Today is July 16, 2026, my final day in New Orleans. Lets get to it then…
It’s time to learn how to cook. I signed up for another cooking class at the Cooking School of New Orleans. There were only 5 of us in this hands on cooking class which is intended to be small even when full. Part of today’s lesson, we were going to learn how to cook Sweet Potato and Tasso Soup, Crabcake with Poached Eggs and Beignets for dessert.
The reason I enjoy this class is because you get to do all the cutting and cooking with guidance from the chef leading the class. Today’s chef was the same person from my last class, Chef Austin with a new assistant Chef Felipe. Now being new doesn’t mean he was young, he was just new to the job of teaching at this cooking school.
Without going into all the details of the soup, I’ll just share some pictures. Now, I can tell you this was some really good soup, even if I cooked it myself. I’ve found a new way to cook sweet potatoes and will be make this soup repeatedly in the future.
The second dish was the crabcakes with poached eggs, covered in a Hollandaise sauce. Now the crabcakes were easy and I didn’t have any worries about cooking the; however, I didn’t have as much confidence in the Hollandaise sauce. Today, was my first day of trying to make this sauce, and it actually came out fine.
Now, the dessert was beignets, and well, for the sake of time we used the box mix from Cafe Du Monde. Which is actually a pretty good mix.
This is a free museum just off Royal Street that gives you the best chance to walking through a historic home that has been converted into a museum. Since this is 250th year of the United States, there was a special 1 room virtual exhibit in the museum. The coolest thing about this exhibit was the use of technology to let you view historical sites from the American Revolution in the 1770s and the same location in 2026. You walked around and used the tablet provide to scan 1 through 19 stations that walk your through reasons leading up to the war and the end of the war. What made this special to me, was in June I walked the streets of Colonial Williamsburg and visited the Yorktown battlefield.
The second floor was a small exhibit of artwork related to the music of New Orleans. As you walked this short hallway they had music playing related to the paintings.
In the next room is an exhibit titled: Vanishing Bounty, all about the vanishing costal environment.
The third floor housed a Aeolian residential player pipe organ, it was what was trending in the 1920’s home theatre. The one in the museum has been full restored, with an interesting modern upgrade. It can play midi files. While yes, you can play the keys or use the original paper rolls for automatic play, it is much easier to just plug in a USB stick and let the music play.
Now, I did record one of the song the organ played, but I’m not posting it hear because it won’t be the same as being present in the room. If you want to hear this 1920s entertainment system, you will need to visit the museum.
With the museum finished I went on my final shopping quest. I wanted a new hat, and even go my old hat reshaped a bit at The Hat Loft, right on Royal Street. I’m telling you, the best parts of the French Quarter are not found on Bourbon Street.
The new hat is green. 💚
And with that I will be saying goodbye to New Orleans this year.
As I’m sitting here this morning, drinking some coffee and watching the local news, I thought would give anyone visiting New Orleans an option to prepare most of your meals in your own room so you can maximize at one meal eating out. For me I’m opting to do breakfast, Quaker Oat’s microwave oatmeal in a cup, I could do more since my room here at the Holiday Inn Club Vacation Resort has a full kitchen. As I mentioned I stopped at a Walmart before checking into the hotel; however, I knew check-in can sometimes take a bit of time, so I limited my shopping to items that didn’t need refrigeration.
So what if you don’t have a vehicle because you took a train, bus or airplane to NOLA? Here in the French Quarter you have a few options. One is the chain grocery store, Rouses Market. It is located at the corner of St. Peter and Royal street, just 1 block off of Bourbon street. If you read my previous post, I was thinking of walking to the river last night via St. Peter, that is wait reminded me of this option of grabbing groceries.
Let’s say you don’t want to get eggs, milk, etc. well, you could grab snacks and drinks at either Walgreens or CVS on Canal Street. CVS is located on the corner of the Carondelet and Canal, (Carondelet turns into Bourbon St.) and Walgreens is just one block north at Baronne and Canal.
It’s now 8 AM and I’m waiting until the rain stops. It’s down to drizzles but I really don’t want to get wet, plus none of the shops will be open until 10 AM. I need to restock some hot sauces, and visit a few book stores. My plan to go visit the Irish Channel changed when I realized this is just a residential area portion of the Garden District where Irish immigrants settle in the 1800s. Hence the shopping and I’m considering visiting the aquarium.
I took a walk down to the river and then along its river walk toward Jackson Square. I watched that ship navigate up the Mississippi, in my mind feel they are going down river, but zooming out on Google maps, the river does turn down but it turns back up heading to Baton Rouge. This means the Gulf of Mexico is the other direction.
Finally Cafe Du Monte wasn’t busy and I was able to get a table. Be sure to have cash since table service is cash only. I enjoyed an iced coffee with my benigns.
Next I walked up Royal Street, looking in on shops and art galleries before heading back to the hotel via Bourbon Street. I walked far enough that I was in the residential area. Some of the streets have no cars parked because the street gets cleaned on Tuesday while other streets get cleaned on Thursday.
I’ve been relaxing in my room since I got back. I thought about getting a to-go meal but opted for a bag of popcorn
I’m now watching the French vs Spain World Cup game before heading out to today for an early dinner before my jazz show
Dinner was at Oceana on Conti, just off of Bourbon Street. I had the Po’boy fried fish sandwich but switched out the French fries for jambalaya. The fish was very good, but the sauce is what made the sandwich. Cost $42 for meal, a beer and tip.
When planning this trip a month ago, I bought front row seated tickets to the Tuesday 8:45 PM jazz show at Preservation Hall. It’s located across the street from The Vampire Apothecary, so an easy 15 minute walk. The Preservation Hall has been a jazz music venue since 1961, and one thing they didn’t have in 1961 was cell phones (no pictures or video of the band while performing) They were very entertaining and the venue was very small. With my front row seat I felt like I was in the band. They have different shows during the week, and it seems Tuesday night this is a smaller portion of the band and are a bit more loose in their playing. I tried to find some YouTube videos but it seems they only posted the full band’s Christmas songs recently and then the videos are 3 or more years older. So this is differently and experience worth having because its one of a kind. It was a good evening.
After the show I was tempted to grab more food, but I’m not really hungry. Maybe it was all the second hand pot I inhaled walking down Bourbon Street. I’d risk one of the side streets, but they are dark at night and all the homeless people make me nervous enough with them on Bourbon Street. So I went straight back to my room.
