St. Sophia Cathedral
A visit to St. Sophia Cathedral is a highlight of any holiday in Kyiv. For us, it was one of the most vivid memories of our time in the capital. Based on research of wall inscriptions within the cathedral, historians believe the foundation was laid in about 1011 by...
Memories of Kyiv
A few years back, we traveled to Ukraine. Our adventure started in the big, bustling capital of Kyiv. I remember the architecture as grand, ornate, sometimes sublime, befitting of a world leading city. The numerous orthodox churches with their shiny onion domes dotted...
Returning To the Scene of the Crime
Sunday July 29th, after a decent sleep and an acceptable breakfast, we started out west to Dallas. I woke up feeling excited about the prospects of rejoining my colleagues after over a year away. It would be good to reconnect with the gang and to have people to talk...
From Durham to Dallas: The Back Story in Brief
Saturday morning, July 28th, we started on our journey. The goal was to get to Dallas by Sunday evening. We booked an Airbnb in Richardson, a small city to the north of Dallas that had been swallowed up in the growth of the metroplex many years ago. I made sure it was...
The Medici of Florence
The Medici Family rose to power on the successes of their banking and commerce ventures. The branch of the family that came to dominate Middle Age Florence descended from Giovanni di Bicci de Medici (1360-1429), who founded the Medici Bank in Florence. It was through...
The Black Death in the Italian Peninsula
The Black Death was a pandemic that swept across the Eurasian landmass devastating the populations along the way. In Italy, the plague resulted in a human tragedy that transformed the region in ways that could not be anticipated. The Black Death arrived in the Italian...
When is a Renaissance artist not a Renaissance artist?
When is a Renaissance artist not a Renaissance artist? When he is born some 200+ years before the traditional start of the Renaissance in Italy, which was around 1400. The artist in question is Giotto di Bondone. For the uninitiated, one could understand the mistake...
