The Mayor of Sturgis sponsors an escorted motorcycle “ride” each year at the Sturgis Rally. Holly and I decided to pay the $150 registration fee and follow along. It turned out to be an adventure in riding especially since the police had every single intersection blocked off for our benefit for the entire duration of the 110 mile ride. Needless to say we caused roadblocks everywhere we went but we never had to stop at a single red light or stop sign for the entire parade. That was not necessarily a good thing as our butts got awfully sore after 4 hours in the saddle.

Mayor of Sturgis - 2010 Ride for Charity

Holly and I rode our Honda ST1300 to the 2010 Sturgis motorcycle rally. We had visited Sturgis South Dakota in 2008 but this year was epic as they estimated over 500,000 motorcycles were going to show up along with over 830,000 riders and passengers.

Click on the image below to see all the photos from Day One

70th Anniversary Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2010

Last time we stayed at Spearfish Canyon but this time we decided to stay in Rapid City so we could be closer to a variety of restaurants and happenings.

2010 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Rapid City

Holly’s best friend’s daughter got married this weeked and we had the luck to be home to attend. I will write more later but I can safely say Holly and I enjoyed the entire event.

Laura and Sean's Summer Wedding

We were looking for an excuse to take a weekend motorcycle ride down to the States so I searched for an airshow we could attend. As it turns out there was one happening in Duluth and it looked inviting. We decided to take two days to get there and two days back making it a five day adventure. We left Friday to Bimiji taking the less travelled Highway 59 South. The Canadian/American border was quiet and we got to the Hampton Inn in Bimiji in plenty of time to relax and go out for a leasierly dinner. Ironically Holly decided to have Canadian Walley although where we come from in Canada this particular fish is called Pickeral.

We arrived early on Saturday to get a chance to walk around the Duluth Harbour area and do some sightseeing.

2010 07 Bemidji - Duluth - Akeley Minnesota

The acutal airshow turned out to be fantastic. We got into the special tent where they served drinks and food and we had a front row view of the events. The best part was the ToraToraTora display where 5 pilots flew Mitsubisi Zeros into and around the special effects wall of fire.

2010 07 Duluth Airshow

UNESCO proclaimed the Sintra Hills near Lisbon Portugal, where the 9th Century Moorish Castle, the 19th Century Palace of Pena and the Park of Pena are located, as the first Cultural Landscape World Heritage site listed in Europe. The Moorish Castle was built in and around the 9th century and was taken over when the Moors were run out of Portugal during the Second Crusade in 1147. My volunteer tour guide Ryan, an American living and working in Portugal, and I walked up the steep pathway to the top watchtower while the early morning mist and cold winds were still chilling to the bone.

From Moorish Castle and Palace of Pena Portugal

This was no wall of China but it was still impressive considering it was most likely built using levers, pulleys and ropes on this steep hill side. Most of the renovations, however, are from the Portuguese Romantic period when King Ferdinand rebuilt this castle along with the nearby Palace of Pena seen in the mist on an adjacent hill top.

From Moorish Castle and Palace of Pena Portugal

After sitting on lee wind side of the highest tower, on the bench that Ferdinand loved to sit and reflect and paint, we headed down to the Palace of Pena entrance where we caught a bus up to the palace. A South African couple, who were touring Portugal in an attempt to stay out of SA during the World Cup, came along with us. I never got their names but they ended up in my pictures anyway.

From Moorish Castle and Palace of Pena Portugal

Despite being so high up on a mountain overlooking the country side, it was still used as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family. The most amazing thing about the castle, however, was that everything that they owned and used on a daily basis was still in the castle room for room.

Manuel II of Portugal was deposed by a military coup, later known as the 5 October 1910 revolution, resulting in the establishment of the Portuguese First Republic. Queen Amélie left Portugal with the rest of the royal family and went into exile. She lived most of her remaining life in France. During World War II she was offered to return to Portugal by the Portuguese government, but she declined the offer. She visited Portugal the last time in 1945.

Queen Amelie spent her last night in Portugal in her bedroom of this castle and left the next day leaving all her worldly possessions behind. The newly formed republic had the good sense to actually preserve the castle and royal possessions for posterity. The number of ornate and intricately crafted items, such as French silverware, tropical wood furniture, marble and jade tables, ivory Jesus figures, Chinese porcelain jars and basins, and crystal chandeliers showed an obsession with collecting “things” and a dread for empty spaces. Amelie’s mother of pearl backed horse hair brushes were placed on her ebony desk in her dressing room as if she had just brushed her hair after breakfast in 1910 and left to visit her cousin for the afternoon. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the interior although Wikipedia has some images published.

One of the most detailed carvings or depictions was the “Green Man” statue attached to one arched entrance. I have never seen one so large or complete as this full bodied green man who sported fish fins for feet and has a tree trunk growing out of his back. It is a strange figure to have to look up to everyday in your summer cottage.

From Moorish Castle and Palace of Pena Portugal

Moorish Castle and Palace of Pena Portugal

For the full size images please click on the link above to visit my Travelographer web site.

