Philippines

    Our cruise to the Philippines was, without a doubt, the most difficult trip that we have ever been on.  The cruise itself was fine but the actual travel from Louisville to Asia was hell.  If I had known how tough the flights were going to be before we left then I doubt that we would even have gone.  My coping strategy for preparing myself psychologically for a big trip is to not think about it.  I will memorize the date of departure along with the flight number of our carrier and the time that we take off.  I don’t want to know any other details because all that would do is to bring me anxiety.  It helps if I think of myself as a big bag of water that had to be taken from one airport to another.  A bag of water has no influence over flight delays or lost luggage and even if it were aware, there is nothing that it could do about it anyway.  The best thing to do is to be like the jellyfish and go with the flow.

   There are many reasons as to why we continue to take on these tough trips.  The first is that they have strengthened our marriage.  Tracey and I have endured the unendurable and can take a lot of pride in how we have weathered the storm together.  Another reason to travel is because these trips make us appreciate our lives.  We visited some places in Asia that are desperately poor and it reminded me of how lucky we are living a life that most people can dream about.  Finally, traveling extensively makes us unique.  I don’t know of anyone who has been to Singapore, for example, and we have been there twice.  And while we were eating lunch in Singapore I noticed that we were the only white faces in the restaurant.  It is fun to be different and I just know that some of those people who saw us are going home and they will share their stories about how they saw “The Blind Woman and the Ironman.”
   
Friday, Saturday, Sunday; December 20th-22nd.  Our flight left on Friday at 3:30 pm but we didn’t board the ship until Sunday at 11:00 am.  While it looks like we travelled for three days, our actual travel time was 30 hours.  It should not have taken that long but we had a couple of long layovers.  The time changed messes with our internal clocks and I am aware that some people will arrive at the port city a day or two before the ship sails just so that they can make the adjustments before the cruise begins.  However, it was so cold and rainy in Taipei that I was glad that we didn’t spend any extra time in our city of embarkation.
   When we landed in the Taipei airport I asked a porter where a representative from the Norwegian Cruise Line ship, “The Spirit,” would meet us.  He exclaimed, “A cruise ship?  Out of Taipei?”  It was at that exact moment that I knew that we were doing something unusual in cruising Asia.

Monday, December 23:  With a population of over two million, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is about the same size as Cincinnati, and yet I have never heard of it.  Another reason to travel is because it helps me realize how big the world is.  The highlight of the day was visiting “The Tree House,” which earned its name by having Banyan trees growing inside of it.  One of the rooms in the house was filled with calligraphy and we learned that if you want to get a government job in Taiwan then you have to pass a test on calligraphy.
   Vincent was our guide for our first day in Kaohsiung and he smiled when he said, “Where there is water there is prosperity.”  It had been raining on us the whole time that we were in Taiwan and he was trying to spin our constantly being soaked into something good.  Nice try, Vincent, but we were tired of being cold and wet and miserable and were ready to leave Taiwan.

Tuesday, December 24:  “The Taiwan Indigenous People’s Cultural Park” was the highlight of our second day in Kaohsiung.  Members of the Apana Tribe entertained us with a live show and what made it so good was the fact that the tribe was obviously proud of their dance and their homemade costumes.  I learned that the tribe wove and dyed their own cloth and then used the material to sew their costumes.  It was an authentic show and that is what made the Apana Tribe so special.

Wednesday, December 25:  While in Currimao, Philippines, we visited the Vigan Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the Bantay Watch Tower and St. Augustine Church.  Finally, we went to a pottery shop to watch the craftsmen throw pots.  All that I ask for on our excursions is to get one or two good pictures of my wife and I got a great one of Tracey listening to the spinning wheel while the clay was being thrown in the shop.

Thursday, December 26:  We went to a market in Manila’s Chinatown and it was an assault on the senses.  There were bright colored umbrellas everywhere because the vendors used them to attract pedestrians.  The whole place smelled like an armpit and it was difficult to walk down the sidewalk because there were so many people crammed into such a small area.  Elgin was our guide and he said that it was a good thing that we didn’t try to visit the market on a weekend because that was when it would really be packed.  “This isn’t jammed packed?” asked Tracey, innocently.  “No!  Not even close,” replied Elgin.
   My wife and I have faced similar circumstances in places like Cairo and Saigon, where the streets were packed with pedestrians, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, bicycles, cars, trucks, and buses.  The difference is that we were able to to observe the chaos from the comfort of our motor coach.  Now we were walking in the middle of the chaos and it was scary.  For example, we had a tuk-tuk (think of a motorcycle with a trailer) breeze by us while we were walking on a sidewalk and it was literally just an inch or two away from her elbow.  I was very proud of my blind wife for not becoming overwhelmed by this attack on her senses.
   I once read a book on the fall of Manila in WWII and was surprised when our guide did not acknowledge St. Thomas School when we passed it.  Over 4,000 civilians, most of whom were American, were kept in this school when it became an internment camp run by the Japanese.  They were kept prisoners from 1942 to 1945.  The civilians were nurses, teachers, and families of diplomats and many of them died while in captivity.  By contrast, the American soldiers who surrendered on Corregidor and Bataan became slave labor and were worked to death.  This deserved at least a brief mention on our tour of Manila.

