Scotland
The beautiful cathedral on High Street just below Edinburgh’s famous and famously ancient castle.
The sun plays with the Orkney's clouds as they constantly roll over the land. The wind is so strong and continuous that trees simply never grow.
Skara Brae: was an intricate, almost hobbit-like farming village that thrived 5000 years ago; the same time ancient Egypt was ascendant. It is Europe's best-preserved stone-age settlement; incredibly advanced.
This is a view of one of Skara Brae’s eight homes with beds, fireplace, and kitchen so sensibly organized. Five thousand years ago, the weather was warmer and the sea wasn't nearly as close as you see it here (climate change). Roofs were probably thickly thatched.
The moody, rich, historical city of Edinburgh.
This was the coffee shop where J. K. Rowling wrote much of the first two books in her series, and apparently plotted several others.
Greyfriars Kirkyard (or Churchyard). Rowling drew some of the names of her characters from the gravestones there.
Edinburgh's Invisible Man. The Scots love ghostly and magical things.
A shot of the famous Harry Potter/Hogwart's train line on a blustery morning in the Scottish Highlands of Glenfinnan.
George Heriot's School just beyond Greyfriars inspired the dark spires and turrets that became Hogwarts.
Scotland’s famous Loch Ness "home" to “Nessie” the nation's massive Lochness Monster. Does an immense, unworldly creature swim beneath these cold waters?
A panoramic view of Orkney's remarkable sky. These islands are located North of the Scottish Highlands, not far from Iceland.
A view of the enormous and ancient Stones of Stennes. Five thousand years old. No one is really sure how the civilization that placed them here managed the job.
A closer view of the Standing Stones of Stennes -- a World Heritage Site. My great grandmother (Molly McKid) lived here and moved to West Virginia after marrying my great-grandfather (Peter McQuade).
Gurness Ruins in the wilds of Orkney North of Scotland. These ruins are over 2000 years old.
The west coast of the Scottish Highlands along the North Sea. I could look at this all day.
France
Part of my research for National Geographic Magazine's "The First Artists," was flying into Paris. This is Victor Hugo Park, a special place to me to me because at the other end of the park, Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserables in a second-floor garret.
Some of the greatest writers of the 20th century spent their time at this bookstore - Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, (Pittsburgher) Gertrude Stein. To sit and read on the second floor, as I did, thrilled me like a child.
For "The First Artists" we were only the second journalists in the world allowed into Chauvet Cave, home to the world's most ancient art. This was part of the 700-foot ascent to the cave mouth, located in the French countryside about two hours north of Marseilles.
Once at the cave entrance, we crawled into our Hazmat suits and entered the submarine door to the cave floor. It was like another world, and another time – a sacred place, both beautiful and awe-inspiring.
These four horse heads maybe be the most remarkable drawings in all of Chauvet Cave; beautifully rendered in charcoal, drawn on protruding rock so that as you shift to the right or left, they appear as if they are moving.
A small section of Chauvet Cave. We saw art everywhere, even in small corners. We spent two hours a day for three days there. The cave is hermetically sealed to protect it from any damage. The nation of France created an exact, but scaled back replica of the art in a magnificent museum nearby.
A rendition of an enormous cave bear (grizzly-sized but not meat or man eating). One single perfect line captures the whole image, down to the dragging paw barely visible at the bottom left. I called him "Yogi" because he looked almost sweet to me.
Part of Chauvet’s “Grand Gallery.” Artists and anthropologists have debated over why these wooly rhinos seem to be vibrating. A theory: the artist did it purposely as part of a ritual. By flickering firelight - the animals may have appeared as though they were moving -- an optical illusion, something like today’s animated movies.
These lions were drawn along the wall leading to the Grand Gallery. They are perfectly realistic, yet created using only a single continuous line. Masterful artwork. Cave lions are now extinct, but were half again as tall as today’s African lions. They had no manes.
These drawings of pouncing cave lions were created by an artist in Chauvet Cave over 30,000 years ago. All art was done by firelight, from memory using only charcoal and pigment.
