PORTUGAL

Continuing on the theme of allowing my travel photographs to describe the places they depict, here are some of my favorites from Portugal.
We'll start will Porto:

Then, let's take a look at Lisbon and the surrounding area:

So far this has been a whirlwind after-retirement trip. I am in a constant state of excited, creative flux. I am mingling, and indulging, experiencing the new and the familiar, exploring the unknown along with the nostalgic. I am in a state of active seeking along with the quiet of repose. I find myself resonating in a space somewhere between solitude and social abundance, in stillness amidst chaos. This absurd dichotomy insists that I become more alive, energized and motivated by the magnetic forces drawing me on.

PARIS

I feel like it is best to let the pictures do the talking. Paris is all that one imagines and more. I am staying in a wonderful apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens. Weather has been perfect and I have been walking my ass off.

The Eiffel Tower fireworks celebration on Bastille Day

Lavender

Notre Dame at Twilight

Paris is indeed a place for lovers:

Places, people, art, architecture, culture, history and modernity; altogether very civilized living!

BLOGGING MY TRAVELS

My post-retirement era begins with a seven-week tour of Europe. Here is an overview of that trip.
I will fly into London (1) with my friend Michael.

Take the Chunnel to Paris (2).
 
Back to London (3).
Fly with my friend Jonathan to Porto, Portugal (4a),

then take the train to Lisbon with a side trip to Sintra(4b).

Then back to London (5).
Perhaps a side trip with my friend Spencer to Oxford.

My wife Cindy will join me in London and then we will head up to the Lake District (6) to see my brother.

The three of us will go to Edinburgh (7) for the Fringe Festival.

Cindy and I will drive to the Isle of Skye (8), 

and Glencoe (9), 

before returning to Edinburgh (10), and London (11). And then home to Madison.

MY UPCOMING TRIP

Pretty soon I will be setting off on my seven-week retirement celebration trip to Europe. I will also be going to the UK, which will hopefully still be a part of the European Community. 

This trip has been well planned over the course of many months and is now all booked. I will be flying to London with my good friend Michael and then taking the Chunnel to Paris. Michael is almost exactly five years older than me and we have talked about taking a birthday trip to Paris at every five-year interval for the last 25 years. Well, it is now going to happen – just not on our birthdays. We will be staying near the Jardin du Luxembourg

and look forward to exploring highlights of the City of Lights. Awaiting us are cafes and neighborhoods, bakeries and art, markets and cool Parisian folks. The Chunnel will return us to London and we will be spending a few more days in Chelsea in an AirBnB just around the corner from Stamford Bridge - the stadium of my favorite soccer team Chelsea. Unfortunately, Chelsea will be playing pre-season friendlies in Minneapolis and Detroit at that same time.

Thereafter, I will join up with my friend Jonathan as we set off for Portugal. 

Jonathan

We will fly into Porto and then out of Lisbon. I am looking forward to some quality time with this great friend with whom I have shared travel to four continents. We will be exploring these old, hilly cities, sharing seafood and Fado music. 
Upon return to England I will be spending much of the following week with my friend Spencer. 

Spencer

I have known my dear friend Spencer for over 50 years. We will be taking a couple of side trips including a likely visit to Oxford. We will also be shooting some b-roll footage for the movie that I am hoping to make that will document a 45-year reunion with friends with whom we shared a flat after high school in 1971-2.

After the reunion, my wife Cindy will be joining me and we will take the train up to see my brother at his house in the Lake District. 

My Brother Alan

He will then join us on a trip to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. 

On the last leg of my journey Cindy and I will be driving from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye 

Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

and then to Glencoe before returning to Edinburgh and taking a train back to London before we fly back home.