Tag Archives: nature “Funiculì, Funiculà!” I find it impossible not to sing the popular Neapolitan tune – at least in my head – whenever I ride a funicular railway. The song was composed in 1880 to commemorate the then-new funicular track up Mount Vesuvius. Cable railway systems, designed for steep slopes, have been in use since the 1820s […]  Once upon a time, our waters were sapphire blue, emerald green, and foaming diamond white. Once upon a time, our sands were pristine shades of white and yellow. Once upon a time, we could walk among the she-oaks, the wattle, the Banksia, and the eucalypts. Once upon a time … before our spectacular conflagrations razed communities, […]  The desert is a magically beautiful place. It is also unforgiving. You have to be tough to forge a life in these hostile, barren expanses where almost no precipitation falls. Bedouin or “desert people” – from the Arabic badawī – have made the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East their home for thousands of years. Even […]  On a long, circuitous drive that my husband and I made around the United States, we managed to hit the southernmost point of Key West (see: Mile Zero and Hemingway’s Cats). As much as I would have loved to stay in that delightful, laid-back island-city, it was far too expensive! A motel room in the […]  Riding the rails is my favourite way to travel. Being able to move around at will, or nestle in a seat or a berth, while watching the world chug past the windows, is just magic to me. It was summer – many years ago now – and we had several weeks in which to explore […] |
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