Did a lot of waking last night, finally got up pretty early around 5:30 and did my shower and morning routine. My PC has a problem, the screen keeps jumping around. Did a virus scan and uninstalled a number of programs but could find no problem I started researching PC replacements. Ordered 4 tee shirts from King Store and had trouble selecting the Tall size. I accidentally selected big. Had to call and get them to change the order. I couldn't make a paypal payment because the amount window kept jumping around. There is something wrong and it helped me do a complete PC cleanup including virus scan. No trouble found. I'm in trouble! I didn't touch any of the pictures yet since I'm still a little spacey and the PC is broken. Libbie made spaghetti for dinner with tomato sauce and cheese.

Woke this morning at 4 and started getting ready. Went down to the buffet breakfast in the Holiday Inn at 4:30. It was a disappointment. The roll were cold, there was no hot entree' so I had cereal and coffee. Even the fruit was some kind of stuff out of a can. The 5:15 shuttle was on time, we made our way to the British Air check in and sailed smoothly through security. My bag made it without additional screening. British Air served a cold croissant with ham and cheese and pepper ketchup inside. Not great, I didn't finish but the juice was good. Did the Heathrow bus between terminal 5 and 3 and sat next to a lovely girl from Shelby working for the World Health organization in Zimbabwae. Lovely young lady, getting married next week. Lots of screening to get into our gate area for the flight to Raleigh. We had a total of 5 glasses of wine. First meal was cheese ravioli, second round was vanilla ice cream and the final was a mergerita wrap which I liked. The ravioli came with salad, cherry crumb cake, cheese and cracker and a pretzel roll.We got in early at 1:30. We had to wait quite a while to get through customs. Not sure why they are so slow, this is the only International flight into Raleigh. Got home, rested a few hours, then went to Kroger for groceries. We weren't very hungry so had some watermelon and a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. We should stay up until at least 9 or 10 but I was so tired I went to bed at 7 PM. This is considered not a good idea to reset your biological timezone.

We waited until a little after 8 when the buffet started in the hotel. It was a very nice spread. 4 people seemed to be celebrating a birthday with a chocolate cake and 4 candles and glasses of champagne. We noticed this to be a normal occurrence in Europe, champagne for breakfast. Next we walked along the Danube enjoying the river and started seeing some of the cruise vessels passing. We found a stairs in the wall which we climbed to above the road. Up there was another small village with cute streets and buildings and once again, many flower baskets. This is so scenic and beautiful. We found the Domaine Wachau winery as well as some small scenic wineries. I really like this Valley and would like a return visit, possibly to take day trips via bicycle to explore. I noticed eBike rental signs in addition to traditional rentals. It would be fun. We also enjoyed the artwork in our hotel. It's decorated with original watercolors of the surrounding villages and flowers. Nice. Checked out around 10:30 and drove to the Vienna airport which took almost 2 hours. We had one false attempt at finding Hertz in parking garage P4 but were successful on the second attempt. Dropped the car and checked into Niki Air. The stewardesses on this airline are all young and pretty. Today they all had tight jeans on for their uniform. The flight was incredibly smooth into Zurich. We waited a while for the Holiday Inn shuttle which only ran once in this hour, at 16:45. The hotel seems to be brand new. It even uses the room card to activate the room lighting. Fortunately, the outlet was independent so we could go out but the outlet still recharged our devices. We walked next door to Valentinos for dinner and ordered a Margerita pizza and 2 beers, 1/2 liter size. Very nice and it was the perfect amount. We had Swiss chocolate ice cream bars in the hotel lobby when we got back. At first they couldn't find the key to the ice cream case and just as were about to go to the grocery store next door, the manager found a key and sold us 2 ice cream bars. Up in the room we got the Republic Wireless phone onto Wifi where Lib was able to make a phone call to Sue about George's broken leg. He will have surgery today to repair a bone where it plugs into the hip socket. The only concern is his age. Libbie also called her Mom and got Barbara on the phone who was staying there. Eventually she spoke with her Mother to chat for a while. We went to bed at 9 PM because we have to take a 5:15 shuttle to the airport in the morning for a 7 AM flight to London. I lowered the electric blind in our room - this seems to be a Swiss thing, electric blinds.

