INDIA 2025 - DETOUR TO NEPAL: BHAKTAPUR TAUMADHI AND DURBAR SQUARES

 November 24, 2025

About eight miles from Kathmandu and in the same valley lies Bhaktapur ("City of Devotees"), a densely populated city and one of the seven monument zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Interestingly, you must pay an entrance fee to go into the ancient city--much like a national park. And note the final sentence on the welcome sign below. Gotta love bad translations.

There are brass shops everywhere.  I think most of the brass tchotchkes we buy in the United States come from India, but I sure saw a lot in Nepal. I could probably find some of these at Home Goods, but there were some very unique items as well.

Take the sword-like brass knives, for example. I haven't seen them in Home Goods. They are weapons used by gurkhas. What are "gurkhas"? They are members of an elite Nepali military group that fought against the British from 1814-1816, but then were recruited to serve in the British Army, where they still serve today. They are known for being fearless in combat, for their loyalty, and for their skills with the khukuri, the curved knife seen in the photo on the right. That's a pretty cool knife, but unfortunately I only had carry-on luggage and I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't get through security.

One of the important places in Bhaktapur is Taumadhi Square, which is the location of several important temples, including Bhairavnath Temple, which is dedicated to Lord Bhairav, the fierce manifestation of the Hindu god Shiva. It was originally built in the 13th century, then restored and redesigned several times. The triple roof was added in 1718, but then it collapsed in the 1934 earthquake, was rebuilt, and was severely damaged again in the earthquake of 2015, and was re-rebuilt. Nepalis are persistent.

TUNISIA, DAY 2: KAIROUAN - AGHLABID BASINS AND THE GREAT MOSQUE

 March 21, 2014

After a non-descript buffet breakfast in the hotel, our guide Feker picked us up at our hotel. This is the courtyard in front of our hotel, accessed by a wonderful stone gate.

A sign on the gate says a whole bunch of stuff in Arabic, and Porte de France, 13/03/1912 in French.

The gate marks the separation between the old medina and the new city.

From our room's balcony, which overlooked the square, I had seen a man strewing seed in the plaza. There were plenty of pigeons there scavenging for leftovers about half an hour later.

When Feker arrived, of course he took twenty or so photos.

GREENLAND: NIGHTTIME ICEBERG CRUISE

June 14, 2019

Land of the Midnight Sun: Any of the world's northern regions above (or close to) the Arctic Circle. (Wikipedia)

"Midnight Sun" refers to the phenomenon on the earth's poles when the sun is visible all night long. Some part of the sun is visible for 24 hours a day in the Arctic Circle from about June 12 until July 1. We were fortunate to be in Greenland at a location over 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle from June 16 until June 20. We left Greenland just one day shy of the summer solstice (June 21), the day with the longest period of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere, but in Greenland, there are 2 1/2 weeks of "longest days," so we didn't miss anything.

The flag of Greenland reminds me of the midnight sun. The top white stripe represents the glaciers and ice cap covering most of the country. The bottom red stripe is the ocean that surrounds the island. The top half of the circle is the sunset (never quite setting into the ocean), and the bottom half of the circle represents the icebergs partially submerged in the ocean.

Taking advantage of the midnight sun, we were picked up for an iceberg viewing trip at 9:45 PM and didn't get back to the hotel until 1:00 or 1:30 AM.

Several years ago we cruised Alaska and went on several glacier sightseeing trips there. The Alaskan glaciers are definitely spectacular, but our Greenland midnight sun cruise was a very different kind of spectacular.

First of all, these two other boats are the only ones we saw the entire night, and most of the time we couldn't see or hear either one of them.

The few times we saw one of the boats, we appreciated the fact that they were not huge, noisy cruise ships jam-packed with tourists.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: FORT McHENRY

I'm embarrassed to admit that I may not have been able to identify the significance of Fort McHenry before I actually visited it.  I am intrigued by the fact that it's not just a national monument, but also a historic shrine. I have always associated shrines with religious sites. Maybe it was designated a shrine because it is a battlefield site, or is it because of its connection to the national anthem? It is the only site in the National Park Service to have both designations.

During the War of 1812, this fort successfully defended Baltimore from an attack by the British Navy.

However, what makes this Fort especially famous is this:

Before we actually went to the fort, we spent some time in the visitor center. I like this view of the star-spangled banner

We learned all about the origin of our National Anthem:

. . . and we saw Key's original hand-written draft of the lyrics.: