Goodbye 2011 – Hello 2012!

This post is late because after being away from my computer for several weeks I tried first to catch up reading all my bloggy friends’ posts. I am almost caught up but we are already two weeks into the New Year. In France we send few Christmas cards but many New Years cards and we have to the end of the month to send them – I sent mine yesterday morning, Thursday the 12th. (Please click on pictures to enlarge them.)



It seems to me that 2011 went by very quickly. It was a year which brought joys and sorrows as each year does. We lost two very good friends, one in Ohio and the other in Florida. There were earthquakes in various parts of the world including New Zealand. The tsunami in Japan brought the terrible meltdown of the nuclear plant in Fukushima. But there were also good moments such as the touching romantic wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. In addition we applauded the selection of three women from Liberia and Yemen as recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize of 2011. They had worked hard in their countries in the pursuit of justice and human rights. Tawakkul Karman of Yemen said in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “…I certainly see the beginning of a humane, prosperous and generous history full of love and fraternity….” It is good to be optimistic.

Tawakkul Karman of Yemen with her Nobel Peace Prize (Internet photo, unknown author)

My year 2011 went well. Certainly one of the nicest events was the birth of our third grandson in July. We saw him at New Year and he is a sweet baby growing well.

We were also delighted to hear in late December that our daughter in California had found a great position in a Southeastern state and is moving closer to us very soon. She is leaving Long Beach, California and will miss it. We are pleased that we visited her twice in Long Beach in 2011. At this time last year we were preparing our first trip of 2011 – a cruise on Cunard Queen Victoria. It took us from Long Beach to Hawaii and back in 14 days. In late December 2010 I happened to open their advertizing email offering a great “two for one” cruise fare promotion which only lasted a few hours. It was valid only for the voyage starting on 30 January 2011.

Arriving in Hilo, Hawaii

I wrote a post on Hawaii starting here and two more after that, but still have many pictures for future posts. Here is a picture from Kauai below.




We stopped in Maui, Hilo, Honolulu and Kauai. The ship made a stop in Ensenada, Mexico as well – below is M.S. Queen Victoria in Ensenada.

I’ll do a recap of our 2011 trips so I won’t forget them. When we returned from Hawaii we stayed with our daughter Céline in California. In Hollywood, we visited with my bloggy friend Naomi of the blog Here in the Hills . In March we drove to Tennessee, near Nashville, where our other daughter, her husband and the two grandsons live. I published several posts on all these visits. Below is the little squirrel that comes regularly to Céline’s porch in Long Beach.



Starting in late April and for 3 ½ weeks we were in Europe. We stayed with my cousin, near Paris, and enjoyed her gourmet cooking as well as walking in her town. We liked to walk around the medieval castle, shown below, which is close to her house.



It was fun to take the TGV train (fast speeding train) to Brussels to visit with my childhood friend. I did publish several posts in June on this visit. Below is a picture of the statue near the Grand Place in Brussels which is said to bring good luck. It is also said that if you touch it, as the lady below is doing, you will come back to the city. I touched it!



After coming back to Paris for a couple of days we went on a four day-trip to Vienna, Austria. I still have to write posts on the great time we had there. Below is a picture of some of the delicious pastries offered in Vienna.




Back in Paris we stayed in a small studio in the Marais district. We were invited to attend a spectacular show given by the Garde républicaine (The Republic Guard of Paris.) It was fascinating and I took many photos (to be posted later.)




In May the weather was very warm and we spent many hours in the Paris gardens as the one pictured below.




As usual we went back to the Latin Quarter to my favorite little restaurants and bookstores.



We walked so much but also rested on benches and watched people around us – that is one of the most fun things to do in Paris. It is always entertaining to watch people and their dogs.



Since I retired in 2008 I have been spending the first three weeks of July watching the Tour de France live on TV while knitting or crocheting baby blankets. This year was a blanket for our third grandchild expected around Bastille’s Day (he came one day early on the 13th of July.)




In late August till early September we flew to Columbus, Ohio, to visit my husband’s family. I wrote a post on the superb Ohio State Library here. But I did not write yet on three other enjoying trips we made in Ohio. One was to Mansfield where we admired the brilliant floral display in the Kingwood Gardens. This is the 47-acre former estate of Ohio Brass industrialist Charles Kelly King – it is truly a very attractive garden. Below is a small area of the garden.




The main reason we went to Mansfield was to drive the “Shawshank Trail.” One of my favorites films the Shawshank Redemption was filmed there and the tourist office has printed a driving trail brochure which includes the major sights in the film.



We spent a full day at the historical Ohio State Reformatory where most of the movie was filmed. It is a fascinating place and I took many photos while there - below are just two of them.



We drove about 10 miles from Mansfield to the Malabar Farm State Park. It was the home of Ohio author Louis Bromfield (1896-1956.) He wrote 30 books – all best-sellers. Many of his books were made into movies such as Mrs. Parkington and The Rains Came. Bromfield was a friend of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. They were married on his farm – we saw their bedroom. It was a very warm day and we spent a delightful time at the farm (future post coming up.)



In late September we spent several days in New York City where we stopped at Zucotti Park and watched the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators. I am still trying to figure out some of their signs – including the one below.



We were very moved when we toured the Ground Zero Memorial and Museum – see my post here.


We also spent a week in Long Island, New York, and toured lovely gardens and historical places (posts coming up.)



October to mid-November was spent around our state of Georgia. We observed the fall colors in the North Georgia Mountains and I wrote several posts on this, but I still have more pictures for future posts such as our walks in Amicalola Falls State Park and Sweetwater Creek State Park which are shown below.



Thanksgiving was in Long Beach with our two daughters and the grandsons. We returned to Rancho Palos Verdes to see the sunset near the Wayfarers Chapel (post here.)



Back in Georgia we only had 5 days before flying to Fort Lauderdale in Florida where we stayed there for three days (future post coming up.) Below is a picture of Las Olas Boulevard, near our hotel and one of the canals.




Then we boarded the MSC Poesia in Port Everglades. We had been on a Mediterranean cruise in 2009 on the MSC, an Italian cruise line, where we stopped in Barcelona, Spain, Tunis, Tunisia, Malta, Sicily, Rome and Genoa, Italy, before returning to Marseille, France (there will be posts on this sometime.) The MSC comes to the West Indies and Caribbean in winter and had a great promotion for December 2011. We stopped in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Martinique, St. Maarten, and Nassau in the Bahamas. It was a wonderful relaxing trip and I took many pictures, of course (posts coming up…) but I caught a nasty cold on our last night in Nassau.

Click on collage to enlarge, then click on each individual picture to see better

We started and ended 2011 on the water it seems, which is where I love to be. I spent hours watching the waves and many colorful sunsets.



But now we are in 2012. Where will we go? So far only a spring trip to New York City is planned. We are also going to attend a wedding in Chicago in late July. Maybe we could go one week early and travel somewhere close to Chicago? We could rent a car and travel to Michigan? So many possibilities, so many roads inviting us….

Country Road by Peter Mork Monsted, Danish 1859-1941