Here's how I ended up here-- on the map I see 'Villefranche-de-Rouergue (don't ask me to pronounce it !) and it looked like an obscure out of the way place, so since I am looking for obscure out of the way places where the tourists are not parading around with their cameras slung around their necks, I decide to make that a goal to check out. I spent one night in Cahors, and after my adventure to Saint Cirq Lapopie, I end up in V de R. Still have to scan pics, I will work on it, I promise !!! I [View Full Entry]

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I have a claim to San Francisco. My mother's Danish grandfather worked as a carpenter at the Palace Hotel, I think right after the earthquake. I don't know much about him, but I have a desk and a mirror that he made. My father's mother moved there during WWII after her husband died of a heart attack while my dad was overseas in the Navy. She lived in a little studio apartment on the corner of Sutter and Jones until she died in 1974. Although she lived on a meager pension, she was one of those ladies that would never be [View Full Entry]

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looked up the definition of LIFE in the dictionary. I could list all twenty different definitions, but decided that was an overkill to the point I wish to make. Let me just make this point...... all twenty definitions could be done away with... and only one would be necessary to describe the essence of life. That is Paris...... on Sunday. It was a Sunday in October, 2000, my last day of a 3 week trip, five of which were spent in Paris. I hadn't visited the Louvre yet, and had planned to do that on this last day. But after an [View Full Entry]

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Approached the ferry building/dock hours before departure. A lone traveler was sitting there, waiting for the ferry to Sardinha. He was a German, who was traveling by bicycle. I envied his independence. If I had the time, I would have gone with him. But time restraints would only allow me to go one place or another, and I had to return to Palermo. Had been there a few years earlier when a friend of mine took me from one side Sicily to the other... but it was a rushed trip, and I knew I needed to return when I was on [View Full Entry]

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After arriving by train, I found myself stranded, with a cabbie telling me for 10 euros he'll take me the 6 kilometers (he told me 3 times how far it was) to enna. Not this cat. I could see 5, but 10? that's a rip. So I asked at the station if it was ok to leave my back pack there (as that usually works out ok) and with my little day pack started the hike up the hill.... wow..... awesome sicilian countryside. needed that after 4 days in Palermo, 4 days in naples, and 2 days in rome. Hmmm, but [View Full Entry]

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In February of 1999, I got my first chance to visit the island of Sicily, the land of my Grandfather's family. I took the train from Salerno to Catania. Was sooooooo cold. Oh, but I thought the further south I got, the warmer it would be. Haa haaa. Train went through a BLIZZARD... got stuck somewhere in Calabria. Twice. Finally we arrived in Villa St. Giovanni and waited... and waited... for the train to be disconnected and transported onto the ferry to take us to Sicily. Sat there on train forever. Finally, we got moving, only to get STUCK on the [View Full Entry]

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All is peace and love in this Paradise called Gimmelwald. Everywhere but at Helmut's. Helmut runs a hostel and a hotel there. I made a big blunder, allowing the tourism office at the Bern train station make a reservation for me, and they arranged things at Helmut's. I was told the hostel was full, so the reservation was at the more expensive hotel. So I am hiking from Murren to Gimmelwald, and the first thing I come to in Gimmelwald was home sweet home! The Mittaghorn hotel, run by Walter. Nothing fancy, but quaint as can be. Big beautiful cows, with [View Full Entry]

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Yeahh, somewhere around 1990. Got a call from my travel buddy Steve. Low fares to NYNY from LAX. Let's go for a week, fly into Newark, spend a few days in the City, then rent a car and drive to DC, then up to Boston, and who knows what else. So I takes the Greyhound down to LA. Mistake. Greyhound is slower than frozen molassas. And, hate to say it, but if you want to feel like a LOSER with a capitol L take Greyhound. Never again. But I finally get to San Fernando, dropped off in the middle of the [View Full Entry]

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We had one day we could ditch the tour group and do our own thing. We were in downtown Jerusalem! What an experience. I do recall walking, and walking and walking, til finally, we decided to take a bus to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. I asked my friend if the busses took American dollars, he didn't know, so I asked a woman reading a newspaper on a bench. She didn't miss a lick... without hardly putting down her paper, she asked me, 'do American busses take Shekels?" You should have seen the egg dripping from my face... Then we went [View Full Entry]

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Back in 1984 (sounds sort of 'Orwellian, ehhhh ??) I had a chance to go to Israel, on a 'promo' tour. My buddy Steve and I went, for only $500.00 each. That included flight from LAX, hotels, tour, transportation, and one meal a day. A 7 day tour. I don't usually take the 'organized tour trips, but I couldn't pass this one up. So to the Holy Land we went. Mostly I felt like I was 'just along for the ride', and the last thing I wanted to do was be stereotyped as a 'pillsbury doughboy christian'. But I did it [View Full Entry]

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