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When in Rome, Do as Roamins
With just two nights in Rome, and having been here for a week 19 years ago, our interest was simply to enjoy the city with a series of exhausting walks. No meal was exceptional, except for a lunch on a hot afternoon with a wine merchant/sommelier/man-of-the-world reduced to being our waiter at a sidewalk cafe […]
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Florence, maybe this time
Oscar Wilde once observed that “When a woman remarries, it is because she detested her first husband. When a man remarries, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.” I guess my return to Florence was a womanly thing to do, as I hated Florence 19 years ago. […]
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Venice, Day 2
No great inventor is less admired by Venitians than the cave dweller who invented the wheel. If you doubt that is true, I have for you a deal on bicycle rentals in Venice. It is an untapped monopoly. You simply need to wait for the day when the Americans with disabilities lobby builds ramps for the myriad […]
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Coming home
July 15, Wednesday We left Wales for one last night in Dublin, where we had planned to catch an early flight to Paris the following morning. Three weeks before, we made reservations to have dinner at “the oldest pub in Ireland.” For those who have heard, correctly, that the food on the British Isles has […]
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Portmeirion
July 14, Tuesday The previous night’s rain had cleared by morning. Except for a few scattered clouds, the day was promising, but as we readied ourselves to drive to the seaside town of Portmeirion, there crept in premonitions. Thinking of the long, winding, narrow road in and out of Beddgelert that we would travel twice, I […]
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Beddgelert
July 13, Monday A light rain confined us to the car on the drive from Lledrod to Beddgelert. Considering how little rain we had seen until this point, the weather could only be regarded as cooperating. We had intended to stop at a particular town (tomorrow’s trip). It was best that we did not. Our approach […]
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Lledrod and New Quay
July 12, Sunday Whereas Ireland and Scotland can be regarded as English speaking, Wales is English tolerant. That applies to both the language and the people. There’s an odd feeling of disorder that goes beyond driving on the “left side” of a curvy roads barely wide enough for one car. It is the sign work. […]
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Ludlow
July 11, Saturday Few people that we met in the British Isles know anything of Ludlow, so it seems unlikely that my reader(s) will know of it. It has a population of 11,000—not an industrial giant. There is a Ludlow college, which boasts five tennis courts and lots more. The college is over 800 years old. […]
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Manchester
July 10, Saturday To criticize a city I have visited goes against the grain, but for Manchester, I make this small exception. So uninspired by the lay of the place, I am compelled to use a photo lifted from on-line (note the watermarks) to illustrate a place where we stopped for about an hour without […]
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Sun of York
July 9, Thursday When Shakespeare wrote “made glorious summer by this son of York,” he was not referring to the skittish appearances of Helios. An azure sky can turn cloudy and gray in the few moments it takes to peruse a pub’s lunch menu, and vise versa. We got caught in a moderate evening rain […]
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York Minster
July 7, Tuesday The trip from Edinburgh to York was pleasant. This particular train is operated under the Virgin organization (Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Records). It seems an odd decision to label one’s corporation with a term meaning “inexperienced,” even if you mean it in the nicest way, when the product you are selling, […]
Sambandar 