I don’t know what it is about Japan that keeps drawing us there, but, once there, my husband, Clyde, and I are also drawn to Mount Fuji. We often see Fujisan on the high-speed Shinkan­sen going to Kyoto. It’s visible about 40 minutes after departing Tokyo, if you sit on the right side of the train. However, we prefer the closer view from Kawaguchi-ko (Lake Kawaguchi).Eight months after our stay there in March 2014, when the mountain was continually packed in with clouds (Feb...

During my 2016 visit to Venice, Italy, on Sunday, May 15, I sat for two hours underneath the Ponte della Costituzione bridge, near a train station, watching longboats on the Grand Canal participate in the city’s 42nd annual Vogalonga Regatta (www.vogalonga.com/en).One of our own Portland dragon boats had been practicing all year on the Willamette River in preparation for this annual regatta. During the 30-kilometer race, hundreds of boats are paddled around Murano, Burano and other...

On our initial visit to Vietnam, the first place my friend and I stayed turned out to be exceptional. Beginning Jan. 19, 2016, we spent two weeks at the Magnolia Garden Homestay (75B Nguyen Duy Hieu St., Hoi An, Quang Nam, Vietnam 560000; phone +84 510 3915509, magnolia homestay.com).

It was the high TripAdvisor.com ratings and the “any time” breakfast that prompted our booking with this homestay instead of one of the other choices. (Hat, the father in the household, later...