Reviewing Athens

Agora

A week in Athens isn’t nearly long enough to see all of the monuments, ruins, points of interest, as well as sample all of the food options in the city. I also didn’t get to do more than glance at the sea shore or peek at some of the coastline. In August I thought one time in Athens was plenty, but I may have to make a return trip some fall or spring! For information about my rating system of where we stayed, what we ate, and what we did, see Reading the Reviews.

Acting out in Athens

Greek Folk Dance

The best time to visit Athens is in the spring (April, May, early June) or fall (mid-September, October); so of course we came in August. This is one of the hottest months, as well as the time of year that Athens has the most tourists. Was it hot – yes! Was it crowded – sort of. If you went to the tourist places, and who doesn’t, there were substantial numbers of people; if you hung out in museums or interesting places without air conditioning, it wasn’t too crowded. Our best idea was to go to the ruins early in the morning and save the museums for later in the day. In the evening the best place to be was in a café that overlooked the water with some sort of cold drink in your hand.

Geology, Hallucinogens, and Lots of Questions

One of the most famous places in Greece, and a tourist destination since

Mountains

as early as 1400 BCE, is Delphi. And being tourists, Barb and I hopped on a bus for a tour of the area. I was anxious to see the grotto down along some river or stream – one again, reality was not what stories of the area had lead me to believe. It’s about a four and a half hour ride through some very pretty mountainous scenery from Athens to Delphi; luckily we had a great guide.

Amsterdam, Again

And I came back to Amsterdam. This is my third trip and Dave’s second. Our first visit was in the 1980s with a tour group; we saw the ‘common sites’, including, after dark, the red light district. Neither of us was impressed. My next trip was with Barb, and we concentrated on museums. This time I came because this is where the cruise ended and stayed since it was a place Dave had never really explored. I was tickled to get to show him some wonderful museums. We weren’t in time to see the tulips, but the weather was lovely and it was fun to be out on the canals in the little boats. Once again, for me the down side was the number of bicycles – they seem to aim right at pedestrians with silent malice. (The video is falling blossoms from the Rijksmuseum.)

Winding through the Kinderdijk Windmills

Finally! I was going to get to see actual windmills. Growing up in Texas I’d

Several of the windmills

seen windmills all of my life; those wimpy little things with tiny blades that pumped water into the cattle tanks, or even for household use. However, the day I heard the story of the boy with his finger in the dike and saw the pictures that went with it, I wanted to see a ‘real’ windmill. Later in high school I read Don Quixote, and again, there were ‘real’ windmills. I’d been to the Netherlands previously, but never visited any windmills – this was my chance!

Brühl Byways and Palaces

Pig in a kilt

So my burning question is what’s the difference between a palace and a castle? In my mind, a castle has to have turrets, lots of different levels, parapets, balconies, bridges, terraces and even a moat! A palace is nothing more than a really big mansion. And I’m sort of right. It’s a castle if it has fortifications; otherwise it’s only a palace. Since we had a chance to see some palaces, off we went. The Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces are in North Rhine-Westphalia rather than right down on the river. It was a nice drive and the weather sort of cooperated – it didn’t rain, sleet or hail.

Curious about Cologne, Germany

Cologne is a pretty city with architecture influenced by the Dutch as well

Restaurant area in Cologne

as the Italians and the French. But what I loved most about the city was the cathedral. It’s nearly over the top Gothic architecture is jaw-dropping. So I was stunned when one of our party absolutely refused to go inside – and was nasty about it. All I could think was ‘ugly American’. Our tour guide was gracious, recommending a nice place for a cup of coffee while this person and a companion waited for the tour to continue. Better manners would have been to inquire as to a café location and quietly state that they would wait for us there; it doesn’t cost anything to be polite.

Marking Time in Marksburg Castle

Working in the Vineyard

After seeing all of the castles and the near vertical vineyards from the river, it was fitting that we got to go exploring. The Marksburg Castle sits above the town of Braubach and is one of the principal sites of the Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although it was never used as a royal residence, it served as a fortress protecting this portion of the Rhine River. Its butter-churn shaped tower makes it stand out from all of the other castles along the river. It is also the only castle along the valley between Bingen am Rhein and Koblenz that was never destroyed.

