Before Christ, before the great pyramids of Egypt, before the wheel, the ancient settlers in Malta built grand temples to honor the gods of their time. Over time they were abandoned, wind wore down some of the big rock, dirt and vegetation grew over some of it, and they were forgotten to time. That was,…
When home dealing with my father’s health crisis, I got the unusual chance to spend three days alone with him in Philadelphia. Due to weather and back to back appointments at the prestigious UPenn Medicine hospital, my dad and I decided to get a hotel near Philly. Now, the days were full of appointments, but…
We woke up the morning of our fifth full day in Malta to cold. Not Chicago, Polar Vortex cold. But cold for us Northern Californians. It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit and windy. So we put on layers, hats and gloves, and came to find our tour guide for the day was dressed like an Eskimo.…
When you are a college student studying aboard, you are generally poor. You have some money but you want to use it for traveling to different places around the country (or Europe) so the weekdays, when you have classes, you try to keep your costs to a minimum. I was a typical broke college student,…
The beautiful beating religious heart of Barcelona is hands down the beautiful Gothic cathedral. La Sagrada Familia is all about architecture, but La Catedral, that’s pure old school religious soul. Built in 1046-1058 AD with a Gothic façade added in 1298 the church is hundreds of years of art, sculpture, and religion Beautiful Gothic facade…
Who doesn’t love toys? Dolls, trains, Shopkins and Legos are always lining my floor. So when we entered a history museum and saw an exhibit on toys of the 50s, 60s and 70s, we knew we had to go. On our quick trip to Richmond, Virginia we had a few hours and wanted to check…
Living in the Bay Area, it’s hard to go anywhere without finding something with the name John Muir. John Muir, famous environmentalist who started the Sierra Club, and whose essays and books about the majestic wilderness are still popular reading, spent the last half of his life on the West Coast. He worked to preserve…