And now for new year resolutions! ahoy there 2011

I decided to make this list before the revelry of the 31st made me lose my judgment. After a few margaritas and some loud music one tends to make all kinds of resolutions that seem foolish the next morning. And then the guilt sets in. So this year I am starting early. In 2011 I [...]

The best, the worst and the in-betweens! Adieu 2010

The year is racing to a finish, and it is time to look back at what went by, or rather whizzed by. I wish I could have read more, seen more films, traveled more places – and eaten less Films: There were some really good ones and there were some really bad ones, and then [...]

This is not potty humor! From the Minoans to the Caliphate (part 2 of 3)

My travels in Turkey and Greece reminded me that I had NOT continued my series on toilets and bathrooms around the world!  So I paid special attention to these attractions this time around.  Surprisingly sophisticated facilities were found wherever I went, be it the Sultan’s harem at the Topkapi palace or the ruins of Ephesus. [...]

Chihuly in the garden!

Dale Chihuly, glass artist extraordinaire, and the Shaw gardens, otherwise known as the Missouri Botanical Gardens – amazing confluence of sinuous movement in glass and nature in all her glory!  Even before one enters the Ridgeway Visitor Center, a huge centerpiece of writhing glass, that resolves into almost calla lily like shapes at the top, [...]

This is not Potty humor! From the Minoans to the Caliphate (one of two parts)

My travels in Turkey and Greece reminded me that I had NOT continued my series on toilets and bathrooms around the world!  So I paid special attention to these attractions this time around.  Surprisingly sophisticated facilities were found wherever I went.  The earliest (historically speaking) site was the “palace” of Knossos, in Heraklion, Crete.  The [...]

That’s the spirit for me!

I was in Dundee, Scotland and seized the opportunity to taste some fine single malts. 

The road to Nyaka!

It was early 2005, and I was trying to claw my way out of a personal abyss.  The time of disbelief had somehow run smack into the time to play catchup with everything that had been sitting around waiting.  Work was wonderful as a way to keep demons at bay, and total immersion let me [...]

I thought Stonehenge would have been much more imposing

It is possibly the only monument that can be seen fully in a drive by sighting. Though paying the fees and entering gives one a wonderful guided audio tour. Erected around 2500 BC, this prehistoric monument made of monolithic stones in a nearly circular formation that some wrongly speculated may have been used for ritual [...]

What blooms in Kristineberg!

Summer in Sweden means LONG days, and I am talking really really long. And all around, the hillsides and gardens bloom. What a wonderful time to visit the WEST (otherwise known as the BEST) coast of Sweden. The Gullmarsstrand Hotel in the little fishing village of Fiskebackskil is nice, clean, and right on the water. [...]

A rainy day in Berlin – museum time!

Day 2 – Berlin, forecast – rains and wind, agenda – stay warm and dry, plan – visit some monuments and museums! The day started out with trying to find a shop and purchase a raincoat! Next up was the Berlin Dom. An imposing edifice that sits at one end of the Museum island, the [...]

“Ich bin ein Berliner” – I wish!

Is Germany on your list of places to visit? Then you must be male and either a beer or a soccer fanatic! But this belief of mine was shattered when I visited Berlin last month. After spending 3 glorious days in the city, I too wanted to be a Berliner. There are some peculiarities to [...]

Walking with baby elephants! The David Sheldrick project

Henry Mancini composed the classic tune Baby Elephant Walk for the Howard Hawkes film Hatari (1962). Needless to say the baby elephants overshadowed Bwana Wayne and the wet young Martinelli. In Nairobi I had the chance to visit the David Sheldrick project that shelters and raises orphaned animals. We arrived just in time to observe [...]

Flights of Pink and fights in the wilderness…. Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya

My recent trip to Kenya took me out of Nairobi and on the Nairobi Kampala road towards the Great Rift Valley. Traveling on the smooth highway in fast flowing traffic took us past many small towns with their unique street markets: The road to the Rift Valley Lodge veered off the main highway and rapidly [...]

Tortured turquoise and white thunder! Glaciers of Alaska

Hundreds of years of snow flakes piled one upon the other, the pressure leading to compaction and melting and refreezing into ice caused the formation of glaciers. And the slow move of these glaciers led to erosion and the formation of U shaped valleys – a hallmark of glaciation activity. These valleys are very different [...]

The Last Frontier – Alaska, where land ends!

(FROM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alaska_Panhandle.png) The inner passage of the Alaska panhandle consists of large land masses separated by fjords created by glacier activity. Cruising this passage begins in Vancouver. Most of the regions along the passageway are accessible by ships or seaplanes; a target of opportunity seen here – a Chevron gas-station in the middle of the [...]