When I was in school 50+ years ago, we all adhered to the notion that Ithaca was the second least sunny city in America behind Seattle. We all acknowledged that Ithaca was lovely in the summer, but most of us were busy elsewhere during that glorious season. So, to most of us, being in Ithaca meant we hunkered down to our studies and expected nothing of the weather to contribute to our enjoyment of life.…
Today is our day in Brooklyn. We stopped here to see our two granddaughters and my daughter Carolyn and husband John. They live a short walk from our hotel in Red Hook, so after breakfast in the hotel dining room, we headed over with a small suitcase of laundry in tow to do. It was like the prodigal son returning home from college with his dirty laundry, only this time it was the prodigal father…
Do you remember that great scene from the 1972 classic Deliverance starting Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds? The ill-fated canoe trip starts with a stop in a hillbilly town where co-star Ronny Cox gets into a banjo duel with an inbred moon-faced country boy who can pick a mean banjo. I don’t know if the two are connected, but Charlie Daniels great banjo song The Devil Went Down to Georgia would seem to have almost…
We are heading into the last few days of our trip. We’ve made the crossing without incident and will spend a day in Brooklyn to see the granddaughters and daughter Carolyn and John. We’ve booked a local hotel within walking distance from their duplex and will launch our roadtrip to Ithaca on Thursday. I’m going up for my 50th undergraduate reunion and will spend several days communing with all my college friends. The inner circle…
The archipelago of Malta has one last surprise for us…the north island of Gozo. Gozo is the second-largest island in the Maltese archipelago, located in the Mediterranean Sea about 5 kilometers northwest of the main island of Malta. It’s known for its rural charm, dramatic landscapes, and rich history. The island is characterized by rolling hills, terraced fields, limestone cliffs, and beautiful bays. It’s more rural and less developed by nature than Malta, giving it…
Here on Malta I have now seen several ambulances with the words “Mater Dei” on them. Malta’s ambulances display “Mater Dei” because that’s the name of Malta’s main public hospital – Mater Dei Hospital. The ambulances are operated by the national ambulance service and primarily transport patients to this hospital, so they’re branded with its name. “Mater Dei” is Latin for “Mother of God,” reflecting Malta’s strong Catholic heritage. The hospital, which opened in 2007,…
The world is always moving ahead as it seems. No matter what country you go to you will invariably find that there was a city that was very important, perhaps it was a Capital or perhaps it was just a big prosperous city. And then something changed. something is always changing in this world. Everything wants that city that used to be a very important place, which had built up accordingly, to suddenly, and within…
When I arrived in Malta I realized that I had made a strategic error in not bringing my trekking poles. When I started to think about our days of touring and the nature of the sites here in Malta, I started to think that they would be quite a bit of walking through ruins and monuments, not to mention time spent walking through the somewhat hilly town of Valletta. If I had been home, I…
We have arranged to see literally all of Malta over the five days of our stay. Kim hss booked four of the five days we are here with tours that run 9am to 4pm. That’s more dedicating touring than we are used to doing, but that is a testament to the amazing and interesting history of this island nation. Malta is basically a rather dry rock of an island that might have gone uninhabited were…
When we travel, the kind of hotels we are looking for varies with the nature of the travel. If we are doing a quick overnight at the Rome airport as we did two nights ago, we want a standard Hilton or Marriott hotel with all the basic amenities and no frills in particular. It should be standard, easy and quick to get in and out of with minimal hassle. We always want a soft bed…