Jardin Botanique de Vauville This was my favorite garden, or Jardin. It was created in 1947 by a man who loves plants and gardens. He wanted a garden of exotic plants but the climate of Normandy is very windy and plants have a difficult time growing. So, he began...
Paris in springtime. We experienced rain, sun and wind during our visit here. The Paris of the past must be different than the Paris of current day, or maybe my expectation was different. I had envisioned a quaint little city and small intimate streets with flower...
Our ship docked in Portland UK and we took a tour bus to see Stonehenge and Salisbury. Stonehenge Stonehenge is considered a prehistoric monument. I learned that henge is actually a term for the mound that surrounds the stones. It is in the middle of a dense complex...
Cork Ireland is about 20km from Cobh, where we were docked. We took a nice bus ride there with our tour guide Michael. The roads to Cork were very narrow, bairly containing the girth of our tour bus, and the hillsides were covered in beautiful green. The climate in...
Cobh has the only port in Ireland capable of docking a Cruise ship. Cork Ireland was the port the Titanic disembarked from on its final voyage. Titanic White Star Line was determined that no expense would be spared in the construction of Titanic. It took 3 years for...
Haute couture Fashion is constructed by hand from start to finish, made from high quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable sewers, often using time-consuming, hand-executed...
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest you realize what a precious gift the sun is to your mood. The term "seasonal affective disorder (SAD)" was something I had heard about and understood at a very young age. My life experiences have also given me an appreciation for...
We are now on day 4 of our cross Atlantic trip to Europe and everyone has fallen into a rhythm. Most everyone has found their favorite places and figured out where things are located. So, today I sat down to read, which I don't often do. Idle Mind, Creative Mind I...
Every cruise ship seems to have a theme for the artwork on the stairwells. This ship is featuring different artists portrait interpretations on the forward staircases. Self Portraits A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or...
Today we set sail on the Serenade of the Seas, a vessel on the Royal Caribbean Cruise line. The SS United States holds the record for the fastest crossing at 3 days, 10 hours in 1952. Our trip will take 6 days to cross the Atlantic. The majority of passenger traffic...
