Category Travel

An Ocean of Ice – II

February 12, 2023 · by · in Travel · Leave a comment

More ice sculptures from Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa, part of the 2023 Winterlude festival. (I’m ignoring the Super Bowl today, though I may watch the game – I bought some good snacks.)

An Ocean of Ice – I

February 11, 2023 · by · in Travel · 1 Comment

Ottawa’s tourism people are probably cursing the weather these days. We’re halfway through Winterlude, the annual winter carnival, and the Rideau Canal skateway, around which many of the activities take place, has yet to open for the season. And with temperatures above freezing in the forecast for every day next week, it is unlikely to […]

The Costs of War

February 10, 2023 · by · in Society, Travel · 2 Comments

Time to take a look back with a post from this date in 2015. I figure you either haven’t read it becasue you weren’t a subscriber back then, or have forgotten it. When we toured the First World War battlefields in the Ypres area of Belgium last summer, the enormity of the human toll was […]

The Palace V – The Artists

February 9, 2023 · by · in Travel · Leave a comment

I’m not sure I noticed them when I was going into Baron Empain’s palace, but I couldn’t help noticing them from the roof. There were so many of them. Maybe it was a class. Maybe a flash mob of sorts. Maybe it was coincidence. From the rooftop I could see about fifty artists, each drawing […]

The Palace IV – The View

February 8, 2023 · by · in Travel · 1 Comment

There are iconic scenes that immediately identify a city. You see a picture of the CN Tower and your mind says “Toronto,” as the Golden Gate bridge immediately references San Francisco or the Eiffel tower reminds you that this is Paris. I’m not sure what building or buildings tells you that you are in Cairo. […]

The Palace III – The Entrepeneur

February 7, 2023 · by · in Travel · 1 Comment

I don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body. And I’m okay with that. Let others take the risk (and gain the rewards) of starting new enterprises. Let them have the headaches that come with being in charge. I never want to be the boss. Of course, I also am not a big fan of […]

The Palace II – The Rooftop

February 6, 2023 · by · in Travel, Uncategorized · Leave a comment

I thought a photo essay might be nice to start the work week. The roof of the Baron Empain Palace in Cairo shows the Indian influences in the architecture and carvings. So here are some shots taken on the roof terrace. Not the grounds or the surrounding area, except incidentally. I suspect when this was […]

The Palace

February 5, 2023 · by · in Travel · 1 Comment

Looks like it should be in India, doesn’t it? Not even the same continent. This one is practically in downtown Cairo. When Baron Edward Empain built his palace in Heliopolis, just over a century ago, it was just east of the city. Cairo has grown considerably in the past hundred years, and now you get […]

Cast Your Vote

January 31, 2023 · by · in Travel · 3 Comments

They’ve started to unveil the ice sculptures on Sparks Street, part of Winterlude, Ottawa’s winter carnival, which starts Friday. It’s a competition, with the public getting to choose the winner. You can vote if you like. So far this has been Ottawa’s third-warmest winter on record, but just because the Rideau canal is still closed […]

New Things

January 20, 2023 · by · in Travel · Leave a comment

Let’s call this Flashback Friday, with this post from eight years ago today. For me travel is about discovery: New places, new things, new people. Vacation is about rest and relaxation. Five countries in four weeks in July 2014 was definitely travel. In Ypres, as I have mentioned, admission to the In Flanders Fields Museum […]

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