Folksy Travel by Bill Smale • Click on "Menu" below to search Country or City or to see Country Guide. Tip your phone sideways and you will see all aspects of the site.

June 14, 2026June 14, 2026

Cute Bra

This town is very close to Alba. I say it’s cute because it has some interesting things to see and it’s fun to walk around for the day that’s why I called it “Cute Bra”.

Marines outfits Cute Bra — These are interesting outfits for the marines

Slow food movement — This is a movement started in Bra To try to bring healthy, organic and good quality food to everybody. If you’re interested you should look it up by clicking on this phrase, slow food.

Santa Maria Bill Smale — Chiesa Santa Maria. Look at the upper port where you see the windows…

Painted windows Bill Smale — These are not real windows. These are painted

Sundial Bill Smale — If you look closely you will see this sundial is telling you the time in certain places of the world

Community center Bill Smale — Community building

This is a old and decommissioned clock, sundial style

Defensive pulpit — If you look at the slats in the building it looks like these additions were made for defensive purposes around the corners. You could see just enough to aim your bow and arrow

June 13, 2026June 13, 2026

if you know about hats and fashion then you know Borsellino. mine is from their shop in the fashion mall in Milano. I never know where they started or much about the history. Yesterday I just decided to go from Asti to Alessandria on a short train ride to see what was there. I find every small town in Italy to have something interesting to experience or just look at. Walking down the street I saw a police station at the park by the train station that said “Borsalino“. There goes my curiosity. So I did a Google map search and I found there is a museum in this town so I went there. For €10 (senior discount) I could go see the history and all the different types of hats made by this company. The company name is taken from the fellow who started the making business in the 1800s. As you walk around the museum you see all the different styles you have seen in most kinds of cultural photos of different places of the world and also from the movies. It takes a minimum of six weeks to make one of their hats and it takes months to make one of their fine straw hats, Panama hat, sourced from Montecristi in Ecuador. I visited the museum in my Borsalino.

The prominent company name In my Borsalino — The prominent company name

Originally in this town In my Borsalino — The original factory was here in this town but it has moved to a larger facility just outside.

Popehat Bill Smale — And of course because they are a prominent business in Italy they must find some way to serve the Vatican

Humphrey Bogart hat Bill Smale — The Humphrey Bogart standard hat from 1930

Wide brim Panama Bill Smale — This is the much wider brim Panama hat made in Ecuador

Fine weave Panama Bill Smale — This is the same style I have but the weave is finer

Iconic hat — You’ve probably seen this hat in a movie

Top hat — These are top hats but one of the very famous raw materials from their best sellers in the 1850s was the beaver hat, most likely sourced from raw materials from the US

Bowler hats — These iconic bowler hats were popular not only in England but also in the US

I didn’t check to see why these hats got their name

Fancy hat — you have definitely seen one or more of these styles in the movies

Fedora hat history — The interesting history of this style, the fedora started in a movie with Sarah Bernhardt from a character she played named Fedora. She wore this style hat and since it has become in the US a name for this general style hat including the Bogart and other similar styles.

Cowboy hat — The description in the museum indicates there were many styles worn in the west in the US but the styles above were used in early movies and therefore created the general “cowboy hat“ legend and style. in the ranching business it is called the “western hat”. City people call it the “cowboy hat”.

Bikers cap — I think these were designed for movies as sailor’s caps or what Borsalino says was also fashioned after the Greek fisherman‘s hat. but these also became known as the “bikers hat” in the US and typified by the Marlon Brando style in a streetcar named desire.

Motorcycle helmet — This is the iconic motorcycle helmet you see in many older Italian movies

Montessori — And now, if you are familiar with education styles, you know the rest of the story.

There is a beautiful park just outside the station area where you can get a cup of coffee or just sit and enjoy

June 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Drinking in Barolo

Growing up in the wine country in California up through my teenage years I learned about wine, drinking it since I was 10 (before 14 it was only on special occasions and half the glass was water). so whenever I go to another country I often pay attention to the wine. And people who know about Italy generally learned something about the wine before they arrive. Barolo is considered one of the best general wines made in Italy. So visiting this general area and seeing that name on the map, of course I had to visit. It is definitely worth a day trip and you will be able to go to various places to taste wine. I tried the one at the castle at the top which has automated wine tasting which is explained below.

