The Church of Santa Maria del Fiori otherwise known as The Dome–the first octagonal domed structure built without an exterior wooden frame dominates the Florence skyline. I took a course in Architecture in 1967 right after returning from Vietnam–I had...
In Veresa Italy this year I am invited to give a short presentation about my 1899 Tugboat, Katahdin. This is a rare treat as I’m quite near by in France so it’s a hop through Marsailles, Nice and Milan where I meet up with Bruno Cianci, a maritime writer...
Leaving Leysin, I work my way south, one train station at a time, due to French train strike, now in its 6th week, but no one seems to care and trains mysteriously run more or less on time. I easily make Avignon by evening (from Geneva) and take a nice hotel. The...
But, I’ll start in Berlin…. Leaving Oslo and heading south takes me to warmer weather. My first stop is quite serindepitous when I receive an invite from Bernd (and his wife Christine), an avid reader of this blog, to visit Berlin. The last time I saw...
Oslo Norway feels like home, except my understanding of Norwegian has faded since my college courses in 1970–taken exactly 50 years ago. I took the 101 and 102 course simultaneously and passed both with flying colors. One of the first places I visit is the...
Let’s start with the British Museum and their largest draw–the Rosetta Stone. At 9:30am, the doors opened and this stone was mobbed by Asian tourists, faces planted in their camera/phones filing by taking selfies. After the place cleared, I moved in for...
