Folksy Travel by Bill Smale • Page 17 of 58 • 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.

October 18, 2024October 18, 2024

Prague the unbelievable

Prague has a fun place to visit if you believe in the unbelievable

They gave me all the cash I could handle, and more

Many friends have commented this is too much of me. Because maybe it’s too many of me.

Everyone knows you shrink as you get older but this was a little bit too much.

This was a lot of fun. Floating is almost as much fun as drinking a bottle bottle of wine

Oops. I certainly didn’t know this would happen

That made me frustrated so I just had to let it all out

I got some help with a little bit longer arm

This is what happens when you get too old and shrink beyond normal

October 18, 2024October 20, 2024

Shetlands, Scotland day three. UNST

on this island which is almost the north most of the Shetlands group you have a chance to see what people 6000 years ago before the pyramids.

Just for fun I checked my compass with the stone and I found the stone points exactly north but I have no idea what that means and nobody else knows. The other stone is the Clivocast. This stone is 3m high and leans slightly north. It was used as a sailing mark between Strandburgh Ness on Fetlar and the entrance of Skuda Sound (between Uyea and Haaf Gruney).
It is said to mark the spot where the son of Viking Harold Harfager was killed around 900AD. Human remains and armour were allegedly found in a cairn to the south west.

There are some very beautiful beaches here which would be nice in the summer

You can see some old ruins in many places on these islands

The grazing areas are often open range so you have to drive carefully

this is a reconstruction of probably what the inside of a long house would look like. Some excavations show extensive remains but of course the wooden parts including the roofs have deteriorated completely

After World War II one family put in extensive efforts to promote and grow the Shetland pony breed worldwide. here are some of the colorations

This is a typical northern Scotland breakfast. I needed to add my soy sauce

October 18, 2024October 18, 2024

Exploring Italy Verona: A Culinary Journey

The cooking this restaurant is Japanese. The food was just like eating in Japan, good flavors.

We met a retired Plantology professor in Freising. He was born in Ireland but moved to Germany more than 30 years ago. He enjoyed drinking wine at the lunch. He was also very good Guide around this old and historical city

At a dinner with friends from Garda and Verona

Our dinner friends included to sommelier and this is the wine they chose. Very delicious.

A little overcooked around the edges but delicious 4 cheese

Just something for breakfast. The one on the right had pistachios on top

This was at a restaurant out-of-the-way, newly opened and really delicious food . Bar Fuoricorso. Go here and try the food.

We had the second and fourth one from the top

October 17, 2024October 17, 2024

Fraser (Frisel) Castle Scotland

if you have been watching “outlander” you are familiar with the Fraser family. What I learned is that more than 1000 years ago in France someone offered the king strawberries, maybe which they grew. The king gave them the name open “strawberry” in French which became Frisel when the family moved to Normandy. And 1000 years ago they went to Scotland to fight the Danes and were duly knighted given land by the local Lord near Aberdeen. They change the name to Fraser and started this castle with just the main tower. It is now kept with its Fraser family contents exactly as they were since the last owner decided to give the castle to the national trust. It is one of the best examples of Scottish history in its original place.

This is the entrance and the original tower

We were told the sword on the left was used at the battle of Collin

October 10, 2024October 10, 2024

venezia (venice)

this is my second time here and if it weren’t so crowded with tourists it would be cast me back in history. But it’s a very beautiful place to visit. Everything is Art.

This was the end of the celebration we missed

A group of Indian tourists chartering a gondola

This is the entrance to the ghetto which is where the Jews were allowed to conduct business freely. The word “ghetto” refers to the garbage dump which was moved to allow the Jews to live here. Now it’s mostly deserted with just a hotel and one shop open Since the young people don’t want to manage a shop. It was somewhat bustling in 2010 but now now only two places were open. The people who live here want to revive it so they will have a festival in a month or so. I wish them luck.

