I think I have died and gone to moustache heaven.  No, don’t worry.  I am still around and have not been flushed down the sink because of a razor accident.  I am very much in bloom on Alexander’s face.  I was able to see a special treat.  There is a movie called Gettysburg and if you want to see some quality moustaches then look no further.  Be sure to check this out as well as the pictures of the Gettysburg officers here.  Wow, I am tremendously humbled as well as in awe to the power these moustaches command.  You want sexy?  Oh yeah, it is there.  You want rugged?  Look no further.  Gettysburg has it all.  Where did we go wrong?  The days of powerful moustaches are gone.  Mark, we must bring back the power of the moustache.  We must think of a plan to bring back the moustache to its former glory days.  Based on my experience of travelling in Austria I think we will have allies in the Austrians.

Hugs and kisses,

Moustache

Grace is fantastic at drooling. If you look closely this drool drop happened too fast to catch it in time.

Mrs. Turkadactyl says Grace and I have something in common; we both drool a lot.

Now you have met Grace.  I am sure there will be more fantastic photos to hang up at the Roost.  Congratulations to Nathan and Michelle Waddell.  Michelle has given birth to beautiful baby girl, Pallas Waddell.  Nathan and Michelle, we look forward to meeting the new addition to your family.

There is one gift among Bill and his friends that was recycled every year.  It is a stuffed giraffe that measures the height of small children.  Every year one person would be stuck with the giraffe and no one was allowed to pillage the giraffe in the gift swap.  One year Brent was the lucky recipient to unwrap the giraffe only he did not choose to recycle the giraffe as a gift and instead held it as hostage.  Bill was able to persuade Brent’s son to smuggle the giraffe out of the house.  Bill would then borrow the giraffe to someone who was leaving on a vacation and ask that they take some photographs of the giraffe at famous landmarks.  Bill would then mail those photographs of the giraffe travelling the world.  This would bug Brent because the giraffe was travelling the globe while he was back home working for the weekend.

Now enter Snuggles.  Mrs. Turkadactyl gave me Snuggles as a travel companion.  Snuggles needed a playmate and Mrs. T was leaving for the summer to work at a fishing lodge in Northern Ontario.  I provided her with a bodyguard- Sniffles.  Now our travel bunnies seem to have taken on the personalities of their masters.  Snuggles attempts to fill the the goofy factor while Sniffles has definitely taken on the role of mischief maker.  Let us have a look at Sniffles at work.

Here we have Snuggles minding his own business and doing the tourist thing at Salzburg.

Sniffles hard at work with some diabolical plan in mind.

Sniffles, what do you have planned for that snowball?

But Sniffles, Snuggles is innocent!

Looks as though Snuggles is sensing a disturbance in the force.

That Sniffles sure does have great aim.

Some photos from our farmstay in Italy:

I thought this donkey was going to bite my head off.

I was mistaken. He was actually a friendly donkey, but not friendly to squirrels though.

One could always use another goat for the cause.

Yes, another ally!

This goat was telling what the ram was doing with the sheep. Cheeky ram.

I am confronting the ram about his indecencies. I am smelling another UFC match-up- Ram vs Turkadctyl.

 Now it is off to Venice:

Snuggles talks to the pigeons in hope that they join our cause.

I invite the pigeons over for a meal so we can discuss our alliance. They have a few questions. I do not trust that gull though. He was not invited.

Success, we have new allies!

Just kidding. I wouldn't bite my new ally.

 Next stop is the Shraptors.  I talk to their trsuty steed Monty.  He does not need too much convincing to join the battle against the squirrels.  I had him at hello.

That is all I have for now.  I hope to bring more good news of new ally additions.

As I mentioned before it has been a bit of an adjustment being back home again.  We had no internet at home for a while and I had a chance to work on all the thousands of photographs we took on our five month excursion.  I miss the style of lifestyle we had at Camas.  I grew found of the close living arrangements and the simplicity of lif.  Camas was also a great setting for creativity to thrive.  Our friends and family are spread out across the city and surrounding area.  It is rewarding to live close to those you love.  To all my friends and family in Edmonton, it is time for us to all relocate and live close to each other.

We are not too sure of where to go from here.  We had a fantastic trip.  Our timing is interesting.  We come back spending most of our life savings to make it happen.  When we left oil was trading at $147 and when we return oil is trading in the 40s, the world is in a recession and Canada’s dollar has dropped significantly in value compared to the greenback.  The trip was still worth it even though we do not have much money and the economy is suffering.  Mrs. T and I have come back with lots of fond memories, new friendships and a nagging question of what is next for us.  To all those who are reading this I recommend pushing yourself out of your comfort level.  Leave the country and commit yourself to something with a purpose.  That can be humanitarian aid, helping out at a camp, or writing a book.  Get out there.

