Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 7

Tom and Eric finished their first week on the Camino at Los Arcos. Tom described the day as a very California day with weather and terrain like the Central Valley. They have covered a lot of ground over the last two days!

Bodegas Irache

So clear why Spanish felt so at home in California...

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Blocko.

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Code Expiration: November 15, 2016

Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 6

Tom and Eric spent their sixth day on the Camino. Tom noted that it was getting hotter now that they are out of the mountains; it is a Sacramento kind of heat (dry) around 90. Some highlights from the day included the Church de Santa María de Eunate, the Queens Bridge in Puente La Reina and a section of the Roman Roads. They spent their sixth night at Albergue de Villatuerta.

Church de Santa María de Eunate

Queens Bridge in Puente La Reina

Roman Road

Celebrating Jack's 18th Birthday early

With Jack leaving for Georgetown on Wednesday, he decided that he wanted to have an early joint birthday party with Megan at our house on Saturday night and early Sunday morning. The group included Jack, Jason, Andy, Carter, Sam, Marco and his girlfriend, Emma, Megan and Charlotte.


Celebrating Jack's 17th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 16th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 15th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 14th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 13th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 12th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 11th Birthday and a party

Celebrating Jack's 10th Birthday

Celebrating Jack's 9th Birthday and a belated party

Celebrating Jack's 8th Birthday plus a party and a photo album

Celebrating Jack's 7th Birthday plus a party and a photo album

Celebrating Jack's 6th Birthday plus a party and a photo album

Celebrating Jack's 5th Birthday plus a photo album

Celebrating Jack's 4th Birthday and a party

Celebrating Jack's 1st Birthday Party

Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 4

Tom and Eric spent their fourth night on the Camino in Pamplona.

Becky's Ring

If you are familiar with the movie The Way, you will remember when Tom nearly lost his son's ashes twice.

Tom had one of those "Tom" moments when soaping up in the shower after huge water weight loss Becky's ring slipped off his soapy little finger and headed toward the drain. Fortunately, the old man moved fast enough to avoid disaster.

Der Biergarten Midtown

Wandering back from St. Helena, I met Snipes at the Der Biergarten Midtown. We spent most of time catching up on his trip to Alaska with Tomasin, Wallen and Geselbracht. They spent four nights in King Salmon, two nights in Talkeenta, two nights in Denali and two nights in Anchorage. It rained most of the second half of the trip. They had planned to take the bus in Denali all the way to Kantishna, but there was a landslide...

Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 3

Tom and Eric spent their third night on the Camino at the Albergue Rio Arga in Zubiri. Covering almost fourteen miles, the weather was much better and the walking a little easier. The second picture is a view from their room.

They have 458.5 miles to go to Santiago.

Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 2

Tom and Eric spent their second night on the Camino at the Albergue de Roncesvalles. Covering almost eleven miles, they spent more than 90% of the day hiking in the rain. Tom noted that they never could have done it all in one day from St Jean Pied de Port. He added that the alburgue is run by the church and is a very modern facility built into old building.

An easier day is promised for tomorrow with no rain... They have 472.2 miles to go to Santiago.

While we have heard from them over the first three days, it is going to be interesting to see how often we hear from them over the next seven weeks!

Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 1

Tom and Eric started off from St Jean Pied de Port on the Camino de Santiago today. They are spending the first night at Refuge Orisson.

Tom said that the first day was tough as expected. They were quite glad to break up the usual first day by staying in very nice Orisson. It was very foggy up top just like in the movie The Way. And just like in the movie they have already acquired a cast of characters!

A map of Tom and Eric's Progress along the Way of St. James

Tom and Eric's Progress on the Way of St. James - Day 0

Tom and Eric are in Jean Pied de Port spending the night at the Hotel Ramuntcho. They are starting off on a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago tomorrow. They had a pre-Camino dinner and have already met several new friends who seem to be taking same route as them.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Sago Mini Superhero

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Code Expiration: November 8, 2016

Any Given Wednesday

After the years, I have enjoyed Bill Simmons' work. I always looked forward to his columns and his podcasts at ESPN. I read The Book of Basketball. I was impressed with the Grantland web site that he built.

Unfortunately, while I still enjoy his podcasts, I find his HBO series Any Given Wednesday largely unwatchable. I have tried to watch it a couple of times, but got bored and wandered off. I was hoping for a sports version of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I still have faith in Bill's talent, but they need to completely rethink the format of the show.

