Someday Travel (2024)

02/09/2024

Windsor had the very best train station of the whole trip and the town is charming. London used to have really dreary architecture, now everything going up is stunning. Next stop is the airport, then home later today. The last leg of any trip is always the best. Ready to sleep in my own bed.

28/08/2024

Not the one I expected, but still quite something to see out of the train when you least expect it. Now I’m interested in chalk horses!

28/08/2024

On a day trip to Wi******er Cathedral and maybe Salisbury, which is one of my English favorites. Along the way we will pass a grand Neolithic Celtic chalk drawing of a horse carved into the side of a hill that has been preserved since as long as 1300 BCE. The only time it hasn’t been visible was when it was covered with dirt during WWII because it could have been used by German bombers as a landmark. Even today it is maintained regularly by people who work on hands and knees to keep the original outline. From the train it’s a fleeting image that is hard to capture in a photo. I wish the train train had a stop there so I could get a good picture. Aside from that, we’re rediscovering Cardiff and already know we need more time there. Having a great reunion with Anne and Colin. A week from now we’ll be getting back to normal and sleeping in our own bed. Yeah!

25/08/2024

More pictures of pretty Stamford. Tomorrow it's on to Cardiff.

25/08/2024

Bob likes to make fun of my choices for where we stay. I like to think I find places that are unique and interesting. In Stamford we're staying in an old seed mill that has been turned into apartments. How many people can say they've done that? Sure, I'd have preferred not to have to climb 28 steps to get there, but I keep telling myself it's good for my leg muscles.

25/08/2024

Some photos from Burghley House, now part of the British National Trust, a stately home built by William Cecil, who was a very close advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, daughter of King Henry VIII. No one seems to know exactly how many rooms the house has, but it is still a private home to one of the Cecil descendants, and although we didn't get into the private quarters, those rooms that are open to the public are remarkable. Today it was hosting was a food fair for thousands of locals turned out to picnic on the grounds and explore the house, gardens and all the associated buildings. For the last month they have been preparing for an annual world class equestrian competition which will take place in a week or two.

Although it's officially owned by the government, it is tasked with supporting itself, and through a lot of creativity seems to be a thriving place for locals and tourists alike to enjoy. The closest place we can compare it to in the US is the Biltmore House, and recently it hosted a party for some of the Vanderbilt descendants who are also descendants of the Cecil's. Small world, except that the royal world from the Cecil era was fairly tight.

Of course we got off track (kinder word than lost) walking there and ended up talking to a grounds employee for about 30 minutes about what it's like to work at such a place.

Throughout the house, the room guides were an wealth of information about the history of the family past and present. We finally got shooed out of the kitchen by the "boss" of the room's docent who was a wealth of knowledge. That kitchen is one of the few I've ever been in that had enough storage space to please the lady of the house. Interestingly, the current residents have only 2 butlers and a housekeeping service. While the kitchen we saw was from the 1500's, I can't imagine today's lady of the house cooking their own food.

22/08/2024

Some photos from Tuesday 8/20 when we were in delightful and charming Alnwick, and the castle the city supports. We’re dealing with computer connectivity issues. They should get resolved tomorrow.

22/08/2024

Intended to post yesterday, Aug 21, 2024; stymied by connection problems with internet. Photos when I get better service.

These Scots are a hardy bunch. We’re bundled up daily against the rain and cold in jacket and hoodie, and most of the locals are dressed like they’re going to the beach. Temps have been in the 50’s and 60’s and even the babies are taken out without being wrapped up. They certainly toughen them up from a very young age.

We’ve been going to some historic towns. After months of planning, I couldn’t remember why I wanted to go to Alnwick, but it was a good choice. The castle, in addition to being where the Harry Potter Quiddich game was filmed, it was also the set for Downton Abbey’s Christmas film and a number of other movies. It’s hard to imagine it being a private family residence, but it’s clear that the castle drives the local economy, and it must be a tremendous responsibility trying to maintain it all. Along the way, we passed Lindisfarne, which Vikings watchers will recall was where Loki and Ragnar raided the monastery in the first episode, killing most of the monks and destroying those priceless illuminated bibles that are in museums today. The ruins of that monastery are still there, and though we couldn’t get there because of how the tides surround the island, it was amazing to see it from a distance.

