My Royal Vacation—if I had the Money!

It’s a beautiful day in Chicago so I thought I’d make this post about something fun instead of hearing about my manuscript progression. Since we’ve been bombarded with news about the Royal Wedding, How to dress like Kate, and 20 plus year divorces, I thought I’d present *tum ta da da* “My Royal Vacation—if I had the Money”.

If I had the money, I’d first go shopping for a new summer wardrobe. When I get home with my clothes, I’d pack them in suitcases and go on the internet to book my trip to leave that day for Lake Garda, Italy. Over the pond, I’d stare out the airplane window at the blue water and cotton stretched clouds until we land in darkness.

I’d rent a driver to take me to my house where I would retire for the night. When I wake up, I 'd open the french doors to my bedroom balcony to see the rising sun kissing the top of a mountain. 

I would hurry to get ready for the day and begin my exploration of the towns around the lake. At the end of a pier, I'd find a bench, sit down, close my eyes and listen to the waking. The water licking the boats and shore while in the distance window covers are pulled up. 

When people begin venturing out onto the pier, I would start walking down the streets, getting lost in the beauty of these townsfolk’s lives. Worn stones, uneven streets—a simple peace. A wonderful way to soak up culture.

Then I’d take a ride up into the mountains for winter warmth overlooking the towns and lake.

I’d drive around the lake, stopping at the beautiful villages for pictures and food. After filling up on pizza, and waiting for the end of the day, I’d get comfortable sitting on a pier gazing at a row of orange trees with a mountainous backdrop.

What’s your Royal Vacation? I’d love to hear it.

Sweetish Time

Hello Everyone. Over the weekend, our travels brought us to Stockholm, Sweden along with a few other quick stops. I thought I wouldn’t see snow for the rest of this winter, but Stockholm was all about it along with the cold. We had a great time, and Sweden was kind enough to share its cold with me.

On Friday, on our way to the airport, we stopped at a winery town called Ahrweiler in the Ahr valley region and by the river Ahr. Winemaking in this town dates back to the Roman times. The main red varieties are the Spätburgunder (pinot noir) and Portugieser and the white wine varieties are Riesling and Müller-Thurgau. Since I love wine, I thought I’d give you that tidbit of information.

This is a picture taken of one of the streets.

The town is unique because of its colorful painted buildings. Here is an example of the types of paintings you’ll find on the buildings.

I had to take a picture of this church, because the yellow outline of it really stands out.

When we left, I took a picture of the vineyards on the way out. Someday I’ll make it  to a town at harvest time to watch the winemaking process.

The next morning, we got out early to take in the sights of Stockholm. It’s amazing how one hour we were in Germany and the next in Sweden. It was sweetish. To me, Stockholm is like a combination of Amsterdam with the waterway bridges crossing over the Baltic Sea, and Edinburgh with its old buildings and palaces as backdrops.

These are a few pictures I took early in our journey before the rest of the city woke up. 

When I saw this statue, I thought of this guy saying, “Here I am. Come and get it”. 

 

This is one of the many streets in Stockholm. As you can tell, they’re narrow and loaded with stores, cafes and restaurants.

We took a ferry ride to another little island in Stockholm because we wanted to go to a few museums. Here are a few pictures of the ferry ride.

The first museum we went to was the Vasa. This museum is about the Swedish warship built from 1626 to 1628. It is the only 17^th century warship preserved in its entirety. It’s beautifully crafted, but never made it out of the harbor before capsizing. It finally broke surface in 1961. I honestly did not think I’d enjoy this museum as much as I did. These pictures are of the Royal Warship Vasa. It’s so huge that I couldn’t even get the ship all of the ship in a picture.  

This picture is a replica of how the ship functioned. The rocks at the bottom were to stabilize the ship with weight, but they didn’t put enough because of all the artillery aboard and the ship was unable to steady itself on the water.

From the Vasa museum, we went to Skansen open air museum, which shows the way of life before the industrial era. It has all kinds of things from glass making to animals. Here are a few pictures.

This is a night picture I took before we headed back to the hotel.

The next day, we decided to leave Stockholm and drive along the coast of the Baltic. There was an area where we had to take an ice breaker ferry with the car, so here are a few pictures from the ferry. 

We stopped in a town called Trosa. We didn’t know anything about this town other than it was on the map right off the Baltic. Here are a few pictures.

Hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed the pictures.

The Fine Art of Christmas

Last month of the year gathers hope and love,

True meaning of Christmas symbolized by a dove

With letters and prayers that St. Nicholas appears

Decorations---shopping to bring on good cheers

Thick snowflakes start floating a few days before

Adding to the spirit when making cookies—galore

Wrapping gifts late at night to hide the surprise

For Christmas day comes—eyes wide in great size

Tree is fashioned in a heartwarming display

Table arranged for the festive holiday buffet

House filled with warmth from God’s little gifts

In pajamas, they giggle and watch snow drifts

Church bells ring the morning our Lord was born

Who would’ve thought he’d die with a halo of thorn.

It arrives—celebrating the fine art of Christmas day,

Lingering memories of a jolly old man and his sleigh