Our Favorite Beaches of the World

Crete: Elanfonisi Beach - one of the nicest in Greece and amazing place to spend a day or two. They call it the Cretan Caribbean with pink sand and incredibly blue-green water.
Tangalooma Island off the coast of Brisbane Australia.
Morrea Tahiti the most beautiful beaches we found but the most expensive.

Yasawa Islands Fiji amazing Islands off the main Island of Fiji only accessible by boat or float plane.

Boracay, Philippines. All through the Philippine Islands you can find some amazing beaches and still reasonable prices.
Goa, India these beaches go on for ever and the water was the warmest we have ever experienced.
Fethiye Turkey, the beach is rocky but beautiful.
Phi Phi Islands Thailand these islands were the hardest hit during the Tsunami.

Montreal

Can't describe how wonderful it is to be with family, Jon, Cara and Jazzy.
Trying the bungee jump was a huge success.
Doing a little baking with Grandma is a tasty treat.
This water baby thinks the beach is the best. I think it is because her mother grew up on the Penticton beaches
Saturday evening in Montreal is the Fireworks Competition in Old Port.

Canada , AYE !

Back on home ground, we are very happy to be in Canada.

Landing in Montreal, it is all about Princess Jasmine ; our 3 year old Granddaughter.
We started our visit in Mount Tremblant for a wonderful long weekend in a huge condo.
Across the road was the swimming pool and the hot tub. Jazzy loved the slide as Grandpa Ralph cheers her on.
The gondola ride in the village. It reminds us of Whistler in B.C.

Aberdeen and Area

The beach area in Aberdeen is gorgeous but water temperature only for "toes". Loved the walks !

The Waterside Mill is the home of Patrick and Hilda; more new friends. The property was an old grist mill.
Now look at it !! The rushing river is in front of the house.We loved our stay.
Back in Glasgow we got to visit the famous Pollack House and Gardens. These heritage sights are worth the stop.

The Scottish Thistle. We say Good-bye to Scotland.

Scotland

Lock Lomond - North of Glasgow a great place to spend an afternoon. Our weather is cloudy, sunny, & rain. Welcome to Scotland.

Visiting the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, we were treated to an Organ recital.

Outside the museum, Lauren shows off her new violin which Grandma has just purchased. The lessons commence next month.
Across the road is the Transportation Museum with the oldest known bicycle. Most of the museums are "hands on" and so much fun for kids.

The Edward Munch Prints were in the Huntterian Art Gallery at the Glasgow University. The Scream,1895 is the most popular although Lauren didn't fancy it.

A trip to Aberdeen via St. Andrew's Golf Course was wonderful. Scotland's countryside is so lush and the heather was starting to bloom. A wee visit to Aunt Hilda's castle with Lauren ( Castle Fraser) was a great start to the day as we headed into Aberdeen to spend a gorgeous day at the seaside.

Our Granddaughter in Scotland

We arrive in Glasgow to spend time with Lauren, our Granddaughter ; her Mother Allison & Grandmother Joan
It is an exciting time as we explore Glasgow.
Greenbank gardens a National trust site is a great way to spend an evening wandering around.
A stop at our store "Ralph Lauren ".
A trip to Ayr to see Robby Burn's cottage.

Jan' s wish comes about as Allison's friend Ian drops by for a surprise visit. No Scotish mist or bridge but the piper is a hit!!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Austian apple strudel too good to pass up.
Salzburger Nockerlin a tasty souffle made with cranberries.
Now you have to admit that this is pretty cute!!! I still don't think my boys would approve of me buying a smart car. Hello Kitty is popular is almost every country (24) that we visited.
Salzburg had so many "Musical"spots that we enjoyed.
A complete store was full of eggs decorated for every occasion! This was one of 6 store front windows.
YUMMY soft and warm pretzels were served with lots of salt.
A bee or a hummingbird? Now that is a question. Sitting having cappuccinos, we watched for a long time.
The hills are full of mountain wild flowers.
This is a close to an Edelweiss as we could find. It isn't one but it is a reminder.

The Train Ride

On the return trip home from the Grossglockner National Park, we load the car onto the train at Mallinitz- Obervellach

The vehicles are driven onto the open train cars.
Ralph, our official driver, leaves the car behind to join the rest of the group.
Here we board a gorgeous passenger car and ride for 15 mins. a tunnel for 7 Km.

At Bockstein we drive off the train and away we head down the road to Sankt Johann.

Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse

We left early in the morning with our new friends from Wisconsin Don & Jan. We had a few stops along the way to take some pictures of the countryside and the homes with the flower window boxes.
The lakes and waterfalls were beautiful.
These Alps are the highest in Austria and amazing.
This lake is called Fuscher Lacke.
The glacier lake and the Glockner meadows



The peak at the left hand side is the highest in the Alps.......Grossglockner Peak..3798 m. The Kaiser - Franz - Josefs - Hohe glacier is the longest in the Eastern Alps.