Europe

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Dispatches From Dublin

Wow, it’s been nearly a month since my last update!  The main reason for this post is that I’ve completed my photos from Dublin, but I realize for anyone who doesn’t check Facebook, you may not know I ever got back!  It was a mostly uneventful return.  I did manage to leave my power adapter…

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Paris It is A Wrap

Two days to catch up on before I go upstairs and try to jam everything into my bag. I really haven’t gotten more than a few postcards and magnets since the package I sent home from Ireland, but everytime I re-pack that bag it feels like it’s not going to zip shut this time. Probably…

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Paris or Bust

As I expected, I was first to bed last night and there was a new room-mate in addition to the Italian. Never saw him or heard him so zero details. Morning came too fast. I woke 20 minutes before my alarm and lay there trying to get that last bit of sleep to no avail….

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Dublin Dénouement

Ah, my time in Dublin is rapdily diminshing like the grains of sand between my fingers.  If all goes as planned, this time tomorrow I’ll be in France! Yesterday I awoke to a gray and misty wet day.  I immediately recognized it as a classic museum day!  I set off after breakfast for the national…

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Irish Ghosts

Yesterday was bus day. There’s no other name for it. I knew it was worth it to go ahead and waste a night than adding another night in Galway and losing today getting here, but it didn’t make it nicer knowing that. I woke up and had a leisurely morning. I had walked enough of…

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Goodbye Galway

I think I’ve done fairly well with my couch potato plans. I haven’t exactly been laying on a couch, but I’m also having an equally hard time coming up with what exactly I have been doing. I have wandered some and seen more of the city, more residential and commercial areas, nothing special but part…

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Galway Potato

So, we’re working our way through day two of my planned couch potatoing. Oh and yes, for those who didn’t see my post on Facebook, I am off the island at last! No disrespect for Inis Mor and the Aran Islands. I am sure they are a splendid place in the summer, spring, and fall…

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Abandon All Hope

It’s not just the pizza island, it’s the island of no return! No ferries ran today because of a storm. The winds were “50km” per hour. You do the math my friends who live in miles as I do. I just know that it was hard to close the doors behind you here today for…

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To Galway With Love

Maybe it’s too early to be confessing this, but I think I’m in love with Galway. I slept in a bit, but considering I was past midnight getting the last post done, cut me some slack. In my real life, I’m a night owl. Here, I’ve been anything but. So I rose and shown so…

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Galway or Bust

Wow, long day! Actually long night, too! Last evening, I was simply struggling to stay awake as early as 6pm! To be fair, little doubt that my sinus infection plus sore throat were not helping matters. Still I couldn’t go to bed so early, so I emailed friends and generally commented on half of what…

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Dublin Dazed

I’ve been fighting a cold since getting back to Dublin. I blame one part winter cold to one part tour crud. That and a genuine need to do laundry was why I spent the day in yesterday. This morning I woke up feeling like I had turned a little corner, less stuffy and throat less…

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Derry to Dublin

Wow, so much catch up to do that I’m sure the details will be woefully lacking in some parts! It was a fast if fun trek and I find myself taking a small breather today in Dublin while the laundry is going. From Derry, we made our way through ice and sleet to the city…

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Dublin to Derry

Ah, finally a few minutes with an actual computer instead of just scratching off a few notes on my iPhone!   That and a power point (outlet) by my bed so that I can charge tonight is pure heaven! Wow, my standards for a fun time are declining! This is my third day in Ireland…

Street Photography - picture of people on London's Millennium Bridge

On The Horizon

I’m still working on photos from England in September and my next trip is literally on the horizon.  I’ll be in Costa Rica just a few days after Christmas, and in Nicaragua when the New Year rolls around.  I’ll accumulate more photos, so I really have to buckle down and finish with London already!  I…

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What Was That

That was my time in the UK whizzing past at a bit over the speed of sound.  I fly back in the morning.  I should rightly be in bed already.  I for some reason thought I had a flight back around 1pm but checked the print out when I got back in tonight and realized…

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Looking Back

I have no idea where to begin.  I really haven’t properly logged my experience in Cornwall, and I don’t have my notes with me and I’m bushed.  For the moment, we’ll leave it at incredible.  Newquay was a gorgeous piece of earth, as was all of Cornwall.  It was the quintessential English experience, even if the…

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Paris Maybe Not

Arrived back I’m London late afternoon to a bit of an issue. There was a fire in the tunnel under the English channel. All service today canceled. A descision on tomorrow to be made overnight. I’m at the train station now to sort out what I can do. Very lucky to have booked a room…

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Where Lands End

Day 3 in the UK.  I wandered a lot my first afternoon. Bright and early the next morning was my meeting with the Haggis Tour bus for my Cornwall tour.  It’s a relatively small group of 10, which I think is fairly good as tours go. First day was making our way down to Newquay…

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Fuel Required

Although I was doing my usual scampering around at the last minute Saturday, getting to the airport that night was relatively simple. Hardly any wait for the train, chech-in, or security. I walked the whole distance from the main terminal to E gates, hoping to tire myself out so I might sleep on the flight….

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Edinburgh Blues

Last day in Edinburgh. Tomorrow morning, I fly out at 9am… per Edinburgh Airport, that means I should be there at 6am… ouch… So, today needs to have an early conclusion so I can be done packing and all that fun stuff. I left with a 32 pound backpack, and I don’t think I’ve added…

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Scotland: Time Flies

I’ve one more full day in Scotland to report on and am days behind in updating my blog. What a combo… Ullapool to Fort Augustus More beautiful scenery and history. That was true every day of the trip to the point that it becomes hard to really describe it. Among other places, we stopped in…

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Skye’s The Limit

Yesterday was an entire day just on the Isle of Skye. The weather was decent, not perfect but good. Some occasional mist but really there was some sun, and it is Scotland in winter, so will not complain. Since we were spending another night on Skye in Kyleakin (think I spelled that right), the morning…

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Edinburgh: All Wet

Some of you may have seen on the news that Edinburgh’s street party was cancelled last night. All told since I’d been before, this wasn’t crushing news for me. It was still a unique event in my life. After dinner (chicken sandwich at a place called “Wannaburger” or something like that – probably a chain…

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Edinburgh: Multiplicity

As beautiful as yesterday was, today was its antithesis, but I’d read as much about today’s weather. I had a very late start. I think I stirred this morning around the appropriate time to wake-up, but I thought better of it. I didn’t actually wake up until about 10:30am local time. And by the time…