Going Off-Script in London
https://youtu.be/x2Z7bVPjX-s?si=fbuRzETeEnpWUM5r Getting There The short walk from Trafalgar Square down to Big Ben was fraught with many tears, comments that walking was not an acceptable form of transportation, and demands that an Uber must be called immediately under the threat of a meltdown which was already partially underway. This walk, a mere few blocks, was […]
Part VI – Acquafondata
https://youtu.be/IO9DZCKf-bc Preface: The small municipality of Acquafondata lay high in the mountains at the nexus of the Winter Line and the Gustav Line, the fortified Axis defensive lines where Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring’s Army Group C made their stand against the US 5th Army as it pushed towards Rome. This tiny handful of less than a […]
Unfiltered: Bambinos in Italia
https://youtu.be/ruAy6FiXX88 The Journey Begins Again I’d like to think that Jenn and I are fairly experienced and efficient travelers. We breeze through airport security, know how to pick the right seats on the plane, take advantage of points and perks offered on travel credit cards. We find a good balance, leaving parts of trips open […]
In Another Country
As has been the case several times during the telling of letters home, the next chapter was one in which I came in thinking I knew what story I wanted to tell, but had it completely reshaped from what I found. It all started with a simple entry in a US Army Morning Report, the daily […]
An Unexpected Adventure to Newcastle
https://youtu.be/4hrT9vI-yPk?si=4jQU9lfjC1Q8ZK7c Dreaming up an Adventure It was just before Jacob’s bedtime, and we had out his big illustrated children’s atlas that he loves flipping the pages of… looking at the animals, the food and the structures in all of faraway places of the word and unloading all the questions that his curious mind could think […]
A German Story
https://youtu.be/VRT2h_JlFmc Beware that what follows is a raw account of a dad granted an unexpected hall pass to embark on a solo journey to Oktoberfest in the heart of Germany. You may be wondering: How did this man return to tell the tale? Allow me to regale you with the story. On a seemingly ordinary […]
Market-Garden: Just Grass
In September of 1944, the German army in the Netherlands found itself in disarray. Only four short months prior, the Allies had stormed the beaches of Normandy, their relentless advance carving through France and now Belgium with an alarming haste. The recent capture of Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest port, brought them close to the Dutch border. […]
In Bruges
https://youtu.be/5mw6VCdR-LA In the flat plains of West Flanders, Belgium, Bruges was our first travel destination as expats in the Netherlands. We had been together a few years ago and while it is a town to enjoy as unencumbered adults, it was also a place that we were excited to show our kids someday. So when […]
#25: French Polynesia.
If there ever was a paradise on this earth, it is Polynesia. These islands, formed slowly over millions of years in a violent but invisible storm which still continues to this day; the inner crust of the earth heaving innumerable tons of liquid rock from the ocean floor, building undersea mountains which over these millenea […]
#24b: Belgium. Bastogne.
A Walk in the Woods Pulling off of the road, I was not sure what to expect. As ‘war memorials’ go, usually there is some sort of informational signage or plaque to help guide you around. Here I was in what was maybe the most anticipated historical place of my entire life and I wasn’t […]
