the years I have commissioned various people to bring me some when they visit down here, and I have been grateful for that service. But now when I have opportunity, I totally forget! And we found out that even more stores are closed on Easter Monday than were closed on Good Friday! But all is well. I have a good stash at home, and my cousin Sharon keeps me supplied from a New Zealand friends of hers.

So now our bags are packed and we are ready for a long 24+ hours of airports and flights tomorrow. We arrive in the US on Tuesday, but then head down to San Diego to visit Seattle friends who have been living there recently.

Australia 2016 - Easter in Adelaide

This morning we attended worship at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church. South Australia is littered with Lutheran churches, but we picked this one near where we’re staying because they had a really strong up-front statement on their website about ordaining women in the Lutheran Church in Australia. (One person told us that the Roman Catholics will ordain women before the LCA!)

So there we were at the 10 a.m. service, labeled “traditional,” the third of three. We were certainly in the right age group as the nave filled up. As I looked around I started thinking that maybe we should have gone to the Anglican cathedral after all. Maybe this was going to be more “traditional” than I thought.

The organ prelude was good, and we stood for the processional. (Oddly, the “March” from Scipione by Handel!) And then the opening hymn - “Thine is the Glory” - was introduced and the congregation began to sing. I said, “This is what Lutheran is - this powerful, amazing singing that fills room, and head, and heart.” As we talked later, Larry had noted the same. What a heritage of song with have with our sisters and brothers in Christ throughout the world.

The Children’s Word was very well done - a skit linking Christmas and Easter. Very funny moments and a well prepared cast. The sermon was really good. The pastor started out saying that all the Easter treats - bunnies, and so on - are pretty northern items. So Australia needs its own Easter symbol for the day being in Autumn. He offered the Granny Smith apple as the sign, and did a wonderful job talking about new life coming from the rubbish heap, just as the Granny Smith apple was begun from such a circumstance. And he had Granny Smith’s for each of us to take home with us.

After church we went to the South Australia Museum. We especially enjoyed the excellent presentations of Aboriginal Culture.

The day ended with snack for supper and the last Doc Martin (which we saw in England in October) and a Call the Midwife we’d already seen as well. But it was fine.

Australia 2016 - Barossa Valley

Saturday was our day to go to the famous Barossa Valley wine region. It’s about an hour NE of Adelaide. Again we drove through lovely country, including more bush fire areas. We were headed for Bethany, the first German settlement in the Barossa. Paul Kretschmer had contacted his good friend Robert Schrapel whose family has owned Bethany Wines for 5 generations.

Rob graciously gave us over an hour of his time on a very busy day. He’d given his regular crew the Easter weekend off, so he was doing everything from the tasting room to the wine vats! (There were other people doing the tasting room as well.) He took us up a hill behind the winery and showed us the whole valley and told us the story of its settlement. Ans Englishman named Angas first came there, and then invited Silesians from Germany, Lutherans who didn’t want to comply with their duke’s order to merge all the Protestants. An interesting story. He then gave us a private tasting of their wines. We had a wonderful conversation and a great time. I had met Rob briefly in 1976 when he dropped in at Holden for three days to visit Paul Kretschmer.

Rob gave us a good lunch tip and suggestions for the rest of our day. We had a great lunch at the Tununda Bakery where we also bought the last 4 hot cross buns for our breakfasts! Then we headed for Settesfield, one of the original German settlements. On the way we went by Gnadenfrei Lutheran Church - St. Michael’s it is also called - and went in as a group of women were decorating for Easter Sunday. They were putting up way cool stuff!

Settelsfield was very interesting and very touristy. We appreciated the Jam Factory craft studios. It reminded us of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, where an old factory has been turned into studios and support for artists.

We then went and looked at Wolf Blass. The very famous Barossa winemaker has a virtual wine city and it was pretty impressive!

We then headed home by a wonderful road through a gorge - beautiful, and another different landscape.

We splurged for dinner at the restaurant next door. Very good.

