The Road to Amsterdam

Woke up to another beautiful day here at the beach.  We were fortunate to have enjoyed two very relaxing days after the storm.  We have been hearing lots of horror stories of about lots of folks still without power and possibly will be for the next several days.

Going to make our way to Cambridge today with a few stops along the way.  Our Mr. Finance Guy, Strategic Planning Group in Wellesley, has been kind enough to buy my books for his clients to peruse while waiting.  We figured since we were out that way, we will stop by say hello and do a book signing.  We are eternally grateful to David for making this life of ours possible.  After that, a last minute trip to REI and then off to Cambridge to spend some time with Deidre and the grandkids.  We will leave the car with them. Danny is kind enough to take us to and from the airport.

Take-off is at 9:40pm with a change of planes in Zurich.  We will get into Amsterdam at around 2pm on Thursday.  It's going to be a very long couple of days.  Heard from our B&B lady in Amsterdam and we will be able to take a bus from airport directly to the B&B.  Will probably invest in a GVB pass (which is good for buses, trams, and the underground metro).  They are sold by time - so we will get one for 72 hours and save some money and hassle while treking around the city.

Friday night we are looking forward to getting together with our barge group at some restaurant not too far from where we are staying.  Hopefully, all will show up.  We board the barge on Saturday afternoon.  The weather has been very iffy in Amsterdam this past month.  Our rain gear is packed, but we are hoping we don't have to pull it out too often.  Think Sunshine!!

Next time.... Hot Dam, Amsterdam!

The Clean Up

our new sand

There is something wonderful about waking up after a hurricane with full power and bright sunshine.  Of course, we had to peek around the plywood to see the sun but we knew it was there nonetheless.  Went outside to assess any damage.  Outside of a few withered plants, nothing was touched.  In fact, we wound up being the winners of more sand on our beach, which is always welcomed!  Cover up those nasty pebbles.

In a joint decision, Geoff removed the board from the kitchen window to let a bit more light and air in downstairs.  Drove up the neck to rescue the car - no damage there either.  Since we didn't have anything to clean up, we ate breakfast and headed out for a bike ride down to Wilbur's Point and West Island.  We were curious to see what those 72mph winds did to the landscape.  It soon became obvious, that other than a few fallen trees, nothing much was hurt.  In fact the West Island causeway was spotless, the beaches were back to normal with the usual sunbathers and kids.

West Island Beach

Got back in time for lunch, and decided to take out as much outdoor furniture to make the next few days enjoyable.  Then we can squirrel it all away again on Weds. morning.  We also came up with a plan to store our newly acquired plywood.  Every inch of this property is so strategically organized for storage, we had to think hard.  We invested in pressure treated wood so that we could stick it under the deck.  Took a tour around the stores to snag a couple of pallets to put the wood on.  K-Mart said no, but the folks at Benny's were very agreeable.  Even got a strong young man to load them onto the truck.  They made a great platform under the deck for our new hurricane boards.  So that is one less thing to worry about when we get home.

We are very fortunate that we survived this event unscathed.  If anything, we learned an awful lot about hurricane preparedness. Having all that warning, we kept learning a few more tricks everyday about what kinds of things to do and be careful of.  I am also grateful for a very timely birthday gift that our friend Doug gave me this year - a battery powered hurricane lamp.  It served us well throughout the night.

Life on the beach is back to normal - with calm seas and beautiful sunsets.

It is now time to get back to business of travel.  We are hoping the airports are all back to normal by Wednesday night.

Next time.... the road to Amsterdam

The Surge

Flush while you can!  that's been the motto around here.  Watched some of the Pats game till it got too depressing and had the Red Sox going on all day yesterday.  Still not even sure if they finished their double header in between rain delays.

3:30am
Rain is pounding down, can't sleep. I think it is being in this plywood castle.  Not terribly windy out there yet. Will read for a bit and try to sleep some more.

7:30am
Woke up to GREAT news.  Geoff was up at 6am and lo and behold the New York Times Sunday paper was at the front door.  No rain, so he went out and retrieved it before it got deluged.  I absolutely have to have the Sunday Times Crossword with me when I get on a plane. I was really starting to freak when I realized Miss Irene would screw up my delivery.  Big tip this Xmas.  Still no rain, lots of wind coming from the East (which is not the ocean side, which is better for us) blowing at around 28-30 now.  So far we still have power, water, phone  and we are still flushing!