First day of summer. We had the buffet including the delicious croissants at the Hotel Winkler. The sun is shining on the lake and it's a beautiful morning. We left around 10 and started the drive on the autobahn to the Wachau Valley. We stopped at a McDonalds in Wallersee for coffee. Wow, the cakes and cookies were out of this world for a McDonalds. The autobahn trip to the Wachau was on and off rain but nothing too bad. The automatic wipers on our Renault Captur rental car are pretty amazing. I wonder how they work. The Wachau is truly beautiful. Our hostess at the Hotel Donauhof was charming and friendly. She suggested the Restaurant Heinzle and even called to check on a table. We walked across the street and found a nice table along the river. We each had fish but different kinds. They were delicious. Mine was smoked trout, Libbie had the Sieberling which I think is a Pike/Perch. Later we walked the little town which was lovely. IT started raining on our walk but we were OK. We ducked into a little hotel cafe area which was trellis covered by grape vines on the side of the hill overlooking a vineyard. It was nice. We ordered a Reisling and had our wine in the vineyard. After wine we walked down to the train station in Weissenkirchen where it started raining again. We sat on the bench under cover in the train station and waited for it to let up a little before resuming our walk. This village is wonderful! It's so scenic. Rested in the room a little before going back out for dinner. Our hostess gave us the name of a winery and a wine bar where we could get a traditional cold plate and some wine. We chose the one next door called Haus Mange which was next door. We saw a large tour group get dropped off here earlier. There is a large sweeping lawn to the Danube in front of this place. I originally thought it was a garden. Inside our english speaking waitress helped us with the menu which was in German. I ordered a meat plate and Libbie ordered a cheese plate. We also ordered 2 rolls and ended uo with 2 glasses of wine. My first was a Reisling and the second was a xxxx. My plate had some mustard and a slice of swiss which I combined with the ham on a roll and made a little sandwich. The meat plate was good but it was too much food for a surprisingly small amount of money, about 6 Euros. After dinner we went back and found there is a self serve wine bar which also had Apricot Schnapps which I wanted to try. We went in there and had a single bottle which we split into 2 shot glasses. Wow, powerful stuff. It was good.

We had breakfast at 8 with Christa and Peter. They made us eggs and coffee which I had with croissants and a fresh warm bread. Wow, it was good. It is pouring rain outside. We said our goodbys and then drove to Salzburg in a driving rain that was so loud I couldn't hear the GPS. We ended up at the parking garage in Old Town carved into a mountain. I bought an umbrella at the first gift shop we found, a bright orange one for 3.90 euros. We walked blindly in the rain looking for the info center. We finally found it and got a map and sat down in a coffee shop and had coffee and a Linz while figuring out the maps. It was a nice quiet time. We next headed out down a few narrow alleys, past city hall and across the bridge over the Danube. We found the beautiful Mirabell Gardens. We saw a bride having photos then a few weddings which were going on in the palace. Men in lederhosen and women in Heidi dresses. IT was very pretty. We found another shopping street that was picturesque to wander up so we took a hike. Toured an art gallery that a nice owner invited us in to. Libbie loved the sculpture. On the way down the hill we found a little piza place that we had a mergerita pizz and beer for lunch. It was incredibly good and fairly inexpensive. We made our way back down through throngs of tourists and found Mozart's birth place before making our way back to the car. We had no trouble bailing out the car but it was $20 Euros which was high considering we also had the ticket validated by a restaurant. Total time in Salzburg was probably around 6 hours. I filled up the tank on the way back which cost 34 euros for around 26 liters of gas. When we got back the sun was out again and it was beautiful but an hour later it was pouring rain.
We had a lovely fish dinner at the hotel Winker. This time it was a perch-pike for 2. Included were the salad, carrots and potatoes. We had a bottle of Austrian red with dinner and I had a raspberry parfait for dessert. Libbie had the Apricot crepes. Very nice dinner!

