Having tried planes, boats, and trains, we added to our repertoire today with a bus ride into Croatia. We do not think camels will play any role in our transportation scheme. You cannot readily rent a car in Italy and return it in Croatia, and we did not want to have to drive all the way back to Trieste at the end of our Croatian sojourn, so we took a bus from Trieste to Rijeka, Croatia. Rijeka is situated at the "kink" in the coastline between the Istrian peninsula and the Dalmatian coast. It is a busy port and industrial city, but rather lacking in character for tourists. After some delays occasioned by a change in address of our car rental company without any notification, we boarded our 9-passenger Open van and headed first for Pula. ... read more

While in Europe this time, I gave some thought to a question that has been nagging me for some months. One opinion piece in the paper criticized President Obama and his administration for trying to Europeanize the United States. Have traveled in Europe several times, and enjoyed each trip, I did not see what was wrong with some Europeanization, but decided on this trip to be looking at what was different and making a comparison. There are some ways that Europe differs from the USA that are not capable of being changed. 1. It is far more compact, making nearly universal train access a possibility within reasonable travel time frames. Even with high speed trains, America could not do the same. 2. Europe is much older than America. That has implications that are sometimes glaring and ... read more

Most of the day was spent with me in a meeting and Jennie shopping. Without Dean, her usual shopping companion, her efforts were somewhat lackluster. We closed the day with dinner at Al Pont de Fer restaurant, with wonderfully original dishes such as baked ham Spanish style with sea urchin, fried tiny rabbit kidneys, and pigeon breast with crunch rooster combs. We actually ate an appetizer platter of cured meats, wonderful thick spaghetti with a thick tomato sauce, and pork that had been marinated in balsamic vinegar for two weeks and then braised. We left the ordering of food and wine up to our friend Pantaleo Romanelli. For some reason, he seemed to have some insight into Italian vittles. He made sure we got wine from a region near where he lives in Pozzilli. But I ... read more

I am pretty sure that is not correct Spanish. But the idea of spending the day touring the creations of Antoni Gaudi is. I don't think I have seen a city so dominated by a single architect. Not only did Gaudi design several structures, you can see his influence in many others. When Gaudi received his architect title, Elies Rogent (who signed it) declared, "Qui sap si hem donat el diploma a un boig o a un geni: el temps ens ho dirà" ("Who knows if we have given this diploma to a nut or to a genius. Time will tell.") He is now thought of as one of the most original architects of all time. Using unusual forms and paying unusual attention to details generally left unnoticed by architects, he formed a genre that is ... read more

Today largely consisted of a driving day from Lourdes to Barcelona, driving part way through Andorra and over and through the Pyrenees along the way. The term "Through the Pyrenees" is well chosen, since we went through several tunnels more than kilometer long, several kilometers in some cases. Grades of 6% to 11% were not uncommon, up and down. Our visit to Andorra was mostly just to briefly see it and say we had been there. Andorra is the 6th smallest country in the world, and has a fairly unique form of government derived from historical precedents. It has an elected government, but is also a co-principality, with the President of France and the Bishop of Urquell (Barcelona) both being the ex-officio princes. It seems to be principally a skiing community now, and everywhere there are ... read more