Author: tarakauffman
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Ending Thoughts
The highlights on this trip were Normandy and the Cotswolds. Normandy for its patriotic feelings, beauty and expressions of thanks from the French. The Cotswolds are full of much older history and the feel of the quaint countryside. Since we ended in Ireland, it is only appropriate to end with their blessing. May the road…
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Last Day in Dublin
After an exhausting day yesterday, we slept late. We walked around the Temple Bar area to find a place for breakfast, “The Stage Door Cafe” had a sign that it was the best breakfast in Dublin. Good coffee, but not a great breakfast. This afternoon we scheduled a tour at Jameson. John Jameson and his…
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Aran Island and Cliffs of Moher
I didn’t get a great picture of our hotel, because we were running for a bus. It was a very nice and old time tavern type place, where the restaurant took care of rooms and food. We were running for the bus to make the ferry to the Aran (pronounced Erin) islands. The weather has…
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Galway
First stop this morning was the Heuston train station to catch our 9:25 train to Galway. It is about a 2 1/2 hour ride all the way, east to west across the country of Ireland. Just as we got off the train it started to rain, so we walked a short few blocks and caught…
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Golfing Day, Deer Park, Howth, Ireland
When we came into Dublin on Thursday, we saw a couple going golfing. They suggested that we go to Deer Park to play. So we went online and got a tee time for 11:20 today. It takes about an hour from Tara Station to get to Howth and the course. We rented clubs and met…
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Game Day
We decided to take the train south, past the stadium to see the sea. Then we went one stop back to the town of Dalkey. As we walked around the corner to their city center the annual Lobster Festival was just opening. We got in line for a Lobster roll. We couldn’t believe the luck.…
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Dublin GameDay Eve
We started the morning in a very neat tidy bar/cafe, Brick Alley Cafe. It is located in the Temple Bar district. There are lots of fans from both sides. It should be interesting tomorrow to see how it looks in the stands. Dublin Castle was the seat for the English and then British governments from…
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Moving Day
This morning we had an hour drive from Upper Slaughter to Birmingham to fly to Dublin. In our part of the world it would have taken 30 minutes to get there, but with the twisty-turny two lanes here it took double time. Once in Dublin we walked the terribly busy streets to Trinity College. It…
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Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace was built because of the victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim. This gave the Queen a reason to give the land and the money to John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, who led the battle. There were several hiccups along the way. His wife Sarah didn’t like the architect and…
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Southern Cotswolds
Bibury was where we started this morning. It is on the river Coln, which is a tributary of the Thames. Then we moved on to Malmesbury, which is where Æthelstan, the King of the Anglo Saxons and then the first King of England lived. Below is Lacock Abbey, which is in the town of Lacock.…
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Northern Cotswold
A cot is a place where the shepherds tend to their sheep and a wold is a high place. So…Cotswolds. This church is the oldest church in this area and shows remnants of doomsday art for those in that time that did not understand Latin. Just down the narrow road a bit was this store/nursery/grocery…
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Upper Slaughter, UK
About 2 hours outside of London is a train station called Morton-in-the-Marsh. It is from there that we were picked up to go to the tiny village of Upper Slaughter and our hotel called Lords of the Manor. We were too early to get into our room, so we walked to Lower Slaughter, which is…
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London
Yesterday we left the ship and took the Eurostar to London. It is a 2 hour trip and only about 25 minutes of that is under the British Channel. We are staying in a VRBO in the Clapham area, which is a 30-40 minute commute to the center city. The last time we were in…
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Le Pecq/ Paris
In 1799 Napoleon’s wife, Josephine purchased a country home in Le Pecq. The Château is currently being painted on the outside, so this is a picture of what it will look like when finished. Josephine loved flowers and both inside and outside the house were many flowers. Josephine was married before Napoleon and had two…
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Les Petite Andelys
