May 29, 2024
Dark Hedges, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Tuesday, May 28th, Edel and I drove from Cork up to Northern Ireland and went to the far North to see the legendary Dark Hedges! I had seen on social media years ago and found out they were used in Game of Thrones ( S2,E1 king's road) and now thousands travel to see them! This beautiful avenue of beech trees was planted by the Stuart family in the 18th century to spruce up the driveway to their house, pictured below, you'll see it needed it!

Ternate, Indonesia, which is both the name of the city and island, and is part of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It is a port that sees maybe 3 Cruise ships a year. However, they really made an effort to show us the best of what they can offer. It's mainly a Muslim country, and we knew we had to dress discretely, but we knew little else. We didn't have our typical port talk prior, due to a technical issue with the AV equipment. Ben a fellow resident, organized an island tour, with about 8 stops, for 90 of us residents.