We visited Ireland again! It has been over a month, so I am woefully behind on the blogging here, but here goes. This was a work trip for Joe and I just tagged along. So during the days, he was at work and on the evenings and weekends, we had a bit more fun. To that end, I think there isn’t quite as much to write about as usual, but here’s how our trip went. We flew on separate flights, since his company paid for his and he had different cities to go to. So it was kind of a romantic goodbye as we drove together on a mid-November morning…
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Last Day in Peru
I wake up early yet again and pack my bags yet again. My flight is at 4 p.m., so I don’t leave for the airport until 1. So I have one final morning to go wander through Cusco and enjoy the parades and have a lunch. My feet are a little battered at this point, so I drop my bags at the hotel and go find myself a nice spot to sit down and watch the morning’s parades. I am out on the town square for the first groups of the day at 8:30. There are barricades up now, so I find a nice spot to sit on the curb…
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Machu Picchu Hiking Day
Today is my final day at Machu Picchu, but my ticket is for a noon entry time. So I spend the morning wandering through town. I’ve had so many early mornings on this trip that I am just now always waking up at 6 a.m. So I get up anyway and wander the city. Exploring Aguas Calientes This is really one of my favorite things to do when traveling. I love wandering a city in the early morning hours, before it’s bustling with tourists and activity. It’s quiet. The only people out and about are pushing carts of supplies up to the restaurants and stores. It’s quite physical work to…
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Machu Picchu Time!
Note: So this post is full of approximately one million photos. As I was going through them, it was so easy to just be overwhelmed and for them to all look the same. But… I really enjoy taking the time to pause and look at at least a few of them really closely. I was there, in that spot, looking out at this wholly unimaginable landscape before me. It looks like a cartoonish green screen. The colors and images look enhanced. But this is how it was. Greens and blues and mountains and valleys and ruins. I have to take the time myself to pause and truly appreciate these moments,…
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Valle Sagrado – Llama time!
Today is the day I leave Cusco and visit the Sacred Valley. This valley lies between Cusco and Machu Picchu and must be traversed in order to get there. It is an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful valley, with enormous mountains on either side, fertile farming villages in the heart of the valley, and terraces and ruins dotting the mountain sides. Llama Time I begin the day with hotel breakfast. I actually got up early enough to slow down and enjoy breakfast before today’s guide arrived. I really enjoyed the various quinoa items, a yogurt parfait and quinoa pancakes. They also have a honey comb dripping fresh honey into a bowl. I…
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A Day in Cusco
Photo Walk For my second day in Cusco, I got up early and met with a local photographer to take some artsy shots around the scenic streets of Cusco. We met at my hotel, took a taxi to the San Blas neighborhood, and walked back, taking photos along the way. It was fun, but a bit stiff. He had a translator with him, as he is Italian and now lives in Cusco, so he speaks Italian and Spanish, but not English. The translator was a lady from Argentina I think(?), and she was very helpful, mostly at holding my purse while we took photos. We walked through the narrow streets…
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Cuscotopia!
Leaving Lima Today, I leave Lima at 7 a.m. to catch a plane for Cusco. Now, I have heard from my tour guide yesterday that the Starbucks here makes a lúcuma frappuccino. However, when I walked past the nearest Starbucks, about a block from my hotel, there is an armed security guard at the door. Now, either there are so many people out there doing bad stuff that every single store, bank, and restaurant needs armed security, or there are a lot of overly armed security guys out there, and either way, it feels very intimidating and not welcoming to me. So I was quite relieved to arrive at the…
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Landing in Lima
I arrived in Lima at 6:30 a.m. on the red-eye from Dallas. And boy were my eyes red. We boarded at 10 p.m., but our 10:30 take-off was delayed for an hour, so we didn’t get into the air until 11. I eagerly waited for us to reach altitude, reclined my chair, and promptly went to sleep before (and during and after) dinner was served. I know tomorrow will be a long day, so I need all the rest I can get. By the time I got through customs/passport control, it was 7 a.m., but my driver was there ready to go. We hopped in the car and drove. And…
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Diekirch – Carnival Cavalcade
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to see the Carnival Cavalcade in Diekirch, Luxembourg. This was such a fun and unique experience. There are about 100 photos in today’s post, so this will be a long one. Getting there I started my day by accidentally sleeping until noon. Thanks, rolladen and jet lag! I sprang from bed, got dressed as quickly as possible and grabbed my things, before running out to catch the train. We’re a little outside town, so I have to take a bus to the train station. There was, unfortunately, only 5 minutes to get from the bus to the train, once I got to the central station,…
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Final Day in Cologne: 1 more Christmas Market
For my final day in Cologne, I am going to visit the final Christmas market that I missed out on yesterday. There is one market, the Harbor Market, that is down the river a bit from the others. I start out by walking through town down to the river, passing more beautiful old churches. I planned to stop at the Angel market and have a coffee and tree-cake for breakfast, but the market opens at 11, not 10, so I just keep walking. Harbor Market and Chocolate Museum I get to the Harbor Market at about 10:45 and wander around, waiting for things to open. The market is in…