Everything about wine Drinking in Barolo — The whole city is about wine

Closed restaurant Drinking in Barolo — I guess not peak tourist season so this place was closed

Grape vines everywhere Bill Smale — Everywhere you look in this area you will see grape vines

Bread and butter Bill Smale — The lunch was very elegant with homemade bread containing some fruit and a few nuts with very delicious breadsticks and a butter with something else mixed together.

SalmonPrimi Bill Smale — The primi Was salmon on some rice and tiny beans mixed with some potato sauce

Brown rice Bill Smale — secondi was A brown rice and a rich sauce

Nice restaurant Bill Smale — A very nice restaurant

Wine tasting castle — You can visit the castle to do some wine tasting

Winetasting — Of course the focus of the winetasting is Barolo

Favorite Barolo — This was the first one I tried and the one I liked the best

Wine dispensers — This is the automated wine tasting. They have four bottles in the case that you can taste. You get a card at the front desk which you pay for later after you taste the wine. You put the card in the little slot below the map and just above the wines. Below the slot and above the bottles you can see these small rectangular screens. Each screen has a series of three amounts you can choose from. On the screen you press and hold one of the three amounts you want to taste. Each amount has a price next to it. Make sure your glass is underneath the pipe below the rectangular screen since that’s where the wine comes out into your glass. It will stop dispensing wine when your amount has been reached. The amount you chose well then be added in the euro amount on the card you put in the slot. So you just go around to the different dispensers and taste whatever wine you want and in the end you pay for what you had dispensed into your glass. It’s a pretty interesting system

Second one — This was the second one I tried

Soil and rock from the area — The different areas have different levels of soil and rock. These differences are displayed for each area. This one here is for the area where Barolo Wine grapes are harvested.

Map of the grapes — The map above each type of wine shows where a certain kind of grape comes from

Looking down on the town — Looking down on the little town. The best part of the town actually is a little more compact and old

Dolcetto wine — I tried this wine in the restaurant for lunch. It was a very light fresh red wine with a sour taste which was kind of nice

Wines I tasted — The wines below are all the ones I tasted

June 9, 2026June 9, 2026

USA

Last year I visited the US. I was lucky to be able to catch up with some of my good friends who I knew from Japan, Thailand and my college in Iowa. I attended my 50th college graduation event which was really a great chance to gather with people and learn what they are up to and what they have done to build an interesting life. Cornell really gave them a great opportunity to see the world from different perspectives. That’s the benefit of a liberal arts education.

Minnesota

Minnesota has been in the news a lot recently. I went up there to stay with my buddy Bob and to see the local sites before driving down to Iowa.

Local barbershop USA — This is the exclusive, award-winning barbershop available only by reservation. Bob is a well-known contributor to the local community.

Red wing USA — The downtown area of red wing

Factory USA — This is an old red wing shoe factory, a major long-term contributor to this town

Boot for a knife USA — Even in my generation there was a tradition that a boy should carry a knife around for various purposes, most of all whittling if not cutting twigs or other things to get through the countryside. so they made this boot which carried a small knife for utility purposes

Town clock Bill Smale — a clock in the park near the train station

Train depot Bill Smale — a train actually stops here

Handmade guitar Bill Smale — Handmade guitars are still a craft in this area

Scandinavian gift shop Bill Smale — And of course you all know one of the great developers of this area from the European world where the Scandinavians

Bookshop — This is a good not for profit business which you should visit if you have a chance to be in this town

New York

every time I visit New York I stay with a friend who I’ve known for 50 years and as a well-known illustrator and artist. We go looking for art deco buildings and Attend a Broadway show. This time it was MICHAEL.

Katz deli — Katz Deli still serves great pickles

Katz is busy — It seems to be always crowded but it’s the best place I found to get a pastrami sandwich

Spicy pickle sour beer — I did not try this spicy pickle sour beer. Maybe I should have

Marquis de Lafayette — a great hero of the American revolution

Gelato laboratory — we had to visit here to get some good gelato

Gelato — I think it was lemon on top of mango

Interesting store — Interesting name for a store

Used clothing store — a good place to buy clothes. It’s better than sending them to Africa since they have an overflow of used clothing from the US

Art deco exterior — This art deco exterior was very dramatic

The inside had been modernized so we didn’t get a chance to see what it looked like in the past

of course you have to stop by radio city when you visit New York

Celtic bar — Maybe next time I’ll visit this pub

A new savior — This is an interesting movement community

Local neighborhood — Local New York neighborhood

Goodbye New York — Saying goodbye to New York City

San Francisco

the amount of tourism has reshaped my hometown tremendously. It’s nice to see many of the old things still there like the means of transportation but some things of course are disappearing.