Star Trek Beyond

After an early dinner on Saturday night, Sharon and I headed to the UA Theater at Arden to watch Star Trek Beyond. This is the thirteenth film in the Star Trek film franchise and the third installment in the reboot series. I have an unsuccessful project to go back and see all of the other Star Trek films in order like we did with the James Bond films.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto reprise their roles as Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock. The plot involves a nebula, a bio-weapon and a Federation space craft that has been lost for more than 100 years. The villain is an original one, rather than a known antagonist from past stories in the Star Trek franchise.

This is a watchable movie; I give it a B+. I am not a big fan of time travel plots. Although the plot doesn't explicitly involve time travel, there is still hangover from the first movie in the series reboot that plays a part in the story...

Mesa Mercado

After spending a couple of hours cleaning the garage, Sharon and I headed over to see if Mesa Mercado was going to be open on Saturday night. We could see a couple of people cooking in the kitchen. We ended up sitting at the bar at River City Brewing and having a snack.

Just before five, we headed back to the Milagro Centre. We were pleasantly surprised to find Mesa Mercado was open. They are doing a soft launch with a limited menu. We split some ceviches. I had chicken enchiladas, while Sharon had carnitas. Although Sharon didn't like the chips, the food was solid. The service and the atmosphere was very good.

Afterwards, we headed to the UA Theaters at Arden to see Star Trek Beyond.

Drew

Off for the Way of St. James

Sharon's brother and her nephew are off for the Camino de Santiago. They are going to spend a couple of days in Ireland on the way.

One of Sharon's best friends walked the way of St. James two years ago. Sharon and I would like to do the pilgrimage someday...

Notorious by morgxn

Here is the song which Drew produced that appeared in the commercial for the new ABC show also called Notorious.

Paragary's

We had dinner with the Gainsleys and the Wongs at Paraguay's. Sharon had salmon and I had pappardelle. Sharon noted that she had been to Paraguay's four times since it reopened and hasn't had a bad meal.

We haven't seen the Gainsleys since the Jesuit crab feed. It has been almost two years since we have seen the Wongs. The Wongs' son Aaron will be starting as freshman at Chapman University in the next couple of weeks. Jack spent most of a week at Chapman in 2014.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - enzo!

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Code Expiration: November 1, 2016

ESPN 30 for 30 Vol 3: Fantastic Lies

Staying at the Napa Valley Marriott hotel, I watched Fantastics Lies on Netflix. This is the seventh installment of ESPN's 30 for 30 Volume 3. An episode guide for Vol 3 is here.

On March 13th, 2006, the Duke University lacrosse team had a party. The documentary premiered 10 years to the day the lacrosse players hosted the house party.

A black student at North Carolina Central University who appeared at the party as a stripper accused the white Duke University students of raping her. Eventually, three of the lacrosse players were charged.

The documentary does an excellent job following the story from beginning to end. While I remembered the initial scandal and charges, I frankly didn't realize how the case got resolved. This film is worth watching to see how the cases play out. I was astonished by where the stories of the prosecutor, the accuser and the lead police detective went!

Jack

45 Years

Sharon and I watched 45 Years as a HD rental on the AppleTV. This is part of our effort to watch all of the Oscar nominated films.

The film is based on the short story "In Another Country" by David Constantine. It stars Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as a married couple who are preparing to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. The film takes place over six days proceeding the party.

The film was nominated for one Oscar. Charlotte Rampling received a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

I am not quite sure how to rate this movie. It is an interesting little film with an odd ending. Unless your trying to see all of the Oscar nominated films, I don't recommend it...

I was fascinated by the scenery. It was filmed in Norfolk county in England. The anniversary party takes place in the Assembly Hall in Norwich.

River City Brewing

With Highway 128 closed due to the Cold Fire, I took 29 to 12 to 80 to get home from the St. Helena Hospital. In the Friday afternoon summer traffic, It took 3 hours and 5 minutes to travel 94 minutes... As I keep telling Drew, the world is a parking lot.

Sharon and I finally went to dinner at River City Brewing in the Milagro Centre. Waiting for a table, we were pleasantly surprised to find that part of Mesa Mercado was open. Additionally, it looks like several other restaurants will be opening in the near future.

