Adventure of the month

View of the Viaduct The Adolphe Bridge Looking out through the casemates Vianden .. and its castle. As I prepare to wind up my summer ala Dutch (an unavoidable return to reality is currently scheduled for September 1st), I have decided that I need to focus on what is really important. I must use my time wisely and set about to achieve my pre-determined, yet noble goal. That goal: to kick my beloved's ass in Count the Countries. And it is not like I am not giving my dear Shawn a fighting chance...I am the one that planned last month's excursion to southern Spain, which allowed him to add a country and cut into my (not significant enough) lead. So, in an effort to counteract this self-inflicted damage, and because there are hourly trains from Amsterdam, making it just too easy, my friend, Diana and I put in a visit to the wee country of Luxembourg. I figured that with a country half the size of Delaware (51 miles long and 35 miles wide... and by that I mea...

The lovely Our Lady Cathedral presiding over the Grote Markt (or Town Square) City Hall Multi-culturalism: check The Lange Wapper: he used to sport a long penis until religious leaders got into a snit and had it removed Day 7: She has created an escape vehicle to take her to freedom... While this group has opted for a less labor intensive way out The opera diva and one of her mini-captors remain entangled While this twin, who has been growing daily by depriving his brother of food is threating to burst out 1) See photos above. The city is a architectural gem. Plus, it is compact, walkable and at least during our visit, free of maddening crowds. 2) It was the home of Rubens and Van Dyke and remains very artsy today. There are enough art galleries, antique shops and cultural happenings to keep you busy all summer. 3) It's in Belgium, so there is no going wrong with either chocolate or beer. And there is no shortage of really funky, inviting restaurants ranging ...

La Giralda at dusk Sevilla's City Hall: the unique facade is due to the fact that they ran out of money before the entire thing could be ornamented Reflections of Sevilla The Cathedral's Door of Pardon Inside the Real Alcazar We couldn't go to Sevilla and not see a flamenco show.. Or visit a bar where the owner entertains the crowd with song and drink. Following our whirlwind tour of Granada, we hopped on a bus headed west to Sevilla. How did we choose Sevilla as our next stop? Well, at the risk of exposing myself for the flake that I truly am, I will explain. We had limited time to work with, so I knew we could only go to two cities in Southern Spain. Granada has the Alhambra, so that one was a no-brainer. But, what about the second stop? I kept going back and forth between Sevilla and Cordoba (not to mention Ronda, Marbella, the Rock of Gibraltar and countless others). I researched online to see what each place had to offer, I questioned friends, colle...

More days off, more cheap airline tix, blah, blah, blah. But that’s where the blah blah ends. I was rejoined by my traveling sidekick, Shawn after a 2 month absence and for a change as of late, I was actually prepared (read: pre-booked tickets in my grubby little hands) for this latest adventure. Well, at least as prepared as anyone can be for something as majestic as Granada’s Alhambra. I knew that this Moorish fort turned palace on a hilltop would be grand, but I had no idea just how “holy crap, this is amazing” grand it was going to be. I spent close to five hours wandering around the complex, torn between open-mouthed gaping and the futile desire to try to capture it all on camera. I watched as fellow traveler’s attempted the same balancing act, some armed with professional looking cameras attached to lenses the size of medieval cannons, others waving around their cell phone cams, even some with disposable cardboard cameras (which, really, why bother? If you are over the age of fiv...