Tag: travel

  • Aruba – Jamanota

    Aruba – Jamanota

    I was in Aruba for four days for a conference. I didn’t have a lot of free time but, after checking out all of the details of the highest point, I thought that I could skip lunch one day, climb the highest point, and still make it back for the next session. So, I tried…

  • Chocolate Ratings

    Chocolate Ratings

    I like chocolate. It’s probably my favorite sweet. Closing in on 50 years old, I came up with a new life goal – try as many types of chocolate as I can, rate them, and see if I can find my favorite chocolate. This page documents my ratings. Milk Chocolate Dark Chocolate White Chocolate (coming…

  • Taiwan – Yushan (Jade Mountain)

    I’ve climbed a fair number of mountains and completed many hikes, but none has been so embroiled in bureaucratic bullshit and red tape as was Yushan (a.k.a. Jade Mountain). Typically, when I write up a description of my hikes, it’s just that – the hike. But I’m going to use this page to detail how…

  • Prague Day 9 – Debi’s Tour and a “Medieval” Dinner

    Debi’s workshop was over and she had one day to see some of the things she had missed in Prague. I had been telling her about my adventures throughout the week. From my adventures, we came up with a list of highlights: Museum of Communism, Speculum Alchemiae, and the Waldstein Gardens. We also managed to…

  • Prague Day 8 – Libraries and La Sylphide

    This was the last day of Debi’s workshop. I had the day free and decided I’d try to visit two things in Old Town I’d missed: the Idiom art installation in the Municipal Library and the Clementinum library and observatory. Also, this was the first day when the weather was actually summer-like. It was sunny…

  • Prague – Walking Tours (free, downloadable guides)

    We had a chance to spend just over a week in Prague, Czechia in the spring of 2023. My wife was participating in a workshop and, while I had a lot of work I needed to do while I was there (I was supposed to be on vacation), I did have a chance to explore…

  • Prague Day 7 – Church Visit, Recovery, and Dinner

    As much as it pains me to admit it, I’m getting older. The 9-mile hike I did the day before to the summit of Snezka left me tired and sore. Luckily, with complete autonomy over my schedule, I could take the day off. And, so I did. As a sociologist of religion, I do try…

  • Czechia – Snezka

    Whenever I head to a new country, one of the first things I look up is the highest point in elevation. I’m weird. I know. In Czechia, that is Snezka, a mountain that is on the border with Poland. While some might find my interest in climbing highpoints obsessive or strange, it actually has a…

  • Prague Day 5 – A Long Walk and a High Lunch

    To date, I had only ventured into Old Town and west of the Vltava River. One of the lists I had consulted suggested a couple of interesting things to see that were south and east of Old Town. I put together a path to follow and headed out. First up was a painted nuclear bunker…

  • Prague Day 4 – Strahov Monastery and West of the Vltava River

    With Debi in her workshop all day, I came up with another walking route to see some sights. I headed from the AirBnB through the Petrin Gardens and up to the Strahov Monastery. I would strongly encourage anyone headed to the monastery to walk through the gardens. They were quiet, have great views of Prague,…