I’m going to read a bit from the book I bought the other day and rest for tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’m getting smarter with my travel and moderating how much I do and see or if I’ve just been here in New Orleans enough that I don’t feel a need “to see it all”.
Ok, on June 18th, I broke my new rule of taking it easy. This ended up being a 13 hour day. I got back from the 1 hour 30 minute ghost tour and thought I would right up the daily blog. I messed up loading the images tonight, so I’m just going to call it a night and fix the images and write the blog in the morning. It’s supposed to be rainy here in Williamsburg tomorrow, so I’m going to have to make plans for inside activities. There will be no need to rush to get my day started.
It’s the next morning and I have energy to put my thoughts together in a more coherent story.
Just to keep with the pattern here is the fit check for the day. A Hawaiian style shirt called Toucan Tropica at Geek Tropical. If you use the link, you will get 15% off and I will get a discount the next time I purchase. Thanks for checking them out.
Colonial Williamsburg was found 1638, but it was called Middle Plantation until 1699 when the governor of Virginia decided to more the capital of Virginia from Jamestown to Middle Plantation. But it needed a better name, a prestigious town needed a prestigious name, so they called it Williamsburg after King William III, the current king of England.
Williamsburg is a planned out town, well Colonial Williamsburg is. All the streets run East to West or North to South. The main road were all the businesses and inns called Duke of Gloucester Street, runs East to West with the capital building sitting at the eastern end of the road. We will get to the capital later. I’m going to start at the western end of the street and a few blocks north at the Governor’s Palace.
Oh, now is also a good time to mention, not all these buildings are the actual buildings. In 1924 a restoration project was started to save the 18th century buildings that were still standing. This project extended into a fuller restoration, by rebuilding long lost structures using historical records and archaeology to bring Williamsburg back to life in its Revolutionary War stage.
The Governor’s Palace was the seat of the King’s authority in Virginia. The governor was appointed by the King, and governor then appointed local male, Virginian land owners to important positions in the community. The Governor’s Palace was destroyed and one point a school was build on top of it. The building in the pictures is a complete reconstruction on the outline of the original footprint.
Backside of the Governor’s Palace
Inside you will see portraits of King William III and Queen Mary along with lots and lots of muskets and swords. In fact there are 540 muskets all hanging from the walls. No they are not just ornamental, they could all be used in the service of the King to defend the town if called to muster by the governor.
An interesting fact about living in Colonial Williamsburg, if you were a male over the age of 16 you need to own a musket, an edged weapon, and a set amount of gun powder and shot. The guns at the Governor’s Palace were used to make sure everyone had the same type of weapon to make it easier to supply in a long term siege.
The rooms of the Governor’s Palace have been recreated to the historical time frame. I’m amazed at how the rooms are all interconnected. The kitchen and servant quarters are on the west side of the main house, but they were closed due to renovations, along with a few of the paths.
As you exit out of the Governor’s Palace, you enter the garden. It is very symmetrical which I’m guessing must be the trend for the 1700s. One each side were this tree/vine covered tunnels you could use to walk in the garden out of the sun. Just watch out because birds do nest in them.
If you could leave the garden by the back exit, you would be lead to a stage were actors tell a story of the historical figure they are representing. This morning it was a speech from Martha Washington giving the Revolutionary War story from her perspective.
Now since you have to walk outside the garden wall and around the back, you get a good view of the wall and I wondered what these windowed corner rooms were. Inside was a bench. I’m guessing it was a place to have private conversations.
Entrance The center The Hedge Maze
Leaving the Governor’s Palace area you have the option to walk down 2 parallel streets with various houses and businesses. Reenactment actors can be found along either road. If you have questions just approach them and they will start up a conversation. I only took a picture of the gentleman on a horse.
Between the streets is a wide open area.
Walking down either of these streets will get you to the main street, The Duke of Gloucester Street. Turning to the east or your left if you have left the Governor’s Palace will take you to the Capital. This road is about 1 mile long.
I forgot to ask, but I’m guessing the street was actually this wide between the housing and businesses to allow wagon traffic to move both directions.
On the left, or going west, you will find Bruton Parish Episcopal Church, one of the oldest active churches in the United States. In it’s steeple is the sister bell to the Liberty Bell, just without the crack.
Now it wasn’t opened when I was there in the morning, but I came back later and found it to be opened so I took a short walk through. This would have been the church George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others that signed the Declarations of Independence would attend when in town on a Sunday.
Sister bell to the Liberty Bell in the Bell Tower
Across the street is the Peter Scott House and Shop Archaeology Project. Peter Scott rented this house and was one of the prominent tradesman in the town know for his cabinet making skill. Now, there is an interesting connection to the owner of this house and the first, first lady of the United States, but you will have to visit to learn that story.
Moving along the street to the east, toward the Capitol, you will have the opportunity to visit a variety of different homes, businesses, or taverns. To know if they are open, each building will have a flag flying outside. Some of these buildings require the same ticket you used to visit the Governor’s Palace and later will need to visit the Capitol while others are free to the public. Check you map to know which is which.
Pathway to the blacksmith shop
Blacksmith
Reminder that some of these are the actual buildings while others are recreations.
Some of the buildings that were mercantiles in their life have been revived and continue to be places were the public can buy goods.
When you reach the Capitol This was the seat of power for the colony of Virginia after it was moved here from Jamestown. Both the upper (Governor’s Council) and lower (House of Burgesses) legislations met here. Many of the future signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of the House of Burgesses. This was also the location of the highest civil and criminal court. Blackbeard’s pirate crew was sentenced to be hanged in this court.
After all this walking and still some more to come, FYI, some of the pictures of the street I posted above are through out the morning and early afternoon. I just decided to lump them all together because the narrative was the pretty much the same. Now, dinning was something that was unique.
There are a variety of places you can eat to experience dinning in the 17th century. You could eat at the King’s Arms Tavern if you want more of an upper class take or your could pick the Shield’s Tavern with a middle, lower class dining. Regardless which tavern you pick, the menu is limited. Just like in the 17th century there was not a great variety of dishes and the kitchens were not stocked with a large variety of items. Remember, there are no refrigerators or freezers. Now if you want to plan your dinning and not wing it like I did, be sure to check out the official dinning website linked —> HERE.
