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April 28, 2026April 28, 2026

Douglas – the Isle of Man

coming back from Ireland I wanted to spend more time in Wales and then I saw the Isle of Man which I knew from my childhood study of stamps and coins and so I decided to go there. This is an independently governed tax Haven among the British Isles and it’s a very beautiful island with interesting small cities and fascinating modes of transport which will keep you entertained for at least three days.

Getting off the ferry the Isle of Man — Arriving on the ferry from Larne just north of Belfast

GayetyTheatre the Isle of Man — This theater is still in use several times out of the month

Empress Hotel the Isle of Man — The Empress Hotel

Local beer the Isle of Man — The local brew was pretty good

Manx cat Bill Smale — The famous Manx cat with no tail

Normal cat Bill Smale — But this is the cat you see walking around

HQ restaurant Bill Smale — At the HQ restaurant I had very delicious salmon tacos and a crab croquette

Promenade Bill Smale — The promenade is about 3 km long reaching from the ferry terminal to the electric train terminal which takes you to the northern part of the island

The Bee Gees — I did not check why the Bee Gees are statued here

Rescue to — Two photos below this you will read why this safety tower was built. This might be a complicated harbor to sail into

Purple tower — The tower is beautifully lit up at night

History of the tower — The history of the construction of the rescue tower

War memorial — Of course you need to have a memorial for World War I and World War II

Map of the island — Douglas is on the southeast coast. You can take a electric train to the north, a steam train from Douglas to the southern port on the other side and there is another train which goes from the middle of the electric train line up to the highest point on the island. In addition there is bus service. You don’t need to rent a car here

The ancient Irish deer some of which were alive with humans. They call it the Irish giant deer because there were so many fossils found in Ireland

Old writing stone — One of the famous stones left from the neolithic period with the old writing system of scratches on the corner

Sound translation of the scratches — This is the writing system transferred to sounds which then can be translated

A translation — Another carving on the stone as a translation

The symbol of the Isle of Man — Nobody knows the origin of the three legs of man

The three leg symbol is used for everything related to this island

Old price list — An old drink price list

The TT race — I learned what TT means. It’s the famous race set up at the turn-of-the-century to compete with races on the continent

Yearly race — This race is held on this island every year

First racing motorcycle — One of the first motorcycles used

The local parliament building — The island Council building

A birds view — This war memorial gives birds a good view of what’s going on at the promenade

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026

around Roscommon

Roscommon is a beautiful countryside area about 1 1/2 hours drive Northeast from Galloway. The main attraction I found interesting was the national famine museum which is very extensive, built by the former Lord of the estate which is still standing with its complete contents left for the public to enjoy. The famine museum is important for the story of the people who died and survived and also left Ireland for someplace they could get some food and just survive. Anyone interested in recent Irish history would enjoy visiting this place and coming to understand why the famine happened and how it could’ve been avoided.

View outside around Roscommon — The view outside my bed-and-breakfast

Letter of appeal around Roscommon — This letter was an appeal by the people living on this Lord’s estate for work other than farming since there was nothing to farm, the potatoes all died.

He could’ve been one of my ancestors, a fellow who signed the appeal for work.

A genocide Bill Smale — The famine was turned purposely into an attempt to reduce the catholic population by the British occupiers. There was plenty of wheat and other crops but those were taken by the Lords of the estates, almost all protestants and loyal to England, and sent to England and other countries for profit. The local catholic population was left with only potatoes which were dying from a fungus.

Reason for the famine Bill Smale — The land was let out to renters who subdivided to other renters who then subdivided to other renters and resulted in plots so small most of them had problems producing enough to feed themselves and to pay the rent which was incredibly expensive.

The remaining house Bill Smale — This is the estate Manor. The last inheritor of the estate, an old lady, sold it and it was left as she loved it. All of the contents of the house are still there. This is a very rare situation for the large estates in Ireland after independence. Many of the old houses were destroyed by the angry people who were subjugated by these lords. One interesting thing to note is that the side portions of the building are all just façades and were designed to indicate a large house with large portions on the left and the right. They were just walls with decoration to impress visitors.

