You could say all my travel is family travel, since Tom and I are rarely far from each other. But twice in the last six months I’ve had the pleasure of inter-generational travel. The most recent family trip took me, without Tom, to Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands. Bonus points: this was the first […]
The “New” Cathedral of Salamanca is, as the name suggests, one of the newer massive cathedrals of Spain. Begun in the early 1500s, it was not consecrated until 1733, over 200 years later. It’s unusual for a couple of reasons. First, that it started out in a late Gothic style, with all the linear turrets […]
This is a catalog, of sorts, of my travel photography exhibit at Icebox Gallery in Minneapolis, March 25-April 29, 2017. Hours are Thursday-Friday from 10-6, and Saturdays from 12-5. There’s a special opening on Thursday, April 6 from 5-9 p.m. The gallery is also open by appointment. Call 612.788.1790. If you are in town, please […]
In this second annual round-up of the books I’ve read and the beds I’ve slept in, I gotta admit I’m cutting corners on the reading list. Every year, I promise to keep better records, because by December it’s all a jumble. I’m left to cobble together notes, scan my bookshelves, log in to Amazon and […]
It was a bit of an odd year for us in 2016. While we did some trips around the Midwest in the first half of the year (and Kris went to Baja California by herself) we didn’t do much until June. Two reasons for that: we bought a small condo in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to […]
I’ve said it before, but the best way to be introduced to a city is through its food. Before we go anywhere, our first research is: What do they eat there, and how can we get the best of it? Luckily, in several cities in Spain, we don’t really have to bone up before we […]
One of the best things about train travel is getting to look out the window at landscapes you’d never see from the air. And having an iPhone in your pocket to capture them without having to fumble in your camera bag, attach a lens, check the exposure, etc. And by that time, you’re in a […]
After the reconquest of Zaragoza in the early 12th Century, the Aljafería, the palace of the Moorish king of Zaragoza, was transformed into a palace for the victorious Christian king of Aragon, Alfonso I and his successors. Originally begun in the 9th Century, the palace also served as a fortress both before and after its […]
The Cathedral of Malaga is a late Renaissance masterpiece, which distinguishes it from many of the cathedrals of Spain, which were built a couple hundred years earlier, in the Gothic style. It was started in the early 1500s, soon after Malaga was recaptured from the Moors in 1487, and after the final “reconquest” in 1492 […]
No matter what you might think of Christopher Columbus, or Cristobal Colón, as he’s known in Spain, you have to admit that he is perhaps the person who most affected the history of the world–for good or bad. Because, although evidence mounts that other Europeans reached the Americas before Columbus, he was the one who […]
