Cruising the Nile

On our final morning in Cairo before the cruise, we received a wakeup call at 3:49am. It’s difficult to recover from jet lag with that type of schedule! We flew to Luxor to begin the cruise on the ship River Tosca, with its capacity of 82 guests. We first visited the Karnak Temple, a vast […]

Czechmate

This nine-week trip is winding down now, with just a few days left. Prague is the only city I’ve visited during these weeks where I wish I had more time. Everywhere else I’ve felt sated, and comfortable to move on. That said, I’m excited to return to Asheville, mainly to be able to see Colleen, […]

Incoming Sea

On Monday I took an afternoon trip out to suburb resort towns Cascais and Estoril, which are on the Atlantic Ocean. In walking between the two along a beachfront promenade, I was surprised to see how high the seas were and how the waves were often crashing over the promenade itself. It wasn’t windy or […]

Vamos à Praia

On a beautiful sunny Saturday with mid-60s (F) temps, I took a cheap Uber ride out to the ocean, where I visited Praia Grande (big beach) and then walked up and over to Praia das Maçãs, another nice beach. Both were strangely empty on such a nice Saturday afternoon. I guess the Portuguese are like […]

Sintra, Portugal

Colleen and I visited Sintra, a truly magical fairy tale town, way back in 1999. I recall snippets of exploring the one-of-a-kind Pena Palace and then descending down to the Moorish Castle. That’s all. I don’t remember anything else, like how we got up the hill or what the town itself was like. Give yourself […]

Neanderthals

On Saturday I rented a car and drove up north of Zagreb to explore a bit. First I visited an excellent and thorough museum about a large Neanderthal find (the largest Neanderthal bone collection in the world), then after a drive through some beautiful autumnal countryside scenery in the mountains, I explored an old hilltop […]

Unique Food Options

Most days, and sometimes multiple times per day, I’ve had airborne sticky silken threads blow onto my face while in Bratislava specifically. I don’t know if they are leftover spider webs silk worm threads, or something else, but you can see them flying by in the air. Anyone know what that’s about? In walking around […]

Nature, Festivities, a Battle vs Russians, and Language Struggles

The river Oder passes through the middle of Wrocław, and along its banks are many nice parks. Additionally, there are several other parks around the city, including a couple of very large ones. While Wrocław itself is mostly pretty and not industrial or gritty, it’s still refreshing to get out into green spaces with loads […]

Around Town

Here are some photos from the lovely city of Prague in September. It’s rainier and colder than this time last year! So these photos were captured between showers. Today’s follow-up note: With regard to the smart watch cable, I did eventually receive a text message notifying me that the cable I had ordered was now […]