We decided last week we would try to catch a bit of the Tour de France, given that we had visitors from SoCal in town. And, happily, this was one of those random years when the guys who stake out the world’s greatest bike race … drew a line on a map that put the […]

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I have been a grandfather for nine years and change, and it’s a pretty good gig. You can take a whack at spoiling the little guys and not feel guilty about it, and you can smile and head for the door when three boys get a bit too … boisterous. There are some great moments […]

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This is what happens when you don’t do enough vacation planning. You get there and something does not match expectations … and you end up wasting a day, or most of one, trying to solve a problem or abandon it in favor of some patch job. Or a witch appears and plots plans for putting […]

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We had a fine time. Almost-perfect weather, from Venice straight through to Rome/Civitavecchia, plenty to see and do but also time for relaxation and conversation. A look back at 10 nights and 11 days onboard the Celebrity Constellation, fixing some oversights and passing on some thoughts about the trip.

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The final full day on the Celebrity Constellation cruise offered a menu of attractions that pretty much overwhelmed even the most ambitious of shore-going travelers. Start with Naples itself. One day cannot adequately convey the history and energy and madness of the First World city that most closely resembles a Third World city. But then […]

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This was the catch-all day for things Sicilian. Want to see bustling Messina? Today is the day. Intent on having a look at the self-impressed cliff-side mountain retreat Taormina? C’mon down. Fancy a peek at a smoking volcano? Etna isn’t all that far, is it? The voyagers on the Celebrity Constellation awoke today to find […]

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I became aware of the island country of Malta when I was a kid, reading about how 500 Knights Hospitaller led the defenders against the Ottoman Empire in the Great Siege of Malta, in the year 1565. It is a wonderful yarn, the story of the few and the outgunned who clung on tenaciously against […]

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We have entitled this travelogue of our 10-day outing “Cruising the Mediterranean”. But weren’t we in some other seas entirely, to get where we are now, headed south for Malta? It can be argued that the Adriatic and Ionian seas are the only watery areas the Celebrity Constellation has passed over, in the past week. […]

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This was a city that mattered almost 3,000 years ago, a stepping stone from Greece to Italy. Unfortunately for Corfu, armies seeking to get across the final miles of the Adriatic Sea … aren’t as common as they were in the days of the Greeks and Romans. Corfu at times made me think of the […]

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The world is full of weird little places. Just have to go out and look around a bit, and you will find one. Such as Kotor, a walled city of 13,000 people in the Republic of Montenegro, which has been independent only since 2006 — and which I can add to the list of Nations […]

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