Dateline: Venice, December 29, 2005

We rode a night train from Munich with real berths and all that. Departed at 11:30 p.m. and arrived Venice at 7:40 a.m. Right on time, Ananda. Kathy was thrilled to fulfill a life long dream of spending the night in a sleeper on a train. Lauren also thought it was quite an adventure. We were served pastries and cappucino at 7 a.m. and then walked out of the train station to find the Grand Canal and catch a boat to our hotel. We have just come from the Doge's Palace. Very impressive. Took the tour, walked over the Bridge of Sighs into Prison. Started the day with a gondola ride since it was sunny and not real cold. Maximilian was our gondolier and we had a good time. We wandered all over through the maze of small streets, alleys, passageways, small courtyards, over canals on small footbridges, etc. Doing lots of walking. I had not realized really what Venice was like in geographic terms, but it is a bunch of islands laced together with bridges and there are no cars. To get to it there is a road and train causeway from the mainland which is a mile or more distant. We have a nice room in a quiet neighborhood, Sant Elena. We can walk there or we can catch a vaporetto, public transit boats, and ride for a few stops. Highly recommend this place as as destination. Everything pricey, but it is a unique destination. Tomorrow we go into San Marco's church or on a boat ride to Murano Island, the source of beautiful glass. I am sending this from an internet point business in a small alleyway that we found by wandering. Lauren is sitting next to me sending email to her friends. We take a day train back to Munich on Saturday so we can see the countryside. So far, we've had the best holiday we could expect under the circumstances, and find our appetite for travel only whetted by this trip. Best wishes for 2006 to all.

Dateline: Christmas Eve in Munich

It is 5 p.m. here and getting dark. I am in Lauren's room while she and Mom are in another building do preparation for dinner tomorrow. We have been having a very good week in Munich on our first trip to Europe. It has been wonderful to spend time with Lauren and meet her friends, see where she lives, and get a sense of the challenge and adventure it must be for her to make her way in a different language and society. Weather has been cold and snowing or raining most of the time. We have quickly learned to dress in layers, and the high importance of a good "schal", German for scarf. It is a central item of dress and style. Tonight Lauren will spend at our room so our family will have Christmas together tomorrow morning. We have presents and a small tree. It will not be the same without our son, but it will be good to be with our daughter. Love your children, people, and have a little love in your heart. Merry Christmas to all. I wish I could be like Jimmy Stewart and get a "do over" for Christmas so I could run down the street shouting for joy. That is not to be, but I will treasure this Christmas in Munich with Lauren and remember it for its pleasures and happiness.

Medical Insurance

I'm on the telephone with a customer service rep at Premera Blue Cross. Two of my EOB forms (Explanation of Benefits) seem to have been calculated by a monkey banging on a graphing calculator. Steven is researching. The usual double talk. Bottom line is I'm confused...as usual. I wonder how many hours a day are lost in the American economy with people trying to straighten out these matters? Yesterday is not too soon for national health insurance. It was Harry Truman's idea in 1948.

Balls On The Wall

Lance Armstrong was in Seattle this morning at a prostate cancer survivor's benefit breakfast hosted by Steve Fleischmann. The event was well attended and jammed the grand ballroom at the Seattle Sheraton. Steve Raible was the host, Steve Fleischmann made some touching remarks about his personal bout with cancer, and Lance was very effective in his new role of championing increased funding for cancer research. I sat at a table with people I had not met, and didn't know when I left, but all had a good time. It was too expensive for me, but I know Steve so I impulsively decided to attend.....particularly since Lance has turned me into such a fan of the Tour De France. Lots of women in the audience, and Lance paid respect to women being honest about breast cancer as paving the road for men to talk openly about testicular or prostrate cancer.

Ed Sullivan Time

You're too young to understand.

Weekend synopsis: clean house, go to motorcycle show at Qwest Field event center, go to Snappy Dragon for chinese food with Ginger and Sheila, repair towel rack in bath, fall asleep watching DVD, cook bacon, read Sunday paper, go to R.E.I. and buy stuff for trip to Munich, meet the girls at Westlake, eat Mexican at Pacific Place, watch the artificial snow fall in the atrium, say good bye to Sheila going back to Cable, WI, go home, blog.

Bought black jogging pants and wearing them now. Pumped about jogging around neighborhood tomorrow morning. We'll see.

My pal Spright, the gray/black/white cat, is zoning out next to me in the swivel chair for the computer. I didn't have the heart to push him aside.

We had a fairly pleasant time at REI and downtown, but on the way home, just K and I in the car, we both were a bit blue about the holidays and no Seth. When the artificial snow fell in the atrium there were a lot of excited youngsters, preteens, etc. and it is hard to see them happy and hard to feel guilty about resenting their happiness and that of their parents.