West Bank: Dead Sea
June 2018 [from FB post: June 22, 2016] Hope At the beach on the Dead Sea. Everyone is wearing what they want, doing what they like, and...
Oman: Muscat
Darsait Viewpoint Qurm Beach Qurm Natural Park Qurm Natural Park Qurm Natural Park. March 2016 [from FB post: March 11, 2016] Muscat...
England: Lisboa Patisserie, London
April 2012 Pastéis de nata Pastéis de nata were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in the...
Australia: Darwin
November 2004 My final visit to Australia was to the rarely visited "top end". We were exploring Kakadu National Park and other famous...
Malaysia: Rafflesia, Kinabalu Park, Sabah
jungle trek Rafflesia. February 1997 We were actually staying at the swank 5-star Tanjung Aru Resort when we visited Kota Kinabalu. The...
New Zealand: Southern Alps
January 1993 When the world finally "discovered" New Zealand via the movies, I was not surprised. On my visit the country very much...
Puerto Rico: a lot of firsts
March 1981 Sophomore year at Georgetown held a lot of new adventures for me. I was a member of the "French House" on campus, which was...
Vietnam: My Son
December 2007 On our second visit to Vietnam, the drive to Ho Chi Minh City was punctuated with visiting Cham Archeological sites. The...
Morocco: Fez Station sunset
December 2019 the end approacheth I had spent a very full day in Fez and mostly enjoyed it. It had exceeded my expectations in some...
India: Kathakali Dance
Kochi, February 2010 Kathakali is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by...
Vienna: Globe Museum
April 2019 On my rain-plagued visit to Vienna while working in Iraq, I discovered a branch of the National Library [see: Austrian State...
India: Tamil Nadu (first trip)
January-February 2012 The best laid plans.... My dear friend from Tamil Nadu whom I came to know in Singapore, MP, was desperate for me...
Germany: Zwinger Palace, Dresden
July 2019 Dresden was beautiful before it was fire-bombed near the close of World War II. Along with the Frauenkirche, one of the...
Istanbul: pleasure palace leftovers
İncili Köşk August 2020 Built into the old Roman walls of Byzantium in the late 16th century was a pleasure palace on the Bosphorus for...
Portugal: Belém Tower
Tower of Saint Vincent August 2017 The project was started on a basaltic rock outcrop a short distance from the riverbank, using some of...
USA: Austin, TX
Texas State Capitol. January 1984 little blue dot Long before Americans viewed the country as red and blue, the red and blue divide...
Philippines: Manokan Country, Bacolod
Nenas Beth, Manokan Country, Bacolod, Negros. June 2015 From the Filipino perspective: Manokan country is a complex of a couple dozens...
France: first trip to Paris
March 1994 A chambre de bonne is a type of French apartment consisting of a single room in a middle-class house or apartment building. It...
UAE: Bastakiya, Dubai
October 2019 In the late 19th century the Sheikh of Dubai gave generous incentives to traders. In the pre-oil days, most of the city's...
Italy: Basilica Sant' Andrea, Mantua
April 2017 Mantua is one of those surprise cities in Italy that no one talks much about but is filled with incredible artistic and...