R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 37

Fun Photo Friday — Caenarfon and Betws-y-Coed Favorites

St. Mary’s Church, Betws-y-Coed

I had a lot of favorites this day in Wales, and you’re going to be the beneficiary with many more shots than usual for a Fun Photo Friday. I’ll also be running today’s photos as captioned individuals rather than my usual photo gallery/slideshow:

Serenity On This Site Nothing Happened Warding Off Bird Poop Railcar in Green Kazie the Gorilla — Make a Wish Castle Turret Windows, Bricks, and Roof Tiles Railroaded Inviting Approach VR (Victoria ...

Jewel of the Seas — Betws-y-Coed, Wales

Betws-y-Coed, Wales

After Caernarfon, we headed east through the Nant Ffrancon Pass, cut across the Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), and into the charming town of Betws-y-Coed. This town looks as if it were ripped from the pages of a romance novel set in the 19th century. The buildings are mostly stone, the roofs tiles, and there is even a quaint railway station, all of which you’ll see here:

We were left to our own devices for over an hour, then headed back into Snowdonia for more sig...

Jewel of the Seas — Holyhead to Caenarfon

Caenarfon Square, Caenarfon, England

Two days after leaving Greenock, Scotland, Jewel of the Seas arrived at our next port of call — Holyhead, Wales. Holyhead is the largest city in the Isle of Anglesey County. But Ursula and I would not be in Holyhead for long, as we had yet another tour. From Holyhead we traveled east, then south to Caenarfon. We would make Caenarfon a brief stretch-your-legs photo and coffee stop before heading into Snowdonia. During this break, I managed a few shots cente...

Fun Photo Friday — Greenock Favorites

Greenock Gear and Guns

Today concludes our 2022 visit to Greenock, Scotland. Tune in next week for Holyhead. Until then, here’s today’s Fun Photo Friday of Greenock favorites:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Jewel of the Seas — Walking Greenock, Scotland

Canon on Nelson Street, Greenock, Scotland, June 2022

Clouds started rolling in and rain appeared to be in the offing. It was time to turn back north on Nelson Street with an eventual goal of heading west on a circuitous route back to Jewel of the Seas. But before heading back into St George’s Square, Ursula and I took a quick side trip on Ardgowan Street so that I could ABC (Another Bloody Church/Cathedral/Castle). This is the former Greenock Methodist Church, which as far as I can tell is u...

Jewel of the Seas — Voyage 2; Greenock, Scotland

Greenock, Scotland

Today I present our next U.K. destination aboard Jewel of the Seas during our second of three back-to-back cruises. Welcome to the Greenock, a small picturesque town in Scotland about 20 miles/33 kilometers from Glasgow. The first views are, of course, from the Jewel, and provide you with some outstanding shots of the skyline with its many churches:

Nelson Street church towers

Interestingly, the most prominent church tower is the old St George North Church (built in 18...

Fun Photo Friday — Inverness and Invergordon Favorites

Invergordon offered up a lot of murals for me to photograph. And I love local color. So, today’s Fun Photo Friday will be heavy on Invergordon, but will also offer up some favorites of Inverness as well. Next week I’ll take you to our next Voyage 2 Scotland destination, Greenock.

Jewel of the Seas — Inverness; Ness Bridge Area

Inverness Castle overlooking the east bank of River Ness

We’re now along the west bank of River Ness, having crossed over that Greig Street Bridge I showed you on Monday’s article. We turned onto Huntly Street and headed south. If you turn around and look back from whence you came, you’ll get this great shot of both Free North Church and the Junction Church:

Free North Church (left) and the Junction Church

After spending about an hour hitting various stores along Huntly, and including Hi...

Jewel of the Seas — Voyage 2; Inverness and Invergordon, Scotland

Jewel of the Seas left Cobh, Ireland on 6 June 2022. We arrived back in Amsterdam two days later, and on 10 June during the second of three voyages, we made port in Invergordon, Scotland. From Invergordon Ursula and I took the bus into Inverness for a self-guided foot tour. On this week’s Fun Photo Friday, I’ll show favorites of both Invergordon and Inverness, but today and Wednesday I’ll be concentrating on the city of Inverness. We alighted from the bus at the bus station on Margaret S...

Fun Photo/Food Friday — Cobh Area Favorites and Titanic Bar and Grill

Cobh — The High Rent District

I mentioned in Monday’s article that it was lunch time. We asked about fish and chips, and were directed by the locals toward several possibilities. In the end, we decided upon the Titanic Bar and Grill, which just so happens to be located in…

… wait for it…

… the Titanic Experience Cobh, a museum on some ship disaster back over a hundred years ago.

Titanic Bar and Grill

This place was so good that, when we returned to Cobh of Voyage 2 (covering beginning next...