November 28 is Albania’s Flag Day, marking its declaration of independence in 1912. The Albanian Community in the US is celebrating Flag Day on November 27 so it does not conflict with Thanksgiving. This is from a letter I wrote … Continue reading Albania Flag Day, Letter from 1995
I became interested in Art Nouveau living in Bratislava and within an hour of Vienna where Nouveau and Secession buildings captured my fancy. Having seen them I needed to see some of the buildings of Antoni Gaudí . The first 8 pics here are Gaudi buildings, including the Holy Family Cathedral, Sagrada Família, a must see in Barcelona and Casa Batilo and Casa Mila. I took these pictures in 1999 on a very early digital camera that had limited storage capacity. I find it hard to imagine that I can shoot thousands of pictures now on one card. Early digital cameras … Continue reading Barcelona Nouveau and Gaudi
Modernist Marc Chagall, cubist Jacques Villon, and tachist Roger Bissière are all there, mixed with art from the Gothic, Renaissance and Romantic periods. It’s the play of light on the works that I find so fascinating. They are the stained glass windows in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Metz. Gothic does away with the need for structural walls, allowing artists to work in walls of glass. The cathedral soars with light coming through colored glass, creating shadows and shafts. Outside the light plays against the exposed structural members, the flying buttresses. At night the outside is floodlit to stunning effect. Pictures from … Continue reading St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Metz
This train is the highest altitude railroad in North America, by far. It runs from Manitou Springs, Colorado to the top of Pike’s Peak. We rode it in October 2012. Continue reading Manitou and Pike’s Peak Cog Railway
I was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. On my 67th birthday I want to pay tribute to my first home town. I came into the world in the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, part of the Jersey City Medical Center. … Continue reading Jersey City, My original home town.
The only way to get into the King Hassan II Mosque, if you are not a Moslem, is on a guided tour. It’s worth it. The mosque is more than two football fields long and one wide. I think St. Peters in Rome could easily fit inside if the roof were retracted for the dome. It has a carved wooden roof of cyprus that is retractable so in good weather you can pray outside. There is a glass floor under part of the mosque, which is built on and, in parts, over the Atlantic. The floor gives us a glimpse … Continue reading King Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco
These are pictures I have taken over the years of our Ferry System. I am amazed that several of the ships have been serving for 50 years and still run well, having been modified over the years. Three were stretched, … Continue reading The Alaska Marine Highway System is 50
When Moses got to Mt. Nebo he could see the Promised Land, but he could not enter. The mountain has a commanding view down into the Jordan Valley and across. It is more than 2.600 feet above sea level and the Dead Sea at the foot of the Jordan Valley is more than 1,400 feet below sea level. That’s quite a drop and quite a view. You can just see the gold glint of dome from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. You can also see Jericho, the Dead Sea and practically all of modern Palestine and Israel. I … Continue reading Mt. Nebo, Jordan
I’m not sure of the theological meaning, but Pope John Paul II has been turned into a pillar of salt. In Genesis it was Lot’s wife who became a saline pillar. Her sin was looking back at Sodom, the home from which she was being evacuated by angels before its destruction. The Wieliczka mines in Krakow Poland are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took a bus to the salt mines and went on the tour. We went down about 438 feet, although the mines go down much further than that, and walked for about three kilometers underground. The wondrous … Continue reading Salt Pope, Krakow, Poland
The text to accompany these pictures is in the previous post. “Sinai Desert.” I like the last picture, the imprint of the Burning Bush on the rock. Continue reading St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mt. Sinai and the Original Burning Bush.
If my parents could see me they would die a second time. Last night Suzi and I went to Yankee Stadium and I rooted for the Yankees. I was thrilled when the Yanks popped 4 homers and scored 9 runs in the second inning. I cheered when the scoreboard showed Baltimore losing to Tampa Bay giving the Yanks sole possession of first place with two games left in the season. At the end of the game I sang along with Frank Sinatra, long gone but still beloved , in a chorus of “New York, New York.” We had planned to … Continue reading Yankee Stadium
Each town in Malta has its Festa, dedicated to the town’s patron and church. Festa season runs from April to September. Festa starts on Saturday with booths, food stands, fireworks and brass band concerts (a tradition carried over from the … Continue reading Festa in Malta
In the last post I mentioned the Madaba mosaic map of the Holy Land on the church floor. here are some pictures of the Madaba map. Madaba has a mosaic school that is worth a visit. Continue reading Madaba, Jordan
This is the first of my posts on Holy Land sites. Over the months there will be more. We cannot be sure where most things in the Bible actually happened because, at the time, people didn’t put down GPS markers. For instance, there are two competing sites of the crucifixion in Jerusalem. The Via Dolorosa has changed routes several times. The upper room touted as the site of the Last Supper is in a building erected in the 11th Century – AD. This is one of three sites claiming to be the place Jesus was baptized. If you’re looking for … Continue reading Bethany Beyond the Jordan.
