ENGLAND AND WALES 2022

+ Mary and I went to England and Wales (mostly Wales) in June 2022.  It was a fabulous trip.   

+ When I say "mostly Wales" that's because we were on a Road Scholar tour which began in Manchester, England on June 8.  That's when we met our Trip Leader, Caroline, and our wonderful companions all from the US.  After breakfast at the hotel on June 9, we met our bus driver, Andy,  who drove us around Wales with great skill and lots of enthusiasm for 8 days, June 9 thru June 16.  On this day, we quickly went over the border and into Wales where our first stop was Bodnant Garden. Our Study Guide, Conway, met us there and we quickly realized we were in good hands.  He informed, entertained and inspired us for 7 days, 4 in North Wales and 3 in Southwest Wales. 

Please visit my Pbase Gallery: England and Wales 2022. You will find more than photos there.  You will find plenty of my reflections and there are some links to informative websites.  There is a sub-gallery for each of the 8 days in Wales plus a special one for Liverpool and a special one for Betws-y-Coed.

+ For our time in England before we began the RS trip we decided to see Liverpool, a city made far more famous due to what happned there in the 1950s and 60s.  We didn't have much time so we couldn't go to all the places associated with the Beatles but we did have enough time to enjoy The Beatles Story located on the Albert Dock on the Mersey.  Mary and I were teenagers in America when the Beatles appeared on the scene.  We learned a lot about that wonderful time when John, Paul, George and eventually Ringo met and created a new era of rock'n'roll.

++++++++++++

20 YEARS OF UPLOADING PHOTOS AT PBASE DOT COM SLASH ABUNDANCETREK

 + Maybe you would like to see all of the galleries I have put up at pbase.com/abundancetrek going back 20 years. That's when I began using a digital camera. As of April 22, 2022 I have uploaded nearly 2800 photos in 117 galleries. 

Since 2002 Mary and I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit England, France, Norway, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, China, Brazil and more.  Mary's job often made our overseas trips very economical.  I took advantage of these opportunities to travel and often made her jealous because I did sightseeing while she worked. 

Within the USA and Canada we have enjoyed going to many places including California, Florida, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Quebec, Ontario and, of course the great state of New York where we have lived since 1988 except for a couple of years in Western Massachusetts.  

Perhaps my posts in the future will focus on some of these trips.

GERMANY AND FRANCE 2019

+ This trip was one of 3 wonderful trips during 2019 as we celebrated our 50th year of marriage.  The other 2 are HAWAII and NEVADA.  

+ We flew from Pittsburgh where we had been with the extended Wilde Family (and one Knight) for a few days celebrating both our 50th and the 50th of my sister Jeanette and her husband Stewart. They got married 2 weeks before we did, June 28, 1969. Our wedding was on July 12, 1969.

Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed so we remained in Pittsburgh for a night and had to cancel our reservation for a hotel in Bingen on the Rhine. But it all worked out. When we got to Germany we found our way to our rental car at the Frankfort Airport and after a struggle trying to figure out how to use a fancy car (a manual in German was not at all helpful), we drove to Bingen on the Rhine. The hotel we had booked for the previous night was not available but we easily found a hotel right on the river, Hotel NH Bingen, and right next to the museum I wanted to visit there, the Museum am Strom which features a fascinating exhibit on the life and work of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a nun who was a great spiritual teacher, leader, artist, gardener, mystic and scientist of the 12th century. 

Our trip began in Germany and ended in Germany.  In between we went over the border to Alsace.  

After our one night stay in Bingen we went on a delightful roundtrip boat trip on Der Mittelrhein from Bacharach to St. Goar before driving to Alsace. It was Sharon's birthday and it was memorable for all of us with a great breakfast at the hotel in a dining area overlooking the Rhine, that boat trip, and a great dinner in Eguisheim, our Alsace base for a few days. Dining there was a first for Derrick who has enjoyed learning French in High School but had never been in France or anywhere else outside the USA. 

We spent several days in Alsace, a part of France which has a history of being German much of the time for many centuries. We stayed in Eguisheim which is surrounded by vineyards and has many of the storybook village features of the region. Once again Rick Steves guided us to a wonderful place, Eguisheim where we stayed at a wonderful hotel which now has a different name. We drove to storybook villages and towns, vineyards, wineries and a partially restored castle with a view from a high point in the Vosges Mountains. Before we left we stopped for lunch in one of the most popular storybook villages of Europe: Kaysersberg.

When we returned from Alsace we visited friends in Brühl.  We had a wonderful time and we enjoyed going to a park on the Rhine in Mannheim and visiting the Maulbronn Monastery and a short stop in Heidelberg.

Here are links to photos from that trip:

Germany 2019

France 2019

OREGON and NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 2018

+ This post is incomplete so please bookmark it and come back soon.