I opted for the Shield’s Tavern and the groaning board option, which is a salad, beef and chicken main dish, with 3 sides. The day I visited the drink menu was limited to water, lemonade, ice tea or soda. The adult beverages were not being served. So I didn’t get to drink a pint of ale in a tavern.
Shield Tavern
Now I still did a bunch of walking around 18,000 steps including the 8 PM ghost tour. I lumped the street views together in one big gallery. During this wandering I a visited print shop, a linen clothing shop, the blacksmith (picture above) and then a bakery, the Raleigh Tavern Bakery. I sampled the ginger cake and had a spiced ale.
Now to really confuse the timeline, I’m going to post pictures I took in the morning at the visitor center and explain the parking / transportation situation.
So, you can buy your ticket at the visitor center and they will give you a clip on badge to make it easy for the staff checking for tickets to know you have access to the pay-to-visit sites. There is an option to go all digital, but you will frequently have to get your phone out and show staff your pass. In my opinion waiting a little bit in line at the beginning is better than having to keep showing your phone at each site.
Now at the visitor center there is a gift shop, because all visitor centers seem to have one, but there are also exhibits. For this year, being the 250th, there was a special The Great American Birthday Quilt Exhibition.
When you visit, be sure to check out the official site to know what you can see. The exhibit rotate and the re-enactors are not always open.
To help get around this large venue, the city of Williamsburg public transport provides a few bus that will help you move around from the big sites. I opted to park at the welcome center and take the bus to the Governor’s Palace and walk the rest of the site. If you chose, you could do a more hop on hop off way of travel. The buses are scheduled to run every 15 minutes, they do fill up quick. Each bus seems to have a different patriotic theme.
I didn’t want to drive back to my resort and then drive back for the ghost tour; however, I was very tired and didn’t want to walk around much more so I returned to the visitor center, drank a lemonade and relaxed for a bit of time and then moved my car to a closer parking lot for easier access after the ghost tour. Public parking is not free, you must pay using a special parking app. Once you set it up, it’s not that difficult to use. Parking prices vary. For example at the visitor center its $10 for 6 hours, that is your only option. Down near the shopping portion of Colonial Williamsburg, the price seems to be $2 an hour, with a max of $10. For today, parking cost me about $21 because you have to pay for parking and an annoying credit card fee.
I check out the shopping center that is at the end of Colonial Williamsburg and just before Williams & Mary college. It’s very much like an outdoor shopping center with a variety of shops and dinning options. I was just glad they had plenty of benches.
By now it was 6:30 PM and I wanted to eat before the ghost tour at 8 PM so I sat at the bar of the DoG Street Pub and enjoyed a pint of ale with a burger and fries.
The ghost tour was your typical tour. I still have not seen a ghost, but I have learned some interesting history. It was during the tour that I learned about the trial of Blackbeard’s pirate crew, because they are said to haunt the road leading to their hanging. Blackbeard himself was killed at sea and only his head was brought back to prove his death.
Now, I wish I could have captures an image or video of the bats that started flying round the tour as we move through the market area. It added an extra layer of spooky even if I didn’t see any ghosts. Personally, I was happy to see the bats, because they were eating the mosquitos that had been trying to eat me earlier.
And with that, my trip ends. If you plan on visiting Colonial Williamsburg, I suggest setting aside 3 days to experience the exhibits in full, a single day pass is $37.50 and a 3-day pass is $55. Well worth the money spent.
Tomorrow I head home after a few planes. I then return to reality were I need to do a few projects I’ve been putting off at my house. Until the next time, have a great rest of your day and thanks for taking the time to read my silly prose.
As I start the blog post its June 17th a little before 3:45 PM EST. I’m in my room enjoying the A/C and getting ready to watch the England vs Croatia.
Let me get my fit check out of the way. This time it is at the first site of the day, Yorktown Battlefield.
Bees and Flowers
If you are looking for less boring shirts, check out Geek Tropical, if you use my link, you will get 15% off and I will be able to get a discount on my next purchase. Thanks, if you buy.
The Yorktown battle ground / fort is part of the National Park system so if you have your Annual Park pass you are good, if not there are QR codes in the parking lot so you can purchase your access. Inside the main building you will find staff that can help you purchase a pass and give you the run down of the site. There is a nice museum with a movie and a ranger talk. In the museum you will walking exhibits that explain the reasons leading up to the War for Independence and the roll the Battle of Yorktown played.
The main focus of the museum is on the Revolutionary War; however, there are some exhibits about the Civil War, because Yorktown did play a part in that war.
I tried to get a picture of the actual tent used by George Washington for the battle but the lighting is very dim and the glass is too reflective. You can clearly see holes in the material and rust stains from when it was stored. I found it fascinating that something that ephemeral is still around 250+ years later.
There is a picture of George Washington that seems to be full size so I had to get a picture standing next to it.
George and Me
Across the room is a to scale partial replica of a British warship that you can enter and walk through. Be ready to duck down, unless you are short. Inside you will find some cannons that were salvaged from the waters off the coast and replica hammocks. Walking through you get a good idea of the cramped life of a British Navy sailor.
This cannon is said to be from the battle because one of the French Generals at the fight recognized it years later from the damage it took from a hit by a cannon ball.
Outside of the museum the fort is currently not accessible because they are working the it. To be honest it is mostly just dirt embankments since most of the walls were built out of wood. You can download an audio tour and follow the map to drive to the various locations of the battle. I started to do this, but it was a bit too much to drive, spot the markers and locate the parking locations to walk up to basically a plaque that talks about the location. If I had a navigator I would have followed it better, but some of the tour is on regular the regular highway that goes through the battlefield. The only monument I took time to visit was the monolith erected to memorialize the victory.
The path leading the monument
Now you could stay parked in the parking lot at the National Park museum and use the free trolly that will take you to the waterfront in Yorktown.
Battle Field StopWater front stop
Or you could do like I did and drive to Yorktown and make use of the various parking lots.
Parking near the water front was hard to find because there are beaches along the walkway and the weather today was very nice so the beaches were very popular.
I opted to park near the historical main street of Yorktown and walk down to the waterfront.
Now, I realize I’m writing my story out of order, because I went to the Yorktown Museum after leaving the Yorktown Battlefield but does it really matter for my blog. I choose to say no, so you will have to live with my choice.
Now at the Yorktown Museum, you will have another opportunity to walk through the lead up to the battle of Yorktown from the Revolutionary War to the surrender of the British forces. One thing I found unique for the museum is the stories from people who remembered the events years later. The curators of the museum are really trying to connect the history to real living people, well at the time. The Revolutionary war was 250 years ago and only vampires and zombies would still be alive.