Friday, December 27: Tracey planned all of our excursions months before “The Spirit” left Taipei.  We  like to go through the ship so that we have the best chance odds of having a good tour.  Our fellow passengers never tired of telling us that we could get a tour a lot cheaper by grabbing a cab on the dock.  However, we know that we will never go back to the Philippines so we need a guaranteed good time with a knowledgeable guide.  Ryan was was the perfect guide for us because, when we had some down time at the Maquinit Hot Springs, he sat and talked with Tracey for over a half hour while I walked around and took pictures.  Believe me when I tell you that I tipped Ryan well for his special service and attention.
   It is always the unexpected things that make an impression.  Those unplanned moments that you had no idea were coming.  When we got off the coach to get to the market in Coron, Philippines, two little girls approached us and grabbed our hands.  Then, out of a sign of respect, they placed the back of our hands onto their foreheads.  Their teachers had told them to do this to their elders and I felt honored.  I cannot imagine that school children in America would ever do this to adults.

Saturday, December 28: We got off of the ship to take the tender to the pier to board a boat to meet the bus that drove us to “The Motag Living Museum” on Boracay, Philippines.  Motag was about as far out of the way as an attraction can get but our philosophy has always been to relax and enjoy each experience as it comes, so the commute didn’t bother us.  The highlight of the day was when the tour guide asked our group if anyone would like to ride a water buffalo.  I was shocked when Tracey raised her hand to volunteer.  Sure enough, she climbed aboard the huge, nasty, stinking beast that was covered in fleas.  There was no saddle and the only thing to hold onto was the covering blanket.  Tracey laughed in delight for the whole ride while I took her picture and, when she got off of the water buffalo, she gushed when I told her how proud I was of her.  It was a nice moment that was made even more special because neither one of us knew that it was coming.
   Motag had an authentic reproduction of an aborigines house made entirely from bamboo, including the walls, floors, and ceiling.  There were no nails but instead rope made from rattan was used to hold all of the pieces together.  Amy was our guide and she began, and ended, our tour by having members of her family sing to us as they did a little dance.  Finally, Lola was, at 100 years old, the senior member of the family and while she didn’t speak English, we were encouraged to walk up to her and say hello.

Sunday, December 29th:  While in Puerto Princesa, Philippines, we went to a prison where the inmates did a dance for us, then toured a butterfly garden, but the best part of the day was going to the WWII museum.  Tracey and I had our picture taken after we hopped on a Soviet motorcycle with a sidecar.  There were a couple of Jeeps in the showroom but they were too hard to get into.  There were separate rooms which held displays from the U.S., Japan, Germany, and Italy and Tracey got to feel helmets, weapons, and ammunition from each of these countries.  Another highlight was when Tracey got to feel a real steering wheel from a Japanese battleship.

Monday, December 30th:  We did an architectural tour of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and drove by “The Floating Mosque,” which is a huge structure, surrounded by water, and can hold up to 2,000 people for services.  Our first stop was at the “Tun Mustapha Tower,” a unique building because it has a stem in the middle which holds up all of the floors so all that an onlooker can see is a tower of windows.  Our last stop was to the Marriott Sky Lounge which is a rooftop bar that offers a spectacular view of the South China Sea.

Tuesday, December 31st: The Water Village in Brunei was beautiful but dangerous.  The houses were built on stilts that were about fifteen feet high and the only thing that connected them was a flimsy catwalk.  There were no guardrails for the tourists to grab onto for support.  Our guide said that these were private houses and the locals would not change their lifestyle to accommodate the tourists.  I was so proud of my blind wife for navigating the catwalks that even the sighted people were having trouble with.  Tracey put her complete trust in me as I guided her through the maze of catwalks and retaining her trust is a responsibility that I take very seriously.
   Brunei is an oil rich country where health care, housing, and education is either free or greatly subsidized.  And yet it is difficult to attract foreigners because Brunei is a Muslim country that doesn’t allow smoking or drinking and everything closes down by 10:00 pm.  Aside from The Water Village, the other attractions that we saw on our cultural tour was the Sultan’s Museum and a huge convention center that is barely used because of the ban on alcohol.

Wednesday, January 1st:  “Have as good of a time that you can today.”  This is what the captain of “The Spirit” said about our day at sea during his morning announcements.  There were huge swells that made the ship rock back and forth and from side to side.  Sometimes there would be a knocking sound coming from the bottom of the ship as we hit some debris and I never tired of saying, “I think that we just hit an iceberg!”  The weather was truly horrible as we entered the South China Sea to sail from Brunei to Vietnam.  It was so bad that the staff put barf bags in all of the stairwells and I noticed that quite a few people had taken one.  

Thursday, January 2nd:  We had been to Ho Chi Minh City a year ago so we didn’t take the city tour again but instead visited the Cu Chi Tunnel where the Viet Cong based their operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968.  Next to the tunnel was a massive graveyard and a memorial pagoda.  In the afternoon we went to The Museum of the American War where Tracey got to feel real (not reproductions) tanks, mortars, jets, and a Chinook and Huey helicopter.  She got to pretend that she was shooting down planes while manning a real anti-aircraft gun.  Also, there was a “Peace Bell” made out of a real mortar shell that Tracey got to ring.  The sound of the bell was supposed to remind everyone who could hear it that we don’t ever want to have another war.
   In a nice moment, a veteran was having his wife take his picture in front of a mortar which was just like the one he carried in the war.  He called out to me to tell me about it and I lamely replied, “thank you for your service.”  What I really wanted to do was to buy the vet a beer and spend the afternoon talking to him about his experiences in the Vietnam War.

