I'm Off on My Holidays, 2015

[PaulBradley]

Time to start a new thread!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Cabo San Lucas on the Baja Peninsula; primary purpose is for SWMBO to see all the whales she can.

We arrived on Saturday; the place is a huge resort about 8 stories tall, but that means from hill-to-valley-to-hill, up-and-down .... lots of exercise. Most importantly some 60 degrees warmer than home.

This area was hit by a Cat 5 hurricane in mid-September and it shows, but our resort is Mexican owned and they had some 700 people working 24/7 to put it back together by mid-November, and it is hard to tell what happened. Not so in many other places along the coast, many large resorts/hotels.

It has a half-dozen restaurants and food was excellent. Our room faced the ocean and on Sunday we had whales playing off-shore - we didn't leave the balcony, being busy with my 12x50 binocs & two cameras.

Here are two whales waving a greeting.



Monday was a veg day, but Tuesday we were off in the Pequod (this is our sister ship)....



And spent a long afternoon with whales .... Mostly they travel in 3's - mother, baby, and a larger female "escort" whale - here are two of the three ... It's hard to get all 3 at once because they are moving differently and so long ....



Some chop, loose sight of anything in the swell, then Hola !



We spent much time 15-30 meters from them ....







Or closer ....



Wednesday was another veg day in prep for Thursday shopping trip down town .... I carried the bags ....

Friday was another veg day, although a chunk of it was pent at the Sevicheria Bar ....

Anyway, as we got ready to leave, we got another show of whales off our balcony, including this pair giving us a little "good-bye"



A great week.

[PaulBradley]

Oooh, very cool, John!

[jssel]

So nice John. Thanks for sharing.

[iggie]

What a brilliant experience, thanks for the pic's

[Dazzled]

Heading for Ostend this evening. 2 nights there, 2 nights in Cologne then back to Ostend until next Wednesday.
I may have a try of some beer

[Dazzled]

Well folks I'm back. I'm sure you all missed me

Mrs Dazzled and I have been on a small European adventure to celebrate our anniversary. We started off journeying to Ostend via Dunkirk to stay with our friend who was, coincidentally, the best man at our wedding. After 2 nights in Belgium we took the early train to Cologne for our first ever visit to Germany.

We took the train from Ostend and changed at Liege in the Ardennes. The station is incredible and I urge you to look it up.






It's like a spaceship has landed in a medium sized Belgian town and it really has to be seen to be appreciated.

And it has an airship




However, we were only there for 15 minutes before our train arrived.




The Thalys TGV to Cologne. Shame it couldn't move at full speed across the track in Germany but it's still a nice train to ride on.

We passed through Aachen



And got to the beautiful city of Cologne.


With all it's attractions..








This was the first pub we visited.



Actually we went in for a meal because it was past lunchtime. We had a local speciality called "Himmel und Aad" or "Heaven and Earth". It's a stunning combination of blood pudding, potatoes, fried onions and apples, mustard and a bowl of apple sauce. It looked like a snack. We could barely move when we left . And the filling and delicious food theme continued throughout our visit. Both of us have put a few pounds on .

When we weren't in the brauhouses or restaurants, we did spend a lot of time exploring on foot. Here I am next to the mighty River Rhine.



And we took part in a charming custom where a couple place a padlock, often engraved, on the fencing of the Hohenzollern bridge. Ours is in this lot somewhere.



When the lock is on you throw the key into the river signifying a lasting love. I tried to get our lock engraved with "Airfix" but Mrs Dazzled was having none of it

And that was it for the Cologne leg of our trip. We spent 2 nights in a great hotel near the cathedral and discovered a wonderful city that we're keen to return to (even if it's just to put another lock on the bridge...Airfix )

We returned to Ostend via Brussels this time with the first leg being aboard the German ICE international train.

Then we spent 3 really nice days in and around Ostend. It should have been 2 but we decided to say "what the hell" and changed our return crossing date so we could stay for an extra day.

During this time we caught up with some old friends at the Cosy Corner pub.



The middle one is Miro and he looks and sounds like Gru from Despicable Me but I still can't get him to say "light bulb" for the camera

And we met a local celebrity..



Weird, but this is Belgium . This is Lady Xena and she is, apparently a big hit on Belgium's Got Talent where she howls along to Whitney Houston songs. I can't say I was impressed but my wife and son thought the video was hilarious when they found it on Youtube. There's no accounting for taste .

And yesterday we returned home. All in all an enjoyable and memorable trip.

Time to plan the next one I think

[PaulBradley]

Wot, no aeroplanes? Nice! Sounds as if it was a very pleasant little trip, Daz!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Nice trip ! Thanks for showing us.

We went to Cologne in 1970, actually through because we were on our way back from Bremerhaven where my car had been delivered, but no matter - we went to the Church and saw it. They were doing some "improvements" to the streets and had unearthed a Roman ruin which was neat to see.

[ejsnotgrass]

I agree with you that Cologne is fantastic having been there once, and transitted through it last year on way to Brussels.I also took the ICE from Munich to Cologne last year,while on holiday in Germany,boy does that train shift(302 km/h or approx 190 mph ) same with the Thalys(although I do not know what speed it was doing between Cologne and Brussels) but it went like u know what off a shovel I have also been to Ostend a few times again a beautiful place to visit

[jssel]

Very cool.

[Clashcityrocker]

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

Nigel

[TobyC]

I'm off to the Gower peninsula in May, the Laon historic car rally early June, Northumberland end of June and then Lincolnshire in September( hope to see plain Jane)

[Dazzled]

The Gower is beautiful if the weather's good. I hope the sun shines for you Toby.

[PaulBradley]

Not really a holiday, but a quick break. I'm off to Tucson for the next couple of days to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum and the 'Boneyard'. I'll post some photos when I get back.