tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36261851179167770732012-02-16T17:42:45.723-08:00looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.comBlogger801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-36226489249531509292009-12-05T13:12:00.003-08:002009-12-24T17:36:27.153-08:00

My husband and I were standing on Montserrate, which overlooks Bogotá, when the music surprised us. "New World Symphony" by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (DVOR-zhak). David and I had gone up for a sunset drink on our last night in Colombia, stopping at the restaurant shown to the left. We had no idea that the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá would be playing its holiday concert inside the

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-70693833558590729722009-12-05T13:12:00.001-08:002011-10-13T07:36:14.646-07:00

Try to imagine who recently picked up a spray can of paint and wrote this line from a 30-year-old Pink Floyd songOur writer made his mark in a comfortable neighborhood in Bogotá. This wall is around the corner from a gym that occupies several floors of a building. Although the gym is dedicated largely to spinning classes, my husband and I saw folks doing what looked like capoiera moves in a big

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-39789820952965588812009-12-05T13:10:00.000-08:002010-08-02T12:39:51.588-07:00

The waiter told us the trick for enjoying a traditional Bogotá breakfast of chocolate santafereno style. You rip the block of mild rich cheese served with your breakfast into little pieces and sink them into the cup of rich chocolate. Then, with the spoon, eat the curd that forms. It may sound weird, but it was a good combination of sweet and rich and chewy. We had this breakfast, shown to the

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The journey sometimes is better than the destination. My husband and I set out on a Sunday morning from the tourist spot of Villa de Leyva for one of Colombia's big attractions, the salt cathedral at Zipaquirá. Luckily for us, we missed the direct bus connection between the two cities.Instead, we got a taxi from Villa de Leyva to a spot on the highway and then flagged down the local blue Reina

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It's hard to tell from this photo, but the guy in the green shirt and cowboy hat is holding a puppy. He's having a long chatty talk on a Sunday morning with the two young helmeted policemen on the minibike. I saw this friendly encounter in downtown Villa de Leyva. This quaint colonial city is a weekend retreat for Colombians with enough money for things like weekend retreats.This is a pretty good

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Once I saw the landscape around Barichara, I wished we had time to do the hike that descends to the nearby village of Guane. The streets of Barichara slope upward, with a beautiful little park with palms and cactus at the top of the town. From this park, you can look into a tranquil green valley below. Around sunset, the mountains in the distance look like blue waves flash frozen in place.We

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-43781512098268510742009-12-05T13:05:00.000-08:002009-12-22T06:23:12.631-08:00

My husband David and I had a lot to be grateful for when we woke up on the top floor of the building shown here. It's kind of a supersized wooden hut. Backpackers can rent hammocks on the first floor, while there are two private rooms, or cabanas up top. David and I got one of the cabanas and had this view from our roomParque Nacional Tayrona on Colombia's Caribbean coast has some of the most

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One of the grandest hotels in Cartagena boasts some very colorful permanent guests, toucans. There are at least three of them at the Sofitel Santa Clara, which is a converted17th century convent. The toucans perch on wicker chairs around the main patio, and play with the guests at breakfast. In their travels around the Santa Clara, these New World birds with their bright bright beaks pass over

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-54096240783572583252009-09-09T21:08:00.000-07:002009-09-18T21:04:02.475-07:00

It's a bit of museum lore that reads like a novel, and not a very believable one. A Dutch woman living in the 1600s does something extraordinary and learns to paint. She becomes one of only two female members allowed into the painters' guild in her native Haarlem. To mark her works, she devises an elegant and bold signature that is a play on her maiden name. It's her initials ..J for Judith and

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-43542870864777241102009-08-18T19:08:00.000-07:002009-09-17T21:51:06.942-07:00

For more than two hundred years, the fruit in these two paintings has been ready to roll. It would take only the slightest tap to drop that orange from the table to the right. To the left, a single blow-out-the-candles breath would get that pear in motion.While the artist surely didn't intend this, the fruit seen poised at the edge of the tables reminds me of the history of its creator. Spanish

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-27185246361943255482009-05-09T15:07:00.001-07:002009-09-15T21:36:11.791-07:00

