Warsaw, Palm Sunday, 2013
On Palm Sunday we ventured into the old town a second time. Poland is not the land of palm trees, although Charles De Gaulle square has a huge plastic palm tree. (It is a work of art. Before the war … Continue reading Warsaw, Palm Sunday, 2013
Reichstag, Berlin, 2013
To visit the German Bundestag housed in the Reichstag building you need an invitation. We applied, sending our passport information and addresses, on line. I got our PDF invitation letter just before we left for Warsaw. Our appointment was 9:30 Monday evening. We got off our train grabbed a cab, dropped our stuff at the hotel and went on to the Reichstag. The building was burned as Hitler came to power. Hitler blamed it on the Communists. Others blame it on Hitler as an excuse to grab more power. The building was largely unused just on the western side of … Continue reading Reichstag, Berlin, 2013
Berlin, March, 2013
Note, many of the photos for this post are contained in the posts “Shadows of the Wall,” “East Side Gallery.” and “Bernauer Str.” Pictures on this post are general Berlin tourism shots. March 22, 2013 Berlin, Germany Dear Friends, In … Continue reading Berlin, March, 2013
Shadows of the Wall, Berlin 2013
Text for these pictures is on the post “Berlin, March, 2013” These are pictures from the area of the old wall. Panels of the wall have been re-erected near “Checkpoint Charlie” and feature dictators still waiting for falling. The man … Continue reading Shadows of the Wall, Berlin 2013
East Side Gallery, Berlin, 2013
The text for these pictures is in the post “Berlin, March 2013.” The East Side Gallery is the longest stretch of the wall still standing. One side has been painted by famous artists. The other side is a “free … Continue reading East Side Gallery, Berlin, 2013
Berlin 2013, Bernauer Str.
This is Bernauer Str. The Wall used to run along this street, not it is a memorial to the wall and there is a park where Berlin has its Sunday flea market. The Text for this letter is in the … Continue reading Berlin 2013, Bernauer Str.
Rundfunks Berlin
March, 21, 2013 This week Suzi and I attended Radio Days Europe and got to tour some different radio stations. A highlight of the sessions was the tour of Haus des Rundfunks, or Radio House. The Funkhaus was designed in 1929 in the Bauhaus style and went on-air in 1931. It claims to be the oldest purpose built radio station building in the world. The Funkhaus is the home of Radio Berlin and Brandenburg (RBB), which operates 6 radio services. While it was built as a national headquarters, right now it serves Berlin’s local public radio. The building is a … Continue reading Rundfunks Berlin
Tbilisi, Georgia, March 16, 2013
The last time I was in Tbilisi, in November, I watched the progression of autumn as trees turned, leaves fell and the winds grew cold. I am watching the reverse this March. I snowed on and off the first week I was here and I could see snow sticking on the hills above Tbilisi. The weather has turned, it is in the 60s, sunny and the green lace and blossoms are beginning to appear on those same trees. I had a cold much of the first week so I went to work went home and didn’t have many adventures. I’m … Continue reading Tbilisi, Georgia, March 16, 2013
Gudauri Ski Area, Georgia.
Friday was a holiday in Georgia, International Women’s Day. The Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, GIPA the University where I’m doing some work, takes the holiday for a ski excursion to Gudauri. ( გუდაური in the Georgian alphabet, the word looks beautiful, I hope your computer can decipher it.) The busses gathered at 8 AM at the Radisson Hotel on Rose Revolution Square, on the other end of Rustaveli Street from where I am staying on Freedom Square. I was not sure how long a walk it would be. I’ve walked it many times but never without interruption. Rustaveli Street … Continue reading Gudauri Ski Area, Georgia.
Georgian Military Road
The Georgian Military Road, an ancient trade route over the Greater Caucasus Mountains. Pliny wrote of it. In 1799 Russian Tsar Alexander I ordered the road paved and the rivers bridged as the Russian Empire annexed Georgia and moved further into Armenia. The road was “completed” (If such a road is ever completed) in 1817. It is one of the highest paved highways in Europe. There are watchtowers along the route as it travels river valleys and switchbacks up mountain sides. The road passes the Zhinvali River Dam and we had one cigarette break the Ananuri Fortress-Monastery which was a … Continue reading Georgian Military Road
Rustaveli Avenue on International Women’s Day
For the text to explain these pictures please see the post on Gudauri Ski Area. Continue reading Rustaveli Avenue on International Women’s Day
Travel from Sitka to Tbilisi.
March 3, 2013, Tbilisi, Georgia Historically travel has always been arduous. But for a brief period, for a certain social class, travel was glamorous. “Getting there is half the fun” Cunard crowed in mid-century ads. Flying, jet setting had a certain cache. Super Graphics from the airports in early 70’s had fashionable young people in shades and Italian designer cloths smiling as they walked to planes. Today, at SeaTac there is the graphic of a cartoon character, sweating, lugging a suitcase, looking completely harried. It’s an honest, and funny, presentation of flying today and brought more than a few chuckles. … Continue reading Travel from Sitka to Tbilisi.
Zanzibar
May 2, 2012 Zanzibar airport Waiting for a plane that is way too late. Dear Friends, Four thirty in the morning and my mobile phone is ringing. I am tangled up in the mosquito net protecting me from malaria. Worse yet, not only the phone, but my glasses and the light switch are on the other side of the net. The phone stops ringing just as I get to it. The display shows a Stillwater, Minnesota number. When we finally connect it is an old lady trying to call her brother in California. She forgot California was in a different … Continue reading Zanzibar
Kenya, Nairobi and the Great Rift Valley.
