Travel Articles
Reading Time: 2 minutesWelcome to Ignorance Abroad …with apologies to Mark Twain Herein I share my adventures in cultural ignorance and education the hard way. You’ll find some differences that are fascinating and intriguing, humorous, or irritating — the last two need not be mutually exclusive. What prompted me to create this series of articles?
Reading Time: 2 minutesSERENDIPITY 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. It is named…
Reading Time: 4 minutesLET’S FLOAT DOWN TO 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…
Reading Time: 3 minutesDRIVING 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 it is more blessed to take the right of way than to give it. Indeed,…
Reading Time: 2 minutesFLORENCE 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 Bible…
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY 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…
Reading Time: 4 minutesHOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION This summer, I spent an extended two-week period in New England and Canada, particularly Maine and Prince Edward Island. Here is my travel log.
Reading Time: 8 minutesITALY TOUR: ROME IN A DAY (OR TWO) A friend of mine is going on an Italy cruise and asked me to suggest some places for the cities where he has a day or two. I was going to put together a spreadsheet, but I didn’t have enough time, so I wrote this Italy Tour…
Reading Time: 3 minutesITALY TOUR: FLORENCE IN A DAY (OR TWO) Can you visit the major Florence sites on an Italy Tour in a single day? If you’re fast or have a bit more than a day. Think of Florence as “Renaissance with a capital R.” Thanks in part to the patronage of the Medici family, the city…
Reading Time: 4 minutesITALY TOUR: VENICE IN A DAY Can you visit the major sites of Venice on an Italy Tour in a single day? It is quite doable; “Venezia” is a smallish island.
Reading Time: 3 minutesITALY TOUR: NAPLES IN A DAY Can you visit Naples on an Italy Tour in a single day? Yes, but you are required by law to eat pizza while there. I went to Naples by mistake (see my funny story here), but while there, I had some pizza; it was invented there. Very popular there…
Reading Time: 2 minutesITALY TOUR: PISA IN A DAY Can you visit Pisa on an Italy Tour in a single day? Yes, a day trip will do it quite easily. Cruise ships regularly dock at the nearby Port of Livorno. Pisa is a Tuscan city passed through by the Arno River, which also passes through Florence further…