So that's where you went? Tell us about your travels!

[pnutts]

Yellowstone campgrounds close early in Sept.  Met one couple who had been there before camps closed and said it was wet and cold at end of August. Already had warnings about having tire chains ready.

Bye the way. It costs $50 to get into Yellowstone and camping fees are extra.

Grand Canyon is $30 good for 7 days - camping extra.

Custer Nat. Park is $15 - forget how long it is good for.

[New World Explorer]

Last week in New Caledonia

[RaymondG]

Originally posted by pnutts

Yellowstone campgrounds close early in Sept.  Met one couple who had been there before camps closed and said it was wet and cold at end of August. Already had warnings about having tire chains ready.....

I will be crossing there early May, it should be okay...

 

By the way. It costs $50 to get into Yellowstone and camping fees are extra.

Grand Canyon is $30 good for 7 days - camping extra.

Custer Nat. Park is $15 - forget how long it is good for.

But a year pass to all National Parks costs about $85. That would get you into all of them, and the Devil's Tower and Yosemite and many others as often as you like. Not only that, you can pass it on to another car for them to use too, as long as it's within the year (which can be almost 13 months - buy it on 2nd October this year it's good till 31st October next year).

.

Edited October 16, 2015 by RaymondG

[PhorosM]

Black Sands Beach, Shelter Cove, CA

[PhorosM]

Phantom Ship Island, Crater Lake, OR

(Island hiding in the reflection)

[RaymondG]

Nice stuff, Melanie... very nice...

[RaymondG]

We had to bypass Crazy Horse because we were losing time with car troubles...

 

And Yellowstone, we more or less just got in the gate and it snowed, so we were so far behind that we couldn't risk getting caught. But this traffic jam was but a minor inconvenience:

 

 

[RaymondG]

Arles, France:

 

 

The afternoon sunlight lit it all up for us, but around the other side it made for a special effect:

 

 

 

[RaymondG]

Sandra was initially reluctant to walk down this ancient street in Genoa, Italy, today...

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by RaymondG

[RaymondG]

After some coaxing she entered it, walked past the team of layabouts who were there smoking and joking with each other, she believed me when I showed her the sign:

 

 

It seems the building dates back to about 1100CE, it's got one floor used as two Kingdom Halls, they've been there... well, not all that time.

 

Inside:

 

 

The raucous crowd of the English Language congregation were having a great time. They are a very mixed bunch, one from America, some from England, a couple (Domenico and Franca Bottaro) who went to England when young, met there and married then returned later in life and started the English group within the Genova congregation which has grown to become this unique bunch of brothers and sisters.

 

Many are from Nigeria and the Sudan, but other nationalities are present too, and their singing echoing from that ceiling is marvellous, especially with Song 139 with which we started yesterday.

[RaymondG]

The Italian congregations had a special broadcast this week with a local report, the Watchtower summary and a talk from a visiting Bethel representative.

 

We went to the English group at the Bari Kingdom Hall, where I think two or three Italian congregations meet as well as language groups for English, Chinese, Creole and Romanian.

 

I'll post photos next time I get the internet...

[RaymondG]

Bari, on the east coast of Italy towards the south, it's a busy place with very narrow streets and seemingly every available square inch of land taken up with something. Even if it's just rubbish lying around waiting to be cleaned up.

 

 

See the sign over the roller doors? This is the street in which the address is listed, the doors shut like that seemed to be an indication that there was nothing on... but then...

 

 

...the doors rolled up as we approached! Still more doors inside there though!

 

But up the side street:

 

 

More inviting, much more inviting. The hall has been there about 26 years, I'm told. It used to be a shop which the congregation(s) purchased and converted. We, of course, headed into the English group:

 

 

Once again, a high percentage of Africans, most of whom are studying. A Filipino, some locals who speak English, the man in the wheelchair is from Italy originally, but was raised in Belgium, then moved to one of the African countries and married a local girl. He was repatriated to Italy for medical help and is trying to get his (blind) wife and son into the country to join him. Many of our brothers have difficulties and deserve our thoughts in prayers.

 

The main hall is quite long and not terribly wide. But not all Italian congregations have to make do with such compromises in their halls... driving through Spoltore, near Pescara, more or less due east of Rome but on the other side of the country, we were surprised. Many of the Italian towns have a very old and 'need new paint' look, Spoltore struck me as not being quite as bad as others, but this building really stood out:

 

 

A real purpose-built hall and with a bit of a carpark too. Unfortunately we were just passing by and met none of the brothers, though we did see a cart in action in the streets of Pescara, just as we had at the market in Siderno, further south in Calabria.