Now it is time to look for what is next.

We will be returning to Canada soon. Tuesday in fact. We may get a chance to surf the internet in Amsterdam but just in case we do not we will see you soon (the Shraptors do not have internet access). I hope to put up a top ten list for Camas and top ten for our trip.

For our two fans (Doug, you’re in Detroit so it will be hard for you to greet us) we will be on flight AC 0157, arriving in Edmonton on December 10 at 8:18 PM MST. I look forward to seeing some moustaches. Oh yeah, here is a random fact. I think Rome is the make-out capital of the world. It seemed as though there was a couple making out at every street corner. I didn’t see any sign-up sheets.

Photo evidence of making out. Seems like a harmless photo of Mrs. Turkadactyl on the Spanish steps right? Wrong. Look at the top. Making out. That was going on all over the place. That only leads to babies kids.

The camp at Mauthausen was designated as a Camp III, or a death camp.  From it’s opening to liberation more than 200,000 people passed through Mauthausen and its satellite camps as inmates and saw over 100,000 die as result of their internment.  Inmates were worked hard to the point of exhaustion.  The main cause of exhaustion was the nearby rock quarry, whose rocks were used for the war effort.  The quarry had a 186 staircase built to ascend its 70 metre cliffs.  The stairs were known as the Stairs of Death.  Just at the top of the stairs the rock face was known as the Parachute Jump.

Prisoners would carry the rocks up the stairs where they would then be loaded onto transport.  The SS, if they wanted some amusement, would sometimes throw the rocks back to the bottom of of the quarry.  Other times the SS would push the prisoners off the Parachute Jump.  Prisoners would often work long hours in only thin clothing, even in the winter.  They had no socks and often had to wear sandals, which are not ideal for labour.  186 stairs over and over and over.  All this on roughly 1250 calories from food.  They were grossly malnourished.  Some of the prisoners were chosen for diet experiments from the SS doctors.  One such diet consisted of purely grains to see what the effects of such a diet would have on the body.

The day was cold and windy.  It matched the mood of the camp.  It was tough walking around a place that was intended for the degradation, internment and humiliation of other human beings.  Yet it is a story that has to be told and not forgotten.  There are still ovens that were used for cremations.  There is a gas chamber used to dispose of prisoners.  The toughest room to stand in was the dissection room.  Standing in the middle of the small room is the original table used by the sadistic doctors who thought what they were doing was for the benefit of mankind.

Mauthausen was primarily used to house male detainees.  There were, however, some women sent there.  The camp had a hierarchy, even among the prisoners.  The SS allowed some of the prisoners more luxuries than others.  Those prisoners with more freedom had the option of visiting the camp prostitutes, women prisoners who were forced into sex slavery.  If the woman contracted an STD she was expectantly exterminated.  If she became pregnant she was forced to have an abortion, which she most likely not to survive.

Prisoners were often required to stand outside for hours.  No sitting, just looking straight ahead at attention.  Many died to this due to weather and exhaustion.  Of course the SS would pick cold, windy, humid or rainy days, the extreme weather conditions, to practice these so called roll calls.  If it pleased them and they wanted to further humiliate the prisoners roll call was performed in the nude.

I purchased a book The Visible Part, which is a pictorial essay of Mauthausen Camp during its operation.  If you are interested in viewing it please let me know.  To visit the Mauthausen Memorial on the internet please click here.  More info can be read at wikipedia.

The outer wall and entrance to the garage yard.

The garage yard.

The garage yard from the other side.

From atop the Parachute Jump at the Mauthausen Quarry.

Quarry

The bottom of the Parachute Jump.

The Stairs of Death to the left and the Parachute Jump to the right.

The Stairs of Death

The Stairs of Death and the Parachute Jump from atop the quarry.

The front gate to the Mauthausen camp.

The Iron Chain was used to fasten the front gate when it was open. It was used to hang prisoners and suffocate them to death.

The Wailing Wall. New prisoners were ordered to stand against this wall for hours. The prisoners had no idea how long they would have to stand for.

Roll call ground with the laundry facility, kitchen barrack and camp prison buildings to the right.

Gas Chamber

The Iron Girder was used as a gallow.

Dissecting table

Crematory oven

Inside the youth barracks.

Austria is a pleasant surprise.  While I was expecting moustache’s galore in Italy; I had no expectations for Austria. The image of Mario and Luigi gave me high expectations for the Italians.  I think it is Austria of where the moustache was born.  There are moustaches everywhere here.  The young men do not seem to be as enthused as their older brethren but I think there is hope for them yet.

