Raul
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The pursuit of a good cocktail begins!
More Details: The pursuit of a good cocktail begins!I have been traveling with some frequency to Washington, D.C. for business. While I get to stay at some nice properties, I have been underwhelmed at what should be one of the most fun spots of any hotel: the bar. And maybe for that reason, I have been remiss in exploring the specialty cocktails that…
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My Favorite Nativity Sets
More Details: My Favorite Nativity SetsI am not typically focused during my travels on picking a particular item from every place I go. (OK, maybe a beer glass but I am not consistent with that one…) But if an item really catches my eye in a certain category, I do buy it. Nativity scenes (“pesebres” in Spanish) is one of…
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The Christmas Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens
More Details: The Christmas Lights at the Atlanta Botanical GardensLast night I went with family and friends to see the Christmas lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in the first year of what I hope ends up being a new tradition for the city. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens is, in a normal day, a beautiful venue: well-designed, in a great location, and just very…
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Photo of the Week – A Night out in Brasov
More Details: Photo of the Week – A Night out in BrasovLast summer, as you may have read (or hopefully will check out!), I did a hike in the Transylvanian Alps in Romania. Home base for the trek was the charming city of Braşov. I still have to write about that beautiful town but this picture really evokes the spirit of old town Braşov for me. …
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Photo of the Week: The Mayflower Hotel Decked out for Christmas
More Details: Photo of the Week: The Mayflower Hotel Decked out for ChristmasI wrote in an earlier post about this grand hotel of Washington, D.C.: The Mayflower, a Renaissance Marriott hotel. I just stayed there again and got to see it decorated for Christmas. I’d though I’d share this beautiful photo of its lobby area decorated for the holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!
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7 Items You Won’t See Me without while Hiking Kilimanjaro
More Details: 7 Items You Won’t See Me without while Hiking KilimanjaroIf things go well, I will be trekking in Tanzania soon – hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. I am excited about the upcoming hike as I am doing it with Trekking for Kids, with whom I hiked in Romania in the summer of 2012. Our hike will help a local orphanage…
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Getting Up High in Sydney- The Amazing Bridge Climb
More Details: Getting Up High in Sydney- The Amazing Bridge ClimbWhen I got to Sydney, Australia to visit friends and finally explore that land down under, one of the first thing my friends told me was I HAD TO do the bridge climb. The Sydney Harbor Bridge climb. I was immediately mesmerized at the thought. Normally, I try to go up any structure that allows…
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Going for Terracotta Soldiers – and Discovering a City
More Details: Going for Terracotta Soldiers – and Discovering a CityWhen friends and I decided to go to China for 10 days, it was a totally clean sheet of paper in terms of what we wanted to do. Beijing? Xi’an? Shanghai? Inner Mongolia? Lots of choices and not enough time (is there ever?). We knew we would be in Hong Kong pre- and post- China…
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The More Obscure and Charming Castles in Transylvania, Romania
More Details: The More Obscure and Charming Castles in Transylvania, RomaniaOn the day we finished the four days of hiking in the Transylvanian Alps, as we made our way back to our base, Braşov, we took a slight detour to visit two of Romania’s castles in Transylvania in the Sinaia area: the Peleş Castle and its sidekick, the Pelişor Castle. While these two castles are not…
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Photo Essay: The Tiled Roofs of Dubrovnik
More Details: Photo Essay: The Tiled Roofs of DubrovnikTiled roofs seldom tell such a vivid story as they do in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Stories of war. Stories of reconstruction. The war of the early 1990s destroyed most of the tiled roofs of this jewel of the Adriatic. Not enigmatic like Venice but inviting, though both are definitely charming in distinct ways. I wrote earlier…