Travels in the 2nd half

The Undersea Room This summer the New York Botanical Garden hosted a wonderful exhibit of works by glass artist Dale Chihuly . You can see my review of the show here . On a recent trip to Seattle I had the chance to visit the Chihuly Garden and Glass , a long-term exhibit that opened at the Seattle Center in 2012. Sitting at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle, the museum was designed and created by Dale Chihuly at the invitation of the family Howard S. Wright II, who built the needle. Having the opportunity to create an exhibition space for their own work must be an artists dream. Mr. Chihuly has took full advantage to create rooms that show his work in the best light, sometimes literally. Take for instance his Glass Balls on Canoes. In this room two canoes have been filled with multi-colored balls of blown glass, some of which are several feet in diameter. They are placed on a reflective black surface, which gives them the illusion of floating. Then there i...

I don’t usually write “listicles.” They are not my favorite type of article. But they do have a place and this one is a great way for me to share my favorite places in Sicily. Palermo Cathedral   Palermo – AirBnB – Cathedral Luxury House We could not have found a better place to stay in Palermo. This duplex is across Corso Vitorrio Emmanuele from Palermo’s beautiful cathedral. The apartment has two bedrooms and two full baths. On the bottom floor, the bedroom is a queen size sofa bed with an en-suite bathroom. There is also a kitchenette/dining/living room. Upstairs is the main bedroom, a second full bath and a living/work area. In addition to being a wonderful place to stay, this apartment is located exactly where a visitor to Palermo would want to be, in the center of the old city. The Cathedral is across the street. The Porto Nuovo is two blocks away, and the Quattro Canti (Four Corners) is a short walk down one of the main streets – Corso Vitorrio Emmanue...

Siracusa Waterfront There are many old towns in Sicily, but few are as old as Siracusa. Like Agrigento, on Sicily’s southern coast, Siracusa dates back to the times of ancient Greece. It was one of the most important trading towns of that era. So, a trip to Siracusa is something that I highly recommend if you are visiting Catania. There are many tours to Siracusa available, we used Lemon Tours .   Since we were the only ones interested in going on that day, they arranged for us to have a private tour guide – Ana. Ana picked us up at 8:30 and we began our trip south. Ana was an excellent guide. She was friendly, outgoing and very knowledgeable. We had a great time during the drive, talking about culture, life in Italy, families and just about everything in between. The Amazing Ms. D at the theater Our first stop in Siracusa was at the Greek Theater. This amphitheater dates to the 5 th century BCE, although it was renovated in the 3 rd century BCE a...