This morning we had a lovely buffet breakfast at the Muhlhof then took a drive into town and walked around the village. Then we went back to the hotel check out. We saw a guy fishing with a fly rod off the dam behind the hotel. He was wearing waders and it was scenic. The road crew started working on the bridge next to the hotel with their loud equipment which spoils the ambiance a little. Up to Peter and Christa's where Libbie went with Christa and Peter went with me. We took the back way to the Winkler hotel in Strandbad Wallersee. There were a lot of scenic little towns we drove through before arriving. It's a little chilly and sprinkling rain. Peter and Christa seem to know everyone here. We had a lovely lunch which included lots of wine and a raw fish appetizer marinated with with a mound of julianed veggies. Excellent. Then we had the fish dinner for 4. The fish were grilled and served from a tray at the table. After lunch we did a small lake walk, got caught up on some journalling and fixed the IP address at dyndns. Apparently there was a big storm in Raleigh. We showed over one inch of rain. I don't have an updater client running so I went to the Panasonic camera which displays the IP address. I manually updated DYNDNS so that I could get to traviata again. I need to install an update client when I get back. The thermostats and the camera work fine, everything based on dyndns does not such as caliber, the sprinklers, blue iris, etc.
We joined Christa and Peter for a 3 hour dinner which was a large Pike for 4. It was fantastic, complete with 2 different deserts. An Austrian knuckle and an apricot filled crepe. I left there totally drunk because we had so much wine but it was a fun evening.

Thurs June 18
WE chose to take the CAT train to the airport. We checked out and skipped breakfast going straight to the Karlsplatsz train station. The issue was my 2 suitcases and Libbie’s big one. They are difficult to manage on escalators, stairs, etc. We took the elevator down to the platform and noticed there was no line at the McDonalds so we each had an Egg McMuffin and coffee. Then it was 2 stops on the U4 line to the station that has the CAT. We had a little trouble with the ticket machine since it was in German but a nice lady helped us. Two tickets were $12 euros each. The train is clean, smooth and fast. We hit the airport in 16 minutes then the fin began. We had miles of walking to the rental cars then even after getting the car paperwork, we had some difficulty finding the parking deck with our car. Eventually we got to a quirky Renault with GPS in the dashboard. It was a standard which was a little challenging at first but we eventually got going onto the autobahn without much trouble. Stopped at a beautiful rest area called Rosenburgers. The food there was laid out in unbelievable displays and looked delicious but I only got a coffee “take away” as the Europeans call it. When exiting the autobahn into the rest area, I forgot we had a manual transmission and needed to downshift. The car started bucking and stalled in the parking lot but it restarts itself which is nice.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived in Neufelden without trouble. We had to call Peter and Christa since we couldn’t find their house but eventually all was well. There was a bicycle and baby toys laying around so we thought we had the wrong house. They have a condo type house where they own the upstairs. We had a glass of wine then had a nice lunch with them of cheese, fruit and sliced prime rib. It was delicious. We went to the hotel Muhl on the river where I took a nap. They then came down to the hotel and took us on a tour of town and an old church. Beautiful. We learned they were married on Aug 5, 1966 which is 49 years ago. Their 50th will be next summer. They had to get married in a hurry since Peter got a 3 year assignment teaching Math at Michigan State and Christa could only come if they were married. IT was the silly Visa system at work. We had a lovely and elegant meal at the Hotel Mulholf. There were outstanding breads. I had a beef soup for appetizer then the main course was lamb chops with a lot of good veggies, etc. We had many bottles of nice wine with dinner. Luckily we didn't have to drive since we were staying here.

We had the hotel buffet then went to the train station where we missed the 9 am train. Got onto another pair of trains that took us to Melk anyway. We initially were in First Class then got kicked out and went to second class. At the Abbey we walked around the town then walked up to the Abby where we latched onto an English speaking tour. The history of the Abbey was interesting. We learned of a WW2 work camp in town with 10,000 prisoners and an underground factory still in existence. Our guide pointed to a field. After the Abbey walk we sat down to lunch where I had a beer and a vegetable strudel. We had trouble finding the boat and approached it the long way. We got underway and had a loud bunch of teenage boys in front of us so we changed seats. Met a very nice young student who wanted to be a classicist. Wow, is he not in reality. He is studying German and French and currently is in the summer program. It was cold for the short boat ride from Melk to Krems. I'm not sure I would recommend it as something to do. We found the train in Krems after a very very long walk. We met some people from Wales who were lost but we had the map. At the station we bought granola and chocolate then met 2 nice girls who helped with our train and scheduling. One of them was from TN. We got back without any further troubles after getting off a few stations before the Franz Josef terminus so we could pick up the U4 line to Karlsplatz. At Karlsplatz we got a little disoriented and had trouble finding the direction for the hotel but the phone helped us out since it knew where we were. For dinner we found the restaurant Peter and Christa usually visit. I had the spicy shrimp, Libbie had sea bass which was fantastic. We had a nice bottle of recommended white wine. What a nice final night in Vienna. After dinner we went up to the Opera where Rigoletto was already in progress. We found seats and stayed until the end. The sirens, people and traffic was great atmosphere for an outdoor opera viewing of the stuff going on inside the opera. What a night.

