Category: Uncategorized
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“Vienna Waits for You”
July 12 – 13, 2024: First Foray Into Vienna Arrived in Vienna on Friday, July 12. Decided to eschew the taxi or Uber, and get to the AirBnB by mass transit. Turns out there is a rapid transit service from VIE to downtown called “CAT” (City Airport Train), which is non-stop and takes 16 minutes.…
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“Vienna Waits for You”
(Billy Joel) Upcoming Travels with Stan and Stef. Vienna, July 11 – 21, 2024 We were originally going to try for an alliterative title using words like “Waltz” and “Wienerschnitzel.” But then we came across an article in American Songwriter about an old Billy Joel tune, “Vienna Waits for You,” released in 1977. The backstory is that Joel…
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Greece is the Word
May 22-23, 2024: Santorini, the Last Word Up early Wednesday to go to from Crete to Santorini. The high-speed ferry was notable for the smell of diesel fuel, and the number of passengers (around a thousand). Aahh, tourism! We went straight from the disembarkation to the Koutsoyannopoulos Winery for a morning tasting and a visit…
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Greece is the Word
May 21, 2024: Elounda, Spinalonga, Kritsa This morning ,we headed out by bus to the Bay of Elounda, 70 km east of Heraklion. In the town of Elounda, we boarded a small boat for the half-hour ride to the island of Spinalonga. On the trip over, we were treated to recorded Greek music (bouzouki and…
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Greece is the Word
May 20, 2024: Heraklion (Playing Hooky, Part 2) For today, Odysseys scheduled a visit to the Minoan ruins at Knossos. But we decided to indulge in Hooky Day #2. So we scoped out stuff online for Heraklion and found some other interesting things, like the Venetian Walls and the Rocca a Mare Fortress, and the…
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Greece is the Word
May 19, 2024: Arrival in Heraklion, Crete We flew to Crete yesterday. Settled in to the upscale Aquila Atlantis Hotel and took a guided city walking tour, where we saw the old Venetian Walls. Below are the Morasini Fountain, the Venetian Loggia and the Church of St. Titus: The omnipresence of references to Venice dates…
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Greece is the Word
May 17-18, 2024: Mycenae, Epidaurus, Hydra. Yesterday, we visited Mycenae, the seat of the kingdom of King Agamemnon. It’s a hilltop UNESCO site that represents the pinnacle of Greek civilization, from the 15th through the 12th Centuries BCE. This is the civilization that’s linked to epics of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. These tell…
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Greece is the Word
May 16, 2024: From Athens to the Peloponnese First stop (Thursday) was the National Archaeological Museum, considered to be one of the greatest museums in the world. Exhibits go from the Cycladic Period (Bronze Age, 3100 to 1700 BCE), through the Mycenaean period (Late Bronze Age, 1700 to 1100 BCE), the Homeric Age (1100 to…
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Greece is the Word
May 15, 2024: Playing Hooky Today, the Odysseys tour went to Delphi, to see the site of the famous oracle. The oracle had been the one to predict, to the satisfaction of Freudians everywhere, that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, yadda yadda. But Stef and I decided to skip the official…
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Greece is the Word
May 14, 2024: The Parthenon, the Parliament, (my) People. (Okay, okay, trying to sum up today alliteratively doesn’t always work, but I’m trying.) Our first destination today was the Acropolis. Our guide, Nancy, explained the importance of getting there early, to avoid the crowds. When we got there, we wondered, “Avoid the crowds? Really?” Later…
Something to Declare 