Three days in Tennessee

(Roughly edited but wanted to post)

During April vacation we decided to pay a brief visit to our son Joe and his wife, Kelsi, leave Andrew there with them and then Mike and I would do some visiting in Tennessee.  We left very early on Monday to head to Lynchburg, Virginia and had a wonderfully uneventful trip down. The best part was the final hours spent on the Blue Ridge Pkwy. and even Andrew remarked he liked it so much he would like to retire there. In Virginia we spent the evening with Steve and his fiancé Amanda. Kelsi returned home from work and took us to the mall to see her and Joe's ice cream stand. She also treated us to ice cream and we each enjoyed a brand-new flavor.  Joe came home from work a little bit later and we all hung out and talked and enjoyed a sleepover party. In the morning, Andrew slept in while Mike and I left for our journey to Tennessee.  

We took a 5 hour drive over to Pigeon Forge Tennessee to see my high school friend Carrie and enjoy the Pigeon Forge area. We were very impressed with how built-up Pigeon Forge was with multiple go-cart racing and mini golf courses, a giant Ferris wheel at the island, multiple shops and restaurants along with dinner show venues. It was great to catch up with Carrie in person, reminisce about old times and share how our current lives are going. She gave us tips of things to do and her favorite attractions around the area. She gifted us with homemade treats of salsa and BBQ sauce. 

We spent the rest of the day exploring the local attractions including a museum with a life-size replica of the Titanic with an iceberg and water, there was also a huge wax museum, we just saw the outside with a King Kong replica and statues. Nearby was the Smoky Mountain Opry and next to that the Wonder Works magic exhibit which included a giant upside down Museum Building. The area was very colorful and well lit and we were fortunate to be there in the off-season so not quite crowded yet. 

Desiring some local flavor we decided to experience a dinner show at the Lumberjack feud. This was quite impressive, we had a full meal and even our server was part of the show. We were part of the Dawson family feuding with the McGraw  family as they were fighting over the last logging season before Pres. Roosevelt closed the area to develop the Smoky Mountain National Park. The show included great music by a bluegrass band and they also played a dueling banjos set that made Mike's day and week. They had horses, and dogs that raced and jumped over water and they had clogging with guys and girls.  Audience participation included a tree climbing contest, a sweeping contest and also a Slingshot contest. Lumberjacks are competitors from around the world who chop and climb their way through competition. 

 After dinner we were exhausted from a full day of driving and experiencing new sites and seeing an old friend so we headed to our hotel in nearby Gatlinburg. The hotel is situated right on the river and I enjoyed sleeping with the window open to the sounds of the flowing river.

Next morning we were up bright and early, Mike was eager to meet up with an old friend from the army and I was eager to climb to the High Point of Tennessee called Clingmans Dome located in nearby Smoky Mountain National Park. Most breakfast places weren't open so we headed into Smoky Mountain national Park to start our day. The views were gorgeous we made it before most traffic and had a very chilly experiencing experience at the high point Tennessee which is also the High Point of smoky mountains in the High Point the Appalachian Trail. Views were spectacular and reminded me of doing the top of the Rocky Mountains. A pair of hikers ahead of us but in the bear I'm kind of grateful that we did not have the same sighting. While in the park we also visited the North Carolina-Tennessee state line and part of the Appalachian Trail as it travels across the smoky mountains on the Tennessee and North Carolina state line. One of the highlights of the week was reaching my 10th state High Point and very fitting that my 10th High Point was in TENnessee.