We just listened to the ticket taker tell some guys on the train they’re on the wrong train, going the wrong direction. I can relate to that. Although it hasn’t happened (yet) on this trip, I’ve ended up having to get off and turn around more than once, hence my travel rule # 2; Things will go wrong, and #3; you will lose some money. But once I got use to the idea that “You’re going somewhere”, it’s not so bad, and is just another adventure.

Today we head to York and more medieval history as we work our way toward Wales to reconnect with friends Anne and Colin, revisit some favorite sites there, and find some new ones.

16/08/2024

Travel Rule #2: Things Will Go Wrong.

Most trains have electrical outlets for electronics, so as we were settling in for the long ride from Inverness to Glasgow, I plugged my laptop into the socket. All of a sudden I got a shock from my laptop, then BOOM! sparks and smoke flew, I could smell something burning, the lights in the train went dark, a motor stopped running, the air conditioning went off and everything went quiet.

My first thought was, “Oh s**t, I just blew up the train!”

Second thought was that I blew up my Mac, because it had char marks on the keypad area.

A little later I decided I was lucky I hadn’t gotten electrocuted, but then I started to wonder if I would get arrested and how much it was going to cost to pay for a burned out electrical system of a train.

Luckily, no one came for me, the engines started up and we moved on like normal, but the A/C never did come back on in our car and it was a very uncomfortable and stuffy 6 hour ride. The next day, a guy at the Apple store couldn’t believe it fried the cord but not the Mac.

I’m thankful I didn’t get arrested for blowing up the car.

Other than that, Edinborough is thoroughly delightful, ridiculously crowded, and endlessly interesting. Where else can you find an almost naked guy balancing on a ladder while juggling knives? Not to mention men in kilts playing bagpipes, or the random Viking warrior on the corner?

BTW, Cullen Skink is the best name ever for fish soup. And really good, too.

02/08/2024

Stockholm is now in the rear-view mirror, our Oslo’s stopover is over, and we’re making our way toward the fjords of Norway.

Our stay in Stockholm could not have been any better. The home we enjoyed was accessed through a small but busy alley in the oldest part of town, through a heavy wooden door with what looks like the original iron ring from the 1600’s still guarding the entrance tunnel lined with niches for candles to provide light before electricity was introduced. Two flights of winding stairs that show the wear of centuries took us to the delicate historic home that has all the charm of being cared for by its history-loving occupants, Gunilla and Bengt. They took us through an obscure door that led to an even deeper basement full of vaulted stone and brick lined rooms, suitably dark, a bit damp, and certainly spooky enough to house a resident ghost who unfortunately didn’t make his presence known for us, but has the residents convinced of his occupancy there. In my imagination, it would have made for a perfect dungeon. For a 500-something year old building that was once the property of a princess, but which now serves as a community center for the building residents, complete with each owner’s own wine cellar space, it was not like anything we’d experienced before. It was a very unique and enjoyable living space, very much different from what we’re used to. They also showed us around the sparkling waterfront and described life in this obviously affluent city. I could easily adapt to summers here. I’m not sure I could survive the winters.

We were introduced to our final dinner by a hairy Viking who got the crowd’s attention by blowing into an animal horn that sounded as though something was dying before insulting us to a raucous crowd. A musician sat in a wall niche and played instruments suitable to the Viking age in a way that engaged the crowd seated elbow to elbow at long wooden tables with benches that were almost impossible to crawl over in a cavernous basement that was dark, hot, candle-lit and jam-packed. Eating implements of that age weren’t very conducive to easy use, so there was a lot of finger eating going on. And table pounding. And shouting. It gave us the feeling of what it would have been like to live in that era.

