Text & photos © Catherine Nichols I’VE TAKEN PHOTOGRAPHS of some of the funky signs I’ve stumbled across in various countries, and even one in the U.S. The thing I love about the signs in other countries is how visually descriptive they are. During my travels in Scotland, I loved this funky...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul SKOPJE IS THE CAPITAL and also the largest city of the Republic of Macedonia (which is often simply referred to as FYROM, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.) After his brother visited the country and said it was very beautiful, my boyfriend and I...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols YOU CAN FIND the town with the longest name on the island of Anglesey in Wales (southwest Great Britain): Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch It’s even in the Guinness Book of World Records. Here’s a sound file of someone pronouncing...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul I FIRST TOOK my boyfriend to Budapest, Hungary on New Year’s Eve in December 2015, as part of our short trip to Miskolc during the winter holidays.  We wanted to see the fireworks in Hungary’s capital. We woke up early and drove there, reaching...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul ONE OF MY LATEST travels stories was about Iași, Romania, sharing my experiences at Anastasie Fătu Botanical Garden. Today I’m back writing about Iași because another wonderful thing about it was the food. We chose our accommodation based on proximity...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul THE ANASTASIE FĂTU BOTANICAL GARDEN in Iași, Romania, founded in 1856, has a rich history. And it is one of the establishing members of the Botanic Gardens of Romania Association. These are some of the reasons I wanted to visit it during a recent trip to Iași....

Text & photos © Estrella Azul I LIVE AND WORK IN Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The second time I traveled to Kingston Upon Thames for work, I got the chance for a longer stay. One of my colleagues said Hampton Court Palace is a must-see and offered to drop me off there after work one afternoon. A different...