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Showing posts from June, 2019

Everything's big in Belfast

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City Hall in Belfast Our next stop is Belfast, Northern Ireland, birthplace of The Titanic.  It is odd to think that Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom.  The Pound Sterling is the currency of choice.  Tomorrow as we go into Ireland, we will revert back to the Euro because The Republic of Ireland is part of the European Union.   It is not necessarily a good situation here.  By that I mean that there is still a little tension and turmoil that goes back to the time of the "Troubles".   That is what they call the time of division and fighting back in the late sixties.   It lasted about 3 decades, and there is still an under current of bad blood with some folks.  It is definitely better now though. The border between Northern Ireland and Ireland to the south is what they call a transparent border that the two nations pass thru freely and without checks.  But should Great Britain withdraw from the EU, the b...

The Isle of Skye -

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Here we are in Scotland in the United Kingdom at our only stop, the Isle of Skye.   Before I go any further, let me say that Vialula was searching high and low but no signs of Jaime were found (for you Outlander fans!).  She even danced around a few stones in the Highlands but no luck in traveling back in time.  I guess it must just be a Hollywood stunt.  We are winding up our journey with only a couple of weeks remaining.  Hard to believe but it has to end sometime. The port at the Isle of Skye is called Portree.  It is a tender port as it is very small.  Portree is a quaint little town dotted with green mountains and beautiful little shops and homes.  Our adventure today took us out of Portree to Dunvegan Castle, home of the McCleod clan for over 800 years, and they still own it today.  Though it is open to the public, the family still stays there on the upper floor when they are in town.  There are beauti...