The moutache goes far back into Austrian history.  Alexander and I took a tour of Vienna’s Museum of War History.  It was a proud day to be a moustache.  Statues and paintings everywhere displaying Austria’s leaders proudly displaying their moustaches.  The museum is also having an effect on its workers.  As we walked past one of the curators I stared (moustaches can get away with staring, did you know that) at his wonderful handlebar moustache.  I did not feel worthy to be in the same room with a fine moustache as Handlebar.

Please look at some pictures that I enjoyed staring at a few days ago.  I will be home soon.  Mark, I hope the last five months have been generous for growing your first moustache.

Hugs and kisses,

Moustache

Mrs. Turkadactyl and I are receiving a special treat from her parents the Shraptors.  The Sound Of Music musical is playing in Toronto at the moment and we will be be seeing the production.  To get in the musical mood I have been singing while we walk around in Salzburg.  I made up a few songs at Camas and Emily noticed that they all carried the same tune so I have tried to change things up.

Salzburg is unique.  There are a lot of people who ride bicycles here.  I know, bicycles are not that unique.  What sets Salzburg apart is people do not lock their bikes up.  They park them with confidence that their bicycle will be where they left them when they return.

Mrs. Turkadactyl and I watched a funny situation yesterday.  There are horse drawn carts for tourists to take a ride around the old city of Salzburg.  Horses, like any creature, need to relive themselves.  Their road apples can be found scattered among the streets (people are paid to search the streets and scoop the horse poop).  A couple of ladies were walking their dogs and were coming up to a fresh pile of horse business.  Mrs. T stopped me and said, “Watch this.”  We watched and were not disappointed.  One of the dogs stopped, sniffed the pile and took one of the large nuggets in its mouth.  The owner had a difficult time getting her dog to release it´s new found treasure.

We had a wonderful time in Vienna.  Thank you to Ulli and Egi for their hospitality.  Mrs. T and Egi hit it off really well because they are both swing fans.  We also went out to dinner with Papa Shraptors cousin Willy and his wife Sheila.  The weather warmed up after the weekend because the bitter cold wind slowed down.

We took in a show at an orchestral hall.  Vienna is world famous for its opera and orchestra halls.  There are plenty of choices to go around.  We ended up seeing a selection of some of Brahms works by a piano and violin.  Thankfully the two instruments had two musicians to play them otherwise the show may have been a bit boring.  Although neither of us were familiar with the pieces played it was a pleasant treat to be able to see a show in Vienna.

I also took a trip to the Austrian Museum of War History.  The museum covers Austria´s military history for the last three hundred years.  My primary interest was to see the exhibits on the first and second world wars.  In D-Day by Stephen Ambrose the infantry who landed on the beaches talk about, in their oral histories, seeing the shells from the naval bombardment flying overhead and hitting the German fortifications.  One mentioned that it looked like the ships were shooting cars at the Nazis.  After seeing the size of some of those shells I can understand the comparison.  Some of the shells came up to my shoulders.  What is even more remarkable is the German fortifications withstood the blasts from the artillery fire.  Just wait until I show the pictures with the craters.  The earth was not as solid.

The disappointment in the museum was the tank exhibition was closed.  All I could do was look out the window and see all the tanks covered up.  Thankfully I was able to see some tanks up close in Rome.  Mrs. T and I walked past a military show so I wandered on in to get a close up on the tanks.  I have an ambition to drive a tank one day and if I am really lucky to fire the cannon.  One woman was in the  pilots seat and was rotating the tanks turret around and moving the cannon up and down.  I was hoping to have the same luck but the soldier did not think I was as pretty so all I could do was sit in the seat.  That was still neat.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  If any of you know someone who owns a tank and can hook me up with a ride let me know.

Perhaps my fascination with tanks comes from my grandfather´s war experience.  Although he will not talk about his time in WWII I have been able to piece together that he was part of The Desert Rats, a British armoured company.  They received a brief mention in Ambrose´s D-Day.  I have my grandfather´s war medals and company badge.  I found a replica of his company badge as well as the Desert Rats badge at the Juno Beach Centre so I bought them.  A note of interest the original Desert Rat is orange.  My replica is red.  I told the woman at the Centre and she looked the colour up and sure enough the Desert Rat is orange.  Unless the British Army also made red rats that is a big mistake the replica company made.  It is still good to have the badge even though the colour is wrong.

One thing that was a shame at Juno beach is one of the beach fortifications that has been left standing has been graffitied.  I would think that the graffiti “artist” would of had more respect and left such a building alone.

