when you’re going into Wales it’s a really good idea to start in the south visiting Cardiff 1st. It gives you a general history and sense of the country. It also hosts some of the very important monuments such as Cardiff castle. This town is very much a cross-section of England and Wales. It gives you a multiple perspective of the ancient attempts to occupy and subdue the people in Wales. That’s why I say “Cardiff is a must“.
would you visit Cardiff Castle you will be greeted by Paddington bearJust out and about finding a Chinese fast food restaurant which has good reviews on Google maps but obviously by touristS. It was a box take away restaurant with a lot of seating but you still just get the box.There are many of these old timber brick and plaster houses in Cardiff
Cardiff castle
Cardiff Castle was started by the Normans and has a very long and interesting history. The son of William the Conqueror imprisoned William here in order to lessen his power. From the end became a seat of power for much of Wales.
The entrance to the castle The castle from a distanceThis clock tower is very interesting This gate actually looks very welcoming The elaborate rooms were created by the Marquess of Bute, a descendent of the royal Stuart family of Scotland and also of the BrucesUnbelievably beautiful ornatenessAll of the decorations were employed to tell stories Each room had a fireplace to keep it warm. You will notice the family crest over the fireplace The playroom for the children. The walls were decorated with an ancient tales to educate and entertain the children Around the bird is an outline of a man. This was John who had this room decorated for his childrenA very secure door to lock someone in The dining hall The loft above was used for the musiciansAgain, storytelling within the design. Look at the castle above the fireplace. In the lower left you will see the face of a man behind bars. That was William the conqueror who was imprisoned hereThis was John’s bedroom. You notice in the right side of the room several corners where people could sit. The sun would shine at different places during the day so the people live here could change where they sit to get the sun. There was always glass up above to bring in sunlight to this fountain and gardenroom with storytelling around the wallsThis is a really beautiful ceiling These are real gems embedded in the middle of these squares in the ceiling Over one fireplace was a family shield, actually two. One was John’s family on the left and on the right was his wife’s shield World leaders gathered here after 2008President Obama attended
Cardiff cathedral
The castle from the street Cardiff Cathedral from a distanceThis burial site was so old it was difficult to even tell it was someone buried under here The family crest of one of the royalty. The Plantagenets loved to use lions Here you can see the crestS of the different owners of the castle
These two windows were commissioned by Sophia, Marchioness of Bute in 1855. At this time Sopia was a widow, and her son (John, the third Marquis) was still a minor. No information is yet known on the designer or maker of these windows, though it seems safe to assume they were created by the same person given the similarity of design. The left hand window shows the paternal arms of the donor, and the other window shows the arms of the families to have possessed Cardiff Castle from 1091 to the mid 19″ century.
Beautiful stained glass window windows This was my hotel, guest house which was completely adequate
i’ll be giving you just some Cornwall tidbits of places I visited that had some interesting things to take photos of.
Bovey Tracey
i’m going to tell the long story after the photos of this small town which was most likely named after members of my family, Tracy. This is a cute small town requiring only one day to walk around. The food is nice and you will most likely enjoy staying here.
Good use of a telephone booth Very tasty minced meat hors d’oeuvres
from Wikipedia
Bovey Tracey was an established Saxon community and takes its name from the River Bovey. The name first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bovi I2! and possibly earlier as Buui. The town gained its second name from the de Tracey tamily, who were lords of the manor after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and was first documented as Bovitracy in 1309.31. One member of the family, William de Tracy, was implicated in the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. It is thought that he rebuilt the parish church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury as penance for the murder. In the early 13th century, Henry de Tracey created a borough here and, in 1259, was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual three-day fair. 4]. During the English Civil War, on 9 January 1646, Oliver Cromwell and a contingent of his Roundhead army entered Bovey Tracey after dark and caught part of Lord Wentworth’s Regiment by surprise, catching a number of officers playing cards in an inn. Many of Wentworth’s Royalist troops escaped, but Cromwell did capture about 400 horses. ‘5! If local legend is to be believed, the Royalists escaped by throwing coins from the windows in order to distract the poorly paid Roundhead troops.
