Sunday, Kathy and I attended Sunday mass the Cocathedral de Santa Maria de La Redonda (now thats a title...how would you like to be the priest and answer the question, "Oh! And where do you work?). The church was built about the 13th century and boasted of an original Michelangelo. Later, we had dinner at a streetside restaurant named Bar_Tolmay. After pointng to several items on the menu that they didnt have, we finally settled on fish and veal. We took a picture of the menu so we could translate it later. Believe me, you don't really want to do that after you have consumed it and paid for it. After some discussion, Kathy and I thought we would try to learn a couple of spanish phrases each day and hopefully would be able to better ... read more

Soooo!!!! We were sleeping peacefully when Kathy got up and said, "Its time to get up...times a-wastin'!. So she makes coffee and I get up and start through my morning routine. After much noise and beeping in the kitchen, she gives me a cup of coffee and we start to get dressed, I put on my watch and just happened to look at the time. IT WAS 1:15AM. I look at Kathy and ask "What time do you think it is dear?" She said, "Its 6:30am and time to get up and get started." I say, "No dear, its 1:15am." She says, "No way!" I say, "Lets go back to bed, we have all day. We don't need to get up at 1:15 in the morning." After some discussions on the technical side about how cell ... read more

Kathy and I are headed to Spain!!! Yeehaw! We have spent the last month or two finalizing the arrangements. We will visit Barcelona, Zaragoza, Logrono, Santander, Pecos de Europa, Oviedo, Madrid, Seville and Valencia with a final stay in Barcelona before heading home. Of course we have incorporated a hike into our trip in the Picos de Europa National Park. Our hike will start about 4 days into our trip and will be a series of day hike loops with multiple days at each B&B. Total distance will be about 60 miles and total time will be about 6 days. This will be different than our normal hikes because we will stay in one area which will allow us to enjoy the local shops and restaurants for several days. Terrain will cover 10 to 15 km ... read more

Tuesday we are preparing to leave Dublin. Tomorrow we travel to our airport hotel, but before we leave, Kathy and I decide to make one last trip to Malahide, a seaside town recommended by our Airbnb host who happens to work in the tourist industry in Ireland. After a coffee at McDonald’s (a quaint irish resaurant located throughout the city) to plan our next 2 days, we board the DART and head north. During our stay, we have made use of 2 things in Ireland: public transportation and our feet. Today is no different. We walked about 3 miles along the coast and then turn towards Malahide and walked thru several established neighborhoods. We were doing fine until we got to the 'subdivision from hell.' We must have walked 6 miles thru this thing and every ... read more

Our AirBnB is a minimal establishment with few amenities but Kathy and I have moved in, taken over, and generally made ourselves at home. Sunday, we attended Easter services at St Patrict's Cathedral and set in the fourth row from the front. Very cool. The pastor mentioned the Brexit and US vs N. Korea...the sequal. We both found that interesting for the Easter message. St. Patricts Cathedral was built around 1350AD and as the services continued, I pondered how they built the church. We eventually made our way to Trinity College, Merrion Park, and Stephen's Green park. The entire Dublin City Center is getting ready for the Easter holiday scheduled for tomorrow. Fencing is being setup on the streets to separate pedestrians from the traffic and all the pubs are full of tourists. There is going ... read more