Another note about Juno beach.  I finished reading D-Day a couple of days ago.  While on the chapter of Juno beach Ambrose talked about a tank that was used to fill a hole so vehicles could drive over the tank ditches.  After placing the pillar the tank drove on ahead only to fall into an even larger hole made from a shell from the Allied navy.  It was impossible for the tank to get out so the Canadians used that tank as a pillar for two portable bridges.  It was in 1967 or 1976 that the bridges were removed and the tank was lifted out of the hole.  I was able to see that tank as it was left at Juno beach as a monument.  We have some pictures of the two of us standing by the tank.

I will write some more tomorrow.  My topic will be of my trip to Mauthausen.  It was a powerful experience.  I am thankful that I made the trip.  I ran out of time of course but that was due to the amount of time it took to travel to and from Mauthausen.  I bought a book with pictures taken during the camps operation.  A dark time in human history.  Talk to you tomorrow.

The City of Salzburg at the foot of the Alps.

This is the house used for the Von Trapp residence in The Sound Of Music.

Mrs. Turkadactyl pulling her mighty Pegasus impression at the Mirabell garden.

I couldn't forget about Snuggles now could I?

I took this photo on more of an artistic whim.

Hohensalzburg Fortress is what you see on top of the hill.

Mrs. Turkadactyl has a great eye for photography. I just saw a bush; she saw art.

My turn to be artistic again. This is a shadow of a tree reflected on Salzburg's Museum of Modern Art.

We are staying with some of Mrs. Turkadactyl’s family in Vienna.  They have the coolest toilet I have ever seen.  Be sure to ask me why when we get home.  Ulli and Egi have been wonderful hosts for us.  Egi has chef skills and made some soup for dinner tonight.  The soup was that good that I has seconds and thirds.

Vienna loves Christmas.  There are Christmas markets all over the place.  There is an advent calendar set up on City Hall.  There are lots of booths selling Christmas treats.  Vienna is known for its music.  Mozart and Strauss are two well known Viennese composers.  There are a lot of opera houses and orchestra halls located in Vienna.  Mrs. Turkadactyl and I are planing on catching a program tomorrow.  We are at a crossroads at the moment.  Mrs. T wants to go to an opera and I prefer to go listen to an orchestra.  Please be the orchestra, please be the the orchestra.

After living in Canada it is hard to grow accustomed the more liberal smoking laws.  Smoking is still permitted in cafes and restaurants.  One thing Canadians can learn from the Austrians is standing on the right side of an escalator to allow those who want to walk up a free passage to do so.  I am impressed with Austrian courtesy.

We are enjoying some of the Austrian treats.  One is hte hot dog.  These are not your regular hot dog.  A whole gets drilled out of the bun and a long dog is placed in the bun with ketchup and hot mustard.  Think Canadian smokey only bigger and better.  I have had two and I think to myself why have I had only two.  Then there are the giant pretzels and a dumpling filled with blackberry jam with a vanilla sauce and crushed poppy seeds poured over top.  That’s right, yummy.

Here are some of the random thoughts that I have remembered.  People love to make out in Rome.  I am not to sure if it is something in the water or air.  Maybe it is a bit of both.  No matter where we went couples were making out and in the manner that they thought no one could see what they were up to.  Oh they were wrong. They could be seen.  They’ll have to practice their invisibility skills a bit more.

Michelangelo sculpted a lot of nude statues.  One of the pizza’s in Rome contained a lot of Michelangelo’s work and most of them were statues in the nude.  Poor fellas.  It must be bit a bit chilly having no clothes to wear in the winter.  Some of Michelangelo’s painting created a controversy with one of the popes during Michelangelo’s time.  That’s right, Michelangelo painting some nudes and the current pope did not appreciate that.  The pope commissioned one of Michelangelo’s students to paint strategically placed robes over the sensitive areas.  Perhaps that pope was inspired by the statues in Vienna.  They are nude statues with that little piece of garment that is being held up by who knows what, covering the spot where the sun don’t shine (unless you are a member of a nude resort).

I am planning on visiting Mauthausen on Wednesday.  There was a large Nazi concentration camp.  I have had the honour of visiting the D-Day sites and I am looking forward to seeing another important part of WWII, the Jewish holocaust.  Vienna has a memorial to the Austrian Jews who were killed during WWII.  I visited the site today.  I am not sure what to expect when I visit Mauthausen.  I think it is an important thing for me to do.  The two things I want to do on this trip is visit the D-Day beaches and visit Mauthausen.

Our time in Europe is coming to a close.  We depart from Amsterdam next Tuesday.  We have on the other side of the Atlantic for a while now so it seems odd to think that we will be leaving soon.  In reference to the title I saw a t-shirt in a souvenir shop that says “There Are No Kangaroos In Austria”.  Peace out homies.

