Memorial Day 2020

History of Memorial Day: Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. May 30th was chosen for Decoration Day because it was believed that flowers would be in bloom all across the country.

On Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. In the early days of our country, no regulations existed for flying the flag at half-staff and, as a result, there were many conflicting policies. But on March 1, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower issued a proclamation on the proper times.

You will notice in the collage above, that the flag is flying at half-staff. Those pictures were taken during our visit to the American Cemetary in Normandy, France. It was very moving seeing row after row of graves. For more pictures from our visit to Normandy, see my previous posts on the topic and also our cruise vacations website.

I've mentioned several times in the past about the opportunity to relive history while on a cruise vacation. This is especially true in Europe due to the large battle field from the World Wars. Whether your cruise vacation takes you to Normandy, France or Honolulu, Hawaii, please take some time to visit a historical site and pay your respects to the troops that fought to keep America strong. We have done so on several cruises and of all the trips we've taken, those tend to stand out in my mind. Don't forget to bring you children with you so that they too can learn about war first hand.

As Albert Schweitzer said "... Wargraves are the great communicators of peace ..." Perhaps another more striking quote was by George Santayanan who said "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

And who can forget those immortal words of President John F. Kennedy: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. "

To the brave men and women, living and deceased, who have taken President Kennedy's charge to heart, Thank You for your Service. May we never forget the sacrifices you have made.

Where is Chris - May Day

May Day is a spring holiday in many cultures, and a national holiday in many European countries.
  #KeepTheKidsEngaged

We hope you are enjoying this series of  "Where is Chris" posts.  We'd love your feedback on our social media.

Where is Chris?

Where is Chris

Here is today's post: See if you can guess where I am. 

As promised, we've updated yesterday's post, Where is Chris - Historical City, with the answer to the puzzle.  Revisit that post and just scroll over the image to reveal the answer.  You can also click on the link below the picture to read more.    

Make sure to follow us on our social media, so you don't miss any destinations. 

If you can't wait for tomorrow for the answer, you can take my quiz in my Instagram story.

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Where is Chris - Everything in Bloom

Perhaps one of the hardest things during this lock down is missing out on springtime flowers in bloom.   This destination is known for fields full of blooming flowers right around this time of year. Tomorrow, we'll include a video that shows real-time images from this destination.

We hope that you are involving your children in this daily guessing game.   They might not know the destination, but they might be able to name the colors, recognize the types of flowers, etc. #KeepTheKidsEngaged

Where is Chris?

Where is Chris (scroll over image)    Learn More (Click)

Here is today's post: See if you can guess where I am. 

As promised, we've updated yesterday's post, Where is Chris - Beach Day, with the answer to the puzzle.  Revisit that post and just scroll over the image to reveal the answer.  You can also click on the link below the picture to read more.   We'll update this post tomorrow.

Make sure to follow us on our social media, so you don't miss any destinations. 


If you can't wait for tomorrow for the answer, you can take my quiz in my Instagram story.

Since people are unable to visit Keukenhof Gardens, they are bringing the gardens to all on their YouTube channel.  Follow them for more images from this Spring.

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Greetings From Sydney

click images to enlarge

View From The Royal Botanic Garden

We arrived in Sydney, Australia around 8:30 am and waited to deplane.  It takes awhile when you have a full Boeing 787 jumbo jet.  By the time we went thru customs, got our luggage and went thru the final customs checkpoint, it was almost 10:30 am. 

We had prearranged shuttle transfer from the airport to our hotel in Sydney.  Unfortunately we had just missed one shuttle and would have to wait for about 45 minutes or so for the driver to return.

We weren't in a hurry so it didn't really matter to us, but our advice to you if you don't want to be waiting around, is to call an Uber instead.

By the time we got to our hotel, Intercontinental Sydney, it was almost noon.  The first thing on our mind was food, so we headed out to explore the neighborhood.   There was an interactive directory on the corner so we plotted our house to a nearby food court.   It was a great find.   We had BBQ brisket, chips & drink for 16 AUD each.

After lunch we headed to The Royal Botanic Garden where we spent several hours walking thru the gardens.   At 3:00 we headed to the Opera House gate where we caught a Choo Choo train around the gardens.   It costs 10 AUD for adults and 5 AUD for kids.

Sydney Opera House 

The train ride takes about 40 minutes and returns to where it started at the Opera House entrance. We walked over to the Opera House stairs and asked one of the workers where we needed to go for tours. He directed us around the corner and downstairs to the ticket counter. Tours go until 5 PM, so we still had time to take the tour. The tour costs 40 AUD per person for the basic tour, which lasts for an hour.

After purchasing our tour tickets, we purchased some bottled water from their cafe and waited for our tour time.   The guide passed out audio headsets and

The Opera House was designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon. The architectural marvel is perhaps one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. It has become one of the busiest performing arts centers in the world, putting Sydney on the map forever.

The behind the scenes tour was very informative.  Please not that picture taking is allowed except in designated areas which your guide will point out. We went inside two of the theaters but were not allowed to take any pictures inside. There are many diverse performances held at the Opera House - not just operas. The first stage we saw was being setup for a children's performance.

They also take your photo when you start the tour and offer a souvenir book with photo at the end of the tour. We purchased the souvenir book for another 40 AUD. There are two options, postcard or photo download. The postcards would have been another 10 AUD, so we just took the download option.

After our tour we headed back to our hotel for the evening to get some rest.  It had been a long couple of days for us.   We had left home on Wednesday and it was now 6 PM on Thursday, due to the time zone difference.   We are glad that we forced ourselves to keep going since we got a lot of our sightseeing accomplished this first day.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Intercontinental Hotel Sydney
Sydney Opera House
The Royal Botanical Garden


Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat

Thoughts on Memorial Day 2018

History of Memorial Day: Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. May 30th was chosen for Decoration Day because it was believed that flowers would be in bloom all across the country.

On Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. In the early days of our country, no regulations existed for flying the flag at half-staff and, as a result, there were many conflicting policies. But on March 1, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower issued a proclamation on the proper times.

You will notice in the collage above, that the flag is flying at half-staff. Those pictures were taken during our visit to the American Cemetary in Normandy, France. It was very moving seeing row after row of graves. For more pictures from our visit to Normandy, see my previous posts on the topic and also our cruise vacations website.

I've mentioned several times in the past about the opportunity to relive history while on a cruise vacation. This is especially true in Europe due to the large battle field from the World Wars. Whether your cruise vacation takes you to Normandy, France or Honolulu, Hawaii, please take some time to visit a historical site and pay your respects to the troops that fought to keep America strong. We have done so on several cruises and of all the trips we've taken, those tend to stand out in my mind. Don't forget to bring you children with you so that they too can learn about war first hand.

As Albert Schweitzer said "... Wargraves are the great communicators of peace ..." Perhaps another more striking quote was by George Santayanan who said "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

And who can forget those immortal words of President John F. Kennedy: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. "

To the brave men and women, living and deceased, who have taken President Kennedy's charge to heart, Thank You for your Service. May we never forget the sacrifices you have made.