The Lindahl News: Abroad Edition

Notre Dame! Sainte-Chapelle! Eiffel Tower! We geezers are going to have a big day today.  Fueling ourselves up with a great breakfast at our hotel - the croissants and pain au chocolat especially - will be a big help.   Yesterday we bought the 10 ticket (each) passes that would allow us to take the train or bus to any location in the city.  Again, confusing to maneuver the transfers, but doable. Our first destination was  Notre Dame. As it was Sunday, we hoped to be able to attend part of the church service here. Long entry lines prevented this, but we did get in the queue to see the cathedral interiors while the service was underway. Hearing the postlude on our way out was a highlight of the day. (If you are my Facebook friend, I posted a video of that experience.) I am so so fond of the flying buttresses here! Then we walked over to nearby Sainte-Chapelle. Built originally between 1242 and 1248, King Louis I...

Leaving Frankfort to go to Paris was the plan for today.  We took a fast train there. Fast is fast! Once debarking from the train, the fun began. The underground train system was like nothing we'd ever experienced before...so many choices of colored "lines" to board (yellow, pink, red, blue, green) with little to no help with figuring where to go to buy tickets.   We ended up lost on a hilltop overlooking the city. The good part of being lost was seeing the Arc de Triomphe in the far distance. To the side of this view, the Eiffel Tower made an appearance.   At least we knew we were in the right city! With "help" from Google maps, we were directed into dead ends in construction zones. Finally, Wes spotted an information center and here a woman directed us correctly on how to find our hotel.  By now there was a certain crankiness growing in my soul, so this was good to get back on track.   We stayed at the Ibis. ...

Having a week long break in the middle of our time in Sweden meant one thing: travel! We decided to "get out of Dodge" via airplane to Frankfurt, Germany, shortly after Wes's classes wrapped up on Thursday afternoon.  Here's the view of Jonkoping as we passed over our beautiful, temporary home. And here's a most welcomed view the next morning as these geezers would need fortification for a day of walking 7.7 miles in the city of Frankfurt. Our first walk was to the Stadel Museum , an art museum with a collection of  2,700 paintings, 100,000 drawings and prints and 600 sculptures.  We saw as much as we could, but the standout for me personally was this masterpiece by Sandro Botticelli - Portrait of Simonella Vespucci ca. 1480   The hair tendrils....the pendant...the pearls...her profile.  Exquisite. We were delighted by two special exhibits there, too. Both opened in September. Victor Vasarely (1906 - 1997) was a Hunga...