July 18 2008

     On June 13 Chris, Bob, Ryan and I flew to Copenhagen and drove from there to Guteburg, Sweden where the Florence Academy of Art opened a new school. Chris and Bob are on the board of the Academy, thus were asked to be present. We had a week in which we toured Guteberg with its art, historic buildings, parks, and fish markets. We also visited the scenic area about 20 or 30 miles north where we went to a watercolor museum and to an island with an old stone fort on its hilltop. There was one short street on the way to the fort  that was so steep Ryan insisted on carrying me up piggyback style.  

     The following week we flew to Bergen, Norway, where we had a couple of days to tour that city before we boarded a yacht to explore the fjords. It had long been my desire to see Norway so Chris and Bob planned this special cruise. The scenery is awesome! Every curve of a fjord presents another spectacular view of steep snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, picturesque small villages, isolated houses up the mountainsides so steep you can't imagine how one would get to them, etc. The cruise was one of "oohing" and "aahing"! We stayed on the yacht some nights and at times spent the night at lovely hotels at the edge of one fjord or another. Our captain was a charming man who played the accordion and entertained us with information about the area as he had grown up there and had worked on hydro-electric projects in the place where we spent our last couple of days. 

     Simon surprised us by showing up in Flam, a village near Sognefjord, and spent three days with us. We saw some truly gorgeous waterfalls and I can't really describe the beauty of the fjords. I'm simply grateful I was privileged to have this adventure. 

    Returning to Santa Barbara, I caught up with some business, got back on the chemo schedule and packed for this month's trip. I flew to Newport, Rhode Island to join Chris and Bob on Seafarer, their yacht. We have since cruised to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. We'll be heading for Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod and on to Maine where I'll leave them to return to Santa Barbara and get back on the chemo schedule. Will post pix soon!