INDIA | Thursday, 30 Jan 2014 | Views [447]
CNN reported yesterday about 700 passengers who became ill on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Explorer of the Seas; tainted food, I imagine. Although the cruise line offered the passengers a 50% rebate on the cruise, half-price on a future ... Read more >
INDIA | Wednesday, 29 Jan 2014 | Views [1975]
Our plans to spend a few days exploring the temples and caves around Badami were dashed. There were no rooms to be had in either of the decent hotels. Plan “B,” as is sometimes the case, turned out to be the better option. We ... Read more >
INDIA | Tuesday, 28 Jan 2014 | Views [775]
We fared a bit better on the overnight bus from Goa to Hampi thanks to a massive dose of Bonnine. The archeological site of Hampi contains more than 2000 Hindu temples from the 14 th to 16 th Centuries spread over 20 square kilometers, much too ... Read more >
INDIA | Friday, 24 Jan 2014 | Views [494]
Rolly-polly Roy with his potbelly looks a bit like Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu diety with the “hang-loose” attitude. He went out of his way to make our stay at Hospedaria Abrigo de Botelho in Panaji a memorable one, even going ... Read more >
INDIA | Tuesday, 21 Jan 2014 | Views [1782]
Some days India feels like Indonesia or Thailand. At other times it’s more like Africa. We have watched the “dabbawallahs” deliver lunches in Mumbai and peeked into the High Court with its towers of yellowing legal documents, ... Read more >
INDIA | Saturday, 18 Jan 2014 | Views [490]
Everything about India is new to us; the history, people, geography, even the food. So we are taking it slow, starting with a walking tour of Mumbai. Honestly, it isn’t as intimidating as is sounds. Look to the right for oncoming ... Read more >
INDIA | Saturday, 18 Jan 2014 | Views [513]
The city formerly known as Bombay, Mumbai has been described as frenetic, gritty, glamorous – in short, a beautiful mess. And Mumbai is our introduction to “incredible India.”
We have heard that you can’t consider ... Read more >
INDIA | Friday, 17 Jan 2014 | Photo Gallery
Mumbai and Goa
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GERMANY | Monday, 13 Jan 2014 | Views [675]
The Romantic Rhine with its castles, vineyards and medieval villages beckons. But January isn’t the best time to visit. The river cruises have ceased until spring, many hotels are closed for the season and the weather is dreary. ... Read more >
GERMANY | Thursday, 9 Jan 2014 | Views [685]
The Zwinger Palace, built by Augustus II, the Strong, was just one of the casualties of the carpet bombing of Dresden towards the end of World War II. Referred to as "Florence on the Elbe," Dresden was probably more of a cultural center than a ... Read more >
GERMANY | Sunday, 5 Jan 2014 | Views [1355]
Walter Gropius is to 20 th Century architecture what Sartre, Joyce and Picasso are to philosophy, literature and painting respectively. Each found inspiration in the disillusionment that followed the First World War. And it is fitting that ... Read more >
GERMANY | Thursday, 2 Jan 2014 | Views [2227]
Quedlinburg and Goslar are Teutonic treasures, quintessentially German. Surprisingly, neither was mentioned by Rick Steves in Rick Steves Germany , though both are World Heritage sites. Quedlinburg is in the former East Germany (we seem ... Read more >
GERMANY | Wednesday, 1 Jan 2014 | Views [559]
Martin Luther hardly started out to be a religious leader. He was on his way to becoming a lawyer. But when fearing for his life in a storm in 1505 he called upon St. Anne a la Burt Reynolds in The End. “If you save me I will ... Read more >
GERMANY | Tuesday, 31 Dec 2013 | Views [529]
It is a shame to spend a sunny morning struggling against bureacracy, especially Indian bureacracy, but there it is. The Indian visa process recently changed; all forms must be filled out online and submitted in person but the website is woefully ... Read more >
GERMANY | Sunday, 29 Dec 2013 | Views [2239]
During its peak the Hanseatic League included nearly 100 cities. Besides their mercantile interests, towns like Tallin, Riga, Lubeck and Wismar shared an interesting architectural style – interesting if you like unassuming, geometrically ... Read more >
GERMANY | Friday, 27 Dec 2013 | Views [505]
Loyal readers will recall the Hanseatic League from our time in Estonia and Latvia and Poland. It was a confederation of merchant cities in and around northern Germany that basically monopolized trade in the North and Baltic Seas from the 13 th ... Read more >
GERMANY | Friday, 27 Dec 2013 | Photo Gallery
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GERMANY | Thursday, 26 Dec 2013 | Views [1739]
Essen is Germany’s version of Pittsburgh. Coal processing plants provided fuel for the electrical plants and steel mills from before WW II until the 60s and darkened the skies for miles. That was then. Like PBH of today, the skies ... Read more >
GERMANY | Wednesday, 25 Dec 2013 | Views [653]
The scent of votive candles and incense perfumed the air as the organ pumped out something by Bach. The Christmas Evensong service had begun. Even if you aren't Catholic . . . even if you don't understand German . . . even if you don't speak ... Read more >
GERMANY | Monday, 23 Dec 2013 | Views [578]
Charlemagne is lucky. He is buried in the Aachen Cathedral and didn’t have the hassle of finding a place to park. Aachen sits in western Germany on the Dutch/Belgian/German border. Interminable holiday traffic and “Besetzen!”... Read more >
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