Milan Moss

 

 

 

 

 Our very dear friend Milan Moss passed away on Sunday at his Seattle home.  He was 87, and was preceded in death by his wife Gwen in 2005.  Julie and I met Milan and Gwen in 1994 when we bought our Lake Chelan cabin as they had the cabin next to us.  He and Gwen both spent a good part of the summers on the lake and they became a part of our lives there. I spent countless hours fishing with Milan in his boat and became very good friends.  The summer days always ended at their house for happy hour and usually dinner with all the neighbors as well.  Although Milan's health was not good in the last few years he still managed his Seattle business and came to the Chelan cabin that he loved so much. Milan always opened his door to our family and friends, and there were many.  No matter how tough health and business problems got for Milan, he never complained, ever.  We should all try that.  While passing through Seattle 3 weeks ago on my flight home to London,  I had a great visit with Milan for about 3 hours at his home.  Bless you my friend and thanks for being a part of our lives.
.  There will never be a day at the lake that I won't think of you both...We sure had some fun....

Venice Tour

 

 

 

 

Here in Venice we had half of our time touring the local sights in the sun and half in miserable rain and wind.  We did see local attractions such as St Mark's Basilica, The Grand Canal, and the Piazza San Marco.  The one hour gondola ride was the most fun for us and the most popular with canals jammed with other tourists doing the same.  This city is often the threat of high tides where the water can rise over a meter above the high mark.  This flooding has caused all lower floors to become useless and even forces most shops to shut down during the flooding.  I am so glad that we took the time to visit here.  So many of these historic European cities are within 2 hours of our London home and yet it's so frustrating that we just can't get to them all.

Venice, Italy

 

We just returned from a visit to the northern Italian city of Venice this last weekend.  This was our 4 th trip into Italy and out first to Venice.  Our flight was less than 2 hours from London Gatwick airport and it was sure great to escape the bitter cold and snow that has hit the UK.  We stayed at the historic Hilton Malino Stucky in Venice,  which is a beautifully restored flower mill.  Our flight to Venice was full as most are with over 50,000 visitors a day traveling to one of the worlds most popular tourist destinations.  This city of 300,000 dates back to the year 421.  It was built on 117 islands, has 177 canals and 409 bridges.  All transport is done either by water or by walking.  The pics show Julie boarding our Easy Jet flight, the snow covered Swiss Alps, the Grand Canal, and the Hilton hotel.

Cardiff, Wales

Sunday we took a 3 hour train ride to Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales.  This west coast city of 350,000 is the most popular tourist stop in Wales with about 20 million visitors each year.  The Cardiff international sports village and Millennium Center, make this England's biggest media center outside of London.  Julie had a business meeting here on Monday and I tagged along to see the city.  As usual I had to endure the elements to see the local sights and get my story.  Again I could see the Romans had a lot of influence here as I toured the 11 th century Cardiff Castle.  Although it was bitter cold there were no lack of tourists at the castle, museum, and the very modern  Millennium Stadium. The most popular sights were within walking distance of the train station.  I had a chance to chat with a few tourists and see a beautiful city.  

Silverstone

Silverstone is the home of England's world famous Formula 1 race track, one hour north of London.    Today I did the ultimate driving experience, starting with a driving techniques briefing teaching safety, car handling and passing rules.  The race cars were a 1.6 liter Ford Duratec 16 valve, that would do  0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds with a 4 speed gearbox.  We followed a pace car for 20 minutes getting used to the cars and picking up speed.  Then about 10 of us got the green flag to race for another 25 minutes.  A lap was a bit over a minute with an average speed of around 70 mph and a top speed of 90 to 95 mph.  It was dam cold at 32 degrees, wind blowing,  and snow falling before we finished.  I got passed once and made 3 passes but could have gone another 30 minutes even though I was freezing.  Sure brought back some old racing memories.  Great Christmas gift from Julie, Loved it!

The Bodyguard

Last night Julie and I stayed at the classy Mayfair hotel in Green Park, London.  We took in one of the newest West End shows, The Bodyguard, which has recently made its debut at the Adelphi Theater.  The musical is based on the smash hit movie which stared Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.  This romantic thriller that featured the music from the late Whitney Houston, was a sold out show.  To make it even better there wasn't any rain on a rather warm London night which meant a lot of people on the streets.  Just the way I like it.

Hot Tub

The tub has been on our bucket list for years and now is here at our lakeside cabin. I built the deck for the tub last year as we never really had a good place to put one, out of the way.  Last week while in cold Lake Chelan, I bought this jacuzzi tub in the nearby city of Wenatchee.  I hired a boom truck which had a reach of 60 feet and we needed every bit of that to set it on the deck below down by our dock.  It will get plenty of use this summer as the lake only gets to 70 degrees max in the summer, but mostly in the mid 60's.