Wednesday, December 31, 2014
My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "G" — Some places I've been starting with "G"
"G" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "G" where I have traveled:
- Countries:
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
- States: (I've been to all 50)
Georgia
- U.S. Cities over 100,000 population where I've been:
Greensboro, N.C.
Garland, TX
Glendale, CA
Grand Prairie, TX
Grand Rapids, MI
Gainesville, FL
Greece will get the spotlight this time as it is the most recent place on the list where I have visited. In the summer of 2013 we took a Pacific Princess Ship cruise from Venice to Istanbul to Yalta, Ukraine, and then back to Athens Greece. And of course we stopped along the way, almost every day of the way.
Our first Greece stop was at Volos for the day. There we visited a couple of old monasteries high atop little mountains. Our pictures are below:
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- Countries:
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
- States: (I've been to all 50)
Georgia
- U.S. Cities over 100,000 population where I've been:
Greensboro, N.C.
Garland, TX
Glendale, CA
Grand Prairie, TX
Grand Rapids, MI
Gainesville, FL
Greece will get the spotlight this time as it is the most recent place on the list where I have visited. In the summer of 2013 we took a Pacific Princess Ship cruise from Venice to Istanbul to Yalta, Ukraine, and then back to Athens Greece. And of course we stopped along the way, almost every day of the way.
Our first Greece stop was at Volos for the day. There we visited a couple of old monasteries high atop little mountains. Our pictures are below:
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[The last picture shows where we were.]
Click picture to enlarge. Back Button returns
Our cruise ended in Athens, Greece. We had been there before. Then we had a nice tour of Athens, so we did that again. Our tour conveniently ended at the airport.
_ _ _ _
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [4th], Jim Does, Travel 2
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "F" — Some places I've been starting with "F"
"F" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "F" where I have traveled:
Countries:
Finland
France
States: (I've been to all 50)
Florida
Cities over 100,000 population where I've been:
Starting with the countries:
Finland: In the Spring of 2007 we did an eleven-day Baltic Capital cruise.
Places we visited were: COPENHAGEN; DENMARK (two days); Ship: Star Princess (Embarkation Port: Copenhagen, Denmark – 10 Days 07/01/10 (AT SEA) – THU 07/11/10); STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN; HELSINKI, FINLAND; ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (two days); TALLINN, ESTONIA; GDANSK (GDYNIA), POLAND; FRI07/09/10 – AT SEA; OSLO, NORWAY; and back to COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (SUN 07/11/10 – morning and part of afternoon) then back to London for evening. I said that I would be blogging more about some of these as time goes by. You can search my blog to see how many I missed.
In Helsinki (link for Helsinki CC like) we spent the most part of a day on shore. Here are a couple of pictures (you can click on any and it should fill your screen):
Overheard in more than one cabin: “Now are our feet pointed forward or towards the back of the ship?”
This white church is a Lutheran church located in Helsinki, Finland. It is beautiful and also very active. Mrs. Jim and I had a snack with the ladies in the basement.
Another commonly heard conversation: “Should we eat breakfast at the buffet or in the dining room? I opt for the buffet because we have a larger selection.” “No, I prefer the dining room because I like to have people bring me my food.”
And one at the diner table: “You were wearing a straw hat yesterday on the tram, were you not?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“I was wondering if you ever got to where you wanted to go.”
“Oh, that was you we were riding with. We did. Thank you a lot for helping us figure out that figure eight system the have.”
This couple got off every time from the ‘3B’ tram when it got to where they got on. Had they stayed on they would have seen it switch to ‘3T’ and complete the other loop that they could not get to.
Two of my favorite vehicles there. First choice is the Jeep. Below, the view from our 'dinner table' one day.
The garage, top floor, studio of Earnest Hemingway. Below is a cat on the stairs, deciding to come up or go back down. The home is a sanctuary for cats. Next are a couple of shots of the inside of Hemingway's office. I too like to write on a round table I have in mine. And another cat in the office window.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. Some are in albums, pictures I've taken before a digital camera came to me. I haven't scanned any yet.
Countries:
Finland
France
States: (I've been to all 50)
Florida
Cities over 100,000 population where I've been:
| Florence |  Italy |
| Fort Collins |  United States |
| Fort Lauderdale | United States |
| Fort Wayne | United States |
| Fort Worth | United States |
| Frankfurt am Main |  Germany |
| Fremont | United States |
| Fresno | United States |
| Funchal |  Portugal |
Starting with the countries:
Finland: In the Spring of 2007 we did an eleven-day Baltic Capital cruise.
