Blog- June – July 2017

Wed June 7

I arrived safely in SD on Monday. It was a nice United flight in which 2 flight attendants remembered me from previous flights! Weather here is typical for what they call June Gloom. I am staying, for the 1st time, at a time-share in the downtown district of Gaslamp. Yesterday I passed my drivers licence test. This was a written test (using a computer screen) & now my Calif Drivers License is renewed for another 5 years. Today I am catching the train to LA. I will meet up with my dear friend, Fr Stephen, for lunch. Tomorrow & Friday will be meals with various parishioners. Saturday I have business to attend to & on Sunday I fly to Berlin.

Thurs 15

My flights to Berlin were good & on time – however I got hardly any sleep. As a result I was very tired during my 2 days in Berlin. When I checked in I was told that I had been chosen as “Member of the day” & had been upgraded to a wonderful 3 room corner suite. Fantastic view! I woke very early on Tues & Wed, & this enabled me to take stunning pics of the sunrise at 5.30 am on Tuesday & 4.30 am Wednesday.
View Tuesday 5.30 am

View 4.30 am Wednesday

Wednesday I caught the train to Cologne. Thursday was the Fronleichnam holiday (Corpus Christi) & I had planned to be here for the Mass & Procession. This the 3rd time I have been in Germany for Corpus Christi, the previous being Frankfurt last year & Munich in 2011. This was the biggest & best!

The outdoor Pontifical Mass in front of the Dom was good, with a choir of 80 providing good music. After Mass the Procession of the Sacrament wound its way thru the old city. Various groups in their traditional costumes, as well as a large number of bishops, clergy & servers made it very colourful. Returning to the Dom for Benediction, it was a packed house (1,000+). It began with the choir singing one of my favourite modern hymns (in English) “Be still for the Presence of the Lord”. This was a nice surprise as I enjoyed singing the German hymns. The whole event lasted 3 hours. As a result, I missed the traditional procession of boats along the Rhine. Afterwards I went to a 250 year old inn & had bratwurst & beer 🙂

I catch the train to Munich tomorrow & will be there 2 nights – enough time to go to the laundromat!

Thurs 22

2 relaxing days in Munich concluded with yet another Corpus Christi Mass & procession at St Peter’s church. A beautiful Latin Mass with great music & a colourful procession. Great to see people in Bavarian clothing.

On Sunday a/noon I caught the train to Dusseldorf – my 3rd visit there. Whilst there I caught the train to Schalksmuhle, a small village an hour away. This was a trip down memory lane – in 1974, when I travelled around Europe for 2.5 months with my best friend, Waine, we stayed in this village & spent a happy evening in the local inn. The friendly proprietor shouted us dinner & in return he asked me to send him a post-card from Australia, with lots of stamps on it.

I asked my father to do this & last year found the note that I had sent him all those years ago, with the inn’s address. So I decided to go there on this trip. It was interesting to return. The inn has been replaced by a small hotel called Verdi. As I walked around the village I wondered why we stopped here all those years ago………probably because it was late & there was a welcoming inn!

 

Yesterday I caught the train to Frankfurt. I now have a relaxing few days before the next stage of this trip – Italy & Romania.

Thurs 29

On Wednesday I flew to Milan. I explored this city 2 years ago & this was just a stopover on my way to Genoa. The Hilton welcomed me back by upgrading me to a suite almost as big as my St K unit! Today I checked out where the local laundromat is (Saty is washing day). I then went to Mass at the stunning Duomo. Being the Feast of SS Peter & Paul, I was expecting a Mass at the high altar with music, incense & a cast of thousands – but instead got a Low Mass said by an old priest whom I could neither hear nor understand. Not that my Italian is any good! At 3.10 pm I caught the train to Genoa.

Sat July 1

There is a narrow gauge train from Genoa, thru the hills to Casella. First planned in 1915, WW1 interfered & it was not built until 1921. 2 years ago, when I was here for a month as the Anglican priest at the Church of the Holy Ghost, the railway was not working. Last year it was re-opened & so I decided that I would return. It was nice to be back in a city I was familiar with & yesterday I walked the 40 mins from my hotel to the station. Unfortunately a rock fall meant the train only went 1/2 way. The 30 min ride was fascinating, with wonderful views & quaint little stations. It was the reason I came to Genoa & another nice travel experience.

Today I catch the train back to Milan.

Tues 4

I had a wonderful Sunday afternoon with a 2nd cousin, Tricia, who lives near Lake Como. Her daughter, Zilla, with husband, Kurt, live nearby on Lake Maggiore. I met Zilla in 1989 & visited her in Milan in 1991 (on my way to Transylvania). They all came to visit me 2 years ago in Genoa. So it is my turn to visit them.

I caught the train from Milan to Sesto Calende, was met there by Tricia & we drove to Zilla’s. After lots of chat we went out on the lake in their boat. It was a perfect day (apart from me getting pink knees!).

 

On Monday I flew to Bucharest, arriving there at 8.30 pm due to a weather delay…….3 hours on Frankfurt airport tarmac. In the US Lufthansa would be fined. My hotel is the Athenee Palace – an historic hotel noted as a meeting place for spies & journalists in the old days!

Tuesday I explored Bucharest. I visited it briefly once before in 2001. After walking to the main station & booking trains with my 4 day Eurail pass I then walked around the city. Wonderful buildings everywhere, some already restored, many waiting to be. The pics I took do not do justice to this city, called the Paris of the East. I managed a tour of the Atheneum concert hall – a marvellous building reflecting the grandeur of 19th cent Bucharest.