Friday, January 3rd: “The Spirit” was spending the day at sea so Tracey and I did nothing but drink daiquiris, play trivia, and eat three meals at “The Windows,” our favorite restaurant.  The wait staff treated us like royalty even though we were just another retired couple on the ship.  It felt good to be fawned over.  Also, I have always liked the ceremony of eating out at a nice restaurant.  My father taught me the skill of using a knife and fork properly; to sit up straight, chew with my mouth closed, and to keep my elbows off of the table.  He used to say that once we had learned these skills then we can eat at a table with kings and queens and still be comfortable.
   If “The Windows” is eating in first class then “The Garden” is steerage.  This restaurant is a buffet so the people pile their plates high with bacon and fries and then end up wasting half of it.  I saw a lady try to shove a whole bagel into her mouth and it wasn’t pretty.  Glassy eyed children were encouraged to play on their iPads so that they didn’t disturb their parents who were chewing their cud while standing in line for seconds.  And, while Tracey and I like to treat the staff with respect by adding a “please” and “thank you” while ordering, the passengers in “The Garden” lord over the waiters by treating them like slaves.  It was almost as if you had to sign a waiver agreeing to be rude and using bad manners..

Saturday, January 4th:  We were in Singapore a year ago and didn’t want to repeat the experience of going to Chinatown and the harbor so we took a six hour tour of the attractions outside of the city.  The highlight was going to the Kranji War Memorial and Cemetery.  When General Percival surrendered Singapore to the Japanese without a fight in WWII, Winston Churchill called it “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history.”  About 130,000 Commonwealth soldiers were captured and many of them died in captivity or were used as forced labor on projects like the Siam-Burma Railroad (see “The Bridge on the River Kwai”).  Many of the soldiers who died are buried at the Kranji War Memorial and Cemetery.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday; January 5th-7th:  We had to disembark from “The Spirit” by 9:00 am on Sunday but our flight didn’t take off until 5:00 pm so we spent the whole day in the airport.  After an eight hour flight from Singapore to Sidney we had a five hour layover.  The flight from Sidney to Dallas was 14 hours.  When we arrived in Dallas we learned that we were snowed out of Louisville because American Airlines had cancelled all of the morning flights.  Fortunately, American started flying again in the late afternoon and we got the last two tickets through Charlotte.  After spending all day in Dallas we finally got back to our condo at 2:30 am on Tuesday.  We had to spend an additional hour at the Louisville International Airport because American lost our luggage.  They found it and delivered it on Thursday and that was fine because we spent the first three days back home sleeping.  A quick, back of the envelope, calculation found that we spent fifty hours getting from the ship to our condo.
   This was, without a doubt, the hardest trip that Tracey and I have ever made.  I remember that I could no longer read because I couldn’t concentrate and, besides, my eyes could no longer focus on the words.  And yet, I discovered a wealth of patience that I never knew that I had.  I didn’t lose my temper even though we were under very stressful circumstances that would have been a trial for even Job.  Tracey gave me a huge compliment when she said that she was able to remain calm because I had remained calm.  We have been in similar situations before and I always thought that the pleasure was worth the pain.  As time passes, we will forget about the hardships of our flights back from Asia but will remember the good times, like watching my wife ride a water buffalo.

   In the aggregate, and by ignoring our travel difficulties and the fact that we were sick for half of the cruise, our trip to Asia was fantastic.  We now have bragging rights about walking through the open market in Manila’s Chinatown and scaling the catwalk in the Water Village.  For the first time, we visited Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and the Philippines, and after having our appetites whetted, we want to go back to those countries.  We were so encouraged that we booked a cruise to Australia for Christmas, which means that we will begin and end 2025 on “The Spirit,” and we are even thinking about using Norwegian Cruise Line to go to Japan and India.  Life is good and, as I told Tracey mid cruise, “I have never been so happy!”


Quotes
• “We do not eat cats and dogs.  We love them.  They are a part of our family.”  Vincent said this while we were in Taiwan.  He was defensive as, apparently, other tourists had heard that Asians eat cats and dogs.
• “That sucks,” said the tween girl when I told her that Tracey has been blind since she was sixteen.  It was refreshing to get such an honest reaction as opposed to the pity that Tracey usually gets..”
• “We are NPR listening, PBS watching, Flaneurs!”  I made up this line to pat myself of the back for getting so good at long distance travel    
• “Come up and show me your teeeckets.  I will give you a steeeker.  Make sure that they are veeesible.”  We heard this line from the manager with a heavy accent every morning as we were waiting for our excursion to leave.
• “You told me that if I said something loudly and confidently then everyone would believe me.”  Jin tried to fake her way into pronouncing “Triumvirate.”  “It doesn’t always work,” I replied.
• “God made the world in six days.  The Chinese made everything else.”
• “Your daughter is adorable,” is what I said to the parents of a four year old girl who just happened to share an elevator ride with us.  “She wasn’t adorable when she was throwing up yesterday.”  The little girl suffered from sea sickness.
• One of our guides call me “The Professor” because I was able to answer a lot of his questions.  I really liked it.
• One of our guides asked us what would happed if a tourist missed the ship and they are stranded.  I said, “That’s between them and God.”  He liked that answer.
• “Of course you are Canadian.  That explains why you are so nice.”  A fellow traveler allowed us to cut in front of him in line.  I saw the Canadian flag and his luggage.  He gave me a wink and a wry smile after I said this, which is another very Canadian thing to do.
• I reminded Tracey that I would put myself between her and danger.  “They would have to go through me to get to you and I am a pretty big guy.”  This wasn’t false machismo .  I really meant it
• Nazareen was guide.  She tried hard but couldn’t quite get who were were.  “So,” she asked, “you are all from Norway?”  She didn’t understand that we came from the Norwegian Cruise Line and that that we were all from the country of Norway.
• “I know that the threat is there but I don’t feel endangered.”  Vincent said this after a tourists asked him if he wasn’t afraid that the Chinese would take over his country of Taiwan.