One other thing I wanted to mention that was true for the Yorktown and Jamestown museum was the interactive exhibits. Some were tactile requiring you to slide open a panel to reveal the answer, while some were digital allowing you to interact with the history. A good museum should have you walking away learning something and I found these activities to be useful.
I frequently had to wait for some kids to finish with the activities before I could try them out myself.
Outside of the museum they have a living history exhibits of a Revolutionary War camp and a Revolutionary time farm.
On the left is the kitchen building and on the right are the living quarters
Corn, squash and tobacco
Another view of the farm
Basket being made to catch fish
Path leading to the tents for the solidersTrench with a variety of cooking stations
It’s now past lunch, well in the timeline of the blog, so I headed back towards Williamsburg because I couldn’t get to the Pub on the waterfront I wanted to try. That annoying 2 hour parking or you will be towed really ruined my vibe. Next time I’m here hopefully there won’t be road construction.
Oh, here is the perfect time to really annoy my readers and jump back to the waterfront. I didn’t think the pictures were uploaded but they did so I have to tell you about this book store.
Yes that is a first edition
So this book store is full of old things, what I noticed were the first editions of the complete collection of Tolkien. If I had money to waste I would have bought them. To be honest if I had that type of money to waste, I would have already acquired first editions.
Ok, back to my stomach…
So if you noticed the title to the driving video, Sammy Haggard’s song – “You Can’t Drive 55” was playing on the car radio. You can’t hear it because I dubbed it with copyright free music.
So by now you are wondering were did you go to fill the hole that was in your rumbling tummy…
Pulled Pork Sandwich and Mug’s Rootbeer
Behind the building with the restaurant’s sign is there actual smoke house. They have a “viewing area” but I the inside is very dark and trying to take a picture through a screened window into a dark room just didn’t work.
The taste was very different than what I’m enjoy in Texas. The BBQ sauce was very heavy with cinnamon. I personally prefer spicy, but it was still good. The fact the place was packed clearly says that flavor works for the local community.
I’m enjoying limiting how much I do each day. In the past (last year) I would have done both Jamestown and Yorktown in one day. While yes, it is do able, I would have been miserable at one of the sites and having to sit frequently. I’m going to need to remember this going forward for all my future adventures. I’m still walking 10K steps each day, but not the previous adventures of 20k each day.
Today is June 16, 2026. I don’t think I’ve stated the date at the start of my blogs. I’m writing these mostly as a method so I can remember what happened when I look back on these posts. Ok, on to the post.
Today’s Shirt – DnD Hawaiian Shirt
If you are interested in any of the shirts I’m wearing during this trip, you can get a 15% discount on your order and I get a discount too on my next purchase. Geek Tropical
I started the day with a nice walk around the resort and then drinking a few cups of coffee while listening to the birds discuss their plans for the day. Since my villa has a kitchen, and I bought groceries yesterday, I cooked myself some bratwurst egg tacos.
bratwurst egg tacos for breakfast
With a solid breakfast and 3 cups of coffee consumed, it’s time for today’s adventure… Jamestown.
I started the morning at the Jamestown Settlement which includes a nice museum that tells the story of Jamestown as you walk through the exhibits. You get background on the Native American tribe, the Powhatan, the English settlers, and I was surprised to learn of the Angolans, from west central Africa. I was not aware that the first African slaves arrived in Jamestown in 1619, with two English privateers, the White Lion and the Treasurer, after they captured slave ships in the Gulf of Mexico heading to Vera Cruz, Mexico. You can learn more about all this history here at the website, Jamestown Rediscovery.
After leaving the museum, you will head outside to the reenactment settlement, ship dock and the Powhatan reenactment settlement.
Blacksmithing Building
English Flag flying over the fort walls
Clay oven being heated to make bread puddingStorage building with tobacco dryingCan you find the green dragon fly?Can you find the bumble bee?Example GardenCannons for fort defenseCostal ships in dockTobacco plant?MustardCostal Fishing BoatInside a Powhatan hut
I didn’t take a picture of the church, but I do have a funny story. While I was waiting my turn to look at the altar area, a mom was trying to get her son to climb the pulpit and pretend to give a sermon. He finally got in the pulpit, ok I need to let you know this kid was like 8 years old that is important if you are up with current silly trends in 2026. He didn’t know what to say, so his mom suggested the Lord’s prayer which he did start but ended it with six-seven. He came off the pulpit laughing and giggling, repeatedly saying six-seven, while his mother just groaned. I was laughing. It was just so perfect.
If you wish to visit the reenactment site and museum you can purchase tickets and learn about which reenactments are happening the day of your visit here at Jamestown-Yorktown website. Oh, and yes those are live chickens that are wandering around the reenactment site. Don’t try to pet them, they don’t like to be touched, but they don’t seem to mind humans that don’t try to touch them.
After a quick visit to the gift shop I left the museum after spending about 3 hours and headed down the road to the archaeology site of Jamestown.
Let me explain the next site. At this site you will have to purchase 2 tickets, one is to access the Federal National Park, (if you have a National Park Pass it will cover this fee), and a 2nd ticket good for 5 days from the private archaeological site. I was a bit confused but I was happy that I bought my National Park Pass back in June 2025 because it was still valid until the end of this month. On with the tour.
After purchasing your tickets, head to the right and you can tour the first of two museums at this site. The first museum is very similar to the one at the reenactment site I visited first, so I skimmed through this one. The history is the same history, yes there are some different artifacts so it’s worth a look.
Walking from the entrance to the archaeology site, you will walk down a long board walk over some very swampy looking water. You will see why turtle shells were found in the refuse heaps of both the Jamestown colony and the local Powhatan community.
Turtles
Now this is the site if you want to stand in the actual location of the Jamestown fort. During my visit there were 4 active archaeology digs happening. I only took pictures at 2 of them.
The first site pictured is close to the church with is being rebuilt. They are excavating an area that will soon be covered by a walking path. The great thing about all the digs, is one of the archaeologists will come over and talk to you and answer any questions you have. At the first site, those of us standing by the boundary rope were shown a rock that had been split by extreme heat, most likely as a stone that was heated in a fire and used to heat water.
