My latest travel stories posted on this link

DUBLIN
Our bar of choice was the Temple Bar in Temple Bar, a busy place with several couples indulging in open displays of affection, sweet-hearts pawing and petting in public. However the peace was disturbed by the entry of a dozen or so American tourists led by a local in a green hat. We left for a kebab bar round the corner.

EUROPE 4 CITIES FIVE DAYS
Beginning at the end: Oh well the flight home on Friday evening is only delayed by 40 minutes and in the business lounge, just when you need it most there is no white wine below room temperature, only beer glasses from which to drink any wine and two passengers have just arm wrestled for the last bag of potato chips.

FRANCE SERVICE CULTURE
I left the Best Western for the other one down the road. It was bad. So bad I had to meet the challenge to stay there for two nights.

Well, I considered that as one is lucky enough to stay in some really nice places on business, when you get billeted (by default) in a dive, where the breakfast room is in the cellar, where a non-smoking room smells of smoke, when the bed has a genuine crimplene bed cover, and the bathroom is so small that the shower door opens out on the room, you should like it and lump it.

GDAŃSK FOR THE MEMORY
In contrast to northern renaissance splendour are the 12 – 15 storey apartment buildings in the suburb of Oliwa where we stayed.

Built in the communist era these high rise towers are now decorated in pastel shades, each one bearing its own name and number high on the side wall, taken from its nearest street, for example ‘Pomorska 12’; Several I settled down to draw had wave-like floor plans, some 700 meters long and appeared to curve away in elevation, fascinating and difficult to get down on paper!

Each block is beautifully maintained with communal play areas, gardens and trees; several adjoin parkland, running down to the sea.

HOLLANDÄISE SOURCE
Across our four days the weather had a clear pattern; bright sun in the morning and showers across the rest of the day! Early each morning I was off on Randi’s bike along the flat cycle tracks around the village.

No traffic and no noise apart from the occasional hum of machines from a distant farm. Cycle tracks seem to take you wherever you want to go, every field is criss-crossed by small brooks and being on a Dutch bicycle is like riding on a sofa.

RETURNING TO ISTANBUL
I was up early on day one and after a quick Nescafé in the hotel, was out in the grey light up the hill to the Blue Mosque. I stayed too long drawing in one spot near the Blue Mosque, trying to capture the lead plated copulas and minarets, with their peaks of gold plated copper.

As a result I was politely dragged by back to the Mevlana Rug Store to be entertained to another Nescafé by Ahmet who showed me clippings of the shops coverage in the New York Times and talked of his time in Australia.

MARRAKESH EXPRESS*
Morocco a land of mountains, deserts and coastline that faces the Mediterranean and the Atlantic on the North West tip of Africa; it has 26 political parties where the King as ruler of state and head of the Faith decides everything.

These gems were revealed by our tour guide Mohammed in the mini-bus on as we sped past the Jacaranda trees with purple blossom and Orange trees on fruit, reminding me that it will be time to make Marmalade in a couple of weeks time.

NEW YORK AGAIN
The usual stores were on our itinerary: Armani, Banana Republic, Gap, Saks, and we added in H&M for good measure and Bloomingdales. At the end of day one we were tired and headed back to our junior suite at the Roger Smith.

The girls had the double beds and I enjoyed the pull out sofa bed. We did have enough energy to ride the Line C subway down to Little Italy for great pasta at the Caffe Del’Arte in Mulberry Street.

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
During World War II these parts were home to SOE specialist training establishments. SOE was Churchill's Secret Army and charged by him to "set Europe ablaze". SOE members were shipped up here and trained in demolition techniques, weapons training Morse and survival skills.

When you look around the terrain here – well if you can survive here you can survive anywhere. Richard and Fi’s house is actually recorded in the SOE archives as a foreign weapons training establishment.

TIM DYNASTY - TRAVELS IN CHINA
Into real China – well that’s what it feels like as you enter Hang Zhou, certainly there are more bicycles. The Ramada Hotel has a nice gilt-50’s commissariat feel about it and here we were for two days.

The city is rich and was once the capital of China or aT least centuries ago if you captured Hang Zhou you had the rest of the country in the palm of your hand.

TOKYO
There is always something new to discover. This time one high note was the izakaya (居酒屋) the bar cum restaurant, popular for after-work drinking. One sits on tatami mats and dine from low tables in the traditional Japanese style.

The one we visited was packed. Rachael, practising Japan ordered Chicken on a skewer and the waitress turned up with a pair of scissors – lost in translation!

VANCOUVER – CITY OF SMILES
Vancouver rather reminded me of the Truman Show with the warm sunny weather, people coming and going everywhere, busy but sociable.

It is a friendly place. I was out very early one morning (jet lag/time difference) and asked a man for directions to Gibson Street and Stanley Park and was given a six minute story on the city’s raccoon population.

THE BIG APPLE AGAIN
A day for culture: we visited the NY city zoo; saw the sea lions being fed. This is a great place to visit, so tiny and compact and crowded out with animals that all looked happy.

I have never been to NY without visiting the Guggenheim, arguably the best building in the world (designed by Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright). It always feels like something from outer space with its white concrete cylinders jutting out onto the street, apparently he was considering painting the whole building red at one stage but Guggenheim’s people persuaded him against the idea.