Dublin, Ireland

This weekend I was off to Dublin on Sat morning. Stayed at the Merrion hotel for one night and explored Dublin. Walked to Grafton Street which is the pedestrian shopping street, lots of people and shops. Visited Trinity College did a tour there which was lead by a professor of the college, he had sense of humour the tour was great, it ended the Book of Kells, which we then toured on our own. Amazing!
Then boarded the tour bus for an overview of Dublin, good tour, went by all the important places, say the Guinness Storehouse, a number of churches/cathedrals, the River Liffey, O’Connell Street, then had dinner and back to the hotel for the evening.
Sunday, took a free three hour walking tour of Dublin, this was great was lead by a young lady who was from Ireland and she showed us all the sights and told us lots of history, saw Dublin Castle, Christ Church, Chester Beatty Library, the Norman ruins, thru Temple Bar, O’Connell Street, the bank of Ireland, over the Ha’penny bridge, Trinity College. It was a very informative and fun tour, really gave you the overview of the history of Dublin. Did a little shopping and took some pictures of the river, then back to the hotel to collect my bag and board the bus back to the airport for my flights home.

Saturday, the 14th of March
Went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is huge, but very interesting, had a great exbihit on fashion thru the years. Enjoyed it. Left there and went to visit the Original Twinings Tea Shop. Twinings have had a shop on the Strand since 1717! Twinings Strand Shop also boasts a small museum, which charts the history of the Twinings family, along with some fabulous examples of tea caddies and more unusual items from the world of tea. Of course I bought some tea. Then back home.
Sunday was a day of rest stayed in all day - worked on my scrapbook.

Saturday the 21st of March
Great weather this weekend, I know you don’t hear that very often from me. However the sun was shinning and it was about 65 degrees outside only needed a sweatshirt-no coat!
Keiron came up to see my place, we wandered around Hampstead had lunch, then headed down to explore The Harvey Nichols department store, was fun, but nothing we could afford. Then went for a drink at a bar/restuarant that floats on the Thames, we sat outside and enjoyed the setting sun with great views of the London Eye, Big Ben and the Thames. What an enjoyable day.
Sunday I headed off to see the town of Moreton-in-March, which is located in the Cotswolds. Great old town with really old buildings, explored the town and shops, then headed back stopped off in Oxford for a couple of hours to explore a little on my own. Then back home.

Company from Kansas City

Friday the 6th Laurita arrived from Kansas City. We explored some of the sights of London on Friday. Took the tube to Leicester Square, checked out Piccadilly Circus and then Trafalgar Square. Walked down Whitehall Street past the Royal Mews (horse guards) and Downing Street, arriving at Big Ben and Parliament Square. Visited Westminster Abbey, then on to Buckingham Palace, then took the tube to Harrods’s (a must see). Then back to my place to relax and put up on aching feet. Saturday morning we had an early start to Gatwick for our flight to Inverness, Scotland. This supposedly easy journey became a little complicated due to signal failures on the northern line, so had to change our route. We did make it and arrived in Inverness to the cold and rain, we took the local bus into town to our hotel The Royal Highlands Hotel. Out we went to explore the city, then back for dinner, then out to St Mary’s for evening mass. On Sunday we ventured by city bus to Culloden, the site of the last battle between the Jacobite’s and the English government. It was a very good and informative exhibition centre. We ventured out to tour the battlefield, but not for long as it was snowing and the wind was blowing a gale, we were very, very cold. In the afternoon back in Inverness we explored the views from Inverness Castle and visited the Inverness Cathedral along with taking in the sites of the River Ness and doing some shopping. On Monday we went on a tour of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. It was a coach tour to Loch Ness, then a cruise by boat across Loch Ness to the Castle. No sighing of the Loch Ness monster were made! Laurita brought back a Nessie, tho. Really enjoyed the Castle was very impressive, then back on the coach to Inverness. We then checked out the Victorian Marketplace and headed back by local bus to the airport for our return flight to London. On Tuesday we did some more exploring of London, started by going to Victoria station then walked toward Big Ben, stopped to check out the Westminster Cathedral – what a wonderful church, all marble and beautiful. We actually enjoyed it much more than Westminster Abbey. We checked out the London Eye, but decided against doing it as was a cloudy rainy day. We took the tube to the Tower of London, spent a number of hours exploring the tower and grounds, we walked the south wall; saw the crown jewels and the white tower. OK enough history for now. Then walked over the Tower Bridge, stopped for dinner at a local pub, then hopped the tube to Leicester Square to finish up Laurita’s souvenir shopping. While walking thru Leicester Square, there was a red carpet movie premier of Duplicity staring Julia Roberts – we saw her going into the theatre. Pretty Cool. Then it was home to relax. Wednesday it was back to work for me, Laurita did a tour with Greyline to the Cotswolds, and on Thrusday she did one to Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath. On Friday it was off to Heathrow for her return flight to the states. We had an awesome visit and got to see lots.

