Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome!

[jpalbny]

While we are on the subject of pictures bringing back great memories... We had a river cruise that was canceled 2 years ago, and we struck out on our own for 2 weeks rather than forego the trip entirely. That was the beginning of our love affair with road trips through Germany and the surrounding area.

 

The last night of our trip was June 21st, and we ended up spending the night in Wurzburg. We had completed a wildly successful trip and seen much more than we'd ever expected. We had a great dinner and struck up a conversation with a local family at the next table; they were excited to hear about how much we had enjoyed our trip through Germany, and we enjoyed hearing about their trips to the USA. After dinner, we wandered slowly home because we didn't want the night to end.

 

We stopped off and enjoyed a glass of wine on the Alte Mainbrucke, with seemingly the entire population of Wurzburg joining us. As we toasted to a successful trip, while watching the endless twilight, we told each other that it just didn't get any better than that!

 

 

 

This experience has made Wurzburg a real favorite. We spent another night there last year with Chris' new Audi, and we'll be back there next month to kick off our next Audi pickup! We are shaking up the usual order of things this time by starting there instead of finishing there. I think it will be just as much fun!

 

Mysty and Jeff, I really liked your pictures. From your descriptions, I feel like I was there with you. Or maybe I just wish that we were!

Edited August 5, 2015 by jpalbny

[mysty]

JP, you and your wife make a beautiful couple! The wine glass picture is just magical! I started reading the blog from that trip and I can well understand your love affair with road trips through Germany and surrounding areas. The pure joy of the trip comes through in your writing. The joie de vivre was mesmerizing! :)

[jpalbny]

Aw, thanks mysty! Chris has her work cut out for her, raising the average in that regard. She certainly does it very well! I really like how the wind caught her hair in that shot.

 

The wineglass shot (toasting to the scenery) made it on our Christmas card for that year, and the face shot is currently my avatar. Every time I look at those pictures it reminds me of how much fun we had!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Lovely piccies of Chris and you JP ... and nice piccies from M.

 

Some random ones ....

 

A tapas safari we took to Madrid, the genuine keys to the palace in Madrid, a fiaker driver taking a break in the Vienna Christmas market, a float on the night procession at Nice carnival, a day procession, and have a look at the rubbish on the road after the carnival ...

 

Jeff

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

.....and a picture of the redig at the Roman villa in our village showing the undefloor heating.

 

 

[mysty]

Cool pics Jeff! You are indeed a traveller! Those Roman ruins are amazing! When were they discovered? It's mind-blowing the technology they used! How is your gazebo going? You must be anxious to have it finished so you can start to enjoy it!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Cool pics Jeff! You are indeed a traveller! Those Roman ruins are amazing! When were they discovered? It's mind-blowing the technology they used! How is your gazebo going? You must be anxious to have it finished so you can start to enjoy it!

 

 

Hi,

 

The Roman Villa was discovered a couple of hundred years ago and provided the best example of a mosaic floor in the UK (at least ...) and is currently in the British Museum. A few yards away from that is an ancient Banjo enclosure. Every few years the villa is explored further and then recovered as it's within a working farm.

 

The gazebo is more accurtely a canopy. It has grown a bit and is quite something. We completed the elctrics yeterday and the plumbing is being completed today. We're really please with it!

 

Jeff

[mysty]

That's great news! You said originally that you wanted the canopy to support the weight of snow for the winter. I thought you might find this video link interesting. Prince Edward Island on the east coast of Canada received a record amount of snow this year. Approximately 515 cm over the course of the winter. They had huge snow storms. Here is a CBC news story on one of the storms with interesting video of people dealing with the snowfall.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Maritimes/Weather/ID/2654199831/

[TLCOhio]

Congratulations!! Views on this thread just went over 200,000 views. Been busy getting ready for our two grandsons and son arriving by air early afternoon for a visit through Sunday, plus work duties, etc. More later. Keep up the great postings!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 114,994 views for this posting.

[mysty]

Have fun with your family Terry!

 

Here are a couple of pictures taken on our river cruise in the fall of 2009 from Amersterdam to Basel.

 

The first is a picture taken of the courtyard of Reichsburg Castle in Cochem, Germany.

 

 

The next picture was taken in Speyer, Germany.

 

[jpalbny]

Nice, mysty!

 

We may end up near Cochem next month. There are so many beautiful places to see!

[mysty]

Nice, mysty!

 

We may end up near Cochem next month. There are so many beautiful places to see!

We really enjoyed our time in Germany and Cochem was beautiful! You are so right JP, the world is full of wonder! :)

[mysty]

Nice, mysty!

 

We may end up near Cochem next month. There are so many beautiful places to see!

And I forgot to say "Thank You" JP for your comment!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Evening all!

 

Lovely to see such great photographs ....

 

Mysty your piccies continue to impress ... and JP, I know Chris and you will understand what I mean when I say it is lovely to see piccies of another couple of clear soulmates enjoying life together. One sees this so rarely!

 

To that sort of end I have just completed what I guess is either a small Taverna ...or pizza bar or ... kebab dive, depending on what is on the menu! Anyway it's nearly complete, and we have has a lovely meal out there this lunchtime. It's by the outside oven so it'll be great either on lazy days or nice evenings. Piccies don't do it justice but you get the drift as they make it look a bit too glary ... but it's quite romantic.

