Category Archives: Europe

Leave the gun, take the cannoli

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The historic southern Sicilian city of Agrigento is preparing to be Italy’s 2025 Capital of Culture and has taken a controversial stance against its infamous Mafia past. In a bid to reclaim its cultural identity, the city has banned the … Continue reading →

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une vie dans le fromage

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The first Cheese Museum in France opened its doors in June in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. Located in the heart of the capital on Île Saint-Louis, the new museum was designed by the company Paroles de Fromagers to celebrate … Continue reading →

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Bookstore Tourism : Kyiv

Posted on September 2, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Launched this winter, “Sense Bookstore on Khreshchatyk is special since it is located in the very heart of the capital and combines books, coffee, and a permanent event space for creating new senses. Unlike our first Sense Bookstore on Arsenalna … Continue reading →

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A short description of European people

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The chart below was created in Germany in the 18th century to describe the character traits of the various European peoples. Hardly insulting at all.

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Even a bad day of hiking is a day you’ll remember

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Exactly forty years ago on this day I was tent camping in the Swiss alps. It’s one of those indelible travel memories that tends to stick out among all of the many trips. Filmmaker Reinis Kaspars spent two weeks hiking alone … Continue reading →

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Heaven’s Gate

Posted on August 25, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“A Society of Scoundrels” by Franz Kafka Translated by Michael Hofmann There was once a society of scoundrels, or rather not scoundrels per se, just ordinary, average people. They always stuck together. When one of them had perpetrated some rascally … Continue reading →

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Through Thick and Thin

Posted on August 19, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t think that I’ve read Chaucer since high school, but I was still fascinated when I ran across an article on the many commonly used English phrases that he  coined (or popularized) a lot of phrases that we still … Continue reading →

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The Mark on the Wall

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

  “The Mark On The Wall” is based on Virginia Woolf’s short story of the same name, which opens with the mysterious line—”Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present year that I first looked up and saw the mark … Continue reading →

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Walk This Way

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The ancient Roman Appian Way road network has become Italy’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site. The  Via Appia Antica, or Appian Way,  the oldest and most significant road built by the ancient Romans, has been named a Unesco world heritage … Continue reading →

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Literary London

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

As a great international capital, once at the hub of an enormous colonial Empire, London has long attracted visits by writers, artists and intellectuals from around the world. University College London is curating how London has been seen through the … Continue reading →

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