Croatia – An Illyrian Garden
Croatia was a tabula rasa for me. I knew it was part of the former Yugoslavia and that it inhabited a long stretch of beachfront along the Adriatic, which I imagined was… Read More
Venice – The Papal Blessing
We spent quite a bit of time debating whether to skip Venice in favor of somewhere less touristy. Surprising perhaps given the city’s rich history, sheer beauty and standing in the world of… Read More
Switzerland – Wanderwege und Bahnhöfen
BRITTANY TO BASEL…BARELY There should be a Nobel Prize offered for travel coordination. After all, the underlying mechanics are complicated – factoring in distances, speed, language proficiency, transfers, pick-ups and drop-offs, petrol… Read More
France – Normandy & Brittany
ESCAPE FROM PARIS After picking up our rental car at Gare du Nord and navigating a mid-size station wagon out of a compact size parking spot and up an economy size ramp,… Read More
France – Life in Paris
It’s only two hours and 16 minutes on the high-speed Eurostar train from London’s St. Pancras International to Paris’ Gare du Nord. Although both cities are among the top travel destinations in… Read More
England – London Eye & Mad Eye
The high-speed train from Edinburgh to London’s Kings Cross station was uneventful and put us at our hotel by late afternoon, which meant we’d begin our city exploration the following day. In the… Read More
Scotland – Nessie, Whisky & Naughty Zoot
Our journey was from Portree to Inverness, which has about 60,000 residents and is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe. The route was only about 160 miles but would take… Read More
Scotland – Castles & Lochs
Our travel day from Reykjavik to Glasgow was spent packing, walking, riding, flying, driving and surviving customs and queues, bad GPS and miscellaneous frustrations. It didn’t help anyone’s mood that we woke so… Read More
Iceland – The Wild Finish
Technically it was still summer, August 28th, and the sky harbored a bright and shiny sun. But the air smelled like fall. The hosts at the Hildibrand Hotel had set us up with… Read More
Iceland – Flirting with the Arctic Circle
It was Monday, August 25th, and the weather was blustery and dark with powerful wind gusts that climbed the bluffs and pounded our car. Even the short 50 meter walk to breakfast… Read More
Iceland – The Western Fjords
The rental car shuttle bus that was supposed to pick me up at 9:00a was a no-show, and I stood outside while Angela and the boys left for, enjoyed and then returned from… Read More
Iceland – Welcome to Reykjavik
The European leg of our journey started with an early domestic flight from SFO to Minneapolis before grabbing the international red eye into KEF (Reykjavik). We were impressed with Sun Country Airlines… Read More