Not only does the ATM promptly spit out my perfectly valid global cash card, but to add insult to injury, on the ATM screen, two comic figures—a boy and a girl— nod and bow their heads in commiseration. Try the machine a second time, and …

The top of Sydney Harbour Bridge is an excellent spot to get a panoramic view of this bustling Australian city. But I am somewhat amused when my tour guide hands me a certificate vouching for my having successfully climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Frankly, I …

THE very mention of Russia evokes that single unmistakable imagery – of the strikingly coloured and stunningly patterned `onion’ domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square. Virtually every news report from Moscow is telecast against the backdrop of this brilliant edifice, making it …

Seattle was sultry and sunny. Hubby and I were there only for two days and had to cram everything into such a short visit. The best way to do it is to join a tour group which I would never do normally. Here we were, …

    It took just one little word to salve our wound, aye sir, that’s what it takes to heal,” says Martin McPherson, our tour guide, his voice choking with emotion. We are standing on the ramparts of the city walls overlooking the Bogside, the …

He is stretched out on a rock, his lips curled in a characteristic sardonic smile. His wisecracks are strewn like graffiti all over the rock as though he had just scattered them.  Oscar Wilde reclines languorously under a verdant canopy, undiminished by age and untarnished …