The More than Middling Middle Rhine

Loreley

This was our second trip down this stretch of river and this time we were prepared for what we were going to see. In short there are an oodle of castles along this part of the river simply because it was a great place for trade and thus a great place to conquer. Of course our day was nippy, so the crew came around with hot chocolate that could be fortified with a liqueur from the region. It would have been rude to turn down their offer, so I didn’t…twice.

Rocking around Rudesheim am Rhein, Germany

Eagle Tower, a fortification

A bit further down the river from Heidelberg was our next stop. This is the gateway to the prettiest stretch of the Rhine River and the center of the winemaking area; the streets of the town are literally lined with taverns! There are also oodles of half-timbered houses along cobblestone streets. We opted to wander on our own rather than taking an organized tour. The weather was a bit warmer making strolling along window shopping a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Hiding out in Heidelberg, Germany

For some reason Heidelberg always makes me think of Hummel

Forested area near Heidelberg

figurines. But rather than ceramics, this is the seat of Germany’s oldest university and the cradle of the German Romantic movement. Which leads me to another misconception: I never think of romanticism in connection with Germany. However, the city has been a center for the arts throughout the centuries causing UNESCO Creative Cities Network to designate it a ‘City of Literature’. What I do correctly associate with Heidelberg, and particularly its university, is scientific research and especially the Max Planck Institutes of Biology and Medicine, Chemistry, Physics and Technology, and Human Science.

Sleeting in Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg is a lovely city blended from both German and French

Dockside in Strasbourg

cultures, and I was anxious to walk through its old section with Dave since he hadn’t seen any of it. Even better, we were going to have a tour then time to wander, shop, grab a bite to eat, and finally make our way back to the ship. It’s a lovely place with pretty houses, nice gardens, and picturesque canals. The last time I’d been here it had been sunny, warm, and entirely delightful; this time, not so much.

Floating along in Colmar, France

Colmar is a medieval village with so many canals that it’s been

Canals in 'Little Venice'

nicknamed ‘Little Venice’. It’s filled with half-timbered houses, diminutive winding lanes, and cute little shops. We spent several hours wandering the streets after getting a really good tour of the town. We wondered why the Statue of Liberty welcomed us to town until we found that its designer, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, lived here. It’s a pretty town and I’d have been happy spending substantially more time exploring.

Breisach, Germany Is Cuckoo

We jumped on the Viking Longboat, Lofn, in Basel and set sail down the

Saint Stephan's Cathedral, Breisach

Rhine River. As expected, the water was smooth and the scenery was lovely. And also, as has been with our cruises for the last few years, the weather went from wonderful to stinkin’ inside of 20 minutes. Since we couldn’t change the weather, we chose to have a great time, anyway. This year, for a change, I remembered to pack a warm scarf and some gloves; it was one of my better ideas. Our first stop was Breisach, Germany for some Black Forest cake and a look at how they build cuckoo clocks.

Having Basil in Basel, Switzerland

For several weeks I’ve been writing about the history of small towns in

Boy and Fish Fountain

Texas. The next few blogs concern the much older cities we visited on our trip from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Basel is in northwestern Switzerland on the Rhine River. We arrived a couple of days early to allow for jet lag and do some sightseeing on our own. Our first surprise was that the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg is actually in France, and if you go out the wrong door, you end up with taxis that only go to France. However, the cabbies are used to confused tourists and kindly helped us get to the Swiss transportation. Basel, essentially, is located at the nexus of Switzerland, France and Germany with suburbs in each country. It’s not surprising that although the official language is the Swiss variety of standard German, many people speak French and English as a matter of course.

Checking in in Childress County

Railroad into Childress

In the southeast corner of the Texas Panhandle is Childress County. This was the site of our last visit before hitting the highway home. It, like many of the other counties, has a history of land use by Native Americans, visitation by European explorers, and early colonization by ranchers. In fact at one time almost the entire county was occupied by four large ranches. Cattle from these were driven along the Palo Duro - Dodge City trail to Dodge City, Kansas.

Dinging about in Donley County

Antique car

Donley is another small county in the Panhandle of Texas. As of 2019 there are only about 3,000 residents and that number is down around 11% from previous years. While this was once cattle country, it’s now mixed use of ranching and farming. In good years there are enough crops for folks to make a living; but when there is drought, lots of irrigation is needed just to break even.

Ambling along to Armstrong County

Bank building

I thought that Amarillo was the seat of Armstrong County, but I was wrong. It’s actually the seat of Potter County and is near the geographic center of the Texas Panhandle. Its name may come from the yellow wildflowers that are plentiful in the area since amarillo is yellow in Spanish. Someday we’ll actually visit that county courthouse and I’ll write about Potter County – but not today. Here’s a nice picture of a bank we passed; I think the architecture is Classical Revival but it may be Federal.

