Author Archives: carolinebotwin

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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.

Eulogy for a dog

Posted on July 13, 2015 by carolinebotwin

A very young boy and 2 pups: a lifetime for the dogs  and a maturation for the boy. Kevin, our neighbor’s grandson, came to play with the dogs after school when he was 10. He would throw the ball in … Continue reading →

Posted in America, California | 1 Comment

Another Hill Town/Bastide

Posted on June 7, 2015 by carolinebotwin

Generally  one enters a place from the front….but not  Cordes-sur- Ceil, France. (Their “front” door was a narrow, stone archway accommodating only 2 abreast). Driving around and up a narrow dirt road discouraged many 13th century attackers.   Parking was … Continue reading →

Posted in France | Leave a comment

Things that can go awry….usually do!

Posted on May 3, 2015 by carolinebotwin

We chose Rome for the first part of our trip.  Once I found a hotel with a good location, we mapped out our interests. First, proximity to a museum that offered background  information on the Etruscans (9th century BC), who … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy | 2 Comments

The Serendipity of Senior Malfunctions: especially when looking for hotels

Posted on February 12, 2015 by carolinebotwin

Not quite true. It just grueling to find this lovely town and  check out  5 hotels before we  found The Antik Hotel. And this picture was the reason we wanted a “walkable” hotel.  The best part of Ljubljana  is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Slovenia | Leave a comment

The Serendipity of Senior Malfunctions when traveling in Barcelona and being alone in a big city for four days

Posted on January 25, 2015 by carolinebotwin

The agreement was that I would stay in this wonderful city while Mike would expand his wine education activities in Morocco and join me here later. I had reserved a marvelous hotel Condes de Barcelona. Of course top floor, terrace and … Continue reading →

Posted in Spain | 4 Comments

2014 in review

Posted on January 5, 2015 by carolinebotwin

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it … Continue reading →

Posted in N/A | Leave a comment

Walla Walla Washington, the old/new Napa of the future??

Posted on November 3, 2014 by carolinebotwin

We remembered the old Napa Valley of 30+ years ago and were disappointed with its commercial and expensive development. Somehow it became Napa Vegas.  So our quest for a simpler site led to flying to Seattle, a rental car and … Continue reading →

Posted in Walla Walla 1 | Leave a comment

Sequel: Georgia, the Soviet collapse and Noah’s Ark

Posted on September 2, 2014 by carolinebotwin

The Kakheti Davit-Gareja Complex The next morning we drove to this ancient Monastery.  Our guide, Maka, said it would be a rough road but she was wrong:  it was hell!   We bounced on the narrow dirt road with pot- holed … Continue reading →

Posted in Georgia | 5 Comments

A view from the Balcony… and D-Day

Posted on June 12, 2014 by carolinebotwin

This was my first picture, from the balcony of our hotel in Oakland the day before we were to fly to Armenia and Georgia… for the 6000 year old wine caves.  But that comes later. These are just a few … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Georgia | 1 Comment

Prague: Survivor of the Nazis and Russians

Posted on April 13, 2014 by carolinebotwin

  Researching  before  a trip is good, but it’s still a shock when you arrive. The picture above revealed more about Prague, City of the Czech Republic, than what we had read. Prague, derived from the old Slavic root “Praga” … Continue reading →

Posted in Czech | 5 Comments