April has been an active month with three totally different journeys, all interesting in different ways.
We started with San Francisco to celebrate a friend’s birthday, do some hiking and hopefully visit Yosemite National Park. The journey, unfortunately, started with a severe delay. Luckily the weather in Zürich was, and we had plenty of time to check out the beautiful city by the lake. This amazingly clear day we could even see the Alps at a distance. However, when we arrived in San Francisco 22 hours too late, our friends had long ago left the airport with our rental car. Well, we got the opportunity to try the Sonoma Airporter (bus).
Finally there, we had nine great days. We visited wine yards, went hiking, saw Beach Blanket Babylon (a fantastic show that is closing down after 40 years), went by boat to San Francisco city, and stayed a couple of days at an Oscar winner’s house. Our friend Lorne Petersen let us sleep next to his Oscar. Quite an experience! Moreover, now we can imagine how it must have felt for him, and all other winners when they got the heavy statue in their hands. As that was not enough, we had several great dinners, went to an open stage event at a restaurant, and a rock concert with Low Cut Connie. The finale was the birthday party with great food and plenty of entertainment. After all, our friends are in the entertainment business. Also, we have to go back there again. It was too cold and rainy for Yosemite.
We had barely set foot at home before we headed towards our country house. To make this trip a little more exciting, my husband went out and bought a car two hours before we headed off. If you don’t have enough excitement in your life, you might have a partner that adds some.
We had a week with all the sun we did not get in SF, where it for some strange reason was cold and rainy. We played golf, took long walks in the forest, my daughter took several swims in the clear and freezing lakes, we invited old relatives for dinner and Easter cake, and sat on the veranda by the lake and enjoyed silence. An active and at the same time a relaxing week.
After a couple of days at home, it was time to head south again — this time for a weekend at a Mauritzberg Castle with friends. We slept in a beautifully decorated room with a ghost (at least the staff said so) and a fantastic view. On top of that, we had superb dinners, a perfect golf course, made 13 incredible new friends and took part in a murder mystery. The actors brought us and all the others around the whole castle, even to the attic and to our room. They gave us many clues, and laid out just as many smoke screens, while they played the murder mystery. During dinner, we tried to figure out who the murderer was. I had the right motive, but the wrong killer. A castle worth revisiting!
After a fantastic journey to Malaysia and Borneo, I, unfortunately, got pneumonia and histoplasmosis (some of my friends say a live a risky life) and did not do much for two months. April made up for that lousy period! So now I plan my next adventures while I procrastinate my writing. Should I go hiking? Alternatively, take a trip to India? Or try to travel by bus and train? So many options. I am not too fond of shopping – except when it comes to travel equipment. There are always things I realize I need. Today I have spent hours checking weight and lumen on headlights, weight on sleeping mats, and foldable walking sticks. Nerdy!
Please contact me if you are just as nerdy, have questions, or maybe some comments!