Johnny Depp delayed our dinner on our last night in Puerto Rico. Well, not the actor as much as a night shoot for his ""Rum Diary"" movie in old San Juan. It's based on a book that Hunter S. Thompson wrote about his time working for a small paper in San Juan in the late 1950s. For the shoot, the streets were lined with old cars, gorgeous things. Steering clear of the roped off section of street,

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-51063516226279473182009-05-09T14:55:00.000-07:002009-09-17T18:44:41.838-07:00

The umbrella in this picture would have had its due on any beach from New York's Rockaway to Delaware's Rehoboth. Some folks passing by it would have smiled at its tropical scenes. In California, the umbrella would have reminded them of warmer clearer water than local waves, which are chilled by Alaska.But, this umbrella was planted on one of the world's most beautiful tropical beaches. The

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-23131175285432582812009-02-11T12:24:00.001-08:002010-11-08T10:26:46.934-08:00

A few words on the Philadelphia cheesesteak. While waiting in line at famed cheesesteak shops like Pat's, tourists read the posted rules very carefully. They want to get their orders right. Asking for `wiz wit’ gets you a sandwich of white bread topped with steak, Cheez Whiz and grilled onions. Cheesesteak is an indulgence permitted by setting. It’s like happily eating pommes frites at a Belgian

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-68744823490129440582009-01-03T13:19:00.001-08:002010-01-03T15:41:54.856-08:00

St. Joseph got a far better deal in colonial Peru than he did in much of Europe. Look to the left to see how Italian Renaissance artist Botticelli depicted Joseph in a 1476 painting. Stooped and aged, Joseph stands off to the side. Joseph fares even worse in the 1528 painting below by another Italian artist, Andrea del Sarto. Botticelli's Joseph looks at least as if he could lead the donkey for

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-25178942002849121742008-12-15T19:49:00.001-08:002010-02-27T10:12:55.935-08:00

Our day in Lima started with some of the beautiful sights in the Peruvian capital. We took an early morning walk in the seaside suburb of Miraflores. This part of Lima has geography like California and neat modern apartment towers like Miami.People jogged past us on the path, enjoying the great views of the sea. They wore the same hi-tech sneakers and headphones that you'd see on runners in Santa

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-35794994597991656072008-12-15T19:48:00.001-08:002009-01-31T13:01:29.925-08:00

This is the place in Peru my late father most would have loved to see, the library at the Monasterio de Recoleta.Not Machu Picchu or the remains of the cities in the Sacred Valley, not the walk by the sea in posh Miraflores. He would have best liked this old room filled with old books. The monasterio is in Yanahuara, a neighborhood across a small river from one of Peru's most conservative cities

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-42635954143143824162008-12-15T19:47:00.004-08:002009-01-29T21:41:12.768-08:00

Is this the best place in Peru for a sunset drink? The little rooftop hotel bar on the square? If you know of a better one, please let us know. My husband and I went here on each of our three nights in Arequipa, and liked it better each time.This rooftop overlooks the square seen in these pictures, one shot just as dusk started and the other as dusk gave way to true evening.This is the square

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-76101996842793917282008-12-15T19:47:00.003-08:002009-01-29T21:11:06.083-08:00

This cemetery for abandoned trains stands near the edge of the Bolivian salt flats, which someday might help lead the world away from massive oil consumption. Carmakers are paying close attention to Bolivia, whose salt flats are home to the world's largest reserves of lithium. Batteries for electric cars use lithium.It's been a tricky business in decades past for foreigners to bring investment

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-56943260638878980692008-12-15T19:47:00.001-08:002009-01-25T21:44:41.838-08:00

Bowler hats, big full skirts. Yes, indeed, the women of the Andes have got their own look, as you can see in this Associated Press picture to the left. This is called cholita style, and it plays out best in La Paz.I did see one group of women decked out this spectacularly during my day in La Paz. They wore big full skirts made of brightly colored silks, layered over petticoats. Small snappy

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-47688840309801085242008-12-15T19:46:00.001-08:002010-01-03T15:51:59.942-08:00

Guitar-playing mermaids smile out from the front of the cathedral at Puno, the Peruvian gateway city to Lake Titicaca. They're a nice little shock for many visitors. How often do you see flirting encouraged in a Catholic church?Catholic art tends show desire in two ways; a virgin mystic like St. Theresa writhing in untouched ecstasy, or the bedraggled Mary Magdalene atoning for her past. The