+ Here is a link to the trip photos I uploaded to Pbase > https://pbase.com/abundancetrek/oregonandnortherncalifornia

 + We went on a great tour with RoadScholar which included the Oregon and Northern California Coast, a Jet Boat tour of the wild and scenic Rogue River, the Redwoods of Northern California, Oregon Caves, Crater Lake, and the Columbia Gorge. Here is the link to photos at the Oregon Coast > http://www.pbase.com/abundancetrek/oregonandnortherncalifornia

+ We enjoyed 2 nights at The Driftwood Shores Resort and Conference Center where all the rooms face the Pacific Ocean,  A beautiful sunset was a special bonus.  Here is the link to 30 photos of that sunset from start to finish > http://www.pbase.com/abundancetrek/oregoncoastsunset

+ Here is the link to the tour information > https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/16188/on-the-road-the-oregon-coast-california-redwoods-and-crater-lake

+ THIS POST IS INCOMPLETE.  Bookmark it and come back soon.

JAPAN 2016 -- 3

+ Here is the link to the photos I uploaded after this fascinating trip to Japan in September 2016 > http://www.pbase.com/abundancetrek/japan2016

+ Getting around by train was so easy and comfortable.  Seeing so much beautiful scenery including many mountains was a real highlight.  We met wonderful people who made us feel so welcome.  The reputation Japan has for its cuisine is well deserved.

+ We stayed in Tokyo for some sightseeing before Mary's conference and left on the last day of the conference for Kyoto followed by Koyasan, Takayama and Matsumoto. We got to Nara from Kyoto. We got to the Japanese Alps from Matsumoto.

KYOTO

+ Kyoto is a sacred city for the Japanese with plenty of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. We had to deal with a lot of rain as a typhoon passed through but we were definitely treated to some wonderful temple, shrine, garden, museum, park and resturant experiences. We loved our stay at a very nice Housekeeping unit of the Sakara Inn on a covered street very near some famous sites. Here is the link to my Kyoto Photo Gallery > http://www.pbase.com/abundancetrek/kyoto2016

+ Chion-In "is the head temple of the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism, which has millions of followers and is one the the most popular Buddhist sects in Japan" according to https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3928.html

+ Heian Shrine "has a relatively short history, dating back just over a hundred years to 1895. The shrine was built on the occasion of the 1100th anniversary of the capital's foundation in Kyoto and is dedicated to the spirits of the first and last emperors who reigned from the city, Emperor Kammu (737-806) and Emperor Komei (1831-1867). Heian is the former name of Kyoto. -- according to https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3904.html

+ Nanzen-Ji "is one of the most important Zen temples in all of Japan. It is the head temple of one of the schools within the Rinzai sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism ..." according to https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3905.html

INDIA 2019 -- 1

+ This post begins with entries on 2/2/18.  There will be additions and changes to this post so you may want to bookmark it and come back to it.  Ideas for visiting India are welcome, particularly with a spiritual emphasis.

+ Travel Links as of 2/2/18 at 3:47pm

• TripAdvisor: India
• IncredibleIndia
• https://www.lonelyplanet.com/india
• TripAdvisor: Agra Day Trip
• TripAdvisor: Jaipur 
• https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/?query=India
• Road Scholar: 18 day Ganges Tour
• Viator tours in and from New Delhi
• Viator tours in and from Rishikesh

JAPAN 2016 -- 2

Japan Websites

as of 7/2/16

INTERNATIONAL CONTINENCE SOCIETY

BASIC TRAVEL

·         LonelyPlanet Japan

·         TripAdvisor Japan

·         Japan Guide

·         Japan Rail Pass |Japan Rail Map

·         Japanese Guest Houses

·         LonelyPlanet Tokyo

·         TripAdvisor Tokyo

·         ExpatInfoDesk Tokyo

·         Tokyo Subway Map

·         Viator Day Trips in and around Tokyo

·         Viator Panoramic Tokyo Day Tour Includes Meiji Shrine, Asakusa Temple & Tokyo Bay Cruise

·         Hotel Monterey Ginza

·         LonelyPlanet Kyoto

·         Viator Kyoto Day Trips

·         Viator Full Day Kyoto Tour Includes Nijo Castle & Kiyomizu Temple

·         Mount Koya & Rengejo-in Temple | Rengejo-in Temple on TripAdvisor

·         Japan Alps 7 Cities > Mountain Map | Hida | Takayama | Matsumoto | Toyama | Omachi | Azumino | Shiojiri |

·         15 Hikes

·         Magome-Juku | Magome-Tsumago Trail | Nakatsugawa 1| Nakatsugawa 2

·         Samurai Tours

RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY

·         Guardian article on Decline of Zen Buddhism in Japan

·         Buddhist Temples

·         Shinto Shrines