Tag Archives: European travel

FIVE HIDDEN SEASIDE SPOTS IN ITALY AND FRANCE WELL WORTH A VISIT

My WWII espionage novel Crucible of Deceit sends the protagonist on a treacherous wartime mission through Vichy France and fascist Italy. Off-the-beaten-path locales featured in this latest Corridor of Darkness novel are well worth a visit, so here are a … Continue reading

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THE MAN WHO WOULD BE RYAN LEMMON, SPY

Many of you have asked for some factual background on the man who inspired this multi-faceted and multi-talented character in the Corridor of Darkness novels. In his postwar years my father, Dr. Leonard O’Bryon, was known as a beloved professor … Continue reading

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DON’T LOOK NOW, BUT COVERT OPERATIVE RYAN LEMMON MAY BE TAILING YOU AGAIN!

From time to time interested readers have been asking when a new sequel to the Corridor of Darkness trilogy might appear. After all, three years (and a pandemic) have passed since publication of novel number four in the series, Echoes … Continue reading

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MY ODDEST EUROPEAN CHRISTMAS

During the Cold War era I spent a few years in Germany, first as a twenty-one-year-old graduate student and then with the military. I spent my first Christmas holiday season putting a Eurailpass to good use, randomly hopping on or off … Continue reading

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PRAGUE REDUX: How Things Have Changed

Some of you may recall an earlier travel memoir (How to Risk a Stretch in Soviet Prison under “Travel Memoirs” to the right) detailing the misadventures of leading a group of college students through the ice- and communist-bound Prague of the … Continue reading

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WHY VENICE STILL CALLS OUT TO ME…

Venice, Italy…7 a.m.  Children laughing on their way to school, backpacks flapping as they run across the Accademia bridge.  A bakery displaying fresh wares, the narrow street still dark,  the shop’s windows warmly lit and calling the passer-by in.  Street … Continue reading

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MAKING THE WORLD A SAFER PLACE: Why Lions Never Sleep

It was generally accepted among the common folk in that often  bleak, thousand year stretch between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance (when lions were but a distant memory in Western Europe and very rarely seen) that … Continue reading

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

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

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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HOW I LEARNED TO HATE FLORENCE…

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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