Zoe in St Mark's Square

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Originally uploaded by drtombell1.

Andrew Tish Zoe and I had such a lovely time in venice. We stayed at Camping Fusina .... a great site on the lagoon where you camp looking across at Venice.
Then in the morning early we walked to the ferry taking us right to the centre of Venice.
We had a great time here in the really touristy areas ... but joy of joys found a small restaurant with only locals ... and simple divine food .... it is such a special place ... cant wit to go again but preferably not in August!!!

The Beret

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Originally uploaded by drtombell1.

Now here is my brother Andrew in a French Beret. THis is a genuine one made in the Basque Country.
Now what is the similarity between a Beret and a Kilt .... well if you see a man in Scotland wearing a kilt ... he is almost certainly not a Scot ..... like wise in france .. the Beret is associated with the War and defeat. It is still worn in its area of origin ... the Basque area around biarritz and south .... but here it is RED !!!!

So there you are ... but we love 'em

Pylos

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Originally uploaded by drtombell1.

Here we were in late July at Pylos. We were camping near here on the north shore of the Bay of Navarino. This was where Admiral Codrington sank the Turkish fleet. This brought forward Greek independance .... but almost got him court marshalled.... Well at least he has a really good pub named after him round the back of Harrods if I remember correctly!
Meanwhile just to the North of the bay we found Nestors Palace .. a great Minoan Style Palace where they found much Linear B fragments

You have to go here.... Pylos is delightful. A small city built by the French in the early 19th century ..... HEAVEN

Dougie's big adventure

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Originally uploaded by drtombell1.

THE TRIP TO GREECE AND BACK AGAIN

Well after all sorts of adventures ... like loosing the keys, immobilising the van ..... in the garage .... with no Home Start we all eventually got started and set foo from home to Grania & Davids for the first day of our trip. The treated us like royalty ( was it because they thought they would never see us again! ). We were delighted to find that George had hitch hiked especially from London to see us off!!
So in the end it was from Timsbury that we set of on our venture in June 2007!!

Cameroray with Carol

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Originally uploaded by drtombell1.

April 2007
My poor mum had to have a sudden admission to Inverness Hospital. this year and as luck would have it it was the week that all of us ( Sarah Mol Rob & I) were due to go and see her fo a holiday. So sadly all that had to be cancelled. Luckily however I wanted to see her in the hospital so I combined this with staying with Carol Dow in Cameroray near Grantown . We had a lovely time walking at Loch An Eilean and seeing the bird sanctuary with the Ospreys. All especially lovely as I met up with Gwen an old friend I hadn't seen for years and all her family. We were also lucky enough to find Dolphins when we went to the Black Isle.

Lovely to spend time with Carol and to be back in SCotland
Meanwhile all went well with mums eye!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombell1/sets/72157602124182196/

Here are some more photos if you want to see them .