Sea lions take over — as the local fishing industry decreases these guys have taken over the docs

Our old house — You can see our old house on the hill from the city

Expensive parking in the city — if you’re rich you can afford this parking. It is most likely more expensive than your Car Rental.

Home at last — It feels good to be back in my city

Great deli — The local diner at the union Square area is kind of nice so I went there for breakfast every morning but I always ate too much. They make great Mexican style food combinations

Avocado — When the avocado and the remnants left it was very enjoyable

This was another day but it was very good. It is Lori’s diner you should visit

Special margarita — Is this really the kind of image you want to give for a special margarita? The nuance is……

Boulder and Longmont

Train to Boulder — At the airport they have a train going to Boulder

Art Deco building — This is one of the art deco inspired buildings in Longmont

Bagel with cream cheese — In the morning I had a bagel with cream cheese of course

I seem to always have Mexican food when I’m in the western part of the US. I just can’t get enough

June 8, 2026June 8, 2026

Wine in Neive

to be honest I used ChatGPT to tell me what the interesting and beautiful little towns are in the Piemonte Area of Italy. When I saw the name Barolo I knew I had to come and visit. For any of you who like Italian wine you will know this name. So I located the town of Alba and saw that it was probably an easy commute to these small towns so I could come back to Alba in the evening. Another reason for being an Alba Is indirect. I know that the company Alba in Japan is the low end Watch manufacturing facility of Seiko And that group was a very good customer of mine years ago. So here we go to Alba. neive Is slightly north on a bus that doesn’t run very often but it’s a very short ride, only about 25 minutes. The town is very small but it is very charming, on top of a hill with many wine tasting rooms.

Wine tasting room Wine in Neive — The wine tasting and purchasing room in the cooperative

Hilltop Chapel Wine in Neive — This chapel is at one entrance to the hilltop village

Old painting Bill Smale — A very old painting

Many churches Bill Smale — I was amazed in such a small village there are so many churches

My lunch Bill Smale — The food here was excellent.

Pork shank lunch Bill Smale — I ordered the pork shank. They told me it would take about 20 minutes so I would have to wait and asked if it was OK. Of course it was. I have all of the time in the world.

My restaurant — Proof I was here at my restaurant

Grapevines everywhere — The view of the vineyards from the top. When you come to this area everywhere you look are grape vines

Orthodox Church — This church is extremely ordinate. At first I didn’t understand why there was a decorative wall which you face coming into the church. When I looked around all of the artwork seemed to portray Greek orthodox artwork. I cannot imagine that this is a Roman Catholic church. One thing interesting about the Greek orthodox art is that it tends to be two dimensional rather than what you see in the Roman Catholic churches, a more three-dimensional presentation of images

You know you were in Italy when the theme is “Amore”

Peach on coconut — This is peach on top of coconut. But something interesting. Fish in Italian is PESCE. Peach in Italian is PESCE. I ordered it according to the standard pronunciation which also means fish. The people behind me were having fun pronouncing it two different ways so I’m not quite sure if the peach pronunciation is an exception to the rules. I guess I have to ask somebody

June 8, 2026June 8, 2026

visiting Dublin Castle

there is something interesting about this castle beyond the fact that it was a target of the revolution and that it was the seat of power of the English colonialists in Ireland. It was one large seat of occupation that was not destroyed during the Civil War or after. It’s good to walk through to get an idea what it meant to be an English overlord.

Large staircase visiting Dublin Castle — Typical large central staircase taking up a lot of room but great for presenting people as they come down the stairs

One of the entrances visiting Dublin Castle — at one of the entrances it’s nice they put the symbol of Ireland at the top

Declaration of the republic visiting Dublin Castle — The 1916 declaration of the Republic is very prominently displayed

James Connelly room Bill Smale — This room was used as a hospital for World War I wounded soldiers and was later named after the great Irish patriot

James Connolly Bill Smale — James Connolly portrait

The Irish version Bill Smale — This is the Irish version of the dedication above to James Connelly. As you will notice, the name Seamus in Irish is equivalent to James in English.

Elaborate hallway Bill Smale — Down the elaborate hallway

Eamon de valera Bill Smale — The great revolutionary who was also a US citizen so was spared execution after the 1916 Easter rising. He became the president of Ireland several times.