Australia 2016 - Good Friday

On Good Friday we went looking for open things and headed into the Adelaide Hills to go to Hahndorf. The drive into the hills was very beautiful - reminded us a little of home! We went up a pass over Mt, Lofty, then down into the town of Hahndorf. This is the first German settlement in South Australia, and it’s kind of the Leavenworth of Australia, although not quite as over-the-top. We think everyone else in the area decided to head this way as well, finding open resturants and shops on a really beautiful day. It could not have been more pleasant. We had a good time exploring, found some things to purchase, saw lovely art and had a nice lunch.

When we left Hahndorf we wandered through back roads and made our way to the Cleland Wildlife Park. Although we arrive just an hour before closing, we did get to see the Koalas they bring out for people to hold and pet, albeit very briefly. We saw others asleep in their Eucalyptus perches, and walked to other areas to see Emu, different varieties of Kangaroo, Wallabees, and lots of birds. It was a beautiful spot and we’re glad we stopped.

We wandered down another back road to Adelaide and were rewarded with spectacular views over the city and the Gulf of Vincent, on which Adelaide sits. There are many gulfs and bays and peninsulas all around Adelaide, the Southern Ocean cutting into the land at many places. A truly beautiful Good Friday drive, with the St. Matthew Passion playing from my phone.

Australia 2016 - Exploring Adelaide

On Thursday we decided to explore Adelaide and get our bearings in this city. This is a very industrial city, but beautiful as well. A main industry has been the manufacture of the Holden automobile (a GM car like Chevrolet) and Ford. But now those factories are going away to other shores - the usual story - so important jobs will go away.

They have a free bus service for the city and North Adelaide (where we’re staying) called the City Connector. The stop for it was right outside our little complex of apartments, which made it really easy. One route goes clockwise, and one anticlockwise (that’s the word here!). As the stops are the same, it just all depends on when you want to get on and for how long!

We successfully made our way to the downtown (CBD - Central Business District they say in Australia) and to the Rundle Mall, a big pedestrian-only zone where all the major shopping is located. We stopped in at the Tourist Information to find out what would be open and closed on Good Friday. Good Friday is a national holiday in Australia, and large shops and businesses are legally obligated to close - they face big fines if they don’t. So everything pretty much just shuts down.

We looked around in the Rundle Mall for a while. These days downtown shopping in developed countries looks pretty much the same everywhere. But Australian shops have their own flavor and style - lots of nice clothing and shoes. We looked in at Country Road and Trenery, shops where our friends the Powelsons always go when they are in Perth/Fremantle.

After the mall we made our way to the Central Market. This is terrific. Like similar markets in other cities, it has farmers’ produce, meats, cheeses, bread, and flowers. It is a really fun environment, with a lot of activity and variety. We had fun picking out a couple things for dinner. People were lined up everywhere buying their food for their Easter dinners. Here that’s mostly fresh seafood - fish and beautiful local prawns. It was fun to be there and to stand in Easter-prep lines ourselves! We left the market and found our bus stop and headed back to the apartment. Along the way there was a lot of police presence in one area, with news cameras and all kinds of excitement. It was by the River Torrens, which flows through Adelaide. We learned later that a body had been discovered in the river. Our bus driver had an interesting (and successful) time negotiating the bus route so everyone could get where they wanted to be!

Australia 2016 - Taralee Orchards

One reason we came to Adelaide and South Australia was to visit an old Holden friend, Paul Kretschmer and his family, in the above mentioned Wirrabarra. Our three hour drive north took us through beautiful countryside, including the wine-rich Clare Valley. It also took us through many areas where fire had blazed through, as recently as a couple months ago. Fire is a hazard all through Australia. We’ve been impressed, though, with the ways in which informaton and material is given to people to prepare them for fire. It’s quite thorough and straight-forward and lets people know the speed and danger of fire and that it’s not to be ignored.

We arrive at Taralee Orchards around 1 p.m.  - just in time for lunch! It was lovely to see Paul again and to meet Denise and also Marie, their “Wwoofer.” Wwoof” stands for Wordwide Workers on Organic Farms, or Willing Workers on Organic Farms. In the 15 + years the Kretschmers have had their orchards and farm, they’ve had help from all over to assist with all the work. Marie is from Germany, and she was delightful! Lunch helped us get oriented to the the farm and the area. After lunch, we got right into the action, helping Marie package dried fruit for sale.

