When traveling throughout Sicily, most advise to pay a visit to Palermo. Near Palermo, the town of Monreale perches itself up at a high standing, figuratively and literally. What makes Monreale far from the real is the town’s Cathedral. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much. Go ahead and judge this book by its cover. You will be wrong once you pass through its doors. Founded in 1174, the Monreale Cathedral bears Norman, Arab, and Byzantine art and architecture, making this place of worship unlike any other. The Monreale Cathedral left me with three enveloping experiences that Continue Reading
Travel Snapshot: Spring in Colorado
This week, I recounted my love for spring in the Boboli Gardens of Florence, Italy. However, I am far from the Boboli Gardens world of sunshine and pink roses. This is my reality. Snow. Two days ago, it was well into the 60s here in Colorado. Yesterday, the snow came. Blowing snow made visibility poor as I battled the storm to get my necessary afternoon coffee. Today, this is the end result, blue skies and snow. Spring in Colorado is always a gamble. Continue Reading
Spring in the Boboli Gardens of Florence Through the Camera’s Eye
Barbie pink roses cover remarkably green bushes. It may be a fairytale, but the handful of tourists with fanny packs pull me out of this dream, but only for a moment. Spring has arrived in Florence, but you wouldn’t know it in the historic center with little patches of greenery to be found. The store windows may be the only indication that it is time to change that winter wardrobe of coats and scarves to floral dresses and sandals. One of my favorite moments with spring came in the Boboli Gardens in Florence. The Boboli Gardens sit perched above historic Florence, Italy. From Continue Reading
Where are you going? Battling Irish Tricksters in the Village of Teelin
It is freezing cold. No, it is colder than freezing cold. It is June in Ireland and I am dressed in my newly purchased Donegal wool sweater. To make the cold even more bone chilling, we can’t seem to get the peat fire started. At the top of the northwest end of Ireland in Donegal County, the little village of Teelin can’t be heard. It is quiet with only a couple hundred people if that. The day my family drove into town, I think the population added on 7 for good measure. There are many that boast Irish heritage. I am definitely one of them. Sadly, most do not still have relatives in the Continue Reading
The Young Woman and The Sea
I should be a mountain loving, skier being from Colorado. Instead, I am deathly afraid of the sport and despise cold weather and sweaters. My last ski episode ended with me watching my whole family at the bottom of the mountain just looking up at me, waiting for this slow downhill skier. There may or may not have been tears streaming down my cheeks. I knew I was too old to have my Dad carry me down the mountain like he used to back when I was 8. Well, I might have been more like 13. My connection to my state is strong. I can appreciate the Rocky Mountains without the need for two narrow Continue Reading
Where are you going? The Baptism of a Distant Grandmother in Fulda, Germany
I am standing in the Fulda Cathedral, just northeast of Frankfurt in Germany. Mass is about to begin but I have to be on my way out of town. Where I am standing, the structure I have found myself today is strangely and distantly familiar. I would not find out until I returned home that my great great grandmother or great great great grandmother was baptized in the Fulda Cathedral. Regardless, I’m sure she really was great. Now I understand why it felt familiar. Fulda is not packed with tourists. In fact, when I told people where I was going, they had no idea where the town could be. Continue Reading
A Travel Tribute to the Paths of Least and Most Resistance
When we travel, we are usually trying to get to a destination, one we plan on reaching or one that is spontaneous. Regardless, we travel by way of plane, train, car, boat, or foot to get there. After that flight or train ride, you seek out the landmarks, the attractions. You fumble to find that piece of paper with the addresses of restaurants, bars, or shops friends have recommended. You are looking for streets, paths, avenues, boulevards, drives, or any road to give that direction to a place. Throughout my travels I have found those paths to be more of destinations. Those streets that lead Continue Reading