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-74117389467433475772008-12-15T19:31:00.000-08:002009-01-10T13:40:43.666-08:00

The procession shown here passed by during my first hour in Cuzco. My husband and I were having a quick lunch on a balcony overlooking the main square when we heard music and spotted the crowd. David encouraged me to run down to the square, where I took this picture and video. Cuzco's main square is one of the prettiest I've seen, and I try to spend a good part of my travels hanging around

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-19261507102659692472008-11-24T18:55:00.001-08:002009-08-26T05:35:21.519-07:00

It's hard to imagine how much tribute the Inca rulers needed to build Machu Picchu. It was a city standing atop a mountain, which juts more than 1,000 feet into the air from a riverbed.How many farmers in what's now Peru worked extra hours in their fields to support to make the indulgences of the Incas? Their crops were needed to feed entire classes of weavers who made the gorgeous textiles that

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-2899706736075981952008-11-24T18:50:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:12:44.140-08:00

It's hard to imagine how much commotion there was just a few blocks from the quiet streets shown in these two pictures. Squadrons of visitors climbed over the temple-and-terrace complex that attracts so many people to Ollantaytambo, an otherwise sleepy town in Peru's Sacred Valley. Tour buses lined Ollantaytambo's main square.Ollantaytambo is part of what's now called the Sacred Valley, which was

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-12089463093742626222008-11-24T18:49:00.000-08:002010-02-13T18:34:12.137-08:00

My husband and I found alpaca meat to be a case of strong affection, if not love, at first bite. Before getting to Peru, David and I imagined alpaca meat would be kind of tough. Instead, it was tender. Something like good steak or lamb, but richer.The picture on the left is from our first meal with alpaca. We went to the Chez Maggy chain restaurant in Aguas Calientes, the town where you stay when

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-16052168909972683172008-08-16T20:38:00.000-07:002008-10-13T12:28:53.695-07:00

"Sometimes there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there.. "--lines introducing the Dude, the hero -- of sorts--in the movie, "The Big Lebowski". Look at the painting shown to the right. A guide at the National Gallery of Art pointed it out on a recent tour of the highlights of the museum. How well Monet captured the motion of the clouds, the grass, the wind in

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-45468581641268828132008-08-10T15:22:00.000-07:002010-02-27T09:48:37.725-08:00

"Still in peaceful dreams I see"... the Georgia that my husband and I left in 2007.The Republic of Georgia took us by surprise on our four-month 2007 trip around the world. David and I came home committed Georgiaphiles, if there is such a word. Before the crisis with Russia erupted, we’d try to persuade anyone we knew with a yen for travel to visit Georgia, (often pronounced George-ee-a). "

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-87348130079727661562007-04-28T09:10:00.000-07:002008-02-05T21:11:22.528-08:00

Turkey was surprisingly blue. As we crossed the country from east to west, there were the strikingly pale blue eyes of its 20th century founder, Ataturk, staring out from posters and banners, as discussed in the previous blog entry. Once we reached Istanbul and the Bosphorus, where east meets west, there was the shock of how blue the waters looked in the strait that separates Europe and Asia.(Map

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-16058474137495357702007-04-23T09:06:00.000-07:002009-01-03T13:48:06.340-08:00

The father of modern Turkey had blue eyes. I wouldn't have guessed that before visiting the country. I was in Turkey in April around a national holiday. Posters of Ataturk hung on thesides of public buildings and from forts. Those blue eyes stared out from rugs shops and around courtyards.I saw at least one young man wearing an Ataturk t-shirt, the same kind of photo-on-black cotton ones sold at

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-87929836871080148212007-04-23T09:05:00.000-07:002008-02-05T09:54:51.520-08:00

See the little rectangular monument at left-center of the photo? It's the grave marker for the man who helped uncover a city with roots dating to the 5th century BC. New York University professor Kenan Erim was buried where he spent much of his working life. He unraveled some of the mysteries about Aphrodisias, a city abandoned by its citizens in the 13th century AD after earthquakes and then

