Outside of the biggest cities, Ireland is a place of neighboring town and country regions. Each has its own charms, breathtaking scenery, architecture, decoration, and soul. Farms and fields provide food. Lovely town streets are lined with boutique shops, small hotels, and historic pubs and cafes. Irish Gaelic is spoken often in everyday life. These […]
Ireland has the nickname “Emerald Isle,” which is fitting for its landscapes of green. Frequent, but not long, rains water plants as they grow happily and heavenward in a chlorophyll-filled blaze across the island. Some say there are 50 shades of green in an acre of Irish soil. I say there must be at least […]
Ireland is called the Land or Island of Saints and Scholars. It is land of saints because of the rapid foundation of Christianity after its arrival in 400 A.D. As a result, monasteries and clerical institutions rose from the local stone throughout the late 5th through 9th Centuries. Pictured in the accompanying video, some of […]
In Ireland, the Rock of Cashel stands as the most complete complex of historical structures from the Medieval Ages. In a self-guided tour of the site, you view excellent examples of: 1. early Christian architecture, (the Round Tower;) 2. Romanesque (newly-restored Cormac’s Chapel, frescoes;) and, 3. Gothic, (ruins of the main cathedral, built between A.D. […]
This summer, a trip to British Columbia in Canada included a visit to the Okanagan. A series of lakes, valleys, and mountains – the result of glaciation – greeted me as I crossed the northcentral border with Washington state. The pace felt slower, more relaxed, and agricultural; just what I needed for a vacation-break. Today, […]
From quiet and tranquil to wild and daring, this video looks at the four-season landscapes of British Columbia — Nitobe Memorial Gardens at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a Japanese-style public garden; and, Whistler resort, with its art museums, activities, and accommodations, the home of the Winter Olympics of 2010.
Reopening this summer after a two-year seismic retrofit, The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Colombia should be on your list of places to visit in the greater Vancouver, Canada area. No pun intended, but I could have been one of the first people to visit this homage to First Nations culture after […]
As part of my adventures, I like grand national parks, horizon-filling national monuments, and beautiful open spaces of all kinds. These places highlight nature in all of its wide-open magnificence. Yet, I also love the smaller scale, more detailed, intimate gardens I visit. In that sense, the Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver, Canada, surprised me […]
This is a quick song and video about Japan’s quick trains, the “Shinkansen.” At first, train service in Japan, (subway, local commuter routes, high-speed bullet trains,) can be daunting and confusing. I was aware of some of the humorous looks I got while pondering over the signs and directions in the station. Once I got […]
From big city hustle to forested ryokans (traditional Japanese inns,) Japan has it all. Japan is a mix of the old and the new. Though wars and earthquakes have been destructive, Japan has rebuilt itself in the styles of the past and the modern. Here, you find people living in modern housing and traveling on […]