Whenever I zip around London on the subway, I marvel at the engineering behind it. On a recent visit, I leaped at the chance to take a...

Circumnavigating Iceland by ship guarantees seeing a lot of seabirds. The one I wanted to see most was the puffin. Iceland is home to the...

June is springtime in Iceland. Fields are full of lupines, a much larger variety than I've seen in California. Dandelions are embraced as...

Icelanders embrace the colors of the rainbow. All over the country saw streets, benches, and steps painted with the colors of the...

Budapest is rich with music and music history. While there recently, I was treated to several intimate concerts and visits to Bartok...

Anyone who is unfamiliar with the name Alphonse Mucha is likely familiar with the art of this Art Noveau artist. Sarah Bernhardt was so...

Tauck promised a trip full of music on its Musial Magic along the Blue Danube River Cruise, and it delivered. All the of the programs...

The day began ended with palace visits, starting with the excessive Schönbrunn Palace and ending with the more humble Palais Kinsky. The...

After an over night sailing from Budapest, I woke up in Bratislava, Slovakia. Our resident soprano Brittany gave a lecture on vocal...

Béla Bartók needed a quiet environment to compose. From April 1932 to October 1940 he found solace in a house that used to be in the...

Today was a treat for both eyes and ears. We toured two spectacular music facilities—the Budapest Opera House and the Liszt Ferenc...

My very first glimpse of Budapest was a dark one. The plane from London landed at 12:30 AM. By the time we checked into the hotel, it was...

I am sitting in the Kempinski Hotel Coravinus waiting for a bus to take me to the MS Joy, the river boat upon which I'll be staying for a...

After getting an okay sleep on the plane from San Jose to Heathrow, I awoke to a flight attendant offering me coffee and a breakfast...

Every trip has an arc that starts with the anticipation of leaving and ends with the welcome sight of one’s home. After surviving the...

With another day and a half in Dublin before our flight home, Glen and I opted to see a few more things: National Art Gallery of Ireland,...

After leaving Bere Island yesterday, it was time to turn the ship towards the east coast of Ireland and set a course for Dublin. Today...

Bere Island is situated in Cork County with a current population of 190 people. Several of the local guides met our skiffs when we landed...

The Skellig islands are famous for two quite different inhabitants. Skelling Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl) became the home of a sixth-century...

Today was another bifurcated day where the morning and afternoon activities were quite different. Shortly after breakfast, we hopped into...