First Impressions of Florence

Rome’s heyday was back in the days of emperors and gladiators. While many of the current structures in Rome were constructed around the time of the Renaissance, most of that talent and money to create those structures came not from Rome but from the north of Italy, in particular Florence. While Florence’s history does trace …

Read more

Goodbye Rome. Hello Florence!

I’ve been in Rome a few days longer than I had planned, but honestly could stay here two weeks longer and still not see everything. I think this is definitely one of the cities I’ll be coming back to at some point. During the last few days I made a trip out to Ostia Antica …

Read more

McKosher: McDonald’s in Israel

There was an obvious question about Israeli McDonald’s I had before I entered the country: were they kosher? I had read that there were non-kosher McDonald’s Israel. In fact, the Internet told me, most of the McDonald’s in Israel were non-kosher. During my entire time in Israel I did not see a single non-kosher McDonald’s. …

Read more

The Story of the Rome Keyhole Photo

The photo of St. Peter’s Basilica through the keyhole to the door of the headquarters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is one of the most iconic images of Rome. It is technically a challenging photo to take, but it is one that everyone can get. There are certain iconic photos of famous places …

Read more

When in Rome…

The last several days have been extremely busy for me in Rome. After the grueling day of travel from Tel Aviv to Rome via Athens, I basically slept in and tried to find a more permanent lodging solution (I grabbed a hotel close to the train station in central Rome that was more than I …

Read more

Breakfast in Tel Aviv, Lunch in Athens and Dinner in Rome

What a day. I’m still exhausted even after a night’s sleep. Yesterday was probably the second most grueling day of my travels (the first being the 30 hours I went from the Solomon Islands, to Nauru, to Kiribati, to Fiji, to Hawaii). I got up at 3am in Tel Aviv and left for the airport …

Read more

My Big Fat Greek Layover

I only have a few hours left in Israel. At 4am tomorrow I take off to the airport for my 7am flight to Rome. I’ll have an eight hour layover in Athens, so I’m going to try and make the best of it and so see the Acropolis in the time I have. It should …

Read more

Visiting the Pyramids of Egypt: A Survival Guide

How to Survive a Visit to the Pyramids of Egypt

Usually, I write about the history, the mystery, and the grandeur of a place like the pyramids. For over 4,000 years the pyramids have been one of the best-known structures on Earth. We’ve probably all seen TV shows, read books, or perhaps wrote a fourth-grade report on them, so there is nothing I can really …

Read more

McArabia: McDonald’s in the Arab World

Since I last wrote about McDonald’s when I was in Dubai, I’ve been in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan. As all of the McDonald’s in the Arabian Peninsula are owned by the same company, there isn’t a whole lot to add to what I had to say about McDonald’s in Dubai. I managed …

Read more