Sharon had a steak salad, while I had a burger. The food wasn't bad, but the layout and atmosphere of the inside of River City Brewing is odd.

Cover of Duran Durans song 'Notorious'

The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

In July, I finished reading The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz. This is the fourth novel in the Millennium series. It is the first novel in the series not authored by the series' creator and author of the first three Millennium books, Stieg Larsson. Larson died of a heart attack in 2004. I read the first three books in the series in 2010: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played with Fire; and, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornest Nest.

Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomqvist return as the main characters. The plot combines a number of diverse elements, including hacking into the NSA; an autistic savant; industrial espionage and artificial intelligence. Additionally, Salander's childhood is explored to a greater detail than I remember from the first three books.

Although it doesn't have the style and translation idiosyncrasies of the first three books, it is not a bad book. I would grade it a solid B. If you read the first three books, I recommend the book as a continuation of the series.

ESPN 30 for 30 Shorts: What the Hell Happened to Jai Alai

ESPN Films has released the fifty-sixth film in their 30 for 30 documentary short series.

30 for 30 Shorts: What the Hell Happened to Jai Alai

Back in the day, jai-alai players were celebrities that would ceremoniously march out to salute crowds of 15,000 fans, but after a disastrous 1988 strike the game became nothing more than a cultural afterthought.

You can find What the Hell Happened to Jai Alai on the ESPN web site at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=17170815.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Unfade

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Code Expiration: October 25, 2016

Oakland Raiders Training Camp

I have been working out of Napa since late January of 2015. As a result, a number of annual events have repeated. The Marriott hotel where I am staying is again full of Raiders and Raiders fans.

County Football Insider: Napa training camp nearing for Raiders | Sports | napavalleyregister.com

Training camp for the Oakland Raiders begins on July 28 when veteran players report to the Napa Valley Marriott. The first practice is on July 29, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the adjacent 2 1/2-field Redwood Middle School facility, which has a fieldhouse. Rookies are scheduled to report to camp on July 24. This marks the Raiders’ 21st summer in Napa.

Spending the Day in Napa

Sharon and Janie spent the day in Napa. They picked up wine shipments at Kuleto Estates. They had lunch at Hog Island Oyster Company in the Oxbow Market. After some shopping, they finished the day picking up wine shipments at Bouchine Vineyards before heading home.

Spy

Sharon and I watched Spy as a HD rental on the AppleTV. This 2015 comedy stars Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Allison Janney, and Jude Law. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for McCarthy.

The film follows the transformation of desk-bound CIA analyst Susan Cooper (McCarthy) into a field agent who attempts to foil the black market sale of a suitcase nuke. The opening sequence, opening credits and music invoke the feeling of a James Bond film.

The movie was filmed in Budapest, Hungary; I was very impressed with the scenery. When we were originally planning our European trip, we were trying to figure out how to get as far as Vienna and Budapest, but it was just too much ground to cover. Budapest is definitely on my list for a future trip. Sharon had visited Vienna and Budapest in 1985.

I was pleasantly surprised by the film. It was very watchable...

Drew

Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant

Sharon came over and spent the night with me in Napa. With the Napa Valley Marriott full of Oakland Raiders, I am spending one night at the Harvest Inn.

After checking out the bar at the Harvest Table, we headed to the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant for dinner. I had gotten a gift certificate to the Culinary Institute of America restaurants from work.

Given the prices, we were both disappointed with the ambience and the food. We had tomato toast and a watermelon salad as a starter. Sharon had salmon as an entree, while I had pork. Talking about dinner afterwards, Sharon said "disappointing is an understatement."

Jesuit High School National Signing Day 2016

I was fascinated by this year's scholarship and signing day process in April at Jesuit High School. With Jack's class as seniors, this is really the first time that I have known boys that have gone through the signing day process.

Talking to parents and others shortly after the National Signing Day event, I got very confused. I didn't realize that signing day has grown to include full scholarships as well as kids going to college to try and play. Signing Day includes walk ons?!?.

Looking at the NCCA site, by signing an National Letter of Intent, a college-bound student-athlete must attend the participating college or university for at least one academic year, and that college or university must provide athletic financial aid for that same year.

