[ROME, ITALY] — The Pantheon, one of the great wonders of the world and certainly my favorite building of all time. Every time I come back to Rome, the first thing I have to do is to go and see and touch this magical place. I’ve been inside The Pantheon at least fifty times and it never gets old. Even though… you know… it’s really old. Started by my friend Emperor Augustus and rebuilt after a fire by Big Builder Hadrian in 126AD. Most other big domes are actually made of stacked stone, using gravity to hold them in place, like on a Roman bridge, or supported by metal or other reinforcements. This is like poured concrete, way ahead of its time and continues to
Continue reading…
[LONDON] — I’ve been to London four or five times. Sometimes just a couple of days on business, sometimes a long weekend to meet friends, sometimes just an overnight to catch a flight elsewhere. There are lots and lots of good London guides, so I won’t go into much detail here, just think of this post like an old postcard rack at the train station — look for places that look good, then go find them. These are all my favorite places in London. There are plenty of good guides to London, so I won’t go into much detail here. Just think of this post like a cluttered old postcard rack at the train station. Look for places that look good to you, then go
(Stockholm) — One of the neatest museums in the world is Stockholm’s Vasa Museum. The entire museum is built around a single wooden sailing warship called the Vasa. Built during Sweden’s years as a world naval power in the 1600s, the Vasa, having just had its christening, slid out in the Stockholm harbor and, because it had so many canons on it, quickly tilted over, filled with water and sank instantly to the bottom. It remained on the bottom for hundreds and hundreds of years, perfectly preserved by the rich mud until it was rediscovered in the 1960s, raised and pumped full of preservatives. The whole museum is built around the ship, allowing you to get up close to its sides, peek in its