Bray Ireland

This is my home town. Its called Bray and it is on the south coast of the Irish capital Dublin. If you wish to take the train from Dublin to Bray you will need to know its called the DART ( Dublin Area Rapid Transport)  This train huggs the coast and the journey is spectacular. Its a  simple commuter train that every tourist should experience. Before you come to Bray you can alight at a town where I once lived called Dalkey, a village not to be missed. Then take the train on to to Greystones and find Cavistons restaurant, eat crab and drink chablis, if they have it - its my memory of what I had there and it was special.  You need to turn right as you exit Greystones station but dont go on Monday because the fishing boats rest on Sunday

This is Lake Dan its also near my home town

Bali,the Ku de Ta

Today while at  work I came across this photo I had saved circa 2005. Its in Bali, the Ku de Ta restaurant  and this was my 3rd trip to eat there. K and I were on our way to deliver training in Timor Leste  requiring  an overnight in Bali. Lots of very beautiful people come to eat at Ku de Ta and feet away, on the lovely beach  there are Balinese families flying kites at sunset and walking in the cooler evening air . The photographer is standing in the restaurant.

My lovely flowers, planning a trip

Today is a holiday- planning- day so no travel  photos yet so here is a photo of my lovely birthday roses from 2 weeks ago.

 The question is , when planning, should one try to do everything ? Maybe the opportunities should be taken or should one stick with the original plan?

So far the Eurostar lunch trip planned from London to Lille for one day in  July  has changed to include, overnight Lille and  a side trip to Arras in Pas-de Calais,  a 30 min train journey from Lille.  Arras is home to an ensemble of Flemish-style arcade buildings, in WW11 some New Zealanders dug tunnell there and I quess because of that,  Arras has  a Wellington Quay. There are also reported to be number of nice cafes under the arches of the Grand Palace

Now something new has emerged there is a concert in Amsterdam on July 3rd ! Its at the Concertgebouw near Vondel park and that is a lovely area of the city . Its also just 2 hours 15 from Lille to Amsterdam central by rail. To go or not to go...............?



The next picture was taken in Brussels , this was the prettiest duck in the park  I called her Elise

Italy, the south

Puglia deserves a few more pics, there are so many churches. Then once you tire of them you can catch sights like this

Or take the train to this lovely place with unique round houses

Puglia-the heel of Italy

You can fly to Brindisi and take a train to Lecce. Puglia, known as the heel of Italy has great gems, Ostuni, Gallipoli, Otranto. In Lecce you can stay at te lovely Dimora Barocca Hotel - not a hotel really , it contains a number of nicely appointed suite in a restored part of the city of Lecce. This town is a feast for the eyes. Full of old squares, churches and other interesting monuments.

Train travel is easy and efficient but I travelled with J & R again and we had a car.

Alsace, France

This is Alsace. I landed in Geneva to attend D & M's wedding in Mulhouse, you can stay in Mulhouse and easily access the lovely towns of Alsace, Colmar and Strasbourg are the better known but the smaller ones are really delightful too and the wine is very local and very good

Thailand the Cape Sienna Hotel

Day 1 of my Blog

This is Cape Sienna in Phuket, visited for January escape - a lovely trip with D.

Now planning Montenegro circa Sept 2010 with J & R ( former travels have been successfully completed to Tasmania, Malta, Gozo and the heel of Italy, check out Lecce its beautiful)- there is a train journey from Skopje in Macedonia to Belgrade , en route the lovely town of Ohrid is the target - I think I need to alight at the town of Kicevo, maybe there is a bus to national part Galicica.