Monarch symbol — On the mirror the symbol of the monarch

View from the castle to the gate — A view towards the gate from the castle

Entertainment room — The main entertainment room

Ceiling — Beautiful Murals on the ceiling

The three countries — The Royal Banner depicting the lion of Scotland, the three Lions of the Plantagenets and the heart of Ireland

June 6, 2026June 7, 2026

Ventimiglia to Cuneo

since I’ve been to Genova, Torino, Milano and some other big cities in the north of Italy I decided to take some time in the smaller cities. They aren’t crowded, everything is much cheaper and people are extremely friendly and they are very safe and fun to walk around.

Ventimiglia

this is the first major stop on the train from France and it’s a cute little town. There’s not too much to do here but it’s by the ocean and the beaches are very nice and so it’s just a relaxing place to be for a couple days.

Restaurant downstairs Ventimiglia to Cuneo — I stayed above this restaurant owned by the same family and with the same name. It was very adequate for what I needed and well managed. The food in this restaurant was very nice.

Pasta with pesto Ventimiglia to Cuneo — Pasta with pesto sauce. It was very filling and had a very rich flavor

Poke bowl Bill Smale — Hawaiians are imperial the world even here with their Poké bowl

The beaches Bill Smale — The beaches are very inviting though I did not go in

Beautiful flowers Bill Smale — Beautiful flowers in the small park

Old buildings Bill Smale — Some of the buildings are showing signs of wear and tear. But as you can see there is a tower among these which is kind of interesting

Cuneo

This is the center of the province with the same name. They seem to have quite a few interesting things going on especially the fair which was set up well I was there to promote local agriculture

Famous guy — This must’ve been a famous guy

Dario Fo Bill Smale — This might be a statue of Dario Fo The director of this opera Or musical created in 1966

This was a little event for kids. The video below shows some of the fun they were having

Selling dry goods — For several hours the streets were lined with vendors of all sorts of dry goods

Cinnamon Café — At the cinnamon café, a Chinese restaurant

Local church — The local church has some very interesting art

Belltower — This church has its own tower for the bells

Coffee ice cream — In France I order coffee cream and I get coffee mixed with some cream. So without knowing what that is in Italy I ordered it here and I got coffee ice cream.

Beautiful countryside on the way up to the city

Farm spectacular — This is the agricultural groups getting together to promote local farmers and their wonderful farming goods

They were even promoting McCormick tractors

Kids education — This was an educational experience for the kids

California bunny — I didn’t know that California had its own kind of bunnies

Strange chickens — These are strange looking chickens

Noisy birds — These birds were very noisy

Learning about crops — A demonstration of certain kinds of crops and a group of kids learning about them

Many children — I think almost all the schools were here with the children

Going to the mountains — These are some views climbing up the mountains going to Cueno

Small train station — Just a small train station

June 4, 2026June 4, 2026

Liverpool, Heysham, Shrewsbury

there’s not much to see in Heysham. It just happened to be where the ferry from the Manx Isle of Man comes in on certain days. But Liverpool is well known for a number of things, not only the Beatles but also for the port where many people left to go to Canada, the US Australia and New Zealand. Many of those people were from Ireland and Scotland. Scotland had the clearance and Ireland had the attempt to eliminate The Catholic population. But of all the three cities I found Shrewsbury to be the most intricate and interesting because of the buildings, the history and the beauty. You might spend a day or two in Liverpool but in Shrewsbury it would be nice to stay for three days and just wander around and enjoy the environment. It’s a good walking city and very charming.

Liverpool

Old main entrance Liverpool Heysham Shrewsbury — The old main entrance when the Beatles were playing

Mini pizza Liverpool Heysham Shrewsbury — I ordered some mini pizza type food with something like Jamon On it. The waiter forgot to put the cured ham on so I took it back, microwaved the cured ham and put it on top. It was OK

Inside the cavern Bill Smale — Inside the cavern an old favorite plays

Donated guitars Bill Smale — They have guitars donated by many famous musicians

Playing Beatles songs Bill Smale — In another part of the cavern this guy was doing some Beatles songs and people were joining in

Local houses bs — Just some local houses

Heysham

A play on words Bill Smale — This is funny if you know the term for those who supported Bonnie Prince Charlie and his father James who claimed to be the rightful heir to the throne of England. They were called Jacobites Since the name James is a derivative of Jacob Which I guess is what they use in France.

