GUATEMALA 2026: ANTIGUA

 March 21, 2026

Our last full day in Guatemala was spent in Antigua, which served as the capital from 1543 to 1773 when the country was part of the Kingdom of Spain. As a result, it is full of Spanish Baroque architecture and Old World charm and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Actually, Bob left early in the morning for a birding expedition, but I figured I could explore the Old Town area around our hotel by myself while he was gone. While I was looking for breakfast, I wandered into this park a few blocks from our hotel.

The "Fountain of the Sirens" was added in 1738. The four bare-chested women that are part of the fountain are quite eye-popping. It is no suprise that today the park is still a hub of activity, and when I was there, it was full of vendors, musicians, and tourists.

I enjoyed some pastries and wandered back towards our hotel. Shops across the cobblestone street from our room were just beginning to open. The street vendors were just starting to set up as well. Check out this guy bringing in an assortment of hats!

Before long, there was plenty of commerce going on. Under that pile of textiles is a little Guatemalan grandma selling her wares.

GUATEMALA 2026: LAKE ATITLAN

 March 19-20, 2026

We had an hour to kill in Flores in the afternoon before going to the airport. We had lunch in non-remarkable restaurant located on a floating dock, then walked around a bit near the seafront. Flores primarily exists these days as a jumping off point for Mayan ruins like Tikal, and yet it has a population over 45,000, ten times the size of the town I grew up in. The neighborhood around the restaurant was charming, and we even saw what appeared to be a working pay phone, something I haven't seen in years.

The Mundo Maya International Airport, just outside the city center, is very small--one small cafe, one large seating area, and one shop. Still, it is Guatemala's second-busiest airport.

I tried to get Bob interested in the birds flying around inside the terminal, but he wasn't buying it.

It was our first time, and probably will be our only time, on TAG Airlines (TAG = Transportes Aéreos Guatemaltecos):

The flight was short and uneventful. We were met at the airport by a driver who took us to our hotel about 30 miles away in Antiqua. (We had been told NOT to stay in Guatemala City.) The traffic was horrid and the drive took almost two hours.

INDIA 2025 - DETOUR TO NEPAL: KATHMANDU DURBAR SQUARE

 November 24, 2025

The word Durbar comes from the Persian word for "court," and a "Durbar  Square" is an area in Nepal that includes a royal palace and the public areas around it. There are three main Durbar Squares in Nepal: Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Each served as the royal seat of its own kingdom until Nepal was unified in the 18th century. 

We began at Kathmandu Durbar Square, the most important of the three Durbar Squares. Construction began in the 3rd century, but most of the major structures were built in later periods. There are dozens of temples in the complex, so it is a bit overwhelming.

My first impression was that wow, there are a LOT of pigeons. How do they keep the square clean?

The dogs don't appear to be chasing the birds away.

INDIA 2025: WALKING TOUR OF AMRITSAR

 November 22, 2025

Our guide in Amritsar, Roop, was a devout Sikh, complete with a pale lilac turban and a long beard. He was great. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of his face, but here is a great picture of his turban.

Amritsar is the spiritual and cultural center for Sikhs, much as Varanasi is for Hindus, and is considered a holy city in Sikhism. It was established in 1574 by the fourth (of ten) Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das. Situated in the state of Punjab and only 17 miles from the border with Pakistan and with a population of about 1.5 million, it is also an important economic and political location. 

Roop picked us up from our hotel and took us to the historical area of town, which was, like other large cities in India, crowded, noisy, and jam-packed with fascinating things to see. I think I would enjoy walking up and down the main streets every day just to see what was going on.

Note the sign for international drink of choice: 
Coca-Cola

A sword-wielding man riding a horse perched atop an elaborately carved base dominates what is known as "Heritage Street," a pedestrian promenade that runs between Town Hall and the Golden Temple (see next post). This is Ranjit Singh, the founder and first maharaja (prince or king) of the Sikh Empire, who ruled from 1801 until 1839. He is revered for uniting the Punjab province and for leading a cultural and artistic renaissance. A few interesting facts about him are that he lost an eye to smallpox as an infant, was short and unattractive, and was basically illiterate.

Another interesting fact is that for the last 26 years of his life he owned (and often prominently displayed on the front of his turban or as an armlet) the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. 

