Tag Archives: Photo Blog The Swiss city of Bern is indelibly associated with bears. The bear has featured on the city seal and coat of arms since at least the 1220s. Stories relating to the keeping of live bears in a Bärengraben (bear pit) in the centre of the city – in what is still called Bärenplatz (Bear Plaza) – date back to the 1440s (or 1513 – depending on your […]  It can be relaxing to travel like a “tourist”: to find a haven in crisp sheets and smiling staff who speak your language, after a hectic day in a bustling foreign environment. I usually avoid up-market resorts – mostly because I’d rather travel twice as often than pay twice as much. But, every so often, an offer comes to my attention, one that fits […]  Woods and water are the central features of Canada’s Sunshine Coast. This rugged, mountainous, landscape on the southern-mainland coast of British Columbia (BC) in Canada’s west is bounded by the Coast Mountains on one side and the Strait of Georgia on the other. Although it’s just a stone’s throw from Vancouver, no access roads have been built around the fjords or through the […]  Seen one castle, seen them all? Not quite! During our wet month in Ireland in 2012 (Ireland), we visited a lot of castles in various states of ruin, renovation, or disrepair. What surprised me most was how different they all actually are. Perhaps it was the brief respite from the rain, but my husband and […]  “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community.” -African proverb. It was the United Nation’s “Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples” on Tuesday, August 9th. This year’s theme was a subject dear to my heart: the right to education. Article 14 of the UN Declaration […] |
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