Today we went on a tour of Panama City. We’ll talk about most of it in other posts. There was one place we visited, however, that would have been a huge hit with my dad. The Church of San Jose in Casco Viejo, or La Inglesia de San Jose, is one of the most prominent […]
The Arts
Best Bathrooms Ever!
On the way to Door County from Little Compton we decided to drive through Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I was born and raised in Sheboygan. While I was in high school, I worked as a janitor at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. The job was much more than janitoring. I helped set up shows, was the […]
Vigeland Museet og Parken
We were recommended to check out Vigeland Park in Oslo. So we did. It is an impressive place, filled with tourists, primarily, it seemed, from Asia. Little did we know, as we walked through the place, that Vigeland himself was something of a Nazi sympathiser and that his works are sometimes considered to “reek of […]
Amsterdam – Dirk Turf
Those of you who knew Derek ten years ago, when he was an AFS student living with us, may be wondering about my use of the name “Dirk.” Well, in the Netherlands, “Dirk” is pronounced almost like “Derek” is in the US. Dirk took pity on us, and just went with Derek, even though he […]
Van Gogh’d
The Netherlands is justifiably proud of its heritage of painters, from centuries ago up to today. We had to be selective. With Dirk’s help, we knocked it out of the park. Of all the artists of whom they are proud, Van Gogh is the rockstar around here. We went to three museums with significant Van […]
Berlin Rhymes
Cover Photo: Ellen posing in front of a “Trabi” or Trabant, an East German vehicle. Ellen’s Thoughts: Who Knew! Not at all what I expected! Then I am not sure what I expected.We went on a walking tour and the guide was fantastic! He was 28 years old, doing graduate school in Sociology after deciding […]
Strasbourg Cathedral
I’m not one to tout cathedrals, but we both found the Strasbourg Cathedral wonderful. And not just because it was free of charge to enter, although that helped. Unfortunately, the famous clock with the apostles was under repairs so we couldn’t see it. Here is a bit from wikipedia: Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of […]
Lyon
We saw Jack and Janie in Montreal when Blakey and Julia were graduating from McGill some 8 years ago. Before that, I hadn’t seen Jack since we traveled after I worked at L’Hotel de la Plage in the summer of 1979. We didn’t really know what to expect, but looked forward to seeing each other. […]
The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on Madrid
According to Wikipedia, “Spanish rain does not actually stay mainly in the plain. It falls mainly in the northern mountains. In Spanish, the phrase was translated as La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla (The rain in Seville is marvellous). The lyric about Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire implies (but does not entail) that hurricanes ever occur […]
Grecotown
Nancy, Ellen, and I did a daytrip to Toledo. We took the high speed train, as it takes 30 minutes, vs. 90 on the bus. It was another whirlwind, but would like to go back sometime. We didn’t get to see many of the panoramas from a distance for which Toledo is famous. It’s also […]