Unfortunately - here in Iceland - irresponsible bankers and playboys who were big shareholders in the banks, made a bad situation even worse. I won't go into details but as a result of their dealings the main banks here in Iceland and their branches abroad collapsed with a serious domino effects and now these guys' motto is: "We are in this all together". But the problem is, they have their bank accounts safely on the Caymans or similar places. We are left in the deep shit and without friends, except maybe the Russians. Believe it or not.
Well, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" Few weeks ago - mid September - my wife and I returned from cruising the Mediterranean Sea, celebrating our 50th wedding anniversay, visiting Monte Carlo and the Italian cities: Firenze, Rome, Napoli (Pompeii) and Palermo and finally back to Barcelona Spain where we started the voyage.Fortunately this was "pre deep-shit" and we fully enjoyed this trip. The ship, "Voyager of the Seas" is really a fantastic five star hotel and exceeded all our imaginations and expectations.
The trip gave me a good rest from genealogy (ha ha!) althoug I couldn't resist the thought - when I visited the church in Monte Carlo where Grace Kelly was married to Prince Rainer, and later buried, having died in a car accident, that one or two of you might be related to her :-) Look here.
In Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily we entered the church Martorana, founded by Roger II of Sicily, son of Roger I the Norman Count of Sicily. Roger I was the son of a petty lord in Normandy (France) and his wife Fressenda. She was daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy, the grandson of Rollo occasionally known as Rollo the Viking, (ca 846 - ca 932) the founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy. This Rollo has by historians been identified with a son of Rögnvaldur Eysteinsson, Earl of Mřre (Jarl á Mćri), in Western Norway, based on medieval Icelandic sagas that mention a Göngu Hrólf (Hrólfur the Walker). This Hrólfur fell foul of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, and became a Jarl in Normandy. The nickname of that character came from being so big that no horse (or at least not the Norwegian ponies of that era) could carry him. If this is all true (which it is of course) then Rollo is our 30th or so our grandfather. Se my Newsletter #48.
Rollo is the Great great great grandfather of William "the Conqueror" or William "the Bastard", if you want to trace that line.
So you see, even a visit to a church in a far away country can bring your thought towards the great hobby, Genealogy.
