Tag Archives: travel
Giving torch-wielding putti the side eye in the Chapel of the Blessed Giovanni Orsini, Trogir
Okay, so I didn’t pay much attention during mass at the Cathedral of St. Lawrence in Trogir, Croatia. I mean, I sat quietly still and was passably respectful, but my face surely resembled that of a flounder: The reason for my flounder face? I was straining with all my power to get a look at the Chapel of […]
Holocaust Memorial Wall, Frankfurt
Each of these name plates commemorates a Jewish citizen of Frankfurt, murdered during the holocaust. There are over 12,000 names. This Holocaust memorial wall is adjacent to Frankfurt’s Jewish museum. The main synagogue of the Jewish ghetto used to stand here, before it was burned in Kristallnacht. The birthday of each victim is recorded along with the […]
Lamplight and cobblestones in Mostar
Here’s my advice for visiting Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Don’t miss it. Spend the night. Climb a minaret. Pet the cats and avoid feral dogs. Wear practical footwear. It was early evening when Alisa, our B&B host, picked us up from the bus station in Mostar. She brought along a friend for the ride, and within minutes […]
Language barrier? No problem. How to communicate while traveling when you don’t speak the language
This is me in every country: “Hello, excuse me, I am sorry I don’t speak [name of language] well. Can you please tell me where is the bathroom/supermarket/train station/cool Romanesque church? Thank you. Goodbye.” In spite of being a glamorous international traveler, my foreign language skills suck. Wait, I take that back, I can roll my […]
Weights and measurements in Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is pretty….pretty touristy. And there’s a legit reason for that: Hordes of people come to Dubrovnik because it looks like this. Visiting in late November, we avoided the belched-out-by-cruise-ships crowds while relishing the sunny, windy weather that perfectly showcased Dubrovnik’s sparking water and austere architecture. Still, there’s a sort of dead feeling to the old […]
Funniest Travel Moments from 2015
This majestic portrait from our guest house in Vadu Izei should be an object of religious reverence. We did the pee pee dance in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges cathedral…. ….and the hands-up hairy man dance in the cathedral of Burgos. Don’t worry, we managed to avoid collisions with flying nuts and bolts in Split. Ah! Fond memories of the Dracula […]
Liquid architecture: the sea organ of Zadar
Don’t you love it when art exceeds your expectations? We knew what we were looking for, having traveled to Zadar, Croatia just for this purpose, but still we were surprised as the lilting, moaning music emerged through the misty afternoon on the coastal promenade. The Sea Organ is a perfect work of art. (Or is it architecture? A […]
We’re all still friends in Sarajevo
In the foreground, a mosque. In the background, the spire of a Catholic church. This is Sarajevo. Sarajevo is my favorite sort of town: buzzing with dynamic street life, culturally rich and simultaneously traditional and forward-thinking. Trams are gliding by, the traffic is not that crazy and the architecture ranges from Ottoman to Viennese. Drool-inducing (if meat […]
Just sleeping in Diocletian’s Palace, no big deal
This is where we’re sleeping tonight in Split, Croatia: Up a steep flight of stairs, on the left, is our room tonight— inside Diocletian’s Palace. Diocletian–just your run of the mill nasty Roman emperor–retired here in the early 300’s AD. As a lover of classical architecture, I’m pretty stoked about it. But not as stoked […]
I may or may not have broken the house rules in Trogir
This morning we took an early bus down the coast of Croatia, with this stunning view of the Zagreb archipelago out our window. Our destination? Trogir, the UNESCO World Heritage zone and, you might say, kind of a pretty town. Trogir is essentially an island jammed with medieval and Renaissance architecture. 13th century cathedral. Mr. wine-pressing man, […]
