Easter Sunday 2026

 He is not here; for he is risen, as he said.

R E J O I C E !

The Choir of King's College Cambridge:

Sylvia McNair exquisitely performs the much-loved aria from Messiah:

The Lessons Appointed for Use on

Easter Day

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Bonus:  Rick Steves takes us on a fascinating tour of unusual European Easter customs:

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Weekend Getaway: Greek Islands

Rick Steves shows us the highlights of Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes.

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Weekend Getaway: The Heart of England

Rick Steves takes us to Cambridge, Oxford, Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle, and Ironbridge, where the Industrial Revolution started.

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Weekend Getaway: Paris

Consummate tourist and travel guide Rick Steves - ♪ who is the very model of a middle-class American ♪ - takes us to the ever-delightful City of Lights, where amongst other diversions we learn about one-street-shopping for dinner, take a gander at some highly interesting statues, and get a glimpse of le vrai gai Paris.

 

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Weekend Getaway: The Amalfi Coast

 Rick Steves takes us on a leisurely tour of serene Sorrento, the Isle of Capri, and the famous Blue Grotto, among other charming spots along Italy's sunny Amalfi Coast.

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Rick Steves: For the Love of America, Vote

A timely message from travel writer and enthusiast Rick Steves:

  

 Excerpt from the video summary: 

As a traveler and a student of history, I've seen how strong societies can fray. And I fear for our democracy. It’s more fragile than we realize. And it is at risk.

That's why, this year, I believe our choice is more fundamental than partisanship. Four years ago, Donald Trump pledged to "Make America Great Again." When I survey our national life today, it's clear to me that we've lost so much more than we've gained in that time.

If we truly want to make America great again, we need to elect Joe Biden to the White House on November 3. Please join me.

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What I'm Watching: Andalucia, the Best of Southern Spain

I have it on very good authority that sunny Andalu-SEE-ya is the place to be when you're retired and carefree.  Plenty of fun in the sun, wine that flows like water, and so many, uh, cheeky young men to wait on you hand and foot in countless beach bars that cater to the mature expat population.  See what you think.

 

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Rick Steves: England's Cornwall

Cornwall.  Why not?  Anywhere to get away from the ghastly U. S. news for a little while.

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What I'm Watching: Rick Steves

Forty-four years ago today, your Head Trucker first set foot on the soil of merry old England, owing to the grace of a little unexpected windfall that came into my hands - though I really had no business gallivanting off to foreign parts when money was so hard to come by.

Owing to assorted family tragedies and financial reverses, too dreary to relate here, by the time I finished high school my mom and I were deep in poverty.  It took me ten long years of perseverance to finally get through college, meanwhile learning the value of a dollar the hard way, by working all sorts of ill-paid, bottom-drawer jobs with no future:  construction worker, apartment cleaner, warehouseman, delivery truck driver, retail clerk, night auditor, and so forth.

But to see Europe and its history, art, and culture with my own eyes - ah, now that was like a dream come true!  I decided there was no better way to use that little sum than to treat myself to a two-week tour of London and Paris - at the time it cost around $800 (about three months' minimum-wage pay then) for a hotel-and-airfare package deal via TWA.  It might have been more prudent to save that money or apply it to necessities; but I thought to myself at the time, what if I never get another chance to go? 

And in point of fact, no other chance ever did present itself, so I'm glad I went when I could:  a poor man's Grand Tour.  The memories are lovely.  It would have been even nicer if I'd had a travel companion to share the experience with, but none of my blue-collar friends could afford it, or were even interested in seeing them furrin places over yonder.  Why bother with all that boring old stuff when you could just stay home, pop another Bud, and watch the Bicentennial Minutes?

Fate being a rather capricious tour guide on the road of life, I am still struggling to make ends meet in retirement, but I'm sure that many Americans are by now familiar with the travel books and videos of Rick Steves, a lively, extroverted fellow who thinks travel is not only fun but educational as well.  Pick just about any European country you please, and you will easily find one or several Rick Steves videos on YouTube telling you just how to get there, and what to see and do.

But though Rick presents himself as a laid-back, happy-go-lucky type, he has a lot more on the ball than you might expect.  He has written a book whose title is self-explanatory:  Travel as a Political Act, which I have not read, but I believe he expresses some of the same views in this video I'm watching this week.  If you want to hear the philosophy of travel from someone who has spent a third of his life in Europe every year for the last forty years, give it a whirl; I'm about halfway through it myself, and find it very thought-provoking.




Or if you'd rather just imagine yourself soaking up some rays and cruising through the blue Mediterranean, here's a you-are-there video. Enjoy!