Wales loves its artists. That’s easy to say with the likes of actors Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheehan all hailing from the South West Coast of Wales, near Swansea. No artist, however, commands a deeper place in a Walesian’s heart than poet and writer, Dylan Thomas.

The Palladian Traveler heads 50m below the surface to discover well-kept Soviet art as he joins countless Muscovites as they commute via the museumesque Moscow subway system.

A Gathering of Eagles; A Pride of Lions, or a Flight of Airline Pilots; any of which might well be a description of an aviation heaven that’s about 50 miles from London, and is only 45 minutes by express train. It’s also far better known as the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford.

The Palladian Traveler takes a bullet, a bullet train that is, as he rockets out of St. Petersburg and arrives in Moscow just in time to take a sunset stroll with seven very tall sisters.

Echoes of time linger over Westminster City, the stunning architecture of its historic buildings emerging above the Thames as if preserved in a time capsule. The celebrated London Marriott County Hall overlooking the south bank of the Thames with its immense palatial columns and façade give it a demeanor of both strength and influence in keeping with its role as the historic seat and stronghold of the London County Council.

The most depressing place on the planet is my hometown of Seattle in the month of January. The December holidays are over with January’s grim back-to-realty winter looking us straight in the face. In Seattle that generally means endless light showers and a sun that has completely disappeared. But leave it to the Canadians who embrace the long winter months of ice and snow with celebrations that warm both the heart and soul.

The Palladian Traveler dusts for prints as he goes in search for the facts surrounding a whodunnit murder committed down in the bowels of an aristocratic residence along the banks of the Moica River in St. Petersburg.

Just a pleasure visiting the wayback, remembering my daughter’s first far-flung travel. And a chance to reprise it for Christmas and New Years wishes from the original Santa Claus. Many lay claim to the origins of the Santa legend, but St. Nicholas, of the ancient city of Myra in Turkey, is the real deal. Trace them back, most other countries’ Santa legends are spinoffs.

I am a hiker. But at home, no one uses a machete to blaze the trail prior to walking on it as Souza, our Amazon guide, did, creating a path in the overgrown rainforest step by step. Slicing, swatting, swooping, chopping, no branch, bush, vine or twig was safe.

There’s a word in the heavy metal music lexicon, shredding, which denotes exceptional mastery of a musical instrument. The decks of a Royal Caribbean ship are alive with the sounds of shredding on this warm February afternoon as I make my way around the 70000 Tons of Metal theme cruise that’s in full swing.