Dallam County, the Last of the XIT

Until this trip all I knew about the XIT Ranch was that at one time it had

XIT Ranch Museum

been the largest spread in Texas. I didn’t know that two men got all of the land by supplying the stone for and building of the state capitol, nor did I know that there were so many little towns that originated as business centers for the ranch. There’s lots more to learn, and not just about ranching in Texas.

Tiny Towns in New Mexico

Playing in New Mexico means a trip to see beading buddies. This year

L to R: Dave and Cynthia,Teri and John

the theme was the Roaring 20s and we had a great time partying in our retro duds. We also tried out a hotel and ate at a couple of dandy restaurants. All in all, it was another good time with good friends. We’re ready to do it again! In our travels, we ran into another county seat, and a few tiny towns as well as getting some kicks.

Parking in Parmer County

As a kid I thought calling something the ‘panhandle’ of a state was funny.

One of the older houses in Farwell

Of course, Oklahoma looked a bit like a pot with a handle, but Florida didn’t fit that image, and neither did Texas. Adults had odd ways of naming things, and this was one of their idiosyncrasies. Dave and I have driven through the Texas Panhandle lots of times, but we’ve never stopped in Parmer County and in particular Farwell. We can’t say that now.

Shoeing Mules in Bailey County

My grandmother talked about traveling to Muleshoe, Texas on a wagon

Muleshoe City Limit

when she was a child. She may have visited it, again, when she was at West Texas Normal College in Canyon, Texas. In any case, I was enamored with the name of this town and wondered what mule lost its shoe there. As we headed to New Mexico, I was surprised when that tiny town popped up on our GPS. Of course we had to make a stop.

Lighting up Lubbock County

Fine arts on a bridge

Lubbock County is among the 20 most populous counties in Texas. Part of Lubbock’s claim to fame is that it is home to a rather large university from which my niece and her husband graduated. We rolled into town late in the afternoon ready for a hotel and a good dinner. It was time for us to rest so we didn’t see much of the city. We’ll be back, again, someday soon since the Buddy Holly Center is still on my list of things to see.

Having Cereal in Garza County

Faith Lutheran Church built in 1915
by Presbyterians

About the time we reached Garza County I quit paying much attention to where we were and was looking forward to where we were going. One of the things on my mind was lunch; however I was also contemplating dinner since I wanted it to be a good meal rather than something we just grabbed on the way to the hotel. This meant that lunch would be something light. So what do two supposed adults choose for a road trip lunch?

Kicking It in Kent County

Bluebonnets

Kent County is one of the smallest in Texas with a population of 763; and that number is dropping. This 903 square mile (2,339 km²) county is located in northwest Texas amidst the open prairie and mesquite woodland. It’s one of six prohibition or entirely dry counties in the state.

Strutting in Stonewall County

Small roads took us through some little tiny towns and one caught my

Cactus sculpture

interest: Aspermont. It reminded me of aspirin, aspirgum, asparagus, asti spumante, and a host of other sound alike words. I certainly hadn’t heard of the town and didn’t expect to actually go through it. However, as the road curved we drove into this mini-metropolis. Surprisingly it is the seat of Stonewall County. This county has less than 1,400 people and is dwindling; Aspermont had 855 people as of 2017.

Hanging out in Haskell County

Slightly larger than Throckmorton County is Haskell County with about

Historical Marker about Peters'
Colony

5,700 people and declining. You may not reach the end of the internet there, but you do reach the western boundary of what was Peters Colony. It seems that we can’t get out of Peters Colony if we’re in Texas roaming around. The eastern boundary cuts through Grayson, Collin, Dallas and Ellis Counties. That means that the Peters Colony land grant was about 200 miles wide.

Thriving in Throckmorton County

Farm tractor

Just west of Young County is Throckmorton; the entire county has just over 1,500 souls and that number is dropping. Much of its landscape and history are extremely similar to that of Young County. It’s one of only six entirely ‘dry’ counties in Texas. And for you who don’t know what being ‘dry’ means, the definition varies. In some places you can get alcohol by the glass in a ‘club’ but not by the bottle anywhere. However, in this county you can’t buy alcohol at all in any situation.