Not much really interesting about this church. I just wanted to take a picture of the church with the sign to show the name of the town.Here is the sign This is just a nice old building with a telephone booth, defibrillator the streets surrounding itThis is just a nice old tavern where I stayed the night. It was very comfortableThis reminds me of the quiz night in Max‘s bar on Koh Chang, ThailandIt’s a very quiet town A narrow roads outside the city, rocks of the bridge wall and stream Here’s another view of the stream
OK, so I’ll try to keep this as short but understandable as possible. You all know the Roman empire fell and Christianity almost disappeared in Europe. The monks and Ireland kept as many religious documents as they could and then after things settle down in Europe they brought Christianity back to Europe. In the area which was Normandy the Irish monks named a church Tracy after Saint Treasaigh. In 1066 you also know that William, of Viking roots, killed Harold in England and took the throne creating the house of Plantagenet. His trusted friend Henry who was from Tracy and therefore named Henry de Tracy fight with him and his family married into the royal family. Two generations later William Tracy killed Thomas Beckett in the Cathedral at the behalf of Henry II. Henry then assigned William to take lands in the west, Cornwall and Wales. This town was named after William. He was also told to subdue Ireland. So my family, Tracy, either came from these Norman’s or from the original Tracys near Galway. That’s how I got my first name but mostly due to my mother‘s very close love of her brother Tracy. So one of my family branches either comes from murderers or saints.
Cheddar
everybody knows about cheddar cheese. I noticed on my map the name of this town and read that it was the origin of cheddar cheese so of course I had to visit. Most of the cheddar cheese factories have closed down but the town is still keeping some traditional method of making the cheese.
The strongest flavor cheddar cheese I could findThis is the sales office of the cheese company People also go to see this gorge but it was closed off most likely due to landslides caused by heavy rainsThe closed off entrance to the gorge This might have been a driver for hire
Helston
this is a cute little town but really not much to see here. Most of the sites are in the countryside around or on the Oceanside which is very beautiful.
I did some cat sitting for six days. It was done through TrustedHousesitters which seems to be a pretty reliable and interesting way too cut the cost of travel and enjoy pets on a temporary basis These sticks in the ground were all over the place. It seems they were engineering the roadside and it seems these are bushes or some other plants that were put here to deter erosionLoe bar this was in Portleven. I saw these guys deciding to take a swim in the very violent and cold Portside
Mousehole
This is low tide at the protected portI liked the sunset colors
St. Ives
A small church and graveyardMany of the memorials to World War I have been modify to include World War IIHere you can see the old city walls
Port Isaac
A very old house for sale. I can imagine it would be very expensive to fix this place up Very old and small houses in the port The entrance to the port is very steep and once you get into the port the roads are extremely narrow This is the old school modified to a hotel
Portishead
I didn’t stay here very long. It was just an overnight stay but it’s a quiet town with a lot of tourist attractions along the port side Very quietly enjoying the port calmness. The swans were very content Working on the boats in front of the Pill Shark. The view from my room
Tintagel
as I mentioned in another post this castle is the legendary home of King Arthur. Not only this castle here which is very well preserved and the tourist infrastructure is very good but also the town is an interesting place to walk around. There are ice cream parlors in town.
The walk way down to the castle It’s a nice walk down the hill and then back up again The stream which shapes the cliffs into two distinct land area areas The far rock is where the main castle is You can see a good walkway engineered to get from the smaller castle on this side to the main castle on the rock It’s a beautiful view As I mentioned above, they have a very nice ice cream shop
the whole Cornwall area is extremely beautiful with abundant ocean views, beaches and places for families and outdoor activities. It’s difficult to choose which area is most interesting since they all have their unique attractions. But the north coast is an area you will find some extremely unusual terrain in the Hill area areas and the valleys but also you can find some incredibly intricate and interesting small Oceanside villages and ports.
