ART / LITERARY

ITALY The sun stopped shining and the rain came in, as if it knew where I was going – past the Palatine Hill and the Coliseum to the subway, which would take me to Piramide station in the un-touristed south of the city – Rome, that is. The station is named for the nearby Pyramid of Cestius, built in 18-12 B.C. as a tomb for a forgotten local magistrate, a piece of folly that marks the entrance to far more hallowed ground. full story >>>	CALIFORNIA When I found out that the Museum of Making Music was about a stone’s throw from Legoland California Resort & Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad, I decided to make some time and check out the story on making music. A hidden jewel, it’s a treasure trove of a century of musical instruments and innovations that shaped American popular music. full story >>>
ITALY “Italia! Oh Italia! Thou who hast the fatal gift of Beauty,” Nowhere does Byron’s tribute to Italy ring more true than in “The Gulf of Poets” on the Ligurian coast, where Percy Bysshe Shelley was drowned in 1822. It is said that the spirit of the English Romantic poet still lives on between the inlets and promontories of this bewitching cove. It is easy to see why. full story >>>	CZECH REPUBLIC The “Devil” has died. Or at least the one who lived on Prague’s Charles Bridge has. His death adds another chapter to the dense history the bridge has shared. On the edge of the bridge he set up shop where he thought he belonged, next to the other artists selling their creations to eager tourists in front of the Mala Strana tower. full story >>>
CHILE As a diplomat and ambassador for Chile, Neruda travelled to many countries. He collected mementos of all his journeys and these souvenirs, decorate the rooms. Neruda was fascinated by the sea, although he didn’t like to sail on it, and each of his houses are built in a ship motif. full story >>>	MEXICO Mexico City has always attracted artists, activists, intellectuals and writers. Over sixty years ago, first William Burroughs, then Jack Kerouac, came to Mexico City, searching for freedom, beauty and surreal inspiration in its storied, hallowed streets. full story >>>
SWITZERLAND Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street and Jeremy Fisher (a frog from the beloved Beatrix Potter book series) should best beware if ever in Switzerland. That is, unless these endearing childhood frog characters want to run the risk of being captured, gutted, and then stuffed with grains of sand – ultimately to be posed in humanesque-type poses doing very “unfroggy-like” things. full story >>>	ENGLAND Richard Arkwright was an opportunist, designer, engineer, entrepreneur, ruthless negotiator, business magpie and self-made man, who developed amongst other things the spinning frame, the water frame and carding engine. He established the great mills that still line Britain’s waterways. It was Arkwright who created the modern factory. full story >>>