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-34236027457038913592007-04-23T08:54:00.000-07:002007-06-11T07:15:43.537-07:00

Above is a slice of the theater at Termessos, a city atop a hill about three times the height of the Empire State Building. The rounded theater, likely built well before the birth of Christ, is still in pretty good shape. Sit there a while under a blue sky and you wonder what people watched in this remote city, which already was well established when Alexander the Great wandered through the

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Green hedges of tea plants thrive on Turkey's Black Sea coast. You can see lines of them in the picture above. The rows of tea bushes climbed up and up and up the hills facing thegrayish water of the Black Sea in April. Tea bushes even filled in the gaps between apartment houses, like the buildings shown below, near the highway along the Black Sea coast.I'd point out particularly dense clusters

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-25527291532032734772007-04-23T08:52:00.000-07:002010-01-30T20:46:06.325-08:00

A child's pale hand reached out to tap my husband on the arm. David was looking at his digital camera, reviewing his pictures of the Georgian capital of Tiblisi as we left this city. Immersed in his photos, David didn't feel the hand. It was so little and its touch was so light."Someone is trying to get your attention," I said.We turned. A girl, maybe five years old, sat in the row behind us in

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-39374643121468430552007-04-23T08:51:00.002-07:002008-02-05T20:26:53.705-08:00

.Turn right at the Stalin statue, the Alabama native told my husband and me. A former Peace Corp volunteer now settled in Gori, Georgia, he had spotted David and me looking lost and stopped to help us find our way.Right at the Stalin statue. How often will you get a direction like that these days? And, in Gori, Stalin's hometown, you have to know which of his statues to look for.Our fellow

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-8119933964298507362007-04-23T08:51:00.001-07:002008-02-05T20:37:20.911-08:00

My husband stands on land that guide books call the edge of Christendom in this picture. David is pointing west into Christian Georgia. Nearby, cream-colored sheep dot the dark green hills leading to this crest. Turning in the other direction, David could see miles and miles of scarcely populated land in eastern Azerbaijan, as shown below. Its land is clearly drier.It is a matter of debate which

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-41306916471712580152007-04-23T08:50:00.000-07:002008-02-05T20:42:19.057-08:00

Christianity is what saved the Armenians, the schoolteacher tells us. It is what kept their identity, their culture alive, he says. My husband and I that day had seen centuries-old Armenian churches full and festive, with women such as the one shown above selling food and crafts. Yet, the schoolteacher is telling us about Christianity's importance to Armenia while having a beer in a bar around 11

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-83158839675677410152007-04-23T08:46:00.000-07:002008-02-05T11:46:51.099-08:00

The Bible says Noah beached the ark on the mountain that my husband points to in the picture to the left.David and I could see the mountain peak clearly during our visit to the Armenian city of Echmiadzin, pronounced etch-my-ad-zin. This city is to the Armenian Apostolic Church as the Vatican is to the Roman Catholic one. Closer to Echmiadzin is the Metsamor nuclear plant. Look closely at the

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-91185788248599530452007-04-23T08:21:00.000-07:002008-08-19T09:51:44.829-07:00

The Georgian capital of Tbilisi knows what treasures it has, and it lights them well. The city looks like the setting for a fairy tale at night. Below is a picture of one of Tbilisi's many hilltop churches, taken by my husband, David G. Young.Like its neighbor Armenia, Georgia was among the first countries where the state, then the king, endorsed Christianity. Both countries had converted by the

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-68071363952505514442007-04-23T08:20:00.000-07:002008-02-05T20:59:37.371-08:00

The pot held tea brewed just right. It was not overdone and bitter, as I would get later in Turkey. It was not the do-it-yourself cup of hottish water with a paper-wrapped tea bag sitting on the saucer, which restaurants in much of the world offer.This was Azeri tea, or cay (chai), served with slices of lemon and sugar cubes and a curved glass. It looked like the tea pictured below that I would

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-65934892677093759902007-04-23T08:16:00.000-07:002007-05-13T06:03:04.598-07:00

This is the yacht club in Baku, capital of a nation with about 7.0 billion barrels worth of proven oil reserves, almost as much as Norway. Azerbaijan's fanciest street is a short walk away from the yacht club. Women in impossibly high narrow stiletto heels glide down this street named for the Azeri poet, Nizami. They pass and sometimes stop in the neighborhood's many gold and perfume shops and

