Perhaps you've heard of Melk Abbey so if someone says "Melk" your brain probably tosses in the word "Abbey" Kind of like hearing "Marco" and immediately thinking "Polo". Blonde's brain also reacted only in terms of "Melk Abbey" with no clue of the history behind it or of the town below it. On a Viking River Romantic Danube cruise we stopped to see the Abbey. Blonde had been … [Read more...]
German Christmas Markets 101
Blonde recently returned from a Viking River Cruise that visited a variety of German Christmas markets along the Danube. She'd long heard about the German Christmas markets and pictured them as being pretty, twinkly and full of hand-crafted decorations to buy. And, for once, she was right. However, due to overwhelming reader education dedication she decided to create a sort … [Read more...]
Budapest: Statues, Memorials and “Popped-up”
Budapest statues and memorials Heroes' Square Budapest statues and memorial have a long and a very recent history. Budapest was founded in 1873 and it appears that they have spent many of the 141 subsequent years erecting statues, memorials, controversy and, recently, "Popped-Up" art. Rather than write a thoughtful history of all of this artistic activity and … [Read more...]
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Prambanan Temple, Indonesia
We were fortunate enough to get to Prambanan Temple in Java, Indonesia and unfortunate enough to be there during Eid al-Fitr. If you are not Muslim or do not live in a Muslim country you're probably wondering the heck Eid-al-Fitr is. Our simplistic explanation is that it's a 3 day holiday that begins when Ramadan ends. During it all Muslims have to simultaneously drive, with as … [Read more...]
UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Canal du Midi
It was a hot and sunny day..... Wait, shouldn't it have been a dark and stormy night? Well it wasn't. Blonde and Brunette were cavorting in a sweaty way through the charming lower part of Carcassonne in Southern France trying to find a boat ride on the Canal du Midi. Voilà! Although the canal doesn't begin or end in Carcassonne it's one of many places you can … [Read more...]
Layover in Frankfurt? Do a Rhine River Cruise.
Blonde was making the long journey from Bhutan home to Florida and decided to break up the travel instead of enduring an unnecessary marathon of misery. Part of the plan was to spend 2 nights in Frankfurt in order to have one full day to go into the city and explore. But Blonde didn't follow her own requirement of always looking at holiday calendars before … [Read more...]
UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Robben Island, South Africa
Before leaving for South Africa Blonde read Nelson Mandela's fascinating autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. and found it to be brutally honest (about himself) and very inspirational. We had already planned to go to Robben Island when we went to Cape Town but now it seemed almost urgent to go there. As always Brunette did the research and found out that you need … [Read more...]
UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Galapagos Islands
There are several reasons the majority of our travels involve visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The reasons are: Brunette not only does the trip research but she’s a small walking, talking human version of Wikipedia and her content knowledge of UNESCO World Heritage sites is astounding and more than a little odd. UNESCO World Heritage sites, particularly the ones in … [Read more...]