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11/01  Crete, Greece
06/02 South Wales
07/28 Brussels Belgium
09/01 Valencia, Spain
06/05 Coventry, England
06/21 Northern Ireland
07/03 Amsterdam, Netherlands
06/12 Liverpool, England
08/31 Toledo, Spain
08/17 Madrid, Spain
11/04  Crete, Greece
12/04  Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
08/09 Burn, Switzerland
06/26 Copenhagen, Denmark
08/13 Giessbach Switzerland

11/01 Crete, Greece

A bunch of us from the night before had agreed to gather for a late breakfast and had earmarked today as a moped day.  We all kinda wandered up at the same time around lunch.  Brad and his sweetheart, Elspeth and Dave were all I managed to convince that it would be a worthwhile experience.  Elspeth had never been on a moped before but wasn’t shy about taking on new challenges.  During her learning phase either Dave or I would tag along side.   …

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06/02 South Wales

We had purchased a train pass for the British railway that provided a few consecutive days on a train and then the use of a car.  Our plan was to more or less travel north by train until we reached Inverness Scotland, from there we would rent a car and travel the West Coast of Scotland southward until we reached Liverpool.  …

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07/28 Brussels Belgium

We headed into Gent to be part of its annual festival.  I, like a honeybee, danced from flower to flower collecting smiles, memorable fragrances.  The next day started off with the similar ritual of walking into Brugge’s main square for a cup of coffee, this time before we jumped a train into Brussels.  We trekked about the old section of the city and checked out the local sites.  Muscles in Brussels and beers, muscles in Brussels and beers.  …

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09/01 Valencia, Spain

I woke early to the jingling and jangling of the vendors setting up the local market and was up and out in minutes following the caravan of wagons and carts down through the streets to the market.  The strategy was the same, I looked for food and if I could obtain it for free, all the better.  As long as we both got what we wanted out of the conversation, I could play the game.  “You picked them all by hand did ya? Your fingers are too big.  I think this one has been bruised.  …

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06/05 Coventry, England

I was disappointed that Jim didn’t have the same level of interest in seeing these local sites.  I started referring to Jim as “Stationary”, because literally, he’d stay in the train station and read a book while waiting for me to return from my trek.  Wasting opportunities like these between the pages of some romantic novel seemed foolish to me when this is all new.  …

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06/21 Northern Ireland

It was raining a bit and we had a couple of open containers.  The roads were narrow with no extra space to speak about.   I knew if we got stuck behind another logging truck we could be here for weeks.  Once we managed to pass a couple of these trucks we began to make up for some lost time.  Jim began complaining that his bladder couldn’t take much more of this abuse but before I was willing to pull over, I wanted to put enough distance between ourselves and the logging trucks.  …

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07/03 Amsterdam, Netherlands

There were no hedges, nor fences, in the bare and uniform countryside leading into the Netherlands.  We were heading back into the crossroads of traffic back into the circus they had named Amsterdam.  I could see no natural boundaries that separated the courtyard from the jester.  …

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06/12 Liverpool, England

We were on the road for about an hour after sunrise.   I was passing a small automobile with what looked to be three construction workers on their way to work.  As I sped up to pass them, I caught some of the loose gravel and slid sideways into them.  I’d say we at least traded paint but when I slowed down to deal with the situation they kept on driving.  …

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08/31 Toledo, Spain

We both had traveled through Madrid on our way into Portugal but neither one of us had our mind on sightseeing.  We had planned on traveling through into Avila and then on to Toledo so we only got off the train to stretch our legs and find ourselves some food.  When we first arrived in Toledo we walked around its outer wall.  Ann was sporting a t-shirt minus a bra and again my mind began orbiting.  …

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08/17 Madrid, Spain

I woke up in the middle of a desert of reddish clay painted orange by the rising sun.  As the ride wore on the sun converted our compartment from a cozy bed into practically an oven.  Each hill looked the same as the one before it rolling one after another past my window.  If one didn’t know any better it could be assumed that my window was the backdrop to a movie set.  …

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11/04 Crete, Greece

The sunrise was a picture to behold.  Sitting on that beach was like being the only person on the planet.  Once we were all up and awake we attempted to hide the remains of the burnt telephone pole and headed up to meet the first bus to Nicolas.  We were in need of a shower and food.  We took advantage of the stop over on the way to Nicolas which provided enough time to grab some real food.  We were all so hungry but still skeptical after the last experience.  Once we stepped off the bus in Nicolas a little fat kid’s persistence persuaded us to follow him to an available room.  …

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12/04 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

It was very late, or to be more accurate, real early in the morning.  Outside the station it was dark and cold, really cold.  Neither one of us were equipped for that type of weather.  The streets were covered in ice and our worn tennis shoes didn’t provide much if any traction.  When we exited the station we had no idea which way to head to find ourselves a room.  There were two others that also exited our train so we began following them in the hopes they would lead us down the right path.  We came to a large boulevard lined with large office shaped buildings but there were no signs or lights that provided us any indication that we were heading in the right direction.  …

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08/09 Burn, Switzerland

Jim joined the hostel attitude.  He didn’t want to go anywhere, see anything, he just wanted to stick around the hostel and wash his clothes, so I sought out on my own.  I checked out Albert Einstein’s home and then the modern art museum.  “One man’s treasure is another man’s trash”.  I love art but sometimes.  I wandered the market and the local stops searching for Christmas gifts, but ended up buying chocolates to satisfy my taste buds instead.  …

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06/26 Copenhagen, Denmark

We rose early and spent the entire day wandering the pedestrian streets and central squares popping in and out of small cafes and trendy boutiques.  That’s right, trendy boutiques.  The young ladies that gather in these places are quite attractive.  Carlsberg and then followed the tree-lined avenues to the harbor.
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08/13 Giessbach Switzerland

We discovered Lake Brienzersee early that next morning.  My entire side was bruised and I had scab from elbow to waist, even through the pain the lake’s unique color of blue was almost hypnotizing.  We docked at Glessbach to walk the falls.  Fighting through the soreness of my abused legs was worth the effort.  …

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