Travels

Travel invigorates me. If I had no restrictions, I'd probably travel for months at a time.

Someday, I'm gonna take a long,  l    o    n    g  round-the-world trip; quite possibly more than one.

For now, I'm contenting myself with travel around Europe. We moved to Glasgow in June 2013 and we're hitting several new countries each year, along with oodles of exploration of Scotland and the rest of the U.K. I have such a backlog of sites to blog about that it scares me. And we just keep adding new ones.

To get you started, here are a few of my favorite travel posts:


 

The Kelpies: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2014/09/monday-exposure-kelpies.html



 


Sagrada Família — Nativity Facade: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2014/02/sagrada-familia-nativity-facade.html




Fifteen years ago today: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2014/08/fifteen-years-ago-today.html


 


Riding the Jacobite Steam Train: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2013/10/riding-jacobite.html








Lysicrates Monument: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2014/11/monday-exposure-lysicrates-monument.html






"Doon the watter" to the Isle of Bute — Part I: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2014/08/doon-watter-to-isle-of-bute-part-i.html

Part II: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2014/10/doon-watter-to-isle-of-bute-part-ii.html





Wondrous travel: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2015/04/wondrous-travel.html





A year of NOT traveling abroad: http://www.coloringwithoutborders.com/2016/10/a-year-of-not-traveling-abroad.html




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              Man's mind,

once stretched by a new idea,

never regains its original dimensions.   

*   True quote:  "Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions. After looking at the Alps, I felt that my mind had been stretched beyond the limits of its elasticity, and fitted so loosely on my old ideas of space that I had to spread these to fit it."
                        — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, Chapter XI (1858)
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I've had the opportunity to travel through many nations in Europe, parts of North America, and large slices of China. My travel posts here focus on the travels we've enjoyed since moving to the United Kingdom.

For our first two and half years in the U.K., we lived in Scotland, which enjoyed the majority of our travel attention. We've seen MANY sites in Scotland, near and far, popular and obscure. And I can enthusiastically say that Scotland is a traveler's dream. From 5,000-year-old Neolithic sites to 21st century engineering marvels, from Lowland hills to Highland lochs, from castles and ruins to tea rooms and palaces, you can spend years of exploration (as we are) and not see it all. Add in its distinctive cultural flair — whisky, bagpipes, golf, haggis, tartans, the Loch Ness Monster, an occasionally impenetrable accent — and Scotland seduces you. And if all that's not enough, Scotland boasts some of the most gorgeously accessible landscapes, hundreds of islands, and unspoilt beauty just calling for you to explore. Even many of its animals ooze charm, like shaggy highland cows, spunky West Highland terriers, powerful yet gentle Clydesdales, and goofy puffins.

As of the end of 2015, though, we moved to Bristol, England. It's a terrific location to explore all the wonders of both southwestern England and Wales. There will be much more to come on this blog about our new nation.

We're making sure, however, to venture beyond the United Kingdom into the rest of the Europe. We prefer longer visits in one place to drive-by hits on a checklist. Partly that's by nature; I like to research before we go and then dig into a site when I'm there. Partly it's by choice, because if we're gonna spend the money to travel then we want it well spent. And partly it's by necessity, because we have two young boys who inevitably make our travel slower still.

This page will be updated periodically as new travels and adventures accrue. Below are many, but not all, of the travel posts over the years.

If you're looking for a specific place, museum, castle, hike, or other item, the "search" bar can be a good tool. Many of these posts cover multiple locations and sites.



Scotland

          Lowlands:

                    The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

                    Tam o' Shanter and the Brig o' Doon

                    Rosslyn Chapel

                    Monday Exposure: The ghost piper
                    of Edinburgh Castle

                    Dryburgh Abbey

                    Jedburgh Abbey

                    Kelso Abbey

                    Monday Exposure: The Kelpies

Rosslyn Chapel

                    Hidden Lane Tearoom

                    Monday Exposure: Scott's View

                    Monday Exposure: Rowallan Castle

                    Arthur's Seat

                    Monday Exposure: Burns Monument

                    Monday Exposure: Stirling Bridge


          Highlands:

A quick scouting trip north

                Clava Cairns

                Monday Exposure: Hairy coos

                A quick scouting trip north

                My failed visit to Dunkeld Cathedral

                Monday Exposure: The devil plays cards at Glamis Castle

Blair Castle International Horse Trials

                    Riding the Jacobite Steam Train

                    Monday Exposure: Glenfinnan Viaduct

                    Blair Castle International Horse Trials



          Islands:

Machrie Moor stone circles

                    Isle of Arran

                    Machrie Moor stone circles

                    Monday Exposure: Old Man of Storr and the faerie king

                    Monday Exposure: Neist Point Lighthouse

                    "Doon the watter" to the Isle of Bute — part I

Monday Exposure: Fingal's Cave

                    "Doon the watter" to the Isle of Bute — part II

                    Monday Exposure: Fingal's Cave

                    Cost of trips to Scottish islands cut in half

                    Monday Exposure: Seaside golf on the Isle of Iona

                   

Monday Exposure: Neist Point Lighthouse

England

Bath — Aquae Sulis

                    Bath — Aquae Sulis

                    Bath — Abbey

                    Bath — Circus and Crescent

                    Bath — modern era

                    Bath — River Avon and Parade Gardens

                                                                                 Wells Cathedral

Searching for the Grail in Glastonbury

                    Wells — Bishop's Palace, Vicars' Close, and the Crown

                    Monday Exposure: Haunted barking within York Minster

                    Busy weekend in York

                    Monday Exposure: Railway time

                    Searching for the Grail in Glastonbury

                                                                                 Monday Exposure: Rievaulx Abbey

Wells — Bishop's Palace, Vicars' Close, and the Crown

Czech Republic

Monday Exposure: Prague's astronomical clock

                    Monday Exposure: Dancing House in Prague

                    Monday Exposure: Prague's astronomical clock









France

Monday Exposure: Musée du Louvre by the numbers

                    Monday Exposure: Musée du Louvre by the numbers

                    Adieu, Paris

                    Monday Exposure: the (probably) oldest tree in Paris




Greece

Monday Exposure: Temple of Olympian Zeus

                    Monday Exposure: Lysicrates Monument

                    Monday Exposure: Temple of Olympian Zeus






Ireland

                    Monday Exposure: Ha'penny Bridge


Italy

                    Monday Exposure: Michelangelo's Pietà


Spain

                                                                                   Sagrada Família — Nativity Facade

A supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí

                    Sagrada Família — Passion Facade

                    Barcelona sampler

                    Our neighborhood in Barcelona

                    Barcelona Cathedral and its (more interesting) cloister

                    Wandering in the Barri Gòtic

                                                                                    Scenes from the Museo de la Xocolata

Sagrada Família — Passion Facade

                                Wandering in El Born

                                Modernisme Barcelona — part I

                                Modernisme Barcelona — part II

                                "A supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí"

                                Rambling on La Rambla

                                Monday Exposure: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

                                Park Güell, the fanciful failure

                   


               much more to come . . .