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Welcome to an excellent exhibit at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, where an amazing interactive exhibit for children about refugees– Nansen and I– has recently opened. At the same time, the Center is showcasing Transit, a terrific photo exhibit about Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen and refugees of today…. (more)
The hotel was first built in 1620 for the Fonseca family and it has been a hotel since the end of the 18th Century when many wealthy Americans embarking on the Grand Tour stayed here. In 1891, a winter garden was built in the hotel’s inner courtyard and today, it has a crystal ceiling reflecting sunlight along with a statue of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and war.
We’ve opted to tour Ancient Rome –the center of the Empire for some 500 years–with a guide both to maximize our time and to avoid the lines where we’d have to wait at least 45 minutes to get in. We start at the Pantheon with its giant hole in the middle (and drains in the floor for rain)..
Aldo Valerio greets us with kisses, like friends he hasn’t seen in a long while. In reality, we’ve never met except through email. Valerio runs a tour company called ww.secretitalia.com and also works with a Canadian based company ww.toursbylocals.com that puts together guides with travelers—especially those who are cruising and don’t want to be limited to ship excursions.
Right up until the 1960s, wealthy families had their own gondolas. The flamboyant Peggy Guggenheim used to tool around town on hers. She, of course, is revered here for her spectacular art collection housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, where she lived overlooking the Grand Canal and which now houses one of Europe’s premier museums dedicated to modern art….
We are standing on the deck of the Wind Surf at 10 p.m. our eyes glued to a spectral cone rising from the sea ahead of us with occasional pulses of red and pink shimmering off the top. It is the island of Stromboli off the Coast of Italy. As we get closer we can clearly see the lava erupt—bright orange in the black sky.
I would assume the 240-plus adults on board the Wind Surf being attended by 187 crew would agree on this spectacularly sunny sea day. They are reading on deck, playing scrabble and cards, indulging in a leisurely lunch (everything from gyros to Greek beef salad, cold cuts, chilled cranberry soup, Asian fish curry… the list goes on and on. This is our only day at sea and I wish we had another it is so wonderful!
Eileen is speaking at several travel conferences, including Florida and Hawaii, this autumn. Her presentation can be downloaded
The facility serves as the best marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation center in the Bahamas—the sea lions here were also rescued. Corbett shows us the lab which she proudly says is one of the most medically advanced in the Bahamas — for creatures or people, she jokes — complete with ultra sounds equipment, digital x-rays, anesthesia machines and more. Experts here have the ability via the internet to consult with experts around the world.
Everyone says Dubrovnik is the “jewel of the Adriatic” and it’s easy to see why–it’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site with its cathedral, monastery–including the oldest drug store in Europe, operating continuously since 1317 and the second oldest synagogue in Europe dating back to 1652. Today, there are few Jews left in the Old Town and no Rabbi, we learn.
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