Newquay
this area has extremely beautiful beaches and a fairly significant port. The fish restaurants here are plentiful and highly recommended.
A typical loan beach in the area I just found this to be a very interesting building since it’s typical of the area. You have the old building in front and you have a new addition in back for whatever needs to be added or made more modern. The cliff areas are very dramatic. I wonder if all of these buildings will still be there in 300 years. Erosion of these cliffs has also been dramatic
Exmoor national Park
this national park is really a must visit area. Every 10 minutes you have entirely different and beautiful scenery. Some of it can look a little desolate but most of it is very green and attractive.
A river area Many places in Cornwall in the countryside will have these two way roads which requires some mutual understanding and cooperation at timesIn this area they not only walk the dogs but they also walk the horses. Go slow in the countryside since there are many things which share themWinding road in the park Typical hilly countryside
Minehead
i’m sure there is a reason for the name of the town, probably related to mining. But this is an interesting town to visit partly since it reminds me a little bit of Brighton in England with the long white building along the beach side near the train station.
I stated this Hotel and I will explain a little bit in the next photo but I found this use of the stem word for customer to be kind of interesting. I’m not familiar with this usage but then again the UK has some unusual English.This is a nice place to stay, inexpensive and I highly recommend it for those reasons but for one other. The people managing this hotel higher and train young mentally disabled to help out which I found a very good use of a hospitality operation. Everybody is extremely cheerful and the atmosphere is very bright and welcoming. Please stay here if you are in the area. Give young people an opportunity to challenge themselves at their potential. This was an extremely full breakfast, England style There is a local café which serves a limited menu, very inexpensive but frequented by residence. This was a sausage sandwich which of course required some seasoning I brought with me but was fine for just a small lunch. This is the old train station. I would have to look on a map to see if it is still in use The old queen’s hall needs some renovation.The Queen’s Hall is up for sale. Let’s hope some company finds use of this beautiful old building, maybe for tourism related operationsNear the port area and of course it requires a clock I just like this building
Bude
I stopped here but I’m not particularly recommending this town. I didn’t find much interesting here so you could skip it.
This is one of the more picture risk views I managed You will notice the white cross flag on black and that is the flag of Cornwall
this town is well known for the Roman baths and I’m not showing them here because I didn’t visit this time. I saw them in 1971 and I actually remember them fairly vividly. But this is an interesting town to visit so from a historical perspective I recommend spending one day or two days here.
I don’t know what this was promoting but maybe it was something related to pigs? That must be a good guess. This is just an intersection in the countryside to show the signage. It was very muddy since it had been raining very heavily for the past few weeks.A typical England breakfast. There’s not much flavor so bring your own sauces and spices.
Cambridge
You will still see these old telephone booths around the country. I didn’t check to see if the phones were working but I suspect many of them are not. It’s a beautiful cathedral. This is the one this week I liked the most due to the color arrangements. It’s nice to warn people actually this was in Cambridge. I missed looking up at the ceiling which you must do if you visit this tavern. It’s an interesting place to visit and I highly recommend recommended
Ely
this is a cute little town you will want to spend a day walking around in. As you can see below there is the home of Thomas Cromwell who was the Lord protector for a number of years after they killed Charles I am proclaimed a parliamentary government with him as the head. But he lived here for only 10 years even though it was the 10 years during the revolution.
This is the England way of saying not to throw your gum on the sidewalkCromwell’s kitchenAn old rendering of the house next to the large church which he attendedThis was the area before it had been filled in creating more land for farming and easier transportation.
Winchester
It’s interesting to know that Jane Austen is buried here
Reading
I first visited this town in 1971, the first train ride outside of London. I remember that it was an easy direct train. My cousin was coming to London on her European trip and I wanted to see her so I decided I would park the car in this town and then take the train into London. I did not want to drive in London.
