Palm Springs

We came up to Palm Springs yesterday afternoon and met up with our friends Jim and Maggie Butler.
This afternoon we are going to a show called the Palm Springs Follies, a group of aging hoofers (No not hookers)
From the picture taken at sunrise this morning you can see why it's called Palm Springs.

Back Home

The trip back went well, the flights were on time and no hassles with traffic.
Thank you to all of the people in the UK who helped to make the trip the success that it was.

The visit to the Monument went very well, we had a group of nine and we discussed everything from exam results to John's testicular surgerey.Fortunstely we had a doctor in the group who could correct the story on the finer points of urology.
We did not win the meat draw or the domino card, Oh well may be next time.
Today we went to a country restaurant for lunch with a large group of the family members as a final salute to aunt Mary. There were three generations at the lunch, my cousin Elizabeth and I were the dinosaurs.
We decided that we should not keep meeting like this, there are not too many people left!

Friday

I must have take a wrong turn in Rancho Cucamonga first I was in Philadelphia then I passed the sign for New York... Go Figure.
Directly following the funeral the family had what I call the bun fight where all of the people who knew the deceased gather to have a cup tea and a ham sandwich.
The main purpose of this event is congratulate each other that at least it was not you.They had pictures of Aunt Mary with various other members of the family and guess who was featured to keep and eye on me?
After the bun fight (I don't drink tea) I decided to pay a visit to the local Harley store.
Most things at the Harley dealers are usually in two price groups EXPENSIVE and VERY EXPENSIVE.
Well this store out did them all they had a used Bentley for sale for the low low price of $212,800.
Tonight I'm off to the Monument pub in Penshaw.
More tomorrow.

I spent my first day in Durham adjusting to the language and the customs!
As our friend Erik from Belgium said upon arrival at Newcastle airport
"Norman, what language do they speak here?"
I went out this morning to get breakfast at about 7:00 AM and found a French (kinda sorta) restaurant with a sign on the door "OUVERT" well even my FRENCH understands that means "Open" however a young lady seated outside smoking a J said that they were not yet open. (I corrected for grammar and syntax) Really, I said, but the sign, well you know the story.
They open at 9:00 AM. OK you can have breakfast at lunch time; now you know what I mean about the customs.
Durham remains one of my favorite cities, the cathedral is 1,000 years old give or take a year or two.
I have included some of the classic views of the cathedral, and some others,enjoy.
There is a lot of renovation work (job creation) going on in the city. I have a picture of a guy operating a machine which is kinda like a backhoe only smaller.
My dog could have dug up the street quicker than this guy, and my dog works for treats!

More soon,
Norm
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Amsterdam

The flight to Amsterdam was totally boring which is just the way I like it.
We hit a few bumps in the road going over the rockies but other than that very smooth.
I just sat in the aluminum tube, drank Heineken and listened to Jimmy buffet.
Despite the fact that we came the long way, we got in on time, at one stage we were doing 700 MPH!
If I can ever get the pictures to upload you can see the proof.
When I got to Amsterdam, I decided to have a bottle of BUD.
The barman got confused and brought water! Then he said well it's almost the same thing.
TIP what TIP?
More soon,
Norm

Trip

Watch the blog for updates on my next trip.
I leave on Tuesday 1/11/11, from LAX to Amsterdam and on to Newcastle.
I am headed there for a family funeral; the twin sister of my mother passed away at 91 WOW!
It is always a sad occasion when you attend a funeral, however it can be tempered with the great memories you have of the person.
Immortality is being remembered.

Christmas is almost upon us.
In two weeks time we head for Vegas for a couple of days to celebrate my 50 12th birthday (thats 62 for those of you who are numerically challenged)
It is National Finals Rodeo week so I guess that I can wear my black hat with out any problems.


More from Vegas.

All Roads Lead To Rome

Today we drove from Sorrento to Rome, the drive to get to the freeway was the usual nightmare. There is a picture of Anne with her mask and ice pack ready for the drive.
Once on the freeway it was great, the speed limit is 80 mph, this is widely ignored except when you come to a speed camera; it seems that everyone knows where they are and only slows down to pass them. My GPS warns you ahead of time by about a half mile to allow time to slow down. The update for speed cameras costs about $20 a year and is well worth it considering my track record. Dango and Dienenthal have already had to visit city hall twice on my behalf at $136 a pop.
There is a picture of me wearing a lime green bow tie and cummerbund, Madam thought that this was a good idea, I'm pretty sure from the picture shows how I thought. I convinced her that if she wanted to make home with me then I should revert to my lime green tie with no cummerbund. She agreed.
Once in Rome we headed for the HD store; it was a great place called Roman Village HD. It is butted right up against the original city wall which looked like it had an aquaduct on top. They had a customized bike for only $40,000

Tonight we are staying at our final hotel which is built onto the airport, tomorrow we have to walk along a bridge into the terminal.
We checked tonight and they want us to be ther two hours before departure which means 4:30 AM!
I guess we had better have an early night and an alarm call.

All in all this has been the most fantastic trip and has fulfilled everything that I
had hoped that it would.

Ciao Bella
Norm

Some of the pictures from the last post may need a comment.
The sign showing all of the safety precautions for the construction site is a joke. The only guys I saw wearing hard hats were on boats, go figure.
The Smart car convertible I thought would have been great for us except there would not have been enough room for Anne's shoes.
There are also some pictures from Positano where we went by boat yesterday.
We had the mis-fortune to be sitting near some of the worst kind of British tourists, they complained about the water, the tea, the soap and the prices. And how pleased they were to be going home the next day.
Gimme a break!
Then of course there is the standard problem in Europe, you have to be ready for old guys wearing Speedos. It's enough to put you off your beer, well almost.
Today we drive back to Rome.
More from there...