Family member portraits — Portraits of family members

School exercise — On this dictation exercise the young student was not evidently very clever

The estate — This is the estate and all of the lines indicate boundaries of rented properties so subdivided most of them were very tiny

The playroom for the children kept with all the original artifacts and toys

Every Lord needs to have his gallant portrait

Telephone — A telephone was installed at some point

Guinness barrel — The kitchen. Behind me was an open walkway almost one floor above for the lady to come and give commands to the cooks

Silvermines

this is actually the name of a small town where I stayed. It was a very nice bed-and-breakfast

Tralee

even many small towns in Ireland attract the tourist but this town seems to be very inactive and people there are lamenting the lack of business. But it’s a cute little town and people are very friendly so you might want to visit for an evening at the pub.

Rainbows — Of course it rains three out of four days so there were lots of rainbow rainbows

St. John’s parish Bill Smale — St. John’s parish

Mary Doli funeral — A big funeral for MaryDoli

April 27, 2026April 27, 2026

enjoying Paris

this trip was done last year but it looks like I might be back again in a month or so so I wanted to put these photos up.

Elegant dinner enjoying Paris — The following photos were from an elegant dinner I had with my college buddy from Japan.

Beef with sauce enjoying Paris — A nice piece of beef with the sauce

French onion soup enjoying Paris — At the hotel the onion soup was very delicious and it was ““French “

An old shop Bill Smale — This old style shopfront was just fascinating. Instead of automobile it says motor car. The shop is, or was, specializing in getting people and things sent to many places possibly in the world

Buffet breakfast Bill Smale — The buffet breakfast had some of my favorites especially lots of bacon

The French motto which is in English, “liberty, egalitarianism and brotherhood“

The old Bourse, stock exchange — At the old Bourse which is now a museum and has an excellent restaurant

Inside the old building with a cement structure designed by a famous Japanese architect/artist

Famous restaurant artwork — Artwork on the table at this famous restaurant

After the meal final are you finding a place we can have a cigar

The hotel knew it was my birthday since they had a copy of my passport and so they brought me this and sang a song sad go back go back

Babysitting a dog, a Jack Russell named Dolly

Gelato — A day cannot be completed without gelato

Neighborhood crowded bar — This is obviously the place to go in the evening. It was a very young crowd.

Nice meat — A really beautiful piece of meat with a nice wine

Old bridge at the park — The old bridge on the right it’s not in good shape so people are not allowed to use it

The two dogs — Dolly on the left and King on the right

Small parking spaces — Parking skillfully on narrow streets and small parking spaces

Putting in a new window — These guys were trying to fix this new glass window and it was looking like a little complicated

Little Italy — A very popular name for Italian restaurants

Interesting name for a restaurant. And I was interested to see there is such a thing as “French tacos”

Sangria — I didn’t know you could get sangria in such a cheap container

Dolly reemerges — Dolly finally comes out from the nice warm spaces

April 26, 2026April 26, 2026

Ring of Beara

this is a smaller peninsula than the ring of Kerry but it’s also a very beautiful one and highly recommended. There is a very nice Buddhist temple with an incredible view of the ocean and the seaside which I highly recommend visiting.

Dzogchen Beara buddhist temple complex

Natural sculpture Ring of Beara — The river makes a very beautiful natural sculpture

Buddhist temple Ring of Beara — This is the Tibetan buddhist temple on the coastline

Very popular Buddhist temple Ring of Beara — As you can see it’s a very popular retreat. The parking lot was completely full

Small café Ring of Beara — They have a very small café with some snack snacks

Aerial view Ring of Beara — An aerial view of the temple complex

Hostel Bill Smale — As you can see there are quite a few buildings here and I think you can stay here, something like a hostel

Main temple Bill Smale — This is the main temple

Building the pagoda Bill Smale — This pagoda will be finished soon

Glengarriff

Main city River Bill Smale — The river right by my bed and breakfast

Downtown — The downtown was not a bustling but it is evidently a very popular tourist place

After Maureen O’Hara made the movie with John Wayne, the quiet man, she came to spend a lot of time on the island just off this little town

OPW managed — The little island is managed by the office of public Works and is a historical site

April 23, 2026April 23, 2026

Ring of Kerry

the Ring of Kerry is one of the Peninsula‘s you must drive through when you go to Ireland. Like other parts of Ireland and especially a long day wild Atlantic Way it has an amazing beauty. You feel like wanting to stop every 10 or 15 minutes to take photos.