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My husband and I tore small pieces of bread to get the last bits of lamb and onions from a clay pot. "This is our best meal since... ," David got as far as saying, before I teased him. "Since breakfast?" I asked. We were at our favorite lunch place in Marrakech. Sitting among tables full of construction workers, we'd split a clay pot of lamb with onions, carrots and potatoes, shown

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-20952447244973240972007-04-23T08:11:00.000-07:002007-05-09T19:17:06.665-07:00

When Moroccan Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah wanted a new fort at Essaouirain the 1700s, he turned to a French military architect. The result isseen above. It's a creation that conforms better than most forts to mynotions of military architecture, which were shaped by children'sstories and Hollywood movies. Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah had good reason to worry. Morocco's long stretch of Atlantic

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King Mohammed VI of Morocco chose a bad time to visit Marrakech. Bad for us, that is. His visit meant we had to walk the long way to see gardens and some other sights, since grounds near his palace were off limits.My husband and I and our friends were quite in the minority in viewing Mohammed VI as an inconvenience. Moroccans regard their 43-year-old king with deep affection. It reminded me of

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-11728241542326714992007-04-23T06:53:00.000-07:002007-05-23T12:46:50.123-07:00

The Muslim prayer call echoed up to us at dusk from mosques all over Fes, shown below. The only word I understood was the name of God, Allah, stretched out into a cry and repeated and repeated and repeated. Aaaahhhhhlaaahhhhh. Aaaahhhhhlaaahhhhh. Aaaahhhhhlaaahhhhh. Try to pick out the towers in the picture above. These are the minarets, from which the prayer call rang out. Fes may have

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-89443314446143400842007-04-18T13:18:00.000-07:002008-11-18T04:51:14.635-08:00

I ate gazelle at the seaside place in Namibia, I told my husband, shouting a bit for him to hear me across the aisle of the plane. British Airways wouldn't seat us together on this leg of our round-the-world trip, so David used the time to write in his journal about our travels in southern Africa. He keeps lovely detailed accounts of our adventures, including a description of just about every

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(map from www.cnn.com through Google's Images site)My husband and I stopped in El Salvador on our honeymoon in Central America. We've walked through Sao Paulo and Rio at night. An unscrupulous bus company once abandoned me in at a remote Cambodian border and I had to find my way to the nation's capital, Phnom Penh.None of this made me as wary as driving to Johannesburg, and driving in to visit

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It takes four or five hours of driving on unpaved roads to get near Namibia's chief attraction. Then, it costs about $15 for a ride on a jeep the last few miles through deep sands to these: It was worth all the effort to see Namibia's most famous sand dunes, those of Sossuslei. And, the journey there from the coastal town of Swapkopmund and back to Namibia's capital, Windhoek, surprised us. Dirt

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-38897828912628264852007-04-16T13:43:00.000-07:002007-04-19T11:24:59.010-07:00

Germany arrived in late in the European competition for slices of southern Africa and left early. You couldn't tell that by visiting Swakopmund, a Namibian beach resort. The town has a lovely Lutheran church, along with more generic seaside features such as a lighthouse and good restaurants by the beach, all shown above in pictures my husband took. There's a street named for Kaiser Wilhelm.

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-63197548475273930432007-04-02T01:37:00.000-07:002007-04-19T11:27:24.574-07:00

On the big outdoor screen, Mr. Bean tormented a palace guard. My husband and I watched him to try to improve the guard's appearance for his photo as we waited for our pızza dinner. At nearby tables at this restaurant by the ocean were young Mozambiquan couples out on dates and Pakistani families in groups ranging from four to more than 20. It was our last night in Mozambique's capital,

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-69274719510753516502007-04-02T01:21:00.000-07:002009-12-24T17:49:32.044-08:00

Roll up your window, I told my husband in a stage whisper."Why?" David asked as he raised the window in our rented Toyota Corolla. "What do you see?"That," I said, and pointed to the lioness sitting by the side of the road.The lioness was close enough to us to have the feline version of red eye in my picture. She watched us for a minute and then walked away.We'd been in the South African game