Jesuit High School said that a number of boys signed Letter of Intent Commitments. I am not sure what this means or if it really exists... I have searched the NCAA sites, but haven't found any references to Letter of Intent Commitments. Several people have told me that some of the signing day participants were just signing a blank piece of paper?!?

I am interested in following a number of these boys as they continue to play in college.

Letter of Intent – Scholarship Athletes
Baseball
Alex Isola – University of Utah - First Team All-Metro
Jack Wolger – University of California, Berkeley - First Team All-Metro

Football
Beau Bisharat - University of Colorado

Golf
David Laskin – University of Arizona

Soccer
Gabriel McEwen – Westmont

Track & Field
Stephan Reynolds – Lewis University

Letter of Intent - Commitment
Baseball
Jack Cosca – University of California, Berkeley
Nick Sogard – Loyola Marymount University - Second Team All-Metro
Sam Stiltner – University of Pacific

Crew
Bryce Knight – Santa Clara

Lacrosse
Chase Browning – University of Nevada, Reno
Dominic Quiggle – Otterbein University

Rugby
Bailey Abercrombie – US Military Academy at West Point
Christian Dyer – University of California, Berkeley

Soccer
Matt Glass – Harvard University

Swimming
Terry Johnson – Georgetown University

ESPN 30 for 30 Shorts: The Guerrilla Fighter

ESPN Films has released the fifty-fifth film in their 30 for 30 documentary short series.

30 for 30 Shorts: The Guerrilla Fighter

Alexis Arguello is considered by many to be the greatest junior lightweight of the 20th century. He is also considered the greatest hero in Nicaraguan history for what he did for his people when his gloves were off.

You can find The Guerrilla Fighter on the ESPN web site at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=17132049.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Caterzillar

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Code Expiration: October 18, 2016

David Laskin

Jack and David have been friends and classmates since kindergarten. David will be heading to the University of Arizona on a golf scholarship. It is going to be fun to follow David's career.

Brunch with Drew

Stopping on his way back from two weeks working at the Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp, Sharon, Jack, Kiki and I had brunch with Drew at the Rey Azteca Breakfast and Juice Bar.

2016 River Cats versus Chihuahuas

Sactown slugfest ends in River Cats rout
The best offense in the Pacific Coast League took the field Saturday night and then looked on as the Sacramento River Cats (45-56) ran up the score early en route to a 12-0 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas (57-42). Sacramento struck for nine runs in the first two innings and coasted to the win behind an excellent combination effort from the bullpen.

Sharon, Jack, Kiki and I went to the Sacramento River Cats versus El Paso Chihuahuas Pacific Coast League baseball game. As a social event for her work, Sharon's company took more than 100 people to the game. We had dinner in the Smokehouse BBQ area before wandering to the seats.

I was excited to see Hunter Pence in right field. The two-time World Champ and two-time All-Star was working his way back from hamstring surgery. Pence went 1-for-4 with a double in six innings.

Andrew Susac caught the game. He was 2 for 4 with a home run, two runs scored, two RBIs, one base on balls and a strike-out. After the game, Jack was talking mostly about was Susac's three passed balls...

Kelby Tomlinson played third. He was 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

We stayed for the fireworks after the game. Unlike the experience in Lille, it was fairly easy to get out of the parking lot after the game!

2016 Europe Vacation Musings

This year's summer trip had three basic goals. First, I really wanted to visit the Netherlands and Amsterdam. I self identify as Dutch. I really enjoyed Amsterdam. Except for the fact that it rained on us off and on for the entire first week, the highpoint of the trip for me was the first week in the Low Countries.

Second, Jack really wanted to see one of the Euro 2016 soccer games. One of the quarter final games fit almost perfectly into our schedule. It was in Lille, France and was only about 46 miles from where we were staying in Ghent, Belgium. We saw a great game between Wales and Belgium. In spite of the amount of beer that the Welsh fans dumped on Sharon, it was a very neat experience!

Once we were on the trip, Jack added a goal of wanting to get to as many countries as possible. He was not happy that we cut out a leg that would have taken us into Switzerland and Liechtenstein. As it was, we hit six countries: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany and Austria.

Third, Sharon wanted to get to Salzburg, Austria. In 1985, between her second and third year in law school, Sharon spent six weeks taking classes at the University of Salzburg. She hadn't been back since. The itinerary for the first part of the second week of the trip was designed to get us close to Salzburg. Even though I was starting to come down with a cold, we had a great couple of days in Salzburg. We got a chance to revisit some of Sharon haunts from 31 years ago!

