When we left Australia, we were up before dawn to head for the airport at 4:00 am in order to catch one of the twice per week flight combinations that would take us from Perth to Darwin, then connecting on
Visiting Atauro Island, Timor-Leste
A visit to Australia…and Denmark!
In late September, 2023, we headed for Australia to visit family in Fremantle, Western Australia. And while we were there, we visited Denmark! Not the country but the town of Denmark, about 5 hours south of Perth, the capital of
The Goroka Festival…2024!
The Goroka Festival in Papua New Guinea just finished its 2023 run, and PNG’s The National said “Goroka Show hailed a success“. So we’ve begun making plans to attend the 2024 version a year from now. We’ve started a website
Wildlife at Home!
We’ve seen some amazing wildlife on our trips, but sometimes we don’t even have to leave home; the animals come to visit us! One recent weekend, we had a visitor on the front doorstep, and then an hour later another
Country Count Updated to 121
On our “Barcelona to Berlin” trip we visited the 17th smallest country in the world, Andorra. That was our first visit, so we have updated our “Countries Visited” counter on the website to 121. We also visited the second smallest
Berlin with the Wall and more
Woke up to an unwelcome surprise, our train to Berlin had been cancelled with only 2 hours notice. Scrambled to find an alternative which ended up leaving much later and had a transit stop. Arrived late evening at our hotel
Amsterdam and Zaanse Schans
We left France by train, but not without changing stations in Paris, enjoying a coffee and croissant at a sidewalk cafe across from the Gare du Nord. (It wasn’t a real French breakfast though because we didn’t finish off with
The Bayeux Tapestry and more
After dropping our rental car in Caen we were back on the rails and took the short train trip to Bayeux. What a beautiful town! A very walkable size, and lots of scenic attractions. We were just a short walk
Mont Saint-Michel and the Normandy beaches
To begin our tour of Mont Saint-Michel and Normandy, we rented a car in Caen and started our drive through the French countryside. Very picturesque journey through the Vire River Valley on our way to Mont Saint-Michel. Stopped in Vire
Arras and the Vimy Memorial
Last week we visited Arras in northern France as a base for visiting the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. (See our earlier post.) Our first stop in this picturesque city was the “Le Beffroi d’Arras”, the belfry. Hard to imagine that
Marseille – it’s NOT Paris
As the residents of Marseille kept reminding us, Marseilles is NOT Paris! Marseille is the oldest city in France, with a history going back 2600 years, and they are extremely proud of their history and heritage. With good reason we’d
Côte d’Azur – Antibes to Monaco
Côte d’Azur – Antibes to Monaco
Return to Barcelona
When our walking tour guide asked if anyone had been to Barcelona before, we were the only ones who said “Yes”. “So you guys just keep coming back?” “Sure, every 44 years!” We repeated some typical touristy things in Barcelona,
“Nit de Foc” (“Night of Fire”)
Every year on June 23rd, Catalonians celebrate La Nit de Sant Joan, the evening before the feast day of St. John the Baptist. Of course this Saint’s day is celebrated everywhere in the Catholic world, but the celebrations of the
“Whisky War” Armistice Day
Celebrating the first anniversary of the end of a war in Canada (a war that nobody even knew about!). Apparently, when we were off in Australia for most of 2022, Canada quietly signed a peace treaty ending a war that
Visiting Mont Saint-Michel
We’ve always meant to visit the Mont, but despite visiting France many times over five decades we’ve never made it that far! That changes in 2023, with our upcoming Barcelona to Berlin trip! We’re going to be in Normandy for
“Ghosts of a forgotten town”
The brown hyenas of Kolmanskop, Namibia We shared a BBC Facebook post about the only remaining inhabitants of the former diamond mining town of Kolmanskop, Namibia. You can also watch that video on the BBC YouTube channel. (Link at the
Namibia; the article that got us dreaming!
Not sure whatever happened to KLM’s iFly magazine. It just stopped showing up in our inbox at some point. A victim of COVID? But back in 2017 they published a great story about a 3-week road trip in Namibia, and
“They replaced Vimy Ridge…”
Earlier this week, Canada introduced a new passport design which was immediately met with some (OK, a lot of) criticism. Here’s a link to an online article from CTV News. The quote that caught our eyes was from Pierre Poilievre,
Getting past Australian immigration
Watched this YouTube video to prepare for our next trip to Australia: