Capital of Bohemia and one of the cultural centers of Europe, Prague is a city full of history and beauty. When I was a boy, Prague was a place I could only read about. Firmly situated behind the Iron Curtain and Soviet rule, it seemed I would never be allowed to travel to this fabled city. From its castles to its palaces, all were off limits to me as a Westerner. But as the Soviet Union … Read more
Mölndal and surrounding areas I live in Seattle, WA in the USA. We are at latitude 47 and are surrounded by a number of large bodies of water. In the Summer it is even possible to swim in our lakes, comfortably. As a contrast to where I live, some of my family live in Mölndal, Sweden where going to the beach and even swimming is a year-round affair. Instead of being South of me where waters … Read more
Located in Lombardy just South of Milan in Northern Italy, Pavia is home to the oldest European university, ancient Roman ruins and the site of where Catch-22 is placed. Pavia is a classic Roman town built on a grid system and bordering the Ticino river. Pavia is home to the final resting place for St Augustine and owes much of is architecture to Leonardo Da Vinci, including the 3rd largest domed church in Italy. As a … Read more
The Great Wall is not one structure built in one place by one empire or kingdom. Rather, the Wall is a series of boundary walls, some meant to physically stop incursions of unwanted peoples into China and some meant to simply set boundaries of the state. What the walls show, without a shadow of doubt, is that China, in its many forms, has been an imposing and dominant empire for thousands of years. This section of … Read more
Called the Big Easy, this is a visit made in June, 2012. The city is full of life of all kinds. I focused these photos on what happens there at night, good and bad.
The Mekong river is the sixth longest river in Asia with its origins starting on the Tibetan Plateau and its delta culminating in southern Vietnam. The river is subject to each country it passes through with a dangerous lack of cooperation and coordination to secure its ecological health and future. In Vietnam, the Mekong Delta is one of the great economic centers and drivers. Commerce on the river is constant. Factories line the banks of the … Read more
Founded by Constantine the Great in 330 CE at the meeting of Asia and Europe, this city is one of the oldest and most continuous capital cities in the history of the world. One can visit sites that are pre-Roman, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Turkish all in the same day and spanning nearly 2,000 years. From the Bazar to the churches, mosques and palaces, there is certainly something for everyone. A unique feature of the old … Read more
With over 1600 islands it is relatively easy to get lost in Vietnam’s most popular tourist attractions. Still, people live here and there are plenty of places just a little off the beaten track that are not on the regular tours. But tours are not always bad… it just depends on how you choose to do it. One can book rides on larger cruise ships to smaller boats. The Vietnamese are protective of Ha Long Bay. … Read more
I have made Seattle my home, on-and-off, for the past 47 years. It is a beautiful city that has changed many times since I arrived. Though I have never found anywhere else that I want to live permanently, the rainy season keeps driving me to cast my net far-and-wide for a new home. Every time I think I can live the rest of my days in this city, another rain cloud opens up and drives me … Read more
SaPa, the Northernmost region of Vietnam sits directly on the Vietnam/ China border. The people who live there occupy Northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Southern China.