Over the course of the second week, I drove over 900 miles in two different rental cars. Both cars were manual transmissions. I have spent my whole life driving manual transmission vehicles of all shapes and sizes, but frankly I had kind of forgotten how much more you have to stay connected to the vehicle with a manual transmission. You have to pay attention and drive! I also got a chance to drive on the German Autobahn without any speed limit!

[Note to self], the one thing that I probably done differently on the trip was schedule one or two guided tours. We did self guided tours in most of the cities. While I enjoyed all of these, there were a couple of places where I think that a guided tour would have helped make more effective use of the time. For example, Sunday morning in Luxembourg City would have been a great spot to do a guided tour. We had guided tours in Rome and Charleston that I really enjoyed.

Bruges Windmill

one of the windmills along our run in Bruges

Along our run in Bruges

Bruges Run with Jack

Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt

On the flight to Amsterdam, I finished reading Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt by Edward P. Kohn. The book fits loosely into my long term project to read books about all of the presidents. I actually bought the book in 2010 when I heard the author on the old Jon Stewart Daily Show. It has been sitting on my bookcase for almost six years!?!

Theodore Roosevelt was a New City Police commissioner during the the heat wave. While the book looks at Roosevelt and the role he played in and around the heat wave, William Jennings Bryan is really a lot more of a focus of the book.

Bryan was the Democratic nominee for President; he was running against McKinley. In the middle of the August heat wave, Bryan came to New York City's Madison Square Garden to kick off his presidential campaign with a speech. For a number of reasons, including the heat wave, the speech was a failure. Many people blame the failure of the speech for essentially killing Bryan's presidential campaign. The book also gives you a little taste of the McKinley presidential campaign.

Although I read the Woodrow Wilson book, I had forgotten that Bryan later served as Wilson's Secretary of State. Bryan played a major role in keeping the United States out of the first half of World War I.

While it has some interesting pieces, it is not a very good book. I felt that the book was very repetitive talking about the impact of the heat wave. It seemed like it repeated the same kind of examples over and over. I don't recommend the book.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Terminology 3

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Code Expiration: October 11, 2016

Bruges Run with Jack

Much to my surprise, Jack wanted to go for a run a couple of times while we were on the trip. On the last day that we were in Bruges, he and I ran 2.95 miles in a loop through the city. There was a nice series of windmills along the River. A picture from our run is here.

Dinner at the Hohensalzburg Fortress

dinner in Salzburg at the Hohensalzburg Fortress

Amadeus

On Friday and Saturday night, Sharon and I watched the director's cut of Amadeus. As I said during our vacation, Salzburg is crazy for Mozart. The last morning that we were in Salzburg, we toured Mozart's residence. Sharon talked about wanting to watch the movie before we went on the vacation. My interest was peaked enough by our trip to Salzburg that I suggested that we watch it...

The story, set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century, is a fictionalized biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. F. Murray Abraham stars as Antonio Salieri, while Tom Hulce is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Released in 1984, the film received 11 Oscar nominations and won 8 awards including: Best Actor in a Leading Role (F. Murray Abraham); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Costume Design; Best Picture; Best Director; Best Makeup; and, Best Sound Mixing. Amadeus is the most recent film to receive two lead actor nominations.

The Director's cut adds more than 30 minutes to the theater version of the film. As a result, the movie we watched was just over three hours long. I felt like the second half of the movie really dragged with a number of long production numbers. I don't recommend the movie unless you have some particular interest in the subject...

I think that the film's plot strays pretty far from some of the real details of Mozart's life. [Note to self], I need to find a short biography of Mozart.

2016 Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp

Starting Sunday, July 10, Drew is spending two weeks working at the Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp as a counselor. Since 2003, he has worked thirteen out of fourteen years at the camp; he missed only 2015. Drew also spent five years as camper.

ESPN 30 for 30 Vol 3: Doc & Darryl

Staying at the Napa Valley Marriott hotel, I watched Doc & Darryl. This is the eleventh installment of ESPN's 30 for 30 Volume 3. An episode guide for Vol 3 is here.

The documentary looks at the intertwined careers of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. Starting with each as kids, it follows their meteoric rise with the Mets. Behind Gooden and Strawberry, the Mets beat the Boston Red Sox in the infamous 1986 World Series.

