June 21 – For our final day in Frankfurt, we walked over to visit the historic Palmengarten, developed by architect Heinrich Siesmayer, and opened to the public in 1871. Most of the buildings were damaged or destroyed in WWII, but were refurbished starting in the 1960s. The gardens were reopened in 1992.
June 20 – Now it is Friday and Frankfurt is back to normal after yesterday’s holiday. The shops are open, and traffic is zipping along.
June 19 – After a rocky attempt at a night’s sleep, we thought a nice walk in the sunshine would help reset our internal clocks. We ate our breakfast of fruit, yogurt, brown bread and cheese, downed a few cups of strong coffee, and set out toward town.
The first thing we noticed was that the supermarket we visited yesterday was not open – unusual for a Thursday, don’t you think? As we walked along, the streets seemed very quiet. As we approached the center of town, we saw that all the stores were closed. What’s up? Time to consult Google!
It turns out that today is the state holiday of Corpus Christi (body of Christ), a celebration of the Eucharist by the Roman Catholics here since the year 1246; always falling on the tenth day after Pentecost.
We made our way toward the cathedral, figuring that is where the action would be, and we were right.
June 17, 2025 – You may remember that Jim and I had plans to hike the Pieterpad in the Netherlands back in the fall of 2023. Instead, we both got Covid and spent most of our vacation holed up in a motel, waiting to feel better.
Jim is not a person who can let a good trail go unhiked, so we are on our way back to Germany and the Netherlands to try again. Here’s to a healthy month!
June 18 – We flew from Norfolk to Newark, walking off one plane and directly onto the plane to Frankfurt with no incidents to report. We figured out the Frankfurt subway sufficiently to get to our hotel. Once we found the correct train, it was easy peasy, with stops displayed and spoken in both German and English.
We are staying at the Rioca, a Brazilian themed hotel with tropical furnishings and recorded bird calls in the hallways. We’ll be here a few days to get over our jet lag.
Feb 23 – So, for our last days in Puerto de la Cruz, we walked along the beach, browsed in the shops, visited churches, ate good food, and acted like the tourists that we are.
Feb 21 – This morning we fortified ourselves with an extra cup of coffee, and set out to find the Botanical Garden. It isn’t too far, but it’s uphill all the way.
Feb 19 – One more leisurely breakfast, then we packed up and walked to the bus stop for our ride to the bus station. We knew right where to find our next intercity bus, and hopped on a minute before it pulled away. 45 minutes later, we arrived in Puerto de la Cruz.
This city is the northernmost destination of our trip, and also the warmest, with daily highs around 72 – 75F. Puerto de la Cruz is all about the beaches. We walked to our new very modern apartment and settled in. We are one building away from the Atlantic, and the surf here is robust, with the soothing sound of breakers that will lull us to sleep at night.
Feb 18 – For our last day in Santa Cruz, we walked up into the hills to get an overview of the city. It was a beautiful, crystal clear morning.
Feb 17 – There is a special botanical garden here in Santa Cruz, called the Palmetum. At the edge of the city, it was once the municipal rubbish dump, a huge mountain of smelly decay. In the 1980s the dump was closed, and in the 1990s the conversion began.
Terraforming, nurturing seeds and importing species of palm trees from all over the world took an additional twenty years, and the park was opened to the public in 2014. We are going to visit it today.
We took a bus across town, then walked to the outskirts. We climbs up several stories to get to the entrance of the Palmetum.
Feb 15 – Another beautiful sunrise heralding another fine day. Ideal weather around 70 degrees every day. We could get used to this!
Today we ventured forth to see the Fine Arts Museum. As usual, when I am faced with too much art, I focus on one thing. Today, it was sculpture.
Taking Our Time 