THE VIKING TIR: From Germany to Austria

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% on Friday, and broke its all-time high, rising 189 to 44,911. The S&P 500 also got to a record high, increasing 0.6%.

Donald Trump is also on a roll. Amazon has a wide assortment.

I go to the Orient a lot, and the dollar to yen exchange rate the past year has been great. Up to 160 yen/dollar. Today, still a good 150 yen to the U.S. $.

I'm in Europe, and the $ to Euro rate is now close to parity.

Well, not quite today, for you need to pay $1.05 to the Euro.. But equality occurred in 2022 after a period of 20 years, and remains in this range. So both Europe and Japan are good places to visit these days to get value for your dollar if you live in the USA. Unfortunately, this good fortune does not work the other way around for those in Japan and Europe

Okay, the Viking Tir was repaired, I think, and we are on our way to Melk, Austria. A few photos. Last night we had a goodbye German supper.

Appetizers.

My dinner.

Desserts.

That black piece is a Sachertorte.

Evening ended with Schnapps, which refers to any kind of strong, dry spirit. Typically, they include fruit brandies, herbal liquers and so on. Served in a tiny glass, you consume it all in one quick slug, and yell anything from prost to whatever.

After dinner, we found out that the company decided to open up its bar because of the accident. Drinks that cost $18/half shot were now free. We were entertained by our Program Director Steve, who we think might well be the most valuable staff player here on the Viking Tir, but also on any cruise we've so far had. He was a former professional singer.

We did not buy a drinks package because wine and beer comes free with lunch and dinner. The alcoholic drinks however, are very expensive. Just a typical HALF jigger of scotch can cost you up to $17. Here are two price lists. These are half a jigger prices, and we were served full jiggers and doubles.

The staff was very generous.

At one point, we were accumulating drinks.

I finally settled on Glenmorangie, Highland Park and Macallan Whiskies, plus a Wachau Cognac. What you see below would have cost me at least $100. Triple the eventual cost, as this went on for a long time. All free because we at this point were still on a stuck ship, with the prospect of spending the rest of the cruise being taken by buses to hotels,

Walked 766 steps two days ago and 340 steps today.

Lunch today was black bean soup, salad and spaghetti putanesca.

There is a story to the above. Puttana in Italian means whore. Rumor has it that this sauce, Puttanesca, ws created by prostitutes as a quick meal in between tricks. I wrote about this 5 years ago.

Tomorrow, a tour of Melk Abbey and a hopeful arrival in Vienna, Austria. At this point, not a sure thing.

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

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THE ENIGMATIC PHIL SPECTOR

The first presidential debate of Donald Trump and Joe Biden ended up in a near tie. Both lost. However, it was an unmitigated disaster for Biden, who just might be too old to win this re-election. For Trump, it was a reinforcement of what he does all the the time, lie. There will be significant calls for the Democratic Party to work out "something" to replace Biden as their presidential candidate. Suddenly, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Michelle Obama are added to the spotlight. But what can "legally" occur at the August Democratic Convention? The situation is different on the Republican side, as Trump is the Republican Party, and no matter if he gets 4 years at his felony sentencing on July 9, or even if the Supreme Court determines he is not immune next week or later, he will be the presidential candidate. Trump is a damned boastful liar and convicted felon, but that is the only option for Republicans. His vice-presidential choice now become...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

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