You plan on some things, and others just happen. Usually you don't plan on getting bitten by a rattlesnake for example. It's just one of those things when you're out in desolate country; alone, weather beaten and emotionally off guard. Of course you could argue that inserting yourself into desolate and dangerous country is, in a way, inviting an encounter with an ill-tempered reptile. True I didn't know when setting out on my two-month canoe trip … [Read more...]
Stay in a Work of Art and Enjoy the Fun in its Melody Bar
The exterior of the Gladstone Hotel One going out in Toronto, Canada's largest city, to enjoy an evening of fun and tasty food will find no better place than the Gladstone Hotel and its Melody Bar. A unique renovated historical abode, it was built in 1889 and is the oldest still operating hotel in Canada. In 2005 it was re-launched as an art hotel with 37 rooms each designed by a different artist. With locally made furniture and its artist … [Read more...]
53 Days
What could 53 days buy you? Think of it. What if you had 53 days? What could you do in that time? That length of time could buy you half a summer vacation. Or maybe you would look at it as two months salary minus the interfering weekends. Not long ago I exchanged 53 days for 2,341 miles. I then took those miles and exchanged them for an experience that I think changed my life forever. I was between jobs, you see, and so I took a Canoe and … [Read more...]
Christmas in Catalonia
Little is left until Christmas - and walking the streets seeing all the lights and decorations we all feel the holiday spirit in our bones. All cultures that celebrate Christmas share common traditions, like having a tree or a nativity scene, however, every culture as some peculiarities when it comes to holiday customs. I have been living in one of the apartments in Barcelona for over 2 years now and I found that there are some very odd … [Read more...]
Esotouric, West Adams Neighborhood, Los Angeles
Esotouric offers a variety of tours in Los Angeles; their name is a twist of "esoteric" and all their tours have an element of this. We joined the founders, the husband wife team of Kim and Richard for their niche historic West Adam's "crime" tour which covers a part of Los Angeles most tourists will never visit - although this neighborhood is fairly close to Exposition Park and relatively close to downtown. As with other neighborhoods in Los … [Read more...]
Budapest: City of Change
There is a lilting quality to Budapest that changes to crashing crescendos as one visits different parts of this medieval city. Budapest has been prey to many conquerors...the Mongols, the Turks and more recently - the Germans and then the Russians. Now it has been restored to its own people, the Hungarians who arrived to create their first settlement early in the 9th century. This beautiful city straddling the Danube has much to offer to … [Read more...]
Christmas in New York
The Christmas season is upon us and once again the streets are lit up and decorated beautifully to brighten up the winter season. Many cities celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season with an official tree lightning. You don't have to live in one of the apartments in New York to know that the tree lightning of the Christmas tree in front of the Rockefeller Center is one of the most famous lightning ceremonies. Every year the ceremony gets … [Read more...]
Tales from the Desert Kuwait
Staring out at the blackened waters of the Persian Gulf from high atop our hotel room near old town Kuwait City. The sun has obviously set and we are free to go out on the streets and eat food. 8 more days of Ramadan await us and our daylight appetites. Upon flying in our flight attendant enthusiastically made an announcement, "If you would like to see a spectacular view of desert sand, please pull down your window shades". Based on her tone … [Read more...]
Portuguese Christmas Traditions
Portugal is not a place that people associate with Christmas right away. The mild temperatures make a white winter wonderland for the holidays nearly impossible and for some it is hard to imagine Christmas without snow. And though the holiday traditions vary across countries, we have a certain Americanized image in mind of traditional Christmas festivities that the media promotes. But the idea of 10°C and sun during the wintertime is not … [Read more...]
Huevos Estrellados in Madrid
After having lived in a couple of different places apart from the people I met and memories I made there is at least one dish or a particular restaurant that I keep in mind and miss. I have been living in Spain for over 2 years now, but I have yet to visit the Spanish capital. So far I haven't really had the time to go. A dish that I have grown to like in Barcelona, but actually has its origins in Madrid is huevos estrellados or rotos … [Read more...]
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