( Cut for lots and lots of photos, including two fairly large photos of stained glass windows. )

The first day in Paris, my morning was spent just getting from the airport to tattermuffin's hotel. With no cell phone, few pay phones, and a cell number that didn't work, plus carting my luggage on the Metro during the transportation strike, coordinating meeting them, and then getting there, was no easy feat ( Read more... )

Paris was a whirlwind of museums and cathedrals. I had an incredible time, as I'm sure tattermuffin and her mother did as well.
We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (three times), Notre Dame de Paris, St. Chappelle cathedral (which has incredible stained glass windows making up nearly all four walls, with only pillars in between), the Musee D'Orsay ( ( Read more... )

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I've added a bunch more pictures on Flickr. They're mostly in Korea Travels or Colorado - Cortez, although there are also a few in Korea -- Seoul and Anyang (mostly the new ones there are Bongeunsa temple and some views of Seoul ( Read more... )

After the templestay, Katie, Maria, and I headed towards home on the subway. I needed to go to Insadong again to finish my gift shopping, and Katie had very kindly offered to take the suitcase and one of my carryon bags back to Anyang with her to allow me to go straight to Insadong from the temple, but having had plenty of firsthand experience of ( Read more... )

I arrived at Gimpo airport in Seoul without incident, collected my bag and found my way to the subway, and headed for the Samseong stop to meet Maria, Katie, and Ian. Although I hurried as much as I could, I can't speed up subway trains, so we wound up being 10 minutes late arriving at the Bongeunsa Temple ( Read more... )

The day after I climbed Hallasan was a busy one. My legs were still tired, and I had a nasty sunburn on the back of my shoulders (where my backpack straps pulled my shirt collar down), and on the backs of my lower calves, where my capri pants didn't cover and I forgot to put sunscreen until after I got to the top of the trail. However, I was ( Read more... )

This is just a quickie post to say that I made it to Cortez last night at 10:00 pm local time, 30 hours after I got up. Looong day, but no problems. I'll post the last of my Korean adventures soon. I'll get pictures up eventually, but probably not until my mom is back at work and I have the free time. The internet here is dialup and SO SLOW!

The bus stopped at a rotary in the center of downtown Seogwipo. I knew where I was, but had no idea which street leading away from the rotary I needed to take. I found what I thought was the right one, then decided that instead of risking getting lost and having to drag my luggage all over Seogwipo, I'd just take a taxi to the motel. It was ( Read more... )

Jeju-si is the largest city on Jeju, and is located in the center of the north part of the island ( Read more... )