Tuesday, February 25, 2020

May 2019


After a little more than a month of working at Harvest Time Bible Camp (HTBC), we went on a cruise to Spain, Italy and the Greek Islands with my sister Barb and her husband Gary.  It was a good time to leave HTBC because it was time for the plumbing, electrical, roofing and siding subcontractors to do their work without us getting in the way. We had planned this cruise when we went on the Australia/New Zealand cruise in 2018.

Barb & Gary had taken a cruise from Tampa to Barcelona. We had planned to meet them in Barcelona for a week before boarding the Royal Caribbean cruise to the Greek Islands.  This was always on Gail’s bucket list, so we booked the cruise with them.  Of course seven days in Barcelona would allow us to see a lot of that city, but since we did not know the language, Gail found a 3-day Costa cruise to use up some of the time. So, we spent 3 days touring Barcelona, then 3 days on a Costa cruise before boarding our Royal Caribbean cruise. It definitely kept us busy. I will cover these all in this blog. First will be the touring of Barcelona, then the 3-day Costa cruise and then ending with the 14-day Greek Island cruise.

Part 1 – touring Barcelona, Spain

We arrived at the apartment that we had rented, got settled and then walked to see some of the sights. The first one we went to was a famous church there called the Sagrada Familia. It was unique in the sculptures and that many of the items were in color. They were renovating a good bit of the church, so there was a lot of scaffolding and cranes around about 75% of it.





Gary is known for his love of ice cream, so we did have to get a picture of him with a big ice cream cone.
  
Gail kept wanting a picture of a bakery, so we ended up with a lot of bakery pictures as well – I will only show one.



After eating in Barcelona and catching up on some sleep, we caught a hop-on/hop-off bus the next day. This allowed us to see most of Barcelona’s sights and hear commentary as well about what we were seeing. We saw statues, fountains, the old bull ring, ports and many other “tourist” sights of Barcelona. We saw a statue of Christopher Columbus, but he was not pointing in the direction of the new world. I will just add a few pictures to give an overview of what we saw.





We walked down the main tourist street and saw all kinds of vendors. Barb and Gary even had a caricature done of them. I always did like seeing some of the “living” statues of which there were many. We ate that night in a very quaint Spanish place – 5 Guys. Yes, we went all the way to Spain and ate at 5 Guys.



The last full day we traveled to Montserrat. This was a Catholic school about an hour out of Barcelona. We had to take a cable car up to the top which was not Barb or Gail’s favorite part.



The children’s choir sang in the sanctuary and the place was standing room only. The church was typical Catholic detailed architecture. The most striking feature of the church was a lofted golden statue of Mary which people would stand in line for hours to see. They would spend 10 or 15 seconds in front of the statue and then move on.



The scenery to Montserrat was beautiful as it was nestled in the mountains. We took the train back to Barcelona, ate again at 5 Guys and slept the night getting ready for the Costa cruise the next day.

Part 2 – Costa Cruise

We booked the Costa cruise because with food and lodging, it was just as cheap as staying a few more days in Barcelona.  Besides, we were able to go to two more stops that were not on the cruise to the Greek Islands. Seemed like a good idea. Of course, we did not realize that Costa was the cruise line that one of their captains capsized a ship a couple of years ago and 34 people were killed. Still we were able to go to Savona, Italy and Marseille, France. We sailed on the Costa Favalosa and traveled to Savona, Italy.



As with any port of call on a cruise, as you get off the boat, you are met by venders. Gail thought it was me putting my arm around her, but it was actually a vender which about scared her to death. It was pretty cool, so Gail and Barb actually did by a scarf (but from a different vender).



The city was obviously Italian. The taxis were all green, white and red like Italy’s flag. The city had some new areas, but the old city was mostly old stone buildings with arched walkways in the main part of the city. There was also a large cathedral that had paintings behind the altar and on the ceiling.



We then sailed overnight to Marseilles, France.  This is considered to be near the French Riviera. We took a mini train to see the city and its most famous landmark, the Basilique of Notre Dame and the golden statue of Mary above the church. The scenery overlooking the city was beautiful with the blue water and the all the buildings.




The Costa cruise then sailed back to Barcelona. A few thoughts about the Costa cruise. It was easy to see that the Costa Cruise Line was more European than Royal Caribbean that we typically cruise. The food was European in nature and it was not available at all times like RC. The decorations around the ship were significantly different. Don’t know if we would go on another Costa cruise or not. However, when you consider the cost of hotels and meals in some of the cities, it many times is cheaper to cruise. The other different thing about the Costa cruise was a room service fee which we did not expect. It was not in the paperwork and was totally unexpected. In Royal Caribbean, you pay tips and can give more if you so desire, but with Costa, it was mandatory and put on your bill.

Part 3 Royal Caribbean cruise

The first day of the RC cruise we stopped in Cannes France. This was the time of the Cannes Film Festival. We were able to see a lot of movie stars, but unfortunately they were all on billboards. As is usually the case, the architecture was a mixture of the very old and the modern.  Technically Cannes is on the French Riviera and there were a lot of boats in the waters none of which we could afford. We took the Petite train around the area to view the sights of the city. Here are a few pictures from Cannes:





From Cannes France, we cruised to the port of Florence, Italy. We took the excursion to Pisa to see the famous leaning tower. How sad that the first sign we saw as we stepped off the bus was that the tower was not leaning that day. Picture 21 The story of the tower was interesting as the architect was so embarrassed by what happened, that he did not put associate his name with the tower. In reality, that leaning tower probably has brought more visitors to the city than if it had never happened to begin with. Here is a picture of Gary pushing it back into place so we could get our group picture with the tower in the background. The excursion also included a boat trip and tour on the nearby river.