 

Where next? I'll let you know!

 

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by RaymondG

[bohemian]

My wife and I just visited the Czech Republic for 2 weeks.  As we do not want to fly, we made the whole trip by train.

 

First was Eurostar ro Paris, where we had about 4 hours between trains.  This gave us time to get lunch in a small restaurant opposite Gare De L'Est.  Renewed my love of snails in garlic and herb butter, and then grilled anduillette (chitterlings).

Then TGV train to Munich where we stayed overnight in a hotel close to the station.  Nice hotel, nothing fancy, but clean and comfortable.  We always stay there in Munich.

The following morning we took the train to Domážlice, the first stop over the border in CR, where we were met by a brother who we were going to stay with.  He took us to his home in Spáňov, a small village near Domážlice.  He and his wife Jarka are very good friends of ours who we have known for many years.

We had time to rest, then shower and freshen up and get ready for the meeting at 5pm.  Both my wife and I managed to answer in czech in the Watchtower study.

We stayed for 4 days with them, and they took us to visit other brothers and sisters, and also to the ministry in Nýrsko where we did trolley witnessing while the rest of the group went on door to door or retrun visits.

My wife has most of our photos on her iPad so I will post some later.

 

Next we went on to Prague.....

[RaymondG]

I look forward to seeing your pics...

 

Today we found the Kingdom Hall in the town where we're spending the day, Avezzano. No English meetings or groups, but we did meet one happy brother. I'll post that pic later too!

[RaymondG]

Here is the address of the Avezzano hall...

 

 

Once again, it really didn't look like a Kingdom Hall would be there at all, but we walked to the gate. Then a brother arrived and let us in, so we have these pics:

 

 

 

Built about forty years ago, if I got the story right, there are four brothers live upstairs. The territory divides Avezzano into an East and a West section with many miles of rural territory and little villages in each. And they have an Arabic congregation there as well.

 

Thanks to the brother who showed us around...

 

 

[Sylv]

Shark feeding in the Bahamas

[bohemian]

I will continue the story shortly.  Our internet has been disconnected while our living room is decorated, and both my wife and I have salmonella poisoning!

On Wednesday my wife went to hospital for I/V saline infusions for rehydration.  Now I have caught it too.

At. Least we could listen to the meeting this evening.

 

Interestingly, we needed some milk, and I prayed to Jehovah about it. I knew that none of the brothers were aware of our plight and they were also at the meeting.  Ten minutes later, a Polish neighbour whose husband is a muslim knocked at the door and asked if we needed anything!  What a loving God we worship!

Edited May 26, 2016 by bohemian

[RaymondG]

I joined the brothers and sisters at Pordenone, near Venice, last night...

 

A double hall, they have about eight congregations meet there, just three of them Italian. English, Russian, Romanian, French and a couple of others make up the mix.

 

A lovely and lively little English congregation with a broad mix, they do a lot of witnessing to American servicemen in the area. Pics of the hall to come, I might even thrown in one or two of Venice.

 

Though I have to say it's just like a lot of other Italian towns and cities. But somebody's washed the streets and some of the streets got too wet!

 

A huge tourist trap...

[Tortuga]

6 hours ago, RaymondG said:

Though I have to say it's just like a lot of other Italian towns and cities. But somebody's washed the streets and some of the streets got too wet!

 

A huge tourist trap...

We were in Venice a few years ago and the square was flooded but they had put in table for a temporary walkway. We were disappointed to see advertisement hanging from the Rialto bridge.

[RaymondG]

You must be an excellent tourist, Richard...

 

I'm going to a meeting in Serbia this weekend. Today I drove out of Italy, through Slovenia and Croatia and into Serbia.

[pnutts]

16 minutes ago, RaymondG said:

You must be an excellent tourist, Richard...

 

I'm going to a meeting in Serbia this weekend. Today I drove out of Italy, through Slovenia and Croatia and into Serbia.

We have a Croatian family from our hall in Sarajevo. They have been there since late March. They should be coming home in July.

[RaymondG]

Is that from your hall... or from your congregation?

[pnutts]

6 minutes ago, RaymondG said:

Is that from your hall... or from your congregation?

Congregation. Twaz usin' hall interchangeably. U dun got me. The parents have ap't right below ours

[And_Ray]

You must be an excellent tourist, Richard...

 

I'm going to a meeting in Serbia this weekend. Today I drove out of Italy, through Slovenia and Croatia and into Serbia.

If you are going further to the south, in Macedonia, I'd love to meet you. I'm just bellow the Serbian border.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Omoyeme]

Happy travels Brother Ray!