We both worked up quite an appetite during our very cold, brisk hike up and down the to the top Clingmans Dome so we headed for a Southern style breakfast. We ate at Crockett breakfast camp and our waitress seem very southern but we found that she was from Russia. Michael had a special recipe cinnamon roll pancake breakfast well I had a Mexican omelette, sweetened apples and, new for me, corn pone. The decor of the restaurant was really cool and I would highly recommend this place

 After breakfast we headed back in the car for a two and half hour journey down to Cleveland Tennessee to visit Michael Williams a friend of Mike's from Fort Devens' days. We met up with Mike at his very cute two story house in Cleveland it was not what might Mike expected: it did not sit on a swamp and he wasn't sitting outside with a straw hat, barefoot surrounded by bullfrogs. Michael gave us a quick tour of his house, we met his adorable toy poodle Jasper and both Michaels went through an album of photos from their days at Fort Devens and during deployment and during airplane jumps. Then Mike offered to show us a little bit of Cleveland and we went to a local favorite for eating call Jenkins.  They're well-known for their chicken salad and I had to sample some, Mike ordered his favorite, a Reuben.  And a very special highlight of the trip was meeting Michael's parents Ed and Erma Williams. They have been married nearly 59 years and are the sweetest dearest Christian couple that I've ever met. They shared stories about when Michael was a young boy as well as how they met as a couple and traveled around the country while Ed was a minister. Both Ed and Erma are passionate about music and offered a guitar to Michael which was grand because he finally got to play,  "You got a line, I got a pole" which is stuck in his head from the Lumberjack show. Ed  accompanied Michael by playing his accordion that he has been playing since he was nine years old. They jammed for a little bit before we had to go, and upon leaving, Erma gave me a book and a CD that she helped compile with a friend of hers to encourage young children and it was filled with songs that she wrote and stories that her friend shared as well as a huge bag of pencils for me to get to my students. While we were all together she had me read a devotion from Oswald Chambers about suffering and it was really neat to have this fellowship together. We headed back to Michael's place as he prepared for worship rehearsal and then we said our goodbyes and headed over to Chattanooga for a quick evening Tour.

 Chattanooga was a quick 30 minutes away and we visited the Chattanooga choo-choo and station and then went down to the riverfront to walk over the Tennessee River and over to a park and finished our long walk with a delicious ice cream from the Ice Cream Show. Actually I forgot, I also squeezed in a quick Munzee (Geo-location game I play) capping session at the national Cemetery. Then we headed back to our hotel in Cleveland and enjoyed a quick night rest before our final day of Tennessee's adventures.

We checked out of the hotel in Cleveland, grabbed a very quick bite to eat and then drove over to Franklin, Tennessee. In Franklin we spent much of the day finding Munzees and I will not get into that but you can definitely ask me more if you want to know but let's just say it was pretty time-consuming because I had a goal to find as many Munzees as I could that day and still leave time for a visit up to Nashville.  In Franklin we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed up to Nashville for the evening. 

 Nashville was quite a sight, it maintained its historic manner and the theme was all about music. We found a parking spot and decided to walk up and down Broadway Street to explore the many open bars and clubs that had live music playing as well as check out souvenir stores and the visitor center. Broadway Street is also known as the honky-tonk highway. We were greeted by thousands of musical notes coming from panhandlers playing guitars, even a guitar made out of an old suitcase and there was a Johnny Cash look like. About two out of every three establishments was a bar or a club and the streets are filled with the aroma of cigarettes and beer.

We did pass by one barbecue place and that gave off a more delicious smell. Nashville was beautifully situated upon a river and the strip we walked was kept pretty much true to its historic days of old with lots of neon lights and architecture. Every bar had live music playing and there were street musicians at just about every corner and no cover charge to go in the bars. We stopped into the honky-tonk bar which is  actually a three-story bar with live music on each floor. We stayed for a bit to listen to a live band play where the female singer was actually standing on a nearby bar table singing and asking for donations if you wanted her to change her song. All that walking in Nashville worked up our appetites so that we could experience a hometown neighbor's, Scott Brown, favorite eatery called The Golden Corral. We found one located halfway between Nashville and our hotel for the night which is near Knoxville. Michael stuffed himself crazy with all kinds of meats and a few vegetables but he went back for seconds and maybe thirds of the ribs. Quote from Michael, "the food was ridiculous."  I had a very healthy salad and then sampled a few of the main dishes before moving onto my favorite part of the restaurant which was the dessert. I had cotton candy and sampled all the chocolate fountains. They had a milk chocolate fountain, white chocolate fountain and a Caramel fountain and that was the bulk of my dinner. One thing that I kept running into over and over again in the south was how nice all the people were. Especially noticeable was that if you went to child and said something they didn't shy away or run away or go gravitate to their parents they just joined and then trusted you and that was very nice. We headed to our hotel in a place called Lenore city and early the next morning I checked my Munzee score and found that I did place third in the world for the day, so it was well worth it. We woke up rather early, found a nearby Dunkin' Donuts to start our ride home. The week was definitely a whirlwind a lot of driving and we only stayed in each hotel one night, so we're constantly packing and unpacking and packing again and on the move but it was great to take in so much of Tennessee in such a short amount of time and definitely give us a taste for what we would like to see again.