Thai restaurant Ring of Kerry — There are many kinds of restaurants along the way even in the small villages. This one has an interesting name.

Effective advertising Ring of Kerry — Seems like interesting advertising

Interesting Shop name Ring of Kerry — Reminds me of what we used to say as kids

Beautiful river Ring of Kerry — Beautiful river

Old bridge Ring of Kerry — An old bridge connecting a road not much used

Beautiful river Bill Smale — Beautiful river and some farms

Cahergall Stone Fort

the base of this fort is more than 1000 years old

View from the top of the fort — Views from the top of the fort

This was obviously another large structure many centuries ago

Viewpoint Bill Smale — People who dedicated themselves to building this parking and viewpoint

Fellow with lambs — I’m not sure what this fellow was doing there with his dogs and his lambs

Derrynane, the home of the patriot Daniel O’Connell

Dictionaries — Very old and much used English language dictionaries from Dr. Samuel Johnson, the original compiler of the English language

A gift — This was given to O’Connell for his contribution to the attempts to undo the union with England and to establish an Irish parliament

Hand built carriage — O’Connell was arrested for his attempts to break the union with England and when he was Leth out of prison his supporters drove him away in this hand built carriage reminiscent of Roman emperors carriages

April 22, 2026April 22, 2026

Legendary Roddy McCorley

it seems the ongoing conflict in Ireland for the past 800 years spawn many stories, some which are not completely documented. Legendary Rodney McCorley seems to be one of them. But he was hung in 1800near the bridge of Toome in Antrim County in which Belfast resides. It isn’t really clear whether his grievances which turned him to rebel causes and joining a gang were caused by religious or economic issues. His father evidently was executed for some crimes and then they were kicked out of their house which was very typical of England the imperialism in Ireland. I came to this site where he was hung in 1985 while driving through North Ireland. I saw the sign entering the county of Antrim and it came to mind, “oh Antrim town oh Antrim town”. Then I recalled the other lyrics, “and Young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today “. So I went to look for that bridge and I found it. On one side was the place where Roddy was hanged and on the other side of the street was an English outpost complete Wiz high fences, barbed wire, bright flood lights and guns. What a contrast indicating a fascinating story. You’ll see the photos I took in 1985 down below.

England outpost Legendary Roddy McCorley — This is where the England outpost was

1985 outpost Legendary Roddy McCorley — This is what it looked like in 1985

Beautiful flowers Bill Smale — Beautiful flowers near the bridge

Roddy memorial Museum — There is a museum and a pub restaurant in West Belfast dedicated to Roddy and some of the other brave Irishman who fought to unify Ireland under the Irish government. It’s dedicated to Roddy

Memorial to Braves men and women Bill Smale — Some of the brave people who gave their lives for free freedom

Inside pub Bill Smale — Inside there’s a nice pub

below you will see photos of some of the graffiti in the north

April 21, 2026April 21, 2026

Ireland’s Southwest

the southwest of Ireland has so many famous city names. You will recognize them as soon as you see them and you will want to go and visit. All of the small little towns seem to be very cute and interesting and it’s difficult to think that you cannot stay in every little town overnight unless you have many hundreds of days to stay.

Fermoy

this town is cute and probably worth staying one night but you can also just drive through even though it looks like there are a few good restaurants including a Chinese restaurant called Hong Kong where I ate and found good food. I stayed at The Square Townhouse which was very comfortable at the owner was very helpful. One thing you need to know about smaller private rentals and small hotels, there often is no elevator going to the upper level levels. The stairs can also be very narrow.

Blackwater River Ireland's Southwest — The bridge over the river Blackwater and the church in the background

Fermoy church Ireland's Southwest — The small church at the intersection of four Rhodes just at the bridge. The intersection is a little bit confusing so be careful if you’re driving.

