“Travel not only stirs the blood—it also gives birth to the spirit.“ – Alexander David-Neel
Murph had told me about Tivoli before but I could never quite picture this lovely place.The grand old amusement park opened in 1843.When our kids were younger we were frequent visitors of Disney World. We were always interested in Walt Disney and his history. He traveled extensively in Europe, making several visits to Tivoli. As we walked around I could totally envision Walt Disney doing the same and creating his park as he strolled. Flowers abound – a feast for the eyes.Cool old fashioned games. So quaint and so much fun to watch these horses race.Little trolley to thrill the children.I’m sure Walt loved this place and was thinking of families when he dreamed of his parks.And for the more adventurous there was this and of course an old roller coaster too!An adorable mime show entertained everyone. Very reminiscent of the Grand Floridian at WDW.Here it is at night. We intentionally returned in the evening to see the park beautifully lit.Just magical.So many more pics of Tivoli but I’m afraid I have to move on…A beautiful walk along the river to our next stop – the “free town” of Christiania, which was established by hippies in 1972.Things were looking grim for the Christianians until 2012, when the Danish government offered to sell most of the land to the residents at market rate, and offered guaranteed loans. In exchange, Christianians had to upgrade and maintain water, sewage, and electrical services, and preserve rights of way and “rural”areas.Thus formed Freetown Christiania.So many quirky and gorgeous homes.This converted military barracks makes for great places for people to live now.We just loved the peaceful vibes here❣️Watching parents here raise their children with Christiania values makes me a believer in this social experiment. Giving alternative-type people a place to be alternative is a kind of alternative beauty that deserves a place!“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” – Dolly Pardon R.I.P. 🥲It’s a pretty touristy thing to do but we DID have to find The LittleMermaid!
The small bronze sculpture inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s (another teaser about HC) 1837 fairy tale about a mermaid who longs to become human. It was created by Edvard Eriksen and unveiled on August 23, 1913. Rumor has it that the artist used his wife as his model. Lucky for me and all the visiting tourists that Murph was not that sculptor!
While traveling on the Metro we spotted many people snacking on these.
Sticks of meat and right up Murphy alley — where do they sell them? Seven Eleven, of course! They are all over the city! 🤷🏾♀️
Hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) is a Danish concept that embodies a feeling of cozy contentment, well-being, and warmth. It’s about enjoying life’s simple pleasures in a mindful way, often with good company, surroundings, and a sense of gratitude.
Can’t beat this iconic view for starters – Nyhavn (New Haven) is a 17th century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen.The first evening in Copenhagen we headed out to familiarize ourselves with our neighborhood. The Rådhus (city hall) is always a good landmark. I’m not really sure what this building is but I love the Danish architecture.So, Hans Christian Andersen was not born in Copenhagen (more on that later) but he is affectionately known around town at HC. He IS buried here in town so… A quick hello was in order.We took a train out to Fredericksborg Castle and along the walk, leading up to the castle, we spotted this adorable castle-like play area. Cute!Here we are!Fountain of Neptune – Now you can see this better without our heads in the way 😉So much to see in the chapel so I’ll condense it to this 1610 wooden organ, still with it’s original hand-powered bellows. Hymns play on the old carillon at the top of each hour.This fascinating golden globe made in the mid-1600s to illustrate astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’bold new theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of our galaxy.The tiny model of the solar system at the very center has a brass ball for the sun and little figures holding up symbols for each of the planets. The mechanical gears could animate this model to make the concept more vivid. It is still in working order!!!Peeking down from the top of a doorway – quite adorable, eh?Ok, so this is anti hygge – but totally understandable in Denmark!
“If it scares you, it may be a good thing to try.” – Seth Godin
As we were walking down the driveway toget in our Uber, Murph looked at the app. It said “Your autonomous car is coming. There will be a driver behind the wheel but he’ll be doing almost nothing — actually nothing at all..” What the What?!?!
This was a wild and VERY cool experience. We chatted with our driver quite a bit (what else did he have to do?). He told us the car has five settings, which were – sloth, chill, standard, hurry and Mad Max! I would totally love the Mad Max version!!! We got to the airport in record time and it was so smooth and so classy!
