The man on the left sits solitary. The bartender seems to be speaking, but no one responds (the woman looks at what she is holding in her hand, and the man seems to be lost in his own thoughts). Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks creates a powerful atmosphere, a feeling of melancholy. […]
I am preparing for our trip to Richmond Virginia in early March to explore the American Civil War from the point of view of eloquent first-hand witnesses, Walt Whitman (Union) and Mary Chestnut (Confederate). My mind is attuned to material not just about the bloodiest conflict in American history, but […]
Drum roll please…. Let’s hear a big round of applause for Betty Duggan, Merlene McAlevy and Victor Levin (yes, Victor, again.) CAMINO Betty Duggan took this photo in a small Galician village, several days outside of Santiago de Compostela. Lorna Romilly takes a break with our terrific guide, Jason Preater, […]
Paris is beautiful at any time of year, but autumn is my favourite season for conjuring the glittering world of the Belle Epoque. In September, the early fall light turns the city’s streets into scenes worthy of Degas and Monet. The Belle Epoque encompasses wonderfully diverse creative energies: composer Debussy, […]
For more than a decade, I have been globe trotting with Classical Pursuits. I’ve led book discussions on riverboats in Russia, Vietnam, and Cambodia; in cafes and restaurants in Paris, Greece, Quebec, and Santa Fe; in pastures, pubs, and B&Bs in England, Italy, Toronto, Ireland, and Key West. And although […]
In Woody Allen’s film Midnight in Paris, the central character gets into a taxi and finds himself transported back to the 1920s. He walks into a cafe and sits down next to his literary heroes Hemingway and the Fitzgeralds. Wow. But then he meets a beautiful girl who dreams not […]
Rosemary Gould, of Charlottesville, Virginia, will lead our trip, The American Civil War, to Richmond, Virginia from March 1-5,2013. Rosemary has led numerous poetry seminars at Toronto Pursuits and the wonderful 2011 trip , Thomas Jefferson at Home. On the Civil War trip, she hopes to discover, together with other non-partisans, what […]
Our last days in Cambodia were packed with magnificent and mysterious Angkor temples and local culture. Heat and humidity sapped my remaining energy, so I am now composing a final post from the comfort of home. Click on thumbnail images to enlarge. CAVEAT: Please understand that a trip of several […]
When I travel I sometimes forget my ears. I venture out with camera in hand and eyes wide open. I search for the perfect photo op: that traffic stopping almond-eyed girl, the perfect sunset or moon rise, the Buddhist monk wrapped in mysterious yellow-orange, the twilight mountain silhouette, or that […]
Trying to explain Vietnam in a few sentences is like trying to complete a large abstract motif jigsaw puzzle in one quick setting. There is no one quick way and understanding comes from many discussions with both locals and fellow travellers. There is no one way of understanding, and things […]