In July 1863, over 170,000 soldiers converged on the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in a battle that changed both the course of the Civil War and ultimately the nation. Every kid in America studied the Battle of Gettysburg in history class and memorized at least a part of President … Read more
A Memorial Weekend spent in Oslo, Norway, couldn’t have taken me further away from the shores of the U. S. of A. where backyard barbecues and baseball games are typically the norm. The unpredictable May weather was an ongoing topic of conversation with everyone, even at immigration, and as the … Read more
“Hey Thom,” I said, “We’ve been hiking for two hours already and we haven’t reached the glacier yet. How much longer do you think?” We’d started out from the little village of Briksdalsbre early in the morning and thought we were doing a half-day hike, but since our guide Ruben … Read more
It was like a magic carpet ride. Except that I was riding a rolling blue tapestry of three mighty waterways in Norway – the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. Heading south along the coast from Kirkenes near the Russian border to the old Hanseatic city of … Read more
As I walk the streets of Trondheim, Norway’s third largest city, it doesn’t seem so “large.” Like many places in Norway, there’s an intimacy to the city with pockets of small town charm. And of course, there are those omnipresent tales of Vikings and kings, of battles and bold heroics … Read more
I’m far up in the northern reaches of Norway, where my guide says it is the “last wilderness in Europe,” where the surrounding forests, he says, are filled with moose, lynx, bears and wolverines. Fourteen hundred miles, straight as the crow flies, is the North Pole and Russia is a … Read more
“The Norwegians sure take their sun seriously, don’t they?” said Pop after he saw that we were fellow Americans touring Norway. We’d just zoomed past a few townspeople sunbathing in their backyards and a guy mowing his lawn shirtless. It was a hot, sunny day in Alesund, a popular fjord … Read more
Stuffy, staid English-ness? Yes, St. Ermin’s is just a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Park and the ceiling lobby is finished in full on Rococo plasterwork rivaling the Sistine Chapel’s decoration. And true, it does feel like Mr. Darcy might walk down the grand staircase at any … Read more
A William Wallace impersonator cuts a menacing figure on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. His face painted blue and white – the colors of the Scottish flag – he wears a fur coat and wields a mock medieval weapon, while rhapsodising in a thick Scottish accent about freedom. In case … Read more
The TSA agent looks at my passport and back at me with a skeptical look. “You’re traveling to Tahiti by yourself?” I nod, indicating yes. While French Polynesia is often synonymous with “honeymoon” and “romantic getaway,” I want to see what it has to offer the solo traveler. I figure … Read more
Its blue and white arms descending to the Thames from two ornate towers connected by overhead walkways, London’s Tower Bridge matches the Tower Bridge of memory. There’s nothing superlative about it, yet there is, as it probably inspires more glances upward than any other bridge in the world. As … Read more
Looking for a getaway this summer but don’t want to spring for high priced international flights? Why not hang around in the good ole USA and try something different? A trip to Southern West Virginia, perhaps. I realize the mention of West Virginia conjures up images of coal mines, … Read more
Hailed as a tourists’ mecca and damned for those killer hills, San Francisco’s reputation definitively precedes it. Famed for its glory days as a beat generation outpost then later the epicenter of flower power and acid rock, today the glorious city by the bay has lost none of its “alternative” … Read more
Marseille? Who would want to visit this city? Crime, drugs, violence, the Mafia – the city’s reputation has been shrouded by for years. The 1970’s movie, The French Connection, focusing on the city’s thriving drug trade, didn’t help. But, much of the drug trade has moved on to Eastern Europe. … Read more
Cruising through Norway’s narrowest fjord, navigating more than a dozen dizzying switchbacks on a drive down one of the country’s steepest roads, hurtling through innumerable tunnels on Northern Europe’s highest railway and speeding past gushing waterfalls and icy tongued glaciers. Sounds like an advertisement for an adventure expedition, right? Actually, … Read more