Geo: 49.7688, 6.64948Last night was a loooooong night. We managed to stay up till 10:00, and I think we both fell asleep fairly quickly. However, I was snap-bang awake at around 2:30 a.m. I didn't look at the clock till John got up, and it was 3:00 then. We both lay awake for quite some time, which is always torture. John found a noise app on his iPhone (ocean sounds and New Age music) and that helped a little bit. It was also pretty warm in the room. When my alarm went off at 7:00, I felt as if I'd never gotten back to sleep even though I know I had.Showering at least made me feel semi-human again. We went down to breakfast around 9:00. Nice buffet featuring the usual European fare: sausages, scrambled eggs, bread ... read more

Geo: 47.6353, -122.302Since we didn't have to vacate the hotel till 11:00 this morning, I planned to sleep till 8:00. But I woke up at 5:45, partly because I needed the bathroom but also because there was a noise that reminded me of when I was in Amsterdam and had an unwanted rodentine visitor. (It turned out to be noise coming from another room.) I had just gotten back to sleep when the fire alarm went off. God those things are mind-scramblingly loud! I had just grabbed my passport and wallet and was putting on my jacket (because unless there are flames actually licking at my heels, I am not fleeing in just my nightgown) when the alarm stopped. Sheesh! After my heart returned to a more-or-less normal rhythm, I did manage to sleep for another ... read more

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236Poor Katherine. She woke up with a cold (actually, it was coming on yesterday) and she feels pretty low. The initial plan for this morning if the weather was cooperating (which it was) was to walk across Hyde Park and down Constitution Hill to Buckingham Palace. Katherine opted for the Tube instead, and I can't say that I blame her. Since we were starting from Lancaster Gate, we walked over to the parks for a few minutes, but the Italian Gardens are hidden by hoardings. In fact, there are hoardings up all over London, as well as odd little pedestrian diversions that create single-file traffic on the busy sidewalks. It's chaotic, but the city is prettying itself up for the 2012 Olympics next year. There are also all sorts of Tube closures, but that ... read more

Geo: 53.3441, -6.26749We drove out of Portrush at 8:30, and it occurred to me that I've seen very few cats on the tour, and none that I could take a photo of. Have seen lots of dogs, however (including two corgis), and enough cows and sheep to last me the rest of my life. In fact, most of my photos will be labeled “sheep,” “cow,” “another cow,” “sheep,” “sheep and cows,” “green field,” “sheep” ....We saw north Belfast from the motorway. It's still sectarian and, in fact, goes virtually street-by-street Protestant, Catholic, Protestant, Catholic. The British government still has to build peace lines (or peace walls) between certain streets to keep the peace. West Belfast is mainly Catholic, east Belfast is mainly Protestant, and south Belfast apparently prefers to stay out of it altogether. The... read more

Geo: 55.1991, -6.65407A good night's sleep at last! No door rattling, no howling wind. Just a couple of odd dreams involving trying to get out of a building that kept turning into a medieval castle.Our first stop this morning was at St. Columba's in Drumcliffe. W.B. Yeats is buried there, along with his wife George. I've no idea why she was called George, but apparently she was American and quite a bit younger than W.B. There is also in the church grounds a high cross that dates from the 10th century. It's in fantastic condition for something that's over 900 years old.The woman who sat behind me on the bus today kept snapping and cracking her gum. I was directly behind John the driver, and I could hear him and Declan asking each other, “Do you ... read more