Varenna is the new Bellagio. Period.
June 2 – June 4 Everyone who knows the Pecks knows that we are not “nature folk.” You have never seen us voluntarily together in the great outdoors since the Taj Mahal tent years (c. 2006 – 2010). But, apparently, peeing behind a tree, burning to a crisp red, and getting eaten alive by mosquitos is actually only our state-side fate. We found out that … Continue reading Varenna is the new Bellagio. Period.
Medici. Or, Firenze in all the right places…
May 31 – June 2, 2022 Stop two on Tour d’Italia 2022: Florence! Back to you, Mark: Somehow I didn’t take many pictures of our drive – oh yeah, I was driving … now we’re in Florence, which is much more crowded and has actual streets with cars and scooters and tiny little sidewalks that don’t seem to have been laid with roller suitcases in … Continue reading Medici. Or, Firenze in all the right places…
Venezia! That’s amore…
May 29 – May 31, 2022 *Editor’s note: I’ll say this once and only once, not to be repeated elsewhere on this blog. The events of May 29th, 2022, as they transpired in the Dublin airport can only be described as straight out of Dante’s unwritten 8th circle of hell. We would not discover until several days later, per an NYT article, that we unwittingly … Continue reading Venezia! That’s amore…
A Love Letter to Chris
May 27 – May 29, 2022 Buckle up, because we’ve arrived at arguably one of the best parts of the whole trip: our foray into the wild highlands around Scotland’s Loch Lomond. We have only good things to say about our pleasantly pedantic journey up to the Loch. Mid-afternoon on Friday, we took a direct tram from Edinburgh City Center to the Edinburgh airport (EDI). … Continue reading A Love Letter to Chris
F.H., LNER
May 25 – May 27, 2022 As much as we loved London, the highlands were calling, but not before we got a chance to feast our eyes on as much tartan, cashmere, and grey stone as possible. Thus, on a blustery Wednesday morning, after a final canal brekkie, we set off in a single file line – one suitcase and one backpack per person – … Continue reading F.H., LNER
The London Quotidien
May 24, 2022 When we planned the trip, we thought one week all together would be a socially acceptable amount of time for “family vacation,” traipsing about in a group of seven. This would justify the second week, where we planned to spread out across the continent in groups. Yeah, well, we deviated from that by Day 2. Just kidding, we did many things all … Continue reading The London Quotidien
A Big(Bus) Welcome!
May 21-23, 2022 Every trip down memory lane, much like every other trip, must start with a safety briefing of sorts, and here’s ours: no matter one’s best intentions, no matter the hours spent on excessive – nay, obsessive – planning, no one can fight the Toronto Pearson International Airport and win. The plan seemed easy enough: Mark, Susan, Jeremy, and Sam would fly on … Continue reading A Big(Bus) Welcome!
MOR'NA MILE AWEE 