The Danube River – Budapest, Hungary
There are rivers, and then there is the Danube as it moves through Budapest: wide and powerful, dividing and connecting the city.
Here we are standing along its banks at sunset we watched the light soften across the water. This stretch of the Danube is often called one of the most beautiful in Europe. The river itself is the second longest in Europe, flowing through ten countries, more than any other river in the world. The Danube connects cultures, cities and histories for beyond what we could see where we stood.
The Danube was once the dividing line between Buda and Pest, two separate cities. These two cities faced each other across the very river until the 19th century. The construction of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge was the first permanent connection between them. This bridge helped create the unified city we were now standing in.
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Leif Erikson Statue – Iceland
In the capital city of Reykjavik, standing prominently in front of Hallgrimskikja, is this statue honoring Lief Erikson. The tall bronze figure faces west toward the Atlantic Ocean, a fitting direction for the explorer believed to have sailed from Greenland and reached North America nearly five centuries before Columbus. The inscription on the base reads: […]
Jukulsarlon Glacier Lagoon – Iceland
As we drove along Iceland’s Ring Road in the southeastern part of the country, we stopped at Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, one of the well-known natural sites in Iceland. This lagoon is filled with floating icebergs that have broken off from an outlet glacier of Vatnajokull. Vatnajokull is the largest glacier in Europe by volume, and it […]
Kew Gardens – London
On a free afternoon from teaching, Marty and I took the train out to Kew Gardens. It was restorative to step away from the city and let a train carry us toward this green space. The gardens felt expansive and peaceful, with wide lawns and winding paths. Kew began as a royal garden in the […]