Nice hotel buffet again of eggs, bacon, roll and marmelade with awful coffee. We first tried looking for food in the Naschmarket but had no luck. Most places were just getting set up. It was a nice walk before breakfast. We packed our laundry into the carry on bag and headed for Stephenplasz where we exchanged money. I got 133 euros for $200 USD which I don't think was very good. We did better yesterday. Next stop was the laundry on the other side of the city. I was short 20 cents in euro which a very pretty blonde gave me. She was nice and helpful and had a gorgeous petite body. We had a little trouble understanding the machines and the system. We chose to forego the hydro extractor which was a mistake. We ended up taking twice as much time in the drying process because of this. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the OBB in Westbahn to buy combi tickets for the train and boat cruise on the Danube. The agent was very nice and helpful. The tix were 51 euros each round trip. Made it back to the hotel and dropped off the laundry. Walked up to the butterfly garden and paid the 5 euro each senior rate. It was very hot and humid in there. The butterflies were beautiful, there was a varied assortment of people photographing them. IT was nice to get back outside into the 70 degree air. We walked along the front of the Hapgurg and got on the #1 ring train as far as it would go on the Danube. I enjoyed a lot of pretty woman on the train with cur=te asses at eye level. Wow. We then took the number 2 train down the other side of the ring and got off at the Opera which is our stop.
We had some granola and fruit before the opera then left at 6:10 for the opera. Wow, was it dressy. A lady had long elbow length black gloves. We saw plenty of tuxedos and other finely dressed people. The Austrians next to us were quite nice and spoke a little English. The Opera was spectacular. The singing and orchestra was over the top. We really got into the opera with this staging. It was well done. Stopped at Subway across the street and had a sandwich after the opera - we split 6 inch turkey with chips and iced tea.

Our first full day in Vienna. We started with the hotel breakfast buffet for 17 euro each then walked to the Naschmarket. Walked half way down admiring the various stalls with vegetables, fruits, cheese, meat, fish and cafes. We turned left and headed towards Belvedere palace while experiencing Vienna street life. The streets are narrow and lots of people on foot and bicycles, many well dressed, heading everywhere. We did a lotnof walking all along the Palace wall to get to the entrance then purchased entrance to the upper palace. There were 3 floors of art including the excellent impressionist collection and the works by Klimt. I enjoyed the Kiss and Adam and Eve as well as some of his lesser known works. He loved woman and depicted them graphically at times such as his bride in the see through dress with pubes clearly framed. We then wlaked in the rain about 10 minutes to the large train station where we purchased a 72 hour transportation pass. We rode the train back and went to the Nashmarket for lunch where we found a place we lved - Longnacht Treff? I had a hoemmade sausage and brown bread with mustard. It was good. Libbie had alpine cheese and bread. We loved the waiter who kicked people out begging as well as playing music. There was a long haired troubadour playing a guitar and singing "Country Roads". Next a middle eastern band came through but the waiter wouldn't allow them to collect tips. We liked the guy. Bill was 20e with tip. We rested at the hotel before getting cleaned up for La Sylphide at 8 PM in the opera. We thoroughly enjoyed the ballet. We had good seats in Row 6, 5 from the end. Very good site lines, I didn't neeed the binonculars. The Sylphs were actually flying across the stage. They were good, holding still propelled by wire. They didn't look real. The Orchestra was wonderful and the music was joyful. Love the ballet. Afterwards we went into a Subway across the street for a turkey on honeywheat with chips and a drink. I had tea with lemon. We split a 6 inch sub.

We had the breakfast early then packed our stuff and started for Zurich at 8:30. We have a 1:00 flight. We had no trouble driving to the airport but once there we went once around looking for Enterprise. We did not have a chance to buy fuel to top the car off. Security went well, however my carry on was searched even though I unloaded the ipad and laptop. The flight was pretty rough although the plane was only about 3/4 full. We had an empty seat between us. When we finally smoothed out, I would guess past the mountains, they served ham and cheese sandwiches and water. Once in the Vienna airport I found a provider to purchase a prepaid sim card from and also a fixed rate taxi service. Our driver was pleasant in a Mercedes. Rate was 36e plus an 8e tip. In the hotel they assigned us a stinky smoking room. We went back to complain and got a nice big suite facing the Secession. Very nice. Once at the hotel we walked into town towards St Stephens and found a money exchange. I only changed $100 at 1 euro per 1.24 USD until I could figure the rate out. It started raining, we bought an umbrella and a map. Made it to the Danube then started looking for a place for a drink. Stopped at the Post Hotel and grabbed a beer. On the walk back we found an Italian restaurant on the corner where we ordered pizza and beer and luck was really with us. The sky opened up and poured like crazy. We enjoyed a nice thin Mergerita pizza and buffalo pizza. Libbie watched the pizza maker making the pies. He seemed quite busy. The rain stopped and we walked back to the hotel after a tiring but pleasant day.

