2001journey

Day 74-Thanks for tagging along Expand Messages RobertAlan Black Sep 6, 2001 Day 74--Thanks for tagging along Thanks to all of you for tagging along. Thanks for all the wonderful messages and notes that so many of you sent during the 73 days. It was like having you each with me as traveling companions. By the way Jonathon...my bags made the entire trip. Not sure about all those packages I mailed. That I may never know because I didn't keep accurate records when I sent them. Day 73...walk to Eiffel Tower one last time to watch the sunrise on it To walk across the Seine and view the vastness of Paris one more morning. Truly a beautiful and wonderful experience again. Off to buy morning French pastries for breakfast and check out of my hotel, my last hotel this trip. Just walking from my hotel on Saint Dominique the 4 or 5 blocks to the base Eiffel Tower I probably gained a few pounds from the fantastic smells of the freshly baked or ba...

Paris Day One Came from London via the Eurostar under the Channel 30 minutes of blackness until we reached the other side and were in France Once I got to Paris it was traveler skills time again ATM machine and then Metro 3-day pass and off to my hotel Here is how the keyboard I am using looks Makes it hard to type azertyuiop qsdfghjklm wxcvbn,;:! I did not know that the French used a different keyboard: My hotel is a 5 ,minute walk from the Eiffel Tower Once I changed clothes off to climb to the second level and then elevator to the top Fantastic view from up there can't find the period on this keyboard Then I walked along the edge of the Seine at the water's edge from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame Stood in a queue to go up the tower and decided I would try another time Off by the metro to the Pompeidou Center---gigantic gallery of modern art and a library I missed my train to Madrid because I became mezmorized by the building in 1977 ...

On the Move in London To Walk, or not to Walk Ay there's the point To sleep, to English breakfast at my hotel, is that all?" To walk, bus, tube, London BA EYE ride, ay happily there I went today For in the tour of London,  where I wander and borne before an everlasting tour guide From whence no underground passenger ever returned The undiscovered city,  at where I visit The happy smile  and the lazy be damned For thjs, the joy-filled day  I had as follows... Left my hotel at 6:30 to walk until 7:00 when they start serving breakfast. After I got a little ways from the hotel near the edge of Hyde Park, largest open area in the entire Metro London area I decided breakfast wasn't necessary until later. Just a couple exercise walkers and joggers and one bicycler and me wandered through Hyde Park this morning. I wandered through the park to I reached the Serpentine Lake and routed around it and its ducks, geese and swans to travel towar...

5000 years of Spiritualness: Stonehenge to Salisbury Cathedral That is what made up my day yesterday and all morning  today. I left Stratford on an English train system journey. My first train to Reading arrived over 30 minutes late. I grabbed my two bags and ran down stairs along the tunnel to the next platform and back up another set of stairs to get to about 6 feet from the train and it started moving with the doors closed. Two or three seconds do make a difference. Another late train came along about 20 minutes later.  I arrived in Salisbury to be picked up by a new Cyberspace Creativity friend, John Thomas, a retired teacher who lives in Salisbury.  We met through a creativity chat group about a year ago and shared back and forth often.  When I began planning my trip I told John about my plans to return to Stonehenge once again.  This time I would spend more time in Salisbury. John was waiting for me at the train station. He had recommended...

William & Anne's Day Guest Stratford on Avon by bicycle, tour bus and foot. Yesterday I arrived in Stratford from London by train. As we passengers were getting up I asked the fellow across from me if he was taking a cartooning class or was a cartoonist. Turned out he is an extablished editorial cartoonist and was going to Stratford to give a cartooning workshop for children in a tent in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We talked briefly. I shared the cartoons I have done during the trip and then asked to buy a copy of one of his books. Coincidentally he happened to have a copy or two for sale with him. Ha ha. Off with my bags to find a B&B. My first time in 1977 I found one quickly.  Both times  Merry I came in 1978 we found B&Bs quickly within a couple blocks of the train station. I walked by where my previous ones had been back then and are gone now. I turned right down a lane of continuous row houses looking for a B&B hangin...

