Author Archives: carolinebotwin

About carolinebotwin

Caroline Botwin and her husband Mike are retired educators who have always had a yen for travelling: he with a PH.D and teaching Architectural Engineering plus California wine education, and she having taught high school English, speech and drama. Both wanted to learn first hand about other cultures. While Mike predominately studied buildings and structures and met with winemakers, Caroline hunted for ancient sites and peoples. And kept journals of all their travels. Kevin Klimczak, extraordinaire, is the website designer and editor of the blogs.

A Sad Tale of Two Persons Traveling

Posted on November 2, 2018

(I’ll get to the picture of the enormous airplane in a bit.) It began when Mike called our hotel clerk to find out which terminal we should go to for our, “Delta connection” And she said, “Go to the regular … Continue reading →

Posted in California | Leave a comment

Baltic States IV

Posted on October 26, 2018

Pure joy for Mike today!   We’re off to meet with 2 of the winemakers he had emailed long before our trip began. Both their vineyards  were near Kandava, Latvia. Kaspars Sunins 16+ year old  vineyard (his wife the wine maker) … Continue reading →

Posted in Latvia | Leave a comment

Baltic States III

Posted on October 20, 2018

Riga, Latvia Today we were leaving Vilnius, Lithuania and we had loved it! But just one more castle first. Mike was not happy and yelled “Where’s the &%$# wine cellar????”.  This was a 13th century defense castle…but that didn’t matter to … Continue reading →

Posted in Latvia | Leave a comment

Masada

Posted on October 12, 2018

Masada! One of the oldest and most glorious places I have ever seen. We saw the classic, Roman buildings from the 1st century BC on the very top of this 6,ooo year old Chacolithic Period site. Today it is crammed … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel | Leave a comment

Armenia now, after the Soviet Union Implosion

Posted on September 28, 2018

Armenia now , after the Soviet Union  Implosion When Armenia and Georgia  were mentioned as  possible wine trips….my response was “I’m not Excited.” (I went and researched them on a World Map and was less enthusiastic to see they abutted … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia | 3 Comments

EARLIER: THE BEGINNING

Posted on September 8, 2018

Stone Porch Inn, Evanston Illinois.   This was our planned Murray clan meeting place. Mike and I flew in from LA while brother Frank and his wife Sally drove in from Gross Point Woods. And timely that we met in … Continue reading →

Posted in America | Leave a comment

2 Families, intertwined, who saw the world differently

Posted on September 8, 2018

My first real memory of my grandparent’s home in Saint Louis Missouri, was traipsing down the basement stairs, slipping and sliding in my new patent leather shoes, at age 4. I was looking for, “Tommy the turtle” being the youngest … Continue reading →

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Bournemouth: Staging for WW II

Posted on August 25, 2018

  This picture shows London as we left it.  We crossed the 2nd  bridge (straight ahead) and it gives an overview of how far you had to drive to leave this marvelous city. Now for the relaxing influence of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Wales | 3 Comments

EARLIER: THE BEGINNING

Posted on August 18, 2018

Stone Porch Inn, Evanston Illinois. This was our planned Murray clan meeting place. Mike and I flew in from LA while brother Frank and wife Sally drove in from Gross Point Woods. And timely that we met in the garage—Frank … Continue reading →

Posted in America | Leave a comment

China: Beijing

Posted on August 15, 2018

I took this picture when plastered against the window, about 30 minutes before we landed.  (Probably over Manchuria) The fog and smog was about the same as flying into San Francisco. Happy to see our guide “Charlie” with a big sign … Continue reading →

Posted in China | 2 Comments