After lunch we wandered around the farm. What a beautiful place. They have several gardens, many chickens, 4 roosters, a few cows and sheep, and dog named Jet (who came with us on our walk), and their extensive stone fruit orchards. Their main products are the stone fruits, both fresh and dried, and many related items such as an amazingly delicious corn relish, among other things. It is quite an operation, all totally organic, all done by hand, and with a wonderful community spirit. Their sales include the usual wholesale, but they also go to weekly farmers’ markets throughout the region.

On the farm they do B and B with two lovely cottages. The one closest to their house - Apricot Cottage - was being remodeled while we were there, and we walked up the hill to Ruby Cottage, a lovely place with a wonderful view. We also walked down the road from their place a bit, through beautiful forest.

A terrible fire came through their area in 2014. They successfully defended their property, but were also fortunate in that the wind shifted at the last minute so that the fire did not continue their way. There were many properties burned in this fire and it was a hard time all around. The community had put together a book of people’s stories of the fire, and Renae Kretschmer wrote a wonderful piece about the fire at Taralee. She had also put together a picture book for their family of what had happened there. Paul said, given the hard work she was doing to defend against the fire, he didn’t know how she managed to have time to take pictures!

In the early evening, Sue and Trevor Lange arrived on their way back to south of Adelaide from Western Australia. Sue is Denise’s sister. It was very enjoyable to meet them. We all had dinner together out on the veranda - still warm enough to do that, even at the beginning Autumn - and enjoyed steaks from their own cattle. The Kretschmer son Raymon did the honors at the BBQ, and it was delicious! A wonderful day all around.

The next day we all gathered for breakfast at 8:30, and then Denise, Renae, and Marie all headed off for a sports day for Renae’s school. She is a track star! Later we heard from Paul that she had won 5 of her first 6 events and was well on track to once again win the individual over all award. We helped clean up, visited some with Sue and Trevor, and then later helped Paul slice fruit (peaches and plums) for the drier.

After lunch and another good conversation, we finally said farewell and headed back towards Adelaide. Our time at Taralee was really exceptional, and we are so glad we arranged to make this visit.

Australia 2016 - Travel to Adelaide

We arose very early on Monday morning to get to the airport for a 5:50 a.m. flight to Sydney. We managed to successfully leave the rental car and find our way to check to our bags and get our boarding passes. The main industry in Western Australia is mining, and it was very interesting to be there early in the morning to see all the miners geared up and heading for their flights to the mines. Reminded us of the Rio Tinto remediation workers at Holden Village. (Rio Tinto is a huge global mining company that started in Australia but is now headquartered in London. It owns the tallest building in Perth.)

Our flight to Sydney was uneventful. We had a couple hours to wait in Sydney for our flight to Adelaide. Ironically, our flight to Sydney flew right over Adelaide! (This trip has been an odd one for planning.) The flight to Adelaide was a delightful adventure. We were in aisle seats across from each other, and our seat partners were totally talkative. Those next to me almost instantly gave me their contact info if our trips in South Australia came near their home in the Adelaide Hills! Larry was sitting with one of four farmers wives who had gone to Sydney for the Madonna concert. The conversations lasted the entire two hour trip! One hilarious moment was when we said where we were going and pronounced the town “Wirrabahrra.” A chorus of about 10 people hollered “WiRAbarra.” (It’s spelled Wirrabarra.) Anyway, it was a very entertaining flight.

After arriving, we retrieved our luggage and easily picked up our rental car, and pretty easily found our way to our apartment rental here. It is a nice and comfortable place, although not as pleasant as our Fremantle flat. We found a very good dinner in the pub next door. So our Adelaide adventure begins.

Australia 2016 - Palm Sunday and Farewell

We had decided to attend the Anglican Cathedral in Perth - St. George - for Palm Sunday services. We had a little difficulty getting there. We are great fans of the maps.me app which does GPS without wi-fi. But... if you don’t get the right satellites with the right order, there can be problems! On this day the instructions came just past the turn we were supposed to take. So we arrive about 15 minutes late for church - just missed the Palm Sunday procession! We got there in time for Confessions and Forgiveness, which was much needed for the navigator.

