Steve’s Vacation: Part 4.

Hello to all my faithful readers and friends on this beautiful, warm and sunny Thursday!  Well, here I am, back at home again.  It was quite a reunion with my little Muffin!  I’m sure we were both just as excited to see each other.  She did not want to leave me, just kept wanting more attention and love, while also purring non stop!  And I am quite certain she is looking forward to helping with my blog once again.  Especially the award posts, she just loves those.

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My hotel and home for 8 days.

 

I guess you probably know by now that I thoroughly enjoyed my little holiday!! But it’s worth repeating anyway.  It was just fantastic!!! And to be in such a place on my birthday, well, that just made it even better.  And my beautiful guide and wonderful friend, Ilona, made this holiday and birthday even more special for me!

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The front entrance with large oak revolving doors and marble pillars. The floors inside are red, white, gray and black marble. Stairs are marble. This was an old palace so much of the old remains in place, but the rooms are normal hotel rooms. Very nice place.

 

 

So,  where was I? Well, actually I already mentioned it in Part 3 of my vacation posts. I really can’t be more specific than saying the name of the city, which I did.  But, I will be posting a poem shortly that will also let you know where I have been.  I know that many of you have already guessed it right, and I am sure that the rest of you will know after reading the poem.  Yes, I know.  I’m a terrible person. I just can’t help it.

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Palms of various kinds and sizes are everywhere, these are outside the hotel.

When I left yesterday morning, it was hot and humid.  And that was right at the start of the day.  Talk about Nice!!  The taxi driver, on the way to the airport,  said he prefers the cooler temps of winter.  You know, getting down to 12 or 15 C. I said, that’s a nice spring day back home. He asked if I was  from England, I said no, from Canada. In winter I said, it can get down to -40C and sometimes even colder.  He turned aroung and stared at me. Nearly hit a guy on a motorcycle!

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Across the street from the hotel is a great spot to sit and look out over the sea. A favorite spot for me in early morning and evening.  So calming out there looking out over the sea.

There are a lot of motorcycles in that city, small ones.  The streets are also very narrow and parking is almost non existent.  So small motorcycles are a good choice for sure.  Especially in one area of the city called old town.  It really is a fascinating section of the city.  Very narrow streets between buildings.  Really they are more like sidewalks, but people do drive cars through there as well.  If I went into that section by myself, I would get lost for sure.  I would still be there wandering around. Never to be heard from again. But at least I would be warm.

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There were many different types of flowering trees everywhere.

Muffin and I would be very happy living in Nice!  Hey, I found out they even have chipmunks over there.  Maybe not around the city, but in the country at least.  So Chipmunk Appreciation Day would fit over there too.  Does this mean I might move over there?  Sigh.  Unfortunately some things are just impossible to do.  But it is a wonderful thought anyway!  It’s good to think about wonderful things, joyful things, right things, positive things! Instead of always looking at things from a negative viewpoint.  The more we think about the positive things in life, the less we think about the negative.  A lot of people try to get rid of negative thoughts. But they forget it needs to be replaced with all those good and positive thoughts which help to make us feel so much better.

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Finally got a picture of that dove sitting outside one of the windows of the hotel. Looks just like our mourning dove, probably the European type of mourning dove. Haven’t looked it up yet.

In case you’re wondering, I won’t be showing all of my pictures right away.  I want to save a lot of them for winter use.  When the temps are around -30 to -40C, it will be great to use these pictures and remember those Nice hot days.

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There is just so much beauty wherever one looks.

Well, guess it is time to close this off once more.  Thank you everyone for joining me back here at Steve’s Country.  Hopefully I will get back to daily reading of your posts and getting my posts done as well.  Until next time, enjoy the remainder of your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.

Steve’s Vacation. Part 3.

Hello again everyone from the beautiful tropical of a beautiful country which is definitely not on the same continent as I live!  Hard to believe we are on the same planet. Places this Nice actually exist here!!  I mean, it’s warm.  All the time.  No such thing as 6 feet of snow on the ground for 6 months of the year.  Or temps of -40C, or even colder at times like we had this past winter.  My guide was filling me in today about all the benefits of this amazing tropical climate.  And many other amazing benefits.  I could very easily live here.  Sigh.  However, some things are just not so easy to do.  Sigh.

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Beginning the jungle walk.

Fortunately when I get back home on Wednesday it will be summer.  At least for a little while.   But where I live, that summer can come to an abrupt end by mid August.  That’s the truth.  Doesn’t always happen that early.  But it does quite often.  We’re talking only about 6 weeks away.  And we could be back into fall temps again.  Sigh.  There is something wrong with this picture.  That’s why I said it’s hard to believe we are on the same planet.  Sigh.

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Real banana trees grow in this part of the world. Yes, there are very small green bananas on there, but a bit hard to see.

Did some walking again today.  Actually, it was a LOT of walking today.  Still can’t feel my feet.  Or brain.  And I was wearing a hat.  Good thing.  Or my brain would be gone for good.  Burned to a crisp.  Hmm, probably wouldn’t notice any difference.  Actually met someone at breakfast today that spoke English.  Canadian style.  So I introduced myself. Amazingly they are from my home province of Ontario.  About 2,000 km away, and much further south.  But same province at least.  They are touring all over this country.

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All sorts of weird and wonderful plants/trees grow around here. This is a flower cluster on a tree. The flower cluster is about 40 cm long.

So what country is this?  If you had been paying attention you would know that already.  I have given clues.  In each part of this series.  That’s all you get for now.  Sorry about that.  I have a poem about this place that I will post.  Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe not until Thursday.  Or, maybe not.

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Lots of different types of cactus grow around here too, this one has beautiful yellow flowers.

Finally remembered to take a picture of my hotel today.  I know I can get pictures of it elsewhere.  But that’s just not the same thing.  Speaking of pictures.  I’m still trying to get a good picture of some doves that are everywhere here.  They are much like our Mourning doves.  I was actually about 6 feet away from one today.  No, I did not get a picture.  Someone scared the poor little bird away just before I had a chance.  It was my guide.  However, she didn’t do it deliberately.  Actually she was trying to help me by tossing some food to the bird.  For some reason the dove didn’t like that and flew away.

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Plants like this grow around here, they are large too, that one is about 1 1/2 meters across.

I still have one more day here.  The time has gone too fast.  And I didn’t have the energy to keep busy every day.  Had to rest a bit too.  But it has been a fantastic vacation!!  And nothing quit working today.  Amazing.  Well, maybe I should change that.  My guide and myself can barely move.

I hope you enjoy these few pictures today.  Enjoy the rest of your day and God bless!

Steve.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.