The Palladian Traveler is joined by the likes of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Velasquez as he pays a visit to the world famous Hermitage Museum.
The Palladian Traveler is joined by the likes of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Velasquez as he pays a visit to the world famous Hermitage Museum.
On my recent visit to Castilla y Léon, Spain, my fifth to the region, I knew there were so many new things to see and do, as-well-as so many I’d done before that I wanted to do again, that I couldn’t possibly fit them all into one week.
Give or take a few, there are 7.1 sheep for every man, woman and child in New Zealand. Or, to put an actual number on it, approximately 30 million of these mostly white colored animals. Does that mean that sheep overwhelm the country? Certainly not, but it does mean you’ll see a lot of them wherever you go there.
The Palladian Traveler grabs a knife, fork, spoon and beer bottle, along with a front row seat, as he smacks his lips and claps his hands through a two-part folksy night in St. Petersburg.
As I entered Hotel d'Angleterre on the regal Kongens Nytorv Square in Copenhagen, I remember thinking, "Did I just time-travel into Floral Narnia?"
After lunching on caviar, The Palladian Traveler hops aboard a hydrofoil and files his fourth dispatch from Peterhof, the sprawling and ornate Russian version of Versailles, just a few nautical miles outside St. Petersburg.
The Palladian Traveler arrives at the very spot where Peter the Great grabbed a shovel, broke ground and gave birth to St. Petersburg as he files his third dispatch from his Easy Pace Russia journey.
Enjoying a cruise today is noticeably different than those my wife and I did some 25 years ago. That reality was dramatically in evidence when we took a Princess cruise earlier this year, and the memories we experienced “back then,” still color my thoughts today. In the 1970s research shows that about 500,000 people took a cruise every year. In the cruise industry today (2019) the cruise business has grown considerably.
Every summer, throngs of tourists from Germany and Great Britain descend to splay their pallid bodies on the glorious beaches that ring this island off the coast of Spain. They soak up the sun, swim and sail in the Mediterranean, swarm Mallorca's shops and restaurants, drink her wine, consume her olive oil, and snore in her hotels.
A balmy breeze wafted across our faces. The mountain air was as refreshing as only a mountain atmosphere can brighten one’s day. The crisp and unique aromas of summer drifted over all those at this mountainside location. It was exquisite. Given what we were about to see was in complete contrast to the marvelous climate, and far more about why so many from around the world are still mesmerized by a man and a unique building that he occasionally visited: The Eagles Nest & Adolf Hitler.