Rick Steves is the premier authority on touring throughout Europe. Rick has written tour guidebooks, takes tour groups throughout the region and appears on PBS regularly in Rick Steves’ Europe. In this video, Rick takes a nostalgic walking tour with a local guide and recalls some of the histories of this picturesque town […]
Continue reading
I decided to put together a series of possible vacation destinations/activities as we begin the summer vacation season. Since I’m partial to narrated videos, I have to do a fair amount of research to find high quality video, well done narration and interesting destinations and activities over a range of interests. So, stay tuned […]
Continue reading
Our safari in Tanzania was a trip-of-a-lifetime. My wife, Lynn, and I have many and varied kinds of memories if the experience.
I tried to convey the meaning of some of our experience, especially with our meeting of local Maasai people, by words and visuals but I didn’t capture the whole scope of it.
As we moved further south, we came upon an area that apparently supported dozens of baboon family groups. Some of the baboons we saw were quite tame and stayed close to the roadway we traveled. In fact, we stopped near some of them and they paid little attention to us at all […]
Continue reading
One of the unique and interesting features of a Serengeti Plain safari is that we were treated to multiple sightings of Wildebeest herds trekking along their several hundred mile annual migration route. This route enables the African Wildebeest herd, numbering up to 1.5 million animals, to find adequate food and water even as the […]
Continue reading
After completing our observation and purchasing at the Maasai Boma marketplace we headed on southward to the northern edge of the Serengeti National Park. Our guides told us that this would be the real beginning of wildlife sighting. This really excited us since we all thought we had seen a lot already. We would […]
Continue reading
The Chateau de Versailles is one of the most popular tourist stops in France but it has not been that way for too many years. The massive structure fell into disrepair after the French Revolution and most of the furnishings were sold off. Only since World War II has there been an ongoing major effort […]
Continue reading
The Boma Part of our culture shock was a visit to a Maasai Boma or small village of a few mud huts. The village population consisted of two husbands, seven wives and about forty children. There were many paradoxes for us to grapple with such as the extreme poverty, lack of education and health […]
Continue reading
Neuschwanstein Castle (German: Schloss Neuschwanstein, pronounced [nɔʏˈʃvaːnʃtaɪn], English: New Swanstone Castle) is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for […]
Continue reading
I have been putting off doing the editing necessary to make some of the video footage from our African Safari presentable. Video editing is slow and tedious and it isn’t really my strong suit! Also, I think I’m afraid that the scenes which are so real and memorable to Lynn and me just won’t […]
Continue reading
If you are thinking of doing a tour of National Parks or even just a trip out west, don’t miss Yellowstone National Park. I am hoping to collect some high quality and informatively narrated videos of National Parks. Yellowstone is a great start. I and my wife, Lynn, and daughters have toured the park in […]
Continue reading
October 21 was the day we first arrived at our camp, received our “potty training” and rested for an hour or so after lunch. Wisely, our tour guides were giving us a deliberately slow start to help us cope with the jet lag of a halfway around the world trip and the 6000 foot […]
Continue reading
per Wikipedia (excerpt) The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat (Russian: Собор Покрова пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву) or Pokrovsky Cathedral (Russian: Покровский собор) are official names for a Russian Orthodox church in Red Square in Moscow.[5] The church is also called the Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed […]
Continue reading
I’m going to to start very near the beginning of our safari, hoping to convey just how much of a culture shock we experienced going from the USA to Tanzania’s bush country. We arrived at about 10PM on our flight from the U. S. via Amsterdam at a relatively small international airport in Arusha, […]
Continue reading
Africa, I have wanted to go to the Serengeti Plains to photograph big, wild animals in their natural habitat for decades. My wife, Lynn, wasn’t keen on the idea of sleeping in tents in the wild but she finally agreed and in October 2010 we were on our way, traveling with another couple we […]
Continue reading
The new Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis I have now posted five cathedrals from around the world, but mostly from Europe. The simple reason for favoring Europe is that Europe is where most of the cathedrals are located. I did manage to find one in the Ivory Coast of Africa and I’ll keep looking in […]
Continue reading
The Salzburg area offers a variety of attractions that will captivate the traveler by eye and by ear as the video will show. Salzburg also boasts one of the finest Cathedrals in Europe but that will be the subject of another post. My wife, Lynn, and I spent an all too brief afternoon in Austria […]
Continue reading
Malbork Castle excerpt from World Heritage Centre Malbork Castle is the most complete and elaborate example of the Gothic brick castle complex in the characteristic and unique style of the Teutonic Order, which evolved independently from the contemporary castles of western Europe and the Near East. The spectacular fortress represents the phenomenon of the monastic […]
Continue reading
My wife, Lynn, and I visited Grindelwald, a touristy village that is one mountain away from Gimmelwald. The contrast between the two places is striking: one is modern and bustling with tourists while the other, Gimmelwald, is a trip back in time to an earlier and simpler lifestyle. The video only covers Gimmelwald but […]
Continue reading
Introduction to St. Stephen’s Cathedral Here are two approaches to learning about St. Stephen’s Cathedral. First, let’s go on a three minute HD video tour narrated by Rick Steves. Rick is a world famous tour guide book author and tour guide. Rick has also hosted a Public Broadcasting System TV show for several years […]
Continue reading
Background Frederiksborg Castle is sometimes known as the Versailles of Scandinavia. It was intended by its proponent, King Christian IV to be a bold and lavish symbol of the dominant position that Denmark had assumed in Scandinavia and as far south as Germany in the 17th century. Rick Steves HD Video Tour of the Castle […]
Continue reading
Lynn and I went to Tanzania for a photo safari in 2010 (see my Bucket List post). I took about 1800 photos and a lot of them “up close and personal”. I’ll be sharing more of that safari story and more (but not all, thankfully!) of the photos and of the HD video I also […]
Continue reading
Introduction From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Alcázar of Segovia (literally, Segovia Castle) is a stone fortification, located in the old city of Segovia, Spain. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of the rivers Eresma and Clamores near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain […]
Continue reading
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, and is considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture.[1] The main body was completed in only 38 years, from 1220 to 1258. The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the […]
Continue reading