What's been going on?

Besides a serious case of the f***-its.  We've been rather busy with various events in our life.

But one that matters for this blog is:  WE BOUGHT A BOAT.

Yes, yes we did.

We had been looking, and deliberating, and thinking and budgeting.  We initially talked ourselves into getting another cheaper boat, but still packed with newer amenities, so that immediately put us into the category of -- production boat with up to date electronics and systems.

And we came close to a Jeanneau 45DS that was fully loaded.

Then we decided to wander over to Annapolis, well, because, they have a few boats.  In fact, every other one of them is for sale. Maybe not, but it sure seemed like it.

So we check out a few more, started scratching certain things off our list (for me, the new Beneteaus and Jeanneaus are too stark for my liking).

Some older boats--too many things to upgrade.

Then, even though my spouse had declared NO CENTER COCKPITS. We looked at a Southerly 135, or should I say the Southerly 135, since Southerly's are scarcer than hen's teeth in the US.

And it was a lock.  We bought her.  Blew our budget all to hell.

Of course, to keep up with tradition, because we sailors must have tradition. Northshore/Southerly went belly up (finally) between offer and close. (last time when we bought the Hunter, Hunter Marine declared bankruptcy soon after).

So, we are now in the process of giving her some TLC that she needed, nothing heart stopping, just some maintenance that has been belayed by the previous two owners.  The living quarters are in impeccable condition, but some systems things we want in better shape for our liking….or maybe because the spouse likes to buy shit for his boats.

So the latest dinner time conversations is about the 'list' of maintenance and upgrades.  There's the have to do, the should do, and the wanna do.  It's funny how the things on the spouse's wanna do list got moved to the have to do column.

I will post pics soon.  We hope to move her the first week in November, we have our slip waiting for her in Key West.  Can hardly wait to put that retractable keel to use!  We can put her in 4ft water, she'll still be floating with plenty to spare and we can scrub the hull our own damn selves…or not, so says the spouse.

In the meantime, here's a glamour shot from when she was known as Thistle and
featured in a couple of sail magazines. We have a copy of the SAIL magazine from 2003.

With friends and In Bruges

Criminey, I have been so lazy with the blog lately.  After the first month of procrastination, I did have some very valid reasons, but no more excuses.

These pics are from the last leg of our trip to Europe, a shout out to the movie In Bruge which we promptly watched after visiting there.  Hilarious.

So synopis, we hung out in Dusseldorf with our friends Rich and Renee, the four of us went to Bruges for a trip (completing our let's follow the World Cup team tour) and then wound up in Cologne.

Dusseldorf, Germany

Our bar tab.  Seriously, who in the US would be able to tally that up in their heads, make
change without a POS system.  Nobody.  Learn your math people.

Low tide on the North Sea.  Unusually warm, unusually calm.
I said, I don't think this is the North Sea.

Bruges

The main square in Bruge, very very beautiful.

Bruges. (There's a reference to this cathedral in the movie)

World Cup time!

The canals at night.

Water your horses here folks.

It's like a *bleep* fairy tale--quote from In Bruges.

No longer Bruges--this is the Dom in Cologne.  Oh, so beautiful.

The locks on the bridge.  Tradition states you put you and your sweethearts
name on the lock and then throw the key into the river.
Turned out too popular, because they have to remove the locks every do so  often
before the bridge goes into the drink from all the weight.
It's also a train bridge, so that would be quite awful.

A Roman tiled floor found while excavating in Cologne.

The Dom at night.

Copenhagen, Denmark

What a beautiful city.  Home of Tivoli Gardens, the inspiration for Walt Disney's Disneyland (in case you are wondering who to blame).  Very colorful, wonderfully nice people.

Old city area.

The other side of the canal.  Mostly restaurants now, quite touristy. But pretty nonetheless.

My notes are weird, but I believe the house on the left is the former home of
Hans Christian Anderson. (or maybe the middle?)

This warship has the dubious honor of being in docked right where its at…
and a live mortar was launched on mistake during routine cleaning/inspection.
Whoops.

The Mastekranen. Built in 1748 in order to pull ship masts completely upright
before placing on ships.  A modern military ship sits in front for perspective.

Historic naval dockyards at Holmen.  They still fire a cannon when raising
the flag and lowering it. (Sunrise and sunset, respectively.)

The landing area of the Royal Yacht for when the Royal Family goes on holiday.
They were on holiday to Iceland when we arrived, so I didn't get an invite to have tea. ;-)

Our hotel.  Built in 1787.  Was originally built as a warehouse then used as the
royal granary.

Blue Cathedral.

Another cathedral. You can actually walk the walkway outside
the spire. We passed on the opportunity.
I did not feel like having a) height induced panic attack
b) puking on the lovely Danish people.