Portugal is one of those European countries that have been crisscrossed by marauding tribes, armies, nations and crusaders since the beginning of civilization. A short list would comprise of the Celtics, Germanics, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Suebics, Visigoths, Moorish, Norwegians, Spanish and of course Napoleon and his French armies. Lisbon, or Lisboa, was the center of attention for these visitors and in numerous attempts to defend the fertile peninsula the reigning “king of the castle” built fortified walls, ramparts, towers and eventually a full scale castle on the highest hill overlooking the city. The African Moors won and maintained their dominance of Lisbon until the Second Crusade when the English Crusaders joined forces with King Afonso Henriques to take the fortification in 1147 opening the door for Alfonso’s family bloodline to establish the Kingdom of Portugal.

In the 14th Century the castle was dedicated to Saint George to commemorate the marriage between the Portuguese King John 1 and an English princess. Apparently both the Portuguese and the English loved the dragon slaying warrior saint and the castle is affectionately known as the Castle of Sao Jorge.

The latest invaders, however, are the tourists and I joined the unruly mob of grandmothers and Japanese as we siege the bus that took us to the front entrance. Here we demanded our tickets which the hapless long haired teenager relinquished for a small price of €2.80 and we proceeded to take the castle by storm.

From Estoril, Cascais and Lisboa Portugal June 2010

You can see here one of our natural leaders trying to determine the best trajectory for blasting the surrounding city with a loose cannon.

I managed to get some decent images as I wandered the city but a few came off rather blurry as my anti-vibration feature of my Sony camera decided to go into permanent vibration mode.

Estoril, Cascais and Lisboa Portugal June 2010

For viewing the full size images in my Travelographer site click on the image above.

It’s not often I get invited to an almost but not quite royal wedding. When I arrived in my black SUV at the entrance to the Camelot inspired event tent the traditional Yoruba band struck up a lively beat on their wooden drums. Then as I stepped out into the sunshine the lovely young girls dropped to their knees in awe and audulation. I was dumbstruck with the attention I was getting until someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me sir, the Governor is behind you. Can you step out of the way and let him by?”

From Lola's Traditional Wedding

I will let the rest of the pictures do the talking.

Lola's Traditional Wedding

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the 2010 CHC Safety and Quality Summit. I think this was the biggest event ever and the most well attended. I certainly enjoyed this years presentations as safety management finally seems to be getting better understood.

After the official summit had come to an end, Holly and I went to Sydney to visit with Viking Air. One of the highlights of our trip was the Beaver flight from Coal Harbour to Pat Bay on Vancouver Island with Saltspring Air. The flight was fun and professional - the way flying ought to be. This type of flying is a far cry from the crazyness that comes with international airport security. We didn’t get to see the new Twin Otter as it was doing trial flights in Calgary but we got the grand tour of the productions facilities in Sydney.

From Vancouver CHC Safety Summit

A Viking Winter Tale

I now know why the Vikings spent thousands of years trying to get out of Denmark. The winter landscape is bleak and unrelenting. I searched the horizon for some relief but was only rewarded with wind bent leafless trees and stark white technologically marvelous but character bereft wind mills. The oxidized aluminum skies meet the sodden wool grey farm lands on a distinct but gut gnawing horizon. The wind is depressingly cold and no matter how well you dress it sucks the heat out of your inner soul leaving you empty and suicidal. I started thinking about the level of despair it would take to wade into the cold grey North Sea and not turn back. That was where I was in Denmark during the Viking winter.

Esbjerg is an old fishing port. Fishing is what the Viking did before they plundered and pillaged their way across Europe to Rome and Moscow. Fishing is what they did until there were no more fish in the North Seas. Then Esbjerg was reinvented as an international port for offshore oil and gas and from here a small Danish company started flying helicopters to support the same industry. The only problem is that the North Seas Oil is not expected to last nearly as long as the fish stocks and no matter how well you manage it the oil isn’t renewable. In other words, this port and the supporting helicopter industry has a time life. That too was depressing.

So although there is a hustle and bustle around the town and there is evidence of wealth and prosperity there is also a hint of quiet despair. The drunks in the town square at all hours, the teenagers staggering out of the night clubs at 5am, the gangs of loud drunken tattooed arms and shaved heads rough necks hanging around and drinking Heineken in public all remind me of a society in decline. The Porsche 911 GT3, however, was a bright spot in an otherwise dull day. I guess I am too shallow to wade into the sea. Instead, drooling over a car I can’t afford somehow makes me feel better all over.

Danish Porsche 911 GT3

I had a day off in London and took the opportunity to wander around. The day was crisp and cool with a clear sky. I started at the Wellington Arch right acress from the Intercontinental Hotel where I was staying . I paid the 4.50 shillings and climbed to the top of the arch where the angel of peace perpetually rides the chariot of war down from the sky. I took a picture of the bronze horses from the only angle I could and noted the beautiful blue sky above the sculpture.

From here I caught the underground from Hyde Park to Leicester and found my way to Trafalgar Square where I was forced to look up to see Lord Nelson mounted on his column 50 meters in the air. It was then I noticed the blue sky was streaked with jet trails. The more I looked the more white trails I saw. The one thing I love about coming into the Heathrow Airport is the fact that we often fly right over downtown London. Now I was seeing the jets from below. There were so many jets passing over head London that the sky was streaked with crisscrossing contrails going in every direction.

London Sky