Visiting Florence, Pisa and the Cinque Terre in one day highlights all Italy has to offer.

Exhausted from a number of consecutive long days, I entered Florence on fumes. I’d been to Florence twice, in 1997 & 1998, and it hadn’t been my favorite city on either visit. I ended up having a lovely evening strolling around the city’s ancient center, with it’s impressive Reniassance-era Duomo and gothic Palazzo Vecchio. The outdoor […]

It was another early morning train that took me from Venice to the Adriatic seaside town of Rimini. I wasn’t there for the sea and it’s beaches, however. Rimini was the jumping off point to San Marino, the landlocked enclave that claims to be the oldest republic in the world. I’d been traveling the past […]

These are pictures I took while on a casual stroll around Venice on the afternoon of my one day visit in 2013.

Venice’s colorful Rialto Market is located near the famous bridge of the same name.

I felt like Venice was an absolute necessity on this European itinerary.

Munichs Hofbrauhaus is probably the most famous place to drink beer in Europe.

Since I’m done travelling for the year, and I haven’t written a new blog post since April, so I figure it’s probably time to summarize this year’s travels. My travels weren’t like most years, with one big trip, but I ended up squeezing in more days of traveling than I thought on my two two […]

I entered the last week of my trip with a few factors working against me. First, I’d been on the road three weeks, and that’s a long time to be away from home, even for a seasoned traveler like me. Secondly, the extreme heat of the previous two days (124 F & 117 F) were […]

I left Los Angeles heading eastward for home for the first time in three weeks. My first stop was one of the National Park System’s newest parks, Caesar Chavez National Monument. Chavez is recognized as the founder of the United Farm Workers of America, the first labor movement for Latinos, which later became a voice […]