Pictures of Vienna:

Snuggles looking at the Danube, ViennaA pulpit in Stephansdom, Vienna. A lot of time must have gone into this stone pulpit. I stared at this piece of art for a long time.

In Stephansdom. I wanted to show this and the next picture for the sake of a demonstrating different focal targets.

Stephansdom

Schonbrunn Palace

Another cuddle moment with Snuggles. After this photo we watched some teenage boys from a school group throw snowballs at the birds that were sitting on the ice. It was a good laugh.

Mrs. Turkadactyl practicing for a model career.

Snuggles wanted in on the modeling shoot.

This is at Schonnbrunn Palace. A group of tourists started to take pictures of Michael (the monkey toque) and I as they were walking by. Mrs. T caught me smiling for their cameras. Michael sure did garner a lot of attention in Austria.

Statues in front of Austria's Parlament.

Christmas market with the Rathaus (city hall) in the background.

The Rauthaus was used as an advent calender. The Austrians love to celebrate Christmas.

K.K. Hofburg Theatre. Many of the buildings in Vienna can be considered art. The amount of detail that went into them were phenomenal.

A closer view of the K.K.Hofburg Theatre.

The following statues are located at Michaelerplatz, which is right by the Imperial Palace. These statues were big and there was a lot of detail that went into them.

I would be clubbing some snakes too, especially if one looked as though it was ready to attack my crotch.

In case you haven't noticed yet the statues have strategically placed leaves or garments over their crotches. They all seem to have mysteriously lost their tops though.

In case I have not mentioned it before my monkey toque was named after Ian, one of the campers at the last week at Camas.  To give you an idea of who Ian is, he is like me or Mark, Tyson, or Keith, only a lot younger.  I didn´t even have to ask him to name the toque.  He asked me of the monkey had a name and I said no.  Ian named it Michael.

Michael was a big hit in Venice.  One person asked for a picture of me and Michael.  Another took a picture while I was hanging out with my pigeon friends.  Many people stared at Michael.  I am glad Michael likes the attention.

Mrs. Turkadactyl and I were a wee bit foolish in Venice.  We had not booked accommodation for Venice beforehand.  We were about to go to the hotel reservation booth, after we stepped off the train, when we were approached by a hotel representative.  He had a 45 euro room at a one star hotel.  We checked it out.  It was a closet but we took it for one night anyways.  We were glad to have a place and be rid of our packs.  We went back to the hotel reservations and found a three star hotel for 6o euros, our own bathroom and breakfast included.  Dóh.  We have declined hotel reps in the past but for some reason we said sure to this guy.  Live and learn.

Venice is a maze.  Even with a map it is easy to get turned around.  We enjoyed some hot chocolate, which was real chocolate heated up.  Yummy.  I think civil engineers like Phil, Drew, or Ian will get a big kick out of Venice.  I have no idea as to why someone would build a city on stilts over a salt marsh.  If anyone knows why Venice was build where it was please let me know.

I buckled.  I could not leave San Gimignano without buying another animal shirt.  Again I will not reveal the shirt until I return home.  Both of my animals now have names- Jimmy and Clancy.

Now that we have left Austria I think I have eaten enough pizza for the remainder of this year and the next.  Good pizza in Italy.  Now it is time for Austrian sausages.  We are in Vienna now.  It is cold here but still warmer then Canada.

I have random events that I want to share about but I keep forgetting about them when I arrive at a computer.  When I go to bed tonight I am sure I am going to remember them.  Here is one that I do remember.  The French and Italians like to smoke, especially the French.  Here is the trade-off.  The French and Italians hardly spit in public, whereas Canadians seem to enjoy targeting the street with their spittle.  Aren´t you glad I shared that useless piece of information with you?

Grand Canal

 

Grand Canal

 

Grand Canal

 

 

Looks like Snuggles is getting fresh with Sniffles.

 

Snuggles and Sniffles in front of Palazzo Ducale.

Grand Canal

It has been a while since I have heard from you.  I hope the Paydro gang are behaving themselves.  I have just completed a trip through Italy and I want to voice my sincerest displeasure to the Italians.  You see I had big expectations.  I guess I was hoping for too much after being exposed to the most famous Italian moustaches of them all- Mario and Luigi.

Don´t get me wrong, I did see some moustaches in my travels throughout Italy.  There are some young men who deserve a Super Mario mushroom ranking for trying to salvage the Italian moustache.  There are some oldies who are trying their best to maintain an important Italian tradition.  The moustache, however, was underrepresented.  I think we have to start a cause to raise support for the Italian men to start growing moustaches again.  Will you join me in my cause?

