More from Greenland...

Here are just a few more pics from Greenland.


Check out the glacier!



















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Long Silence...

Sorry for the long silence here on the site! I have been on the road for what feels like a month, but probably really has been only a week! I have just now gotten back online and had a chance to look at some of the hundreds of photos I've taken in the last few days. Needless to say, Travel = photos! Here are just a couple of quick ones I took of Greenland. Yep! Greenland.














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A few more...

just a few more pics from Germany... actually.... these were just over the boarder in Austria...










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1,000+

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1,000+ words

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1,000+ words....

We got back from our trip to Germany last Thursday, and we are still recovering. It was nice to see some new places and to see some old friends and co-workers, but it is always so nice to be back in our home in Ireland. I have a ton of pics... so many that I'm not going to post them all... I am, however, going to post a few more over the next few days.

It is said that a picture is worth 1,000 words... I think that the following few pics (posted over the next couple of days) are worth a bit more. Hope you enjoy:








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Today's Random Pic...

A few more castle pics...







This is Rick Steves' favorite castle in all of Europe









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Get'n older

Well... the big day has rolled around again. That day that I looked forward to in my youth... and now dread... has come: my birthday (insert doom and gloom music here). Now that our meetings are over (here in Germany) we have hit the road for a couple of days to celebrate my B'day. Dee has been great to let me do whatever I want to do on my big day. That means castles and pictures! The Germans sure did build some amazing castles... and we have seen our fair share over the last two days. Here are just a couple of quick pics of one we saw in the Mosel valley:











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Today's Random Pic...

Took this picture out of the car window as we were driving... This was actually just over the Austrian border (we snuck over during an afternoon off... don't tell anyone!)...








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"Ding-a-ling"

I noticed it the first night we were here in Germany....

"Ding-a-ling"

Outside my widow...

"Ding-a-ling"

across the darkness..

"Ding-a-ling"

"What is that sound" I kept thinking....

"Ding-a-ling"

the faint sound of wind chimes...?

"Ding-a-ling"
"Ding-a-ling"
"Ding-a-ling"
"Ding-a-ling-ling-linnnnng!!!!!!"

The only problem is that there would have to be thousands of wind chimes to make the faint 'ding-a-ling' sounds I was hearing.... The answer to my mystery came with the daylight. Cows. Yep... cows with bells around their necks. You know... it is almost stereotypical for a cow to have a bell around its neck, but I can't say that I have EVER seen one.








PS - I should also note: this beautiful sound... is starting to drive me crazy! I don't see how farmers stand it!!!



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On the road again....

Yep. It is hard to believe but we are on the road again. This time it is a business trip to Germany. Before you become jealous - just keep in mind that this is a business trip (i.e. conference rooms and meetings). Don't worry... I have my camera with us........ and you know that I can't resist using any spare time we have to shoot a couple of quick pictures! Don't ask me where we are... I really don't know the name of the town... All I know is that it is in the Black Forest somewhere, and it is beautiful!!! Here are a couple of quick pictures that were taken from the hotel.














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Ann Frank's House

I can't skip telling you about the best part of our trip!

Dee had the wonderful idea of reading Ann Frank's Diary while we were on our trip to Amsterdam. So, before we left Ireland, we bought two copies of the book and began reading like crazy. I have to admit that Ann Frank's Diary is something that I have always known about, but it is one of those classic books that I should read but never have. I was a little apprehensive to read the book at first.... after all.... it is a diary of a teenage girl... It only took me, however, about 10 pages to fall in love with the book. Ann wrote with a maturity and thoughtfulness far beyond her years. The book does contain her struggles with growing up and struggles with her parents, but it also really reveals what it was like to be a Jew in hiding under the Nazis. I was amazed at just what they knew of the outside and how aware they were of the war. You really could sense their hope and their desperation as the eight fugitives quietly lived out their lives in the four hidden rooms. I couldn't help but want them to survive... fear for their safety.... and want to know that it would all work out........... all the while knowing that they did not survive the war, that they (all but 1) were killed in the concentration camps.................. but somehow knowing this made the book somehow more personal and more powerful.


When Dee and I got to Amsterdam we quickly discovered that our B&B was just a few blocks over from Ann Frank's hiding place. We also discovered that there were some great benches right in front of the building. So... we spent many hours seated there in front of the house reading. This really made the book even more significant. Several times Ann wrote about sneaking looks out of the windows... watching the neighbors across the canal... and looking down at the street below as people went about their lives. It was almost eerie to read about these things as we sat there looking up at the dark windows.

We ended up going touring the hiding place on one of our last nights in Amsterdam. Having read the book made the tour 1000times more interesting. I'm so glad that we had read it before seeing the rooms.

If you have not read Ann Frank's Diary - I would highly recommend it. You will really gain an amazing perspective on the plight of the Jews and their struggle will quickly become very personal.





(Dee reading in front of the hiding place. The green building on the left is the front part of the building where the eight refugees hid for two years.)





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Today's Random Pics...

A few more that we took in Amsterdam...

















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A dog's life...

One morning (while I was out walking) I came across this beautiful dog sitting in the window. I snapped a few pictures of him and then found a bench and decided to sit and watch him for a while. It was not long until a little old lady came and joined me on the bench. She was a local on her way to the market and had decided to stop and enjoy the day. She told me that this old dog loves to sit there in the window and watch the canal boats go by. He apparently spends most of the sunny parts of the day on his pillow enjoying the waves of tourists and is always willing to have his photo taken. She also told me that he is recovering for surgery. Apparently he had just had a tumor removed and it looked like he was going to be ok. The little lady and I sat and talked for a long time about Bruges and about life... She eventually made her way to the market, and I left the dog to enjoy a bit of piece and quiet. Dee and I came back to the window to check on the dog several times, and he was there enjoying life and the sun.













