Tag Archives: Art

Apr24

A breather in Bulgaria – Sofia!

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Tuesday, 26-August-2025 through Sunday, 31-August-2025


Bulgaria.

I haven’t been to this part of the world, before. I knew that I had the best tour guide I could ask for in Andrea, and had done the base background research on the history and culture (and had obviously absorbed some myself, such as Banitsa), but the adventure was a first foray into a new world, regardless.

It was glorious.


I can’t overstate how great of a guide Andrea was / is – I lovingly call her “The queen of Sofia”, and that title was well earned the whole time we were in town. Everywhere we went, people recognized her. Every restaurant saw the owner, chef, or someone similar come out to visit and catch up… alongside consistent extras unexpectedly appearing. Each bite was excellent, and each drink was special. I was in incredibly good hands.


Now, what did we do, specifically? Quite a bit:
– We visited Andrea’s Grandma for her birthday!
– We had amazing food – Italian, Turkish, pastries, and BBQ
– We met fun and interesting people – tons of folks from Andrea’s previous life, all interesting and enjoyable
– We explored. Walking around the city, I even had an afternoon of solo exploration where I got to recollect the fun of my Grand Adventure, exploring a city where I don’t know the language.


It really was an excellent start to an excellent vacation.

Oct2

Street art of Dublin

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August and into September, 2024


I adore exploring cities. I adore good art. I adore when I can combine those two joys.

You know, thinking on it… maybe I should start a tour company where I take people around to see interesting street art… or maybe make a book of the interesting street art that I’ve seen? I mean, I can only think of fifty million similar books, so it’s got to be a good market… right?

Yeah no. I’m just going to continue enjoying exploring, enjoying the beauty, and enjoying the raw and amazing creativity that people have.


All the cities I visited on the Grand Adventure had amazing art – and Dublin is no different. Enjoy!

Sep16

Exploring Dublin – the start of a new life

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Saturday, 03-Aug-2024, through… Well, at least a year.


I’ve hit a bit of a roadblock here, dear readers.

I arrived in Dublin on 03-Aug. I stepped off the plane, got a cab, stepped into an AirBnB, and… felt… something. A sense of calm? Of pending tumult? Excitement and optimism and… it was like standing at the crest of a huge mountain pass – pride at making it through the pass and to the crest, awe at the vast world ahead, and a bit of apprehension at the path still yet to walk.

The first few days in Dublin were amazing, overwhelming, and exciting. I had the entire country ahead of me, and really only one goal in mind – finding an apartment. Before I started into that, though, I took some time to relax a bit. I wandered, revisited some of the spots that I’d last seen when I toured Dublin in March of 2023, and found a few interesting spots for a few interesting meals.

I edited photos, blogged a bit, read a bit, and even reached out to people a bit. I found shops, and started making up a list of the various places I’d want to visit in town – gyms, etc…

In short – I planted myself, and started to prepare to grow some roots.