The second site is withing the boundary walls of a Confederate Civil War fort that was located here. The archaeologists are hoping to find evidence that will help them date the bricks and let them know if they found part of a barracks from the Civil War or something else. The hole in the left, that is partial filled is a post hole that they believe is “modern” and probably used as signage for tourist visiting the site.
If you want to keep up with current finds, the try to post an update each month here at the JamestownRediscovery YouTube page.
Scale model of the fort here at Jamestown
The second museum is down along the water front around the church. There is a large glassed museum built on top of the Jamestown great hall.
Something I do want to make you aware, there are skeletons of 2 of the colonists on display and a few skulls. The first picture above is history of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold. He was one of the captains of the ships and died from illness. In the picture you can just make out the edge of a glass display case. If you guessed that his skeleton is there, you were right. Now, the skeleton is labeled with an archaeological ID number but using evidence from records of the colonists they are pretty sure the skeleton is his.
I had another picture, but it came out all blurry. So I didn’t upload it, but it was of an artist’s facial recreation of another colonist, a 15 year old boy, with you guest it, his skeleton right there in the glass case.
I personally found it a bit creepy, but these displays really connect you to the reality that the history you had been reading and walking through was lived by real individuals.
The last picture is just something I found interesting and helps explain why people were willing to risk their lives to settle in a very limited explored world. Yep, the chance to get rich, and one of the commodities that could make you lots of money was tobacco. Look at the variety of clay pipes and you can see the opportunities.
Also, I need to explain the QR Code in picture 2. Throughout the exhibit there are QR Codes that will link you to a video allowing you to hear about the discovery in the case from one of the archaeologists or historians that worked with that artifact.
As you follow the path back around the church you find this very modern looking house with an interesting garden. According to the plaque, the garden is a recreation of the herbs one might find. I found the use of the oyster shells as borders to be very practical.
Tomorrow, I think we will visit Yorktown and save Williamsburg for Thursday.
Oh. I almost posted this before I uploaded one video; however, me that is typing at 6 PM is going to have to wait until the sunsets and it gets dark. To you reading this it’s just going to be a click. I think it will be worth it. I enjoyed hearing it last night as I was unloading and moving into my room.
If you read yesterday’s post, I teased you with blue eggs for breakfast. I honestly didn’t know that chickens laid anything other than white and brown eggs. Nice to learn something new.
Yolk of blue eggYolk from the brown egg
The yolks are brighter, deeper yellow than the regular white eggs. I’m thinking the better color is from the food the chickens are feed. There is something to be said about free ranging chickens vs those that are not.
Natural heated spring soak
After breakfast I headed over to the hot springs to soak in this natural spa. The water was very hot, 106 degrees Fahrenheit. I soaked for about 15 minutes, about all I could take then relaxed in a chair before going back in for another 15 minutes.
As I was leaving, a group was getting started in the big pool on aquatic aerobics. They looked like they were having fun. I will be returning over the next few mornings to enjoy a morning soak. Don’t worry, no more pictures of my feet.
To a museum
It’s time to get some history on, so off to the Nevada Museum in Carson City. The building was originally one of the federal government’s mints for gold and silver coins.
Silver coins minted for each stateall coins are from the 1970sClose up of the Texas CoinCoin Pressing MachineTools used to measure and test the quality of coins
There is also a section on the history of the mining in the mountains near by. The reason Carson City became a federal printing press for USA coins was because the silver and gold was being pulled out of the mountains. We will get more mineshaft pictures when we visit Virginia City later in this post.
The first image is of a Virgin Valley Black Fire Opal, the second picture is of a shaft minecart being pulled up from the base of a vertical shaft, and the final picture is down a mining shaft.
And I hear you saying, what about the guns, and war equipment, every museum has to have this stuff, right? Well here you go… Enjoy guns and more guns.
If you want to learn more about dueling and why to men, will mostly men, would stand only a few feet from each other and shoot at each other, check out this podcast, BE WARNED!!! the hosts have potty mouths and you will have to deal with some adult language, the information about dueling is worth your ears burning a bit. We Are Not So Different
To Virginia City
The drive to Virginia City from Carson City is a very short drive, only 16 miles. These are mountain miles so it takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
The majority of the buildings are along this 2 way street with a speed limit of 20 mph.
I drove down the road with recording video. It would really be nice if they didn’t allow parking on the street so you could see the buildings better. Almost all of them are from 1876 after the rebuild of the city following the fire of 1875.
You can learn more about the city and the fire here at the official Virginia City Website.
One of the saloons, Ponderosa Saloon, was a bank in its former life. Inside you will vault #1 from the bank. At some point they decided to link up the underground vault to a mine shaft that is about 300 feet behind the building. You will have to visit to get the whole story, I’m just here to show you pictures.
After the tour of the mine, it was time for a train ride. The ride is very short, but you get a view some of the remains of the above ground evidence of the mining below ground.
After the train tour, I went on a final walk through the town, back toward where I parked my car.
Now back to my room, eat dinner, type of this blog and recharge for tomorrows tour around Lake Tahoe.
Welcome to the next installment of my travel blog for June 2024. As the title says, we will be exploring the Carson Range today and tomorrow, or at least we will be staying on the Carson Range side east of Lake Tahoe. I’m planning on exploring Lake Tahoe on Thursday and Friday, so keep coming back. On to today’s adventure..
Sunrise… well and attempt
First, I want you the reader to know that I almost needed a blood transfusion after trying to get these pictures. I should have realized that being so near a wetland the mosquitos would be a force to be reconned with.
I’m thinking this video shows dragon flies feasting on the mosquitos.
Now on to the sunrise photos.
A morning walk to Genoa
Genoa is 1.5 miles north of David Walley’s Resort, where I’m staying. Along the way wild life was encountered both on the journey there and back.
Enjoy some lizards, bees, and birds. The bunny rabbit and squirrel were too fast for me to get a clear picture of them.
Genoa, Nevada
Genoa is the oldest permanent settlement in Nevada. It was founded in 1851; however, Nevada didn’t exist then, it was part of the Utah Territories. The original settlers were part of the Mormon Church and the settlement was originally called Mormon Station. You can learn more here at the official Nevada Historical Website.