Another perfect rendition of a now extinct animal, a European bison. Of the scores of animals drawn throughout the immense cave, only horses remain. All others are now extinct.
Greece
Iceland
The Gullfoss (Golden Falls) in Southern, Iceland is spectacular. More water tumbles over these falls than Niagara.
These bare, majestic mountains are everywhere in Iceland which is constantly being recreated on the top of an enormous submarine volcano. The tiny house at the base of the mountain gives you an idea of its size.
My guide and I were the only people who would ascend the glacier at the base of Iceland’s highest mountain - Hvannadalshnuku. You can see its beckoning tongue. Christian, my guide, told me that 10 years ago, the ice would have reached to where we were currently standing.
As we began walking toward the enormous glacier, I could see the evidence of its retreat, a victim of climate change. Where once there had been millions of tons of ice, now there was only water, rock and dirt.
I could stand inside some crevasses, but some of them are deadly because if you lose your footing, you can fall hundreds of feet into the abyss below.
Once on the glacier, we began to ascend into the highest section that was still safe, about halfway up the mountain side.
After our hike, Christian’s co-worker suggested we pose, ice ax in hand. It was a terrific time; a remarkable experience.
This is the view of Hvannadalshnuku mountain from the base where we began our ascent. I took it just before leaving because suddenly the sky cleared, and the magnificent mountain revealed itself.
Rome, Italy
The Tiber River runs through Rome. Legend has it that the twins Romulus and Remus were abandoned on the river’s banks in 753 BC, but rescued and suckled by Luca, a she-wolf. She saved them and led them to the glory that became Rome.
The coliseum has two levels. Gladiators awaited their fate in the underground chambers. As they entered, they would say, “Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant!” "Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you!” (Not that they had much to say about it.)
Interior of the Coliseum of Rome. The coliseum was so large and elaborate that battles at sea could be re-enacted.
Large retractable awnings above the coliseum shaded spectators. They would have hung from the left of the structure, made of canvas.
If you were unfortunate enough to be a gladiator prepared to fight on the floor of the Coliseum, you might have faced this view as you gazed up at tens of thousands of roaring Romans.
A nighttime view of the Coliseum.
A ground floor view of Rome’s Forum. You can imagine the city, filled with thousands of people walking among the immense and colorful markets and monumental buildings.
This was the main thoroughfare of Rome over 2000 years ago. At the peak of the empire, more than a million people lived here.
Raphael’s immortal painting — The School of Athens. One of my favorites, not only because of its beauty and as a remarkable example of realistic perspective, but because the characters in the painting include Plato talking with Aristotle, giants of western thinking. Raphael used Leonardo da Vinci as the model for Plato, a nod to the great polymath.
A panoramic view of St. Peter’s Basilica, gateway to the Vatican. Pope Julius II who worked closely with Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel wanted to create the Basilica, but neither of them ever saw it. It took another century before it was finally completed.
Venice, Italy
I believe Venice is buckling beneath the weight of its millions of tourists, but you can see why so many come here. It is unique and beautiful. And, after all, we became those tourists too. It’s a dilemma. How to enjoy the world, but not destroy the very places we love.
The famous Bridge of Sighs where so many were sent to the prison cells on the right, sobbing, or worse, as they headed into a dark place where tortuous things often happened.
Venice’s Grand Canal, Main Street for this unique and magnificent city. Some one once described Venice as magical to me. Perfect.
The dominating Tower at San Marco Square, a 1912 reconstruction of the original tower, which collapsed in 1902. It’s almost 300 feet tall (30 stories) and the tallest structure in the city.
Even in Venice, you have to haul the trash somewhere, somehow. I caught this barge trolling by and had to take the picture! It’s not every day you see this sort of garbage truck.
A fall afternoon at the sun-drenched docks of Venice. Think of the ships and people who have been coming in and out of here for a thousand years; the days when Venetian merchants began taking command of the Mediterranean and the Silk Road to Afghanistan.