215.May 31
Isle of Skye, Scotland
We had a lovely breakfast with the others who were from Nottingham, with wife a business teacher at NTU. Then to the Talisker Distillery, where we had a long and interesting tour of everything. I took many good photos inside. Jill and I both bought flasks for ourselves. We had a few pints at the Old Inn in Cartog while we waited for the bus.
1994
River'sdale Hotel, Kenmare, IrelandAfter sleeping well-in at the River'sdale Hotel, we journey’d into Kenmare's pier to frolic in the sun, bathing. Swimmers behind the rocks and sunbathing school girls after midday. Truly quiet. Small voices with skipped consonants and smart naked children dressing. Swans following the float of salt water going out to sea. A glossiness on water and rocks uncapturable. A white that leaps out in vibrant sparks. Big and little dog buddies, one limping falsely for the attention it's size lacks. Now down and splashing each other in the sea water. We attempted Frisbee along the beach, but the sea winds stood strongly in our way. I see the yellow hotel and double arch bridge before it. Everyone out here enjoying the water marks on the rocks, the water marking their skin. So people show up to work sunburned, their skin not able to withstand the desires of their hearts to be happy. What a perfect place to talk about life, and where life is heading.1997
Dresden, Germany
As writing is a wandering through the mind, traveling through Europe is as pauseful and necessarily as unplanned. That sums up my previous thoughts on traveling, and although I am still in agreement, I would like to say that making plans and sticking to them is definitely less expensive.
The last two nights we have had to get a hotel in Dresden because there was no room in the hostels.
We hada lovely two nights in a central hotel/pensione in Prague, where we had a wonderful time. But we are just catching our trains at the last minute, and last night, we missed the night train to the North Frisian Islands, the northernmost part of Germany. Instead, today we are on our way to Copenhagen, Denmark.I hope to arrange a room in a hostel there for us, just one night, then to Stockholm stopping at Helsingor, where Hamlet's castle was. We will take the ferry across to Sweden, and if we wish, travel to Stockholm. Then we'll need to take a train to Oslo on June 5, which means we needn't leave Stockholm until morning or even perhaps noon, by a fast train. We have been many places. Favorites were Krakow, Budapest, and Prague. Others were Warsaw, Bratislava, and Dresden. Perhaps it would have been better if we skipped the last three, but we've been there now and that's that. The tram maps were wrong in Dresden, which led to our missed train, but they refunded half of our sleeper car reservation from Bratislava to Prague, no reservation, so we were in a shared couchette compartment. That was not good. And Warsaw was just a little hard to get to the hostel from town. Despite that, all is fine.
Sweden, on the train
Velkommen till Norge (days later) We are in Sweden for about 7 or 8 hours, in a train that seems to last for a full day. We decided to do one long trip and relax in Oslo. We are in a hostel 9 km outside of Oslo to the west.
Oslo, Norway
I am having frokost at 9 am here at the hostel, called Hoteskilen or something. I have only used my norsk in restaurants ordering food and getting the bill. Every other application seems beyond me. I can read some though. It impresses Sommer sometimes.
Sommer loves Oslo, as it is beautiful and easy. We have so much left to do here still, especially museums. I am eating flatbread and geitost, that norsk cheese John force feeds us. I had some sugar smacks or something with it.
It is a bit disheartening to go to bed when the sun is still shining brighter than it ever would in Minnesota. It is so amazing. Especially when the sun starts to go down. It doesn't get darker, it is similar to walking into the brights of an oncoming car, except everywhere.
2001
We had Laurel at our house for the weekend, so Rachel and I made breakfast for all in the morning, and they went swimming while I did some other work around the house. I rode my motorcycle out to Steve's party near Dorchester and had a beautiful ride, though I had to turn around a few times since I was a bit lost. I rode it back to the house to get burgers to grill, and came back with the car so I could take others home. Rachel and I worked on our plans for the show until bedtime.
2010