Tag Archives: travel Is there anything better than woods and water on a sunny summer day? Summer on Canada’s West Coast is elusive and short. This year, my husband and I spent some time on the waters of Georgia Strait – the waters between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia (BC) – in a sail boat, chasing summer. I love sailing. But, I love new harbours […]  Late summer last year, my husband and I were in central Italy enjoying the sun – and the sun-drenched olives and tomatoes and grapes – that Italy is known for. We were holidaying Italian style: we rented a wonderful villa in the tiny town of Gioiella, Umbria (Villa Gioiella), practically on the border of Tuscany, and packed the rooms with three generations of friends and family. […]  The best way to immerse yourself in a new culture is to spend time where local people congregate and worship. In the early morning of my first day in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, I took a taxi across the busy city centre from my hotel in the east, to the country’s largest monastery, Gandantegchinlen (“the great place of complete joy”) Khiid, west of city […]  Irony: the future of the little city of Hội An has literally been saved by it’s own past demise. Hội An (會安) means “peaceful meeting place”. Once upon a time, particularly between the seventh and 10th centuries, this strategic port near the mouth of the Thu Bon River was part of the Chăm Pa Kingdom (192-1832). The Cham, who were seafarers and traders, controlled the spice […]  California, the third largest state in the USA, covers some remarkable terrain. With almost 900 miles (1450 km) of Pacific coastline and several mountain ranges, the topography ranges from magnificent forests of giant redwoods to the subtropical Mojave desert. The state is also home to two of the US’s top-five most populous cities, with their notorious fogs and smogs, and home to […] |
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