The Pink HouseLillian Virgin FinneganOldest Saloon in Nevada
You are probably thinking “why is there a statue of a woman holding a tray of candy?” Well, there is a story behind this statue. Back in 1919 the town wanted to install electric streetlights but didn’t have the funds. Lillian suggested the town hold a Candy Dance. Citizen danced and purchased candy from the local candymakers, and the funds raised went to purchasing and installing the streetlights. The city liked her idea and vola “let there be light”; however, there always is a however when it comes to city budgets. Who was going to pay the monthly electric bill for the lights? Well, candy will. If a Candy Dance worked once why not make it a yearly event, and the city did just that. The tradition lives on to this day. The city has expanded it to include an Arts and Craft Fair and the money goes into the Genoa City budget. Sometimes it pays to live in a small town.
Before heading back, I channeled my inner hobbit and went for 2nd breakfast at the Genoa Country Store. I enjoyed an egg sandwich with sausage on an English Muffin. Now being recharged, I headed back to the resort.
Coyote?
Onward to a Museum… after a short break
Honestly, I need another rest after walking there and back again; round trip was 3 miles or a 5K race. I did contemplate running the track tomorrow, but I’ve ruled against it. The weekend after I get back I’ve got a 5K. Too much of a good thing can turn out bad, hey, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Back to the history lesson.
This museum is only open from 11 AM to 3 PM and is located in busy city building. The center room and the downstairs is the museum while the rooms on the side and front are for city business. The cost is $5 and I feel that is a reasonable fee. On the main floor the walls have murals. As you enter the wall on the left tells the history of the Mustang and Nevada’s push to create a safe place for wild horse herds to roam. I didn’t even know there are herds of wild horses, but 10 states have reserved areas for them. You can learn more here at the Herd Managment website.
Sheep, I want to now talk about sheepherding. Why? because I can… or it’s actually related to the history of Nevada. Sheep herding in Nevada began in the 1880s, when Basque families from Spain and France immigrated to the Western United States for better job opportunities. They supplied the gold and silver miners with mutton and wool. This was a solitary life for the herder who could only count on his dogs and the 100’s of sheep he was managing. You can learn a bit more here at the National Park Systems Website. What little is known about these men comes from the carvings they left on the Aspen trees in the area.
Now let’s take a moment to talk about the first peoples, the indigenous tribes of the Lake Tahoe area. They called themselves Wá∙šiw, or Washoe in English. I’m just going to copy directly from the tribes website, “The four directions of Wá∙šiw territory was occupied by different bands of the Wá∙šiw that made up the whole of the tribe. Although one tribe, each band was unique in its own area of occupation with subtle differences in cultural diversity and language patterns.” To get the full history I recommend following the link to the Washoe Tribe Website and downloading the PDF writen by the tribe telling their history. To quickly summarize, European settlers moved in for the gold and silver and destroyed the tribe’s way of life. The Wá∙šiw were always an adaptable people and they managed to survive and keep their traditions if not their way of life. At the museum there is a room dedicated to this tribe which was famous for its weaved baskets.
One last thing before we move on to more modern times.
As a fan of archeology and digging things up to learn more about the past, the statement here saddens me. I realize this happened before archeology became a solid science, but I wonder what history we could have learned if an archeologist had been called in to excavate the area. From what I understand about the Indigenous tribes of the area they didn’t do much with stone, because it was heavy, and they moved around frequently. Why did they take the time to carve this stone statue? We will never know. Which gives me the chance to stand on a soap box and preach for a moment. It is a federal crime to dig up, remove or relocate artifacts found in public parks and native tribal lands. If you happen upon something, record the gps location, take pictures don’t touch anything, and then report what you found to the state or federal government agency. If you want fame, I’m sure you will get more credit for reporting and letting the professionals do their job than making a TikTok or Instagram post about it. I’m now getting off my soap box. Let’s continue to more modern times.
Let’s look at some medical equipment and telephone equipment…
Isn’t that old water fountain cool? And check out all those phones? f
Wow, it’s taken me 2 hours to type, edit and upload all of this content. Time does fly when you are having fun. I’m having to remind myself to enjoy the collection of content as much as writing about it. That’s all for today, tomorrow there will be blue chicken eggs for breakfast and I’ve decided to drive to Virginia City myself and skip the guided tour. I honestly didn’t want to be trapped for 5 hours. Virginia City is only 45 minutes away and I can visit or skip the museums along the way. So until tomorrow, have a great day, enjoy a pizza. I had one for lunch.
For this year’s bring break I decided to visit Canyon Lake, Texas and stay at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Hill Country Resort. I’m planning on the final post in this series to be a full review of the resort and my current thoughts on the Holiday Inn Club Vacation. Now on to what I got up to yesterday, March 11th.
I cooked myself breakfast, a bacon, egg, and tomato taco. I forgot to buy cheese and I’m just realizing that I forgot to buy cheese again yesterday before I returned to my room for the evening. Going to have to make that a priority for today.
The plan for the day was to visit The Alamo, and its museum, then visit Natural Bridge Caverns and finally end with dinner in Gruene, Texas.
Canyon Lake is about an hour from The Alamo. I had plans to get to The Alamo at 9 AM when it opened, but I wanted a 2nd cup of coffee and was enjoying the latest podcast from Going Medieval. If you like history I recommend this podcast. While listening to the podcast, I was also trying to determine the best plan for parking in downtown San Antonio. I ended up parking at the parking garage that houses the Whataburger in downtown San Antonio. This was the first time I brought my dslr camera with me and I didn’t rely on my cell phone for all the pictures.
San Antonio and The Alamo
I arrived around 10:30 AM and exited the parking lot walking toward Commerce Street. This art deco structure has already amazed me.
It is called La Antorcha de la Amistad, “The Torch of Friendship”. It was created by Mexican artist, Sebastián. He is known for creating massive steel structures. “More than 200 of his monumental creations can be found all over the globe, including Mexico City, Paris and Jerusalem.” You can learn a bit more about him here in this MYSA news post (2019) that I quoted. News post about Sebastian.
As you walk toward The Alamo at the time of this post (March 2024), there is a major construction project in the works to transform Alamo Plaza. In the space available, they are trying to reconstruct the buildings that have long been lost to history and provide visitors with a view of The Alamo during that 1836 battle. The building across from the plaza has been taken over for the new Alamo Museum, so the places I would buy T-shirts and ice cream have been forced to close. Don’t worry the buildings across from the Menger Hotel are still open for business so you will still be able to buy T-Shirts and tourist trinkets.
