As we peered out the 3rd story window of the fascinating Museo Galileo we witnessed something Florence hadn't seen for months. . . raindrops. As we prepared to depart the city that nurtured the Renaissance, it seemed only somehow fitting for the Gods should quench its thirst of the sprawling... Continue reading

One of the great pleasures of foreign travel is the serendipity of encounter; that chance meeting with other nomadic compatriots. Such was the case yesterday over lunch in the quaint village of Casole d'Elsa. Given the constraints of our Citroen Picasso hatchback rental car, the six of us cannot travel... Continue reading

We're now basking in the golden sunshine of Western Tuscany. We're in a newly constructed villa in Castello Di Casole, a 4200-acre hilltop estate at the end of a narrow, curvy, dirt road in a densely forested (and protected) wildlife reserve and hunting property. Large hare, deer and wild boar... Continue reading

Friday (9/9) Crepes for breakfast in Reykjavik, lunch in Paris (@CDG :), pandimonium in Gare Lyon Part Deux, then a late steak frites dinner in Geneva. . .A day of planes, trains (TGV) and trams. Lush countryside, quaint villages, a waxing moon behind Mont Blanc over Lake Geneva. No worse... Continue reading

Saturday 9/10 - Woke to a warm clear day in Geneva. Took the tram from Cornevin Station (which somehow houses the Swiss-France border crossing) toCERN, home of the world's most powerful 'atom smasher' - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). An $8 billion particle accelerator in a 17-mile circular tunnel buried... Continue reading

Saturday 9/10 - Woke to a warm clear day in Geneva. Took the tram from Cornevin Station (which somehow houses the Swiss-France border crossing) to CERN, home of the world's most powerful 'atom smasher' - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). An $8 billion particle accelerator in a 17-mile circular tunnel buried 150-500 feet under the Swiss-French countryside. More than 10,000 researchers from 20 member nations searching for the deepest mysteries of the universe. . .We're here because the Lab just recently announced an intriguing Digital Artist award called Collide@CERN that I intend to apply for next month. Winning artist spends... Continue reading

Friday (9/9) Crepes for breakfast in Reykjavik, lunch in Paris (@CDG :), pandimonium in Gare Lyon Part Deux, then a late steak frites dinner in Geneva. . .A day of planes, trains (TGV) and trams. Lush countryside, quaint villages, a waxing moon behind Mont Blanc over Lake Geneva. No worse for the wear. (G) Continue reading

We tried to arrive early at The Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s most visited tourist site to beat the mass of scantily dressed humanity. Mostly successful. The errily blue bathing lagoon spans 1.25 acres and holds 1.6 million gallons of steamy geothermal seawater that is renewed every 40 hours; sits between two... Continue reading

Reykjavik - At 64 deg. N. latitude, this town of 120,000 is cool (both culture and weather), hip and clean. Reminiscent of post oil-Oslo and strangely enough,Ushuaia the capital city of Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina, commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world, which is 55 deg. South.... Continue reading

After spending most of the mostly delightful summer at North Star Lake, Nanci and I are heading off again on Labor Day eve for a couple of weeks in faraway lands (Iceland, Switzerland, and Tuscany) . . .So we're lighting up the blog again for those who like to track... Continue reading

Back in the US of A and back to high-speed internet. I'm more aware of how geeks like me take it for granted. On many occasions during our adventure downunder, I contemplated trying to post a promising high-res photo that I'd just offloaded from one of my fancy cameras. The... Continue reading

We're settled into to our charming, right-sized (2400 sq ft) rental home on the Santa Barbara coast. To our surprise, on the first evening while awaiting an unobstructed sunset in our picture window, we realized that due to the geography in this region of California coast, we were looking south... Continue reading

After a realllly loooong day, we're back in the US of A. . .. The fact that we started March 24 all over again as we crossed the international dateline had something to do with it. . .Very smooth and uneventful 14 hour flight on Virgin Australia. . .caught up... Continue reading

Many friends who have visited Sydney (most recently, Larry Berle) had encouraged us the take the 3 1/2 hr 'hike' up along the edge of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to its 430 foot summit overloooking Sydney. . . . 'It's just a couple hundreds bucks', they've said, 'for a once-in-a-lifetime... Continue reading

We arrived in Sydney arnd 6P. The sun was trying to poke thru the dark, billowing cumulus clouds that we soon learned had been dumping sheets of rain all day. We arrived our perfectly locationed boutique hotel in The Rocks. All of Sydney's iconic venues are only steps away. .... Continue reading

WELLINGTON I know, this is a set-up, picture-postcard snapshot but this particular Kodak Spot in Wellington was just too picturesque to pass up. . .(GPS) Continue reading

Our last venue in NZ's South Island delivered a spectacular light show as we walked along the esplanade to the Green Dolphin Restaurant at the end of the Kaikoura peninsula. The guidebooks had described this "stunning" whale-watching village "with a superb setting" and as "one of NZ's best known eco-tourism... Continue reading

We feel right at home in the Rough & Tumble Bush Lodge at the end of the road, on the "other side of the ford" overlooking the rushing Mokihinui River. We hear tell that persistent fortune seekers still pluck an occasional gold nugget for this alluvial slit on the edges... Continue reading

KARAMEA - On Monday hiked into the glorious (new adjective?) Oparara Basin. Weather continues to be summer like . . .(given we're in a rainforest region, this we had not anticipated. This bluff rimmed town instantly brought to mind Peterson/Rushford in SE MN where the Smaby clan took roots. Gary's... Continue reading

Last night, following a simply delightful meal at the Riverstone Karamea, our ever-accomodating innkeeper/chef etal, Marg, drove us to ‘downtown’ Karamea where we witnessed an amazing two-set solo gig by NZ’s legendary Maori guitarist Billy TK (who lives in the area). Virtually a private performance in a little spot called... Continue reading

We are now on the remote northwest coast of the NZ's South Island. . . the paved roads end here. . . While there were tsunami alerts issued, they anticipated only a three foot wave around the north end of the South Island near Nelson. 2011 is shaping up to... Continue reading

March 8 - Wilderness Lodge - Arthur’s Pass (The view outside our window) What a special place ~ a 6,000 acres private nature reserve and working farm surrounded by Arthur's Pass National Park . . .mountain flowers and moss carpeted beech forest. . . tranquil, serene . . .remote but... Continue reading

FROM ICE WALKERS TO SPELUNKERS Your two intrepid wanderers descended from Gandalf's realm above the clouds to Gollum's underworld. . . Nanci was unaware that she'd be exploring the inner sanctum of this limestone cavern for 90 minutes before floating out into the Nile River (yes, that's what it's called).... Continue reading

Monday March 7 Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki / Tasman Sea Clear, sunny but there's an unexpected chill in the air as we head out for an early AM rainforest nature walk along the riverbank that leads to the Tasman Sea. . . we later trek to the beach with is... Continue reading

ABOVE THE CLOUDS No, this isn't a photo from last year's trip to Antarctica . . . it's Nanci standing on NZ's comparatively fast-flowing Fox Glacier, which we reached by helicopter. Got some spectacular HD video during our hour-long cruise through the Southern Alps.(GPS) Continue reading