This morning I walked one mile on the deck, that’s just 16 little laps. It does go by fast watching swans, beautiful houses and a golf course along the way. The food has not disappointed on this trip, the chef has visited our table almost every evening to make sure we enjoyed the meal. Viking…
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Normandy
Today was a long day, with our bus leaving for the Normandy beach at 7:30. We had an hour and a half ride to the Normandy museum where we saw the history that led to the second world war and ended at the landing at the beaches on June 6, 1944. Interestingly, the French never…
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Rouen
After a busy day, and a warm day, we were able to sleep in and spend a relaxing morning cruising along the Seine on our way to Rouen. Rouen is the gateway to Omaha Beach which we will visit tomorrow. The river has become swifter as we move toward the Atlantic. This does not affect…
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La Roche-Guyon and Vernon
La Roche is a village of about 600 people. The Château de La Roche-Guyon is literally the biggest landmark in the small town. The first section of the Château was built in the 12th century and then two other wings were added in the 18th century. Limestone was carved out to make cliffs in the…
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Montmartre
After a morning overview of the sites of Paris we traveled north and up a hill to Montmartre, the 18th arrondissement. Montmartre originally was outside of the walls of the city of Paris and its own village. Many impressionist artists came to the Montmartre area in the late 1800’s. Picasso, Monet, Toulouse Luutrec , and…
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Moving to the Seine Port
Close to our hotel is the Jewish Quarter Marias, and this morning we wandered through the area on our way to Notre Dame. This 4th arrondissment district has been home to Jews on and off since the thirteenth century. Today, though gentrification has made this one of the city’s most fashionable quarters, it is still…
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Paris
We made it to Frankfurt early and into Paris late, but all our luggage arrived too. We found our way to the train and headed to our hotel where we had stayed in 2017. The couple that we sat by on the train waited for us when we got off and asked us if we…
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Celebration Day!
Cheers to 42 years since we tied the knot! Life is better together. We both cannot imagine starting out straight out of college, raising children and now growing (kind of) older without each other. Traveling is the best, exploring new places and revisiting some favorites as well. Paris here we come!
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August Trip
We begin with a cruise down the Seine River to Normandy and all spots in-between. Then we will take the chunnel to London and see the Cotswold area of the UK. Our final country is Ireland, where the highlight will be the opening game of the year for K-State.
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Lima to Home
This morning we took a flight back to Lima from Cusco. This city is huge and seemed similar to Mexico City. The bus ride to our hotel took over 2 hours and was only 7 miles. We had a 2 hour meal, mostly because the service was terrible. Then we hung out in our room,…
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Cusco
A little story to start with about how the Llama got its name. The Cameloids came from North America originally. They moved to Asia through the Bering strait and down to south America through central America. When the Spanish came to south America they spoke Spanish and used the phrase “¿Como se llama?” and somehow…
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Machu Picchu
This morning we traveled up to Ollantaytambo and wandered around the village. Most of this area was built by the Incas and restored. The water in the gutters gushed down next to the sidewalks and this was our first view of the amazing stonework of the Incas. The locals were sales professionals, listening for any…
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Urubamba, Peru
We spent all of Monday traveling from Valparaiso to the Sacred Valley in Peru. We had a 90 minute bus ride to Santiago airport, a little more than a 3 hour flight to Lima, Peru. Then we caught a plane for a 90 minute flight to Cusco followed by a 90 minute bus ride to…
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Valparaiso
Valparaiso was unknown to us. It is basically the port city closest to Santiago. Before 1914 it was the biggest port. At that time that was the only way to connect the Atlantic to Pacific for trade. After 1914 the Panama Canal became the safest, shortest and easiest way. Santiago and Valparaiso are both big…
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Puerto Montt
Land Ho!! Finally we arrived at Puerto Montt after 2 1/2 days at sea. Half of that was with high winds and huge swells. It was not a swell time. This area was settled mainly by Germans in the 19th century. The small town called Frutillar (about 15 minutes from Puerto Montt) has many pretty…
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