Right to the end the travel has been interesting. Three minutes before our train was scheduled to depart Amsterdam for Frankfurt it was cancelled. We had to sprint to another platform that took us to the German border where we took a 2 hour bus to another city for a train to Frankfurt airport. The only thing to report from here is that the beer, bratwurst and schnitzel are all outstanding. As such, it's time to compile my playlist for our year off that I pla...

I very well may have had the greatest nap of all time this afternoon. We are staying in a little houseboat on one of Amsterdam's maze of canals. During the day, little tour boats make their way past us up and down the narrow inner city waterways. By early evening these are joined by private motor boats, smaller still and usually occupied by one or two couples sharing a picnic as they glide atop the still water, under the low bridges and past the shops and bars...

I wish I loved watching football (soccer). I wish I could even pretend to enjoy it. It's Saturday night here in southern Holland and the place is a sea of orange mayhem as the Netherlands prepares to play Costa Rica in the World Cup quarter finals. Deb and I just walked through the central market and I can't imagine there is a single resident of this town not wearing an orange shirt at one of the great little bars that spill out onto the lovely sidewalks and st...

The story of Newfoundland's entry into the Canadian Federation in 1949 is steeped in intrigue, conspiracy theory, post-War geopolitics and emotion. Two referenda were held in 1948 on the future of Britain's oldest Dominion. Confederation with Canada was not originally included as a choice on the first ballot. A motion by J.R. Smallwood to have it added was defeated by the National Convention appointed by Britain to decide on the matter. The British government...

After the photos and the blog writing are all sorted out, I may put together a soundtrack to our trip around the world. There are a lot of great songs that are attached to a lot of great places in my mind. My taste in music has expanded a lot since the days of singing along to Dad's eight-track version of Freddy Fender's "Waisted Days and Waisted Nights" in the back seat of our Chevrolet Chevelle. No seat belts, no air conditioning, windows up, both parents smok...