As I travel around England I see a lot of these “street food“ restaurants, most of which are from southeast or east Asia. Many of them have been closed probably due to the lack of business. I looked at this and it didn’t seem that appetizing. It’s just something on rice which is more like poke bowl than Korean food.People were supporting England and Denmark and Greenland This Guinness extra stout I bought in the store but it’s made in Nigeria. Kind of strange I didn’t know that buses could read
Birmingham
every town seems to have its interesting little things. Near Birmingham new street station you’ll find mostly Hong Kong related restaurants and businesses with a smattering of Indian and some other shops. It’s a little confusing getting around the station so make sure you have your GPS maps working properly. I was very happy being here, not that I found a lot that was interesting but I certainly enjoyed the Hong Kong style food which was obviously created for their main customers, Hong Kong Chinese so it was very close to San Francisco Chinese restaurant flavors.
The Victoria pub here is just interesting at night time, the colors It’s nice they sell hooch which is called “hooch“.A symbol of Hong Kong influence in BirminghamI didn’t have much time to go into the cathedral so I just took this photo from the outside which I thought was kind of interesting
Worcester
I would bet Worcestershire sauce comes from here since Worcester is in Worcestershire. And originally I heard that the sauce concept was from Asia or India and was originally made with fish but gradually changed to include other ingredients.
The Guild HallThis is interesting advertising for a law firmInteresting name for the street And here you have fish Street. I didn’t smell any fish And of course they have to celebrate Denmark by having a Copenhagen StreetThese old churches need a lot of money to be maintained so this is one way they help keep the church in good shape. They had some event with kids inside which was kind of interesting. It’s like a community center
I stopped to see a home builder, model homes, to see some interesting things regarding England style home building. Here are a few things I found interesting.
You could see the radiator which is used for the main heating. I don’t really find these to be very effective but maybe it’s a less expensive way to heat the house? And putting it below the window?This is a typical electrical plug. The switches in the middle allow current to flow through the plugs which seems to be safer than not having them since you can cut the power so kids sticking things in the holes don’t get electrocuted.This might serve as the replacement for a circuit breaker? I didn’t ask to see but I suspect there are also circuit breakers somewhere. These were in the kitchen.I asked about this addition to the house which is not provided by the builder. This is just for show. I was interested to see how this would be heated. This addition in England is called a “conservatory”. I guess it must be conserving something. Most places I’ve been have these which I find helpful but kind of strange. You can turn these on and they are radiators which will dry your towels and also warm up the bathroom. But again I didn’t find the heat generated by these were really sufficient to keep the bathroom warm. After washing clothes, which I do every day, I put them on this rack so they dry out by morning but I don’t keep them on overnight because these tend to get fairly hot. But then again the one that my friend had in Paris seemed to keep the bathroom nice and warm.Just an interesting sticker
Worcester cathedral
Worcester Cathedral Nice windows The cathedral is very long The crypt contained the old portions of the cathedral, almost 1000 years of history You can see the foundation supports down here in the crypt This cathedral had one of the most beautiful pipe organs I’ve ever seen Beautiful and intricate design I was interested to find out who was buried here You can tell by the names these people buried here were Normans since it’s clear they came from Harcourt and Camvile. My family came from Tracy in Normandy Well, what do you know. King John is buried here, the guy who was forced to write a Magna Carta or be overthrown by the angles and the SaxonsHere lies King John. And I’m sure you know from history that he was the son of HenryII, the fellow depicted in “a lion in winter“ with Peter O’Toole and Catherine Hepburn.
driving North Cornwall is definitely the best way to get because you can visit small towns, the countryside, save a lot of time and also get less expensive accommodations probably in a pub which is an inn. In the evening you can go downstairs to the pub and have a drink and maybe strike up a conversation with somebody interesting. The “interesting“ part of it is pretty certain since the person you would be talking to has very different experiences and can give you some very good information where to visit and want to see.
this is a cute little poor town, a little difficult to navigate in town so you should park up above a little bit and just come down and walk around. Actually it’s almost impossible to drive in the town and one of the photos below you will see why. And many of the roads don’t allow you to drive unless you’re local or you’re making a delivery or have a business there.
