http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/capsfan2002/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from capsfan2002 en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:36:07 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:36:07 +0000 Well this was my last day of site seeing in Budapest. Was planning to go stand in line for the Parliament tour but when I got up and saw incredible blue skies starting to poke through I nixed that idea. Did not want to waste what little I had of daylight sun sets by 415 pm here standing in line. So instead I headed over to Parliament to check out the outside of the building. The Hungari http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-350151.html Today was not a good weather day. Heavy heavy fog. Couldn't see very far in front of you. As a result decided to kind of spend the day visiting some random sites and just wandering.Went and walked along Vacci Street and Fashion Street which are the big pedestrian only shopping areas. Lots of little shops selling variety of Hungarian items as well as typical tourist stuff. Fashion Street als http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-350140.html Well woke up at 5 am and I can't sleep so might as well write an update on my Day 2. Storm clouds were there when I got up in the morning so decided to try to spend some time indoors seeing some museums. At the top of my list was the Museum of Fine Arts located at Heroes Square. The square is a very large open space with some monuments and museums on two sides the Museum of Art and the Museum http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-350137.html I write from Budapest Hungary. Wrote up my notes while I was eating tonight on what I was going to report to you my wonderful friends and family. Can you tell Irsquom in a good mood What a suck up huh Well I had a great day of site seeing and I see on the internet that my house probably had 4 foot drifts of snow in front of it so guess the weather people were right for once and I manag http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-350120.html Today my big event was going to be a trip to Hampton Court and then some miscellaneous things in the late afternoon and evening if time. It's my last site seeing day in London. I grabbed the train only 9 roundtrip and took the 35 minute ride to Hampton England. Hampton CourtYou immediately see the property on coming out of the train station. Ithellipishelliphuge. And I love it. I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Surrey/blog-330920.html Got back to London from Hampton Court late afternoon and cruised over to the Tate Britain since it is home to the collection of one of my favorite artists J.M.W. Turner. I was fortunate to see Turnerrsquos collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC when it was on tour and I happened to be in DC at the same time and became an instant fan. He has several of pieces of art on disp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-330915.html Today was going to be kind of a leisurely day of tying up some loose ends of places I wanted to visit if there was time and then attending the London Symphony in the evening. Slept in a little because of my late night last night and then headed out first up Buckingham Palace. Buckingham PalaceI was able to tour the state rooms of Buckingham Palace which are only open a few months of the year w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-330890.html Arrived in Paris this morning for my quick daytrip. Because it was going to be a quick daytrip I didn't really make any specific plans and planned for a day of wandering the big sites.Took the Eurostar over which was a great way to travel. The trip took a bit over 3 hours which is longer than normal because of some work they are doing due to a fire a couple weeks ago. I thought it was going pr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-330918.html I wasnrsquot quite sure what today was going to bring. My main emphasis for the day was going to be the British Museum but I also hoped to get into a tour at Parliament. I wasnrsquot sure if that was going to happen since Parliament can only be viewed by international visitors through a tour in the months of August and September and since I didnrsquot have a tour ticket I wasnrsquot sur http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-330640.html After a couple hours delay departing the US we finally landed in London. Anxious to not lose all of my site seeing day I fumbled my way onto the tube and to my stop and found my hotel. The tube system seemed easy enough but the first day is always the roughest when you donrsquot know what yoursquore doing. I was however already loving my tube pass card. It was about 11 am and my room http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-330626.html Some photos I took of the very beautiful Custer State Park. Located south of Mount Rushmore and home to Lake Sylvan Cathedral Spires and the Needle's Eye. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Black-Hills-National-Forest/blog-308071.html Just north of Sturgis SD is a beautiful drive through Custer National Forest different from Custer National Park. The white rock just comes out of nowhere in the green rolling hills of northwest South Dakota.Here are a few photos I took on a recent drive to Rapid City. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Custer-National-Forest/blog-308069.html This was my first trip this year to the International Peace Garden. Located with half on the US and half on the Canadian side the Garden has a number of flowers fountains and floral arrangements. Also has a Peace chapel and some other memorials. Unfortunately it looks like they had just made some flower transplants from their spring to summer flowers so the floral arrangements weren't as fil http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Dakota/International-Peace-Garden/blog-296320.html I really enjoy going to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park this time of year. Have made a couple trips the last month. Luckily I only live a few hours from the Park so makes for a nice day trip. The Park's Loop is very enjoyable but some of the gravel side roads and short hikes really get you to some wonderful spots of the Park. The Park's grass and trees are so green this time of year whic http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Dakota/blog-292179.html I'm fortunate enough to have friends who own a pontoon so spent the weekend on the Missouri River. The River is home to plenty of sand bars and a very scary current at times. It is not to be messed with. However it is gorgeous as well and very cooling on warm days. It's also great for my tan Here are a few pictures...I also threw in a State Capitol photo. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Dakota/Bismarck/blog-292176.html Spent the day touring the South and North Units of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Perfect skies and moderate temp. A little windy but that kept things comfortable. With gas prices now at 3.99gallon it's expensive to travel much of anywhere and I was itching to go somewhere so headed to the western side of my state of North Dakota to see some of our beautiful landscape. Ended up bei http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Dakota/Theodore-Roosevelt-NP/blog-287823.html Hot hot week in DC and I mean high temps by that High humid temps actually. Luckily I was in meetings most of the day and only able to venture out in the evenings for the most part. However I was unlucky in that being in DC for its first heat wave of the year with near 100 degree temps for a week. DC is typically hot and humid in the summers but not usually this early.My first day in my http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-287818.html Well I can now say that I've skydived. Today I took a little plane up over 10500 feet above the city of West Fargo and dove out Actually I was more pushed out since it was a tandem dive and the dive master decided when we went but you get the idea. What an experience What prompted this It was for a good cause. I did the jump for Operation Freefall and through Dru's Dive which will pr http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Dakota/West-Fargo/blog-277641.html I've visited Falls Park in Sioux Falls before whenever I have free time when working in the area I try to get back for another visit. Such a great hidden treasure. Several waterfalls make up the Park and there are several viewing areas throughout. Also has walking and biking trails in and through the Park. Lots of green spots to picnic or enjoy the scenery. The Big Sioux River cuts through t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Sioux-Falls/blog-274841.html I had never visited a Presidential Library before or even been in a city which was home to one. As a result since I was in Atlanta I took advantage of a few hours to go tour the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. Known for his human rights work during is presidency and after there are several displays relating to his work in that area. Great showcase on the history of the Presidency as well a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Georgia/Atlanta/blog-270377.html