Author Archives: Patrick W. O'Bryon

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About Patrick W. O'Bryon

Writer. Traveler. Europhile, especially Italy and France. Hobbies: rescuing animals from abuse, abandonment and mistreatment, and being sous chef around the kitchen to my chef de cuisine wife.

DROWNING OFF BIG SUR: A Tale of Stupidity and Survival

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

I’m not afraid of the water.  But perhaps I should be.  Let me explain why… As a teenager I was really quite stupid.  Not ignorant—I knew a lot of stuff—just filled with the stupidity that makes teenagers do ridiculous things … Continue reading →

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HELLUVA WAY TO FIRST SEE EUROPE: The Seagoing Life’s Not for Everyone

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

I awakened to total silence. I had fallen asleep to the raucous laughter, boozing, amorous groping and other fulfilling activities which mark a last night at sea with a shipload of grad students, all off for a year in Europe.  … Continue reading →

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CAT AND MOUSE SURVIVAL AT THE PORT OF STOCKTON

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

Imagine being fresh out of high school in the 1960’s and ready for college, inspired by a well-traveled father with a love for the great wide world, and snagging a job at an international port.  My duties consisted of spending the day slipping in and out of … Continue reading →

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FINDING A HOME IN YOUR HEART…a plea on behalf of abandoned animals

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

The microcosm:  A neighbor at the head of our cul-de-sac, whose two-acre property fronted a busy country road, obviously thought that letting his cats roam free and breed freely was nature’s way. When he lost the place to foreclosure, I … Continue reading →

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OF COURSE IT’S SAFE TO DRINK THE WATER…An Adventure in Old Spain

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

The whole second half of our Spanish journey hadn’t gone exactly as planned, so why was I surprised to wake up to a smiling physician about to inject me in the butt with a huge hypodermic needle? After all, only … Continue reading →

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CONFESSIONS OF A BIGFOOT HOAXER: and How Mother Nature Turned the Tables

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

Before “reality TV” made them nightly magnets for ridicule and disbelief, Bigfoot sightings, alien visitations and the Loch Ness monster only appeared occasionally in popular magazines and newspapers. In my favorite bookstore of my college days I stumbled upon Bernard Heuvelmans’ now-classic … Continue reading →

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LOOKING FOR (ITALIAN) LIFE AFTER FLORENCE?

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

Hundreds of you readers (well, two, to be precise) have asked for an alternative to Florence,  just in case they’re stuck driving circles around that lovely cultural center trying without success to break into the old town itself (see my … Continue reading →

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HOW I LEARNED TO HATE FLORENCE…

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

Before all you lovers of Italian culture build your own big bonfire and set me alight as a modern-day Savonarola, let me explain.  No doubt Florence deserves its reputation as a must-see destination, particularly for travelers discovering the beauties of Italy for the first … Continue reading →

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Ghosts of Europe Past: Three More Haunting Tales

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

Our fascination with  ghosts begins in our earliest years. Perhaps as children we are more open to specters lurking just beyond our everyday reality, and as adults we begin to tune them out.  For the kid in you, here are … Continue reading →

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HOW TO RISK A STRETCH IN SOVIET PRISON AND STILL HAVE FUN: A Prague Adventure

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Patrick W. O'Bryon

Have I ever mentioned  flirting with years in a Soviet prison for breaking the law  with a baker’s dozen university students behind the Iron Curtain?  No?  Well, the story goes something like this… Late in the ‘70’s I was teaching German studies … Continue reading →

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