Beautiful countryside This is one of the wider roads going into town which is really just a small port. This fellow mentioned here is actually from a television show while I thought it was the fellow who started the shoe company which later I learned was started in Germany. This is how narrow the streets at the port are Beautiful old buildings At the bay looking up at the businesses on the hillThis is the port and the Bay and you could see some of the businesses and houses on the hillsThis old building used to be the school but I’m sure there aren’t enough students here now to keep the school running A view from up above
Padstow
This is another fun port to visit though it seems to be very typical, not like Port Isaac which is very small and unusual An idea of an international restaurant. But don’t be fooled. It’s really all England food This is the rowing club in town Of view from the other side of the port
St. Ives
this is a little town on the ocean you really must’ve visited if you’re in Cornwall. I was thinking to spend a little bit more time here but there was so much more to see and I thought sometime I could come back and spend a week just relaxing in this little town. It reminded me of Carmel California where I used to live but very different. In the tourist season I am told that there are so many tourists it takes a long time to walk down any little Street, this place is so popular. So I recommend coming in the off-season, relaxing and talking to the people running the shops. They are very nice and easy to share a conversation with.
The beach area A large house on the hill which might not be used as a house anymore but I did not check that out These streets you need to walk and not try to drive your car. There are parking lots in various placesThis looks like a real Guinness but look at the photo below Hey no alcohol Guinness which many people have said taste exactly the same as the alcoholic version however I found some taste difference which I think everybody could notice. But it is a very good tasting beer, much closer to the alcohol version than many of the zero alcohol beersMost towns have World War I and World War II memorials. In Cornwall they often use the Celtic crossI had the Guinness at the pub on the leftThis doesn’t really look like a very broad street.
Tintagel Castle
this is another place you really need to visit. It has a castle on a large rock and a sub castle on this side. The views are really fantastic and it’s well worth spending a couple hours here but also sometime in the local town. I found the food at the King Arthur pub to be very tasty
The river leading to the castle I didn’t expect to find the original Olive Garden in this small town A church in the countryside This view is not so captivating but I just found the array of colors interesting The map of the Castle area. It’s good to spend some time here and walk aroundWas this King Arthur’s castle? This old mansion on the hill is now a hotel The bridge to the castle on the rock Here’s a view from the opposite side of the hotel This is a family owned pub and seems to have very good food I hate peas and I am not fond of french fries (chips) but these french fries were very fresh and tasty and the seafood basket was well prepared and very nice And of course after lunch you need to have cherry ice cream on top of latte coffeeThis is where a Bill and Ted started their great adventure Quite a license plate Sort of a typical parking lot. But this one has a camera when you pull in which will take a photo and identify your car and the time you came in so you need to do nothing until you leave because the clock starts ticking once you drive in. When you’re leaving you go to the machine, and put your license number and a calculates how much you have to pay. Pretty interesting
I drove first in the southern part of Cornwall, then found myself Landing at Land’s End which is the end of Cornwall and a very southwestern most tip of the England part of the UK. I highly recommend traveling in Cornwall. The people, whether they are originally from Cornwall or from England, they all seem to be very welcoming, kind and interested in helping you on your journey and seeing things which you find interesting. I was thinking that having more fish in this area would be something I should focus on but every time I ordered some kind of fish it turned up deep fried so I gave up. I guess I could’ve gone to much more expensive restaurants which had different offerings for fish but understanding that England is not really the place to come for delicious fish cooking I decided to opt out for other kinds of food. It’s really important when traveling in this kind of environment where there are a lot of things for the family when groups to enjoy, it’s best to come in the non-winter time since it is a little bit cold but very wet and almost impossible to get out to those ancient standing stones in the fields unless you have your mud boots on and you don’t mind slipping and falling several times. Cornwall is a very beautiful place and I highly recommend stopping in the small towns in villages, walking around and being a good customer to the small shops. You will find people very enjoyable.
