Madrid, Spain We started our day at the Museum of the Americas, commemorating Spain’s dramatic colonization history, and the reason Spanish is the world’s most spoken language.
There were several ways the story could have been presented. I was curious to see if there was any sense of apology for the destruction of whole civilizations and the brutal imposition of Christianity on indigenous populations.
Spoiler alert: No.
Continue reading “The Conquistadors”Madrid, Spain If this story turned up in your news feed, you have already heard about the elderly woman evicted from her Madrid home of over 70 years due to a huge rent hike. (If not, here’s the story: https://www.reuters.com/world/protesters-camped-out-across-spain-demand-passage-housing-measures-2026-09-30/)
Continue reading “The old and the new”Madrid, Spain We had an odd start to our trip to Spain. Our flight left New York at 4:30 in the afternoon, and arrived in Madrid at 5am. Calculate the six hour time difference and you realize we got here before midnight in New York. Hey – when were we supposed to sleep? I have to admit we were still wide awake, which is unusual when arriving in Europe.
We got to our hotel hours too early, but we had a plan. After storing our luggage and having breakfast, we headed for Hop-On bus tours, using the minumum amount of energy and consuming the maximum amount of time.
Continue reading “Madrid from the bus”New York, NY It’s been our goal for several years to tour Egypt. But the people who built the pyramids were not as driven, it appeared, to complete the eagerly awaited new Grand Egyptian Museum on schedule. There have been many cancelled opening dates, but this massive edifice is now well and truly open.
It is considered spectacular. For the first time, key artifacts of each dynasty are properly displayed in their historical contexts, and — drum roll, please — King Tut’s riches have a proper home.
We are stopping in Madrid on our way, to break up a long trip and to rendezvous with friends June and Alan. Then it’s off to Cairo, as we plunge deep into our most ancient civilization yet.
Get ready!
The Bronx, New York Simon and Garfunkel had it right. Recently we spent a perfect-weather day at our amazing local zoo, considered one of the best in the world.
Even though it has rightly earned that title, due to its careful conservation and stewardship of the animals under its care, it’s getting a bit harder to see zoos as necessary and appropriate.
However, habitats for the animals have improved greatly over the years, making good zoos worthy of respect. Ours is in a beautiful setting, next to the Bronx River, with wonderful landscaping and mature plantings making it seem just a little bit wild at at times.
Western Canada June 2016 And now for something completely different. First of all, for those of you waiting impatiently to learn if Don ever returned from Asia, the answer is yes. For those waiting for details on the end of his trip, you will have to wait until he finishes digesting his memories.
While that is happening, we decided to escape briefly to our neighbor to the north. We are so lucky to have a civilized, democratic, diverse, well-led and stable country so very close.
Our motivation is the promise we made to visit Don’s cousin Pamela in Vancouver BC. We first met in Osaka, then had Christmas together in New York. Now we get to see her part of the world. This is a mini-review of all we saw.
Continue reading “O Canada”Siem Reap, Cambodia It was another grueling seven-hour bus ride to get from Phnom Penh in Cambodia’s south to Siem Reap in the center part of the country, near the border of Thailand.
Siem Reap is the penultimate tourist town. Loaded with bars and restaurants of all levels, from dives to high-end gourmet, as well as accomodations from backpack hovels to five-star resorts.
Continue reading “Our man in Asia, Part 6”Phnom Penh, Cambodia It was a grueling seven-hour bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh, including an hour-plus hassle at the border crossing. The landscape changed immediately at the border. Vietnam is lush and green. Cambodia is dry and not lush. One of the people on the tour had just finished a 55-day tour through Africa and proclaimed that roadside Cambodia looked like Africa.
Continue reading “Our man in Asia, Part 5”London, England Lots of lovely experiences came my way this month.
I revisited some familiar favorite sites. I saw some wonderful things that were quite new to me. I decided that the Northern Line is much more convenient than I ever realized. Though I did have an accident that involved a trip to the emergency room of a nearby (very impressive) major hospital, it was not caused by stepping into the street and failing to look in the correct direction – a rookie tourist mistake.
Continue reading “The merry month of March”East Sussex, England Charleston Farm was the country home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and is an example of their decorative style, representing more than sixty years of artistic work.
Continue reading “A place of their own”
