When we researched our trip to Australia, one of the experiences that popped up was the Bondi to Coogee walk. We are big walkers, and a lot of our vacations are spent walking around various cities we visit. We had heard of the famous Bondi Beach, and this walk was a top priority for us to do. Yesterday we had walked in the city. Today we would walk the coast. Fortunately we had a beautiful day for our walk. The…
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Our trip to Australia was half over. Having spent time in Melbourne, we flew to Sydney. From the airport there is a very efficient subway system that travels into town or as Australians like to call it, the CBD (Central Business District). Buy an opal card at an airport convenience store and add money to it. It’s a tap on, tap off system. However, we discovered that there is an extra charge for those using the airport stop. The woman…
Sunday dawned on our final day in Melbourne. After Saturday’s trip to the beach, our plan was to check out the street art in the city. But first we needed breakfast. We walked over to the Italian district on Lygon Street. Walking down the street we noted quite a number of Italian restaurants before we reached our destination, Stuzzichino Restaurant. It had been recommended online as a breakfast place, but we didn’t find it to be that much better than…
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Our second full day in Melbourne was the day of the Grand Final, but we had other plans. We started with a visit to the well know Victoria Market. For us it was a stop on our tram ride to the city so an easy stop. We planned to eat breakfast there. Later we would continue our tram ride out to the beach community of St. Kilda and see the St. Kilda penguins. To begin our day, however, we needed…
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Australia is one of those distant places people talk about, but often never expect to visit. Earlier this year an unexpectedly low fare for Australia popped up. I talked it over with my wife, and we decided to pursue it. Since I would be retiring in June, we decided that fall would be a great time to go. It would be my first opportunity in many years to travel in September rather than teach. With the trip booked, we began…
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If you have spent a day at the Grand Canyon, What do you do next? While the Grand Canyon is an amazing place to visit, the truth is unless you are going to hike in the park, it really only takes a day to see it. So what do you do with the rest of your vacation time? If Flagstaff is your home base, here are some day trips near Flagstaff that you can experience with your next day or…
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Our last full day in Taipei would finish with viewing Taipei 101, the tallest landmark in the city. (Check out my previous posts on days one, two and three) Since we were going to see Taipei 101 in the evening, we still had a day ahead of us. We decided to check out a different area of the city, Huashan 1914 Creative Park. This is an industrial area turned modern creative center, something that occurs often in the United States.…
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While day one and day two were all spent fairly close to our hotel. On our third day we would venture further away from Taipei. While researching our trip, my daughter discovered information on an unusual place she decided we should explore. It was a cat village where cats are allowed to roam freely. The town’s actual name is Houtong. Houtong is located outside Taipei, but one can get there easily by train. We hopped on the usual looking subway…
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After spending our first day in Taipei getting acquainted with the city, we were ready for day two. This day was intended to be a day looking at some of the historical elements of the city. Unfortunately the first part of the day didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped. We were up at a decent time, and perhaps that was part of the problem. The first place we had on our list was the Red House, which…
After spending a few days in Kaohsiung, it was time to go to Taipei. We traveled up by train and arrived in early afternoon. Knowing our hotel was near the main train station, we asked for some directions at the train help desk and then struck out to find our hotel. The streets were crowded so moving around with our suitcases and bags was not easy. It was also windy, and at one point I lost my hat, but a…
