Selven is back online!

Woohoo!

Missed me? I know I've missed all of you guys! We've had some bad winter weather and the internet connection went down on saturday. It's been hell, I tell ya! The only good thing about not having internet (yes, there is such a thing!), is the fact I got to do most of what needed to be done before the holidays. So yeah, I'm prepared

Wondering how my cats will behave around the Christmas tree (juletree <--- Norwegian lesson of the day) for the first time in their lives. Hmm... I guess we'll find that out on the 24th.

On that note, I wish everyone of you

Happy Holidays!

And I've got a LOT to catch up on!

Hey stranger!! Was wondering where you got too!! hehe

Glad the webs is all back up for you now though

Last day of work for me for the year today, so actually feels like Xmas now!!! WHOOOP!!!

Not sure on the internet access at my folks they have had issues too (Spending christmas down my parents house this year) So I may be on and off over that period on my iPhone, so don't expect epic long posts over that period lol

Anyways glad to see your back Selven, we have missed you too!!

Yay! Welcome back Selven!

I almost sent out the search parties!

Happy Holidays

/finds a long set of stairs for us to jump on.

I misseded ya ! Even though you is one of them dirty jerdi's

Good to have you back! Yea weather has been nasty, come on summer!

*hug*

Who is this?

Oh wait, now I remember... Did you take care of my garden last summer? No? :<




Welcome back.

Eep! Welcome back from the clutches of bad winter weather. Keep us updated on the kitty situation.

Happy holidays.

Welcome back Selv!!! We missed you!

Actually, I just posted some "where were ya" stuff on Aylins "i'm here" post...So, for a good read, check that out too!

I was wondering/worrying(cookies), with all the winter weather coming into Europe...We thought you got snowbound...or worse!! (see video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbtUjskfyA0

Hey, there ARE Norwiegans in that movie!!! hehe

Aww, it's good to be missed!

lol Sometimes I worry about you, Schwen!

SandsS, kitty situation will be thoroughly reported

Grome, I wonder who took care of my garden last summer too

More stairs, you say? /jumps for joy (no pun intended. Or is it?)

I suspect the next couple of days are gonna be busy offline again, willingly this time, so I wish you all a wonderful celebration until I see you again.

Haio!

They have gardens in Norway?? Damn, you Norwiegans got EVERYTHING!

Why worry about me, Selv', I am a "CRAZY"

Schwendo wrote:

They have gardens in Norway?? Damn, you Norwiegans got EVERYTHING!

Why worry about me, Selv', I am a "CRAZY"

They do... It's an awesome country, I've had the luck of visiting Norway twice. Too bad I wasn't born Norwegian Island holidays and food is more or less the only thing awesome we have left these days here.

Hehe, I've been all over the world EXCEPT Europe. One day....one day..I'll definitely get over there...

Like I said...we need a "RiG-Fest EU I (The Phantom Schw'enace)", and that would be the PERFECT excuse!

Schwendo wrote:

Hehe, I've been all over the world EXCEPT Europe. One day....one day..I'll definitely get over there...

Like I said...we need a "RiG-Fest EU I (The Phantom Schw'enace)", and that would be the PERFECT excuse!

Hehe, if you decide to visit Greece don't hesitate to PM me, I'd be happy to help out in some way. Oh, and you would check Matt Barrett's website for tons of info on the country

Will do,

If I do make it to Europe, its going to be a marathon 2 week "Griswold Vacation". We plan on hitting a ton of countries. Plus, I'ma history nut, so I have to hit a bunch of historical battlefields...

Schwendo wrote:

Will do,

If I do make it to Europe, its going to be a marathon 2 week "Griswold Vacation". We plan on hitting a ton of countries. Plus, I'ma history nut, so I have to hit a bunch of historical battlefields...

Damn... Two weeks isn't nearly enough! There are so many widely different countries to visit...

