This morning dawned cool, under 20 degrees (!), with a light drizzle; not enough to get wet, but enough to irritate anyone who wears glasses. By noon it was dry and humid and by late afternoon back to summer, blue…
We started our day as many tourists do, at the Prague castle (Prazsky Hrad). But unlike most, we walked there, which is mostly uphill and something of a trek from our hotel. There are ten different sites to see, you…
Our driver met us just before 10 a.m. in “CK” as he called it. He was an interesting guy, with two degrees, one in civil engineering and another in psychology. We had an unusually in-depth and considered conversation en route,…
Can you tell it was a beautiful day? Our pension put on a nice breakfast spread, toast, jam, fruit, yogurt, eggs, meats, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, crudités (?), salad and, for what reason I don’t know, dill pickles. …
Well, so long Vienna: with your cool retro cars in mint condition… your ludicrous deserts, especially your ice cream pasta… your every second store selling chocolate… your literal translations… your cafe signage… …your naked people running through the streets. This…
An absolutely priceless weather day: hot, but not scorching, a light breeze and a few fair weather clouds which offered periodic relief. We had some strawberries, cherries, yogurt and Nespresso at the apartment, then wandered into the centre. We stumbled…
Six statues? Six statues? I asked for eight statues. This is a disaster! If there’s nothing to do in Vienna there’s a museum you haven’t seen. There is even a Third Man museum (which, alas, is open once a…
The Valens Aquaduct: Goodbye Istanbul. IST to VIE, TK1885: We were checked out of the hotel at 8:30 without breakfast. It was sunny and steaming up but the city doesn’t really come alive before noon. We had booked a comfortable…
Why did Constantinople get the works? That’s nobody’s business but the Turks. Of course I’ve been waiting a week to write that. Above: Christ healing the paralytic at Capernaum. What parable is that? A shout out to Jarome for recommending…
An inscription which means “I am the city of learning and Ali is its gate.” Part of an exceptional collection of Islamic scripts we saw in the afternoon. The one above, a long elegant scroll, painfully detailed, is simply a…