We all have our public and private faces. So does that very grande dame Venice. Venezia. Everyone knows her canals, bridges, and palazzi. San Marco… And the gondolieri with their blue-and-white striped T-shirts… Her grand churches… But we have been lucky enough to spend time in her “backwaters” of Castello, a former ship-building center nearer … Read more
Imagine you lived in a 600-year-old kingdom, Austria-Hungary, which ruled a vast swath of central Europe, its own world of high culture, literature, art, and music. And then one day at the end of the Great War, you awoke to see your grand imperial city, Vienna, reduced to the capital of a small, powerless state. … Read more
Merre va Margit Hid? Where is Margaret Bridge? No offense, only affection for both: Prague is the cool, chic, with-it sister while Budapest is the wry intellectual in arty vintage clothing. During our six-hour train ride to Budapest, we chatted with an Aussie couple bound for a Danube cruise and two young Scots sampling the local … Read more
You know how those holiday pictures never capture your feeling of the place? Prague is a city of utterly jaw-dropping views, every time you turn your head…every angle. And yet, my photos seem flat, at least they don’t convey the magnificence of the views, the architecture, the sense of time. Our first view was pretty good, … Read more
A Long Day’s Night Amsterdam is not an easy city to leave, but we had a train to catch. My original plan had been to take the sleeper to Prague, recommended by “The Man in Seat 61.” The Man, Mark Smith, is a real railway professional and lover of old-fashioned travel, who has developed this site … Read more
Amsterdam is a city on the move. Mainly on bikes. A population going to and fro. Straight-backed, with easy panache on bicycles of every color and configuration. Women in summer dresses. Or sleeveless sheaths and high heels. Riding their bikes one-handed with baskets of flowers, panniers of groceries, a bottle of wine. Or children in … Read more
Paris and I go way back, but this was the first time I will arrive by train. Arriving at the Gare du Nord is a step back to the era when trains were the modern way to travel. Taking the Eurostar from London’s St. Pancras station remains the modern way to travel, from city center to … Read more
For all that we rant about social media, there are moments when I marvel at the way it can connect us. At the start of my “Europe By Train” trip, www.mysteryplayground.net asked me to blog about the London book benches commissioned by Britain’s Literacy Trust. http://www.mysteryplayground.net/2014/07/dateline-london-literary-investigation.html. They quickly became a high point of my stay, so I also … Read more
Always a trading city, London is undergoing yet another resurgence, a safe haven for the developing world, digital lockbox for hard and soft assets. Property values are soaring, red cranes angling across ancient spires. New captains of industry are rising, new fortunes being created. London’s pulsing artery remains the River Thames, its banks and quays … Read more
Many years ago I wrote a screenplay set in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A romantic thriller with a twist, Stinger was optioned by a noted London producer who shared my view that it could become an exciting international production. As such things happen, the option lapsed, for in those pre-9/11 days few people were interested in … Read more