I can tell you for sure though that in Greece our historical battlefields aren't that interesting (e.g. Thermopylae is in the middle of nowhere with only a modern monument), you'd be better off going for actual ruins, temples, islands, monasteries and the like. Those are much more interesting as sites.

The Acropolis is a must see, as would be Santorini's volcanic cliffs and villages (unless you've seen partially submerged volcanos before, then avoid it especially in high-season). You could visit Delphi, if you want to see centuries-old monasteries perched on Cheyenne Mountain - like rock formations you would go for Meteora, for a medieval castle and old town you'd visit Rhodes, Crete also has a lot of stuff to see... You could find a number of islands to suit your more relaxing "today I'll just cook in the sun" days too.

In fact, you'd need two weeks to properly explore most countries in Europe, especially since you seem to be interested in non-mass tourism oriented things (and rightly so)... Better to make two-week visits every year, with different "legs" each time

Hehe, Nice!

I'm a WWII history nut too. So we're talking Normandy, Arnhem, Belgium, etc...

Seeing Santorini would be awesome...Mostly because its prolly the location of Atlantis! (IMHO)

Also, I would have to see the Greek ruins around Athens/Acropolis/etc...

Good stuff!! /hi5

Schwendo wrote:

Hehe, Nice!

I'm a WWII history nut too. So we're talking Normandy, Arnhem, Belgium, etc...

Seeing Santorini would be awesome...Mostly because its prolly the location of Atlantis! (IMHO)

Also, I would have to see the Greek ruins around Athens/Acropolis/etc...

Good stuff!! /hi5

/hi5

Normandy and similar places would be quite haunting to visit... Just thinking of how much blood was spilled where you're standing is most humbling and heart-rending. I can't imagine not being moved near to tears in a place like that... I think I would also visit the concentration camps as well, to pay homage to the innocents who were slaughtered there.

Btw... My grandfather managed to become close friends with one of the sole surviving officers of the Bismarck, the Baron Von Mullenheim-Rechtberg (now deceased). He had written a book on the Bismark, Iook it up if you haven't already... Apparently he was one of the old school, high German aristocracy, who had an aversion to Hitler from the start and fondly referred to him as a "gutter rat".

Back to Greece - one thing to know about Santorini is that it's possible that many of the caldera hotels don't allow young children for safety reasons - they are literally built on the edge of the crater! So if you have young kids and plan on taking them with better check beforehand.

Athens sites are pretty easy to see unless you want to go outside to the Marathon or Sounion... And I would advise against swimming anywhere in the Saronic Gulf (basically anywhere within at least an hour's drive of Athens). Pick a good island for that!

BTW sorry Selven for hijacking your thread like this - but I tend to get very excited and carried away talking about Greece. With all it's glaring faults I'm proud of my home and love helping out people who visit (or plan on it) any way I can

Yeah, sry Selv' we got carried away about Europe and stuff...

The Prussian Aristocratic view of WWII would be interesting. He was a lucky guy too, the Bismarck lost about 9/10ths of its complement when she went down...

Greece is pretty awesome. My best friend of 24 years (now deceased) went there twice in the 90's on Marine "East Pak" floats. He said it was the best port of all we went to (And he hit a ton). He also said the women were hawties..hehe...



Okies Selv', now back to your topic...

We missed ya!! woohoo! you're back! /hi5

Schwendo wrote:

Yeah, sry Selv' we got carried away about Europe and stuff...

The Prussian Aristocratic view of WWII would be interesting. He was a lucky guy too, the Bismarck lost about 9/10ths of its complement when she went down...

Greece is pretty awesome. My best friend of 24 years (now deceased) went there twice in the 90's on Marine "East Pak" floats. He said it was the best port of all we went to (And he hit a ton). He also said the women were hawties..hehe...



Okies Selv', now back to your topic...

We missed ya!! woohoo! you're back! /hi5

Last post of the hijack from me (if you like we can open a separate topic Schwen or continue via PM or something)

I think the Baron was one of the three only surviving officers. All the others were killed... I also found the story of the pocket battleship Graf Spee quite intriguing, it was scuttled in the Bay of Biscay if I remember right by its captain Hans Langsdorff who was tricked into believing that a superior force was headed his way to intercept him. He evacuated his crew but went down with the ship.