Non Sequitar
• Funny.  Tracey getting into the sidecar and her dress rode up.  Suddenly we heard a wolf whistle.  She thought how rude it was to whistle at a women at her most vulnerable.  As it turned out, the whistle came from a parrot
• Squat toilets
• Our parents would be proud of us.
• Unwelcome surprise: the gym was packed all day.  I was too sick to work out anyway.  A little worried because I didn’t miss it.
• Motorcycles with sidecars carrying up to four people or cargo.  The sidecars went from everywhere from luxury to homemade out of cheap wood. 
• Tracey easily memorized the floor plan of “The Spirit,” which is good because we will be on that same ship for our cruise of Australia.  
• The Caribbean and Europe seem so small now that we have been to Asia.
• For the first time that I can remember, I wasn’t ready to go back as we finished our cruise 
• We are now confident that we could do a back to back cruise for 28 days.
• If you get hung up on going to one place or one event then you are going to be disappointed.  Just open up to new experiences. No bucket list.

Amtrak: New Orleans to Chicago

 Wednesday, November 27, 2024:  The WWII Museum is the best tourist attraction in New Orleans.  The amount of money, time, and effort, that the city and benefactors has poured into the museum was incredible.  For example, the Boeing Center is a major attraction in the museum because it houses a Mustang fighter, a Dauntless bomber, and many other planes, that are hanging from the ceiling.  There are catwalks placed among the planes so that the tourist could get up close and personal.  I stood in awe and just appreciated being in their presence because these were not reproductions but were the actual planes that fought in the war.

   Just like any other reputable historical attraction, the WWII museum included the uniforms and artifacts of the people who lived in that period of time.  But what made this museum special was the two major shows that it put on.  The first show was a multimedia experience focusing on FDR’s “Four Freedoms.”  There were visuals projected on ten different screens.  It was like other documentaries that I have seen in the past but this one was on steroids.  In pivotal moments, like D-Day, blindingly bright lights flashed throughout the theater.  The movie was well produced in that the sound, visuals, and narrative, all worked together to make the “Four Freedoms” come alive.  The second show was “Beyond All Boundaries” and it was narrated by Tom Hanks.  It was 4D because it included a real guard tower, an anti-aircraft gun, and the nose of a B-1 bomber.  Snow descended from the ceiling, in the form of soap bubbles, when the story turned to the siege of Bastogne.  The seats vibrated at key moments like the bombing of Hiroshima.  It was like nothing that I have ever experienced before.

   The WWII Museum had even more to offer aside from the planes and the movies.  The “USS Tang” experience, for example, allowed the visitor to see what it was like to be on a submarine during the war.  Also, there was an interactive oral history experience that allows guests to have a conversation with a member of the WWII generation.  It uses immersive technology made possible with artificial intelligence.  Finally, “The Liberation Pavilion” was a brand new, huge outdoor theater that included a statue of General Eisenhower.  The whole museum experience was almost overwhelming and I could have easily spent another day there.   

Thursday, November 28, 2024:  For Thanksgiving morning, the only thing on my agenda was to walk around the French Quarter.  The weather was perfect as I enjoyed taking pictures of the iconic buildings and did some people watching.  There were constant reminders of when I took the kids to New Orleans twenty five years ago.  The things that I remember were the puppet show at Jackson Square, the horse and carriage ride to the graveyard, and taking pictures of the kids in front of the colorful houses on Ursuline Street.

   The big event of the day was to get on the train.  I enjoy Amtrak because I love to sit and stare out the window and watch the world go by.  It was fun to watch the sun go down and then rise again the next morning.  Unlike driving on the interstate, the trains literally run through the woods with the trees being at an arms distance.  We pass over the swamps and bayous which end at the base of the tracks.  It is just beautiful.  Also, I enjoy the gentle rocking back and forth while riding the train because it is very relaxing and I sleep like the dead.

   Amtrak is not for everybody.  For example, you have to be an acrobat to get into the upper bunk to go to sleep.  The seats down below are supposed to fold together to make a lower bunk but I haven’t been able to make that work.  The food wasn’t very good on this trip and I expected more for Thanksgiving.  Finally, it is tough to see the underbelly of civilization.  We rode past the trailer parks and the homeless camps that line the outside of the cities.  After seeing the poverty and living conditions of the less fortunate, I was reminded, once again, how privileged I am.

Friday, November 29, 2024:  Amtrak actually arrived in Chicago early so I had the time to do “The Skydeck” on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower and to go out on “The Ledge.”  There were no lines because they let me in even before the actual 9:00 opening.  It is hard to scare me but even I was afraid to step off of “The Ledge” while looking down but, once you knew that you were safe, it wasn’t so bad.  Visiting “The Skydeck” was great fun and wasn’t even on the agenda but, because I was traveling by myself, I could be flexible in terms of what attractions I attended.

   The anchor event of the day was to take a tour of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Joel was our guide and he was great because he was so enthusiastic.  We started our tour before the crowds arrived so we had an unobstructed view of “A Sunday on LaGrande Jatte” by Seurat, “American Gothic” by Grant Wood, and “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper.  I love to show off so I told Joel about some facts of the paintings that even he didn’t know.  By now, I have been to many art museums and have a liberal arts education, so I know a little about a lot of topics.  It is fun to surprise others.  Just because I wear a beard, have a ponytail, and look like I work on the docks; I let the others know that I am not just some rube from Kentucky.    

