Onawa couple cruises to nowhere

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Anne and Dave Radke, of Onawa, Iowa, world travelers who always sport their Iowa State University colors, stand before the Arc de Triomf (Arch de Triumph) in a recent visit to Barcelona, Spain. The Radkes spent two weeks in Barcelona, the result of a broken down cruise ship.

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Anne and Dave Radke stand with an Iowa State Cyclones flag, a flag they travel with EVERYWHERE, outside Cava Freixenet, a cava winery in Barcelona, Spain. The Radkes are ISU supporters who love unveiling their flag -- and sporting the Cardinal & Gold -- all across the world.

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Dave Radke, of Onawa, Iowa, is shown inside Antoni Gaudi's magnum opus, the Las Sagrada Familia, on which construction began in 1882. The architect moved into the structure as he worked in 1910. It won't be completed until 1926, marking the 100th anniversary of the death of the architect.

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Dave and Anne Radke, of Onawa, Iowa, attended the funeral of Anne's uncle, Bill Peterson, of Iowa City, Iowa, who was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The Storm Lake, Iowa, native was honored with an Honor Guard, a military band and a riderless horse pulling his flag-draped coffin.

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TIM GALLAGHER

ONAWA, Iowa | Dave and Anne Radke, of Onawa, were soooo ready to put 2016 in the past.

Consider these sad developments in their lives: Dave's mother, Dorothy Radke, of Hanover, Iowa, died; Anne's mother, Jan Alderton, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died; Anne's uncle, Bill Peterson, Iowa City, Iowa, died and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

In between, there were households to pack up, estates to work on.

"We decided to get rid of 2016 by going on a cruise to Monaco," Anne said. "So, that's how we rang out the old year and tried to ring in 2017."

The Viking cruise, a 2-week adventure through the Mediterranean, would also coincide with the couple's 39th wedding anniversary. And while the 39th anniversary might not be as significant as, say, the 40th, Anne knew that they'd celebrate that occasion surrounded by children and grandchildren next Christmas, per family custom.

So, the Radkes set sail.

The funny thing -- or, the not-so-funny thing -- is that the Viking cruise went nowhere. The Radkes flew into Barcelona, Spain, and spent a day seeing sights before boarding a luxury cruise liner that first hit the water in May. Just as the ship left Barcelona, trouble developed.

The Radkes were both getting a massage when an urgent message crackled across the ship's intercom system. Anne laughed and said the message reminded her of a "Code blue" alert at a hospital. Both she and Dave wondered if a passenger aboard the ship was having a heart attack.

"It was actually a code for a fire alert," Anne said. "A transformer blew out and the cooking vents reacted as if the ship were on fire."

Luckily, it wasn't. And soon the ship churned out of port, destined for a half-dozen countries in a 14-day trek.

And while many passengers watched a movie, played cards, exercised or visited that afternoon, Dave Radke kept his eyes on a monitor showing the progress of the ship. He observed that the ship was slowly turning around.

The ship pulled back into Barcelona, where it docked for 14 days. The Radkes missed Rome, Florence, Monaco, Tunisia, Malta and more. Instead, they made do, feasting on daily doses of Barcelona history.

"We went each day into the Barcelona area as local travel companies offered us buses and tour guides," Anne said. "Normally with Viking, one excursion per day is offered free. Well, all of ours were free and some of them were eight to 10 hours. We had our choice of many, many things each day."

The couple toured Cava Freixenet, said to be the world's largest cava winery, even traveling deep into the bowels of the winery's cave. They spent many hours in a museum created by artist Salvador Dali, one he erected in a burned out building.

"Dali might not have been on our itinerary had the ship not broken down," she said.

The Radkes learned much about Barcelona's effort in hosting the 1888 and 1929 World's Fair and 1992 Summer Olympic Games. Spain, they learned, has some of the most preserved Romanesque structures in the world, architectural marvels not damaged by the winds of war, as have others across Europe.

They joined tour groups intent on learning more about Antoni Gaudi, a Spanish architect, a genius said to have helped impact the Catalan Modernist movement.

"Gaudi started building a cathedral (the Sagrada Familia), then got hit by a trolley and died in 1926," Anne said. "Work continues on his cathedral and it is set to be done by 2026 (to mark the 100 years since his death)."

The only day the couple remained on the boat was Jan. 6. And on that day, a lighted boat parade passed, an event that highlighted the Feast of the Epiphany, the official end of the Christmas season, a day in which residents of Spain shower gifts upon one another.

The Radkes already felt blessed, having been on a "tour to nowhere" that became a fantastic way to ring in 2017.

Officials with the Viking line did all they could do to compensate their guests in the way of outright cash and credit for a future cruise.

Anne Radke said she and Dave will take them up on the offer, gladly.

"We didn't go anywhere, but we stayed on a boat that has a five-star hotel, stayed there for free for two weeks," she said. "They fed us daily and took us on an excursion each day."

If she had to assign a grade to their tour on a broken boat, Anne Radke would give it an "A."

"We've already signed up for two more cruises," she said.