After breakfast we had a fun ride to Schilthorn and Piz Gloria restaurant. We started on the tram next to our hotel then took the narrow gauge to Murren. We had a short walk to the Schilthorn station where we found we had to purchase another add on to our region pass. That cost $132. Two more trams, the one to Birg then change to one to Piz Gloria. It was a perfect clear day. We enjoyed the mountain views of the Alps then had an Apple Strudel and coffee in the revolving restaurant. IT was great, we enjoyed the food and the rotating view. We next slowly made out=r way down, stopping for a while in Birg to hang out on the deck and take pictures. At the base of the lift in Murren we found the Blumenthal trail and started climbing. The flowers were spectacular and the best I have ever seen. We kept seeing waves of colors as we walked upward. After 5 hours we arrived at the Funincular where we had a sandiwch and beer before getting on the train for the ride down. Wow! What a day.
We had the hotel dinner again, the last at this hotel. We ordered a full bottle of the local Dole vineyard red. The courses were salad, Semolina soup which was new to me and was like a fine grain cereal in an onion soup base and pork chops with potato slices baked and carrots. Yummy to it all. Dessert was a sorbet with a very tart rind of lime running through it. What a nice ending.

It looks like a clear day. We went down to breakfast and had eggs, sausage, dark bread with jam and coffee. The hotel breakfast is nice but not as nice as in Lucerne. I had scrambled eggs with sausage and an assortment of fruit and bread. The coffee is awful, same as Lucerne. For some reason, they have machibnes that grind the beans then pour hot water over them. WE headed out to Juangfrau. The cog rail leaves from the station in Lauterbrunnen then goes to another level where we get on the jungfraubahn to the top. There are 2 stations built into the mountain where I got off and took pictures. It's an engineering feat that they could carve a station into the mountain. At the top it was disappointing that the mountain was fogged in. We walked the tour through the ice palace, the fantasy land, and all the other areas. We had hot chocolate in the self serve restaurant which was not great. I enjoyed the ride back. We met an American couple from Conencticut who had a condo in Wallersee for 2 weeks and a rental car like us. We also met a Swiss woman who was reitred traveling on a retiree swiss rail pass. She gave me the correct pronunciatiation of Stauffacher and told us he was an famous canton leader in 1200. What fun. We changed trains in in an unpronouncable town and took a train for Lauterbrunnen.. Found the cheese shop downtown and bought some excellent swiss cheese and a bottle of Dole Du Valis "Val Souche" which is an 80% Pinot which was very good.

It's a clear day so we checked out of the hotel after breakfast and drove to the Mt Pilatus station in Kriens which was pretty close. We bought the ticket which included a train and bus ride back. Took the cable car then tram to the top, walked around a little then rode the funicular back down with an Australian tour group. They were quite nice. They are on a taste of Europe tour going from Rome to Lucerne to Paris and places in between. They wish they could stay longer in Lucerne. The train ride back was comfortable then the number 1 bus to our car. We nought cheese at a little Farmers Market on the corner of the road to Pilatus. Programmed the GPS and off we went, this time to Lauterbrunen. We made good time but i was tired. Our hotel is under construction which is too bad. I was a little down about that. We walked across the street to the train station and bought transportation passes. $550 for 3 days worth of passes for 2. We then took a tram to a station where we could take a narrow gauge railway to Murren. We walked around Murren and bought drinks and a wooden cow. Libbie had credit card problems, my card worked fine. I didn't think the block of wood was worth $17. She wants a cow bell which is probably even more but I admit sound way better than the Chinese crap.

