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For Suzanne, the trip to California was a trip down memory lane, flavoured with the pleasure of showing Michael, where she was born and lived as a child and later in her late
teens.
For most of the vacation, they stayed with a family friend – Darlene - and Suzanne met with old friends .
San Francisco was thoroughly explored, both as tourists and "shoppers". Suzanne and Michael walked the streets and many stairs of San Francisco and took the ferry in to town
early in the morning from Larkspur where they stayed at a nice hotel in the wonderful hiking and cycling country side north of San Francisco.
During the two weeks stay, they also had some wonderful days at a condo at Pajaro Dunes beach resort together with Darlene, went to Sacramento for a concert, met with old
friends of the family and took a trip up the coast and enjoyed driving the rented - upgraded - Chrysler and the different
Cultural food was explored in the evenings for dinner at many Restaurants. Seafood was a treat and a favourite.
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During a phone call with Christine - a close collegue - Jorgen aked about her preferences of Skiing Resort. Her reply was simply: "Val d'isére". It was to such an extend, that
she and her husbond - Luc - had bought an apartment there in 2011. We were not hesitant to accept, when they kindly offered us to use it.
This gave the opportunity to be skiing in one of the largest ski areas in Europe and to expand the vacation beyond the standard 6-7 days when doing a "packaged trip". We made
individual arrangements, flying from Copenhagen to Grenoble and from there the direct Ski Bus to Val d'isére.
The skiing was absolutely magnificent and so was the weather, which were sunny for 8 out of 9 days skiing.
The return trip was planned to cater for a long lived dream for both Daniel and Jorgen to try a "Fast Train". They took the train to Lyon and changed to the TGV which brought
them to Charles de Gaule Airport from where they returned to CPH by plane.
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March: It is a tradition that the 8th (second to last) grade performs a "School Play". This year was no exception and "Aladin" was chosen. Daniel played the lead part
as the Sultan (far left).
Kind of amusing for Jorgen as "Aladin" was THE play, he was part in when at Daniel's age, however, not in the same prominent role, but in the more humble role as executioner…
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June: Jorgen's 2 sisters came to stay for Midsummer. The term "Summer", didn't, however cover the type of weather we had during their stay. It was raining and rather cold...
On Midsummers Eve on the 23 June, we lined up for the traditional motor trip to Bellevue Beach in "Mary Lou, to see the bunfires and the fireworks. Unfortunately, the trip had to be cancelled,
because the engine didn't start, due to a exhausted start battery..
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July: The 1 of July 2012 became a major milestone in Jorgen's life.... In March he inquired, whether there was any possibility of making a "deal" for an early retirement. The company gave a
good offer, so good, that it couldn't be turned down, consequence of which was, that Jorgen - after 33 years with the company – made an early retirement.
The "preparation" for retirement was much harder than expected. First of all many tasks had to be completed before time and at the same time a "hand over" had to be performed.
On the 6 July, there was a "farewell" lunch with a few of the colleagues, who had played a vital part in Jorgen's working life. As it was Jorgen's call to decide on the venue, the local
Yacht Club was chosen and after a splendid lunch we moved to Fortunvej, where some of the spouses joined. It was pitch dark before the last guests left, but it was so wonderful, that Jorgen wouldn't have minded that
the "party" continued...Pictures
The thoughts about retirement, which are running through ones mind before the actual day are very different from the thinking after.... Since the 1 of July, Jorgen has hardly thought
about work and the company, whereas the thoughts about good colleagues have been very frequent. One can hope it will stay that way
What the future will bring is hard to tell, but one thing is sure and that is that sailing will play a big part...and this year it started 22 July with a return of 12 October!
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2012 became the year where Suzanne was caught by the "Bicycle Bug" and bought an extremely nice light weight bike, on which she is doing a lot of milage. She is actually driving the bike to work
and back, which is about 20 km a day.
In the middle of July, Michael and her decided to ride the 45 km to Roskilde and stay the nicht in a local hotel. The next day they were seight seeing around Roskilde, before returning home.
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2 - 15 August - Skovshoved to Stockholm
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The original plan was that Jorgen would pick-up Michael in Snogebæk, Bornholm, where he spend a weeks "Sumer Colony". However, the weather forecast did not support that plan, and Michael was
informed to join his group on the trip to Ystad, Sweden, where Jorgen would pick him up at the ferry.
When asked for his priorities, Michael said that he was interested in a fast trip to Stockholm, to give him time to see most as possible of the Swedish Capital before he had to return to Denmark
and School.
It was a nice trip, which is more thoroughly descriped in "Mary Lou's" Electronic Logbook.
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16 - 31 August - Stockholm to Helsinki
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After Michael's departure on 15 August, Skipper was on his own. The next morning he left Stockholm on his trip to Helsinki.
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3 - 5 September- St. Petersburg.
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After some days in Helsinki, Jorgen took his last "company paid " travel as he took the train to St. Petersburg. In 33 years, Jorgen had been part of the "Holliday Lottery". Having forgot everything about this, it was a welcomed surprise to be informed in May, that he was the ! The prize did not pay the complete
travel, but a major part of it.
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On the 14 November, it was "End of Season" for "Mary Lou" as she was pulled on shore for the winter. After seeing her safe on shore, Jorgen left for another trip, this time
by car to Oslo to celebrate his sister's birthday.
On his way, he stayed with his sailing friend Lasse, who has a boat similar to "Mary Lou". He lives in Särö, just south of Gothenburg. The stay was used for discussions on
how to navigate in tidal Scottish Waters as Lasse hold a waste knowledge of this and Jorgen plans to sail there either in 2013 or -2014. One day was used for sightseeing the Southern area of
Gothenburg, mostly concentrated on harbours and boats !
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Right: Lasse in front of his Laurin 32 "Valborg"
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From Särö, the trip continued to Oslo, where Jorgen stayed with his sister Vibeke.
On the Saturday, Gitte and Halvor (Jorgen's brother) had invited Vibeke to the - almost – traditional birthday celebration dinner and Jorgen "came along", also "almost" traditionally.
Contrary to the Saturday, Sunday turned up as a splendid sunny Autumn day, given a chance for Vibeke and Jorgen to have a walk in the wonderful nature, which surrounds her
apartment, especially Bokstad Gård.
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