Traveling Fool

 Oops, looks like I never posted these photos from my UK trip last fall. These were a couple of days out with my friend at Hampton Court Palace and then Windsor Castle. I had never been to Hampton Court before, and neither had my friend. It was a beautiful day, and the grounds are spectacular. Hampton Court is in Surrey and it was the home of Henry VIII and later William and Mary. You can easily spend several hours walking through the Palace, the grounds and along the river in Molesey, maybe grab an ice cream. I do love stained glass windows. My friend and I went to Windsor Castle and we had another beautiful fall day. We did go through the castle, but due to COVID precautions, we could not get in to see Queen Mary's dollhouse, which is really something to see (I saw it way back in 2000); hopefully it's open now. We also went into St. George's Chapel, but photography isn't allowed there. It is very quiet and peaceful and worth a visit; you can attend services as well (...

  It has been an interesting month and a half for my concert attendance. October was supposed to be filled with Genesis music: two Genesis concerts in the UK and then Steve Hackett in Newcastle, followed by Genesis in Chicago and The Musical Box in St. Charles, Illinois. Whew. Except it didn't happen like that. The two UK Genesis concerts were cancelled/postponed due to COVID in the band. Sadly, it's not possible for me to just pop over in March for the re-scheduled show, however, all was not lost in my unending quest for Genesis music. O2 City Hall, Newcastle, before Big Head sat in front of me I did get to the Hackett show, featuring the entirety of the Seconds Out  live album, in Newcastle, England. He and the band put on an amazing show, and even though my view was blocked by someone's very large head (hence, no photos), I still had a great time. If you're a Genesis fan and you haven't seen Steve Hackett, I totally recommend catching one of the shows he is doing...

It is much easier to pick a place to stay and then do little day trips and sightsee in the vicinity, but I rarely do the easy thing. My recent trips have been based around concerts (in 2017 I went to Paris to see Phil Collins and London to see Adele and filled in the middle bits with other countries; 2019 was Mike & the Mechanics in York); this trip was centered around two Genesis concerts, Glasgow and London, and Steve Hackett in Newcastle. I also try to build in time to see my friends in Edinburgh and Bracknell. Basically, I had a lot of ground to cover and was going to be moving around. After my delightful experience in 2019 in guesthouses/B&Bs, I wanted to try and stick to that 'genre' if possible.   In Orkney I stayed at the Bellavista Guest House . The bed was amazing, so comfortable. I could make my own tea, coffee or hot chocolate, and there was a delightful collection of biscuits to go with it. Sandra was very friendly and made that scrumptious salmon omelet i...

To steal a quote from Lionel Bart and Oliver!  "Food, glorious food!" I have no pretensions of having a sophisticated palette, but I have my favorite things and things I want to try. One of the fun things about traveling is trying new foods and flavors or food in different preparations. One of my go to foods when I travel in Europe is pain au chocolat (or as we say here, chocolate croissant); I probably had about 8-10 over the two week period (perhaps fewer, but perhaps not). I'm not bragging, just saying. I also had my share of pizza and fish and chips on this trip. There were other meals and beverages as well, some that stuck with me and others that were more sustenance and eating out of habit rather than any experience I had. I didn't photograph everything, because sometimes you just look like a pillock.  The first fish and chips on the trip, but not the last - Edinburgh An amazing salmon omelet, toast, tea and cranberry juice breakfast at my Orkney B&B. My mou...