Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) could read and compose music, plus play the violin and piano, when he was five years old. Born into a musical family in Salzburg, Austria (then the Holy Roman Empire), he had a unique ability for imitating music, which first became evident when he recited a musical piece by simply observing his father conducting a lesson to his older sister.

The Palladian Traveler winds his way along one of the most scenic drives of the Sunshine Coast as he ventures up into the Blackall Range of Queensland’s Hinterland, where the air is cooler and the grass greener.

I have now been in Peru for more than a year and a half and find myself coasting along in Phase 4 of this roller coaster ride: “Acceptance.” This past February was a perfect example.

The low lying banana boat picks up a passenger arriving from the airport and departs the small dock with the caution not to dangle a hand in the water. The reason soon becomes apparent, the eyes and rough hide of a ten foot crocodile surfaces several feet off the boat, then disappears in murky waters of the mighty, 3,540 km long Zambezi.

Hollywood stars of stage and screen including, Diane Canon, Elliot Gould, Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss, Joely Fisher, Sharon Gless, and Frances Farmer, all turned out for the Los Angeles premiere of Renée Taylor's My Life on a Diet, an award-winning one-woman autobiographical theatrical piece written by she and her late husband Joe Bologna, who also directed.

“Where are all the people?” I asked. “They’re 20 feet below,” laughed my guide. “During the summer, it’s so damned hot that it’s dangerous to be outside. So we live underground in seven miles or so of 95 air conditioned blocks connected by tunnels.”

The Palladian Traveler dons a pair of khaki shorts as he channels his inner Steve Irwin and gets face to face with a ‘roo and a ring-tailed lemur. Crickey!

The Alexis P. Suter Band has just hit the streets with their seventh album entitled, ‘Be Love’ on Hipbone Records. From the outset you realize this project was a communal labor of love. Loaded with original music and a few well-chosen covers, ‘Be Love’ takes the listener on a journey through betrayal, self-doubt, reflection and ‘Empty Promises.’

There were two reasons I wanted to take this trip. First, why would anyone living in Los Angeles take the train to San Diego, I mean you can get there in about 2 hours on the Freeway, and second, was San Diego’s airport runway, and was it long enough for the long distance flight to London?

What do William Wordsworth, William Yeats and Jemima Puddle-Duck have in common? Well, they all lived in and around the fairy-tale villages of England’s Lake District, but only one of them actually is a fairy tale.

On your laps through the park, you’ve passed by the roller coaster a few times now. You’ve been waiting for this ride for years; last year you were too short to ride. This year you’re not sure you’ll have the courage, but you feel ready. You hop in line for the long wait, wondering if it will truly live up to the hype.

The Palladian Traveler boards a state-of-the-art pontoon boat and glides deep into the Noosa Everglades to view first hand some of the 1,365 species of plant life and 700 native animals and birds that inhabit this UNESCO world heritage site.

I’m not going out on a limb when I proclaim Switzerland to be one of the world’s most spectacular tourist destinations. Within an area roughly the size of the state of Maryland, there is such an abundance of awe-striking beauty, recreational activities and cultural attractions that the nation has become a Mecca for visitors of every age and nationality.

The only restaurant in the only town on the island consisted of three tables on the second floor porch of a small townhouse. Accommodations were limited to either a luxurious resort or a spartan but beautiful campground. The island's single road was unpaved and traversable only by 4-wheel-drive jeeps. The rest of the island was undeveloped. That was the St. John I visited 50 years ago.

If you haven’t seen it, the long version of Matt Taibbi’s critique of journalism over Russia-gate, is worth your time as an exercise in grappling with media herd instinct and the folly of putting our grand papers of record at the head of the herd.

If Fiji was nothing more than sand, sea and palm fronds, it wouldn't matter which beach resort you went to. Every vacation would be just like the last one, another been-there, done-that. But after 15 years and as many visits to this 333-island nation, deep in the South Pacific, I've got a pretty good idea why every resort offers a unique experience.

The Palladian Traveler puts away his wellies and laces up his hiking boots as he treks around the picturesque Valle d’Itra of Puglia in search of deserted trulli.

While visiting the coastal town of Bermeo, one of the oldest towns in the Basque Country of Spain, I received a most unusual invitation to dine with friends of friends. It was unusual not just because it began in a seafood market or ended in a mountaintop bodega. No, this was a rare invitation to dine at one of the Basque male gastronomy societies.