Never let it be said that we travel within a narrow range of experiences. Andrew and I like to cast the widest net possible to capture as many faces of a country and culture as we can within the constraints of the time we have. Certainly, during our 3+ years in Spain we got an … More Chabad, Pancakes, Kabuki…and all that jazz!
When we said goodbye to Tokyo, we didn’t in just a few days get to explore all the diverse aspects of this megalopolis, but in hindsight we did get a good sense of the unique neighborhoods, corporate versus local business, and the incredible variety of food and experiences available. Conversely, we did clearly see the … More Kyoto: The Heart and Soul of Japanese History & Culture
With our incessant wanderlust and a lot of family logistics since our trip, I am miserably late in posting about our wonderful trip to Japan. We went on our own and I take some pride in having planned our itinerary myself (with the kind help of other travelers who’d gone before and my now-trusty assistant, … More Japan: The Expected and the Unexpected
We started our day with a shuttle to the island monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel, a World Heritage site and one of three main pilgrimage sites in Europe. The view from our bus arriving at the far end of a bridge that crosses to the actual building was incredible. When the tide comes in, this walking bridge is … More Touring the Normandy Provence
The Normandy Invasion, during World War II involved the Allied invasion of western Europe. It was launched on June 6, 1944 (the most celebrated D-Day of the war), with the simultaneous landing of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France. By the end of August 1944 all of northern France was liberated, and the invading forces reorganized for the drive into Germany, where … More Normandy: The Impossible End to WWII
We made our way to Saint Malo from Trieste. Saint Malo was one of the French towns designated as a fortress under the German Atlantic Wall program, and its prewar defenses were expanded considerably before the Allied landings in Normandy during June 1944. As part of their invasion plans, the Allies intended to capture the town so that its … More Saint Malo and Exploring the Brittany Coast
Our next stop on our European trip late this year was Trieste in very northern Italy near the Slovenia border. You might wonder why we stopped here…we were originally routed through Trieste to get to the start of our biking trip (yes, the one we didn’t get to take after Andrew’s header off his bike). … More Lovely Trieste
The final few days of our time in Australia were filled with lots of memorable experiences. I’ll do what I can to sum them up here. While I am less of an opera fan than Andrew, I felt it would be a grave injustice to pass up a night at the Sydney Opera House with … More Opera, Jewish History, and Zoo Animals!
The next day Andrew and I took off on our own as did Kathy. Kathy had a special interest learning about the indigenous people of Australia and some of the affiliated horticulture of the area, and we wanted to do some hiking and exploring some of the less touristy areas around central Sydney. Our plan … More So Much to See, So Little Time
When Andrew and I visited New Zealand in 2019 we jumped over to Melbourne AU for just a few days on our way home – to get a “taste” of Australia. Admittedly that’s akin to saying, “We visited St Louis, MO and got a taste of the United States”! In any case, this time we … More Hopping Over to Australia: Sydney
Living La Vida Loca 