Category Travel
An Extraordinary Story
I have mentioned before that wall plaques in the places I visit pique my interest, and that was certainly the case at St. George’s Memorial Church in Ypres. The church, built after the First World War for those Anglophones working in the area, was funded entirely by memorial donations, recorded on the brass plaques. It […]
Checking In
Technology, when it works, is a blessing. It makes our lives easier and more efficient and provides all sorts of benefits. When it doesn’t work it can be a major frustration. Traveling is so much more pleasant when you can check into a flight a day (or even a week) beforehand and save yourself some […]
Delirium
I am not a big fan of bars. I don’t like crowds or noise. Nor do I think alcohol is a required in order to have a good time. If anything, the reverse is true; booze makes people behave in strange ways that they inevitably regret. Or should regret. Also, if I am out with […]
Memories of War
Like most Canadians, I think of war as rather a remote thing. It has been a long time since a war was fought on Canadian soil. Oh there has been the odd skirmish, rebellions in the Canadian west in 1870 and 1885 as well as in both Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) […]
Urban Renewal
It’s an urban oasis, a place of peace and relaxation. Hard to imagine the belching smoke and noise that once filled this area. The first time I remember hearing about Dortmund was as a young boy, reading about the Second World War and the Allied bombing of the Nazis’ industrial base. Dortmund was a prime […]
Tinkling The Ivories
I learned to play piano as a child, though using the word “learned” might be stretching things. I wasn’t willing to practice – probably because I didn’t like the music I was being asked to learn. As an adult I understand the importance of the musical tradition, but back then I might have been a […]
Education Museum II
It is located in a former church, which isn’t that surprising. As I have previously noted, when Ypres was rebuilt following the First World War there were a lot of churches that had been destroyed that were rebuilt just as they had been once the conflict started. A century later there is no need for […]
Education Museum I
Sometimes it is the smaller, less advertised museums that can be the most fun. In 2009, when I first visited Ypres, Belgium, I went to the In Flanders Fields Museum (and returned there this year). Included with the admission fee for that museum was admission to a couple of other smaller institutions in Ypres. I […]
Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy
When we visited the Juno Beach Centre I came away with a feeling of not having heard the whole story. Don’t get me wrong – we thoroughly enjoyed the Centre and spent about six hours exploring it and the Beach. But I felt like something was missing. The Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy, […]
York Minster V – Rest In Peace
I have no idea what plans my children have, if any, for my earthly remains. Since I am planning on living forever, or at least a good long time, the subject hasn’t come up. How we deal with the physical shell that is our body post-mortem does vary from culture to culture and time to […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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