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County Views.128
My first three nights in Ireland last November were a bit of a splurge-treat to myself and Nikos, with whom I traveled since he’s now living and working in Dublin. We stayed just outside Galway in a lovely heritage hotel, which aside from quite lovely grounds (and golf course, yes) on the edge of Lough Corrib also boasts two Pullman Dining cars from the original Orient Express train. In fact, two of the cars on which the 1974 movie Murder on the Orient Express was filmed. He took the photos of me with my cocktail (an Irish-themed drink, as I recall) at dinner our first night, before we headed over to the private theater in the main hotel (behind the dining cars, which you see in the photo above) for that evening’s screening of, you guessed it, the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express :-). Staying with my trend of working through all my unposted 2023 photos this month, I’m sharing here every remaining photo taken in and around the grounds of that lovely hotel which I’d gladly visit again, if I again find such a nice off-season deal as we enjoyed this visit.
Ah, Royalty.18
Mountains.28
2023 also saw my first-ever visit to Ireland, where I learned firsthand a) that all those stories I’d about the narrowness of Irish roads and the frequent presence of sheep on or near the roads were true; b) that even before you reach your destination, simply driving along those roads will expose you to so much beauty that reaching the destination will be just a further exploration of amazingness. These are all on the drive to Connemara National Park in northern County Galway.
Good Day Sunshine
From The Air.38
2023 saw my first — and second! — visit to Geneva, with the second visit giving me the chance to watch the sun rise over mountains and lakes in France and Switzerland (above), with distant views including Mt Blanc back in France on the “far side” of Switzerland, as it were, from the side on which our plane had entered. The return flight from that first visit was an evening flight that let me watch the sun set over France and then watch cities over France, Belgium and NL light up (below) before we came in for our landing at Schiphol here in A’dam. One gallery for each flight, below.
Islands.48
Last year, I proudly completed 367 days in a row of posting at least one entry on this blog per day on January 23rd while I was actually visiting our teams in Iraq, then took most of February and March off before resuming the daily-post pattern on March 29th, while I was in California on vacation. Today’s my 284th day in a row of at least one post per day since that resumption; it’s also the first weekend day in the new year, so I’ve decided to start posting larger, photo-heavier entries to wrap up any of the photos I took in 2023 that I’d still like to post. I suspect that I’ll find energy and time to keep up the daily posts until I’ve finished my stock of unposted but post-worthy photos from last year, and then take another break of undetermined length. Today’s entry is just about all the photos remaining from my restorative and beautiful week with my meditation group on Star Island, the last week of August last year. I’ve grouped some of the photos in galleries with a bit of a theme (above, rainier or foggier days; below, sunrises and sunsets), and then put the rest in a huge gallery that will shuffle the order randomly — all with the aim of sharing with you some that little island’s delightfully shifting energy, moods and views. Enjoy 🙂
City Lights.48
Urban Canals.158
Sticking with our theme of rainbows to welcome 2024, I’ll share a few last photos of the Salmon Weir bridge & the River Corrib, which drains from Lough Corrib (largest lake fully inside the RoI, if I recall well) down to the ocean at Galway City.
Urban Garden.187
City Views.217
(so much world, so little time....) 