Ask anyone what the greatest disaster at sea is that they can think of and almost invariably the answer will be “the sinking of the Titanic.” 

Shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912, the Titanic, on her maiden voyage from Europe to New York, struck an iceberg and sank within three hours early on the morning of April 15. Only 705 survived. More than 1,500 died in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.

My husband, Paul, and I flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in...

Quartet of Havana fortresses

Havana’s long, rich history stretches back to the time of Christopher Columbus. 2019 will mark the 500th anniversary of the founding of this city on the island of Cuba in the Caribbean. Because of its strategic location, it is not surprisingly a city especially rich in fortresses. Four of them stand within sight of each other on either side of the bay leading into Havana Harbor.

Why so many fortresses? In 1511, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar...

Totem poles are the monumental masterpieces of the Pacific Northwest. They are scattered over an area that includes the province of British Columbia in western Canada along with Washington and Oregon states in the northwestern corner of the continental United States plus southeastern Alaska. 

Erected by a people who had lived there for thousands of years and whom Canadians call “First Nations,” these totem poles are objects of great beauty — aesthetically...