Saturday, November 30, 2024:  I had some time before my food tour so I took a walk along Michigan Avenue for an hour and a half.  It felt good to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the day with the sun glistening off the traffic and the people crowded on the sidewalks.  It was a totally different scene from the French Quarter but still beautiful in its own way.  Then I met Mickey, our guide for the food tour of Chicago.  He was fun because he was a “short, hairy nerd” and seemed to revel in being weird.  We visited “Giordano’s” for pizza,  “Garrett’s” for popcorn, ate a “Chicago Hot Dog,” and then sampled a brownie at “The Palmer House.”  It was my fourth flawless day in a row and you really do need to appreciate it when everything goes right.

   By the time that our tour was over, I was done with Chicago.  I went to the airport to catch an earlier flight back to Louisville.  The nice thing about solo travel is that I get to set the agenda and if I feel like flying back early then there is no reason not to.  Further, I like to go to bed early and get up early to take my morning coffee at the hotel breakfast room when it opens.  Tracey and I have done a lot of traveling since we retired and I have had to learn the same lessons over and over again.  I have learned to be patient and to go with the flow.  Initially, I wasn’t even supposed to go to the Art Institute or the Willis Tower but I made plans on the fly.  Also, I have learned to be comfortable with doing nothing for awhile.  For example, I left the French Quarter early to sit at the train depot for two hours.  I killed the time by happily reading the newspaper and I was prepared to do the same thing at the airport if I couldn’t get an earlier flight.  It is nice to be older and have acquired more patience and self control.

   In closing, this “backpack vacation” on Amtrak was great because each day was totally different from the one before.  It was like having four mini-vacations bundled into one.  I am so encouraged that I will probably do another Amtrak vacation for Thanksgiving 2025.

        And now it is on to the Philippines.  

WWII and D-Day

   I am on my third reading of Rick Atkinson’s trilogy on WWII.  In fact, I have been independently studying WWII so much this year that I feel like I have been told that I am going to have to pass an exam on the subject in order to get into heaven.  For example, in the last six months I have read the biographies on Guderian, Manstein, and Rundstedt and have been watching “Battlefield,” “The Soviet Storm,” and the 1973 series entitled, “The World at War.”  There are many reasons as to why I would commit so much time to a conflict that ended eighty years ago but, for me, it is as simple as my father would have loved these books and television series.  After all, we watched “The World at War” together when it first was telecast and I remember laying on the floor, my mouth agape, as I learned about the atrocities and the battles.  It made me want to become a history teacher.  And it helped to form a bond between my father and I because he clearly enjoyed explaining the complexities of WWII  to me.

   When asked about what people should do in retirement, an expert on the subject said, “try to remember what brought you joy when you were ten years old and do that.”  That was good advice and, since I have always loved to read and write, and now that I have the time, an awful lot of my day is spent doing these two activities.  It has been eight years since I taught history and what I was afraid of when I quit was that my brain would become ossified from non use.  To aerate my brain, I started reading challenging books and took a lot of mental notes on what separates good writing from great writing.  I paid attention as I noticed that Rick Atkinson took his time in leading up to major events, like OVERLORD, but he filled the pages with interesting information like what it was like to fight on the front lines, medicine, the misery inflicted on civilians, and a typical soldier’s experience with “rest and relaxation” in London.  His narrative is peppered with side stories that include mini biographies of the politicians and generals so that I feel like I have become to know them personally as he has quoted extensively from their diaries.

   Examples of how Atkinson is a master of using direct quotes to drive the narrative home comes from his section on D-Day.  One soldier wrote that machine gun bullets tore through his grounded Higgins boat so that “men were tumbling out just like corn cobs off of a conveyor belt.”  Mortar fragments said to be the size of shovel blades “skimmed the shore, trimming away arms, legs, and heads.”  Steel-jacketed rounds kicked up sand “like wretched living things,” or swarmed overhead in an “insectile whine.”  It wasn’t all valor.  Atkinson reminds us that these soldiers weren’t much older than boys and they found their amusements wherever they could.  When they found a German corpse with a distended stomach they would step on the man to make the dead Nazi fart.  One soldier wrote in his diary, on D-Day +1, “Dear God, please come down here and help us.  Don’t send your son, Jesus, because this is no place for a boy.”  I love these anecdotes because they remind me that the soldiers who fought in WWII were real people who used humor as a coping mechanism.  

  
   There are a lot of reasons as to why I have confined my reading to WWII lately.  Learning about the misery of the American soldiers as they suffered through one barrage after another at Anzio, for example, makes me appreciate what a good life I have in 2024.  Also, WWII has nothing to do with my present life so there aren’t any triggers to bring me back to reality.  D-Day was eighty years ago so I don’t have to worry about Atkinson sneaking in references about social issues or our current political environment.  Finally, there has been no glory in the global conflicts since WWII.  The history of the United States fighting in Asia and the Middle East in the last eighty years is glum and I would rather read the inspirational stories that Atkinson shares in his trilogy on WWII.

Armistice Day 11:11:11

    Armistice Day celebrates the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month of 1918, when the Germans declared a cease fire in a railroad car in Compiegne, France.  For most people, Armistice Day doesn’t have that much meaning because they have no connection to it, but my grandfather was in World War I.  Donald Cheyne Strachan joined the 106th Infantry (L) as a 1st Lieutenant and then transferred to the American Expeditionary Force in May, 1918.  He had previously served in the National Guard Mexican Border service and later was in World War II as a member of the Judge Advocate in North Africa.  He received an honorable discharge as a major in October, 1942.