Sorry to hear about your friend, I lost a good friend myself to a car accident, poor kid was only 20 and some drunk *insert expletive here* ran him over I guess your friend landed in Chania in Crete (I think the port of Souda was the NATO base), it's old town is pretty awesome. Though I've had only bad experiences with Greek women

Anyway, back to Selven, and how much we've missed her, and all that jazz

Also, inserting obligatory here.

Archifikos,

"I think the Baron was one of the three only surviving officers. All the others were killed... I also found the story of the pocket battleship Graf Spee quite intriguing, it was scuttled in the Bay of Biscay if I remember right by its captain Hans Langsdorff who was tricked into believing that a superior force was headed his way to intercept him. He evacuated his crew but went down with the ship."

Not being a "know it all", but, I was a history major. The Graf Spee was a really strange story. The "Battle of the River Plate" was actually down by South America in the opening days of WWII. The "pocket battleship" was all over the Atlantic/Southern Atlantic as a commerce raider. The cool thing was, that Hans Langsdorff was real chivalrous. He spared all of the merchant ships crews, even radioed in for their rescues. Odd for the time. THe British finally caught up with the Graf Spee near Uraguay/ Montevideo (the capital). The German ship pummeled the 2 British Cruisers (Exeter and Ajax if you're scoring along), but Hans was unnerved by minimal damage and a blow to the head. He holed up near the River Plate, and, ended up scuttling the Graf Spee...The crew was interned, but, Hans commited suicide in a Montevideo hotel soon afterwards...

Intriguing story, none the less.

Now we really hijacked the Selven thread

Schwendo wrote:

Archifikos,

"I think the Baron was one of the three only surviving officers. All the others were killed... I also found the story of the pocket battleship Graf Spee quite intriguing, it was scuttled in the Bay of Biscay if I remember right by its captain Hans Langsdorff who was tricked into believing that a superior force was headed his way to intercept him. He evacuated his crew but went down with the ship."

Not being a "know it all", but, I was a history major. The Graf Spee was a really strange story. The "Battle of the River Plate" was actually down by South America in the opening days of WWII. The "pocket battleship" was all over the Atlantic/Southern Atlantic as a commerce raider. The cool thing was, that Hans Langsdorff was real chivalrous. He spared all of the merchant ships crews, even radioed in for their rescues. Odd for the time. THe British finally caught up with the Graf Spee near Uraguay/ Montevideo (the capital). The German ship pummeled the 2 British Cruisers (Exeter and Ajax if you're scoring along), but Hans was unnerved by minimal damage and a blow to the head. He holed up near the River Plate, and, ended up scuttling the Graf Spee...The crew was interned, but, Hans commited suicide in a Montevideo hotel soon afterwards...

Intriguing story, none the less.

Now we really hijacked the Selven thread

Ah yeah you're right, sorry... I'd forgotten a lot of the whole, ehm, incident. I was thinking of Motevideo but confused the names (how the Bay of Biscay came into my mind is beyond me ). I was intrigued by Langsdorff due to his kind nature. I remember the three ships that engaged were the Ajax, Exeter and Achilles, the captain in charge of the Allied contingent of ships was called Harwood, or something? I believe the Exeter was eventually sunk later in the war.

Hey, don't mind me, guys

And I love a good convo, so no need to move it some place else.

Kitties are being good, only ruined 3 or 4 Christmas Tree ornaments and knocked over a few santas (nisser). Oh, and the table cloth on the dining table is sometimes in danger - or rather the glass reindeer sled and candle sticks on it. Brother is chasing sister all around the house and the dining table is "I've got the high ground" *kitty sticks out tongue at sibling* Good thing they don't have their sabers lit. ..wait ...nevermind.

OH! I completely forgot! I got a Yoda for Christmas! Woot!