It's a rainy morning. I looked out the window and saw people with umbrellas walking. The bikes are still going everywhere. It's amazing in this city how mnay people commute via bicycle - there are thousands of bikes everywhere. After breakfast we spent quite a bit of time fooling with the GPS before getting it to find Glarus. This thing is not easy. We had a delightful trip to Glarus where we parked the car near a church and walked around. The church bells went off at noon and spent a good 10 minutes ringing. Unbelievable. When we first came into town there was a McDonalds which we stopped at to use the bathroom and get decent coffee. The coffee was the same horrible instant stuff. We went to the park in front of the train station, I had to use the bathroom in the train station. Inside was a nice map of Elm. We then drove down the small road to Matt and Elm. The road was amazing. There was a snow shed over one part of it and a huge waterfall going off the roff that we drove under. Once in Elm we stopped at a Vong which is a convenience store and bought cheese and bread. The woman there was very colorful and helpful. She lived there all her life. We discussed cheese and Stauffachers. She gave us the correct pronunciation. She knows they live in the next town, Matt. What fun. On the way back Libbie decided we should go up and over a mountain which was fun. There were hundreds of switch backs, many motorcycles and beautiful valleys with incredible vistas and cows with clanging bells everywhere. It was a pretty long trip to get back and finally the last leg we crept in Lucerne traffic to the hotel. We were too tired to go out very far so we chose to have Tapas in the hotel with a beer. We ordered chicken, shrimp, quesadilla, and skewers of pork & lamb and swapped. The food was great, especially the skewers. The beer was excellent. I passed out tired in the room.

We woke later than usual - 7:15 AM. This was making up for last night's lack of sleep. The bathroom is ridiculously small. The shower is a tiny closet that is a challenge. Had the hotel buffet which included scrambled eggs with cheese and lots of good things like bacon, fruit, yogurt, pastries, sausage and hash brown. What a filling breakfast but lousy machine made coffee. It's raining so we chose to walk to the Wagner home. This was educational.. I learned Wagner was very short and his wife Cosima was incredibly tall, They had 3 children before getting married. The problem was she was still married to Hans Bulow but married Richard immediately when granted a divorce. We had a nice time with Susan the cashier in the house. She's a displaced Australian. We discussed Wagner and families, her parents and children

Next we walked old town finding the bridge again. Tried for lunch at an Italian place but after sitting there for quite a while we visited a British pub which was much better. We had 2 beers and 2 burgers with fries for $50 CHF. Walked up to the Lion sculpture then walked the medieval wall. It was pretty tiring. Enjoyed it all very thoroughly. For dinner we had Tapas in Bolero, the hotel restaurant. Once again it was a winner. I ordered chicken and shrimp, Libbie ordered beef, lamb skewers and cheese quesadillas.
We returned upstairs tired and full.

I woke up groggily to the flight attendants = serving an awful breakfast of yogurt with Granola and an apple cinnamon bun. The coffee was OK. We got off in London and walked for miles then got on a shuttle for Terminal 5 where we had to go through security again. They searched my carry on because of the laptop and Libbie's because of my contact solution and iPad. Should have taken them all out for xray. Our next plane left at 12:20. It was a very nice British Air flight that served a BLT wrap for lunch. Good flight with OK food. We each had adjacent aisle seats. I like British Air. Found the Salt store and got a simm card with 1 Gb data plan for $11. What a deal. Next we exchanged $250 USD for Swiss Franks and finally picked up our rental car, a Hyundai station wagon diesel. It fortunately has GPS. Traffic was ridiculous getting to Lucerne. Once there we wandered lost before using the Lucerne travel guide app to find our hotel and take us there. We parked the car and left it parked then did a short walk around the city and across the Chapel bridge before returning to the hotel. We ate in Bolero, the hotel restaurant. Incredibly, we had pasta and shrimp prepared in a flaming cheese bowl. It was memorable. We passed out once in bed.

After the morning programs I started packing all the stuff we gathered. While filling the hummingbird feeder today I dropped the glass measuring cup and broke it. Libbie lost her camera battery charger but the old one fit so she took that. We are checked in for tonight and we do sit together but in the middle section. Oh well.
Once at the airport we printed boarding passes and lo and behold, we are together on both flights.

Left home at 6:15 and used the Park and Relax. We were promptly taken to the airport by the shuttle driver. Found out there were meals on the flights. We left the gate on time at 8:30 PM and soon we were off on our adventure. They served a red wine before dinner and 2 red wines with dinner - 3 glasses total. Dinner was a salad and chicken and rice that tasted like a Lean Cuisine. The seat was cramped of course but I fell asleep. The good news was the 2 seats next to us in the 5 across seating were empty.

