Long ago, my wife Roxie and I made a short visit to Portugal’s Silver Coast, a spectacular stretch of beach on the Atlantic, famous for its big waves. We stayed in an old 19th century hotel turned into a guesthouse, perched on a hill overlooking the sea.
Though well aware of Norway’s dedication to seafood and its preparation, my wife Roxie and I were still not ready for the all-out excellence of Cornelius.
Some 60 feet below us stretched the Irish Sea. Distant waves swept barely audible sounds onto the shore. Apart from the twitter of birds, we couldn’t hear anything else. Quite a difference from New York City where we live!
Winchester, England is much more than its famous cathedral, although the cathedral is special and beautiful – unlike any we’ve ever seen elsewhere.
My wife, Roxie, and I were heading for Ballygally, a village in county Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. A train from Belfast had taken us to our first stop – the town of Larne, which is a major passenger and freight roll-on/roll-off ferry port.
Friends of ours had invited my wife and me to a three-night stay in Gloucester, Massachusetts. They were housesitting for an old friend whose seafront home was well-equipped and spacious enough to accommodate several guests. We accepted, and, having arrived, we embarked on a number of excursions in what prides itself for being the oldest fishing port in America.
From Glasgow we headed west, first by train to Gourock, then by ferry to Dunoon the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the Argyll region.
Nothing could have been more Swedish. Food apart, the cups, the plates, the cutlery, everything came from Sweden – including Orrefors and Costa Boda glassware. Even the dining room had a clean, functional, very Nordic look about it. I’m referring to Björk, the café and bistro that recently opened on the ground floor of Scandinavia House on Park Avenue at 38th Street in New York City.