Photo by Gabrielle “Through The Lens Photography”
Our first class Fracciargento speeds us through tunnels and along smooth tracks to Venezia. Meanwhile, we endulge ourselves on exquisite pastries of cannoli and chocolate. My heavens, they are good.
Gabrielle is smitten with the canals and boats of Venezia. (more…)
Photo by Gabrielle, “Through The Lens Photography”
After breakfast, we rode the Circumvesuviana to Napoli and our high speed Fracciarossa to Firenze. Its new leather smell, speeds of 185 mph, and smooth ride are a testament to what the United States’ rail system SHOULD be. The fields are green, trees are beginning to bloom, and there is snow on the Apennines to the east of us. (more…)
What, me worry? Well, no matter how much I plan, comfort and confidence are relative. Anything can go wrong, or in 21st century speak, TSCHTF, so I do worry. It is always after-the-fact, when all goes well, mostly, that I heave a sigh of relief and know I waste time with worry. (more…)
18 March 2015
When I asked my 16-year-old niece if she had any concerns about traveling to Italy with me for three weeks, I typically got a ”no.” So far, few questions have issued forth. She seems to be taking this adventure in stride, as are her parents. I am not even sure they know where I am taking their daughter. Her family in Minnesota seems extraordinarily calm with few concerns. As for me, not so much. (more…)
Celebrating 100th birthday of General Aung San
Yangon Airways: “We’ll get you where you are going,” eventually. Our short flight to Yangon has been extended by returning north to Mandalay, then “Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to Heho we go” to the southeast, before flying southwest to Yangon, Rangoon for those who remember this country as Burma. Like many cities, its colonial name was replaced with its traditional name. (more…)
Leaving bumper to bumper traffic, we drive northeast toward Bago. First stop is Taukkyan War Cemetery near Htauk Kyan. This is a British Commonwealth cemetery for Allied soldiers who died in battle fighting the Japanese in Burma during the Second World War. The pillars of Rangoon Memorial are etched with names of 27,000 Commonwealth soldiers who died but have no known grave. The cemetery contains graves for 6,374 soldiers who died in World War II, and 52 soldiers who died in Burma during the First World War. There are 867 graves for the “unknown soldier.” (more…)
A bumpy but scenic bus ride on Burmese roads takes me through landscape characterized by prickly bushes and stunted trees, simple villages and poor roads. Ox-carts carry wood, water tanks and families. Most farms still use oxen to plow fields. First stop is a Palm Tree farm where a man scurries up a very tall palm tree to get drippings for his pots below. Palm produces alcohol, palm oil, palm sugar, baskets and ornaments from fronds. A 25-year-old ox grinds peanut paste which tourists feed back to him in a nice symbiotic relationship.