   No one seems to know much about the American battles in WWI so I have written a short primer on the topic.  In “Operation Michael,” Hindenburg was the commanding German general and in 1918 he planned one last great offensive to take over Paris.  The Second Battle of the Marne shattered the trench deadlock that had gripped the opposing armies for three years.  The offensive was stopped at the key battle of Reims.  The objective had been to capture the railroad junction, separate the Allies, and send the British packing.  It was a desperate thing to do but the Germans were starving and needed to end the war quickly.  The offensive failed. 

   The first battle for the American Expeditionary Force was at Saint Mihiel, which we won, but it was anti-climatic because the Germans claimed that they were already retreating from the place.  Our first clear victory was when we stopped the German advance at Chateau-Thierry, which was a main railroad line on the Marne River that led to Paris.  Our final participation in “Operation Michael” was to push against the German line at Belleau Wood, where the Germans had sidled to after Chateau-Thierry.  The Americans were replacing the French, who were beaten and running away while yelling, “Retreat!”  A member of our Marine Corps famously yelled back, “Retreat Hell!  We just got here!”  It was the first battle where the odds were even and the Americans beat the Germans fair and square.

   After Belleau Wood, our attention was turned further east to the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  The Americans crossed the Meuse River to get to Sedan, severing the German rail links that supplied the rest of their front.  Situated in the Argonne Forest, this battle was a stalemate at first, but the Americans eventually forced the Germans to retreat.  A little known battle was at Montfaucon, or Falcon Mountain.  Its importance was being the “Little Gibraltar” of the Argonne Forest, lying northwest of Verdun and Metz, and as part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  The Americans eventually took this fortress at the southern edge of the western front but only with great effort and loss of life.

   I think that no one knows about World War I because there were no epic battles like Normandy or Guadalcanal.  Also, after Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we as a society have become anti-war and don’t want to celebrate our victories.  My grandfather lost his youth in World War I and his health in World War II and I think that he, like all veterans, would like to be remembered on this one day of the year.

Rhone

    My friends ask me why I continue to take these trips with U. of L.  They know that flying to another continent is expensive and that traveling is an ordeal.  My reply is that “it is nice to get away for awhile so that we appreciate what a good life that we have and it helps to break up the year.”  These river cruises are perfect for us because we are treated like royalty and half of the fun is to live like kings and queens, if only for a little while.  The Rhône was great because on every day on the cruise there was a new historical town to discover.  We saw the Roman amphitheater in Arles, the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, the Viviers cathedral that was built by the Romans, the Lyon cathedral which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the historical hospital in Beaune.  We came back to the ship in the afternoon so we had time to take in the sun on the upper deck of the ship.  It was the perfect trip for Tracey and me.

   We spent a week on Uniworld’s “S.S. Catherine.”  The ship was small enough for Tracey to memorize its floor plans so she had complete freedom and independence,  That means a lot to a blind woman.  On the other hand, the Palace of the Popes in Avignon was challenging.  There were many flights of stairs and they were of uneven height, the edges were worn down so they bowed in the middle, some steps were narrow while others were wide, some were steep while others were shallow, some had handrails and others did not.  Also, some of these old towns have been around forever and have been reconstructed many times so the surface of the streets alternated between cobblestone, asphalt, tile, and brick.  Tracey can navigate the tile easily but her cane became useless on the other surfaces.  A half day tour was about all that we were up for because of the ordeal of walking.

   I like to joke around with our tour guides whenever possible.  As part of our excursion to Viviers, for example, MaryAnne invited us into her house.  She said that even though we had a large group, everyone could take a restroom break because she had four bathrooms.  I smirked when I said, “Hopefully their isn’t any carpeting around the toilets.”  That joke landed flat so I tried gain.  As we were leaving I said, “You should check eBay in about two hours if you want to get your stuff back.”  I thought that I was hilarious but she remained stone-faced.  In Tournon, we took a walking tour with Pierre and as we passed the slaughterhouse he pointed out the heads of cows carved into stone and imbedded into the walls.  I said that the heads served as a warning to any passing cows that they should stay away.  Pierre didn’t laugh so I tried to sell the joke.  “You see, there wouldn’t be any loose cows walking around the middle of the city and that makes the joke funny.”  There still wasn’t a laugh so I tired again.  “A cow wouldn’t recognize its face carved out in stone because it is a cow.”  Finally, Pierre smiled, but it was more out of charity than because he liked the joke.      
   There were a lot of moments on this trip that made it special.  For example, it had rained for three solid weeks before we arrived in Arles but now the weather was perfect so parents took advantage of the sun by letting their kids play in the public square.  It was wonderful to hear the happy noises of the kids playing and laughing.  Another example was in Viviers where a woman teared up as she recalled how the guide had helped Tracey feel the altar in the cathedral.  Also, she was inspired by watching me guiding Tracey through the buildings and on the streets.  You just know that she is going to share the story of the blind woman to family and friends when she gets back home.  Of course, the nicest moment was celebrating Tracey’s 60th birthday.  Todor, the manager of the dining room, put up streamers, set out special plates, and blew up two big balloons which expressed a six and a zero.  I don’t think that I have ever seen my wife so happy as they served her a birthday cake with her name on it and popped the cork on a champagne bottle.  It was a wonderful evening, one that we will not forget for the rest of our lives.  

Retreat letters for my children

 It took me a long time to write the senior retreat letters to my children.  Since it has been ten years since my youngest graduated, I thought that it might be a good idea to type up the retreat letters and post them to my bog so that others can enjoy them.  I copied the original, hand written, letters into my journal.

Dear Grant:

I want you to know, now that you are a senior in high school, you are everything that I could hope for in a son.  You SAT scores prove that you are smart, your years as a wrestler show your athleticism and dedication, and you are just an overall nice guy.  But believe me, it was a long and hard road to get you to be the person that you are today.

