It’s just a few minutes after midnight in Stockholm and I’ve just crawled into bed at our hotel! Our plane left Honolulu on time Sunday morning at 7:00 am, so Jieun Newland and I decided to pick up Bill Potter at 5:30 am, meaning that I set my alarm for 4:30 am and we would… Read More 26+ hours to Stockholm!
As I was leaving the Marriott Marquis Hotel in San Francisco this morning, I received a text alert on my phone: I was already in Group 1 to board the plane, and after only a few minutes of stowing my luggage in the overhead bin and strapping on my seat belt, I saw the United… Read More Status 1K! Woo hoo!
What is a Greek evening? Unlimited FOOD, unlimited WINE, unlimited DANCING, unlimited PLATE BREAKING, and unlimited FUN! All this we enjoyed at the family-owned Zafiro Experience last night. OPA! OPA is a Greek Word that may be used as an ‘Exclamation’, or ‘Utterance’, or ‘Declaration’, or ‘Affirmation’ or a lovingly gentle way of telling you to… Read More A Greek evening … OPA!
Our tour officially began today with a tour of Thessaloniki, where the Apostle Paul preached in a Jewish synagogue, established a Christian church and wrote two letters to the Christian community of the city, known as the Epistles to the Thessalonians. Our bus took us up the mountain where we had a spectacular view of… Read More “Paul was here”
Don’t misunderstand… this post is not about graffiti ON church buildings! It’s just that today I took two back-to-back walking tours: the first was a tour of graffiti and street art in the La Candelaria district. The other was a walking tour of churches and the Cathedral in downtown Bogotá. I have to give credit… Read More Graffiti and churches
48 hours … that’s about how long I have to do my laundry and repack my suitcase before I head to California for my grandson’s birthday. I walked in the door of my apartment last night about 9 pm, having gotten up at 5 am London time at the Renaissance Hotel, staying up all night… Read More 48 hours!
Before leaving Fátima this morning, a few of us took a quick tour of the overabundance of souvenir shops in the village, and I was able to take a picture of the wax body parts people bring to the shrine to pray for someone with a particular medical problem e.g. breast cancer, brain tumor, etc.… Read More Last day in Portugal
Our hotel, the Hotel Fátima could not be any closer to the site where the Miracle of Fátima occurred. In fact, I could hear the priest chanting and the organ playing from my hotel room. We arrived in late afternoon and Pedro, our guide, quickly gave us an overview of the site, when I took… Read More The Fátima experience
This morning we checked out of the Neya Hotel and started to drive towards Fátima, stopping first at the University of Coimbra, which dates from 1290. The students still wear a traditional costume on special days—these particular students, however, are trying to earn a little money by selling pencils to tourists. By far, the biggest… Read More Coimbra and Alcobraça
If I had to choose one place to come back to again in Portugal, it would be Porto. We arrived yesterday afternoon and went out for a 45-minute boat ride on the Douro River, with cool, breezy winds brushing our faces and seeing picturesque buildings which could be reflected in the water, a gorgeous day,… Read More Glorious Porto