Hugs and kisses,

Moustache

Mrs. Turkadactyl and I took a day trip from Siena to San Gimignano, which is northwest of Siena.  We loved it at San Gimignano that much that we booked lodging and we are still here.  It is a beautiful town of  9000 people.  Wine and tourism are the big industries here.  We are surrounded by vineyards.  We have gone for a walk through the countryside and have taste tested some of the grapes on our walk.  They’re how you say, ah yes, very nice.  It is a very beautiful town.  San Gimignano is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It still has its ancient city walls surrounding most of the town.  John and Kim, we took your advice and splurged a bit.

San Gimignano is also home to the 2007-08 World Gelato Champion.  This place is that good that they have won it three times in a row and are the reigning champion.  Ken and Chandra, be sure to stop by at San Gimignano next time you are in Italy.  Rome has good gelato but San Gimignano has better.

San Gimignano also has another treasure.  When I saw this particular store I was shocked and excited.  The store I am talking about is dedicated to animals in forms of stuffed and on t-shirt.  It took me three days to figure out which animal shirt to buy.  I did not want to rush into the decision (although the shirt is nowhere as legendary as Wes’ Mt Wolfmore).  I did not expect to find an animal shirt store in Italy, especially in San Gimignano.  That is as far as I will share.  I do not want to reveal which animal I will be bringing home with me.  That will be a surprise to my three fans.

Next stop is Venice, or Venezia as it is known in Italy.  We may leave tomorrow or on Thursday.  We are not too sure yet.  That’s the nice thing about travelling in low tourist season.  We can be flexible with our plans and not worry about lodgings being fully booked.

Pictures of San Gimignano and area:

Old town of San Gimignano

I think San Gimignano used to have 97 towers. Only 13 are left. A family with money to blow would build a tower. Another family with money wanted to show off their wealth and built a taller tower. You get the picture.

Snuggles and I getting cosy

There were some girls playing tag. I managed to catch one on film. Unfortunately the picture is a little dark. This was a tough shoot with the strong contrast of shade and the bright sky.

Another moment of tag caught on film

Piazza della Cisterna. I am quite fond of this picture.

A pigeon swooping down for the bread crumb kill. Piazza della Cisterna.

Mrs. Turkadactyl making friends with one of the locals.

Old Town San Gimignano is to the right with all the towers. It is surrounded by vineyards and olive trees.

A vineyard

We sampled some of the grapes on our walk. They tasted fantastic. These are vineyards in the Chianti region.

Hi Snuggles

A long shutter speed allowed us to walk into the shot and then start making out, which is why we look like ghosts.

Raarrrrrr!

Yeah Snuggles!

The view we enjoyed every monring.

Collegiato

One of the towers from Piazza della Cisterna.

Piazza Nomi

 Out of all the locations we stayed at we took the most photos at San Gimignano.  It is a magical place and Mrs. Turkadactyl and I strongly recommend visiting it not only for the atmosphere and views but also for eating gelato from the three time and current reigning world gelato champions.

The language barrier is tough.  We have been fortunate on a couple of occasions to have people walk by and act as a translator for us.  I really wished I paid more attention in high school French and kept up with my German.

So I have commented on the amount of statues and reverence Catholics have over saints and popes.  Siena is a community that is in its own mold.  Mrs. Turkadactyl and I have visited a few churches here at most statues and paintings have Jesus as the central focus.  There is something else I have noticed in the paintings in Senna’s churches.  A lot of them depict a lot of violence.  I have not seem violence depicted in Catholic paintings before.  Either I have not seen a lot of paintings or Sienna marches to its own beat.

To get an idea of Sienna here are some YouTube videos.  I wish these were my own but since I cannot upload I have resorted to other peoples work.  The first one is in Italian of the Sienna Palio which happens one day in July and the other August 16.

Here is how the Piazza Del Campo looks the other 363 days of the year.

Our hotel is a one minute walk away from Piazza del Campo.  Siena is a University city.  There are students everywhere and many of them are international.  There is a lot of life in the downtown core.  Pedestrians share the streets with vehicles.  The pizza is very good here.  It seems the further we travel away from Rome the better the pizza becomes.

I have arrived the exciting part of Ambrose’s D-Day.  He is now going into detail of the oral accounts of the infantry landings on the beaches.  I am presently on the US secotr Omaha beach, which was the bloodiest of the five beaches on June 6,1944.  Based on the oral accounts given to Ambrose Saving Private Ryan is a PG rating compared what the soldiers, who survived that day, have shared.  I had to stop reading a few times to let the reading sink in.  No wonder veterans of the second world war do not want to talk about what they saw.

