Portland, Oregon Rose Garden

 

Sunday is Church Day

Interior shots: St. Peter in Chains, Rome, Italy

Willamette Jet Boats

Favorite Photos

The White Tower, Tower of London, UK by Marietta McLellan

Waterton National Park, Alberta Canada

The centerpiece of Waterton is actually the lakes, but The Prince of Wales Hotel dominates the landscape. The hotel is a great place to go for drinks or afternoon tea. But, it is expensive and worn as a place to stay.

OMG - I forgot my passport

These photos are better than mine.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A86.JyZG_6pTV0MAsqEPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsOXB2YTRjBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw--?_adv_prop=image&fr=yhs-att-att_001&va=sirmione+lake+garda&hspart=att&hsimp=yhs-att_001

     Sirmiome on Lake Garda in northern Italy is a fun and interesting place. Because we had a leisurely drive from Lecco (nearer to Belagio) to Verona airport to fly out to SFO we took a side trip to Sirionme. We walked the old streets, visited the church and had lunch at a sidewalk café.
     On our way back to the car I reached into my pocket to get the car keys. Yikes! In my pocket was the key to the hotel safe in Lecco. Our passports were safely locked away.
     Well, that meant retracing our path back -- actually a long way -- to the hotel. The owner was waiting for us. She had even called the airport to leave us a message. We got the passports and turned around and headed to Verona.  We know the road well between Lecco and Verona. Some of it was back road and some highway. 
     I will never do that again - at least in Lecco.

Reasons to skip a gondola ride in Venice

Take from the balcony of our hotel

 

There are several reasons to skip a gondola ride in Venice: 1) it is so touristy, 2) it is trite, 3) it is way overpriced, and 4) it is not as romantic as they say.

 

There is one reason to take a gondola ride in Venice: you will regret forever not doing it.

 

You never gain anything by skipping an adventure,

Portland Oregon Tour

We took two of our grandchildren for a tour of the city of Portland by public transportation. We drove to the medical school (OHSU) and took the aerial tram down to the trolley, took the trolley to the train, took the train to the zoo, from the zoo we took the train to downtown to catch the bus back to the medical school and get our car (OHSU is not far from our condo). It was lots of fun and a great way to see the city.

SUNDAY IS CHURCH DAY

 St. Canice, Kilkenny, Ireland

WHAT HOTELS COULD DO FOR ME...

We prefer bed and breakfasts because we receive the treatment we want. Hotels could do the same. Here are a few things we prefer:
- to be welcomed as a guest rather than a statistic
- encountered by people with openness to share the best of their community
- free Wi-Fi
- no honor bar or refrigerator
- when they ask "how was your stay" they actually want to know.
- you meet the owner who has a real interest in hospitality
- when we leave we are sorry to go.

 

Bed and Breakfast: Castlegregory, Ireland

First Day of Summer 2014

     On this first day of summer, I am writing this while looking out into the garden at our place in Portland, Oregon. It is 65 degrees and sunny. It is amazingly green as we live most of the year in the beige of the central valley of California.
     On the first day of summer in 2006 we were in the Highlands of Scotland.  It was still cold and a little rainy, but at the latitude the day was very long. It started before 5 am and the sun did not set until nearly 10 pm. Our room at The Toad Hall Bed and Breakfast had blackout blinds and shutters to allow us to sleep.
     Marietta has traveled closer to the Artic Circle and has experienced even longer days than I have.
     Today, in Portland Oregon, sunrise is around 5:30 am and sunset is around 9;30 pm. We will take advantage of the light and the mild weather as best we can today.
     Changing time zones and latitudes are just more ways of having to adjust to places to which we travel.

In honor of the longest day of the year

Kenmare

Glacier

Rome

Clonmacnoise in County Offaly nestles on the banks of the River Shannon

Clonmacnoise in County Offaly in Central Ireland is an amazing place.

You can fill your camera's memory fast.

 

 

Favoite Pictures: Val Gardena

I have this on my computer desktop. It is a picture Marietta took as we entered Val Gardena in the Italian Alps on the way from Bolzano to La Villa. This is the beginnings of the Dolomites. Enlarge the picture and you can see the houses on the mountainside.

Traitor's Gate. Tower of London.

The prisoners were brought into the Tower of London through this gate which spans a small inlet from the Thames. It is both pretty and morbid. We took a bunch of photos of this as it draws your interest.  The Warders spend time giving a detailed talk about this if you take a free walk-a-bout with one of them.

