Sunday November 22, 2015 to Saturday November 28, 2015

Sunday

We woke up to snow today. The forecast was for 12 to 20 cms, fortunately we only got a fraction of that.

The snow looked very pretty on the trees. One of the things I enjoy about winters in Canada, yes I do enjoy winters in Canada, are the blue skies. It snows, but then the sky is blue and the sun is out, it makes every thing look so pretty.

We thought a disaster had struck today with the photo library. It kept crashing every time we tried to open it – 30,000 photos of the Grand Adventure gone. Fortunately I was able to buy a back-up drive from Best Buy, back up the library and then rebuild the data base of photos and it worked. We didn’t lose any photos and we can access them again and we have a secondary back-up. All the photos are still on their original SD camera cards, but it would have been a real pain to reload them all and put them in albums again.

Ralf left for work at 6:45 and I will be sleeping on my own for the first time in years. The last two years we have been together 24/7, I am really going to miss having him next to me tonight and for the next six weeks. When he was driving, I would often go to bed before he came home and I never really slept well until I heard the garage door open and knew he was home safe. I know he isn’t driving and I know where he is, I hope I can sleep. More to the point I hope Ralf can adjust his sleep pattern so that he can sleep when he gets home.

I hope he enjoys the job he is doing.

Monday

Ralf arrived home safe and sound and enjoyed the job. He said they are a nice bunch of people he is working with. He got a lift to Park Place where he can get the bus home in the morning.

I met my friend Shelley, we had a lovely time wandering around Bradford Greenhouses which is all decked out with decorated Christmas trees and ornaments galore. When we move I might buy a planter, see if I can keep it alive. Shelley is really artistic and enjoys working with all different mediums. She showed me some of the work she has been doing, I wished I had half her talent. She is really good at painting glass-ware and in the past has given me some of her glasses for my birthday presents. This time she came with a lovely red wine glass painted with English roses and lavender, it is really nice. It’s a keeper.

When I was talking to her she told me to write a book on our travels. Shelley said I was a really good writer, and the photos Ralf took were awesome. She said she felt as if she was on the back of the bike with me coming along for the ride. Lots of people have told me to do the same. Especially people we met on the road who wanted to know how we planned the trip and the logistics behind a trip like we have done. I have started writing the book, I have the time and I am going to try and write a little bit every day. I may just Epublish it and we will see if people are interested enough to buy the Grand Adventure.

Tuesday to Thursday

Ralf is sleeping during the day. I am writing a few chapters of the book every day and researching Part Two of the Grand Adventure.

• Amsterdam to Wesel and Volklingen (visit Ralf’s family), down the Rhine to Freiburg. Visit some of our old stomping grounds in and around Lahr, where we used to live. Try to ride our bikes again after eating at all the places we loved to eat at in and around Lahr – Schutterzel Muhl – pfan kuchen, Florellen Farm – Trout, Riminihof – Venison, and of course all the great Imbiss – fast food trucks.

• Freiburg to Vienna and then a train to Prague.

• Prague to Patras Greece via Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Greece. Take a ferry to Italy.

• Italy visiting Pompeii, Rome, Pisa and Florence.

• Cycle as far north as we can get before we need to get on a train to get back to Amsterdam.

I would like to be in Holland for the Tulip Parade at the end of April. That might be a bit early for warm weather, but the weather changes so much we might have a beautiful spring and great summer. If we go through Slovenia etc we will be able to extend our time in Europe Schengen until the end of August.

Sounds like a great plan to me, now I have to run it by Ralf.

Friday Met with the lawyer to go over the paperwork and pay for the condo. Alexa Wilson is really nice. We went through all the paperwork, signed everything and paid the money. We will get the key on Monday. Finally, we can move into our tiny condo.

Saturday We had a final walk-through of the condo. This final review is to make sure the current owners haven’t taken anything that they shouldn’t have and that the condo looks as it did when we put in the offer. It did, although it is full of boxes, ready for their move.

It is a tiny condo. OMG where is all our stuff going to go! We have rented a van for the week. It will be put to good use, taking our “to be donated stuff” to Salvation Army and Goodwill. Ralf is working Sunday and Monday nights, he will take Tuesday off and work Wednesday and Thursday nights. He will be off Friday and Saturday, then back to work on Sunday night.  It is going to be a tough week for him.