Your mother and I had been trying to have a baby for over a year and a half when we finally went to a fertility specialist.  After a series of tests and procedures, you were born, and our lives had irrevocably changed for the better.  I remember that when you were a baby you were just a helpless blob who “drooled like a madman.”  You put everything that you could get your hands on into your mouth.  Also, you were constantly sick; you were at the doctor’s office at least once a week for your first year of life.  It is my firm belief that you were worth every bit of love and effort that we put into you.

My happiest memories of you were when you attended Twinbrook Preschool.  You used to scream with excitement and beat on the big picture windows when you saw me coming up the sidewalk to pick you up.  Once I was in the building you would take my hand and guide me to your cubby so that you could show me all of the artwork that you had created that day.  Before we left to go home, your teacher would stop me to tell me about all of the cute things that you had done.  For example, you had a special towel that you used for a cape and you would put it on as soon as you got to preschool.  Just by putting on that cape you were no longer Grant Frazier but became “The Weatherman.”  I still don’t know why you picked that name.  Or do you remember the time when you pretended to marry Colleen and you two walked around, arm in arm, all day?”  I really miss those days.

Now you are all grown up and a senior in high school and I could not be prouder of you.  It reminds me of what God once said of Jesus: “This is my son with whom I am well pleased.”  It also reminds me of what the comedian, Bill Cosby, said of his son when the the boy was killed by a stranger.  Cosby said of his son, “He was my hero.”  I didn’t understand that statement but now that I have a grown son I totally agree with the sentiment.  You are my hero and I am pleased with the young man that you have become.

Strength and Honor,
Love,
Your Father 


Dear Lillian:

I cannot believe that it is already your senior retreat.  Time goes by so fast.  It seems like just yesterday that we took you to Twinbrook for day care.  You refused to wear anything but a pretty dress to school, even when it was freezing in the dead of winter, because you loved to twirl around and watch your dress float up.  Also, to accessorize, you always wore your flat-bottomed black shoes because of the “clip clop” sound that they made.  You were always my beautiful angel; perfect in every way.

Perfect, that is, until someone crossed you.  One time you came crying to me at the end of the day because a little boy had thrown dirt on your pretty dress.  I said, “What do you want me to do?  Go and beat him up?”  You replied with, “No!  I want you to shoot him with your gun.”  (This is funny because the only gun that I ever owned wasn’t real.  It was a replica from the Civil War and I used when I was a re-enactor).  On another occasion, I was on my way to work but you wanted me to play on your Pogo Stick.  When I said that I could do it because I would get all sweaty before work, you called me a “big sissy.”  (It was funny because it was so out of character for you)

I always knew that you were special but it was nice to have my opinion confirmed by others.  For example, I was so proud to watch you win the “Eagle Award” at Holy Trinity.  Also, there was the time that Mr. Collard said “my best little girl is up front” when he made you the line leader.  You have always been a great kid but it was gratifying to hear others say nice things about you.

In closing, I would like to paraphrase “The Grapes of Wrath.”  My apologies to John Steinbeck.

When you finish high school and move out of the house, I’ll be there.

When you go to college and need help with starting your career, I’ll be there.
   

I’ll be there when you get married and you need for me to give you away.

I’ll be there when you have children of your own and need a babysitter.  You know that I will
           always be ready to help.

And when you’ve married the man of your dreams and live in the house that you have bought, why I will be there, too.

I love you, Button!
Have a great retreat!
Dad



Dear Virginia:

I cannot believe that it is already your senior retreat.  It seem like just yesterday that I was picking you up from Holy Trinity’s after school care.  You were always running and playing but when you saw me you would yell “Daddy” and then jump up into my arms.  That was the gift that God has given you in that you were always in a good mood and you were always running and playing.  The only time that you stopped moving was when you were sleeping.

Virginia, you are our most emotional child in that you always wore your heart on your sleeve.  Do you remember crying out of happiness when you read your first sentence?  Or when you cried out of frustration when the birds kept flying away when all that you wanted to do was to pat them on the head.  And then there was the time when you cried out of sadness when we read “Of Mice and Men” and George had to shoot Lenny.  You cried out of fear when you saw the first born sons being killed in the mini-series, “Jesus of Nazareth.”  I love how passionate you are.

You have always had a positive mental attitude and a lust for life: eager to please and a ready smile on your face.  Virginia, I am sure that you are going to be happy no matter where life takes you.  My only advise to you, as you finish high school and move on to college, is to open yourself up to Christ.  Let him into your life and he will give you meaning and purpose.

In closing, it is my personal belief that heaven will be a loop of our favorite memories all strung together and played over and over again.  We have had memories that we can share in eternity.  Memories like dancing to “Fly Me to the Moon” in Cancun.  Or when we wrapped you up in a towel after you had taken a bath when you were a baby to make a “Virginia Burrito!”  Memories like playing with our dog, Laika, and then posting silly pictures of you two on Facebook.

Once I had to leave to go out of town and I asked you if you would miss me.  You said, “Of course I’ll miss you!  We are buddies!”  That statement meant the world to me.  You have always been a good daughter, and a good friend, and I am proud of the young woman that you have become.

I love you, Punkin.
Daddy

San Diego Comic Con

 Grant and I decided to go to one last comic con.  We have been doing the cons for almost ten years and have tired of them but, before we declared ourselves done, we decided to go out big.  The San Diego Comic Con is the original con and it draws about 130,000 fans.  Also, the writers strike came on the heels of COVID so this felt like the first time in five years that San Diego had a real con.  And because this was our last con, I spared no expense to attend it.  The tickets alone cost over $2,000 and then I had to pay for the flights, hotels, Ubers, and meals.  It cost a lot of money but the payoff was to see my son in his element where he was happy and truly excited to attend the meetings and tour the exposition.