Darryl Strawberry played 17 seasons with the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers and Giants. He was rookie of the year in 1983 and an eight time All-Star.

Dwight Gooden played 16 seasons with Mets, Yankees, Indians, DevilRays and Astros. He was rookie of the year in 1984 and an four time All-Star.

Although they won a World Series and had fairly long careers, their lives were a mess. The amount of alcohol, recreational drugs and performance enhancing drugs involved is unbelieveable. Both men served time in prison. Combined with Strawberry's two bouts with colon cancer, it is amazing that either of them is alive. While Strawberry seems to have stabilized his life, Gooden looks and sounds like a serious drug addict.

I think that Doc & Darryl may have been one of the hardest of the 30 for 30 documentaries to watch. It is so depressing that I don't know that I can recommend it.

Amsterdam Run with Jack

Much to my surprise, Jack wanted to go for a run a couple of times while we were on the trip. On the last day that we were in Amsterdam, he and I ran 5.57 miles from the hotel through the city to the tip of the Vondelpark and back.

Izzy

While we were on the trip, our cat Izzy passed away. She was just over eleven years old. This picture is from July of 2005.

Pictures: [2013] [2006] [2005]

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Drop Flip

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Code Expiration: October 4, 2016

Where in the World were the Heringers?

2016 Europe - Day 17 - To Sacramento

In hindsight, we probably didn't use our time in Munich as efficiently as possible. If Sharon and I had felt better, we could have covered more ground on Friday night and Sunday morning.

We had a lazy Sunday morning. We slept in and had a nice free breakfast in the hotel. We eventually caught a taxi from the hotel to the airport about noon. It is actually a pretty long ride out to the airport. The cab driver was not happy that I used a credit card...

We had a nonstop flight from Munich to San Francisco on Lufthansa. We checked our bags. I swear that Jack's bag was probably more than 55 pounds. I think that Jack's bag only weighted 43 pounds when we started. Sharon and Jack bought quite a bit of swag.

Lufthansa doesn't seem to care about overweight bags. We had a similar experience with Sharon's bag coming out of Italy four years ago.

We breezed through security. With a 3:25 pm boarding time, we had some time to kill. We ended up having a cold drink and some sushi followed by some Italian food.

The boarding was delayed about 45 minutes. In spite of loading a very big plane, Lufthansa didn't seem to have a very organized boarding process...

It was an 11 1/2 hour flight. Jack and I watched Portugal beat France in the Euro final by the score of 1 to 0. We had been hoping that Germany would be in the final. It would have been wild to be on a Lufthansa flight from Munich with a couple hundred Germans watching the game! Although the food was particularly horrible, the flight was uneventful.

We landed at 7:00 pm Sunday evening. We moved through the password control, baggage claim and customs fairly quickly. Jack's girlfriend picked him up at the curb. Sharon and I dragged the luggage on to the parking shuttle and wound our way to the car. By the time, we got home it was almost 11:30 pm. The cold had gotten the best of me and I was done.

2016 Europe - Day 16 - Munich

Up fairly early, we had a very nice free breakfast at the hotel. Given the size of Munich, the plan for the day was to take the Grey Line on and off bus to a number of sites.

We walked to the subway station and took the subway to the Marienplatz stop. From there, we walked to the main railway station. We bought tickets and boarded a 10:20 am bus.

The first stop was the Nymphenburg Palace. The palace is the main summer residence of the former rulers of Bavaria. We spent about 45 minutes touring the palace and the gardens.

Jumping back on the bus, we got off at the BMW Welt (BMW World) and BMW Museum. We wandered through the BMW World which is mostly current and future technology. Jack has been talking the whole trip about wanting a BMW station wagon. We saw them everywhere in Europe. We then toured the BMW Museum which showcases the history of the company. I was astonished at the number of people; both sites were packed. Overall, we spent almost two hours between the two venues.

The next bus stop was the English Garden. This is essentially Munich's equivalent to New York City's central park. We walked into the park and had lunch at the Chinese Tower beer garden.

Afterwards, we walked the length of the English Garden. At the tip, people were actually surfing on the river where it came into the park.