Places we visited were: COPENHAGEN; DENMARK (two days); Ship: Star Princess (Embarkation Port: Copenhagen, Denmark – 10 Days 07/01/10 (AT SEA) – THU 07/11/10); STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN; HELSINKI, FINLAND; ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (two days); TALLINN, ESTONIA; GDANSK (GDYNIA), POLAND; FRI07/09/10 – AT SEA; OSLO, NORWAY; and back to COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (SUN 07/11/10 – morning and part of afternoon) then back to London for evening. I said that I would be blogging more about some of these as time goes by. You can search my blog to see how many I missed.
In Helsinki (link for Helsinki CC like) we spent the most part of a day on shore. Here are a couple of pictures (you can click on any and it should fill your screen):
Overheard in more than one cabin: “Now are our feet pointed forward or towards the back of the ship?”This white church is a Lutheran church located in Helsinki, Finland. It is beautiful and also very active. Mrs. Jim and I had a snack with the ladies in the basement.
Another commonly heard conversation: “Should we eat breakfast at the buffet or in the dining room? I opt for the buffet because we have a larger selection.” “No, I prefer the dining room because I like to have people bring me my food.”
And one at the diner table: “You were wearing a straw hat yesterday on the tram, were you not?”“Yes, why do you ask?”
“I was wondering if you ever got to where you wanted to go.”
“Oh, that was you we were riding with. We did. Thank you a lot for helping us figure out that figure eight system the have.”
This couple got off every time from the ‘3B’ tram when it got to where they got on. Had they stayed on they would have seen it switch to ‘3T’ and complete the other loop that they could not get to.
France: We have visited France a lot of times, starting in 1992--a European tour by bus from London to Rome and back--with the last time being in 2013 by train with Karen and KP when we road on the Eurostar under the English Channel, if I tried to count them surely I would miss one. My favorite sight still is the Eiffel Tower. Again I don't know how many times I have seen it but I do know that I have never been on the top rung as the two lower ones are plenty for my Paris viewing.
We love to visit Paris. This is the street leading from our last hotel. I would like to stay there for a couple or three years. Just to soak up the ambiance and enjoy. Contrary to a lot you hear, the French are a very friendly people, at least to us. Mrs. Jim speaking some French and having French roots helps some here, I am sure. Her family lives in the Bordeaux area.
I love to walk along the River Seine in Paris. The river meanders back and forth through the city and you never really know where you might find it during your walk.
Most areas have a walkway beside the river. Following the river is not really a fast way to get to where you want to go as it changes its down stream direction a lot. But if you are in no hurry and don't really care where you will end up, just follow it.
Many of these boats take passengers, mostly tourists. A land taxi is in order if you want to go some place. But for tourists they are great to get the flavor of Paris with all the river's windings.
Besides taking a river tour, you can also eat on the boat. We haven't done the eating part, but it is quite a nice romantic ride in the evening. Just don't drink too much wine and fall into the water.
In Florida last April we flew to Key West for a couple of nights and three days. The last day we took a shuttle over to Fort Lauderdale to catch a trans-Atlantic cruise that ended in England where we stayed with our daughter for a month plus. We did spend a week in Wales and Northampton (a couple of days there) where we have friends. If I make it through the alphabet again I will blog a little about Wales. You can also search my blog for that before.
Key West was a fun town for us, very touristy. We stayed at an old hotel a coupe of blocks from the main drag. This hotel was a collection of houses. Our house was a two-story and there were probably 16 rooms in that old house. All had been reworked and were fairly modern inside.
Most we enjoyed walking around, going places by city buss, and eating. Best for me was the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum:www.hemingwayhome.com There were plenty of retired hippies there also. Most retired early. Noted towns we've found that don't lack for an abundance of these characters are Burlington, Vermont, Telluride, Colorado, and Key West, Florida.
A cute little Old house in Key West Florida near to our hotel. The chicken is a protected "bird" in Key West.
Two of my favorite vehicles there. First choice is the Jeep. Below, the view from our 'dinner table' one day.
It seems to me that Key Lime Pie is the Florida State Dessert. One of my favorites also. We had a snack here.
The garage, top floor, studio of Earnest Hemingway. Below is a cat on the stairs, deciding to come up or go back down. The home is a sanctuary for cats. Next are a couple of shots of the inside of Hemingway's office. I too like to write on a round table I have in mine. And another cat in the office window.
This picture was taken at the furthermost Southern part of the
continental United States, at the beach in Key West, Florida.