August 12, 2012 Dear Friends, Last week we did the Nairobi tourist trek. We drove to Lake Nahuru, on the floor of the Great Rift Valley on Tuesday. It is what is called a “soda lake.” It usually hosts about a … Continue reading Kenya, Nairobi and the Great Rift Valley.
Wildebeest Migration, Kenya
August 6, 2012 Nairobi, Kenya Dear Friends, Sometimes the much awaited second novel or record album (am I showing my age?) is a disappointment, the first was so good. Suzi had some fears that if we returned to the Mara after the wonderful safari of discovery we had last April it would be like a second novel. I shared some of those apprehensions but wanted to go anyway, seeing the same land in a different season. As it happened it was spectacular. We arrived just as the annual wildebeest (we called them Gnus when I grew up) arrived. Had we … Continue reading Wildebeest Migration, Kenya
Nairobi National Park
May 6, 2012 Shihipol, the Netherlands Dear Friends, When we got back to Nairobi from Mt. Kenya and still had not seen a lion I thought I would give us one more chance. I booked game drive through Nairobi National Park, which is just on the outskirts of Nairobi, for dawn on Thursday. It seemed like a good idea at the time but our flight from Zanzibar was canceled and we had to book a later flight getting us into Nairobi too late for dinner and too late to get a good night’s sleep before the dawn trek to the … Continue reading Nairobi National Park
Roadside Kenya
This is a letter about the drive from Mt. Kenya back to Nairobi. April 28, Nairobi, Kenya Dear Friends, After rain most of Friday, Saturday Morning was gorgeous. I got up at about 6:15 to watch the sun rise behind Mt. Kenya, and while the day stayed sunny the mountain progressively pulled its cloud shroud around its peak until about 8, while we were eating breakfast, the peak was completely gone. By 10 we were on the road back to Nairobi. Our first stop was the equator out on the highway where a tourist trap has grown up around “The … Continue reading Roadside Kenya
Mt Kenya
This is the second half of that family letter from Mt. Kenya. We’re on the second half our safari now, at the Mt. Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, 7,000 feet up the slopes of Mt. Kenya, which is 17,000 feet high. Yesterday morning I stood, jacket on, outside my room, 75 feet north of the equator, looking up at snow. Snow in the equator. The equator runs through the bar. The dining room is in the Northern Hemisphere, reception, the gift shop, and services are South of the line. The Safari Club was started by the actor William Holden and … Continue reading Mt Kenya
Masi Mara, Kenya
This is the first half of a letter from Mt. Kenya National Park. It deals with our trip to the Masai Mara. The second half of the letter will be in the post from Mt. Kenya. April 27, 2012 Nanyuki, Kenya (Mt. Kenya National Park) Dear Friends, Victor, the deputy chief of the radio project for South Sudan, asked me why Americans want to come to Africa to see animals. It’s people he is interested in. I gave some feeble answer about how we had seen elephants, (Barbapapa) lions (Lion King) and hippos (Hungry, Hungry Hippo) in kids’ books … Continue reading Masi Mara, Kenya
Nairobi
March 24, 2012 Nairobi, Kenya Dear Friends It’s not what I thought. I’m sitting just a few kilometers south of the equator. It is the time of the equinox with the sun directly overhead, and it is pleasant 78 degrees midday. Sundown comes like switching off a light switch. No twilight at all. Evening breezes mean I sleep with the windows open with no need for air conditioning. The birds and the sun wake me after sleeping well. Welcome to Nairobi. Nairobi is over a mile high. The combination of proximity to the equator and the altitude makes sunburn a … Continue reading Nairobi
Telc, Moravia, Czech Republic
We have been to Telc several times. It has a nice outlet store for Bohemian crystal, even though it is in Moravia. Each time it was overshadowed, in the letter, by other places or, in one case, by a traffic accident. A Lada hit me while I was stopped an intersection, no one hurt. So the pictures will have to tell the story. The first time we were there in 1990 it was rundown but you could see the beauty under the dust and in spite of the faded paint. The last time we visited in 2002 it was gloriously … Continue reading Telc, Moravia, Czech Republic
Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
April 27, 2002 Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic Dear Friends, We’re spending the night in Ceske Krumlov on a drive between Bratislava and Zagreb. Ceske Krumlov is nowhere near the direct route from Bratislava to Zagreb. Suzi and I have not often taken direct routes and we are the richer for it. Ceske Krumlov is a fortified city protected by a meander in the Vlatava (Moldau) River. We were last here in spring 1990 during the election that legitimized the Velvet Revolution. The city was not yet a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That came in 1992 along with some restoration funds. In … Continue reading Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
Rovinj, Croatia
October 1, 2011 Belgrade, Serbia Dear Friends, A week ago in Rovinji, Croatia, I went to sleep and woke up to the sounds of waves lapping at the sea wall three floors below our apartment window. As the morning progressed I could hear gulls calling, flocking around the boats that had been seining all night for sardines, now coming into port, their wakes made the slap against the sea wall more pronounced. At 7 AM the church bells at St. Eufemia called the city to wake. If you go to the window, just then, you can see the sun rise … Continue reading Rovinj, Croatia
Vukovar, Croatia
Note, Vukovar was the first major victim in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. It is a border town on the Danube, in Croatia but, before the wars, with a slight Serbian majority. The Serbs finally took the town over but after the Dayton Accords the town was administered by the UN before being turned over to the Croats, 13 days before we arrived. Our job was to work with the Serbian radio stations in the region to make sure they got licenses from the Croatian government and to help assure that the rights of the Serbian, Roma and Hungarian … Continue reading Vukovar, Croatia