Copenhagen

We're off to Copenhagen on Friday the 20th, our first experience with Easyjet, which was more of a cattle car than Southwest. We started our journey at Victoria station boarding the Easybus for a 1hr 40 min drive to Stanstad airport. We arrived in Copenhagen late afternoon to snow. We took the local train into Central Station then a short walk to the hotel Scandic Copenhagen, great room 12th floor with a view of the lake. Went for a walk to check out the city, walked Stroget street which is a Pedestrian shopping street, with many street going off it, a busy place. Headed back to the hotel as it was snowing and cold. We spent 4 days in Copenhagen seeing all the sights, we walked off our poor legs and feet and got very very cold. We visited the Town Hall, saw Tivoli, Slotshomen - oldest site in Copenhagen, Christiansborg Castle now stands there, which is home to the State Rooms, Parliament, Prime Minister's Office & Supreme court, saw the Stock Exchange with Neptune standing guard, visited the Royal Navy Museum, Christiania (Copenhagen free state), saw the Opera House, visited Rosenborg Castle, watched the Royal Guards march, walked thru The Palaces - Amalienborg there are 4 in this square with the Marble Church off the the side, walked out to The Little Mermaid, she is pretty little, walked back thru Kastellet (Copenhagen's star-shaped fort), went into the Design Museum as they had a Motorcycle exhibit very interesting and right up John's alley. It was very interesting. We visited Carlsberg Museum, the brewery tours were closed, walked thru the Carlsberg Elephant's. And yes we did find the Harley Davidson store in Copenhagen, we walked out to it thru the Fredericksburg Have and by the zoo. It was a walk but enjoyed, we explored the Nyhaven area and then checked out of the hotel to return to London. We got home around 9pm on Tuesday night. Wednesday was back to the routine for me - work. We met friends on Wednesday after work for drinks and dinner, a good night was had by all. On Friday morning John left to return to the states.

Edinburgh

We are off to Edinburgh by train on Thursday morning, great scenery, but a long train ride approximately four and half hours. We saw lots of the countryside. We stayed in the New Town, was raining when we arrived, checked in and then ventured out to check out the city. We walked up to the Princess Gardens, Scott Memorial and the Scotland National Galleries, headed back to have dinner and call it a night. On Friday the sun was shinning, but was cold, we walked down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse toured the Palace and Abbey impressive, then back up the Royal Mile, checked out the shops, then boarded a city bus to find the Harley Davidson store. Bet you all know who's idea that was. John visited the one in London and got some great t-shirts, so now is on a mission to have Harley t-shirts from the cities we visit. We had a little adventure by city bus, we did finally arrive at the Harley store, also saw the Royal Observatory and Napier University, Craighouse campus (as we were on the wrong bus). Mission accomplished he now has t-shirts from Edinburgh Harley Davidson and me too. Then boarded a bus back to the town centre where we went to dinner and called it a night. Saturday we visited Edinburgh Castle, it is pretty impressive, spent the morning there, walked and explored more of the city, stopped off to watch some of the 6 Nations Ruby games - had a drink and snacks. Ventured back to the hotel to watch the next game in the bar and spend the evening there. Sunday we visit the Tartan Mill and Whiskey Experience (not impressed), explored a little more, then boarded the train for our return to London.
Monday it was back to work for me and a lazy day for John. He is out exploring today Tuesday - going to the London Transport Museum and Hampstead Heath.

