Of all the former Communist bloc nations in Eastern Europe, Hungary was the first country I went to. I was expecting it to be a run down place with grim shades of the Communist era, and dour looking people. On the contrary, it turned out to be a delightful experience, and I went back there another two times! My first trip to Hungary was in April 2005 when I joined a package tour leaving from Geneva, Switzerland to Budapest by EasyJet the well known European budget airline. I traveled to Geneva by train from Bourg en Bresse where I was living at that time. At Geneva airport I met up with the tour group which was mainly made up of elderly Swiss people. As usual, I was the only Asian in the group. After a two ... read more

When I was living in France, my family came all the way from California, USA to visit me for Christmas one time. This blog is about our trip to Rome, Italy. I had been to Italy about 5 times previously, but never made it to Rome, and when I tell people about it they were quite surprised. So when my family came to visit me in France I accompanied them to Rome for a couple of days whirlwind tour of the city. We managed to purchase very cheap tickets on EasyJet, one of the better known budget airlines in Europe. The only thing was we had to take the flight from Geneva, Switzerland. Actually, that didn't pose much of a problem as Geneva is only about a 90 minute drive away from the city where I ... read more

As mentioned previously in one of my travel entries, when I was living in France, I used to make frequent day trips (mostly by car) in-country, as well as to neighboring countries. One of those journeys was to Aosta in Italy. It was late August in France, nearly the end of summer. I wanted to take advantage of the remaining days of summer and decided to travel to Aosta the principal city in the Aosta Valley region of the Italian Alps. We left home very early in the morning as it was only to be a day trip. The distance from Bourg en Bresse, the city where I lived in France, and Aoste (the French name fo Aosta) is approximately 235 kilometers or around 145 miles, and we were hoping to get there in about 3 ... read more

We joined in celebrating the Year of the Horse with the annual Dragon Parade in Orlando, Florida. Last year it took place on Sunday, February 9th. Actually, it was a full week after the Lunar New Year, (commonly called Chinese New Year) I think, due to commercial interests. The parade was scheduled to start at 11 am with the various contingents and dancers in colorful costumes walking along the length of Hillcrest Street near downtown Orlando. We arrived there early to get good vantage points to watch the parade and take photos. As the most popular festival in Asian/Oriental culture, Lunar New Year is celebrated internationally in Asian countries, and also in Asian communities around the world. I was told that in Florida, the Dragon Parade is the only large-scale celebration for Lunar New Year, so ... read more

It was April and still spring in Europe although the weather was turning better from the dreary winter months. We decided to visit my friend Grazyna who lives in Cologne, Germany - a distance of 680 kilometers or around 423 miles. It took us over 7 hours to arrive at her house. When I lived in France I had a good car, a Renault Safran which was ideal for long distance driving. However, we drove at a steady pace and stopped twice on the way to Cologne, Germany, once in Metz (in France) where fierce fighting took place during World War II between American and German forces. This battle lasted 3 months, and being a WWII history buff, I wanted to see some of the battlefield sites. The other stop was inside Germany, I can't remember ... read more