The other D-Day sites I saw were Longues-Sur-Mer and L’Memorial de Caen.

Here is a video of Point du Hoc.  The Air Force and Navy bombarded the German battery before the US Rangers climbed the cliffs and stormed the area.  Reserves were cut off and the US and German soldiers both ran out of ammo that they had to engage in hand to hand fighting.  A lot of the German betteries alog the Atlantic wall were 2-3 metres thick of reinforced steel and concrete.  Most survived the bombings.  The ear drums of the Germans inside the batteries, however, did not survive.

Longues-sur-Mer

I look forward to sharing my own material when I get home.  I will certainly update the Roost with my own pictures.  Let us not forget the bravery and sacrifice of the young soldiers of WWI and II.

Pictures of Sienna:

Mrs. Turkadactyl looking out from Casa di Saint Catarina.

Sienna from Santa Domenica

Street of Sienna

Duomo. This church, or most likely a replica on set, was used in the opening scene in the latest James Bond movie Quantam of Solace.

Duomo

Duomo

Duomo

Piazza del campo. This is the piazza where the Sienna Palio happens in July and August.

Snuggles hanging out at Piazza del Campo.

Piazza del Campo

There have been three interesting events that have happened since my last post.  One is there is a new addition at the farm; a new lamb.  Mrs. T and I just missed the birth.  When we went to the stable the mother must have just given birth.  The lamb was covered in the womb juice.  We watched throughout the day as the lamb continously attempted to stand on its own.

After writing my last posts I tried a new pizza- french fry and hot dog.  I like pizza, I like hot dogs, and I like fench fries.  Why not try them all together?  Suprisingly it works very well.

The joys of staying at a farm is we get to try all sorts of new things.  I ate rabbit for the first time a couple of days ago.  Last night I ate fox.  We found out that the fox was road kill.  No sense letting good meat go to waste.  It tasted like lean beef.  I recommend it.

This is a reminder for myself.  I hear that The Longest Day is a good WWII movie.  If anyone has seen it please let me know.  I am most likely to forget it so I am writing it down to remind myself.

Tommorrow we pack up and leave for Siena.  Disappointingly Sora does not have any gelato establishments.  We have found the cheapest bottle of wine.  It cost 1,09 euros.  The wine is very cheap here because it gets subsidized by the government.  Don’t be fooled by the price because the cheap stuff is good too.  If Canaan is the land of milk and honey then Italy is the land flowing with wine and cheese, topped off with bread.  The cheese is good here.

This is the lamb that was born just before we arrived. Look for the womb juice.

Trying to stand within hours of its birth.

Mrs. Turkadactyl meeting the new addition to Italian Framstay.

Here is the view we enjoyed every day we spent at the farm.

Olives are the major source of revenue for the farm.

Yay, more sheep!

Be warned about Rome’s public restrooms.  They are scary.  Shared facilities.  No toilet seat and at some.  No toilet paper at some.  Scary.  People also use public spaces to relieve themselves.  This may be due to the lack of toilets in Rome.  Mrs. Turkadactyl said she saw human feces and toiler paper at one street corner.  She has also seen a couple of men relive their bladders in full daylight.  Scary.

Other than that we loved Rome.  What is great about Rome is all the sites are within walking distance from each other.  Everywhere we walked there was a new site to be seen. Rome has a lot of history.  Growing up in Edmonton where our history is barely 100 hundred years it is a big treat to walk the streets of Rome whose history is over two thousand years.

We visited the Vatican City.  We chose to visit it on a Sunday.  That meant that the Sistine Chapel was closed.  D’oh.  St. Peter’s Basilica is huge.  The amount of time and creativity that went into the structure as well as the statues is huge.  The Catholics put lots of reverence in their popes and saints.  There was a lot of religious fervour in the Vatican City.  Jesus seems to be put to the side though.  There was a statue of him but it was nowhere near the size of any of the statues of popes gone.  What I do appreciate is the respect the Catholics have for their spiritual fathers and mothers.

We have tried a lot of gelato.  The Italians make good ice cream.  The pizza is alright.  If given a choice I would choose an all you can eat lunch buffet at Pizza Hut over the Italian stuff.  Perhaps because I know that Rome’s prices are set at tourist exchange.

We are now staying at a farm two hours southeast of Rome beside a town called Sora.  We are taking it easy.  We have done a lot of walking and travelling over the last seven days.  It has been good to relax.  We will be travelling to Sienna next I believe.  Or somewhere close to Sienna.

Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome

Spanish Steps, Rome

Colesseum, Rome

Arch of Constatine

The Palatine, Rome

The Palatine, Rome

Trajan's Column, Rome

A statue I forgot to write the information about. Michaelangelo could be the sculptor of this fine piece of work.