At the very top of our bucket list this summer was to bike the Gordie Howe Bridge. Built entirely by Canada and connecting Windsor Ontario with Detroit Michigan. It has complete infrastructure to accommodate walkers and bikers who want to make the journey across, sans motors. We met up with close friends at their home in Corktown and started our ride from there. Cruised along some city streets and thru Mexicantown until we reached the base of the bridge. Quick “family meeting” — “Let’s just start our assent and reunite at the top.”Lots of opportunities to take some pics and appreciate the work our legs did to get us up there!From the Gordie Howe could see our skyline and the Ambassador Bridge.We continued over the bridge, went thru passport controland biked to the foot of the Ambassador Bridge to ride the Windsor side of the Detroit River.Slowing down to see some of the lovely sculptures along the way.Fun one!I loved this one so much that I had to show you both sides❣️Ya see? Pretty nice, eh?Also loved this tribute to Firefighters.You know me – can’t resist some flowers!Yup!Fun seeing our city tour boat in front of the RenCen (Renaissance Center).
Getting hungry and needing sustenance for our trek back home, we dropped into this pub in the Sandwich Town neighborhood.
Trulythe place exists — we ate sandwiches there!
Heading over the border once again – we meet back at the top – still smiling!
A break for some sentimentally… “A friend is someone whohelps you up when you’re down, and if they can’t, they lay down beside you and listen.” – Winnie the Pooh
“Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” CS Lewis
To our dear friends, Patrick and Dawn, thanks for this amazing day and here’s to all of our future adventures‼️
“The moment where you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever being able to do it.” – Peter Pan
Well, it’s just not over until I give props to Murph! The amount of time and effort he puts forth for these journeys to take flight is truly amazing!
Unflappable!
Guiding us along – reserving rooms, events, cars, trains, museums, timed tickets for the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum & monuments to visit…buying passes for vaparettoes (boats in Venice) & tubes (subways in London).Seriously, it takes MONTHS to plan all of this – AND he does this without even whining ❤️
A couple of happy travelers!
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
In addition to all of that, he’s my editor. Before I send any of my blog posts he looks them over first.“We can do no great things — only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
He even hangs on to me so I don’t blow away with the wind!
A photographer, too.
We aren’t really shoppers, and especially not when we travel. Limited amount of luggage space, ya know. Except when I saw a man wearing this shirt while we were in Ljubljana I knew I HAD to have one. Fast forward about 10 days and I found it in a shop while we were in Kobarid.“Think not that you can direct the course of love; for love…directs your course.” – Khalil Gilbran
****A word with you please**** When we talked about traveling to England, Wales and Europe this past summer, many of our friends voiced concern. Let’s face it, the good ole U.S. of A. no longer has a great reputation. Several people thought we’d experience animosity because we are American. I’m here to tell you, it was just the opposite – we spoke with people from England, Italy, Slovenia, Australia, Switzerland & Vancouverto name a few. Unilaterally, they showed compassion and concern for the citizens of our country. They realize that “we the people” is different than the people who are running us into the ground. They’re worried and didn’t hesitate to tell us so. But hey! we only have three more years to survive – right? 🤔
“One of the great things about travel is you find out how many good, kind people there are.” – Edith Wharton
“The world is changed by your example not your opinion.” – Paul Coelho
We weren’t sure that we would arrive at our hotel in Rome before the manager left for the day. So, she sent us this adorable video to make our check in seamless.Figuring all of this out is half the fun!Tower climbing is generally a challenge – but oh the views once you arrive at the top!The apartment we had in Florence had two lofts on either side, where we climbed up every night. Also, down in the middle of the night 😉If you want to see something – you’re gonna have to climb to get there 😂Remember the roof top terrace in Venice? Well, it was crazy getting up there – two sets of stairs…the second one, we practically had to crawl up. But again – that view!
Even in Slovenia we had stairs up to our bed – is this a flood zone or something !?! 😂
We were starting to think it was a conspiracy – honestly? – the top floor again?