In the evening I was joined for drinks on the hotel balcony by Razvan. I met Razvan when I was touring Transylvania in 1991. He was a university student who lived in Sibiu. We chatted on the train to Sibiu & he insisted on my staying with his family instead of the communist-era hotel. They were wonderful hosts & I learnt so much about Romania from him. We continued in contact & I visited Sibiu again in 1992 & Razvan in Bucharest in 2001. After 16 years it was great to see him again.

Thurs 6

Yesterday I was up early to catch the 6 am train to Sighisoara. This is in the heart of Transylvania – one of the famous 7 fortified Saxon towns. It is also the birth-place of Vlad Tepes (Dracula) & was one of my destinations in 1991. I remember catching the train there on a cold, gloomy afternoon & being so excited to see this walled town on a hill. I am sure I was the 1st Aussie to visit there since the revolution. I promised myself to return & I finally did, 26 years later!

I arrived at midday, checked into my hotel & immediately explored the old town. It is wonderful. I climbed the covered steps to the 15th cent church on the hill, as I did in 1991. Back then I knocked on the caretaker’s door & asked him in German to open it for me. We had a fascinating conversation in German – one of many wonderful experiences I remember from that trip to Transylvania.

This morning I wandered around the town, just enjoying being here. It has changed since 1991 – no longer a communist-era backwater (apart from the railway station & bus depot!). Lots of pensions, cafes, restaurants & shops – but it still remains a quiet town with the most wonderful old buildings.

Saty 8

Yesterday I caught the train to Sibiu. This was a long journey. Not only are the trains old & slow, but there is major construction work with a new main line & tunnel being built. This is good & long overdue. But stations resemble work zones & a single line operates thru most of Transylvania. So the regional trains stop at stations for 20 mins to allow the major ones to connect & pass. It took 3 hours both ways. However we passed thru rolling hills, green fields, iconic villages & little stops which were colourful.

I had a lovely a/noon in Sibiu. It was my Transylvanian base in 1991 & 92, but 25 years later I had to rediscover it. The old town has undergone a transformation. The main square & its buildings have been been restored. There are cafes & restaurants aplenty, all full of patrons. In the surrounding streets renovations are ongoing, with crowds thronging so many new shops, bars, hotels & pensions. 25 years ago it was a quiet town with no tourists (except me). It was always the cultural centre of Transylvania & is a remarkable mediaeval city.

Tues 11

I had a relaxing w/e in Sighisoara, which included Sunday Mass in Romanian, listening to Port Adel win in Perth & a long walk thru the beautiful countryside. On Monday I caught the train back to Bucharest & that evening visited Razvan at his lovely apartment for supper.

On Tuesday I went to Sinaia, a 90 min train ride from Bucharest. This is the home of Castle Peles, the 19th cent palace built for King Carol I – the 1st king of the reunited Kingdom of Romania. He was a Hohenzollern, so the castle is a wonderful example of German Romantic & Rennaisance architecture, & rooms have different themes.

The castle is at the top of a hill – a 45 min walk past nice homes. 1/2 way up is a monastery built by a Wallachian prince after a pilgrimage to Mt Sinai – hence the name of the town. At the castle there was a long line of tourists waiting for the English tour, but the Romanians went straight in. So I tagged on the end of them & just did my own tour 🙂

Fri 14

On Wed I flew to London. It was nice to be welcomed back to the hotel I now regard as home. On Thursday I had lunch with Phyl, my work-mate in 1974/75. It has become a custom when I visit London that we meet out the front of our old office & go for lunch nearby.

At 6.30 pm I attended Solemn Evensong at Holy Redeemer, Clerkenwell. This was the Eve of their Festival – last year I attended the Mass on July 14. Holy Redeemer is one of the London churches that I like to attend since I no longer stay at St Mary’s, Bourne St. Afterwards there was an excellent talk about the founder & 1st Vicar, Fr Eyre.

At 11.30 am today I caught the train to Norwich. This blog is being updated on the train – the joys of 1st class, along with free juice & crisps! From the station I catch the bus to Walsingham, arriving there at 3.45 pm. I will have 10 days in Walsingham & look forward to being back & seeing old friends. The main purpose is to attend the Sisters festival on Thursday 20th.

Thurs 20

I have had a lovely week here in Walsingham. Weather has been warm to hot – so shorts weather except when I am involved in Services. The staff have been pleased to see me back & I have enjoyed meeting new pilgrims. By coincidence Fr Stephen Gallagher was here for the w/e. He was the assistant administrator during the 5 years that I have been assisting here every October & we became good friends. On Sunday he celebrated Mass at the parish church & I assisted him. It was like old times!

On Tuesday I visited East Barsham Manor with my friend, Jo. This is an amazing Tudor mansion built in the 1520’s, 2 miles from Walsingham. Henry VIII stayed there on his way to Walsingham. In recent years it was owned by the manager of the Bee Gees & they stayed there. In all my years of visiting Walsingham it has never been open to visitors & a hugh fence kept people from looking in. However, the eccentric owner now allows visitors – so Jo & I went. The property is amazing – but in great need of repair & the rooms a real mess.

Today was the Patronal Festival at the Priory. Bp Peter Wheatley celebrated the Mass & I assisted at the altar. We first met when I lived in London in 1974 & now enjoy seeing each other every July at Walsingham.

Tues 25

Friday morning I said Mass in the Holy House for all my special intentions. The w/e was a bit wet – but I was spoilt, as 4 priests who are friends came on pilgrimage with their parish groups. It was good to see them all again & I joined in with their Masses as best I could.

On Monday I said goodbye to all the staff & caught the train from Norwich to London. Just a brief overnight stay. Today I fly to Berlin & on Thursday I return to the US.

Wed Aug 1

After 5 nice days in SD & SF I am now at LAX, waiting for my flight to Melb. I have had a wonderful 2 months of travels & am now looking forward to getting home.