 

Anyway it is open for visits from Coolies if you are passing and will keep us dry and warm all winter as well as summer!

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[mysty]

Thank you Jeff for your lovely comment on my pictures and for your continuing support! :) Your new space looks absolutely magical! I'm sure you will really enjoy it! It looks like a wonderful restaurant patio!

 

On a different note, I am a wee bit concerned that I may have poisoned the watercooler. Where have all the regulars gone? :(

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi M,

 

Thanks for the comments! Bleedin' Canadian apologising for something they ain't done again! :rolleyes::D

 

I wouldn't worry in the slightest. People will post or not and there will be an ebb and flow and neither how many or how few post should cause any worry. It'd be nicer if some of the people who enjoy reading repay their enjoyment by contributing but there are lot's of reasons why people do or don't and one shouldn't judge. Success is measured merely in smiles! Two or more people makes a conversation!

 

:)

 

Jeff

[jpalbny]

Mysty... Stop worrying! People drop in and out all the time.

 

Jeff - excellent space! Looks wonderfully relaxing. It reminds me of a space Chris' parents had at their house, which is gone now. Lots of nice evenings out there with good food and cheap wine (we were poor students and they didn't like wine much).

 

Glad you enjoy our pictures, and that you can see how much fun we're having. We are lucky that we both love traveling so much, and we are able to do so.

 

Dinner is almost cooked and we're enjoying some Rkatsiteli as an apertif. Have a good night all!

[mysty]

OK Jeff! Sorry for apologizing! :) I'll try to keep those down to a reasonable amount in future! I really do love your gazebo/canopy/enchanting dining space! Brilliant design and execution!

 

And if success is measured in smiles, according to mine, this lovely space is a SRO spot! :)

[mysty]

Mysty... Stop worrying! People drop in and out all the time.

 

Jeff - excellent space! Looks wonderfully relaxing. It reminds me of a space Chris' parents had at their house, which is gone now. Lots of nice evenings out there with good food and cheap wine (we were poor students and they didn't like wine much).

 

Glad you enjoy our pictures, and that you can see how much fun we're having. We are lucky that we both love traveling so much, and we are able to do so.

 

Dinner is almost cooked and we're enjoying some Rkatsiteli as an apertif. Have a good night all!

Thanks JP! You are such a great gent! Thanks for taking the time to soothe! Enjoy your wonderful meal!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Have a great meal JP! Glad you like the new place. I'm going to think up a name and have a sign or two made I think! :D

 

M, I guess with a couple of hundred thousand views of a lot of mostly not particularly impoprtant things it is nice to dwell on what good has happened rather than anything negative.

 

I think like you and many I spent some time enjoying and learning from and contributing to different forums but in the end most seem to end up the same way. People are nice and not and many do deteriate to the lowest common denominator. Decent people don't sanction the nasty but keep quiet, so in the way they always sink. I wanted simply a place where people would be intolerant of nastiness to let just a little ray of niceness shine through. I no longer post much anywhere else. I know I always seem to often bring out the worst in people, direct people tend to. Mean no harm, but I see no eason for anyone to be "open season" to anyone else. Right?

 

Anyway, I think that because you posted, it meant you felt it might be a safe and convivial place to chat and you may not of done if the cooler had been like so many other threads. And you've learned how to post piccies in prep for your WC! How bad is that. :D

 

Anyway .... it's great to see things nudging along ... I hope tghat more just pop by to say hello and just pass the time of day .... one needn't have anything important ot say as I have proved so often ....

 

:)

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Jeff, the picture you posted of your beautiful wife brought a famous Canadian artist to mind. His name was Alex Colville. He started out as a war artist in 1944 and when he returned to Canada he began to paint Canadian landscapes. His painting called To Prince Edward Island is what came to mind as I looked at pictures of your wife. A link to that painting is provided for your info. :) He died in 2013 at age 92.

 

http://ca.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-canadian-artworks_4.html

[mysty]

And you are right Jeff! I do feel comfortable here. This is the first forum I have ever joined or posted in. I am a little self-conscious about my posts and I did notice that the regulars just seemed to vanish. Myster directed me to the old "netiquette" that was used when usernet first came into being. He said that you might be familiar with it since you were involved in the early days of the internet. Anyway, Myster said that forums are much like the wild, wild west with few common courtesies observed or expected. Not something I am used to but I am a relatively fast learner. :)

[V8Babe]

Love your outdoor area Jeff!

 

We had an outside area built last year. Built a roof, pine-lined it, bluestone floor, took out some windows in the lounge and put in two huge wooden bi-fold doors (because of the mozzies here we also had fly-screens put in - but these are different - they are concertina-ed (sp) and push back tiny so you don't know they're there but also look great when pulled across). Does any of that make sense? ;)

 

I love sitting out there in the summer with the candles burning and a glass of red.

 

 

Karin :):):)

[V8Babe]

mysty

 

I'm one of the guilty ones, always visit but don't post often. Sorry.

 

Karin

[mysty]

mysty

 

I'm one of the guilty ones, always visit but don't post often. Sorry.

 

Karin

Oh Karin, please don't apologize! That will give Jeff apoplexy! :) I am new to forums and how they work and I was concerned that perhaps I was monopolizing the conversation here and that it was driving people away. I have been duly admonished and will cease and desist that line of thought! Thanks so much for posting Karin! It is almost 4 am here and I could not sleep. I think I can now. :)