I ordered scampi and I did not want fries so without the detail on the menu the scampi came out deep-fried and that was what I expected just from the french fry option of onion rings. Remember french fries are called “chips“.I stayed here one night and it’s a cute little town, not much here but it’s a funny name, close to Penzance and there is a hotel called ships inn which was kind of fun to stay in but make sure you get the rooms above the pub which are in the best condition.I didn’t know this but I think it’s a great place if you are a writer, don’t need to go out walking to see any sites since there aren’t many to visit and you just want a quiet place to focus on the results of your pen.There are some rocks just in the bay where the birds like to hang out The roads here in town are unbelievably narrow and some you just cannot drive down so make sure you figure out a parking space before you arrive. This is a local Cornwall brew which is kind of niceThis is the town with the protected beach area The place to go in the water in the summer The sign asking people to respect and protect the ancient, 6000-year-old relics From the entrance to the circle you can see it’s an easy walk even in the wet weather This is the stone circle not too far from MouseholeThe post office and the local store is often combined in the small towns as they have been for more than 100 years A village church in St BuryanA very old clock on the churchA 110-year-old headstone Inside the church I like the green coloring of these windows, not typical in churches I have visitedIt looks like a lookout in Sennen Cove. This is a cute little Oceanside village you might want to visit during tourist season. In the winter everything is closed. You might be able to rent a nice room or small villa to watch the sea and write your bookSennen coveSennenIn the photo above you can see the Celtic cross and this is a tribute to the people who died in the first world war I saw several rainbows Land’s end Land’s end As you can imagine I needed some of my sauces I bring with me to put some flavor in this food. This is very stereotypical England breakfast and I picked the vegetarian version. Bring your sauces with you unless you want to get stuck with just brown sauce and maybe a little ketchup both which I don’t find very interesting for breakfast. Most of the time I put some soy sauce on top which help helps tremendously.
if you’re putting around Penzance remember the Gilbert and Sullivan play, “the Pirates of Penzance“ which made it absolutely necessary I visit this town. I found it to be a very interesting and friendly place to visit. You might want to stay here a couple nights to walk around the area and definitely go down by the promenade, walk along the beach side if the waves are not too high and splashing up on the promenade and also find a good fish and chips restaurant. As you will know “chips“ is the England term for french fries or Belgian fries. I just want a note here that everybody awards the Belgians for inventing french fries. This town is almost towards the end of the Cornwall Peninsula. I was expecting people to be a little bit more “Gaelic” in attitude like the Irish or the Scots but this place was too long completely Anglicized and Normanized and occupied by the Sassanacs that it doesn’t have what I expected, an emotional detachment from the “English attitudes”. But everybody is friendly and very much focused on making people happy and helping out where they can so it’s a very enjoyable place to travel. The summer is really the best time in Cornwall since there are just so many activities for the outdoor activity lovers and for families. In the winter most everything is shut down and the rain really prevents people from walking some distances to ancient stones or circles or burial sites since the mud is very thick. So spend a few days here at least, relax and enjoy the environment.
A general welcome Of course you have to serve the pirates. And I can understand why pirates were here because it’s such a long way from London and “authorities” it was probably much easier to be in illegal activities here than in some other places in England.You can see the above sign was on this InnAn old Morris, I thinkYes it wasJust an interesting backstreet A tangle of wires but organized. Not like Thailand. Extensive parking down by the wharf area USA style chicken? The restaurant was closed so I didn’t get a chance to ask ask what their style of cooking was. Quiet walking area downtown. But of course this is not the tourist season and the reason why there are so few people walking around. This was a nice café serving lemon cake almost as nice as what my mother used to make. I did talk with the gal at the counter and she knew the recipe my mother used which was kind of fun You Shakespearean fans should understand the importance of this name You can be diverted to land’s endOn this little island in the bay it looks like there is a little castle. Or maybe it’s a big castle.