This was the first time I was in San Marco Square when it wasn’t flooded

Black noodles I think we’re colored with squid ink along with the squid rings

A simple breakfast provided by the hotel but sufficient for the morning

October 10, 2024October 10, 2024

Shetland Islands, Scotland day 2

the main island in the Shetlands was referred to a couple people as “the mainland” even though we had a 10 hour ferry ride from the mainline of Scotland. It’s cold and very windy here with occasional rain, just the reason I came here, for the weather. It’s a great place to get away from the tropical heat.

I looked at the menu and it seems there are a lot of sweet things like cakes and stuff like that on the menu. I’ve never seen a Chinese restaurant with that kind of food but with a name like this I guess you can do anything.

More white sheep here than black sheep. I would like to talk to a farmer and find out something about sheepherding. I know something about it since when I was a kid my father gave me sheep shears to trim the edge of the lawn. They belonged to my grandfather

They were curious about me as I was curious about them. But then again I was whistling a Dean Martin song which they probably never heard before.

A lot of the old farmhouses just fell down from neglect. When large landowners took over the land and changed the rules for the tenant farmers here many of them couldn’t make a living so they left for Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

October 10, 2024October 10, 2024

Regensburg & Göttingen Germany

Regensburg

there are some really interesting and beautiful cities in Germany. These are just two of them.

I was waiting months to try this pork specialty at a good restaurant. This was very nice

On the way back down the street we had coffee here on the second floor. Very nice view and relaxing

Gottingen

I have to have a Campari spritz sometimes with a Toscanello

October 8, 2024October 8, 2024

shetlands – Scotland Day 1

the Shetland Islands are the northernmost part of Scotland and therefore the northernmost part of the UK. For 50 years I wanted to have the time to make it up there. So now I do it. Frankly, I am looking for windy, cloudy bad weather to fulfill my image of the islands.

No cabins were available and I really didn’t want to spend money on one so I reserved a “pod”. This large chair reclines back inside its casing and is fairly comfortable, sufficient for the 14 hour trip from Aberdeen to Lerwick. My car was also on the ferry since a car is really necessary to enjoy a small number of days in the Shetlands or the Orkneys.

Someone told me these windmills were just off the coast of the Trump international golf club

I think “Dunna” means “don’t” and I think “Chuck” means “throw” but I don’t know what”Bruck” means. if you know then please leave a comment.

The Shetlands wouldn’t be complete without Shetland ponies. I hope they are not quite as mean tempered as Welsh ponies. That’s a whole different story.

These ruins Are built on origins that are thousands of years old. The Picts first inhabited these islands

There are quite a few beautiful beaches on the islands. The water is very cold, about the same temperature as the water in Monterey California

He just kept watching me and I kept my distance just to leave him alone

The fish was not bad, the onion rings were terrible and the only sauce was vinegar while salt was also available. It reminded me of the old H Salt Esquire fish and chips franchise

You can see the inexpensive lawn mowers doing their job

I didn’t dare go close to this house. They could be descendants of the Vikings, which they probably are anyway.

most of the roads here are the width of one-way roads with little side bubbles where people can allow others to pass. Many of the bridges allow only one way at a time.

October 3, 2024October 3, 2024

lubeck – Germany

On the left is the old city entrance gate

This was one of the most interesting pipe organs I ever saw.

Maybe this is why. It was originally built in 1504

Special people were buried in the floor which you can also see in churches in England also where many of the royalty are buried underneath the floors of cathedrals

What would an afternoon be without a Campari spritz

October 3, 2024October 3, 2024

Inverness – Scotland

this is a very beautiful city with the very famous attractions of Loch Ness and Culloden’s Moor more where are they Scots loyalty Prince Charlie and the Catholic Church tried to claim the throne of the union and failed. Toward the bottom or the photos of Culloden.

Culloden’sMoor

What I did not quite understand is how anyone could think to fight a battle in a moor. Some description here indicates some of the advancing Scot’s got stuck in the mud. You can see from the landscape this is not a place to have a battle. Evidently many people advised Charlie to retreat and reform to fight in a different place but he refused. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know But if you visit this place I’m sure you will also be astonished at how difficult this place would’ve been to think of a victory especially with the high-tech weapons on the English side employed by the brother of the king of England, George II. There are a few links below that will help you understand the history.