Galleries

In this blog I will share photos from several ports that did not receive blogs dedicated to them.  After the photos, I summarize my thoughts and lasting impressions of the world cruise.

The Pyramids were constructed between 2600-2500 BC. That means that they are the oldest manmade structures in the world.

Our third (and final) Vietnamese port of call was Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) after the victory of North Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War.  HCMC is a large prosperous city.  We were lucky to be met on two consecutive days by our old friend Bob, who is married to a Vietnamese lady and has retired to live in Vietnam following his long career in Reno as a counselor and professional musician.  I played many gigs with Bob in Reno over the years.

This week marks my second visit to Venice. The first was in 2004. My opinion remains unchanged: Venice is one of the most interesting cities on the planet.

Our parents’ generation all remembered where they were when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. I was in high school in Columbus, Georgia, when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963…at Florida State University when Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968. On September 11, 2001, I was in Reno, Nevada, with my wife Susan, and a nurse friend, Rosemary, who was visiting us from Oregon for the purpose of recording guided imagery meditations with Susan’s and my music. . .

Ha Long Bay Vietnam is a unique location, famous for its thousands of scenic islands in the bay.  Our tour took us to a magnificent cave inside one of the islands.  The photos from this area will tell the story better than my words.

Mysore is a city of two million in southern India. Two million is considered a moderate size city in India. The Mysore Palace is the second most visited building in India after the Taj Mahal, and for good reason as these photos will show. The 27th Maharaja of Mysore still occupies half of the palace with his family. The Indian government occupies 20 percent, which it uses for official meetings and as a reception area for honored guests. And the remaining 30 percent is open for public tours, from which the photos below are taken.

There are many hamams in Istanbul, both ancient and modern.  The hamam we visited was built in 1741 and bills itself as the last hamam constructed during Ottoman Empire.

This conference offered insights into what is possible if data is collected on millions of people so that, using Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can gain insight and information that will lead to more accurate and earlier diagnoses, treatments, and better health outcomes.

It is a great privilege and blessing to be able to visit Portugal twice within three months, first in December on a Viking River Cruise tour, and second in March on a Go Ahead Travels tour to Spain and Morocco commencing in Lisbon, Portugal...