David Hopkins (Plant Engineering, 1991) just returned from a 7 day cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager with stops at Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Finland, Visby, Sweden, and Copenhagen. He then flew over to Nice France for 4 days and then over to England for 8 days before boarding the Crystal Serenity for a 66 day cruise around the Mediterranean. They stopped at: Honfleur France, Lisbon, Cadiz and Barcelona in Spain, St.Tropez Franc, Monte Carlo Monaco. Livorno, Portifino, Rome, Tieste, Venice, Naples, Sorrento, all in Italy. Then Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia. Corfu, Santorini, and Athens in Greece. Alexandria Egypt, and Kusadasi Turkey. Casablanca Morocco, Canary Islands, Tenerife, Madeira and finally disembarked in Lisbon Portugal.

Several people have asked about the 28 day train trip that he did starting in Moscow then across Russia to Volgograd, Across Uzbekistan, across Kazakhstan then across China from Jiayuguan to Beijing (the old silk route). This is a once in a lifetime trip. He has many maps from Cities around the world if anyone is interested. He will be in Australia from November 27th until December 22, 2006.

Jan and Harold Pfeifer (EPD, 1993) just returned from a 26 day trip to Tasmania (Hobart): Australia (via flights to Melbourne), Ayers Rock, Alice Station, Darwin, Cairns [Great Barrier Reef], and Sydney. Then they flew to New Zealand and visited Christchurch, Queenstown, Ferry between South and North NZ, Wellington and Auckland, by motor coach.

Australia highlights: Tasmanian Devils, The BIG Ayres Rock, Crocs in the Outback near Darwin, looking at sea life at the Reef, and touring Sidney (Opera House including performance), the Harbor Bridge with climbers on top, Harbor Dinner Cruise, and city sights.

NZ: Farms and ranches enroute to cities; So. NZ has high western, mountain ranges with heavy snow, sheep grazing everywhere, and domesticated deer and elk [in high fenced areas] both raised for meat, 44 million sheep available for wool, meat, et al, and many scenic attractions in towns. All areas in NZ were green with many rivers, lakes, etc. At the time [Oct-Nov 2006] Australia was experiencing the worst drought ever. Summary: “three great places to go and see”

There is no Retirees luncheon in December. The next one will be January 17, 2007. The annual October Dinner/Dance was very enjoyable. Everyone enjoyed the band and dancing. But some lady left a pair of size 6-6-1/2 black high heeled dancing shoes in the room. Jeff Garberson took them home and tried unsuccessfully to find the owner. Jane Olson now has them, so please call her to retrieve them.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. (This article appears in the December issue of Newsline)

Please send any news or input (please include the date and department from which you retired) to Jane or Gus Olson. E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.