It was on to Oslo for a brief look at that city today before continuing on toward the fjords tomorrow. Oslo sparkles as much as Stockholm, and there have obviously been efforts to upgrade the city and its Central Station since I was here last. One thing I noticed on this trip is that I haven’t used any currency at all since arriving. Everything, even the 20 krona it costs to use the bathroom has gone on the credit card. I mentioned to Bob that the few gypsies I’ve seen on the streets begging probably don’t get many donations without the use of coins.

The ride through Norway is getting progressively more scenic and picturesque. The mountains and waterways are beautiful, as they always are. On to the fjords tomorrow.

Bob arrived as expected on Monday with what started as a slight sniffle which quickly turned him into Snuffleopogus, then morphed into the territory of “Poor Bob” and is now threatening to break into “Poor, poor, pitiful me” territory. His original idea of treating a cold was to take a cough drop, which I quickly axed in favor of a trip to the apothecary for various sprays, liquids and anything else they could throw at him. Unfortunately, Sudafed isn’t available over the counter here, so it’s all going to be lightweight treatment and he’ll probably just have to ride it out, at least for a couple of days. At the moment we're in Flam, and so remote there's no medical help anywhere close. Tomorrow might warrant a trip to a medical center if we can find one in Bergen.

30/07/2024

Bob jamming with ABBA at their museum. The VR was very cool.

27/07/2024

I just got the sweetest note from a young woman who lives in Britain. We met her and a group of her friends in 2022 in Naples, had just the BEST afternoon together, and left with great memories. To hear from her now is just so sweet; it really made my day. Thanks, Lily!

27/07/2024

My travel partner in Stockholm for the past month has been Eve, a Polish/American doctor (retired) who practiced medicine along the Brittany coast of France for many years and would like nothing better than to live full time in England. Neither of us can quite figure you how she (or I for that matter) ended up in Florida. We didn’t really know each other very well before traveling together so that was a little risky. The agreement was that I would take care of providing the lodging and she would buy the food and do all the cooking. I was looking forward to enjoying some authentic Polish food, she was happy to be staying in a historic house in Old Town. I think we both feel like we got a good deal and are both happy with how it turned out.

Tunnbrödsrulle: I’ve never eaten one of these things, in fact I read about them for the first time this morning. Apparently, Anthony Bourdain discovered them after a night of heavy drinking some years ago and included eating one on one of his TV shows. So it now shows up on every GenX YouTube tourist video on the internet. At any rate, I had nothing else planned for today, so I set out to find one for myself. And it wasn’t too long before there I was, standing before what I soon realized was the Swedish Tunnbrodsrulle version of the soup N**i in a food truck.

Thank goodness I was smart enough to stand back and watch the process before getting in line to place my order. When the scruffy old guy in the food truck started peppering me with questions, i.e. “Pork or beef? Spicy or mild? Garlic or no garlic? Onions or no onions? Shrimp salad or no shrimp salad”?, the look of terror apparently overtook my face, and a lady beside me whispered in my ear “Just say ‘yes please' to every question". Eventually the interrogation ended and I stepped aside to wait for my order. A guy on the other side of me chuckled and commented, “First time ordering tunnbrödsrulle, huh?” Feeling thoroughly chastened for having failed the ordering process, I squeaked out something to the effect of not being sure I’d live to see tomorrow after ordering and eating this thing.

Who in their right mind puts a hot dog together with mashed potatoes and a side of mayonaise based shrimp salad, then throws on garlic, onions, ketchup, mustard, mayo and heaven knows what other mystery sauce, wraps the whole mess into what looks like a giant tortilla, and serves it to be eaten with a wooden fork? Oddly enough it was really good, but then again, I was really hungry, and it probably should be good for the roughly $10 it cost me. That said, there were enough calories, carbs and fats in that thing to carry me through the rest of the day so I didn't have to eat again.

The one thing Eve and I diverged on somewhat concerned food. Her cooking is good, very authentic, and I appreciated the effort that she put into every meal. But she’s a strict vegetarian, won’t buy anything that has processed food ingredients, keeps her cooking minimal and very pure. Absolutely healthy eating. She won't go anywhere near a food truck. I, on the other hand, am a lifelong carnivore, will eat anything that tastes good, and have no doubt ingested enough food additives and preservatives over my lifetime to be self-embalmed by this point.

