Rome is a difficult city to sum up. It is so many different things all rolled into one. Ancient imperial city. Seat of one of the world’s major religions. European capital. It is old; it is new. It is, above all, overwhelming, in a chaotic but kind of perfect way. Perhaps no place serves as…
Editor’s note: another lovely trip recap from TRT’s newest writer, Jackie, to a place I haven’t been since I was a little kid. For more of her travels, click here to visit her index page. Living in the Los Angeles area, we thought that a few days near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino…
If Ireland indeed has forty shades of green, they can’t all be found in Dublin. Rather, to get the true emerald experience, one must leave the city behind and head into the Irish countryside. Here, despite the fact that only about 10% of Ireland’s once pervasive forests remain, the greens really begin to show themselves.…
Today was a difficult day for me, and not because of the ever-present Northern Irish rain that has insisted on following most of my trip here. I am in Derry (also called Londonderry, but more on that in a few moments), the second largest city in Northern Ireland. It is a beautiful town, the best-preserved…
As residents and local tour guides are quick to point out, “most ships built in Belfast did not sink.” It’s a funny statement that needs making because, unfortunately, this former shipbuilding superpower’s most famous ship did sink. On April 15, 1912, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and went down. More than…
Editor’s note: I agree with Sam that having an experience with alcohol - or even just places they serve or make it - is an essential part of visiting Dublin. I also wrote about it, and you can read my take here. For more of Sam’s writing, click here to visit his index page. While…
Today, Dublin, Ireland is a thriving, vibrant, metropolitan European capital with a population of about 1.2 million, almost 25% of the country. Yet walking around the city, history is all over. While many come here seeking its spectacular pubs or its music, the history of Dublin is an exciting one, one visible all across the…
The Douglas boardwalk is reminiscent of any seaside town in England, or even of a place like Block Island. Beautiful vistas of the Irish Sea, a fairly rocky beach, hotels, restaurants, and waterfront condos… it seems to be a scene out of any number of films. A cool breeze blows, and I zip my sweatshirt,…
There is never a bad day to visit an outdoor architectural history museum. Even on a slightly cool and overcast June day in Los Angeles, the buildings of Heritage Square Museum shine. The exteriors are beautifully restored and/or preserved, and while the interiors vary from fully furnished and restored to states of semi-ruin, the history…
Plaza Independencia, Montevideo. At one time, where I am standing would have been in the middle of a large fortress built to protect this Spanish colonial city from attack by land. Today, I’m surrounded instead by beautiful buildings dating from the early 20th century, modern governmental buildings, and ever-present Uruguayans leisurely strolling their capital. In…