Remember The Emperor’s New Groove? Where Kuzco, the selfish Inca emperor is transformed into a llama by mistake, when his evil advisor Yzma gives him the wrong poison? My kids must have seen that film 100 times, and can quote pretty much every line in [...]
It's January 2021, the januariest of them all. Final day of January, but still... It's long this month. It's cold, it's dark. Most noticeable this year, it's quiet. Quiet as the world after the apocalypse!Give me the opposite, please. A bright, sunny day on a [...]
Only 4 more weeks until this strange, ominous year will become history, and not a moment too soon. If you're like us, you're more than ready to get back on the road. Any road. But healthy would be a bonus, wouldn't it? Just now, healthy [...]
Campo dei MiracoliField of Miracles: how wonderful is that name!Wonderful - and apt, I think. I can easily picture this as a centre of miracles: the blue sky, the green grass, the wonderful white constructions, the warm Tuscan terracotta wall: it's all rather stunning.The official [...]
I'm noticing I haven’t written nearly enough about wine here on the blog. Scandalous really, considering the total yum! We’ve covered the vines of Switzerland’s Lavaux, (surprised Switzerland is wine-growing country? I was.) We’ve briefly touched upon the yummy wines of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. We’ve [...]
Here I go again, starting one thing and ending up with quite another. Working on a blog post about China’s Grand Canal, I begin thinking about other canals I’ve been on. Or along. Or above, or beside. There are quite a few. At the same [...]
I've always thought the Black Sea has an exotic ring to it. Dramatic events have unfolded here: Gorbachev losing his job while holidaying in Sochi in August 1991, The Yalta Conference during World War II, Dracula arriving in Varna in a coffin on his way [...]