Always fun to have a suspension bridge to traverse between steps!Well, if you want to get up to that waterfall – just head up! Yup, four stories up to our room. See that tie dye dot on the top floor of the building? You guessed it – me on our balcony!
Remember the ancient tower where we stayed in Siena? I found this video that Murph made while we were there. Pretty cute!
“A journey is like a marriage. The certain way to go wrong is to think you can control it.” – John Steinbeck
Overall we had really nice weather but the first day at Lake Bohinj we woke up to this!Ok, we can handle a bit of moisture!We started with umbrellas but quickly transitioned into waterproof jackets. We were determined to walk around the entire lake!It’s hard to tell from this pic but the path was pretty washed out here. We had to scramble down about 20 ft and then back up again. We’d gone too far to turn back. By now, it had been about 2 1/2 hours and we were cold and wet. BUT we did know there was a boat dock up ahead. So, POR (press on regardless).We ended up walking around 2/3 of the lake but swallowed our pride and took the boat back. Our B&B had an actual drying room for wet boots and clothes, that we took full advantage of. I’m starting to think it rains/snows here more than advertised. ☺️The following day started out cloudy so we weren’t sure we’d see much when we took this cable car up – hoping to see Mt Triglav.Pretty mountain range.And we did have nice views of Lake Bohinj 😊I loved seeing the sun in the valley.We also walked to a neighboring village – Stara Fuzina – where I spotted this “art” in the main square.But on closer inspection we realized it was an old well!Then we saw this explanation. A little tough to read but possible when zoomed in. Just like the sign says, cow prints!I really loved this quaint village with a notice that said it all 💚If you recall, while in Italy we spotted so many Madonnas. But in Slovenia where 80% of the population is Catholic we saw several shrines to saints, even in the smallest of villages. We also saw many, many crucifixes.We went into quite a few old churches and I found this fascinating. Look at these stations of the cross, juxtaposed to one another.This is one interpretation of station eleven in a church.And this is the same station – different, very old church – different interpretation.Station 12Versus station 12
We stopped to listen to this woman while in Venice. I just didn’t want to leave her out!
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
Generally speaking, while traveling, Murph navigates and I do the driving. I have to tell you I LOVE driving a standard transmission car and I had a little 5 speed VW Polo this year. I drove the Vršiċ Pass Loop – which is comprised of 24 hairpin, switchbacks up the mountains and 26 hairpin, switchbacks down. The turns were cobbled for better traction. It was sooo much fun! After switchback #8 we stopped and climbed some stairs to a little Russian Orthodox chapel. The Vršiċ Pass was built during World War I by at least 10,000 Russian POWs of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire to supply the Soča Front. The POWs lived and worked in terrible conditions, and several hundred died of illness and exposure. On March 8, 1916, an avalanche thundered down the mountains, killing hundreds more workers. This chapel was built where the final casualty was found.At the top of the pass and at turn #24 we were planning to hike over the “hill” for some great views. Lots of loose stone etc…The path just kept heading up and the “steps” felt to be waist high for me. “Can we just go back down and have a little picnic, please?”The next day we hiked up and up through the forest.We first reached this World War I series of tunnels and look out areas – it was deserted and quite eerie.Then we continued up to Fort Hermann – again from WWI.Tried to imagine living in a mountain and waiting for soldiers to attack. War is always a very difficult thing to imagine. Ok, it doesn’t look like I’m contemplating war in this pic but still…you get it, right!?! 😉Okay, I know I did the whole flower “thing” but I just came across this and thought it worthy of attention. Plus, so much better than wars, right?
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye. My thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” – Neil Armstrong
I hope this post doesn’t feel like an HOUR of zen 😉😂
I hate to say this, but if there’s such a thing as a disappointing waterfall, this would be it. Not because it wasn’t awesome – it was just so far away. After hiking up 505 (true story) stairs, rocks and tree roots, I acknowledge its strength and beauty. But after climbing up there, the least it could be is closer!!!It was hard to even photograph without a better zoom lens. Still – it was a dramatic thing to see. Ok, now let’s climb down those 505 steps (but who’s counting, right?).
Murphys on the Move 