Old post box — So for the past 80 years they didn’t feel the name to change this post box

Beautiful view — The most interesting scenery in this town

Shrewsbury

this is a very cute and interesting town where you should spend a couple days, maybe three. It’s very walkable, very pretty and quiet and it’s a great place to just calm down and enjoy the river and scenery and hopefully a Guinness

Tutor style buildings — Many old tutor style buildings

Old buildings — These old buildings are still standing

Three fishes pub — Three fishes is an interesting name for a pub. I didn’t check to see if they serve fish but I’m sure it is deep-fried

Preparing for the tourist — There is a lot of work going on to prepare for the tourist season

Beautiful window windows — Beautiful Stained glass windows In the cathedral

I wanted to eat some more Thai food. Unfortunately there wasn’t much flavor to the LAAB

Shrewsbury Castle — The old castle is still there. It is filled with military items which I was not really interested in seeing since I have seen many places with the same kind of uniforms and armory

Old building. Rowley house — I couldn’t go in since it was being restored but it’s a very beautiful old building

It seems everybody from China, Vietnam and Taiwan want to prepare Japanese food. If you have been to Japan for an extended period of time then you won’t find very much interesting Japanese food in Europe. Of course, if you’re just interested in having good food whether it takes you back to Japan or not then these places I guess are OK

Japanese restaurant — It seems everybody who comes from a country east of India wants to open a sushi restaurant in Europe. There is only one restaurant in Europe that I saw which was “Japanese“ and was actually managed by someone from Japan. I’m sure there are more but they are most likely very upscale and not for the average daily meal

Leaning building — This building is really leaning. But it is very old

Old station house — An old house near the station

Interesting designs — This is an interesting combination of design designs

St chad’s. I still don’t know who this guy was

Semi circular church — I don’t recall ever saying a church in this semi circular Layout

The loopy shrew — This is where I stayed and it was kind of a nice place, right above the pub restaurant

Strange board — Maybe you can figure this out

A joke about a song — Do you get the joke? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a song

This is where Charles Darwin lived and studied so they have a statue devoted to him At the town council

Scottish Highlands train — This is a very beautiful train and not for boarding here. It’s a first class train to go into the Scottish Highlands. It might be nice to ride this sometime

June 3, 2026June 3, 2026

Close to Bangor

Bangor

this is a good place in the west of Wales to stay and visit very touristy places not far from Bangor. Don’t below you will see the hotel, pub, restaurant I stayed in. The great thing as the owner is Thai, she is a very accomplished artist and a good cook. If you ask her to make the food as she would for Thai people she will do it. Otherwise she tends to adapt the food to local flavors which means almost no red Peppers.

Good soup Close to Bangor — This was a very delicious Thai food

Nice hotel Close to Bangor — This hotel is not expensive and it’s right near the station so I recommend it for comfort and convenience

Turkish restaurant Bill Smale — Why not mix Turkish food with fish and chips ! After all, in Italy Turkish restaurants also make pizza

World War I memorial Bill Smale — I think this was a memorial to World War I veterans

Good beer Bill Smale — This is a very tasty local beer

Purple moose beer — The purple moose beer. In the background you can see some ofSu’s Artwork

TOM KA GAI SOUP Bill Smale — Good TOM KA GAI SOUP

Buffet leftovers Bill Smale — These were some leftovers from the Thai buffet which is arranged every Thursday

Guinness Bill Smale — Not the perfect pourbut Guinness is always delicious

Longest town name — The longest city name in the world is close to Bangor. I was told it means the white church on the hill

Hollyhead

Long sub name — The longest Shop sub name

Of course you have to have a Doleck Protect protecting your store

Rhyl

Llanberis

you must visit this place since it is an entrance to Snowden, the national park that has such extensive beauty, places to hike and scenery that is world famous.

Looking for food — They are not trying to hide. They are just looking for food

Black swans — The black swans were very aggressive and as I was feeding them some nuts they started chasing away everything and even came up to me begging

Rhuddlan

The purpose for visiting this place was to see the castle which has a very interesting history and I recommend if you are interested in ancient Welsh history

Denbigh

Denbigh castle — The castle is one of the main attractions in the city. It’s a nice place to walk around for the day

Common names — Jones and Griffith are 2 very common names in Wales

June 2, 2026June 3, 2026

Caernarfon to Aberystwyth

The areas of Wales which are close To these two towns are extremely beautiful, interesting and definitely worth visiting. Caernarfon to Aberystwyth Provides two cities which are fun to walk around and give you quite a bit to do.

Caernarfon

this castle is where the Investiture of the Prince of Wales happens. In 1969 Charles was invested in Carnarvon. It would be good to spend a couple days here. The city is a little bit expensive so you might want to stay outside in another little town and commute by bus which I did.