HISTORIC / ARCHEOLOGICAL

GREECE By the harbour in Thessaloniki, Greece, stands a magnificent statue of the young warrior-king, Alexander the Great, astride his fabled horse Bucephalus. At the base of the monument someone has laid two wreaths. It is June 10, the anniversary of Alexander’s death. I place a simple bouquet of red carnations beside the wreaths. Just who was this ambitious, brilliant young man? full story >>>	KOREA/JAPAN Dokdo is easternmost entity of Korea, at least disputably. The two tiny islands, a little more than a twentieth the size of New York’s Central Park, are situated between mainland Korea (135 miles/217 kms) and Japan (155 miles/250 kms). Obviously, in such a situation, both countries are claiming ownership. Japan refers to the islands by yet another name: Takeshima. full story >>>
GERMANY When planning a trip to a former concentration camp in Europe, Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland tends to be the first one that comes to mind. But no more than 16 kilometers away from Munich lies another former concentration camp that was once used as a model by the Nazis to help design future concentration camps in Europe during the 1940s. full story >>>	JAPAN A quarter of a million men were about to die. No one scheduled a noon family Easter feast. And, for the next 82 days there would be nothing but war! A terrible war! …The Battle of Okinawa begins! It was called “Operation Iceberg.” The island would eventually resemble, not an iceberg, but a blazing hell-on-earth! full story >>>
FRANCE It is small, by today's standards, but it has something special. A magnet drawing the eyes of the powerful in their time and the tourists of today. Sommieres had and has a Roman bridge. And of that much came to be and is to see. The Vidroule River flows leisurely along its defined banks flanked by nurtured trees and a tended walkway. full story >>>	VIRGINIA, USA Fort Norfolk goes back to the Revolutionary War era. It was abandoned by the Rebels in 1862, but not before supplying the ammo used by the Confederates’ CSS Merrimac against the USS Monitor in the great ironclad battle. In the midst of a sunny, breezy day, I could feel the presence of those past centuries long gone. full story >>>
CALIFORNIA, USA Disembarking from the trolley I stand in awe as I observe the impressive building with its twin bell towers and the imposing architecture that combines Moorish, Mexican, Chumash Indian and Spanish design. In the mosaic-paved entryway a Moorish fountain dating back two hundred years burbles with a spray of water. full story >>>	ONTARIO, CANADA Fort William is a 40-building reconstructed fur trading distribution post setting on 25 acres. Operating from 1803 to 1821, this was the Northwest Company’s inland headquarters and distribution center where canoe brigades would come in from the remote outposts each July heavily ladened with baled furs. full story >>>