At this point, we started along the reverse direction of Rick Steve's walking tour of Munich. Struggling with a cold for the last couple of days, I was really starting to wear down at this point. We made a couple of stops to tour the Frauenkirche and St. Michaels Churches. We ended having a couple of good drinks in the Frauenplatz and watched an entertaining street performer.

We had one odd experience in and around Munich. It seemed like they were more reluctant to take credit cards than everywhere else that we went in the two and a half weeks. There were a couple of places that wouldn't take cards and a couple of other places where they acted very bent out of shape when we used a credit card.

We caught the subway back to the hotel. We headed down to the pool and the spa at the hotel. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. The hot tub was not hot and the steam room was a far cry from the one at Hohenschwangau.

We finished the night with a late dinner in the Champions sport bar attached to the hotel!?! This is an Amercian restaurant chain. I had a cobb salad, Jack had hot wings and Sharon had a quesadilla. I was frankly done with German food at this point. I have had enough sausages, sauerkraut and schnitzel to last me a couple of years. We watched the European track and field champions while we ate...

2016 Europe - Day 15 - To Munich

With a short hop planned from Salzburg to Munich, we decided to leave Salzburg late. After yesterday's struggles finding breakfast, we had a very, very expensive breakfast in the hotel.

Afterwards, we headed to Mozart's Residence. In addition to the Sound of Music, the town is crazy for Mozart! We did an audio tour of the museum. I have to agree with Jack: they could have done a better job providing an overview of his life.

We wandered back to the hotel, checked out of the room and headed towards Munich. This was a fairly easy drive of less than two hours on the autobahn.

We were at the hotel in Munich about 2:00 pm. We are spending two nights at the Munich Marriott. This is the first hotel on the trip that is not in the heart of the city center.

Getting the bags in the room, I took off to get rid of the rental car. I returned the rental car to the main railway station. Sharon encouraged me to call get the exact address for the rental return. I did and they give me a street address on an alley near the station. Like usual, I missed the turn the first time and had to loop around.

When I parked in the garage, I was next to three young Americans with large backpacks who were also returning a car. The side of their car had three deep gouges running the length of the car. It looked like some kind of dinosaur clawed the side of the car.

I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. We walked to the subway and took the subway downtown. We walked from the Opeonsplatz stop to the Alta Pinakothek Museum. This museum is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses one of the most famous collections of Old Master paintings. I was astonished at the number of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens.

From there, we walked to the Marienplatz, Munich's main square. Eventually, we found our way to the Hofbräuhaus. This is a world-famous beer hall. Eventually, we found a table and had an early dinner of sausage and sauerkraut.

After some discussion, we ended up heading back to the hotel after dinner. Two plus weeks into the trip and with both Sharon and I nursing colds, we decided just to crash early in the room...

Salzburg, Austria

2016 Europe - Day 14 - Salzburg

We set an alarm for 7:30 am. Getting dressed, we headed into the old city center for breakfast. We had a hard time finding a place for breakfast. We wandered back and forth before finally just settling on a Starbucks! Finding a place for breakfast is a struggle that we occasionally have when we are traveling. Every culture deals with breakfast slightly differently and sometimes we just can't find the right rhythm to get in sync.

After breakfast, using the Rick Steve's book, Jack led us on a great walking tour of the old city. We toured the Salzburg Cathedral, St. Peter Cemetery's and St. Peter's Church. The old city, including the cathedral, have some very Italian influences. In the cemetery, we climbed up into the cliff to tour some hillside caves where the medieval monks had lived.

Along the walking tour, we stopped at the University of Salzburg. In the summer of 1985, Sharon spent six weeks taking classes here between her second and third year of law school. After 31 years, Sharon was excited to have a chance to come back!

After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed to the Mirabell Gardens. We wandered through the gardens.

Next, we went looking for Hotel Amedus. When Sharon came to Salzburg in 1985, she got there a couple of days before the dorms were open. Wandering in the city, she ended up staying a couple of nights at the Hotel Amedus. She has some very fond memories of her stay there and the view of the church cemetery out the windows.

From here, we headed to the Museum of Modern Art. Located on a cliff overlooking the city, we took an elevator up to the museum. The plan was to have lunch there. The museum restaurant has some fantastic views. All of three of us had a business special (soup and risotto). Sharon has been talking for weeks about special desert that they have in Salzburg. We didn't get it on the first night. With our schedule, this was our only chance to order the desert. Sharon ordered the Salzburg Nockerl. It was huge.

