For years I’ve been hearing about all the lovely little medieval towns perched on hilltops throughout Tuscany. Some years back I read the book Under The Tuscan Sun and that probably added to my already significant interest. So I made it a point to visit San Gimignano, perhaps the most popular village on the Tuscan … Read more
Usually, when I arrive in a new city I am very excited by it. I see all the good things about it and think, this would be a great place to live. Then I spend a few days walking around and start to see its blemishes. By the time I have seen all the major … Read more
On my very last day in Rome I checked out of my hotel, stored my luggage, and hopped on the subway to the Vatican, bound for the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, the Sistine Chapel has been closed for the past two days for some important religious holiday, so on the day it reopened there was a … Read more
In Southeast Asia I visited Buddhist monasteries and temples. In Bali it was Hindu and Buddhist temples. On the African continent it was Moslem mosques, and in Singapore all the denominations were represented, peacefully co-existing alongside one another. Here in Rome, Catholicism reigns supreme, and there are literally hundreds of churches, chapels, and Basilicas waiting … Read more
Yesterday afternoon I was walking down a street in Rome, wondering, “What was the name of the second church I visited this morning?” A split second later a young man in front of me turned to his two companions and asked, “What was the name of that second bar we went to?” The place was … Read more
