Galleries

Murano is famous for its unrivaled glass designs. Burano is famous for its historic production of lace as well as its brightly colored buildings. Below are samples of both islands.

I experienced wildlife in India that I had imagined could only be experienced on an African safari.

Four days after arriving in India, we took a quick three-day trip to Nepal.  The purpose was to meet two Nepali friends.  While there we made a new friend, someone I perceived to be a brother that I was meeting for the first time.

Ayutthaya lies about a two hour's drive north of Bangkok.  It was Thailand's capital for approximately four hundred years, founded in 1351.  It was burned by Burmese invaders in 1767, which resulted in its abandonment and the establishment of Bangkok which remains Thailand's current capital.  

Below is one of the oldest Stupas, built in the 14th century, in the same era as the construction of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the world's largest UNESCO world heritage site.  Stupas are Buddhist cylindrical structures containing the ashes, bones, or remains of religious figures, and are intended to function as pilgrimage sites for worship and meditation.

I write this blog with the Ukraine war present as a disturbing cloud on the mood of our pleasant cruise.  As I mentioned in my previous blog, the cruise schedule is very busy in the upcoming weeks in the Mediterranean.  In fact, we will be in port on seven consecutive days, including two days (and one night) in Venice.  So my upcoming blogs will combine several ports, with as many photos as the ship’s internet will enable.

Why have a German reunion in Salt Lake City? In 1969, I traveled to Kiel, Germany, for a “junior year abroad” at the Christian-Albrechts University. I ended up staying out of the US for three and a half years, during which time, besides living in Germany, I spent significant time in Sweden, Afghanistan, and India. I returned home at the end of 1972, after the Vietnam draft had been abolished...

Following our two weeks in Germany and Sweden, we flew into Oslo, Norway, one day early before the flight to join our Hurtigruten cruise around the Svalbard island chain.  Upon the recommendation of my old friend Per (who is Norwegian but lives in Germany), we . . .