Plum trees Ireland's Southwest — The plum cherry trees were beginning to bloom

Cahir Castle

Castle wall Bill Smale — The impressive outside walls with a mote around it

Public parks Bill Smale — The area around the castle used to be part of the lands of the castle but now public parks

Entrance gate mechanism — the mechanism for drawing up and down the entrance entrance gate

Dining area Bill Smale — The large dining area

Freedom fighters — A few photos of some republican freedom fighters

This flag is one of the original flags to express the symbolism of the effort to kick the British control out of Ireland. The plow symbolizes the simple worker, the farmer and the stars symbolize aspirations. There is a famous play by Sean O’Casey, the hundredth anniversary showing which I saw in Dublin this year in the national Theatre, the Abbey Theatre where it was originally played 100 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plough_and_the_Stars

Swiss Cottage

in the 1800s a distant and unsuspecting Butler family member inherited the estates. But living in a drafty old castle in Cahir was not his idea of luxury so he built this cottage which was called “the cottage“. Later on other people mentioned it looked like a Swiss cottage and so that was kind of a nickname among other people. It is said that his wife never spent an evening in the Swiss cottage because when she was not there she could see there were lights on and it was obviously her husband entertaining some ladies privately.

The Yew tree — This is Yew tree which is estimated to be about 1000 years old. They were grown to provide certain kinds of wood for bows and arrows and also used in monasteries because it kept the vermin away since the various parts of the tree could be poisonous to some animals.

Schull

Muscles lunch — I decided it was a good idea to just try the muscles by the seaside somewhere. They were very tasty and the food was a very high-quality. But the western style of cooking muscles overdoes them a little bit so they tend to be a little bit too overcooked.

Moretti beer — Deciding to go for a logger I thought it was a good idea to have a Moretti

April 19, 2026April 19, 2026

Loving Kilkenny and Waterford

Kilkenny castle

I didn’t stay in Kilkenny but everybody recommended I should go see the castle at least. The town seems to be fairly touristy but it looks to be pretty interesting and I could recommend staying there a couple days. You might find yourself loving Kilkenny especially because there is a famous beer that comes from here that is very delicious.

Kilkenny castle Loving Kilkenny — The side of the castle

Excavation at Kilkenny Loving Kilkenny — There are still ancient things to find under this site

Kilkenny courtyard Bill Smale — The view from the courtyard

Original wallpaper Bill Smale — These are some of the original wallpapers

Kilkenny castle dining room Bill Smale — The small dining room room

Waiting room Bill Smale — People waiting to see the Lord, one of the Butler descendants

Lounge area Bill Smale — This was a day room for relaxation. The lounge is actually a small bed for two people. The guides explained people at that time often slept sort of have sitting up for health reasons. I suspect since this is a cold and damp country there were a lot of potentials for respiratory issues. Setting up without allow the sinuses to drain properly and not into the lungs.

Moorish staircase Bill Smale — This is the Moorish staircase modeled after something from North Africa as you can see.

Waiting area — This was the waiting area for the main public who wanted a few minutes with the Lord or some high authority

Waterford Crystal

even though a Waterford crystal company has a very long tradition, actually almost as old as the US constitution, the current company was actually established by a fellow from the Czech Republic, Havel. The Czech Republic is also very famous for Crystal. All of the crystal here is handmade and a lot of it is custom designed and made for special purposes. You have to pay for the tour, something less than US$20

Maddock clock — The beautiful clock encased in crystal

Wooden moulds — The pieces are created using wooden moulds. Different types of wood are used for different creations.

Crystal bear — This Behr was created using many different pieces.

Bear moulds — Here you can see the moulds used to create the bear

Back to Pebble Beach — The Pebble Beach Pro-Am trophy

Creating the crystal — All of the production is on display for visitors

Eight year apprenticeship — The apprentices work for five years here and then they moved to design for three years. After that they become a craftsman.

Shaping the crystal — He is putting the red heart crystal into the mould to shape it. To hollow it out he blows on the other end of the long pipe.

Edge grinding — This fellow is grinding down the edge

Product check — Checking the product for perfect perfection

Recycle bin — If there are any flaws that can’t immediately be corrected they are put in this recycle bin. This crystal is then melted down and used again.