Exploring Hamburg, Deutschland Part 2

Silvester (New Year's Eve) 2013 in Hamburg, Deutschland 

Typically New Year's Eve is a simple affair for us, we head to a neighbor's for a small party with Chinese food, keep the TV on in the background to watch the ball drop in NYC and play board games.  Andrew and I were fortunate to celebrate an unforgettable New Year's Eve, known as Silvester, in Hambug, Germany for 2013.  That morning Andrew and I were tasked with errands to shop at a local open market called Isledorf at the Eppendorfer Baum just one train stop away.  The market itself was under the tracks about the length of two train stops.  We were to look for Blumenkohl (cauliflower) and Walnusse (walnuts).  We found both and perused the many tables and stalls.  There they had mostly food, but some tables had scarves, household items, and trinkets.  There were people playing music on either end of the market which added to the atmosphere.  We then returned to the apartment for lunch.  Just after lunch, Andrew and I went back down stairs to the nearby supermarket called Penny's to pick up some more souvenirs.  The store was loaded for the festivities with lots of fireworks and champagne right alongside your traditional groceries.  All throughout the day you could hear fireworks around the city.  Christine and the girls joined up with Andrew and I to head over to a local park, stadtpark in Winterhude. It was quite large, big open fields, a water park for the summer, large playground, waterfront and biking trails along pretty gardens.  I was able to capture more Munzees and join the girls for playing on different types of see saws.  The playground equipment differed from those in New England in that they were not as "safe" but rather encouraged more risk taking which I liked but could be dangerous if you're not watching out for the children.  The swings went very high up and you climbed a hill of old tires to reach the launching point for the swings.  After it grew too cold we headed back to enjoy a great fish dinner. Andrew was happy to offer Kyra a piggy back ride back to the train station.

 Just after 8 pm Andrew and I headed out to celebrate Silvester 2013. The bus was decked out in streamers and folks were all pretty energetic. The sites and sounds of fireworks increased in frequency and we grew cautious of where we walked.  We took the train headed to Landungsbrucken but got off in St. Pauli to avoid getting off in the thick of things.  Even a few blocks away from the main festivities, people were setting off fireworks from balconies and sidewalks.  The mood was loud and festive as many were drinking right out in the open, laughing, cheering, and quite jovial.  Andrew and I were quite cautious where we walked to avoid being in the line of fire, literally.  We explored some of the crowded spots right along the harbor, ordered some coffee and french fries then found a spot across from the Hard Rock Cafe up some stairs with a great view and not too many people setting off fireworks.  It grew crowded quickly and soon fireworks were being set off all around us. Traffic had stopped as people were setting fireworks off in the streets. At midnight it grew especially crazy, loud, fireworks everywhere, singing, and Andrew even gave me a hug and a big smile as he enjoyed this New Year's more than any previous.  Definitely one I will not forget.  It was only 32 degrees Fahrenheit out but people were too excited to notice.  After 30 minutes we began a slow and cautious walk towards the St. Pauli train stop where the train cars were sardines.  We made it home safely amid even little children lighting off fireworks in nearby neighborhoods and Andrew fell asleep quickly. I lay wide awake for some time listening to the fireworks echo among all the tall buildings of Hamburg.  Here is a brief video taken just after midnight:
http://youtu.be/mfOS4CR4AQw