INDIA: KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, DAY 4

 December 20, 2024

On our last day at Kaziranga National Park, Chris, Stan, and I needed a break from driving around in the Jeep and elected to take a boat ride on the Brahmaputra River while Bob went on a morning birding drive with Bablu.

I'm not sure it was the right decision.

It took us almost an hour to drive to the river and appropriate dock, and then there really wasn't much to see.  

We walked out onto the very fine white sand and gazed out at what looked more like a lake than a river. The water didn't seem to be moving, and the expanse was very broad. The Brahmaputra River is the 15th longest river in the world and the 9th largest by output.

We three passengers boarded our luxury yacht with our guide and two people running the boat.

We motored away from shore and upriver for a while.

IRELAND, DAY 2: CORK

 July 5, 2024

Our next destination was Cork, located in (what else) County Cork, the largest and southernmost county of Ireland.

With a population of about 225,000, Cork is the second largest city in Ireland. That's a small population for the second largest city of a country! But then, the largest, Dublin, has fewer than 550,000 people.

My first impression of the city came from this fantastic mural, which I have since learned is entitled What Is Home? The artist, a guy named Asbestos, explains, "I painted this figure wearing a cardboard box on its head to start a conversation with the public about what home means to them. As a country we are currently in an existential crisis over housing and our need to put a roof over our heads. There's a fear and uncertainty about finding a safe space, and the system seems to be stacked in favour of the landlords." The mural, painted in 2021, is part of a street art project started during the 2020 lockdown.

It was mid-afternoon and we were hungry. We hadn't eaten much since breakfast. Bob had scoped out a restaurant weeks before the trip located in Cork's English Market--Farm Gate Café. 

We both ordered lamb stew and were a little disappointed. It was only average.

TUNISIA, DAY 3, CONT.: TUNIS - ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CATHEDRAL, FOOD MARKET, AND MEDINA

 March 22, 2024

After breakfast, we took another walk down the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the street with the promenade in the center that we had walked on the previous night on our way back to our hotel. This time we walked on one of the sidewalks next to the buildings. 

We stopped at a little mosque nestled between other buildings and known for its ceramic tile exterior.  I think it is called Kallal-el-Kedime Mosque, but I can't find any information on it.

Then our guide Feker took us into the courtyard of what looked like an apartment building. In the middle of the courtyard is a shallow pond, and in the pond are over a dozen turtles.

Our next stop was the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul, a church built in the Moorish revival, Gothic revival, and Neo-Byzantine styles. Construction was completed in 1897, albeit without its belltowers due to lack of funds. They were completed in 1910.

SICILY: MONREALE AND PALERMO CATHEDRALS

March 17, 2024

We lucked out in finding a parking space just a few blocks from the Monreale Cathedral, which was about a 30-minute drive from Palermo proper but still part of the metropolitan area.

I love how the neighborhoods are built up around these gems of churches in Europe, as if the church is just part of the neighborhood.

Hey, there's another one of the famous Sicilian pine cones, this one over a foot tall and a decoration at an outdoor cafe.

The Cathedral was built between 1174 and 1182 as the result of a sleepy king. William II of Sicily had fallen asleep under a carob tree near here, and in a dream the Holy Virgin told him to build a church on that spot. When the carob tree was removed so the church could be built, a cache of gold coins was found among the roots and used to finance the church. What a great story!

The official name of this church is the Chapel of San Castrense di Monreale. Saint Castrense is the patron saint of Monreale. William II was given his relic as a wedding gift, and he laid it under the high altar of the cathedral.

Like the Palatine Chapel we had just visited, the church is an amalgamation of Norman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles.  It is an earlier, larger, and somewhat lesser version of the Palatine Chapel, which was based on the design of this church. Like the Palatine Chapel, this cathedral is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

SICILY: TAORMINA

 March 16, 2024

We took a 5:30 AM cab to the Naples Airport for our flight to Catania, Sicily, aboard an EasyJet plane, our first for that airline. We not only had to pay for our carry-on bags, but there was truly NO legroom. It was probably the tightest seating we've ever had. (Reminder to self: Say "no" to EasyJet in the future.) Luckily, the flight was just 50 minutes long. 

