DORO

Tobermory is great if you are a nature freak. Toronto is great if you love entertainment. Niagra Falls is great if you are interested in the massiveness of natural features.

Same as Hawaii, this is a place that is fun to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Great entertainment, great Piña Coladas, interesting folks, but too much activity for long term. The darn call-girl workers along the strip get to me, flicking cards for various escort services in people’s faces, bring out the worst in me – I get violent thoughts about attacking them so they will back off:)

Great artwork ceiling by glass artist, Dale Chihuly, great gelato place and fun synchronized fountains are all worth a visit.

In 1983, I was 12 years old and got the chance to see a reknowned collection from the Vatican. It was my first trip to the Institute of Art, but not my last. I really enjoy many things about the museum… things that span centuries from Carvaggio to Dali.

Hawaii is an awesome place to visit, but I don’t think I would want to live there. And, if I did choose to live in Hawaii, it most certainly would not be in a heavily populated tourist destination like Honolulu.

I loved my visit to Monterey, Pacific Grove, and surrounding environs. It is gorgeous there. Very temperate locale with ocean-side views. I have loved books by Steinbeck since I was in sixth grade or so. It was awesome to see the area that he most often wrote about: Salinas Valley, Pacific Grove, Cannery Row, etc. I loved the aquarium and our day trips to carmel and 17-mile drive.

It is often overcast but very beautiful when clear. Take a nice little ferry ride over to the island and ride up to the peak of Victoria Island. Hong Kong in general is fun, but I was disturbed by the number of Filipino domestic workers who were displaced because they were asked not be be at their places of employment (their homes) on their “day off.”

I saw some great surrealist type vignettes in Madrid. Gypsies dancing on the train, speak-easy style nightclubs – you find them only if somebody shows you where they are. But one of my favorite experiences was when business inside a packed Irish pub came to a halt when “American Pie” came on the radio. Bartenders and servers stopped serving, jumped on tables and the bar, grabbed stools and held them upside down to use one of the legs as a mock-microphone. The whole establishement just sang along. Then the song was over and it was business as usual. Crazy fun.

One of the coolest castles I’ve visited. There are huge fireplaces where a family could almost have enough room to live. Also, darkened towers leading up to the rooftop where you can walk along the battlements are accessible as are the spooky dungeons. Just an all around great place to visit if you are interested in history, architecture, or nobility.