Through the heart of Europe

The house in Maaseik seems empty now that our granddaughter Kate has gone back to school. To say we enjoyed her visit would be an understatement. She is a very bright, cute and loving person. She made us laugh often. Every evening after dinner she would read the latest chapter from a book she is writing. She is an excellent writer ... listening to her makes me want to burn my stuff.

We drove from Maaseik Belgium to Wiesbaden Germany via the Rhine river valley on our way to take Kate to her school in Schladming Austria. Our friend, Bill Savage, who knows Europe well, recommended the drive along the Rhine ... and what a drive it is! In a forty mile stretch there are more than a dozen Teutonic castles, some built over a thousand years ago. We toured 4 of these incredible structures, one of which was one of the largest castles ever built ... although partially in ruins now, one can only imagine what grandeur it must have projected when in full array. Here are some photos.

Most of these castles were built

Lots of walking!

 to control trade along the Rhine which

 was the main commercial route through

 much of Europe. The river is still extremely

 busy. Watching the luxury tour boats Jill

 and I decided that a multi-day journey

 up the Rhine is now high on our bucket list.

They painted the outer wall to prevent decay

Rheinfels Castle one of the largest ever built - now mostly ruins.

Think about storming this place!

Rhine canal boat and barge

Kids think they have it tough today!

Magnificent Salzburg Fortress

Finally a sunny day. View from lunch at the fortress

Sorry couldn't resist

Bits and pieces...

Goring-Gore ... A new study from Canada, based on aerial surveys along the western shore of the Hudson Bay -- a region considered a bellwether for bear numbers in the Arctic generally -- found that the polar bear population was 66 percent higher than expected. Drikus Gissing, director of wildlife management for the Nunavut region, told the Globe and Mail, "the bear population is not in crisis as people believed. There is no doom and gloom." Oh, and the scientist for the Department of the Interior whose 2004 work on drowning polar bears inspired Al Gore and others has been placed on administrative leave for unspecified wrongdoing.

On the other side of the globe, a new survey using satellite technology has found that there are twice as many emperor penguins in Antarctica as previously thought. Science Daily reports, "Using a technique known as pan-sharpening to increase the resolution of the satellite imagery, the science teams were able to differentiate between birds, ice, shadow and penguin poo or guano. They then used ground counts and aerial photography to calibrate the analysis." The results: 595,000 birds dressed in black tie, almost double the previous estimates.

Quote of the week ...

"Apparently, I'm supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with his money than what Barack Obama does with mine".

and ....

 To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine ... and those who don't and are always seen with a bottle of water in their hand.

As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom,

In beer there is freedom,

In water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:

Water = Poop,

Wine = Health

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of crap..

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information:  I'm doing it as a public service

finally....
If you only watch one YouTube video in your life watch this one. It is truly awesome
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=fKyljukBE70
Be bold ... take a minute to watch this ... you will be glad you did.