The line to purchase tickets to visit The Alamo church was large in size; however, I joined Friends of the Alamo and with your membership you get free tickets to visit The Alamo and the museum exhibit on site. So I ordered my tickets using my membership and was able to head over to the line to get into The Alamo. OMG, if I thought the line to buy tickets was long, the line to get into The Alamo was 3 times it’s size. At least it moved quickly and if I understood the podcast from Alamo Podcast, “The Battle of the Alamo,” we were in line where the Mexican army made its final assault along the long barracks toward The Alamo church were the Texans made their last stand. The church was also where the women and children were hiding during the fight. Every person fighting inside The Alamo was killed. At the start of the battle, Santa Ana had raised the red flag, signaling to all the defenders of The Alamo, that the Mexican army was not taking prisoners and they would be killed even if they surrendered. The battle last about 90 minutes and the only survivors were the women and children.
One thing I want to note about the church. In 1836 it was more ruins than a functioning church. It didn’t have a roof and had been fortified by the Mexican Army before the Texans took it over and setup a defense inside. Also, the defenders were expecting to get help from the other Texans mustering in the East. History shows that help was on the way, but it wasn’t able to get there in time. This leads me to the big news of the year. The Travis Letter.
The Travis Letter is on display in the museum behind the Alamo. Along with many other artifacts and Phil Colins’ collect. Yes, that Phil Colins, the drummer of Genesis. He even does the voice over inside the museum that retells the battle. But back to the Travis Letter…
How do you know this is a big deal? Out of view of my picture is an armored Texas State Trooper who is facing the Travis Letter. Normally, security is standing by the door or in the corner surveying the room. Not this guard. I don’t have a clue what the letter is worth, but being as it is one of a kind and is one of the last letters that Travis wrote asking for more help before the fall of The Alamo I’m guessing it’s near to priceless.
I mentioned there were a variety of artifacts in the collection. These are the ones that interested me the most so I’m going to include them here with my own ramblings. 🧐
This is a statue of Joseph. According to the note at the base, it is missing the baby Jesus normally found with statues of Joseph. What I found the most interesting is the ability to bend the elbows and rotate the arms at the shoulders. It was designed so someone could move the arms and reposition them.
I didn’t get the exact date when this wallet of flints was in use, but I like how it connects us back to Stoneage humanity. Modern humanity isn’t really much different than ancient humanity.
I’m going to conclude my Alamo visit with some of the pictures on display of the Alamo. From 1850 to present date, tourists have been visiting The Alamo. You can even see a picture of the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and a ZZ Top.
Natural Bridge Caverns
Back to the truck and $30 to get my truck out of the parking garage and off to Natural Bridge Caverns. I’ve trying to remember the last time I was at Natural Bridge Caverns, and I can’t remember the exact date, but it had to be over 10 years ago and the complex has changed. It is no longer just a place to go see a cave. Above ground they’ve added picnic areas, areas where you can “pan for gold or artifacts”, and rope/climbing course and an area for concerts.
In the gallery below you will see pictures from Natural Bridge Caverns. The tour has changed dramatically since the last time I visited. Before you when down with a tour guided and they lead your through the cave and gave you speeches about the formations and the history. Now you follow the path from tour guided to tour guide and at each stopping point you hear about the formations and history and then you move on to the next location. I miss the old way, but I can see how this system is much more efficient and the improvements to the path along with all the handrails is much appreciated.
Gruene, Texas
Off to the final destination, the historic city of Gruene, Texas.
This little city, now part of New Braunfels, Texas has really learned how to trap tourists. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to shop at some unique stores, you will find them here. If you want to listen to local singers and musicians, you can find them here. What you will have a hard time finding is parking. There is one main parking area, and it is very large, but it was almost full when I arrived at 4 PM. Now most of the shops close by 5ish. Yes, I’m right 5ish I should have taken a picture of all the stores that operation hours. Basically, if people are in the shop still buying items, they won’t be closing. Smart move on their part. I would recommend a visit but bring a friend or two or at least a designated driver. Some places allowed you to purchase, “to go” beverages.
I finished the day with a meal at the Gristmill Restaurant. The main course, bronze catfish, was good but the M.L. Special, a desert was the winner of the night. It’s a fudge cake with pecans, ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. I have to give a shout out to my server, Gigi, for recommending it.
Day one’s adventure ends here. We started our day visiting a historical site in the birth of the state of Texas, traveled to a natural wonder and enjoyed a bit of nature, and we concluded the day visiting a historic town in central Texas. Was a good day overall.
I’ve decided to organize this year’s trip by the cities visited versus a daily journal. I will start with Montreal, then Quebec and finally Halifax. I will include photos and comments from the train trip as its own post. So let’s begin…
Montreal, Canada is the most populous city of the province of Quebec. (And yes I used wikipedia for that fact.) Of all the cities I visited it was the most “modern” feeling, ie. in line with New York City or Dallas. There were plenty of skyscrapers and office buildings which interfered with my phones GPS from time to time just like when I was in downtown NYC a few Spring Breaks ago.
When my trip began I wasn’t sure I was going to even make it to Canada. I don’t remember why I picked flights out of DFW going to Montreal that had me switching planes, I’m going to guess it was cost. This did prove to add some “adventure” to the start of the trip. My first flight from DFW to Newark was on time and landed without any issues; however, I had setup my layover to be only about 30 minutes between flights and as would be expected I had to go from one end of the concourse to the opposite side. I made it to my flight as United was making one of its last calls for passengers. I do want to point out, I was not the last person. There were 3 other people that boarded the plane after me. This plane from Newark to Montreal was delayed for an extra 15 minutes because of a maintenance issue, one of the overhead bins would not close. The mechanic arrived hit the mechanism with his hammer a few times, and boom. All is well. The mechanic left the plane to cheers. Cabin door can now be closed and we can be pushed back from the terminal and wait our turn to taxi and take off. Here is were the camels back got broken. When we got pushed back from the terminal, we were parked a bit too close to one of the other planes which had that plane’s pilot request that we get moved a bit more. This is now by my count delay 3, it’s only like 10 minutes but these little delays are about to add up. We finally get setup to wait our turn to taxi to the runway and we wait and wait. About 15 minutes later the pilot announces that the flight has been canceled due to the fact the pilot’s on duty clock was going to tick past the allowed safety window. Oh and also, all those delays had made us miss out window with traffic control and our flight was sort of forgotten. We get to be taken back to the terminal and have to de-board the plane and wait for a reserve crew to be found that can continue the flight. To shorten the story, because honestly you are reading this to see and here about Montreal, the reserve crew is found, they are not happy about it, 3 hours late finally take off. We arrive in Montreal very late and the Montreal airport has to find us a terminal to park, so a short wait on the plane.