Mrs. Jim stuck her toe into the water around the corner here.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. Some are in albums, pictures I've taken before a digital camera came to me. I haven't scanned any yet.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [4th], Jim Does, Travel 2
Thursday, December 18, 2014
My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "E" — Some places I've been starting with "E"
"E" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "E" where I have traveled:
Countries:
Egypt
Estonia
States:
(There aren't any states starting with "E")
Cities
Edinburgh (Scotland)
El Paso (Texas)
Exeter (New Hampshire)
Exeter, New Hampshire, is a place hardly anyone goes to. Instead they go through and on to Rye, Northampton, and Hampton for the beaches. But when I lived in Manchester it was well worth the trip driving the 30 miles east to Exeter for fried clams (Link to Petey's). I like the clam rolls. If I ever run away for more than a weekend you can look for me up there.
El Paso, Texas, is a nice West Texas town (or it was when I was there five years while in the Army stationed at Fort Bliss). We used to say it was a nice beach without any water. What I liked was to ride my Vespa motor scooter all around town and over into Mexico. I also drove it to work about 20 miles east to work in the desert.
The Vespa loved the trip down U.S. Hwy 80 over to Hueco Tanks (link) which was free and wasn't crowded back then. Another favorite ride was down in the Valley amongst the cotton fields. Along the river in Mexico was just as pleasant.
Edinburgh, Scotland, I didn't ever live there but we did have a very nice long day playing there with Mrs. Jim and Karen. The first thing we did was to visit the Queen's Yacht, now retired. The Royal Yacht Britannia was home to Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Family and is now berthed in Edinburgh (link). I have a few pictures on my blog post (link). At left is Karen, our daughter coming up the gangplank.
We left the car parked at the yacht's parking garage and took the bus downtown to the Edinburgh Castle. It was a pleasant walk up to the castle from where the bus dropped us off.
Eiffel Tower, France - Don't know why I didn't mention that. Many, many times I've been there.
Estonia -- Been there most of the nice part of a day on a Baltic cruise in 2011 (link to blog posts).
Egypt - That was back in 1980 when we were on a Mediterranean cruise. We started at Athens, Greece and went over too Haifa, Israel. On the way we island hopped (Patmos and Rhodes ), stopped at old Ephesus, Turkey, then to Alexandria, Egypt, and over to Haifa, Israel.
At Alexandria we toured the library and then boarded a bus trip, which followed the Nile up to Cairo. There we saw the pyramids and the Sphinx, rode a little boat where Moses was hidden as a baby, and of course rode a camel. There we visited too the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities which is also known as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo (link). I enjoyed seeing the King Tut exhibits.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. Some are in albums, pictures I've taken before a digital camera came to me. I haven't scanned any yet I should have done that for Egypt, I have a lot.
Countries:
Egypt
Estonia
States:
(There aren't any states starting with "E")
Cities
Edinburgh (Scotland)
El Paso (Texas)
Exeter (New Hampshire)
Exeter, New Hampshire, is a place hardly anyone goes to. Instead they go through and on to Rye, Northampton, and Hampton for the beaches. But when I lived in Manchester it was well worth the trip driving the 30 miles east to Exeter for fried clams (Link to Petey's). I like the clam rolls. If I ever run away for more than a weekend you can look for me up there.
El Paso, Texas, is a nice West Texas town (or it was when I was there five years while in the Army stationed at Fort Bliss). We used to say it was a nice beach without any water. What I liked was to ride my Vespa motor scooter all around town and over into Mexico. I also drove it to work about 20 miles east to work in the desert.
The Vespa loved the trip down U.S. Hwy 80 over to Hueco Tanks (link) which was free and wasn't crowded back then. Another favorite ride was down in the Valley amongst the cotton fields. Along the river in Mexico was just as pleasant.
Edinburgh, Scotland, I didn't ever live there but we did have a very nice long day playing there with Mrs. Jim and Karen. The first thing we did was to visit the Queen's Yacht, now retired. The Royal Yacht Britannia was home to Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Family and is now berthed in Edinburgh (link). I have a few pictures on my blog post (link). At left is Karen, our daughter coming up the gangplank. We left the car parked at the yacht's parking garage and took the bus downtown to the Edinburgh Castle. It was a pleasant walk up to the castle from where the bus dropped us off.
Eiffel Tower, France - Don't know why I didn't mention that. Many, many times I've been there.
