Tag: #billsmale

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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
Of course it’s a one lane bridge
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.
Read the black one
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.
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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

something for everyone
I have to have a Campari spritz sometimes with a Toscanello
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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.
They look like black Angus
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
Some more ancient buildings sites
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.
My walkway to the pub
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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.

The Jacobites are the Scots. The term Jacobite comes from the Latin version of James (Jacobus) the father and grandfather of Charles. They believed the true line of succession went through a second marriage and not to siblings of the first marriage of James II.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jacobite-British-history

https://www.wrongsideoftheblanket.com/stuart-family-tree

This is the original house where the wounded English soldiers were taken.
Here are some mixed gravestones marking mass graves of the Jacobites..
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Denmark – visiting friends

Denmark is always a place I need to visit from time to time since I have an adopted family there.

In the Royal retreat, a very beautiful garden with a few buildings, this is where the royal family stays.
A storage facility for food before refrigeration
This is the original building on the property and down below you will see an explanation of this royal retreat
We picked and ate a lot of of the ripe ones
This is a traditional danish building with the attached roof
This hook on the back of the car is on most cars, not only in Denmark. Many people have a small, mini trailer that they just drop onto this hook when they go shopping for bulky items that won’t fit in the car
We found some of these on our walk in the woods as well
It’s always good to visit an old brewery
Here is the product
This is the house owned by a private family that runs the brewery
Inside is the sales office for the organic apples and apple juice
Organic apple juice
Almost ready to pick
An interesting danish design
A World War II memorial
A very old village popular with tourists
Some buildings have plaques noting memorable occupants
You can see the mirrors outside the windows. These help elderly people who mostly stay inside see what is going on outside the house
I think these are blueberries but I’m not sure
You can see the birds perched on top. This is a nature sanctuary
Of course we have Thai food from the chef of the house
And I get to have the traditional dish breakfast I love so much
This is waiting for the ferry from Germany to Denmark. It’s only a short distance
This ferry has a rotary sail.
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Japan in August

With an old friend I haven’t seen for many years. Good reminiscence and memories
Dinner with a former employee
Why not use this name for a restaurant?
Very nice reclining train seats
A nice building in Osaka
This is the place to practice archery
At breakfast in my hotel people can watch the televisions above showing cameras in each of the elevators. I found it a little strange
The smoking room in the train station was very crowded which is good for cheap smokers who don’t want to pay for cigarettes. They could just go in and breathe the fumes
Up above, the sign in pink letters advertises a “soap land” where you can get soapy with a girl and do a variety of things
Cautions on the escalator
Whatever you do, don’t get caught
In Sapporo grilled lamb is called “Genghis Khan”.
This is how politicians campaign
A beautiful day in the park in Sapporo
The black one looks angry and threatening
A type of fashion
Crazy dancing at the Thai nightclub
This is an interesting twist on names
With Kiyo.
This is a coffee shop where you can rent a cat to keep you company
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Japan – food and drink

these are from my last trip in Japan.

It’s not creepy, it’s just creap, short for creamy powder, the equivalent of coffeemate
Elegant salmon with scallops and ……
This is my breakfast in the Wakayama business hotel . Not really exciting
This is a little more exciting, breakfast in one of the Toyoko Inn Hotels
Some really excellent beef
Miso ramen down the famous Sapporo Raman alley which is the host of the famous Sapporo Ichiban
Way too many people lined up for the most famous Ramen so I went down the alley a little bit and had some excellent Ramen which you see above
And one of the underground stations you can buy sandwiches in the machine
And the hotel you have machine delivering soft drinks and coffee and tea for breakfast buffet
In the subway station you can buy all sorts of things including baseball caps in a machine
You can buy ice cream also from this famous prefecture well known for dairy products, Hokkaido
In Asahikawa this Tonkatsu restaurant was featured in a television presentation and the food was excellent
This is the tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork cutlet) with a little bit more sauce than most people use. Excellent food
Sapporo was the place this country loved learning and producing German style beer. This large and very long park has months long beer festivals.
Each company has their own large area
Even Craft beers are present
Even this very famous Munich beer company is present
Meanwhile, back in my old neighborhood sushi restaurant …
You could see the name of the restaurant with the phone number. Everybody here is a lot of fun
But after the sushi restaurant we went to a Thai nightclub serving some of my favorites
Another breakfast, not fantastic but good enough to fill me up to start the day
In Okachimachi, Tokyo you can find this famous Chinese Gyoza restaurant
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Dacau Munich – a dark past

I did not realize how close this prison camp was to Munich but when I saw on the map I had to visit. Below is a link to information about this camp.

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

The famous gate
The entrance where everyone came in
This place is massive. I decided not to walk around the whole area. Visiting the one main museum building and maybe one or two others is sufficient for the history. The rest is a walking tour.
These dots represent supporting sub camps. When I saw this map I found it a little difficult to believe after seeing even the massiveness of this main camp.
This photo above and the photo below are the infirmary areas which were also massive. But the infirmaries were not just for healing people they were for human experimentation as well.
Probably not a relative but the closest to where my family lived. I need to keep looking in other places.
This massive book contains every registered prisoner.
This poster was at the train station
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Dundee Scotland

I have heard about Dundee since I was a little kid but I can’t remember exactly why I know the city. There is a lot of history here but I didn’t find it all that fascinating. It is a quiet and beautiful place on an ocean Inlet.

The facilities were OK but the sign indicates just how much attention this place pays to Reception. Only one time, when I checked in, did I meet who I thought was the owner. No one appeared over the next two days to greet me or anyone else.
My hotel room was very much like many of them I occupied so far in Scotland. They tend to be old houses refurbished, keeping the same small room characteristics of old houses, building separate bathroom facilities for each room and then renting them out. I found it interesting and comfortable
Looking at Dundee from the other side of the bridge
After this breakfast, scrambled eggs with cheese on top and the only sauces of ketchup and “brown sauce”, I decided to go out and buy my own sauces and bring to breakfasts. Soy sauce and sriracha sauce are necessity for me.
This photo reminds me of San Francisco
Actually, I found the breakfast choices kind of amazing and the chef who I was thinking probably is also the owner, the husband of the lady who checked me in, was really extremely helpful and flexible in how the food was prepared.
On the second morning I got smarter and just decided on Scottish smoked salmon with these eggs. I found some soy sauce