Delft Days 2 & 3 and then to London The last two days were fantastic. My wonderful hosts/friends: Marc and Helga in Delft and Rijkswijk, respectively (their two homes) made my experiences in Delft fantastic. After waking up yesterday we had a breakfast full of fun conversation. Then Marc and I went off to TU Delft, the Technological University of Delft. Marc toured me around by car first pointing out the various buildings: engineering, ship design, computers, physics and industrial design. He is a professor in the Industrial Design college and teaches creative problem solving courses. When I first signed onto the internet and joined my first discussion group in 1991 it was Marc's list: CREA-CPS and we have been cyberspace friends ever since meeting once in Buffalo at CPSI. We spent some time in the college while he did some planning and I did some internet writing. Then off to lunch with his department head and two other staff members, one, Case, who al...

Istanbul--Day Two -  Morning Rain in Istanbul I ventured from my hotel room in the Fatih area of Istanbul not far from the Golden Horn, Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in search of a post office...3 times. On the fourth I found a second one. Still have not found the first one. Walked through the streets watching people going to work by car, bus, foot as I was venturing to see the Golden Horn again and watch Istanbul wake up this morning. From the floating bridge, I walked a different route back towards my hotel through the wholesale section of Istanbul that tourists rarely visit. Everything there is usually sold in gross or larger quantities. Anyone need or want an evil eye,? ha ha. No I am not going to buy a gross of evil eyes and carry or ship them home. The streets of Istanbul are not exactly anally laid out like in most American Cities. Even the streets of Venice are more geometric. Generally I have very good sense of direction from my architect...

Crossing the Bosphorus 4 Times Today I started today by walking to the Golden Horn again through a different route to explore more of the ancient parts of Instanbul. Once I got to the Horn I boarded one of the ferryboats to the Asian side for some siteseeing from the water again. Boat type number one for the day. After completing my round trip from European Istanbul in the ancient city area to the Asian side I followed street car tracks that I knew would lead me to the Blue Mosque and Hagga Sophia that I have visited each time I have come to Istanbul that past three years. This morning the gardens around both were more beautiful than before: many different types of flowers, richly green shrubs, grass and trees including weeping willow. The last time I saw these magical buildings was at night last year when Blair Miller (CPSI) and I viewed them through a light mist at midnight after a fantastic day in Bursa with our Istanbul friend, Halim Erganulp. That night ...

Delft Return of Alan In 1977 I had the pleasure to first visit Delft.  In  1982, Merry and I came to enjoy Delft.  Then again in  1990 when I was working in the Netherlands in Noordwjick I caught a train for the day and returned to both Delft and Amsterdam. Yesterday I travelled from Copenhagen, Denmark to Delft, an 11 1/2 hour trip. My journey has consisted of travel days, wander around days, tour days and just hang out with people days. Yesterday was a travel day. Arise at 6:00 to prepare to taxi to the Centraal Station for my 7:55 am train to Hamburg to Osnabruck to Amsterdam to Delft. From Copenhagen to the seaside was a very pretty ride passing vast farm fields of corn and other vegetables with occasional fields with horses, cattle or sheep. The day started out with ground fog giving nature a mystical, magical look. The clear sense of every field, town, village or forest was order, complete order. The total day was a day that requir...

Two Creativity Friends in Copenhagen Hello again from Copenhagen Yesterday afternoon after my session Rosanna (Italian CPSI friend from Switzerland) and I ventured out into the streets of Copenhagen. The day before I had wandered around on foot when I wasn't working and became familiar with the few mile area between the central train station and my CAB INN Hotel. Rosanna had taken a Tour Copenhagen bus tour and had become familiar with sites in Copenhagen. The last time I was here was in 1977 and my 57 year old memory is fuzzy at times. So Rosanna became the tour guide. Off we went to walk through the paved streets of Copenagen, past row after row after row of beautifully maintained Baroque style architecture, past shop after shop: Gucci, Versace, Lego, 7-11, McDs, KFC, Burger King...you know all the big BRANDED names. The streets gradually were filling with residents and hundreds that turned into thousands of visitors from all over Europe. As obcessive...