08/05 Salzburg, Austria

First words out of Jim mouth were a story about last night’s kiss and he presented it in such a way as if it was supposed to disturb me.  He had the idea I was interested in a particular lady and as the night wore on, that he had won the war.  I explained first that we are not in a competition, second I had no interest in either of the young women or I wouldn’t have retired alone early and third that he was an asshole to even consider it. …

11/11 Bethlehem, Israel

I wasn’t sure if our bus could make the trip but luckily Bethlehem was not that far of a ride.  Bethlehem was rather small and unexpectedly vacant.  Typically I liked to walk around the outskirts and then worked my way back toward my destination.  That gives me a better feeling of where I am.  The church was also empty and there was nobody inside its wall but the two of us.  It was kind of a shell of a church with an altar at the far end.   …

09/22 St. Malo, France

Along side the rising sun and took the early train toward St. Malo.  On that train I caught up on filling out stories on post cards and when I finally reached St. Malo the post office was my first destination.  I was still disappointed that I had lost my address book back in Scotland, but on the other hand I had fewer cards to fill out.  After I got situated in my room, I took a walk along the shore.  The ocean was crashing against the wall with an authority that made me feel alive.   …

06/12 Liverpool, England

We were on the road for about an hour after sunrise.   I was passing a small automobile with what looked to be three construction workers on their way to work.  As I sped up to pass them, I caught some of the loose gravel and slid sideways into them.  I’d say we at least traded paint but when I slowed down to deal with the situation they kept on driving.  …

08/23 Algarve, Portugal

Thank God everyday was a sunny beach day.  I began the day with some hair of the dog in a small grass shack that hugged the sand leading toward the water, just like yesterday.  I struck up a conversation with a young lady who had given me a strange gesture after a fly had landed on her shoulder.  We all look from different angles don’t we?  She was disgusted with the idea that the fly was attracted to something on her body.  I on the other hand would be more concerned with what the fly might have brought to me.  It’s a wonderful world that has more than one color.  …

09/02 Barcelona Spain

After a morning cup of coffee I took a direct route to the train station and boarded the first train heading towards Barcelona.  I didn’t offer Jim a single word.  He either followed or went his own way and at that point I wasn’t going to give it too much consideration.  I wasn’t interest in continuing the conversation from the night before so sat in my own compartment.  About a quarter of the way to Barcelona a group of travelers from North Africa joined in and donated some hash for the ride.  …

10/12 Napes Italy

When I woke up I notice that my knife was unchaperoned, sitting all by itself.  Most likely it was pushed away by me while I slept.  There were two elderly gentlemen sitting alongside the same bench staring at me and the knife.  I had gotten less than an hour of sleep and was still very tired and in need of a shower.  I followed those two gentlemen back into the heart of Naples.   …

06/07 Inverness, Scotland

We took a tour bus around the lock, walked along the water’s edge, waited and watched but never did see a sea monster.  I took off my shoes along its edge and waded ankle deep, for only seconds.  To a California boy this was cold.  One old man told me that this sea monster stuff had a lot to do with how much whiskey was drunk, but that didn’t help either.  …

09/24 Countryside, France

I wandered about the northern coast of France skipping from hostel to hostel and enjoying their fine cuisine.  Finding excellent food was easy but locating a smile or a friendly gesture from the locals was sometimes impossible.  I felt that the rudeness the Northern French dished out actually provided the glue that bonded us tourists closer together.  I came across a nice room in Blois and utilized it as home base to visit the chateaus in the area.  …

07/10 Kuopio, Finland

I darted around from one small town to another and eventually followed a young lady into Kuopio.  She explained that she had been traveling in Germany for the past few weeks and was reuniting with her boyfriend that evening.  We kinda hit it off and she went out of her way to call a few of her friends to see if they could accommodate me with a room.  She found me a beautiful cottage alongside one of the many lakes.  I understood the cottage was her parents or an Aunt but they, like most the folks this time of year, were away on holiday.  …

10/22 Corfu, Greece

Even though all the other guys had paid for a room joining the ladies outside became a priority.  Good looking women typically have that effect over men.  We all traded stories and passed around a few bottles of alcohol.  By the time we reached Corfu we had assembled into an interesting group of travelers.  Once we hit Corfu’s dock an elderly lady persuaded us to check out her hotel.  I used our group’s size as a bargaining chip and obtained a better rate for the group.   …

05/30 Stonehenge, England

Like a string of pearls, one complaint began to lead into another.  One minute it’s the weather, next minute it’s the price of food, carrying too much shit and then it was his feet.  “I’m not walking any further, maybe I’ll just fly home”, confronted Jim.  I reminded him that I was not his mother and if he thought I wanted to hear this shit, he had bigger problems than just his feet.  “Nobody’s putting a gun to your head and you don’t need my permission to make choices”.  I explained that I was not budgeted for repeating every other step and had a plan of what I wanted to see and experience and sometimes those things aren’t at the end of a train line.  “I’m committed to go forward and if you find it in your best interest to detour, I’m more than willing to meet you anywhere else on the map”.  “There’s no rule that says we have to do everything together”.  I provided an example of picking up women.  “I expect this to happen along the way and when we reach that fork in the road I’m sure you’re not going to be wanting me hanging around as a third wheel or vice versa.  We’ll just meet up someplace down the road”.  I tried to be a good person and attempt to avoid confrontations but traveling together has a tendency to bring these things to the surface.  Conflicts start and end with words.

Surely I dreamt today, or did I see. I wandered in this forest thoughtlessly
the clever boy that I once knew; with pebbles white and bread crumbs too
left no trail and lost my way, where all my pictures were thrown away

Through the forest, in the middle of a glade, forever nagging to persuade
no plank or bridge was placed in sight, only fists clinched as if to fight
the wind, the wind has caused me harm; you pulled too many false alarms.

09/17 Zermatt, Switzerland

I was up in the early hours staring out my window at the full moon and the Matterhorn bathing in its light.  I had awakened drained, partly hung over and in need of food.  But it was Sunday and on Sunday nothing was open.  I obtained just a cup of coffee and a bit of cheese, which was hardly enough to provide any additional strength.  Well here I go, one ski lift to another and the valley below disappeared in the distance.  I guess you could say I was kind of a novelty being a first time skier and the group was set on taking me to the top of the mountain.  …

07/27 Bruges, Belgium

We found ourselves a small room above a bar not far off the main square of Brugge, claimed ourselves bed, dropped off our stuff and hit the local canals for a little sightseeing.  We roamed among the flower vendors, chocolate shops, lingered behind a cup of coffee and smoked a cigarette while standing on a humped-backed bridge.  I enjoyed the mood of the weeping willows and gazed endlessly at the reflections painted by the water.   …