We picked up our rental car from Alamo--a VW Golf that was much too small for the four of us and our carry-ons, but we had no choice but to make do. One of our first sightings was Mount Etna. One of the tallest and most active volcanoes in Europe, it was impossible to miss. It's current height (subject to change in the next eruption) is 11,104 feet. In 2021, Etna had so many eruptions that its height actually increased by 100 feet! I read that it is two-and-a-half times taller than Pompeii, which really surprises me.  It has a hiking trail and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013, but this was about as close as we got to it.

Our first destination was a viewpoint at the top of a very narrow, very steep, very windy road, but we were compensated for our discomfort by views of the Ionian Sea, the section of the Mediterranean Sea that basically lies between Italy and Greece.

We pulled off in a place where our car would (hopefully) not be hit so we could admire the scenery and some old stairs.

We noted that the climate and vegetation reminded us of Southern California, but perhaps a little more lush.

GERMANY 2000: ULM, ROTHENBURG OB DE TAUBER, SPEYER

 December 20-21, 2000

We had taken the southern route near the Alps and the Austrian border on our way from Neuschwanstein to Salzburg, and on our way back into Germany we took the Autobahn from Salzburg to Ulm, bypassing Munich, which was a bit of a disappointment, but my mother said we were short on time and stopping in Munich would slow us down too much.  We also would have liked to stop in Dachau, which was just a few miles off our route, but again, my mother said no--there wasn't much to see.  

As far as I know, my mother never visited a Nazi concentration camp. If she did, it was one of the many things she didn't want to talk about.

Two of our most memorable experiences of the trip happened in Ulm, and I'll get to those later. Ulm is a city of about 126,000 situated on the Danube River. Founded in 850, it is noted primarily for two things: being the birthplace of Albert Einstein in 1879 and having a Gothic church with the tallest steeple in the world (530 feet).

Our hotel was right by the massive cathedral, which my mother said is the largest Protestant church building in the world, but it actually ranks 4th in the world and 2nd in Germany behind the Berlin Cathedral. Still, it is a massive 5,950 square meters (or over 64,000 square feet) inside, seats 2,000, and is, indeed, the tallest church (of any denomination) in the world.

AUSTRIA 2000: SALZBURG

  December 18-19, 2000

Mom was excited to take us to Salzburg, one of the cultural centers of Europe for centuries. The area has had inhabitants since the Neolithic Age (10,000 - 4,500 BCE), so even for Europe it is old. Salz means "salt," and the name "Salzburg" first showed up in the 8th century when the local economy focused on salt mining.

We arrived on a stormy, blustery evening, the only really bad weather of the trip. Outside our somewhat dingy hotel, Mom had us park the car on the sidewalk, which seemed strange to us then but more normal to us now that we've spent more time in Europe. 

I wish I had better photos of the beautiful Christmas decorations. This much-faded photo I took doesn't do them justice.

But this nice picture of the city that I clipped from a brochure shows the city's elegance. The historic city center of Salzburg has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

NORTH CAROLINA: DURHAM

 October 2022

In the summer of 2022, our son moved from Utah to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to take a job as a risk assessment arborist for a tree company. I wanted to be able to visualize where he was living, so in October of that year I planned a trip to visit him. Bob couldn't go with me, so I went by myself. I flew into the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, a small- to mid-sized airport that was not too crowded and easy to navigate.

Our son had to work, so I spent the day seeing the sites with his girlfriend as tour guide, which was nice as I knew nothing of the area.

Our first stop was Bennett Place in Durham, the site of the final surrender of a major Confederate army in the Civil War -- General Johnston's surrender to General Sherman -- on April 26, 1865, which was about 2 ½ weeks after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. This was news to me! I thought it was all over after Appomattox.

An interesting fact is that Lincoln's assassination occurred on April 15, two days before the first day of negotiations here, but was reported to the generals on that first day, April 17. News traveled more slowly back then.

INDONESIA: FROM BALI TO CALIFORNIA AND REFLECTIONS ON THE TRIP

 July 14, 2023

Our guide and driver picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Denpasar International Airport, also known as the Ngurah Rai International Airport. It looks very Balinese in its architecture.

I think this statue by the airport must be Ngurah Rai, a Indonesian Lieutenant Colonel who has been named a National Hero for his role in the Indonesian War for Independence against the Dutch after World War II. He died in the Battle of Margarana and appears on the 50,000 Indonesian rupiah bill.

The airport is very busy, serving over 25 million passengers a year. I love all the Balinese touches.