January

I'm still here. Made a trip to the US on the 30th of January. Met my family in Reno for weekend. Mom, Dad, Annette and her family and friends Robin and John joined me. We all had a great visit, did some shopping, gambling, lots of visitings and good American food. On Monday flew to Salt Lake City for appointments on Monday and Tuesday. Stayed with Marianne, had dinner with Charnae and Matt on Monday, was great to visit and catch up. Tuesday had my appointments did some shopping, then dinner with Gor, Penny, Marla, Marianne, Charnae and Matt - a great time was had by all. Then it was back to the airport for my return flight to London on Wednesday. Met up with John in Atlanta for the flight over to London. He decided to come visit while I'm still in London, a great opportunity for a vacation. Arrived in London on Thursday morning, spent the day catching up on our sleep. We did the sights of London on Friday along with a local Brewery tour. On Saturday we went out to Greenwich on the tube, visited the Royal Observatory, Greenwich meantime and the maritime museum, enjoyed the day. Sunday was a lazy day, we went to a movie and just hung around. Then it was back to work for me on Monday. John ventured out to explore more of London.

Puerta Banus, Marbella 29Dec - 05Jan

We arrived into Malaga by train, then took a local train to Fuengirola, then a taxi to Puerta Banus to the time share. We finally made it there about 5:30pm. What a long day. Checked into the time share, nice place, great balcony (do bad it wasn't warm to sit out there and enjoy it). We settled in and then went off to find dinner. Puerta Banus is approx 10 minutes from the condo, so walked down to find something for dinner and checked out the big boats in the harbour. Wow they are luxury yachts..
We had a great week here, except for the weather, but was warmer than London so that was good. We did a day trip to Ronda - we took the city bus to San Pedro then change to another city bus for an hour ride thru the mountains to the town of Ronda. What a town - it is centered over a deep gorge. Very impressive, quaint cobble stoned streets, arches and a bull ring. We spent the day touring the town, doing a little shopping and lots of sightseeing. The views of the gorge and bridge were just awesome. Then boarded the city bus for the return trip down the winding mountain road. We went to Gilbrator on a tour - really enjoyed it. It took us up to the top of the rock, impressive views, to a cavern and saw the tailless monkeys, they come right up to you and will take your packages if your not careful, especially if you have food. They were very cute though. Had to have our passports for this side trip as Gilbrator is still British. We spent a couple days walking the beach, gathering shells, watching the boats and enjoying the little sunshine that came out. We walked along the harbour lots, checking out all the expensive yachts, sailboats and cars. Had some great food while there, both Spanish (paella) and American (nachos) and they were very,very good. We went into old town Marbella one day on the city bus, saw the statues of Dali there, some were pretty strange, check out the beach and the harbour there. Then walked the streets of old town which were small cobble stoned with lots of little shops. Dad was thrilled...!!!
We really enjoyed our week here, Dad even bought a ham with the hoof attached and we ate on it for days. It was delicious. We headed home on the 5th of Jan back to London. I went back to work on Tues, Mom and Dad stayed till the 14th, so they went out to a number of the London sights and museums while I was working. The weekend we went to Borough Market and the Tate museum - it was a freezing day, but we braved it anyway. Then Sunday we made a trip to the British Museum and some souvenir shopping. Monday and Tuesday they visited a few more museums and Harrods and Wednesday morning they headed back to the states. What a great visit we had.