Our Xian itinerary is a plan that looks better on paper than in practice. Flying in and out on the same day left no room for error in this former capital city of China. A city with over 3,000 years of history, it is the eastern end of the ancient Silk Road. Our Xian itinerary […]
Batu Caves, Monkeys Are One Reason to Visit This Malaysian Temple
As we stepped out of the car at Batu Caves, monkeys were the first thing to catch my eye. Just beyond a troop of long-tailed macaques (wild monkeys) stood the largest Batu Cave statue, the 43-metre tall golden figure of Lord Murugan. Behind Lord Murugan are the Batu Caves steps leading to this Malaysian temple. In total, […]
Quirky and Interactive Statues From Travel Bloggers Around the World
Public art fascinates me. We often can’t resist the opportunity to join in, creating interactive statues from what was once simply a city sculpture. We are not the only ones. I asked travel bloggers around the world for their favourite quirky statues and sculptures. I separated out the “naughty, but not nasty” sculptures and shared them […]
Fun Statues Around the World: Oversized and Undressed
Oversized and undressed statues seem to be popping up in public locations around the world. The reaction is entertaining. Some giggle, others cringe and turn away, but as a photographer, I look at them as photo opportunities. And I am not the only one. We asked top travel bloggers around the world to contribute images […]
A Cow Parade and Other Interesting Sites in Perth Australia
Perth was our port of disembarkation on our recent Royal Caribbean cruise, allowing us several days before we flew home. Our first time in Western Australia and of course we already want to return for a much more elaborate exploration of the region. We did have time for a city tour, a river cruise to Fremantle, a […]
Classic San Francisco Images
I couldn’t spend time in my favourite city without snapping a few classic San Francisco images. My favourite is still a few years old, shot on our last visit: More classic San Francisco Images: I know we missed a few, like Lombard Street and the Painted Ladies. But overall, I think we got a good collection […]
Interesting Newmarket Sculptures: More Auckland Art
Newmarket is one of many Auckland city neighbourhoods. It is often thought of as New Zealand’s premier retailing area. Like most of Auckland, it boasts an eclectic and interesting collection of city artwork. Walking down Broadway with my daughter, I couldn’t resist taking photos of four Newmarket sculptures: It’s a fascinating example of sculpture and […]
Bizarre Wellington Street Sculptures are Colorful Fun
Wellington is an exciting, eclectic mix of modern, traditional and cultural street art. My daughter and I had a blast exploring the city and discovering so many interesting Wellington street sculptures. Often thought of as the soul of the city, colourful Cuba Street is a meeting place for friends, buskers, shoppers and diners. We chose […]
Walking Along the Wellington Waterfront, New Zealand
New Zealand’s capital city is the perfect place for a mom/teen getaway. Of course, we went shopping, ate wonderful food, and we also took a walk along the Wellington waterfront. I had my new street lens (20mm prime f/1.7) on my Olympus OM-D Em5. Here are the photo highlights: There is plenty more to see […]
Visitng Caesars Palace in Las Vegas
We had all seen Caesars Palace in the movies and on TV. It’s a Las Vegas icon, and beautiful in person as it appears in the films, it was a fun place to visit. Although, we had to keep movingas we walked through much of the main level as teens and younger children are not to […]
Exploring the Sherwood Forest In Search of Robin Hood
Did you know the Sherwood Forest really exists in the Nottinghamshire? We had to stop there last year whist we were driving through England. There several fun statues greeting us as we headed from the parking lot to the Visitor’s Center (although, I think the building in the background of this photos is actually the […]
The National Mall – A Photo Journal of Washington DC Memorials
A strange flood of emotions filled us as we toured the National Mall in Washington DC with a few family members. We are American expats, therefore the history is both personal and yet foreign. On top of that, we were not used to the heat. Having left New Zealand’s winter and spent two weeks in […]
How to See New York City Highlights in Two Days
We had two days to see the New York City highlights, an impossible task, but we rose to the challenge. Dividing our time into two days and one night, we made the most of it: New York City Highlights: Day 1 We pre-booked a timed visit to the 9-11 memorial and started our day here. […]
A Day In Vancouver – We Saw The Highlights
Today I fell in love and made it to second base. Not at the same time. First came the love – with Vancouver. As for getting to second base, that happened at the airport. It wasn’t even TSA, who has a reputation for feeling up female travelers. No, it was in Canada. I emptied my […]
Brussels Highlights: Chocolate, Atomium, EU, Manneken-Pis
I think it is the chocolate that lured us to Belgium. Without a plan or a hotel room we found ourselves with only one day in Brussels, so we set out to hit the highlights. What can I say about a city whose most famous statue is a boy caught in eternal pee? We had […]
Heidelberg Castle and Luxembourg City in a Day
I am pretty well convinced that some of our best days are those that are unplanned, like today’s visit to Luxembourg. We started the day with a hike to the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle and then intended to head north to take a few hour cruise on the Rhine river. The views of the […]
Salzburg Austria – Musical Home to Mozart and The Sound of Music
Our final port on our Mediterranean cruise was Venice, from which we hired a car and drove to Salzburg Austria, home to both the Sound of Music and Mozart. This was a great choice. We found an affordable apartment and rested, as cruises tend to leave us needing a bit of recovery time. Now we […]
Florence In a Day: Uffizi, Duomo, and Piazzale Michelangelo
Pisa and Florence in a day. It was busy, and not optimal. However, it was our second cruise port as we sailed the Mediterranean for 12 nights with NCL. There were no excursion options that did everything we wanted, so we hired a private guide. We were met at the port, taken first to the […]
A Free City Tour in San Sebastian, Culture Capital of Europe 2016
The rain stopped just as we were approaching San Sebastian, the cultural capital of Europe (at least that is what they are claiming it will be in 2016). We had decided in the morning to skip this beach town as the weather was so poor, but it was clearing and we were passing through. Imagine […]
Highlights of a Free Walking Tour of Madrid Spain
Today, I fell in love with the sights and sounds of Madrid, Spain. We had a free walking tour of the city from Sandemans. We have toured withSandemans in several cities around the world (Dublin, London, and Barcelona). Unfortunately, our Madrid guide was not quite up to their high standards. At least not the one we […]
Moscow Metro as a Destination – Tips Before You Start
More than just an efficient way to get around the city, the Moscow Metro is a destination in itself. Many of the stations were built in the Soviet era. They are clean, loaded with art work and history and each one is different. Moscow Metro tours seem quite popular, but we opted to do it […]
Highlights of Moscow: Red Square, St. Basils, Seven Sisters, More
Moscow is one of those cities that I have always wanted to visit. I had great fantasies about intrigue and drama, Russian dancing and puppets, food and friendship. Honestly, I am not sure what I was really expecting, but Moscow did not disappoint. After two rest days Dubai, we are ready for Russia. We know Moscow is […]
Boston Freedom Trail and the Home of Paul Revere
Happy 4th of July Weekend! It seems appropriate to share photos today of our very quick visit to Boston and our walk along the Freedom Trail. After all. I live in New Zealand now, and American Independence Day is not a holiday anywhere in the British Commonwealth. It was two years ago we walked on part of […]
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