From Pisa, we cruised to Rome. What a crowded place. We went on an excursion to the middle of Rome where we caught a hop on – hop off bus. We did see the outside of the coliseum.  It is large to say the least. The streets are narrow and the architecture everywhere was amazing. Would really like to be there when there is not so many tourists.






From Rome, we said for a couple of days to the Greek Isles. We did have to make an emergency stop on the way as one of the passengers had a serious medical issue. So, we did make a quick stop at Sicily. From there it was on to Athens, home of many of the Greek gods. It was here at Mars Hill that the apostle Paul preached about the “unknown God” which was Christ. It is interesting that the Parthenon and many of the structures to the ancient Greek gods are around, but the ministry of Paul there is almost forgotten – at least by those who still don’t know God.  We did the “highlight of Athens” excursion.

As you look out over some of the ruins, you can see just how big Athens is.  It is a huge city with the official population over 700,000.  Again, the architecture is tremendous at the parthenon and throughout the city. You begin to see one of the normal sights of Greece as well with the white buildings and blue roofs.

Pictures 29,30,31,32,33






From Athens it was on to Mykonos, Greece. Most of this city is just on shore. It is easy to see the color scheme that is all around the Greek Isles, white buildings. One of the most photographed sites shows the 5 windmills all in a row on the island.






Again on the boat and cruise to our last Greek island, Santorini.  Santorini is a more hilly island and most of the buildings are high up on the hills. We took a boat and a bus up to Fira. The city is wall to wall buildings and again the iconic white building with blue top. It was a long way from the top to the shore. Most took the cable car up and down, but since we had gone by way of boat and bust to Fira, we decided to walk down – about 300 steps. Sounds easy, but it was still quite a hike.






On the way back to Barcelona, we stopped at Malta. We took a 4 hour tour by taxi. One of the better bargains of the trip. The man took us to all the main attractions. The boats at the shore were very colorful. We went into the old walled city of Medina and then to a glass factory. If he spoke better English (ow we knew the native language, it would have been even better. While I was in Medina, I must have gotten into trouble (see the picture). Beautiful island.





We enjoyed the trip and would go back again. We sailed back to Barcelona and then back to the good old USA.

Monday, December 23, 2019

December 2019 Giddings, TX, Camp Tejas Lights of Christmas

December 2019 Giddings, TX
Camp Tejas Lights of Christmas

Camp Tejas in December is like a Christmas Winter Wonderland.  So magical.  Wayne worked the first 2 weeks without me as a "single GL" organizing several preparatory jobs to execute the Lights of Christmas to follow after Thanksgiving.  I joined after spending 2 weeks with my mom after she got home from the hospital and glad to report 4 weeks later that she is doing fantastic.


While we were in the Austin area we took in Schmekenfest at LaGrange, TX and the Lyndon B Johnson Library in Austin.  But one of the most enjoyable events is passing thru Bastrop, TX to experience Bucee's!  The largest gas station in the USA.  And the best brisket sandwich ever.  Too embarrassed to tell you how many we consumed in 6 weeks time!


Note:  This was the first project for the Losinger's and the Richard's.  We broke them in real good and they make hard working SOWERs with great attitudes.









One of the first things Wayne
did was repair and shingle 
parts of the Chapel.
For Thanksgiving Wayne was responsible for dressing and pecan pies - DONE!

A hayride for all the couples serving at Tejas.




One of the events in the Midway
was crate stacking.  Participants
are tethered and try to stack as
many milk crates as possible until
they fall down while standing on 
the top level.  19 was the goal to beat!


Schmekenfest in LaGrange, TX
is an annual event.  The town
businesses are built in a square
around the city hall.  Each participates
in a hot cider contest.  
Can you believe we actually
got tired of drinking hot cider!
The city hall was a very ornate building to behold. 






Kind of eerie at night!






Wayne, Bob Losinger and a friend
got  up enough nerve to ride the
high ropes swing on one of the
 nights of the event.




I got to work in the 
Birthday Party for Jesus
several nights.  Kids decorate
a large cookie, put in a candle and sing happy birthday to Jesus.  I also read the Christmas story one night 4 times.
Light tunnel.



And of course a SOWER
pot luck dinner.  Food is
always a necessity with
games to follow.





Several days the ladies sharpened
crayons to fill boxes full of
crayon shavings for an
ornament craft.



And when you are this close to Brenham, TX
a trip to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory
is a MUST!

My kind of Christmas Tree!






Wayne & I ventured one day
to Austin TX to see the
Lyndon Johnson presidential
museum.







Lyndon Johnson's style!
They made a beautiful respectable couple.






Back to  Lights of Tejas.
Gail manned the bounce houses 
one very cold night!
Every night ended with fireworks.






Several nights Mr. Wayne
drove one of the hay wagons!

Who knew how much he was a farmer
at heart!






Texas sunsets are
amazing when God
paints the sky.
Bill Oakleaf, a very seasoned SOWER,
designed and built this beautiful
scene.  He is now working on
a lighthouse scene that will
be located near the lake.







The Dining Hall.
Inside the dining hall.


The RV park.






Another gorgeous
sunset.
The 8 couples working Camp Tejas
December 2019.

Top L to R: Sandi & John Barber, John Remple, Bob Losinger,
Bill Richards, Gail & Wayne Fieler.
Center:  Mike Griffin, Anita Remple, Gayle Losinger
and Marge Richards.
Front L to R:  Bonnie Griffin, Druann & John Bauer,
and Jeff & Joyce Brooks.





Our fearless leader!
Stephanie Philpot.


A day trip to the Wendish Museum.







Back to Camp Tejas!
The rock climbing wall.


Always about the Lights
of Tejas!

Emphasizing the REAL CHRISTMAS STORY
around the whole campus.









3 man swing.

And always lots
of wood for the 
many campfires!