A Visitor

Stefan Z. visited this morning. It is years since we met but I recognised him at once. Stefan stayed with Shirley just before Jan went there. He has kept in touch with Shirley ever since and she has visited him and family in Berlin.

They send presents and Shirley asked me to take something for Stefan and family. She sent it per post, but there was some problem with the address, and it was returned. Happy to report, Shirley, that he got the packet okay this morning, and was very happy to get it. Big thanks to you, Shirley, from Stefan :-)

We agreed to meet up in a couple of weeks with his partner Anna-M. They recently came back from a holiday in Majorca so I saw their photographs and he saw mine of Florida. He enjoyed seeing how the house had changed over the years and really liked my pics of St. Augustine, which brought back many happy memories.

Home from Home

Shirley met me at Orlando Airport. Was I pleased to see her smiley, happy face! I didn't know that Orlando is now famous for its Disney-World, and other theme parks, which attracts thousands of visitors each year.

Most are families with young children. Nephew Andrew went there a couple of years ago with his partner and daughter and had a good time.


I was 'overtired', but Shirley stopped me from dozing off as she drove me to her home at St. Augustine. It is the oldest town/city in the USA. It was founded by Spanish adventurers in 1565. Check it out on the internet and you will find lots of information.



We finally arrived at Shirley's house. She lives there with her younger daughter, son-in-law and grandaughter. You enter from the road to a parking area. In front is a large garage with guest room above. To the right is an entrance door to the house. Enter and look to the left. A view down to the pool and its pavillion. The photos should take you through this route.

 My favourite route was always to end at the pool and pavillion. More of that later when I report on my adventures in the pool. A wonderful end of journey. I later drifted into the land of nod and slept into my first full day in St. Augustine with bicycle and photos of the beach.

Thanks!

Thanks to all for the birthday cards, e-mails, telephone messages on my AB. Here is a photo of the birthday cards. I enjoyed opening all on my return. I had a really great birthday which ended in a restaurant with Shirley, and a very interesting lady called Modesta. More of her later!


I left the USA on Thursday 24 May to return to Germany. I arrived later than planned at 9:50 am on Friday 25 May. A long time in two planes and different airports with nearly four hours waiting in one of them! Both flights left 45/50 minutes late. The flight there was even worse.

On 2 May,  I left Berlin to fly to Newark New York Airport. We arrived two hours late, then had to vacate the plane to Orlando because of technical problems with the plane. We changed airport terminal and a new plane. I was able to call Shirley to let her know of this 'mish-mash' so she would know what was going on. For the future, I decided I would only fly with United Airlines if I had no other choice. You might want to think about this too!

I shall post reports about my wonderful adventure, experiences in Florida over a number of reports, like I did when I came back from Beijing last autumn. Just give me time to work on the photos and write the reports.

 I end with a photograph I took on my second day. It is of the beach opposite Shirley's house. I think it speaks volumes about peace, quiet, rest, sun. sea, sand and all the nice things about a holiday. I think this must be one of the best photographs I have taken. What do you think?