Noon
Still nothing to get excited about.  Winds up to 30-40mph.  Waiting for the high tide at around 8pm

4pm

Lost power a few times within the last hour or so.  This last time might be it for the duration.  Winds are around 22 gusting to 35 with a beaufort 5.   Wind has come around now and is blowing from the south which is kicking up the waves.  Guess we will have to finish our movie tomorrow - back to bananagrams looking out on our plywood view. 

8pm
High tide has hit and it is wild out there.  We went to our neighbors (who took off to their home in New Bedford) and took some shots from their balcony. As you can see, I was a bit shaky up there. Went for a walk around the neighborhood and ran into some of the neighbors that are sticking out on the beach.  Had a fun time hootin' and hollerin' in the wind!

10:30
We are tucked into bed with our headlamps and books.  Folks have been calling all night and we are pleased to say we are doing just fine.  Goodnight Irene!

Next time...The Big Clean Up

Calm Before the Storm

Well if you haven't heard by now, we here on the South Coast of Massachusetts are still on a hurricane watch. Geoff and I have decided to invest in the plywood and board up the the big windows - feeling it is better to be safe than sorry. We still have some light due to the skylights and the few small windows left untouched. We have also rolled up all the rugs on the first floor in case of incoming water (mainly from the doors). The tile floor should be fine. There is plenty of bottled water- no worries there since they are turning the water off sunday morning. And in the event they close the sewer system, we have even built a make-shift potty. I have parked my car up at the parking lot on Route 6 and we have kept the truck down here for evacuation.

People have been calling all morning inviting us to their home if we have to evacuate. Right now, however, it is still calm outside. Some folks have already left and others are hanging in there. We are not sure if we'll go or not. Geoff is still finding little things to do.  At this point, nobody knows which way the storm will go. In any event, we are as prepared as we can be. And since everything is boarded up and put away, we might as well leave it that way while we are gone for a month. Don't want to have to worry about another storm while we are across the pond.

Meanwhile, we will spend the rest of the afternoon playing Bananagrams and listening to the Red Sox double header.

Next time.... The Surge

Itinerary

As we lie in wait for Irene, we are finally starting to pack - now it might be packing for evacuation. But let's not go there just yet. Below is our itinerary overview:

Aug. 31: Fly to Amsterdam
Sept 03: Magnifique Barge/Bike from Amsterdam to Bruges
Sept 10: Arrive in Bruges
Sept 12: Take train to Paris: Holiday Inn Paris Montparnasse-Avenue du Maine
Sept 16: Fly to Vienna
Sept 18: Bike from Vienna to Budapest
Sept 24: Arrive in Budapest
Sept 26: Fly home

So there you have it. As always, we will be available online via wifi where we can get it. We will have an international phone that we will be using if necessary.

Next time... Goodnight Irene

We're Off Again!

One week to go before Geoff and I are off on another adventure.  This time, Europe.  What started out as a 10 day bike trip has turned into a month of biking and touring.  Last spring Geoff and I were making noises about doing the bike/barge trip from Amsterdam to Bruges.  Many of our biking friends have already done this trip and it sounded great.  Then a friend of ours said "Hey, if you guys go next year, I'll go."  Well one thing led to another and before we knew it we had 22 people interested in the journey.  We decided to rent out the whole barge - which looks to be pretty cool. Click here for the story of the Magnifique - be sure to check out the pix.  We have a very interesting group of people, some of which we have met for the first time.  There are only a few of us from our bike club.  Really looking forward to spending time getting to know these new folks.  One gal is joining us from Arizona.  Geoff and I met her on our South American trip this past February.

So that was it - we were booked for a few days in Amsterdam, biking down to Bruges with a few days down there and then we were going to head for home.  Until we heard about a tour that friends from our bike group were doing which included biking from Vienna to Budapest.  That sounded too good to pass up and the timing was pretty much perfect.  We could hook up with them in Vienna which left us a week of free time by ourselves in between.   No brainer - another day in Bruges, another day in Vienna, with 5 days of Paris in between!  There will be about 7 of us biking from Vienna to Budapest and this is a self-guided trip following the Danube, staying at various inns.

I will be posting as much as I can throughout the journey.  Check out the new weather widget on the left.  If you click on it, you can get the full report.  The photo albums will also appear in the left column as soon as I start adding albums.  These links will take you to each photo album on my Picasa site.

As many of you know, I turn these blogs into books.  If there is enough interest, I will make separate editions for just the barge segment and the Vienna segment.  I include the comments, so please feel free to participate and add your comments- we all love to hear from friends and relatives.  Click on the link if you would like to be notified of new postings or just check in from time to time.

Some folks from each of these groups will be doing their own pre-trips to various places.  We wish them safe travels and good times.

Next time.... Itinerary