Eve left this morning to return to Poland. She's looking forward to going back into the forest to forage for mushrooms. I went out in Stockholm in search of a food truck to eat tunnbrödsrulle. I think we’re both happy.

11/07/2024

I remember the days when one couldn't go through the airport without the Hari Krishna's handing out flowers and hoping for donations. Apparently they've grown old and moved to Sweden. Old Town is packed with tourists but the countryside is lovely.

06/07/2024

I went back to visit my favorite haunted pub in Stockholm yesterday. It's only a couple of blocks from the house where I'm staying. It's changed since I was there last, the entrance was moved to around the corner and they've added a microbrewery in recent years. But apparently Aurora, the resident ghost, is still in the house.

When I explained my past conversations with the owner, who is of wealthy descent and still lives upstairs, the new manager went on to tell me how the real Aurora who lived in the 1500's told the king what he could do to himself when she wasn't interested in becoming his mistress. He didn't take lightly to being told to shove off and took away absolutely everything she owned. She ended up setting up what was apparently a very successful brothel in the basement of the now restaurant and went on to become highly successful, marketing to a very high end government constituency. But apparently not the king.

She's not made herself known to a lot of people but most recently a temporary dishwasher commented about the "angry woman" who'd approached him in the basement, where she apparently resides somewhere behind the kitchen.

I offered to wash dishes for a few days in hopes of meeting her, but alas, they don't need me. How cool it would be to have an encounter with her! Maybe next time.

02/07/2024

It's full daylight at 3:00 a.m. in a house with no shades and a totally screwed up personal sleep pattern after a roughly 24 hr effort to get to Stockholm. But, we're in the heart of Old Stockholm in a house that was built in 1640 and furnished with antiques, including one chest dated 1623, which helps mitigates a lot of sleep deprivation. I'm here with an acquaintance for almost a month before Bob arrives and we journey together through Norway, following the trails of the Vikings and the Jacobites through Scotland and England before visiting friends in Wales. It's only day one, but already I'm loving the cool, clean fresh air, listening to seabirds disturb what little rest I did get through the night, and trying to figure out the coffee maker in the kitchen which still has the original flue and exposed brick walls, old plank floors, and more charm and character than modern conveniences.

05/06/2024

We had a memorable experience today on the way to the Grand Canyon, while passing through Navajo country. We’d just finished listening to an audiobook about the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII. Part of the book talked about how they were sworn to silence after the war and no one knew what they did for decades. We decided to stop at one of the many roadside jewelry stands shortly after we finished the book. I struck up a conversation with the man selling jewelry after hearing him talk something I couldn’t understand, and he told us his father was one of the original Code Talkers, a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima and other battle fronts but never spoke of it other than to this son that someday he would learn of what they did. It wasn’t until Bush II that they were recognized by the government. He gave us his father’s name and we looked him up on the Internet. I wish I had taken his picture. I did shake his hand. Everything he said was true. Such are the experiences that make travel worthwhile.

14/10/2023

I’m off to what may be the greatest adventure of my lifetime. Granddaughter Marley and I are on our way to Paris for a week! She earned this, having worked her way out of a very dark and difficult place to where she met the goals that were set for her and is now thriving.

Getting here wasn’t easy. She worked hard for a year only to fall seriously ill just two weeks before we were supposed to leave. We had to cancel that trip which meant we had only the week of JHS fall break to make it up. It took some deep breaths, a lot of work and the cooperation of her her parents, teachers and employer to reschedule, but here we are sitting in JFK waiting for our next flight which will land at CDG early tomorrow morning.

My hope is that when she is my age and I’m long gone, she tells her grandkids about crazy old grandma who took her to Paris when she was 16. Even better will be if she does the same thing .

Someday Travel

02/09/2024

28/08/2024

28/08/2024

25/08/2024

25/08/2024

25/08/2024

22/08/2024

22/08/2024

16/08/2024

02/08/2024

30/07/2024

27/07/2024

27/07/2024

11/07/2024

06/07/2024

02/07/2024

05/06/2024

14/10/2023

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