12/08 Lienz, Austria

When we finally reached Villach and obtained some currency, sugar was on the menu.  I found a dream of bakeries and was operating on the ‘try everything once’ premise, but we cut that short for some real food.  We spent the rest of the day checking out shop windows.  Jenni expressed a passion for shop windows.  I suggested that she get herself a nice camera and perhaps someday she would publish a book.   …

10/07 Siena, Italy

I had earmarked a hostel on the outskirts of Siena but the travel guide didn’t provide a good description of how to get there.  I asked a young lady who was sitting across from me on the train if she knew the best way to reach this destination.  She made a few attempts to explain but probably the combination of her hearing herself and the expression on my face persuaded her to just show me, so I followed her off the train.  …

05/20 London, England

The clouds had parted and the wings of our plane began to dry.  The very first thing I noticed was that “I wasn’t in Kansas anymore”.  Gatwick Airport had green pastures on both sides of the runway.  Unconcerned cows looked up at our passing plane.  This was a total contrast to the cement landscape we left behind in LA. …

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.
…

11/02 Crete, Greece

One of the secrets learned while traveling is the advantage that can be gained by finding that right taxi cab driver.  Once I have selected my chaperone for the day I inquire about his business, ask a few questions to ensure he had the right personality, then I’d ask him to explain the best day he’s had in the taxi business.  “I once made twenty dollars”.  Then Id’s offer him twenty five to more depending on the economy.  Taxi drivers know their way around, where to go and what to see.  …

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.  …

08/02 Salzburg, Austria

As we approached Salzburg the clouds parted and the sun came peaking through, signaling that a good day was ahead of us.  In one of the travel guides there was an interesting youth hostel alongside a casino.  I knew from my last visit to Salzburg, that the hostel had to be on the cliff overlooking the old city.  Once our train arrived we headed straight toward a phone and contacted the hostel to see if rooms were available.  Good news but we had to be quick because they did not take reservations.  …

06/22 Cherbourg, France

Like a bunch of cattle we were herded from the boat to the train station.  It was in this company we met a group of young ladies from Costa Mesa California on their way to a concert in Paris.  We were scheduled to see U2 in Dublin but that plan kinda got left behind with a bunch of stuffed animals.  …

10/26 Athens, Greece

One irony in my life is that I had very few women friends.  Most relationships with women were always aimed toward romance and when that didn’t work out or when we experienced an obstacle that couldn’t be overcome, we’d move on.  Mostly I have had male friends, sharing common experience and growing up like all normal boys.  But I’ll have to admit, women make pretty good friends.  Once that it is understood that not everything is sexual, we get along wonderfully.  They make much better traveling companions, easier to agree with, better conversationalists, not as competitive, better sleeping arrangements; they attract a different type of crowd, and if there were benefits attached all the better.   …

06/27 Oslo, Norway

We ended up in Oslo’s train station an hour and a half earlier than we had originally planned.  We had eaten and kind of ran out of touring options and found ourselves debating on which train to depart on.  One train left at eleven and the other at midnight.  Jim was having another one of his bad days, randomly complaining about everything and anything that came into view.  I wasn’t up for spending much time sitting in this vacant station with only Jim’s attitude to entertain me.  When the first of the two trains arrived, Jim walked the length of the train while I watched the gear.  “There’s no first class, so let’s wait for the next one” Jim demanded.  …

08/23 Algarve, Portugal

Thank God everyday was a sunny beach day.  I began the day with some hair of the dog in a small grass shack that hugged the sand leading toward the water, just like yesterday.  I struck up a conversation with a young lady who had given me a strange gesture after a fly had landed on her shoulder.  We all look from different angles don’t we?  She was disgusted with the idea that the fly was attracted to something on her body.  I on the other hand would be more concerned with what the fly might have brought to me.  It’s a wonderful world that has more than one color.  …

05/30 Stonehenge, England

Like a string of pearls, one complaint began to lead into another.  One minute it’s the weather, next minute it’s the price of food, carrying too much shit and then it was his feet.  “I’m not walking any further, maybe I’ll just fly home”, confronted Jim.  I reminded him that I was not his mother and if he thought I wanted to hear this shit, he had bigger problems than just his feet.  “Nobody’s putting a gun to your head and you don’t need my permission to make choices”.  I explained that I was not budgeted for repeating every other step and had a plan of what I wanted to see and experience and sometimes those things aren’t at the end of a train line.  “I’m committed to go forward and if you find it in your best interest to detour, I’m more than willing to meet you anywhere else on the map”.  “There’s no rule that says we have to do everything together”.  I provided an example of picking up women.  “I expect this to happen along the way and when we reach that fork in the road I’m sure you’re not going to be wanting me hanging around as a third wheel or vice versa.  We’ll just meet up someplace down the road”.  I tried to be a good person and attempt to avoid confrontations but traveling together has a tendency to bring these things to the surface.  Conflicts start and end with words.

Surely I dreamt today, or did I see. I wandered in this forest thoughtlessly
the clever boy that I once knew; with pebbles white and bread crumbs too
left no trail and lost my way, where all my pictures were thrown away

Through the forest, in the middle of a glade, forever nagging to persuade
no plank or bridge was placed in sight, only fists clinched as if to fight
the wind, the wind has caused me harm; you pulled too many false alarms.

12/15 Amsterdam, Netherlands

I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT ………………we now come to know the nature of change through Cognition ……… …

07/05 Amsterdam, Netherlands

We divided up the day between Rembrandt and Van Gough.  Sadness is Van Gough’s greatness and without his blood and wed of failures, such masterpieces perhaps would have never been put to canvas.  I can relate to the color and texture of his turmoil and find myself too at times walking around in a daze.  In contract his colors were bright and unique.  …