Sharing travel information - limited choices

      When planning a trip or even just deciding to take one, it is helpful for others to share their experiences. We benefit from the goofs and victories of others. They benefit from ours. But, in the end, it is our trip.
     A friend may think kissing the Blarney Stone was the highlight of their trip to Ireland. For another it was seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College. For another it might be sighting Fungi in Dingle Harbor.
     We take that information and use it in planning, but all the while we keep in mind our own style of travel and our sense of how to spend our limited time. You can only see so much and process it. That is true at home and in Austria.
     Do we regret not taking the time to see something when close to it? Yes. From time to time we do. But, we attempt to temper our disappointment with what surprises we actually had with the same amount of time. You can either try to do it all or try to do what you do well.
    

Sunday: Church Day

Santa Maria Maggiore -Rome

 

Whatever floats in your moat

 

Sign flowing in the moat at the "castle" at Sirmione, Italy on Lake Garda.

 

No food pictures from me... well, maybe two

Traveling is full of adventure and one of those is the food. I like haggis and black pudding and never thought I would. I have made a list of meats I have had traveling: bison, horse, goat, donkey, cow, pig, rabbit, and squirrel. Under fish there are too many to list although kippers, haddock and squid for breakfast come to mind. Did I like it all? Some will be a once in a lifetime experience.

Room service waiting for us in Rome.

What to bring back

Souvenirs are part of traveling as they are tangible reminders of your adventure. So what do you bring home? A Cartier Watch from Paris? A rubbing of a tombstone in Portugal?

Here are some things I brought home: Ireland - paper coasters advertising beer; flowers pressed into a guidebook of Scotland; a wine glass from Murano; A quaich from the Outer Hebrides; a Celtic ring from Kilkenny; a silver ring from Florence; antique bottle openers from thrift stores everywhere; salt-finished ceramics from the Amish... and receipts and free papers. I will guess that the total expense over the last decade is under a hundred dollars.

Multnomah Village, Portland Oregon

To Tip or Not To Tip

Just participated in an internet discussion on tipping in hotels. We always carry five dollar bills or about the same in whatever the national currency is. But, tipping is rare in Europe and not even expected in restaurants. I have, however, found it to pay off on a second visit to the same Italian bistro.

 

But, tipping is just not common in Europe as it is in the U.S. and Canada.

Even with cabs in Europe it is practice just to round up. Say in London it is ten pounds six, you hand the driver 11 pounds. In the U.S. the expectation would be $5 on a $25 cab ride or about 20 percent, but not other places.

It is not a payment "To Insure Prompt Service". It is just a nice thing to do for people who serve you.

I ordinarily tip the heaviest on the first night in a hotel if we are staying several days. It is an investment in those little extras. We, by the way, scalp the shampoo, conditioner each night as we donate it to our local food pantry that help the homeless.

We had great service in a boutique Hotel in London - the Staunton across from the British Museum -- and left a 20 pound note on the desk the first night. Still there after a couple of days. I wrote a note. Still there. Finally, when I was talking to the owner about something else I mentioned it. He noted that many of the housekeeping staff are from the Eastern Block countries and cannot read English and would be afraid to pick up money in a room in case someone would think they were stealing. He paid his staff better than most places, but I had to go find the housekeeper and give her several days tips and thank her for her work and honesty.


Tipping, I guess, is up to you. But, for me it is a way of expressing my gratitude to service workers - not for their service - but gratitude that I can afford to travel.

Sunday: Church - St. Peter's, Vatican

Several faiths coming together to pray for peace today - Thanks to Pope Francis.

Union Square, San Francisco

 

As we live close by we are often in 'The City', but on this day we were taking in a play and staying at the Westin, St. Francis over looking Union Square. Interesting how it resembles Trafalgar except  for the palm trees and lack of the National Portrait Gallery...

Favorite Places: Dingle Harbour, Ireland

SEEING THE DETAILS

You can take four hours off of the cruise ship and take 100's of photos of things you will not be able to identify, or you can take your time and see both the large things and the small. We travel slowly.

EMBACY BUILDING, ROME

BUTLER HOUSE POND, KILKINNY, IRELAND

ARCHEOLOGY MUSEUM, DUBLIN, IRELAND

ARCHER SLIT, CASTLE, LA VILLA, SUD TYROL

Common name in Austria - I'd still change it

 FeldKirsch, Austria

Lake McDonald, Glacier Park, MT.

The London Eye: three views plus one

From the street

From the Thames

A model in the University of London School of Architecture.

 

There are also "eyes" in other cities in Europe. This one was built near Westminster and they promised to take it down. However, the public has found it popular. I find it a blight on the river.

 

 

Note how it slipped in to this picture of what is called, incorrectly, "Big Ben".

Edit: The tower is "Elizabeth Tower" of the Palace at Westminster. The bell inside is Big Ben"

Sunday Church Picture: Village Church, La Villa, Italy, Sud Tyrol