Thursday: I picked up Grant at 4:30 am and we were at the airport 15 minutes later.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:00 but was delayed for six hours because o a maintenance issue and a part had to be flown in from Charlotte.  Of course, we missed our connecting flight and had to wait an additional five hours in the Dallas airport for the next available flight.  After almost 21 hours of travel, we arrived at the hotel at 10:00 pm (1:00 am eastern time), and we had lost a whole day at the comic con as we were originally supposed to land in San Diego at 11:30 am.

Friday:  We were supposed to see a panel on “The Boys” but missed it because I didn’t think that anyone would line up before 9:00for a panel that started at 10:00.  I was wrong and we arrived too late to get in to see the show.  I remained humble for the rest of the con and went where ever Grant wanted to go, when he wanted to go.  We saw Bill Amend who draws the “Fox Trot” cartoon.  He was nervous at first but lightened up as he told the story of how went from earning a degree in physics to becoming a cartoonist.  The second major panel that we saw was about “Like a Dragon” where the star was flown in from Japan and who didn’t speak any English.  He had an interpreter and sat in rapt attention when they played the trailer from his show.  Finally, the star took a selfie in front of the audience, and that reminded us that appearing at a comic con is as important to the star as it is to the audience.

Saturday: I started a routine of getting up at 4:30 to be in the gym by 5:00.  After lifting weights for an hour, I would sit in the breakfast room and wait for Grant.  We would leave the hotel at about 8:00 to get to the convention center in time to get in line for the 10:00 panel.  Saturday started with the stars of “Ghosts” and then we saw Matt Groenig, the creator of “The Simpson” and “Futurama.”  Up next was a panel on “Batman: The Caped Crusader” where all of the voice actors from the television show made an appearance.  Finally, we saw the artist who created the prosthetics for the many iterations of the “Star Trek” franchise.  This last panel was so good because the artist was so excited about his craft and so happy to show off his work.  I loved his enthusiasm.

Sunday:  Our first panel was about how Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were the co-creators of Spider-Man, Ironman, and Dr. Strange.  They were as important as Stan Lee but were not so good at self-promotion so he got the lions’ share of the credit.  The next two panels the the voice actors and the musicians from “X-Men ‘97,” the “Star Wars” cartoon series, and “Arcane.”  There was a nice moment when one of the musicians broke down and cried as he talked about composing a song for a scene where a daughter was forced to leave her father.  The musician wept as he recalled how he had his own newborn daughter in his lap as he wrote the score for the scene.  She was perfect in her innocence and goodness, and he cried in the knowledge that this little bundle of joy would some day leave him.  I teared up as he wept while telling his story because I was thinking about how my own two daughters have left me to live in Texas.

Monday:  The convention was over but we had the morning to tour San Diego as I had booked an afternoon flight.  We did the “Hop On Hop Off” trolley and got off at the Hotel Del Coronado and the Japanese Garden.  Finally, we arrived at the airport at 12:30 for our 2:30 flight.  But when our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, we missed our connecting flight in Dallas by five minutes.  The airline put us up at a hotel and after sleeping for less than four hours, we went back to the airport for our 6:30 am flight.  I was so tired that I laid down on a table in the terminal and slept for an hour.  Usually I am all about decorum but I had no more gas in the tank.

This was a hard trip; not as hard as S.E. Asia but very difficult in its own right.  Once again, I had to ask myself, as I was trying to get some sleep while laying on an airport table, why on earth do I do this to myself?  The simple answer is that I do it for Grant because he enjoys these conventions so much.  And I could not have been prouder of him for the way that he carried himself.  He could have pitched a fit when we missed the panel on “The Boys” or cracked under the pressure of the ordeal of flying home, but he didn’t, while I lost my temper twice.  What made the trip worthwhile was to hear Grant describing the comic con to Tracey when we were at lunch yesterday.  He was happy and animated and excited to share our trip with her.  It was our last con together and, even with all of the problems that we encountered, I am still glad that we did it so that we could go out big.

Non Sequitar
1. For our last meal in San Diego we went to “The Old Spaghetti Factory” where an old woman in a wheelchair asked to sit outside.  The hostess tried to explain that the outside tables could only hold four people but, even though she had a party of five that included a wheelchair, the lady insisted.  It is people like that who must drive the staff crazy because they have set themselves up for failure and certainly will complain throughout the meal about being crowded.
2. When informed that we could not get on the plane for our return trip to Louisville, the lady behind us let out a cry and then began to sob uncontrollably.  She did it again when told that there were no more flights out that evening and that we would have to spend the night at a hotel.  A wheelchair was called for her and she collapsed dramatically into it.  Later on, she clung to Grant and me so that we could help her find her way to the bus, hotel, and the airport for the following day.  Clearly, she was not used to traveling by herself.
3. I like to chat up the Uber drivers in the hope that I can learn something from them.  We had drivers from Baghdad, Lebanon, and Mexico.  Harold was a candle and scent salesman while Van tried to convince us that the FBI was in on the plot to assassinate President Trump.  We didn’t try to argue with Van but let him rant for the whole trip to the airport.   
4. I became over-stimulated at the exposition.  It was over-crowded and the noise from the booths and the lights from displays were getting to me so I sat down in the common area just to calm down and read for awhile and Grant went shopping.  You have to pace yourself when you go to the comic conventions.