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International and U.S. Travel
Florence, Italy: It’s All About the Art
And other observations during a two-night trip to Florence Excuse me, but how did this post that I published on Medium.com a few years back not make it onto my blog?! Here it is, regardless. (In case you’re wondering how I figured out about the literal missing link… it’s because in attending a class to…
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A Walking Tour of Naples, Italy
I’m reblogging this post from The Gen X Travels, a fellow WordPress blogger, for two reasons: 1) it has some great “in the moment” photos that I think my travel readers will enjoy and 2) because I want to be able to find it later when I’m planning my own trip to southern Italy. All…
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Carhenge: Ever heard of it?
A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I took a three-day trip to Mount Rushmore from southwest Missouri. On the way to and from, we ventured off the beaten path to see some less-visited sites. One of those was Carhenge. Can you guess what it is? Yep, you’re right. It’s a Stonehenge made of…
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The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis
In March, I had the opportunity to visit The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri. Named for the city’s patron, Saint Louis IX of France, the structure, according to a tourist guide, “combines architecture of Romanesque style on the exterior with a wondrous Byzantine style interior.” In other words, WOW.
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Orientalism in Venetian Art
Orientalism in Venetian Art Orientalism in Venetian Art Featured Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash
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How to get from Delphi to Olympia by bus
See this restaurant? It doubles as the Delphi bus station.
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Making waves in Venice: A gondola and a cruise ship
For Venice lovers: a video clip of each I’ve been to Venice twice, but neither time have I ridden a gondola or disembarked from a cruise (or embarked on one, for that matter). On my first trip to Venice, I flew to Marco Polo Airport and then hopped onto an Ali Laguna vaporetto to hop…
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How I found connection in the Basilica of San Vitale
On this Easter Sunday, my thoughts turn to the redemption and salvation provided by Jesus Christ, and our visit three years ago to one of the most beautiful churches in Italy, the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.
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Dear Venice, Get Well Soon
Best wishes for a speedy recovery I took this picture of my daughter last June as she and I returned to Venice from a day trip to Bologna. In the distance, you can see Venice in the lagoon poised for the few remaining months of problematic mass tourism that remained in 2019. It’s quite a…
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Can you hear the people sing?
Listen carefully to this video for the summer sounds of Skopelos.
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Come see the churches of Greece’s Skopelos Island
…where Panagitsa Tower is just the beginning.
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Sunny Church in Skopelos
A sneak peek at my future post about the churches of Skopelos Chora.
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Three Weeks in Skopelos
A comprehensive post about our stay on Greece’s Skopelos Island
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Time to spare in Bologna, Italy is a good thing
Missing a Renaissance masterpiece isn’t One Saturday last June my daughter and I wandered into the Church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna, Italy. We were killing time as we waited to meet friends (my daughter’s Italian language tutor, actually) for lunch and a quick tour of the public library before heading back to…
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La Petite Gemme Prairie: like none other in Missouri
A short afternoon outing west of Bolivar, Missouri Today after lunch, my husband, daughter, son and I ventured out to La Petite Gemme Prairie just a mile or so west of Bolivar. My son told me recently about this nature preserve, but we hadn’t taken time to go see it until today. We decided to…
Keep readingPort Elizabeth, South Africa: The travel is in the details
A haircut, Iron Brew, and biltong in Port Elizabeth It was raining still. Watery pellets pounded the windshield of our rental Volkswagen minivan as Pieter, our tour guide and professional hunter, searched the streets of Port Elizabeth for a barber shop. “I need a haircut,” he had told us that morning when we left our…
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The Jewish Ghetto of Venice: A Walking Tour
Five facts and photos from our brief visit to this less traveled Venetian sight In June, my daughter and I took an afternoon in Venice to see the Jewish Ghetto located in the Cannaregio sestiere, in the north of the city. Two years earlier, on a previous week-long trip to Venice, I had wanted to…
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Stepping Across a Controversy in Venice
Santiago Calatrava’s infamous bridge made my bucket list
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A Great Man is Always Willing to Be Little
His expression compelled me to stop and linger
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A New Perspective on Ancient Greece
Visit the Areopagus where Paul gave his sermon “To an Unknown God”
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Travel on Crete: How to get from Heraklion to Phaistos by bus
It’s not easy, but it is possible to take the bus from Heraklion to Phaistos
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A Strange Situation in the Athens Subway
An unsettling episode on our otherwise comfortable journey through Greece
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Knossos Palace: A Minoan Culture Club
“The Minoans… very smart people,” the guard told me.
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Carrying a Torch for Olympia, Greece
Olympia, Greece was worth three bus rides and a taxi
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A Day in Delphi
Greece’s Top Divine Destination was Our Favorite Day of Our Six-Week Greek Odyssey
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Marry an Artist and Then Go to Mycenae
Here’s another perk of being married to an artist
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The Flying Dolphin: A Need for Speed
Riding Aegean’s Flying Dolphin High-Speed Passenger Ferry
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Venice Doesn’t Need Another Tourist Like Me
There’s a guard at a basilica who wants us to be better.