According to our tour guide. At one time when houses were built, they were
taxed according to the building footprint.  So they made them skinny and tall.

Copenhagen City hall.

Jens Olsen's World/Astronomical Clock.  Very cool.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Olsen's_World_Clock

Another pretty cathedral, part of a former military complex.

The Little Mermaid.  

Our room showing the original timbers of the building.

Vasa Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

As with everything pretty awesome there's a backstory. Here is the Cliff Notes version.  More detail can be found via The Vasa Museum

1625 (NOT a typo):  King Gustav II Adolf commissions four warships to be built. The first will be the flagship Vasa.

1627-1628:  Vasa's completion (which has been rushed).  On her initial voyage in 1628, she sails approximately 1000 meters, gets caught in a squall and sinks. Appoximately 30 of the 150 aboard perished.

Courtesy of the Vasa Museum

The big question was who was at fault.  The conclusion is the King for ordering many sculptures and cannons to be put on the ship.  The designer for building a tall heavy ship with very little ballast. The captain for not closing gun ports and redistributing weight.

Over the next 300 YEARS:  Several attempts to salvage the Vasa don't succeed, including the actual location of the sinking being lost to knowledge.

1956: The Vasa is located.  Foremast is raised.  The story goes that if not for some last minute campaigning, the Vasa would have been buried in several tons of backfill from nearby development.

1957-1959:  Salvage begins, and the story is very interesting.  Due to the cold/semi-brackish water, the ship is nearly intact, even though it is wood.  Historians and government officials alike realize that they have a time capsule on their hands.  New techniques in pumping out sediments and water and lifting the wreck are developed. Human remains are found.

1961: The Vasa resurfaces after 333 years and floats to her final resting place ON HER OWN BOTTOM.

For the next several decades, preservation of the ship and her artifacts and the building of the museum that will eventually hold her take place.  More is learned on the preservation of marine artifacts.

Here are some pictures.  They are dark.  The museum is in low light/humidity controlled.  Incredibly well done and in about 30 languages.  They manage not only reconstruct her, but get paint samples, sail samples and time capsule like artifacts.  My husband wasn't too keen on the presentation of the human remains, but I thought all in all it was well done. I saw it as these people are now living forever teaching their descendants about their lives.  However, I didn't take pictures of skeletons either.

The sterncastle of the Vasa. Over 400 hand carved wooden sculptures
were on the boat.  Solid wood. Makes her a bit top-heavy.

Modern samples of the pigments they used to paint the Vasa.
It was a bit gaudy by the look of the historians re-creations.

Model showing what they think the original Vasa was painted like.

Something that impressed me to speechlessness.
They recovered SAILS. FROM the 1620s. And were able to preserve the remains.

Several of the blocks off the rigging. They recovered line also.

Closer picture of the sterncastle. I believe 90% of the ship is it's original timber.

Upper view of the Vasa.

I can honestly say that this was one of the more impressive historical museums I have been to so far.

Super lazy, bad blogger, bad bad blogger

Okay, total commitment time tonight.  Updating the blog!

Stockholm, Sweden

This is the first of a few posts, been incredibly lazy lately.

A few weeks ago we spent 10 days in Europe, the spouse had a business trip to Sweden, so I tagged along.

Stockholm was awesome, people were incredibly nice.  Also super apologetic that they were having a cold spell (the temps were hovering around 60 degrees instead of the usual 75).  I felt sorry for them, when you only have three months of warm summery weather a year, it sucks to lose several weeks of it.

Getting into Sweden was scarily easy, no forms to fill out, just a quick question/answer and on your way.  Of course, after an overnight trip, I tend to be a little loopy, so going out to the taxi stand free for all was wow.  Evidently, there is no regulation, so it's luck of the draw, we got lucky and our taxi cost the 'normal' amount, some taxis charge 3 times the average rate.  Yikes.

We stayed at the Bern Hotel, lovely place, rooms were typical size in the European sense, but I wasn't there to hang out in the room.  Free Wifi (Hello, Marriott? get with the program!)

Below is some of the general pics, there will be a few more posts with specific things we saw.

The harbor area by our hotel.

Old City, Gamla Stans.  Full of funky shops, touristy shops
and lots of eats.

Pretty blue gateway to one of the many parks.

One of the many museums.  Building was huge, hardly anything in it. 

A LIGHT BOAT.  Totally cool.

Former King of Sweden from 1600s or so.  Big fella.

Church and the side of the castle in Gamla Stans.

Gamla Stans again, one of the plazas.

Yes, Sabrina, that is a pressure cooker banjo.
Like I said, funky cool stores.

Parliament building.

One of the super tiny allies in Old Town.
Cars will scoot down them with inches to spare.
No thank you.