The service was lovely and the music splendid. I had noted that on their website and was not disappointed. The Passion according to Luke was sung to a setting by Orlando de Lassus, and the very fine choir also sang one of Williams Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices and a Hosanna by Thomas Weelkes. The church was decorated with huge palm fronds - very beautiful.

After church we were warmly welcomed by one member who took us around and introduced to lots of people. Very friendly indeed! We headed back to 11 King Street to pack up for leaving the next day and to enjoy that lovely space.

Dinner was a farewell meal with Wally and Eileen, Claire, Jared, and Georgia, Jean, and Jean’s son and daughter-in-law Aaron and Nikki. We ate at Joy Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant by the Fremantle harbor. It was really great food. It was sad for these family members to be saying farewell and sad for us as we concluded our great time in Fremantle.

Australia 2016 - Rockingham and the Catalpa Memorial

On Saturday Larry and I headed to the town of Rockingham, about 45 minutes south of Fremantle. This was the place where the Catalpa picked up the Fenian prisoners after they escaped from Fremantle Prison. We had discovered that there is a memorial to the escapees at the Rockingham Beach.

Traveling down there meant following the route on the Rockingham Road that the Fenians had followed on their escape. Now the area is heavily industrial, and there are two big Australian Navy installations as well, including Garden Island, the place behind which the Catalpa was anchored awaiting the prisoners. We drove in to town and found the tourist information office, and thereby found the location of the memorial. It was a short distance away, and is a very beautiful piece that uses the Irish Wild Geese theme for its motif.

After we looked at the memorial, we went to the end of the road and hiked out to Point Peron. From there we could see the breakers that could have cause so much difficulty for the Catalpa and its row boat. The rock formations at the point were very interesting - much different from other things we have see here. The point also has many World War II battlements tucked away in the rocks and scrub.

We left Rockingham again by the old coast road and headed back to Fremantle. When we got there we were invited for tea by our Air BnB hosts, Dave and Zolly Williams. We had a wonderful 2-hour conversation with them ranging over all kinds of subjects. Their rental flat is just perfect and we’ve been very happy to be there.

We had dinner that evening at another neighborhood place - Young George - and had another splendid meal. One dish included Kangaroo, which was tender and tasty.

Australia 2016 - Botanical Gardens and Fremantle Markets

On Friday Jean took us to King’s Park, an amazing and wonderful public park in Perth. The have a terrific botanical garden that showcases the various regions of Western Australia. We thoroughly enjoyed the wide variety of flora, and all the amazing birds we saw. And the views of Perth from the park are astonishing! After our walk around, we went into their gallery of local art and found a perfect Fremantle print for Eileen - it has all the right places on it and will look splendid in their home.

After the park we went back to Fremantle and went to the Fremantle Markets. It reminded us of a small scale Pike Place Market. Fremantle/Perth and Seattle are much alike, having been started at about the same time. Western Australia also has the same problems with Eastern Australia that we in the Western US have with the East. Here’s a little article about it here: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31138973/perth-spurned-by-eastern-states/ (I couldn't get this to go live, so paste in your browser.)

The markets were a lot of fun. We found a shark soft toy for Nico (grandson age 8) and some patches, and a fun top for me. We had samosas that were very good as well.

That evening Larry and I went back to Barque for another wonderful meal, but we skipped the big fish this time!

Australia 2016 - Shopping

On Thursday we went shopping for a couple things we wanted to pick up. Our first stop was at the shop at the Perth zoo, looking for a particular soft toy for one of our grandsons. We had a great time with the clerks who were bound and determined to find what we wanted. They went digging in newly delivered boxes and successfully located a really cute Quokka. (See Rottnest Island above.) We also found a wonderful little hippo for Georgia!

The people here are amazingly open and friendly. I think it’s a whole culture of extroverts. Every encounter engenders a conversation about something or other. People are also well-informed about the US, for the most part, and are curious about the current political drama.

After we left the zoo we went to a big shopping mall looking for a couple other things, including a fun pair of yellow sandals I had seen when we were downtown on Monday. We found them! They were on sale, and after you include the dominat American dollar here (multiply by .7) they were practically free! We discovered one or two items more, and had a lovely time.

