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10/12  Napes Italy
09/22 St. Malo, France
06/26 Copenhagen, Denmark
07/27 Bruges, Belgium
09/23 Mont Saint Michel, France
07/17 Archipelago Stockholm, Sweden
07/20 Burgen, Norway
08/01 Gloriette, Vienna Austria
07/14 Stockholm, Sweden
10/08  Siena, Italy
09/16 Zermatt, Switzerland
08/17 Madrid, Spain
11/27  Pamukkale, Turkey
06/19 Ring of Carrie, Ireland
08/16 Train Rails, Spain

10/12 Napes Italy

When I woke up I notice that my knife was unchaperoned, sitting all by itself.  Most likely it was pushed away by me while I slept.  There were two elderly gentlemen sitting alongside the same bench staring at me and the knife.  I had gotten less than an hour of sleep and was still very tired and in need of a shower.  I followed those two gentlemen back into the heart of Naples.  

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09/22 St. Malo, France

Along side the rising sun and took the early train toward St. Malo.  On that train I caught up on filling out stories on post cards and when I finally reached St. Malo the post office was my first destination.  I was still disappointed that I had lost my address book back in Scotland, but on the other hand I had fewer cards to fill out.  After I got situated in my room, I took a walk along the shore.  The ocean was crashing against the wall with an authority that made me feel alive.  

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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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07/27 Bruges, Belgium

We found ourselves a small room above a bar not far off the main square of Brugge, claimed ourselves bed, dropped off our stuff and hit the local canals for a little sightseeing.  We roamed among the flower vendors, chocolate shops, lingered behind a cup of coffee and smoked a cigarette while standing on a humped-backed bridge.  I enjoyed the mood of the weeping willows and gazed endlessly at the reflections painted by the water.  

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09/23 Mont Saint Michel, France

At the breakfast table there were rumors of another train strike, so about six of us headed out early to attempt to board the last train prior to any stoppage.  Our destination was Mont-St-Michel.  When the island first came within view I stood there for some time and gazed at its glory.  It had more a look of a cover to a picture book than something actually real, a castle right out of some fairytale.  There were endless fields of mud waiting for the imprint of somebody’s foot.

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07/17 Archipelago Stockholm, Sweden

Behind us we towed a small motor boat.  Being an inexperienced sailor, I first thought we brought it along in case the boat began to sink.  But no, when strawberries were needed to complete a meal, we suited up and headed in the small motor boat toward a local port.  I liked to imagine that it was my blue eyes, or my healthy build, rather than just the curiosity of “Who is he?”

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07/20 Burgen, Norway

I wandered through the station lingering on familiarities.  It’s amazing how routines destroyed time and sped things up.  There were so many unexpected avenues, detours, new faces and outright pleasures that it seemed as if it had been months since I left here, not days.  I got talking up with a couple on the train that had been reading the same travel guide and discovered out we were going in the same directions. 

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08/01 Gloriette, Vienna Austria

One thing was for certain, I needed a shower.  Sleeping out with element guarantees one thing, we were up early, so we took advantage and started searching for a room.  Luckily we found a room in the area that accommodated our needs, but we couldn’t check in until later that afternoon, so we reserved a room.  They were kind enough to watch our bags, allow us to scamper off and tour the city. 

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07/14 Stockholm, Sweden

Eventually the crowds gathered and like sheep we were herded onto the boat.  I managed to weasel my way through the gridlock to the sunny side of the ship, found myself a deck chair and began to relax under the sun.  There was a young lady who had the same idea and took the liberty to pull her chair up next to mine and start up a conversation.  Honestly I was more interested in her bathing suit than the conversation.  From here the view was spectacular.  Thousands of white sails littered the horizon and the many islands looked as if God scattered them from his own hand. 

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10/08 Siena, Italy

After packing up my clean clothes I headed off early into the city, sat behind a cup of coffee just off the main square, with pen in hand I watched the city wake up around me.  I found myself staring at the unique inner walls of the St. Catherine’s church.  The inside was different from what I expected from its outside.  It captured my attention and soul.  The contrast between the dark and light was not like others churches I have visited.  I sat off in one of the corners and for some time stared at the many faces looking down on me.  

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09/16 Zermatt, Switzerland

I was up before the sun and headed out to get an early start.  At the beginning of my trek I crossed paths with the boyfriend from the night before.  Apparently they didn’t make it back before curfew and ended up spending half the night locating another room.  To compound that inconvenience he explained that the room they found had a cement floor and had been just too cold to sleep comfortably. 

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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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11/27 Pamukkale, Turkey

A small mini-bus arrived and toted us off to Pamukkale.  I only knew what I had read in the bible and in travel brochures about Pamukkale.  I understood that it was one of the seven churches Apostle Paul wrote letters to and was coined the “Cotton Castle” of the ancient world.  There was an extremely old hot spring that was believed to have healing power and over time became a center of a pagan cult.  Large limestone steatite created a beautiful arrangement of pools. 

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06/19 Ring of Carrie, Ireland

We woke to another picturesque day and it wasn’t till we began driving the Ring of Kerry that we realized it was also a lucky day.  We were heading clockwise, south to north and every possible tourist and circus was traveling in the other direction.  This gave us the ability to stop and enjoy the scenery and not second guess our place in line or force us to let others dictate our pace.

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08/16 Train Rails, Spain

We came to an unplanned stop at the border between France and Spain where it appeared the French weren’t about to share their trains with Spanish rails.  We had come to a complete stop and it was obvious they were ushering us through customs.  Well there was no way I would attempt carrying our hash through customs.  It just wasn’t worth the risk. 

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