Travel Articles
HISTORY OF REEK SUNDAY Several years ago, at this time of the Summer, on one of my teaching trips to Ireland, I found myself on the west coast, where they have a saying, “Ahh… west o’ here, the next parish over is Boston.“ This Sunday, the last one in July every year, marks Reek Sunday or…
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History of Holocaust Remembrance Day Today, April 8, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a part of Holocaust Days of Remembrance, established by the U.S. Congress as the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. The U.S. Army remembers the six million Jewish and millions of other victims of the Holocaust and honors the survivors’ resilience. In…
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HISTORY OF THE IDES OF MARCH According to the ancient Roman calendar, the ides fell on the 13th of the month with the exception of the months March, May, July, and October, when it fell on the 15th of the month. Something epochal occurred in 44 B.C. Et tu, Brute? It was on March 15,…
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HISTORY OF STARKBIER FESTIVAL March 13 begins the Starkbierfest. The heart of this festival is in Munich, Germany, specifically at Paulaner am Nockherberg Brewery, where it all began, and lasts about two weeks. It is unlike its more well-known sibling Oktoberfest in a few ways. Little Known Outside of Germany and Munich in particular, it’s not widely known, except…
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HISTORY OF REEK SUNDAY, Part 3: LOCATION In our previous article on Reek Sunday, we discussed the Pilgrimage to County Mayo, Ireland for Cruach Phadraig — as it is known in Irish — that is also called “The Reek.” It stands at 764 meters or 2510 feet elevation. It is located about 5 miles from…
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HISTORY OF REEK SUNDAY, part 2: PILGRIMAGE Pilgrims, nature lovers, archeologists, historians, and hill climbers come from all over the world to climb the mountain on Reek Sunday. In our previous article, we discussed the Tradition. Here we discuss the pilgrimage that has been going on for centuries, and an older one for millennia. More…
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HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION I spent an extended two-week period this summer in New England and Canada, particularly Maine and Prince Edward Island. Here is my travel log. Day 1: Maine My first time in Maine. Motto of the Interstate “Camp in the woods, not the left lane.” It only…
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HISTORY OF REEK SUNDAY Several years ago at this time of the Summer, I was on the west coast of Ireland, where they say, “West o’ here, ta next parish over, tat’s Boston.” This Sunday, the last one in July every year, marks Reek Sunday, or Garland Sunday in Ireland. At this time between 25,000…
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FLORENCE GALLERIA – MICHELANGELO’S DAVID To see the statue of David, for the first time takes your breath away. In the tribune at the end of a long gallery lit naturally from above by a glass cupola, this statue is the most beautiful man-made thing I’ve ever seen. You know the familiar story from the…
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DRIVING IN ITALY It has been said that you have to be CRAZY to drive in Italy, but I tell you that you MUST be crazy to drive in Italy — preferably homicidal. Drivers here are assertive and aggressive, believing that it is more blessed to take the right of way than to give it.…
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PERU In Frank Sinatra’s song “Come Fly With Me” the second verse starts with: Come fly with me, lets float down to Peru In llama land, there’s a one man band And he’ll toot his flute for you Come fly with me, well float down in the blue While no one man band was in…
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SERENDIPITY I believe travel should be like a well-oiled machine. The saying goes that Mussolini “made the trains run on time” in Italy and I figured I should take advantage of that. Upon our arrival in Rome, I navigated us on the Airport Express train to Rome‘s main train station, the Termini (named not for…
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