I called the Wall Street Journal this morning because I received notice of another subscription that was going to start Monday. This is not good since we are leaving Sunday for Zurich. The great news was that they extended my subscription for another year. I think this is an error. We went out today to Kroger and got Menage A Trois wine, veggies for my Curry and lettuc as well as trail mix, etc for the plane. Dinner was the leftover Curry with a nice salad. Yum. Lots of getting ready for our trip. I put version 12 of the software on Google today. This fixes Brenda's problem and adds the user notes feature.

I discovered another problem with First Class. I discovered that Venus has three violets with the same name, different hybridizers. Naturally, the third Venus doesn't display correctly. I need to fix this. I think I have most of the other things fixed. I would like to spend more time cleaning this program up but as usual, time is not on my side. We practiced a little bit of tango from our tape with the melanie lesson. For dinner we went out to Baan Thai where I had the Classic Curry with chicken. For appetizer we had the star crab. Accompanying the meal was a glass of Columbia Merlot. Service was pretty slow, the place was full which was good to see. We left the restaurant at 8:02 and went straight to the studio where it was nice to see everyone. My dancing personally was terrible, I really need to do something about this. Attendance was sparse, I guess school is out and vacations have started. After the party we went out to Waverly Place which was very nice. We stayed outdoors and had a glass of wine with Ken and Lana, Ken and Anita and a new couple, Chip and ?. It was a nice evening.

I made very good progress cleaning up the functions that display plants for wishlists, inventory and user notes. Had another problem reported when updating. It looks like an out of memory error. I tried updating my phone and had no problem. Not sure what the issue is with his Nexus 7. I haven't used my Nexus 7 since Google screwed it up with Android 5. Dinner tonight was tuna sandwiches with yogurt for dessert. Very nice. Booked the last of our hotels, this time a B&B outside of Krems.

learned today that Margaret Juntwait, announcer for the Met, had passed away this morning. This was sad cause she was only 58 and I really liked her. I spent the day getting the user notes function working on FC4A. Dinner tonight was sirloin hamburgers with tomato, onion and baked beans. We also had the meal with St michelle Cabernet Sauvignon. We're home!!!!

Had to run over for milk before breakfast this morning. Today was mostly a day of unpacking and getting organized. Made a second Kroger run to fetch spaghetti for dinner which we had with tomato sauce and pizza cheese topping.

We left Paducah at 7:30 after the hotel breakfast. This is 6:30 East Coast time. It was raining on and off on the way. We got a text from Joe that he was working in Clinton today and that he could give us a plant tour. We took him up on this and drove to Clinton. The drive isn't too bad, even with the rain. We met joe and got a nice walk through of the facility. Had lunch in Clintons at McDonalds then hit the road and had more rain crossing the Smokeys. The winding roads got to me, I was getting punchy. I pulled off at a quick on/off interchange and Libbie took over, thank goodness. She ran down the tank of gas while I slept soundly. She pulled into a gas station around Hickory at 6:30 PM and I took over from there. Luck was with us and there was no more rain to home. We chose to go straight to La Cocina instead of home for dinner. Got into home shortly before 9 PM.

Left the hotel at 6:30 AM. Saw Linda, Steve and also Belinda. It was a nice time we were leaving. We left in a light rain which stayed with us even a little ways when we reached I-70. Had breakfast at McDonalds then a bathroom stop later where we got more coffee and a cinnamon roll. Made it into Paducah with an empty tank of gas. Found the museum downtown on the river and paid for the tour which was $4 above he price of admission. It was worth it to get an overview of the collection. The quilts were spectacular. We were so happy we came. We saw the best in show for 2015 by a pair of Facebook quilters. Wow, spectacular. We stayed until almost closing time then went to find out hotel. They assigned us a first floor room which was musty so we swapped for a 2nd floor room which was much better. Dinner was at Flamingo Row where we had a wacky waitress named Lindsey in a very quirky atmosphere. The food was excellent. I had the Pirates Pleasure which was chicken with mango chipotle BBQ sauce and mashed potatoes. It was outstanding. Lindsey was a mess. She's incredibly friendly, pretty but a scatter brain. The bill came out to $75 the first time she did it. We pointed some discrepancies to her so she went to fix it and had help from another lady. The final bill was $48 plus tip. This was better.