North Star on the hard. On 27 August we finally completed all the preparations for winter that we could make in the time available. Shan and I hitched a ride with Nito, the Xufre boatyard owner, and headed to the train station. It's one of those things that happens at the end of the summer. We could have delayed the end but ultimately the end would come.

Our inexpensive air tickets didn't carry us from Spain until the next day, so we bided our time for a night in Santiago de Compostela in our usual hotel, Eurostar Araguaney. This hotel looks like it had seen better days a half a century ago, but the owners had preserved its historic elegance. Its corridors were punctuated with original art which made each trip to our room like wandering through the Corcoran. We have improved our understanding of Spanish menus to a degree, such that eating the the hotel restaurant was not as much of a mystery as it was in previous visits.

The next day's trip to Dublin was great but fell flat when our airport hotel was not really an airport hotel. It was situated miles from the airport which completely obviated our reason for staying there. We still had to haul our big suitcases around and did not have the convenience of shopping and restaurants as we would have had we stayed downtown. We learned that we could not see Dublin in a day. There was just too much to take in. Next time we can stay longer.

Arrival back in Boston, bus from the Logan to South Station, then train to Westerly. Sitting in South Station with our first American G&T was an experience in itself. We were definitely suffering from culture shock. Last year when we returned as we were sitting waiting for our train the announcements were in Bostonian and pretty much unintelligible to us. This year the human voice had been replaced by a computer voice which was more easily understood. After watching the people pass us by there was a definite difference between the appearance of the people between US and Europe. The French in their slim jeans and stylish clothing, Ireland with their happy, jovial faces, and the stocky build of the stereotypical Galicians. Remembering, of course, that one cannot stereotype people! The passers-by in South Station were a melange of all of them and more. Plus most of them spoke English. But it was good to be home.

This year's travel included visits to 19 different ports from Brittany in France to Galicia in Spain and about 1247 nautical miles on North Star. Visits to Ireland, England, France, Spain, and the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey), with side trips to Provence, Nantes, London, Santiago de Compostela and Dublin. Next year's adventures will start in the Spring. I will see you again then for a continuing saga -- that hopefully will get us back to USA.