If you look close to the in the blue sky you will see the moon I guess this was once underwater since you swim in and swim out Pretty much everywhere you go in the world you will see a lot of construction and reconstruction which was pent up by Covid and with the tremendous increase in tourismThey’re doing renovation on this Inn. I like the name, lugger inNIt should be open before high seasonI think just this entranceway in the park area was built in 1883, not the church behind it I went here for a beer in the afternoon and chatted with the bar man and one customerNice Shop name As you see below it’s an interesting building. I didn’t stop to find out what is inside but it was closed anyway The Egyptian house I just like this scene Praa Sands BeachThis is a nice café to visit. You don’t need to ask the owner how it got his name. He bought a place from some fellow who gave it the name and he doesn’t know why.
I did a cat sit for a very nice lady, Lynn, in Helford for about six days with a company called TrustedHousesitters. The cats name was Buzz and he was very shy in the beginning but then after a day and a half he became very friendly and talkative. This gave me a chance to drive around the countryside in that area which happens to be very beautiful, especially the ocean side. In the summertime I think the beaches are very nice for taking a dip.
Helford
This is Buzz Rainbows are gettin’ back in style. That’s from a Dean Martin songThis is a recreational lake nearby Of view of the LoeA church in a small nearby town Beautiful landscape and clouds
Bexington
Not too far away is this little town and a nice beach. The sand is very coarse but I was amazed how big the beach was. This was fog but it looked like smoked from a fire. It was very interesting Some fellows fishing on the beach
Helston
This was an England TV show. I took a photo because you can see on the plate a typical England meal, something deep-fried with peas. I will tell you I always leave the peas on the plate because I hate them. When I was a kid we tried to feed the peas to the dog under the table and of course our parents would get very angry because the dog was not allowed at the table while we were eating. And my mother was not too happy we did not want to eat the peas. She finally wise up and stopped serving them. I am also not a fan of mashed potatoes. But when I was in Paris I found a mashed potatoes with cheese mixed in and it was very tasty. This just goes to show everything is relative.Trying to go out to see some ancient tomb on a one-way /two way Country Rd.This is just a nice view
This is Loe Bar. I guess the person living in that house there must really love the wind.Loe bar from a distance
Marazion
This little town has a very nice walkable beach Some castle are building on the small island And of course I had to try the local beer
Tartu is in the southeast part of Estonia and it’s one of the larger cities. I am sure during the summertime, spring and fall there are a lot of outdoor activities but during the winter you get very much restricted to the city and there’s really not that much of interest so I’m not sure I would recommend spending much time here during the winter. But it was interesting to stay here and see what’s going on.
On the way to Tartu we stopped in Voaga and I just liked the station here, nice building.On the train looking out the window Part of the downtown area Tartu train station The town hall
Walking in the downtown area This is not a sister business to the dodo bar on Koh Chang island in Thailand. The dodo bar in Thailand is owned by a friend from ScotlandKids playing in the snow
Tullamore, Ireland is an interesting place to visit for a couple days and especially to go out to the Belvedere estate where you can visit even with the kids. There are a number of activities there for the whole family so it looks like an enjoyable place to spend an afternoon if the weather is good. A lot of it is outside and the beautiful gardens and views are very nice. And of course you can visit the Tullamore Dew whiskey brewery in town which is very famous. It’s a very good whiskey.
Of course the Minnesota Vikings are extremely famous here. Actually I have no idea why they had these T-shirts in the shop but I let my Minnesota friends know they are famous. Cathedral of Christ Inside the cathedral A really beautiful wall painting Of course you need to have state of the Art Bose speakers. I don’t notice these in Italian churches but maybe they just have better acoustics? The front of the cathedral the Belvedere house and Gardens. What really cut my eye was that I used to live on an island called BelvedereThe beautiful lake by the estate There must be good trout fishing here
Evidently the earl, the father, was not a very nice guy and the son was nicer but through conflict they lost control of the estateYou might think I flew up here to take the photo. I didn’t,. I took a photo of a photoThe beautiful lake A nice fall walk around the area These thick brambles are hiding an old structure This is the full version of this tree. I like the red color I guess this is where ice was stored, way out detached from the main building He’s been directing visitors for a long time This is a depiction of an ancient Irish warrior Bookmaking is legal in Ireland and in EnglandAn interesting house in town