Dinner that night was at Claire and Jared’s - another wonderful evening.

Australia 2016 - Museums and Boats

On Wednesday we took the Doing Time tour at the Fremantle Prison. It was very well done, and we enjoyed learning much more about this place that has become the central focus of our time in Fremantle. The history is rather gruesome, but also very interesting in terms of how the place has shaped and been shaped by this community. As noted before (wedding reception) it is an official World Heritage site.

The tour lasted one hour and fifteen minutes. At the beginning (in the “Intake” room) our tour guide asked us where we all were from. Oddly, there was one couple from Idaho and one from Sequim! So the Pacific Northwest was well represented in our group.

After the prison, we made our way to the harbor and to the Maritime Museum. Outside are walls of names of people who immigrated to Australia at different times. Australia, like the US, is a nation of immigrants and people often speak, like we do, about where their family comes from originally. We found the names of Eileen’s parents who arrived from England (with Bernard, Jean, and 6-month old Eileen) in 1954.

This is such a water-ocean-sea culture that the musuem has more stuff than you can almost take in. (We saw that they are planning to redo and expand it.) Sailing is just huge here, and Perth is most famous for finally dethroning the New York Yacht Club in the America’s Cup in 1983. Here’s the opening paragraph from Wikipedia: The 1983 America's Cup was the occasion of the first winning challenge to the New York Yacht Club, which had successfully defended the cup over a period of 132 years. An Australian syndicate representing the Royal Perth Yacht Club fielded the Australia II, skippered by John Bertrand, against defender Liberty, skippered by Dennis Conner. Australia II won the match races to win the America's Cup, ending the longest winning streak in sporting history and ending U.S. domination of the racing series.

The Australia II is on display at the Maritime Museum, and there are display cases for every America’s Cup from the beginning with a model boat for each contender in each case. Pretty fascinating, I’d say. All through our time here we see almost daily regattas of one class or another on some bay or area of the ocean. And there a thousands and thousands of cruisers and other boats. This is a boating place for sure.

Keeping to the boating them, after the Maritime Museum we went looking for a grocery store that had been mentioned called the Boat Shed Market. The building had once housed a boat shed, hence the name. It’s well known for its take away food. We got some basics we needed to replenish, and picked up dinner in the form of salmon and pea fritters and a crisp broccoli salad. It was delicious.

Australia 2016 - Time with Family

On Tuesday the 14th Eileen and Wally took us with them to visit Eileen’s family. We had, of course, been with these people all through the wedding events, but its was lovely to visit in their homes and have more leisure for conversation.

We started for lunch at the home of Eileen’s sister-in-law Sandra. She is the widow of Eileen oldest brother Bernard, who died suddenly when he was still quite young. We really enjoy Sandra, and it was fun to be with her in her home. She was also babysitting her 2½ year-old granddaughter Eden who was also a lot of fun. We had a great lunch of quiche and salad, and were entertained by Sandra as she took us through the paces of her Thermomix, a German do-everything kitchen machine that is very popular in Australia. We saw lots of birds and flowers in her lovely garden.

When we left Sandra’s we headed to Jean’s house in the other direction. We had a leisurely afternoon paddling around in her pool. Dinner was a terrific chicken cooked in a Tagine with olives from her own tree. The fresh vegetables and everything here are really amazing. It is, of course, the end of summer, and many things are in their prime. We are reaping the benefits! We were joined for dinner by Jean’s boarded Eleanor. She works for the Red Cross dealing with people who have been misplaced by fire. There is still a very high danger in Southwestern Australia for fire. When we went to Margaret River we drove through a large area that had been burned last year. The people with whom Eleanor works are still dealing with their terrific losses from that fire. One whole town has simply disappeared.

Australia 2016 - Downtown Perth, Food Trucks, and Heat

On Monday the 13th, Eileen’s sister Jean (who came to the Villa in Vassenello, Italy with us in 2011) took us into downtown Perth. We went to the Art Gallery, which is small but has a very interesting collection. I was particularly drawn to the work of English painter Stanley Spencer, and will enjoy learning more about his work.