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Going to the hospital in Venice
H is for Ospedale I’m betting that the question, “Wonder where the hospital is around here?” passes through the minds of most visitors to Venice… at least those visitors who stay on the island and think about where they would go if they twisted an ankle or suffered whiplash doing a double-take at an especially…
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When you finally meet your online Italian language tutor
Desperately seeking Clara in Bologna, Italy Last Saturday, my daughter and I ventured out of Venice to Bologna. The purpose of our trip was to meet Clara Ori. Clara teaches online lessons in the Italian language and she and my daughter have been working together since last September. Once or twice a week, they meet…
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Hiking the Coast-to-Coast Trail on Skopelos Island
Three hours of exercise and socializing in the Greek countryside
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A Tour of Our Studio Apartment in Greece
Here’s what 40-80 Euros will get you on Skopelos Island, depending on time of year.
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A Quick Getaway to Glifoneri Beach
Glyfoneri Beach is referred to as Agios Konstantinos Beach on the road signs around Skopelos.
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Skopelos’ Church of Agios Michael Synadon
When you learn (yet again) how much you don’t know
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Athens at Night from a Balcony on Sostratou
The sights and sounds from the city of antiquity
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What Dream are You Trading for New Hardwood Flooring?
When it comes right down to it, I’d rather marvel at a Greek monastery than marvel at my kitchen.
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Five questions not to ask New Yorkers when you’re building a travel writing portfolio
If travel writing is all about storytelling, then I’m in big trouble As a Midwesterner and an aspiring travel writer visiting the Big Apple over spring break, I wanted to use a trip to New York City to build my portfolio. Sounds easy enough, right? However, good travel writing is all about storytelling, or so…
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Postcards from the seductive edge of South Africa
Peering from the Cape of Good Hope What is it about edges that attract us? Why do we gladly stand, albeit timidly, at the precipice of a cliff? Why the compulsion to see the very last tip of land? When all that we know for sure is safely and surely behind us, why linger at…
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Dear Venice… We have to talk.
Finally, I’ve found a city I can trust myself with — Ravenna, Italy. I didn’t mean to fall in love. I wasn’t looking for someone new. I had never even heard of Ravenna until I went to Italy. But, Venice, I’m torn. In so many ways, Ravenna attracts me. It’s untouristy. Affordable. Strangely familiar. And…
Keep readingWhy staying one night anywhere is never enough: Knysna, South Africa
Knysna wanted to tell us a story, but there simply wasn’t time. We were nearly ready to leave when the winds began howling at 34 South, the seafood eatery where we had dined on oysters, beef, beer, and cheesecake. Raindrops swiped against the plate glass windows. A gust of wind rocked the rafters. The…
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A dull ache for a sharp object
When Mom’s pocket knife gets confiscated When the security employee at the gate asked me to step aside, I remembered. My pocket knife. Oh no, my pocket knife, I thought, realizing I had left it earlier in the little cosmetic bag inside my purse. I had forgotten to check it with my luggage and now…
Keep readingTravel to places that make you feel small: Monument Valley, Utah
Monument Valley is good for that. Those spires. Those ledges. Those bluffs. Behemoths of weight and mass, rising from the high desert floor with quiet heft and bulk. The space between them is as much a part of the experience as the monuments themselves. My perspective disintegrates. My awe overwhelms. There is no way to…
Keep readingHow I Found Connection in the Basilica of San Vitale
Of tenacity and Easter cupcake sprinkles in Ravenna, Italy
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Verona, Italy is the bomb dot com
And other observations my daughter made when she visited on a daytrip from Venice My daughter spent three months living in Venice in 2017 as an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a small, yet world-renowned modern art museum located on the Grand Canal. Her time there was magical, challenging, beautiful, and life-changing. On four…
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Padua, Italy: The bluest blue I’ve ever seen
And other observations my daughter made during a quick morning trip to Padua from Venice
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My daughter and the peeping tom of Venice, Italy
It was scary to think how much time and effort this man had put into his actions that night.
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What’s It Like to Live in Venice?
Read Polly Coles’ “The Politics of Washing” to Find Out
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10 More Things You’ll Find in Venice in March: A List Poem
The large and small details of Venice are around every corner.
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Trusting Your Gut: If It Looks Like a Dead Body, It Probably Is
When I lived in Tempe, Arizona, one night I think I might have witnessed someone loading a dead body into the trunk of their car. This was in 1991. It was around 10 at night and I was walking back from my boyfriend’s apartment across the street. My apartment complex was called Riviera Palms and…
Keep readingFavorite place on Earth
Monument Valley, Utah Well, it happened again. I travelled someplace new and I am forever changed. This time: Monument Valley, Arizona. There is nothing quite like spotting something on the horizon that appears surreal, other-worldly and truly unknown. And then it is something that changes you and makes you feel small, insignificant, yet important to…
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Marilyn Yung 