In addition to everything else, the Great Lakes are also home to some of the most interesting little critters on the planet.
You may have heard of extremophiles. They’re the microscopic organisms living in places that, by rights, should be off-limits to any living thing: volcanic vents, super-cold environments, whacked-out reaches in the upper atmosphere where [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Amazing: extremophilia in the Great Lakes
Posted in North America, tagged bacteria, bacteriology, cruise, extremophiles, great lakes, microbiology, science on March 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Sing to Me, O Muse
Posted in Aegean, Mediterranean, Religion/Mythology, classics, guest lecturers, tagged educational cruise, Homer, luxury cruise, odysseus, Odyssey, poetry, small ship, themed cruise, travel, Ulysses on March 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
You are sailing away from Naples. You hear a voice cry out:
“Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities!”
That voice is your own.
Or – by the gentle shores of Ithaka, a sweet voice [...]
Corinthian II – The Gold Standard of Expedition Cruising
Posted in Reviews, Ships, fine dining, tagged Corinthian II, cruise, luxury, Ships, small ships, travel on March 25, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“Corinthian II is a thoroughly comfortable ship with a relaxed house-party atmosphere—no formalities—configured for a discerning crowd who expect the best.”
From Ships&Cruises.com:
Travel Dynamics’ flagship Corinthian II offers an intimate luxury onboard with a high level of educational opportunities that include full days of exploring ashore, in whatever waters the ship is cruising—which is mostly in [...]
Socrates at Ephesus
Posted in Aegean, Greece, Mediterranean, Turkey, guest lecturers, tagged cruise, Ephesus, library of celsus, luxury, Plato, Socrates, Video, yannis simonides on March 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here’s a brief sampling (5 mins) of the type of experience Travel Dynamics International creates. In 2006, we sailed to the Mediterranean with actor Yannis Simonides, who adapted an award-winning dramatic monologue from The Apology of Socrates by Plato. We decided to stage this performance at the steps of the famed 2rd-century AD Library of [...]
Easy does it, America: the classic Great Lakes Cruise
Posted in North America, tagged american vacations, cruise, domestic travel, great lakes, lake huron, lake michigan, lake ontario, lake superior, midwestern travel, niagara falls, soo locks, TDI Radio on March 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We’ve just had two days of early Spring here in New York, and that gets me thinking about summer. It’s been a tricky winter, right? But it’s all for the good – I think we’re all taking stock, figuring out the best way to live our lives, rather than the most. Spend time with family, [...]
Bill Geist remembers wryly
Posted in North America, guest lecturers, tagged cruise, great lakes, Lecturers on March 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Bill Geist? Who’s he? Well, that’s okay if he’s not a household name. He’s not one of those flashy sorts. He doesn’t go in for a whole lot of self-promotion. He’s just an easy-going American journalist who really loves America in all its small-town quirkiness. For years, his segments on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” have brought [...]
“Come back to me.”
Posted in North America, tagged cruise, great lakes on March 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I never used to be one for tearjerkers. But maybe I’ve gotten sentimental in my dotage. You probably remember “Somewhere in Time,” the romance with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. As a writer, yep, I succumb to the set-up; much of my life is about literary time-travel, writing myself back into [...]
Duluth, MN: Come for the drama, stay for the laughs
Posted in North America, tagged al franken, cruise, duluth, great lakes, midwestern travel, minnesota, travel on March 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Astute observers of our Great Lakes itinerary might observe that our terminal port of call is Duluth, Minnesoada. And I’ll bet you’re thinking: “Wow, can it really be? I’ve seen the Pyramids, Paris and the Pyrenées, but I never once thought I’d ever get to Duluth!“
O great World Traveler, yes, you can have it all. [...]
TripAdvisor: Mining the Deep Web for the Best Flights
Posted in travel tips on March 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Joe Sharkey, over at The New York Times‘ travel segment “On the Road,” reports on Expedia.com’s new TripAdvisor, which – he says – performs some flight-booking magic:
a search function that quickly sort[s] out flights and variables, including fees, connections and even the layout of the plane, from data pulled from a vast range of online [...]
Amusing primer on Afrikaans by musician Chris Chameleon
Posted in Africa on March 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