Khor Virap is the Armenian monastery closest to the sacred Mt. Ararat. Because of a combination of fog and cloud we were only graced with fleeting glimpses of the mountain and never got its picture. But when we got to the Monastery a man pushed pigeons into our hands (he said they were doves) and told us to release them with our fondest dreams so they could fly off to the holy mountain (which is in Turkey, behind barbed wire and watchtowers that the clouds did not obscure from the monastery). Apparently, by releasing doves we were following the example … Continue reading Khor Virap Monastery, Armenia
The French Cathedral Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Cathedral) is at the heart of French Colonial Art Deco Casablanca. It was built in 1930, abandoned for Catholic worship in 1956 on Morocco’s independence. It sat derelict for years and reopened as an art gallery just before I got there in 2005. It is built in a mix of Gothic and Art Deco styles with Islamic touches. The stained glass is set in cutwork geometric patterns much like the decoration in a mosque. Paul Tournon was the architect for this church turned art gallery. It serves its new purpose well. For more … Continue reading Sacré Coeur in Casablanca.
“For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest,” Especially for one. All Saint’s Day 15 years ago at Dubcek’s grave. This is All Saints’ Say. Today Slovaks visit cemeteries and light candles on graves. Most of my staff … Continue reading Alexander Dubcek’s Grave. All Saints Day 1998, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Egyptian pyramids evolved. They did not just pop out of the ground at Giza. A series of mistakes litter the desert. In a short space of miles you can see those mistakes and follow that evolution. Saqqara has a stepped pyramid (and rubble of a step pyramid that didn’t hold up so well.) It was an early incarnation of Pharaonic funeral monuments. Then the builders decided to shift to smooth sided pyramids. The Collapsed Pyramid at Meidum was their first big mistake. The builders made the angle too steep. Instead of the pressure of the weight at the top of … Continue reading The Evolution of Egyptian Pyramids.
In Eastern France there are several war related “roads” to follow, the “road of the fortified towns,” “The road of the battlefields” linking battlefields of the two world wars, and “The road of the military cemeteries.” Wars happened here with alarming regularity. The road I found most fascinating was the “The Road of the Fortified Churches” celebrating about 65 churches (God’s castles someone called them) built in the Thierache region for the protection of the civilian population. These towns sat on the border between Champagne and Picardy near Flanders. They could not afford to wall themselves. Many did not have … Continue reading “A Mighty Fortress” The fortified churches of Thierache, France.
The Drive from Yerevan to Tbilisi is through the Debed Canyon that runs north from Vanadzor to the border. The canyon has decaying industrial towns at its base and soaring monasteries, surrounded by traditional villages, on its peaks. Armenia has … Continue reading Monasteries and MiGs, Sanahin Side.
Haghpat Monastery looks across the Debed Valley at the Sanahin Monastery. In the valley in the middle sits the industrial town of Alaverdi. The Alaverdi region is famous for its monasteries and its Soviet heroes. It is the home of … Continue reading Monasteries and MiGs, Haghpat Side.
“God made the earth, the Dutch made Holland.” But they didn’t need an environmental impact statement. During my day long layover in Amsterdam my friend Dave Lam drove up from Brussels and we went to visit two old (you could … Continue reading When the Sea Goes Away, Marken and Volendam, Netherlands.
When I was a kid summer vacation meant Wildwood, New Jersey on the south Jersey shore, “Oh those days, those Wild wild Wildwood Days. Every day’s a holiday and every night is a Saturday night.” Occasionally I make trips back … Continue reading Doo Wop, Wildwood, New Jersey
Alaska Day in Sitka Alaska Day commemorates the day in 1867 when the United States took possession of Alaska from the Russians. It’s Sitka’s day. Up until that time Sitka ran on the Julian calendar and was west of the International Date Line. Sitka jumped ahead about two weeks in an instant when the American flag hit the top of the pole on Castle Hill. In most Alaska communities Alaska Day is just a substitute for Columbus Day, which is a federal but not a State holiday. In 1980 when I worked at KTOO in Juneau, we did a vox … Continue reading Alaska Day in Sitka, Alaska, 2013