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Behind the Camera...

This is another little entry in a series of posts that I write from time to time called - 'Behind the Camera'. There is a saying that a photo is worth 1,000 words. Unfortunately, however, a photo never really tells the full story. You never see what else is going on around me when I take the picture.



What you see: Cute little ducks...





What you don't see: Dee behind me reading... She gets comfortable because she knows that I am going to be a while...






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Today Random Pics...

"Art on the streets"












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More to come....

I just wanted to give all of you out there in Internet-land a quick heads up. We have (obviously) been back in Ireland for sometime now... the only problem is that we took SO many pictures while we were on the continent that I am not going to be able to post them all. So... I have given myself the deadline of this weekend to have everything posted that I am going to post. So.... be on the lookout because I am going to be updating this site like crazy over the next few days!




This picture was taken just outside the "lace museum". I really like the contrast of all the different brickwork. I thought that it was SO different to things here in Ireland.

Making lace...

I had no idea that making lace - by hand - would be SO hard.



We stumbled on a little "Lace Museum" on a little back street far outside of the city center of Brugges. The area is known for lace, and there is still a great tradition of making lace the old fashioned way. The "Museum" consisted of several rooms with very delicate and old pieces of lace under glass. What a guy's dream come true... as if looking at lace in all the shops wasn't enough...................

I hope you know that I am kidding. I do, however, have to say that there is one VERY cool area of the "museum". In a small little side room there sat six or seven (very near sighted) women making lace. They quickly worked away and chatted as we sat and watched, and didn't mind when I snapped a few quick shots. I am still amazed at just how much work goes into making it by hand, and I have to say that the 'museum' really did give me a new appreciation for lace.

















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My cute wife!

Here is a quick pic of my cute wife on her birthday...








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Today's Random Pic...

Some street performers in Bruges...

This was just around the block from where we were staying... it had to have been one of our favorite spots in the city. (That is a convent across the canal) We spent many evenings sitting on a bench here reading together... the perfect holiday!





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Bruges…. (That is in Belgium….)

Have you ever seen the movie “In Bruges”? Well… we watched the movie and it inspired us to go there. In the movie, one of the main characters says about Bruges “it’s like a (explicative) fairytale”. It was SO true. Amsterdam is nice, but Bruges was amazing (5,000 times better)! This quiet medieval town does not have the traffic, noise, or bustle like the bigger cities of Europe...... and it has retained a charm and untouched beauty that is often masked in the bigger cities. I could not help saying ‘it is like a fairytale’ over and over…... and truly it was.

The town was busy and bustling from about 11am to 4pm, but then slowed down to a crawl... and we felt as if we had all of the sights and romantic squares to ourselves. We walked all over the city… road in canal boats... tasted homemade chocolates in shops that we passed… ate waffles for lunch… stayed in an old monastery… spit sunflower seeds from 700 year old bridges…. and shopped (and bought) in antique markets! It was a great place to spend our anniversary and Dee’s birthday.


















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Back Online...

Yes! We are still here! Sorry for the silence over the last few days... we traveled from Amsterdam to Belgium for a few days, and we didn't have internet access while we were there! I have to admit that part of me was frustrated not being able to update the site... but part of me was happy to be away from the computer for a few days! We are back now and have internet again... but it is VERY slow and spotty... So - I'll tell you more about Belgium tomorrow!



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Amsterdam

I have to say... I like Amsterdam. Everything here is so clean and efficient. Everyone here speaks a very high standard of English, and the city is extremely easy to navigate. Amsterdam is "the Venice of the north", and it does not take much to see why. The city was built when a farmer built a dam on the Amstel river... the the name Amsterdam. Much of the city is built on reclaimed land and small (and large) canals divide the city into nice and straight blocks. Here are a few pics of the canals...











Today we are going to hop on a train and head to another country....

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Hello from Amsterdam!

Just a quick pic that Dee took yesterday. No... that is not an optical illusion... the buildings really are leaning! We will write more about Amsterdam soon!






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A few more random pics...

Dee and R at the farthest west point of continental Europe.




I feel the responsibility to say and show that Portugal is just like any place in Europe. It is extremely beautiful and historic while at the same time modern. Too often I feel guilty about only showing the beautiful side of places here, and not showing the traffic... rubbish... or power lines.




Photo by Dee... this is yours truly!




Everywhere we turned we were constantly reminded of Portugal's past and present connection with the sea.




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More from San Fran... I mean Lisbon...

So... Dee and I have made it back home to Ireland. We had a wonderful time in Portugal, and I think that the time away was really well timed and needed! Spending some time resting and playing with our friends was exactly what the doctor ordered!

It will take me a bit to finish sharing about our time there... we did so much and took so many photos... So, bare with me the next couple of days as I post some more about our time there...


In my last post I shared about the Golden Gate bridge in Lisbon... well, there were some other cool links with San Fransisco. Lisbon has a trolley system much like the one in San Fran.. In fact, many of the trolleys still going are "vintage". Taking a lift on one of these classic old electric tram cars (with their wooden interiors and old-style controls) is like taking a ride back in history. If, however, you take into consideration all of the hills in Lisbon and extremely narrow streets they are often more like riding a vintage roller coaster. You really did have to keep your hands and heads inside the car at all times!

Here are a few pics...

















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