                    January 1, 2014: Celebrating a New Year in a foreign country which is pretty cool! The bummer was this would be Andrew and my last day in Germany with family.  We had all slept in and then headed out after breakfast to explore the city's mess.   This was at a nearby park we went to hang out at..they were still setting off fireworks in parts of the park:

Alina played in the canal and then climbed trees with Andrew, Kyra was still tired and went home early with Christine. A bit later we headed back to the apartment to enjoy lunch. Christine definitley kept us well fed! The fish and pineapple from the fishmarkt was delicious! Andrew and I squeezed in as much exploring as we could on our last day and traveled by bus, train and foot to as many parts of the city as we could.  The city was cleaned up pretty quickly. We walked from the Rathaus to an "American" Diner 30 minutes away, enjoyed a good meal and then had to head back to pack and rest.  These are the stairs we had to climb during each trip to and from the 5th floor apartment:

Thursday morning we woke up before the sun, and the girls said their good byes as we headed down the stairs for the last time and brought two extra suitcases with stuff to go back to America for Christine.  We caught the 39 Schnell bus to the airport and had plenty of time at the airport before the ticket window even opened. Security was quick but awkward as a woman guard was very personal in my "pat" down.  Then we waited in a lower level gate before being bused to our small Brussels airlines plane.  I had changed suitcases last minute when I saw that our luggage requirements were more restrictive. This plane trip was short and  brought us to the Brussels Airport in Belgium and included free chocolate.  Andrew and I went through the customs window and received another stamp for our passports! We had time to explore and I went to admire all the Smurf supplies in the gift stores as Belgium is their home.  We spent the last of our Euros on a smoothie and chips to hold us over until the plane.  We enjoyed a rather large plane to head home in which was nice since it was the longest flight we've ever had. It was just over 9 hours and Andrew and I both managed to watch 3 movies and enjoyed nice meals with ice cream treats.
         Back home on U.S. soil, we went through customs and then received news that due to a snow storm our flight to Boston had been cancelled.  We waited in several lines and went through several options to try to find a way home.  We could fly back home three days later! Or my son Joe had offered to drive 3 hours to pick us from his place in VA.  Lastly, the airline offered to pay for us to take the train back.  Andrew and I really do like trains and it would get us home sooner.  We did end up paying an extra $100 each plus money for a shuttle to Union Station.  We grouped up with 6 others in the same situation to split the cost of the shuttle. It was kind of neat to meet up with others and go on this adventure together. Three of the passengers were all students at Northeaster and from Spain that didn't know each other before college.  One was an older gentleman in the Army who had just returned from Poland, and a younger gentleman who had spend his holidays with family in Paris.  Though it was stormy, the ride through DC was very pretty in the snow late at night.  I was enjoyed the van ride until I realized we were going in circles.  Our van driver did not know how to get to the station! I pulled out my phone and directed him much to the relief of all of us in the van.  We found the huge, antique station to be very quiet. So quiet in fact, it was hard to find staff. Finally found some police who admitted there was a chance the train wouldn't go to Boston.  I had faith though that I would get there somehow.  Andrew and I bought our tickets and boarded the train an hour later. This was 3:00 am now and we'd been up since 6:00 am Hamburg time--over 30 hours! The train was super comfortable, had power outlets at our seats and wifi.  It was such a peaceful and beautiful ride up to Boston without any incidents! Mike drove safely to Boston to pick us up and we finally arrived home only 12 hours later :)

Andrew on the deck of the apartment on Erikastrasse:

Creative parking in Hamburg to allow for all the cars to fit.

New York bridge as seen from the train ride back home to Boston:

Parting shot of Alina standing in the large bike parking lot at the U-Bahn station:

das Ende :)