We tried to go the historical museum, but it’s closed for renovation. We did, however, have a lovely lunch in the shaded garden of the museum - an opportunity for a good visit with Jean. The shade part is of particular importance on this day. In our measures it 104º - REALLY HOT! It was like the hottest March day on record for the last six years. Ugh.

In the evening, Jean and Eileen and Wally came over to our flat and we walked down to the Swan River just below where we are and got dinner from three food trucks that show up only on Monday evenings. It was still rather hot, but the walk was nice. We did, however, bring our food back up to the air conditioned flat! We had Middle Easter, Brazilian, and Mexican food with a Korean twist!

Australia 2016 - Wedding Recovery

On Sunday, March 13, Claire and Jared hosted (yes, hosted) a recovery BBQ at their home. It was fun to have everyone together again, especially those who had been at the pre-wedding events. The younger folk who had partied the night away were a little worse for wear, but everyone was in good spirits. There was, as has been true throughout, a great spirit of community and celebration.

After the BBQ, Larry and I came back to the flat. We just had wine and cheese and crackers for dinner - there’s been plenty of food! And we enjoyed some “TV” via live stream on my laptop. It is still fairly amazing to me that we can record things on our TV at home and watch them halfway around the world! It’s too bad that we can’t do On Demand, or even streaming services like Netflix or, our favorite, Acorn Online. But... the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a great streaming service and we’ve discovered Janet King - a great series! We could also see Dr. Blake, but it’s Series 4, and we’d like to see 2 and 3 first.

Australia 2016 - The Wedding!

The wedding on March 12 went off very well. The service itself was at The Round House, the oldest building in Fremantle. It’s in the historic downtown right on the edge of the harbor. Whalers used to bring their catch to it and the whales were taken into the tunnel underneath. This was also the place - at the old jetty next door at Bathers Beach - where criminals and convicts were first disembarked from their English boats before being marched in kilometer to the Fremantle Prison.

I spent part of the morning finishing my own writing for the service and Larry and I went to an office store to get it printed. I also needed to find some way to hold it. We settled on a small presentation folder with slip covers in it. The pages fit perfectly, and I was glad to have it done that way as during the service it was very windy!

People started gathering around 4:45 p.m. and the service itself started at 5 p.m. Wally and Claire arrived in Jared’s 1960's era navy blue Holden ute. Very classy! The service went very well, if I do say so myself, and everyone seemed most appreciative. As noted above, the partnership of Australian Cclebrant Doug South was excellent indeed.

After the service there was champagne and oysters right there at the Round House. At around 6 p.m. everyone began to walk from there to the Fremantle Prison for the reception. Larry and I drove because it was easier earlier, but it was fun to see everyone walking down the street in their wedding finery! One of Jared’s friends carried the “J&C” banner in front. Very festive!

Larry and I arrived at the prison a little before 6:30, and we were all asked to wait until 6:30 to go through the big iron gates. When we were let into the yard, the golden limestone walls were rather beautiful in the setting sun. We walked around behind the cell blocks to the grass outside the old machine shop, the location of the reception. There we were served drinks (Negronis, champagn) and beautiful hors d’oeuvres. Claire and Jared arrived a few minutes later in the Holden ute with a lovely “Just Married” sign on its back! Then we all went in for the reception.

Claire had done an amazing job making this old prison space festive and beautiful. Because the Fremantle prison is a World Heritage Site, they could not attach anything to the walls or anywhere. So great imagination and igenuity came into play, and it was a wonderful site. We were all seated at six long tables in the room so it had a great community feel. Jared’s cousin Paul was the MC, and did a great job. Very funny. Jared’s mother, Wendy, is a trained singer, and so the proceedings started, much to our surprise, with her singing the Star Spangled Banner! We Americans sang along! The food was wonderful, the speehes great, the dancing fun and funky - all in all, a wonderful party. Adults went home at a reasonable hour (that would be midnight) and the young folk went out and partied until the wee hours. Claire and Jared’s life together got off to a great start!

Australia 2016 - Catching Up

Dear readers - I hope to be up to date with everything by the end of the March 18. Stay tuned!