10/17 Stromboli, Italy

The next morning I hooked up with a young married couple from the states, heading in the same direction.  Since we had a few hours until our boat was scheduled to depart we headed into the countryside to get a feel of the island.  My German friend from the previous day had not resurfaced.   …

11/24 Selesck, Turkey

As the storm cleared we helped put things back into place and decided to hang around another day.  About midday we took a walk into town and bought two bus tickets north toward Ephesus.  Our bus was scheduled to leave early the next morning.  All in all this was good company and I had enjoyed the time off the road.  I didn’t know what to expect heading into Turkey’s interior.  I was never taught in school much about Turkey.  …

07/28 Brussels Belgium

We headed into Gent to be part of its annual festival.  I, like a honeybee, danced from flower to flower collecting smiles, memorable fragrances.  The next day started off with the similar ritual of walking into Brugge’s main square for a cup of coffee, this time before we jumped a train into Brussels.  We trekked about the old section of the city and checked out the local sites.  Muscles in Brussels and beers, muscles in Brussels and beers.  …

06/19 Ring of Carrie, Ireland

We woke to another picturesque day and it wasn’t till we began driving the Ring of Kerry that we realized it was also a lucky day.  We were heading clockwise, south to north and every possible tourist and circus was traveling in the other direction.  This gave us the ability to stop and enjoy the scenery and not second guess our place in line or force us to let others dictate our pace. …

07/08 Northern Sweden

As I reached the Arctic Circle, I got off the train in what seemed to be a ghost town.  I would assume it was at least three in the morning and everything in sight was closed.  Although early in the morning the sun was still up creating an odd feeling, like being on a set of a twilight zone episode.  You could tell something was off.  I was carrying an address of a good place to stay that was given to me somewhere along the road.  At that point I really didn’t care how nice it was as long as it had a working shower.   …

10/06 Pisa, Italy

I was told of a nice beach just outside of Pisa so I snuck in an early shower again and took an early train out.  Tuscany provided an enchanting landscape painted in pastels.  I followed the tourists to the tower in Pisa, gave my two cents and climbed to the top.  With all those people hanging all over it I was surprised it hadn’t fallen and decided to head down before it did.  After strolling through the Duomo and viewing Ramous’s doors I wandered across the river to get a feel for the countryside and sat along the side of the bridge thinking.  Truth, like art is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.   …

05/19 Los Angeles, California

Imprisoned by my own curiosity. I felt as if I was looking up through trees that encircled my view, staring at the many branches and the fruits suspended beyond my grasp.  I knew I could no longer be satisfied simply to lie here on my back, closing my eyes and dreaming of things out of my reach.

…

05/25 Bath, England

We caught a morning bus into Bath.  There was such a beautiful view out the window I hardly noticed any of the other passengers.  I could almost imagine hearing the hunter’s horn heralding from the hills, the sound of dogs running alongside the hooves of horses.  I gazed at the many sheep spattered like white paint against the green, divided by a patchwork of trees and fences.  …

10/27 Matala, Crete Greece

With the birth of a new day we began to head back to fetch our bags from the hotel.  Beyond all odds we managed to fit all of us and all the baggage into one cab.  Two of us had to lie across laps in the back seat.  Our taxi driver slid in an eight-track and we were off to the airport.  I found it odd that the stewardess confiscated only the US passports and then forced us to sit in specific seats, “the American” section.  I guess in case of hijacking that would better protect the locals.  I believed my eyes closed for just a second but when they opened we were landing in Crete. …

09/10 Portofino, Italy

We traveled into Cote D’azur, then into San Remo.  The weather was just perfect.  It couldn’t have been any better with the white sand, blue water and cypresses dancing in the breeze.  Another day beckoned us to swim.  We stopped off in Ventimilia in search for an open bank.  There too we hung around the waterfront and just let the days slip away.  We arrived in Genova late one night and ran into a bit of difficulty locating a room.  This is par for the course.  …

12/15 Amsterdam, Netherlands

I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT ………………we now come to know the nature of change through Cognition ……… …

08/10 Zurich, Switzerland

Our rail passes provided free passage on numerous lake cruises, so we decided to take advantage.  We gathered up the ingredients for a day out on Lake Zurich.  Opened up a cold beer, claimed a table with a view and broke out the cards to continue the cribbage marathon from the night before.  What a perfect day it was to be out on a lake.  There was just the right mixture between the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the breeze and the temperature of the beer.  Man some of these homes that line the lake with their manicured yards and adornments screams money.  …

08/04 Mirabellgarden, Salzburg Austria

Today’s plan was to wander around the city in an attempt to locate our choir from home.  After another walk along the river, around the castle and up and down the many streets, I got the feeling we had taken the wrong approach to find our choir.  I began thinking it a better approach to let them find me.  That would at least reduce the walking.  In the middle of the squares in-between the castle and the church sat a large chess set, with pieces about two and a half feet in height.  …

08/12 Eiger, Switzerland

With the crack of dawn we were up to conquer the monster.  We had taken the first train into the heart of the Jungrau region, Grindelwald to the base of the Eiger.  We surveyed the landscape against a local map and selected the West slope since it was opposite from …