Tonight far surpassed our expectations. Renowned soprano Lilja Gudmundsdottir and world-acclaimed bass Bjarni Thor Kristinsson, accompanied by a great pianist, sang a wonderful array of Icelandic songs. Many sounded very much like German lieder, and one sounded very much like Schubert/Goethe’s “Erlkönig,” a piece that figures prominently in the first […]
My first impressions of Iceland were that I found it reminiscent of Newfoundland. And yes, they do wear Icelandic sweaters. Only 320,000 people in entire country. We have a great guide whose early years were spent in Nova Scotia. And yes, like just about everyone here, she’s a writer. Working […]
Another wonderful day at Toronto Pursuits! Tonight we had a great dinner (after an amazing Indian lunch). We spent some time looking at all of the places you can go with Classical Pursuits and heard from travelers and tour leaders about the unique experiences offered by these one-of-a-kind trips. Previous attendees […]
A couple of years ago, a friend in Bogota told me a joke that he says Colombians tell on themselves. It runs something like this: “When God was creating the world, He was especially generous when it came to Colombia. He gave it the lush Amazon, the spectacular Andes, the […]
Po’boys and Naughty Girls in N’Awlins October 7-14, 2014 with Lisa Pasold and Ann Kirkland in New Orleans. I’ve been working with Ann since 2002, when she began planning the first Classical Pursuits voyage to Paris. Ever since our initial meeting over hot chocolate at the Café des Deux Magots […]
A group of 16 travellers accompanied Sean Forester to Russia to travel back in time to its golden age of art, music, and literature. They are discussing Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and have already enjoyed Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. But when one travels with Sean, […]
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Iceland is stark and stunning. It’s everything the travel brochures say it is: beautiful in a way that’s hard to imagine without visiting. When I travelled to Iceland a few years ago, I couldn’t get enough of the glaciers, waterfalls, geysers and gorges, the vast lava fields and the miles […]
The leaves were showing their first golden tinge when we arrived in the Luxembourg Gardens, and a few had begun to fall on beds still bright with summer flowers. The city’s springtime glories are undeniable, but for me the best time to visit Paris has always been September. It’s […]
This past fall I took my soul for a stroll. When I set out from León, Spain, with Santiago on my mind, I had no notion of just how much that undefinable part of me wanted to walk. Apparently, it had been whispering to me for some time. Apparently, I […]