So I’m finally in Canada. I’ve not traveled out of country very much but I do like Canadian Customs the best. You have your passport scanned at a kios, answer some question on the touch screen, take your printed report to one of the Canadian Customs officers and you are done.
My first praise of Montreal is its public transportation. I was able to get a 24 hr pass to use the buses and the subway for $10 Canadian = $7.56 US. There is a special bus that runs from the airport to downtown, every 30 minutes. And even with the construction going on, the bus stop is only 1 block from my hotel, Le Nouvel Hotel and Spa.
I get checked into my hotel, by 9 PM and quickly head down to the hotel’s restaurant/bar order a burger, fries and a local red ale.
It is now June 29th, 7:30 AM local time and I’m dressed and ready for my tour of Montreal. I head down Rue Sainte-Catherine capturing pokemon and visiting poke stops as I head to the tourist information office (0.8 mile walk) to get my ticket for the bus tour of Montreal.
The tour leaves at 9 AM so I have time for breakfast, at La Belle Province. It is a “greasy spoon” dinner with 50’s decor.
I had the breakfast with 2 eggs, 2 sausage, potatoes. When you look at the menu, notice that French is the larger font and English is the smaller. I mention this because in Montreal and Quebec, French is the dominate language. The street signs, warning signs, bathroom signs and menus are all in French. When you walk into any place, you will be greeted friendly with, “Bonjour” By the end of my trip I was able to say bonjour well enough that instead of switching to English automatically, the server or store clerk would continue in French. When speaking with one of the attendance on the trains, that is one of the tests they had to take, being fluent in French and English.
Breakfast done, and happy tummy it was time for the 3.5 hour tour of Montreal.
The first stop was Old Montreal and Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal.
We had about 30 minutes here to explore the church or walk around Place d’Armes square. Since the line to get inside seemed a bit long and I didn’t want to pay the $6 entry fee, I just walked around the square, listening to a street musician and taking more photos.
Maisonneuve Monument
Saint-Sulpice Seminary
Bank of Montreal head office
We board the tour bus again and continue the tour crossing the St. Lawrence River to Ile Sainte-Helene and Ile Notre-Dame so we could get a view of the Biosphere.
Leaving Ile Sainte-Helene we cross the Jascques Cartier Bridge heading toward the Olympic Stadium. (The stadium is the white dome under the bridge.)
We had another 30 minutes by Chalet Du Parc Maisonneuve, which is a huge bicycling park with trails running all through it just north of the Montreal Botanical Gardens.
Now here I’m going to pause the bus tour and time travel forward to July 5 when I returned to Montreal and visited the Botanical Gardens. The Chinese Garden portion was being remodeled so extra walking was added, plus it was 98 degrees so I only saw a portion of the Botanical Gardens. Below’s slide show are some of the pictures I took while there:
And we time travel back to June 29th and continue on the Montreal bus tour. The tour continues up and around Mont Royal, the hill towering up in the middle of Montreal, to Vue Mt Royal which gives you a wonderful view of Montreal. I took some cool photos with my phone, but they are sphere and panoramic view so they don’t post well. Here is the best from my camera. You can see Olympic stadium to the North.
Next we circled around to Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal our last “stop”. This Catholic Cathedral was started (wikipedia clip) “in 1904, Saint André Bessette, C.S.C., began the construction of St. Joseph”, and after some upgrades and expansion it was completed in 1967. Another quick clip from wikipedia… “The basilica is dedicated to Saint Joseph, to whom Brother André credited all his reported miracles. These were mostly related to some kind of healing power, and many pilgrims (handicapped, blind, ill, etc.) poured into his Basilica, including numerous non-Catholics. On display in the basilica is a wall covered with thousands of crutches from those who came to the basilica and were purportedly healed. Pope John Paul II deemed the miracles to be authentic and beatified Brother André in 1982. In October 2010 Pope Benedict XVI canonized the saint.”
The tour continues with no further stops and “get out to look” points. We drove around the old cemeteries on the side of Mount Royal where we learned they were treated as public parks with walking trails.
We did drive through a bunch of residential sections and almost all of the apartments and condos were built with porches and walk up stairs some were curved, others bent. Our tour guide and pointed out that to save space on the inside, the stairs were all placed outside and he kept repeating that public housing was placed within regular housing all through the city so there was no “ghetto” areas and from outside it was very hard to tell which housing complexes were for low income families. According to the tour guide Montreal is also one of the safest cities in North America.
With the tour concluded I decided it was time to visit a museum. I had a choice between an art museum featuring Picasso or a history museum featuring Queens of Egypt and archaeological digs under Montreal’s modern streets. I went with the history museum.
Here are some of the Egyptian artifacts:
The next part of the museum was the history of Montreal with preserved archaeological dig sites you could walk through or over (glass floor).
Wooden pillars used to hold up a buildingSewer pipeGate into MontrealThe old fort’s wallsCobblestone roadOld sewer used as a tunnel to link rooms of the museumIron Slag from smeltingParts of a pistol
After exiting the museum my next quest was to find place to have some poutine. Here is were I had some issues with my phone and GPS. It didn’t help that Google was showing me the location Pub St-Paul and not the location to the door to entry the restaurant. That was actually on Rue-Saint Paul; however, Google kept showing the place on Rue de la Commune. So here it is a picture of poutine. The dish all my Canadian friends talk about how great it is.
poutine
My only issue is that the brown gravy made the french fries very soggy, but the melted cheese curds almost made up for the sogginess. I would eat this dish again, just not on this trip. I should have tried it in each city, but honestly, my first taste was disappointing. I should have returned to the dinner I had breakfast, for a sample of their poutine. I noticed the amount of fresh cut french fry potatoes they had soaking in the sinks. I’m guessing they were getting ready for the lunch crowd. This concludes the Montreal portion of this trip. Enjoy pictures of the train station I took the next morning waiting for the 9:15 train to Quebec.
It is hard to believe that I’ve visited the place a man was born and died over something like 500 years ago. The only way you can believe this, comes from the fact he was as famous in his time as ours.
I leave this place with only pictures and postcards only because my luggage has limited space and my trip has only just begun. There are some wonderful souvenirs in the shops, and some nice fudge too.
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