
Budapest is a hotbed of history, from Roman Aquincum onward to 2000 years of tumultuous fortunes. But whatever the causes, that history has left behind a truly beautiful mark. I like to say of Budapest that it’s like someone crumpled up Paris and then tried to lay it out flat again. There’s an old saying […]

It is a little rare, however, for so many of our experiences to converge on one particular spot as they did at Klis Fortress. Perched above Split on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, Klis is probably best known these days as a setting for the show Game of Thrones. …Aside from being well-traveled by some of history’s leading lights, it seemed like it was designed to integrate the experiences we’ve been having while traveling around eastern Europe.

No visit to Riga, Latvia is complete without a visit to the sprawling Central Market, a melange of fresh foods and handmade goods that fills out not one, but five, “upcycled” German zeppelin hangars and bulges out onto the surrounding streets and waterfront. It is so substantial that it has been called Europe’s largest market and bazaar; I have no square-footage facts to back that up, but I have no real problem believing it after having seen it.

Estonia went from a backwater basket case to a modern EU country, a NATO member, and a driver of digital innovation that punches well above its weight in the world economy in just twenty years. That’s remarkable.

So we are back in Europe, in the Netherlands specifically. After a couple weeks wandering about the Baltics, we’ve settled into Utrecht, a nice little city south of Amsterdam.

This short video sums up our time exploring the Turkish region’s fantastical topography via hot air balloon, hikes, and a descent into an underground city.

This year, I’ll be missing out on a Minnesota classic: The State Fair. But fortunately, I’ll be surrounded by enough similarities over here to help recreate this quintessentially Midwestern experience on the other side of the globe.

After reviewing ~800 video clips and spending countless hours editing a fraction of those, the Istanbul highlight reel is finally here!
Recent Comments