How Do I Love Thee, Vienna

Belvedere Palace Two years ago we first visited Vienna for five days and were so delighted by it that we returned again to this extraordinary Austrian city for the entire month of August. I love Vienna now even more than before. Here are fourteen reasons why. There are almost 1,000 municipal parks in Vienna, including … Continue reading How Do I Love Thee, Vienna →

Discovering Pieter Bruegel

Art History Museum We recently went to Vienna’s Art History Museum, an impressive structure built “under Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph to accommodate the collections acquired by the emperors and archdukes of the House of Habsburg over the centuries,” according to its brochure. The museum is known by locals as KHM, short for the Kunsthistorisches (Art … Continue reading Discovering Pieter Bruegel →

The Albertina Museum

The Albertina Museum is splendid both in terms of its wide-ranging collection of artists and its location inside a former palace in the heart of Vienna. Before you enter the museum, you will notice many older buildings of interest that surround it. It sits between the Hofburg palace complex and the State Opera House, for … Continue reading The Albertina Museum →

What Creator Has Most Influenced You?

In my writers group, we were recently asked to write about what artist, writer, famous historical figure, etc, had most influenced us. Even though he is not a writer, the person who first came to mind was Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, so I wrote my letter to him. Dear Pablo Picasso, I had the opportunity to … Continue reading What Creator Has Most Influenced You? →

Terracotta Warriors Exhibit in Alicante

Earlier this week I went to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the Archeological Museum in Alicante. I had heard about these soldiers in China and was always curious to know more about them. These sculptures were constructed near Xi'an in the late 200s before the Common Era, more than 2,000 years ago, on the … Continue reading Terracotta Warriors Exhibit in Alicante →

Exploring Toledo, Spain

Photo of Toledo with Cathedral in background Toledo is a Spanish city with a rich history that blends Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultural influences through the centuries. Located in central Spain next to the Tagus river, the city was capital of the Visigoth-Catholic kingdom from 542 to 725 AD. This kingdom came into being after … Continue reading Exploring Toledo, Spain →