Cooling down the crystal — Cooling down the piece

Drawing the design — They use these pens to draw the design on the product

Different stages — The product in different stages of finishing

Etching — This is where they etch the final design

Waterford city crest — The Waterford city Crest

Obama memorial peace — One piece created when Obama visited the factory

Workshop tools in crystal — Interesting assortment of designed pieces

Waterford

Old building — Just an interesting old building

Redbreast whiskey — My new favorite whiskey made at the same distillery as Jamison. This is an amazing league flavorful whiskey

Saint Savior’s Church — Saint savior‘s Church

Tracy’s hotel — Maybe this is my family’s hotel

England crest — This is obviously an England royal building

Viking tower — Reginald‘s tower originally created by the Vikings

Tower on the edge of the city — Waterford city at the inception. On the lower left you can see the tower at the corner of the two inlets. This is a good place to protect incoming traffic

This is an interesting name for a Turkish restaurant

Yeats water — I did not know this famous poet also sold water

Ormonde Castle

One of the butler’s houses adjacent to a castle

Queens Savior — The guy who saved Elizabeth

Boat designed roof — The attic was a space for the servants to sleep. The design is reminiscent of a boat. Actually it was boat builders who created this roof. No metal was used to join the pieces so that they would expand and contract together and not break.

April 18, 2026April 18, 2026

Bopping around Belfast

if you want to consider Bopping around Belfast I recommend you visit a few places that may be of interest. The Belfast Castle is mostly a venue for gatherings but it’s an interesting building from the outside and the garden is nice and it’s a great view of Belfast and the port. There are a few sites in the city. My interest was going to the bridge of Toome to visit, after 40 years, the place whereRoddy McCorley was hanged. I also visited the social club named after him which has a lot of history especially of the revolution and a nice little pub.

The castle Bopping around Belfast — The castle from the garden

Beautiful flowers Bopping around Belfast — It’s the beginning of spring so the flowers are starting to come out

Northside Castle Bill Smale — The castle from the northside

Cruise ship Bill Smale — A cruise ship in Belfast Port

Castle owners Bill Smale — These are the people that owned the castle. There was some kind of defensive structure built here 1000 years ago by the Vikings and then the Normans

Beautiful bushes and trees — The flowering bushes and trees were very beautiful

City crest — This could very well be a city crest but I did not look it up

Berde Road — At this height it is obvious that this was a road for birds

Telegraph building — The old telegraph building

Whitehead

whitehead is about 3/4 of the way up to Larne which is the port for the ferry to the Isle of Man. Belfast became too expensive so I came up here for a few days. There isn’t much in this town but it’s a good place to just walk around by the seaside and relax.

Plum tree — Beautiful flowering plum I think

Whitehead coffee — I came to Whitehead for the coffee? Maude serves a delicious coffee

Colorful buildings — Colorfull buildings

Nice buildings — More colorful buildings by the seaside. If you keep going south along this path you will find a trekking path into a natural preserve. There are a lot of birds here so will provide you with some nice natural music as you walk up along the hill

Smooth beach stones — You can go down right by the water and pick out some nice round stones. They are very smooth

Knorr wine — I didn’t know that Knorr is now selling cups of wine. This is interesting

Ketchup ideas — Interesting ideas on ketchup

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026

Doneraile Castle

in the southwest of Ireland, Tipperary, the Butler family was given control of the area by Queen Elizabeth I. This is just one of the castles in the area not too far from Waterford.

Butler Doneraile Castle — If I remember correctly this is the Butler who saved Elizabeth from potential violence when her half brother became king. She was whisked away to Ireland for safety

Famous book Doneraile Castle — A copy of a famous book written by one of the attendees of the castle

Steeplechase cup Doneraile Castle — A commemorative cup of the bicentennial steeplechase race. A horse race from one church steeple to another church steeple of a certain distance which I believe is 5.7 km is called a steeplechase. This steeplechase, 200 years ago was the first one. Saint ledger is the name given to this fellow, not that he was a saint but he was the Lord of the area.

Last inhabitant Bill Smale — The last inhabitant of the castle

Elizabeth Bowen, a well-known writer of the time Bill Smale — This Elizabeth was a close friend of the last inhabitant of the castle and wrote many books. When she sold her castle, very close to this one, she had built a small house for herself and she told her friends that it was the first time in her life she was ever warm. These castles are very cold and difficult to heat

Bottle window Bill Smale — A famous architect designed this castle including this beautiful foyer glass window made up partly from the ends of bottles

Silver mirror Bill Smale — A very unusual mirror. It is made up of 95% silver and that’s why it has not developed the tarnishing that mirrors tend to get overtime. It is said that the kids used to bounce balls off of it

Original dining room set Bill Smale — Most of the original furnishings were left

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