A Gothic cathedral. This was the catherdral that Mrs. Turkadactyl and I enjoyed visiting the most. Strangely, I did not write down its name in my notes. The Inquisition persecuted many so called heretics in a building neighbour to this cathedral.

Piazza della Republicca, Rome

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Statue of Pope Pius IX, Vatican City

Statue of Jesus Christ atop St. Peters Basilica, Vatican City

Michaelangelo's first sculpture at the age of 24.

Tomb of St. Peter.

Snuggles outside St. Peter's Basilica.

St. Peter's Square

The Turkadactyl's at Vatican City

Caen was a whirlwind for me.  We had two days there and I think I required a whole week to take in everything.  Since it is low season public transportation is not as frequent to all the sites.  I ended up coughing up the big bucks and purchased a tour of the area.  In the end I am glad I did because I would not have been able to see everything that I was able to go to.  The sheer magnitude of the evasion was enormous.  The amount of planning and coordination that went into that history making day is mind boggling.

It was an honour to be able to walk among some of the beaches that many brave young men sacrificed their lives so that France and Europe could be freed from the tyranny of Hitler and the Nazis.  If anyone is interested in seeing what I saw here are the sites I went to- Point du Hoc, American Military Cemetary, Juno Beach Centre at Courselles sur Mer, Arromanches, Omaha Beach, Sword Beach, and one more place which name eludes me at the moment.

There were two places I wanted to see but, unfortunately I was unable to.  They are Bayeux, where the largest British Military Cemetary is and Beny sur Mer where one of the Canadian Military Cemetaries is located.  I hope to return to Lower Normandy one day to spend some more time there.

I am about halfway through Ambroses D-Day.  After seeing the sites that Ambrose is writing about the history seems to be more alive.  I experienced sadness, joy, admiration, pride, appreciation, shock, surprise those two days.

In case you are wondering why we left so soon we found a good train deal before arriving and decided to pounce on it.  That then takes us to Paris.  Paris was the shotgun tour.  We bought a day pass for the underground, hauled our big packs and saw the big sites of Paris.  Paris is full of fashion, tall models (or tall women who dressed very trendy and were very thin so I am assuming they are models), baguettes (mmmm baguettes).  I lost my underground pass twice.  I found it the first time.  Not so lucky the second time.  Mrs. Turkadactyl had her first European espresso in Paris.

Our France trip concluded with the sleeper train.  We had an internet receipt but we could not print out a ticket at the station.  Thankfully the conductor was a nice man and accepted our receipt.  We lucked out on that one.  Next stop is Rome and Italy.

A concrete block sunk to break waves. An artificial habour, called a mulberry, was set-up so the Allies could land equipment. This is at Arromanchespart of Sword Beach. The British landed here

Arromanches

St. Pierre Cathedral in Caen. Most of Caen was destroyed in WWII. We saw pictures of Caen. Everything around this cathedral was destroyed. Remarkably St. Pierre survived.

Courseulles-sur-Mer. This is Juno beach, Canadian sector.

Juno Beach- a German fortification

Juno Beach- beach traps for boats. These were set up on the beach to rip the hulls of boats.

Statue to the fallen soldiers outside the Juno Beach Centre

A damaged German fortification on Juno Beach.

This tank pushed a pillar into a hole dug to stop tanks. The pillar was to be used as a bridge. This tank drove over the bridge into a larger hole formed by an Ally navy shell. It was then used as a pillar for two bridges so other tanks could get off Juno beach.

Longues-sur-Mer. Four 170mm German cannons had a range of 13 miles.

Observation post for the 170mm.

Inside the observation post.

US Military Cemetary at Colleville-sur-Mer. A statue of the spirit of a fallen soldier ascending to heaven.

Omaha Beach- the US Military Cemetary was establihed at the bloodiest part of Omaha

Wall of Memories- the names of all the soldiers whose bodies were never found or could not be identified.

Wall of Memories

Point du Hoc. The battle damage in the form of craters has been left here as a reminder. The craters were formed by the Allies navy and air bombardment.

A crater formed by the bombardment.

A bigger crater.

Le Louvre, Paris

Notre Dame, Paris

Notre Dame, Paris

Eiffel Tower, Paris

The Turkadactyls in front of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris

Here are some songs to keep you entertained until my next post.  Warning, I have only seen the videos for these three songs.  Sarah gave me notice that some of the content on the site may go too far.  Oh yeah, John and Kim make sure the boys are not around unless you want them to sing the songs over and over again.

Bananas

Cats Knees

Moon