Yonder in Young County

As of the 2019 estimate, Young County has about 18,000 people which is

Cowboy and cactus near courthouse

three percent less than it had during the previous census. And if you take the path we did, it’s about 100 miles from Keller. As you head west the countryside becomes more arid, letting you know that you’re about to hit the rolling plains. This is cattle country, but that doesn’t mean that ranchers can raise lots of stock on small amounts of land. Some of the largest ranches in Texas were located on these plains. Rather than being out on the ranch, the ranch headquarters were located in towns, making it easier to do business and giving wide spots in the road a more positive economic basis from which to grow.

Jumping through Jack County

We decided to take a road trip to New Mexico and in doing so we traveled

Near Joplin, Texas

through some of the smallest county seats in Texas. The next few blogs will chronicle those towns. Dave and I left Keller rather early in the morning to avoid the work traffic and quicker than I anticipated got away from the normal sights and sounds of the Metroplex. If you hop over to Google Maps you can follow us along to such places a Joplin, Bryson, Rule, Old Glory, Southland, and a host of other tiny towns that may not appear on any map.

Weir, Jonah, Trails, and Old Houses

Generally, before we go off on some adventure, I do some research about

Very old live oak tree

the area and decide what I want to see, alternatives in case we can’t find what we’re looking for, and of course places to eat, stay, shop, and so forth. Occasionally we’ll run across something to see that is not within my usual interests. I dearly love old movies in the genres of scifi, horror/monsters, crime, and comedy. The blood baths, touted as horror movies, that pass for entertainment find me less than curious. On this trip we were on a quest to find a 19^th to 20^th century pattern house (they were ordered from Sears, shipped out on the railroad, and put together on your own land) that had, incidentally, been used in one of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre movies. We didn’t find the house we were looking for, but we did find some tiny towns, and historical markers that piqued our interest, and just by chance, a movie set.

Flowing to Florence

Old homestead

Eons ago I had an 8^th grade student whose mother’s name was Florence. She was a lovely lady and each time I drive south on I-35 I think of her and her daughter when I see the exit to the town of that name. I hope they are doing quite well. Of course I am always curious about small towns, so we decided to stop and take a look.

Bruceville and Eddy – Together Forever

Creative nativity

Running down interstate highway 35, if you pay attention, you’ll see signs for the communities of Bruceville and Eddy. I’ve never thought much about them, but since we had some time and we were getting hungry, we decided to find a restaurant then take a look around these little towns. It was a nice respite from traveling down the ‘super slab’.

Georgetown Geography

Cynthia with a new friend

We’ve driven through Georgetown many times on our way to the southern part of the state. From the highway you can see parts of the city, including some of the domed buildings. This time we actually stopped and played in this lovely old town. If you’re planning a visit, check the sports schedules for Georgetown University and for the University of Texas; these activities have a rather negative impact on being able to find places to stay, eat, and visit.

Moseying through Manhattan

The Big Apple, The City of Dreams, The City That Never Sleeps, Empire

Dave and Cynthia on top of the
Empire State Building

City, Gotham: no matter what you call it, New York City, and in particular Manhattan, is a great place to visit. We’ve been here several times and I’m not tired of the city yet. On this occasion we took a couple of tours and ended up on top to the Empire State Building after dark. It’s still one of the best views of New York, but we were sad that we didn’t see a giant ape or Fay Wray.

Back in Boston

L to R: Rabbit sculpture, Working teapot

Dave and I were in Boston many years ago, basically wandering about on our own. This time we had two days of guided tours. The first was generic while the second focused on Harvard and the Freedom Trail. We learned some new things and took quite a lot of pictures. We didn’t actually get into the park to photograph the Make Way for Ducklings statues in Boston Public Garden, but we had seen them previously. The statues are a homage to the children’s book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey (published in 1941). The story focuses on a pair of mallards who raise their family on an island in the park’s lagoon.

Hanging out in Halifax

L to R: Large waves, Cynthia with guide and lobster

Halifax was our favorite stop on our tour. The weather was cold, misty, and windy, but the scenery was wonderful; our guide was knowledgeable as well as good natured. During our visit to Peggy’s Cove we saw some of the largest waves of the season, and I had my picture taken with a live lobster. We also visited the cemetery in which are interred victims of the Titanic disaster.  Since Dave and I find cemeteries interesting, we were delighted to wander among the graves, reading the remembrances. All in all, it was one of the better shore excursions we experienced on this trip.