Estonia -- Been there most of the nice part of a day on a Baltic cruise in 2011 (link to blog posts).Egypt - That was back in 1980 when we were on a Mediterranean cruise. We started at Athens, Greece and went over too Haifa, Israel. On the way we island hopped (Patmos and Rhodes ), stopped at old Ephesus, Turkey, then to Alexandria, Egypt, and over to Haifa, Israel.
At Alexandria we toured the library and then boarded a bus trip, which followed the Nile up to Cairo. There we saw the pyramids and the Sphinx, rode a little boat where Moses was hidden as a baby, and of course rode a camel. There we visited too the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities which is also known as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo (link). I enjoyed seeing the King Tut exhibits.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. Some are in albums, pictures I've taken before a digital camera came to me. I haven't scanned any yet I should have done that for Egypt, I have a lot.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [4th], Alphabe-Thursday [5th], Jim Does, Travel 2
Friday, December 12, 2014
My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "D" — Some places I've been starting with "D"
"D" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "D" where I have traveled:
Countries:
Denmark
States:
Delaware
Cities
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Des Moines, Iowa
Detroit, Michigan
Dublin, Ireland
Last first, we loved Dublin. But our first visit was just a hotel stay in the spring of 2009 and then after touring Ireland (stayed at B&Bs) coming back on an emergency flight from Dublin (I fell at Powerscourt Gardens, just south of Dublin--to read my blog entry about that fall, click here).
We did come back again and walked the city Dublin in the fall of 2009.
Excerpt from my blog post mentioned above (link): This is the young lady who helped me at Powerscourt Garden Estates. She was sitting at the top of the steps having a smoke.
She and another young man saw me tumble, they both came running to help me back up. They offered help me to the first aid place but I had to find Mrs. Jim first.
For our Denmark visit, we flew over from London, U.K, to Copenhagen for a Baltic Sea cruise on the Princess line. We spent two days and three nights before embarking and then another day at the end of the cruise before flying back to London.
Our first day we did Copenhagen in, just walking around, seeing the sights and doing what tourists should do. The second day we rented a car and drove to the north of Copenhagen and back. It was beautiful country but around Copenhagen it was mostly flat and very wet with all it's ponds and lakes.
The third day was at the end of our cruise and we did the things we didn't get done the first day. Jim's Denmark (click on them to see) Post 1, Post 2, Post 3
Please click on any picture for a better view of what we saw
Countries:
Denmark
States:
Delaware
Cities
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Des Moines, Iowa
Detroit, Michigan
Dublin, Ireland
Last first, we loved Dublin. But our first visit was just a hotel stay in the spring of 2009 and then after touring Ireland (stayed at B&Bs) coming back on an emergency flight from Dublin (I fell at Powerscourt Gardens, just south of Dublin--to read my blog entry about that fall, click here).
We did come back again and walked the city Dublin in the fall of 2009.
Excerpt from my blog post mentioned above (link): This is the young lady who helped me at Powerscourt Garden Estates. She was sitting at the top of the steps having a smoke. She and another young man saw me tumble, they both came running to help me back up. They offered help me to the first aid place but I had to find Mrs. Jim first.
For our Denmark visit, we flew over from London, U.K, to Copenhagen for a Baltic Sea cruise on the Princess line. We spent two days and three nights before embarking and then another day at the end of the cruise before flying back to London.
Our first day we did Copenhagen in, just walking around, seeing the sights and doing what tourists should do. The second day we rented a car and drove to the north of Copenhagen and back. It was beautiful country but around Copenhagen it was mostly flat and very wet with all it's ponds and lakes.
The third day was at the end of our cruise and we did the things we didn't get done the first day. Jim's Denmark (click on them to see) Post 1, Post 2, Post 3
Now we go window shopping with Jim. Pictures from our Copenhagen visit.
.
Please click on any picture for a better view of what we saw
Walking pictures. The yacht above is private.
You helped pay for it buying Microsoft ware.
Octopus is currently the world's ninth largest super yacht, owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, to whom she was delivered in 2003. Octopus is the third largest super yacht that is not owned by a head of state, measuring 414 feet (126 m), and at the time it was built, was believed to be the biggest such yacht.
It carries two helicopters on board. (link)
It carries two helicopters on board. (link)
For more of the cruise pictures click here (you will see that I don't have a separate label)
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. Some are in albums, pictures I've taken before a digital camera came to me. I haven't scanned any yet.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. Some are in albums, pictures I've taken before a digital camera came to me. I haven't scanned any yet.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [4th], Alphabe-Thursday [5th], Jim Does, Travel 2