Continuing to feel under the weather, I wandered back to the hotel to take a nap. Sharon and Jack explored the ridge above the city.

When they got back to hotel, we got cleaned up and dressed up a little. Sharon had made a package of reservations for the rest of the day that included four parts.

First, we took a boat tour on the Satz River. We sat on the river and had a cold drink while we waited for the tour. We caught the boat on the river right across from our hotel. The boat tour lasted about an hour.

Second, when the boat tour was done, we walked across the old city and took a funicular train up into the fort. It is literally a 30 second ride.

Third, we had dinner in the restaurant on the far side of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. While the food was mediocre, the views were stunning. There was a fixed meal; Sharon and I had a fish plate, while Jack had veal.

Fourth, after dinner, we went up to the top of the fortress (the high floor of windows in the picture at the top of this post) and listened to an hour and a half concert that included Mozart and other composers.

After the concert, we took the train back down and headed back to the hotel. Jack and I finished the night watching the France versus Germany semi-final Euro soccer game in the bar. France scored twice in the second half to win by the score of 2 to 0. For a couple of reasons that I will explain later, we were really rooting for Germany. By the time, we crashed in the room it was almost 11:30 pm...

2016 Europe - Day 13 - To Salzburg

Up early, we had breakfast at the hotel. We were packed, checked out and were loaded in the car by 8:40 am.

We are heading to Salzburg, Austria. For the first hour and a half, the GPS lead us over a series of small country roads through small villages. In the drive from Freiburg to Hohenschwangau to Salzburg, we saw a lot of rural Southern Germany.

Eventually, we hit the autobahn to Salzburg, We got to the hotel about 11:40 am. In heavy traffic, I missed the hotel the first time and it took 20 minutes to loop back around.

We dropped the bags and the car. The hotel said that the room wouldn't be ready until 2:00 pm. This wasn't a problem. Sharon had made plans for the afternoon.

We wandered across the river into the historic old town and had lunch on the Mozartplatz. Sharon had salmon trout, Jack had sausage and I had risotto.

From there, we wandered to Bob's Special Tours. Sharon had made a reservation for a four hour Sound of Music Tour! This was a highlight spotlighted in the Rick Steve's book. Frankly, I didn't even realize that the Sound of Music was filmed in Salzburg.

Let me start with the positives. Both Jack and I felt like the driving tour give us a great feel for the city, the area around the hilltop fortress and the surrounding countryside. We also enjoyed the stop to ride the luge.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of negatives. We were in an eight passenger van. Siding in the middle row, we had a six year old and her grandparents sitting behind us. The tour guide/driver's English was not good. You really had to focus to figure out what the driver was saying. The six year quickly lost interest and was just yapping away about all kinds of things. Her grandparents couldn't hear the guide and got frustrated about where we were going and what we were seeing.

The traffic was very heavy. The driver kept muttering about how usually bad the traffic was. We ended sitting in traffic for much of the first hour trying to get to a number of stops in and around the city.

Over the second half of the tour, we started playing leapfrog with a Panoramic van that was doing the same tour. When we got to the parish church at Mondsee, I followed that group for a while. Their guide spoke great English and was being much more pro-active about actually leading the tour. This was actually the company recommended by the hotel...

What we really needed was a reference sheet and map that supplemented the tour. This would have provided a much better perspective on what was going on.

We got back to the city about 4:00 pm, but it took us almost 30 minutes to wind our way to the hotel in very heavy traffic. I finally convinced Sharon to get out and walk the last 100 yards rather than sit in the van.

We picked up our key and went up to the room. We are spending the next two nights at the Hotel Sacher.

Jack had come on the trip with a cold. Starting Sunday or Monday night, I started to feel it a little. Walking in the room, I essentially collapsed. I couldn't go any further. Sharon and Jack wandered down to the hotel bar, while I slept.

Sharon had made a dinner reservation in the old city center, but she and Jack decided to eat in the hotel grill instead. Jack had more schnitzel, while Sharon and I had hamburgers. Jack spent the last week of the trip raving about how much he loved German food.

Jack and I finished the night in the room watching the second half of the Portugal versus Wales Euro semi-final. We were rooting for Wales, but Portugal won by the score of 2 to 0.

Hohenschwangau Castle, Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany