Today, the U.S. surrendered to Al Qaeda and other terrorists. I am crushed.

The local Cambridge Semantics gang--plus Jen and Josie--went out to Sean's shack in Webster last week. After we got through our requisite meetings, we headed out on the lake for some fun. Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the afternoon:

  

Check out this gallery to see these pictures full size as well as the rest of the photos from the day.

On a sunny Thursday in July, I wandered over to the Pond in the late afternoon to see if there were any sailboat races going on. I'm not sure if I did see any races, but I captured a few shots of an orange sun coloring the pond and the boathouse. (I saw some sailboats clustered together; I have no idea if they were racing.)

   

That weekend, I was down in New York to see my old friend Josh whom I hadn't seen in years. On Saturday some of the usual crew and I headed down to South St. Seaport and checked out the NYC Waterfalls. My overall judgment? Interesting but not overly impressive.

On Sunday, Mom, Josh, and I attended the Sunday night Mets vs. Rockies game at Shea. We got there early and trekked up to the top corner of the stadium, where the well-textured sky and setting sun provided an opportunity for a couple of dramatic shots.

   

We stayed in Ireland the day after our full-day tour of Blarney, Kinsale, and Cobh, as the ship docked the next morning at Dublin. Disappointingly, we only had a short day in Dublin, as we needed to be back on the ship in the early afternoon. Our plans were to take the Royal Caribbean shuttle into downtown Dublin, and then take advantage of one of the city's hop-on hop-off (HOHO, for short) bus tours as a convenient way to experience the core tourist highlights of Dublin in a few hours.

As the shuttle bus snarled its way through Dublin's morning traffic, however, Lynn and I rethought our plan. It was a beautiful day out, and a trip that couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 miles took us at least 30 minutes on the bus. We had little reason to think that the traffic would disperse for the HOHO bus, so we opted instead to arm ourselves with a map or two from Dublin's main tourist office and set out to see as much as we could on foot.

(Map of our walking route.)

From the tourist office, we walked east along Nassau Street and past the grounds of Trinity College. We never did get onto the grounds of the college (e.g. to see the Book of Kells), but the grounds seemed quite lush and expansive. We turned right and wandered through a gate into Merrion Square and Archbishop Ryan Park. The park was set off from the rest of the city by extensive woodlands, making the greenery inside all the more peaceful and relaxing.

Leaving the park, we continued southeast to Fitzwilliams Street, which--unbeknownst to us at the time--is one of the primary examples of Dublin's 18th century Georgian architecture, and, in particular, the many-colored doors of Dublin. My camera had a field day with the doors, and then we turned west and walked along the south side of Fitzwilliam Square and cut through an archway to head towards St. Stephen's Green.

We wandered into the middle of the park, where we saw a musical performance by arbitrary park-goers conducted feverishly by park entertainers. We wandered around the center of the grounds and then past a lake and out the northeast entrance of the Green.

Checking our watches, we still had plenty of time before we were due back on the ship, so we set out west to check out St. Patrick's Cathedral. Along the way, Lynn received a hug from an Irish lass, though I found the premise of strangers hugging strangers a bit... odd. (Call me cynical.) Anyways, we were a bit disappointed that upon reaching the cathedral the main cathedral tower was completely encased in scaffolding. Still, the grounds were delightful and the church mammoth, and we took in as much as we could by walking the full way around the cathedral.

We then headed north and took a short stroll into the courtyard of Dublin Castle. The main tourable parts of the castle were closed to individuals when we got there, so we relaxed in the courtyard a bit before heading up to the River Liffey. We walked along the river a bit, and then cut one block down to walk through the pedestrian-only area of Temple Bar. This is a lively area full of eateries, souvenir stores, and pubs, and I imagine that it's quite the popular hang out for both tourists and young Dubliners after dark.

Completing most of our four-mile loop, we ended up back near Trinity College. We hopped in a taxi cab and headed back to our ship. This was actually an important part of our day as well, as we had an incredibly friendly taxi driver who told us all about various aspects of the city, ranging from the concerts playing there that summer (Eric Clapton was in town when we were there) to the new tunnel that was built to ease access from the city to the airport to a discussion of development along the southern banks of the Liffey in an area that was formerly used for gasworks and only now is worth the cost of decontamination. Enjoy a small selection of pictures from our (half) day in Dublin.

Our next stop after Cherbourg was scheduled to be Plymouth, on the southwest coast of England. Mother nature did not find this an appealing plan, however, and gale-force winds prevented our ship from laying at anchor, particularly since we would have been forced to use small tender boats to take passengers ashore. Instead, we spent that day at sea, with many of us trying to convince ourselves that the moderate-to-heavy rocking movement was all in our heads.

The next day, the weather had cleared and we docked at Cobh, Ireland (map). Based on recommendations from previous cruisers in the area, we had signed up to take a third-party tour of Cobh, Blarney, and Kinsale. We met up with our bus and headed off to Blarney Village. Thankfully, we beat all of the Royal Caribbean buses to Blarney, and so avoided a long line at Blarney Castle (there are two tourist attractions in Blarney Village: Blarney Castle and the Blarney woollen mills--guess which one everybody flocks to first). We strolled through the lush grounds, and entered the castle for the winding walk to the top of the tower housing the Blarney Stone. Along the way there are various bedrooms, kitchens, and other quarters to be seen, though to be honest if you've seen one unfurnished stone room, you've seen them all.

At the top of the tower, we were greeted by magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, as well as an extremely well-rehearsed operation to allow the hordes of tourists their chance to kiss the Blarney Stone, thereby acquiring the gift of eloquent speech. For those of you keeping score at home: Lynn, Marc, Louise, and I all kissed the stone; Ferne and Dave skipped it. We lingered at the top before heading back down, where our egos were warmed by the sight of the crowds gathering to form a longer and longer line to the top--a line that we had avoided altogether.

From Blarney, we drove south and stopped at Charles Fort, just outside the city of Kinsale. This was a British fort built during the reign of Charles II and used until the British left southern Ireland in the early 20th century. While we had no time to explore the fort properly, we were able to enjoy the picturesque views across the harbour to Kinsale and the surrounding countryside.

Onwards to Kinsale, the culinary capital of Ireland. Kinsale is a brightly colored, bustling harbour-side city, filled with narrow streets, gourmet restaurants, and plenty of traditional Irish pubs that appear more than happy to cater to traditional tourists. We ducked into a pub and scored a table on their back patio for lunch. A sandwich (not Irish) and ale (Irish) for lunch, a short stroll through some Kinsale streets (featuring some entertainingly named establishments), and it was back to the bus.

We wrapped up the day with a drive through Cobh up to the magnificently situated Cobh Cathedral. The cathedral is looms dramatically over Cork Harbour, and offers sweeping views of the harbour and surrounding developments. We walked inside the cathedral, took some photos in and around the church, and returned to the bus and then to the ship.

All in all, a broad but not particularly deep of several Irish highlights. I didn't feel that I learned a tremendous amount about any of these spots, but I did take some pretty pictures. Please enjoy them.

(Last time, we were in London.)

We were supposed to spend our first full day on the cruise docking at Le Havre, in France. From there, Lynn and I were going to hop on a bus down to Paris and spend the day in the City of Lights with our good friend, Jonah. Unfortunately, French workers--as they are wont to do--were on strike at Le Havre's port, and so we were diverted to Cherbourg for the day. Oops, there goes our day in Paris. (See map.)

So we made the most of it in Cherbourg. My in-laws set out to the Musée de Normandie (Normany Museum) in Caen. Meanwhile, Marc, Louise, Lynn, and I failed to find three scooters to rent, and so we settled for four bicycles and set off along the coast. We biked for several hours, stopping frequently to take photos, eat, and enjoy the scenery. Gotta love the French seaside-shack lunch of a baguette with shaved steak, melted cheese, and the most fried french fries I've ever come across.

We headed back into town where Lynn and I dropped off our bicycles and then walked back to the ship. The rest of the day was rather uneventful; oh, except for the part where Marc and Louise got engaged. Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Please enjoy a few pictures from our day in Cherbourg.

If the San Francisco experiment works, no one will have to murder anyone over a parking space.

So, um, without this technology people need to murder each other over parking spaces?

Lynn and I recently returned from our 11-night cruise to England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Norway. But before we even embarked the ship, we spent just about 24 hours in London. From what we've been told, we experienced typical London weather--roughly 74 degrees (Fahrenheit) and barely a cloud in the sky. No wonder those Londoners never complain about their climate!

After depositing our luggage (which consisted only of two backpacks and two carry-on suitcases) at our hotel (£29 for one night), we took the tube to Westminster for the highly-recommended Westminster & the West End London Walk. The tour guide was excellent, the weather perfect, and the sights classic.

Left the tour a bit early to meet up with Ilona, Lynn's college roommate who lives in London. We crossed the Thames and walked along the south bank of the river. We caught lunch along the way (nothing special), passed by the London Eye, and took a brief gander at the Tate Modern and the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We crossed the Millennium Bridge (ugly as sin!) and wandered up to St. Paul's Cathedral. There, I formally introduced London to Lee Feigenbaum by taking a nap on the steps of the cathedral.

The rest of the day saw us tour the closing markets on Brick Lane, enjoy an excellent Indian-food dinner, and got assaulted by a very-confused or very-drunk pedestrian while walking along Liverpool St.

We loved our glimpse of London: it feels very modern yet with a weight and classiness that only comes with the passing of many centuries. I'm sure we'll go back. Please enjoy a small selection of pictures from our one day in London.

   

Edited to add: Lynn was talking to Angelo Jr. upstairs, who observed, "We could all learn to be a little bit more like Tuxie." I couldn't agree more.

Over Memorial Day weekend we were at Cousins' Weekend 2008 at the Doral Arrowwood in Rye Brook, NY. I took some pictures of the fun and games.

And finally, from Passover back in April, a mug only a son-in-law could love:

...as a crime-fighting duo, of course.

1. The ability to grant immunity to anyone who blithely breaks the law.
2. The ability to strip search arbitrary Americans Muslims on the streets of American cities.
3. The ability to shoot first and contrive evidence later.
4. The ability to grant unlimited no-bid contracts to large energy corporations that the Vice President used to work for. (Oh wait, that's a totally different vein in which to be careless and corrupt.)
5. The ability to install cameras in Americans' bedrooms and arrest those engaging in homosexual relations.

Just give me a fucking break already.