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-76787893169570116572007-04-02T01:18:00.000-07:002007-06-15T13:28:31.284-07:00

Durban's Berea neighborhood has moments when it looks like any tidy, prosperous suburb. Its main street, Florida Avenue, is lined with shops and restaurants. Some of the neighborhood places look a bit posh like formal Indian restaurants with white tablecloths. Others are more mainstream middle-class chain restaurants like Nando's, known for its seasoned chicken, and Mimmo's, a pizza place.Then

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-25548955052511514652007-04-02T01:08:00.000-07:002007-06-15T12:58:18.775-07:00

The penguin colony of Boulders, South Africa, shown in part in photos, above may number as many as 2,500. The documentary, "City Slickers" shows how this group of braying penguins invaded this pretty town--with mixed reception from local residents. It’s a wonderful little movie/ Clips are available at http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/safari/cityslickers/video/video.html.Good thing the

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(Map from www.welt-atlas.de site through Google's Images section.)Cape of Torments, or Storms. Cabo das Tormentas. That's what explorer Bartolomeu Dias called this land after the boat under his command survived a trip around the southern tip of Africa in 1488, gaining him credit for being the first European to do so.His boss, King Joao II of Portugal, sitting safe back at home, wanted a more

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-43699495243568847762007-02-20T01:56:00.005-08:002007-04-08T09:51:49.192-07:00

We first spied these Chinese New Year dragons when they "ate" at the same place where my husband and I bought our first Australian food, the Emperor's bakery. The red dragon puppet, manned by volunteers for Chinese New Year celebrations, took down ceremonial green leaves from the doorways of businesses on Street. It tossed them to the golden dragon and then the two puppets were off to stop at

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A bat flew past and lightning flashed as my husband and I stood under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We'd taken a ferry to the Luna Park amusement park, shown here in David's picture, betting that the rain would hold off. It didn't. So, we watched the sunset from an unusual perspective, huddled under the bridge like vacationing trolls. The lights of the city across the way brightened as night

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The blackout became a mild concern when the woman at the restaurant said it just affected the shopping mall. My husband and I had been blocks away when it hit and knew that the lights were out all over Alice Springs, the Outback's big city.During lunch, David and I talked over our plate of the restaurant's still hot Malaysian food. We joked about what we would do if this blackout affected more

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Out of the red sands of middle Australia rises a rock that covers 3.3 square kilometers of land, or about 815 acres if the conversion Web site I tried was correct. The 146-acre U.S. National Mall would cover only about a sixth of this footprint. In fact, you would have room leftover for the 485-acre nation of Monaco as well at this rock, Uluru. Known also as Ayers Rock, it rises 345

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-57731696275020412972007-02-20T01:54:00.002-08:002009-02-16T18:00:42.511-08:00

I now hold an Australian library card. I had to get a one to use the free wireless Internet at the State Library of Victoria, the Australian state that includes Melbourne. The library is worth a visit if only to see its reading room. To spare ourselves the locker fee, my husband waited outside with our backpacks. David sat outside in the sun, as he is fond of reminding me, while l used the

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-65383514697956651872007-02-20T01:54:00.001-08:002007-06-15T13:14:00.012-07:00

Melbourne's fountains stand dry. Its botanical garden tells at just about every exhibit what steps are taken to conserve water. Australia's in a bit of a drought. Newspapers and talk shows have constant reports on whether efforts to improve water supply are sound or flawed.Melbourne's big museum even has put together a "water trail." A brochure highlights how art depicts the importance of water

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-75829367338808817122007-02-20T01:53:00.001-08:002011-02-22T20:01:48.976-08:00

I couldn't love my husband more than when he set off with long steps after the seagull. The bird had been screeching at other gulls, trying to scare them away from us. The loud gull wanted all of the crumbs from our pastries. David and I were eating breakfast on a bench in a little park by a stream in Christchurch, New Zealand."I hate bullies," David said, and took off again after the gull, which

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It would be worth taking the ferry between New Zealand's north and south islands as a joyride, with no greater purpose than to see the sights. Green hills rise from blue waters in the Cook Strait that separates the islands. My husband and I took the ferry to bring us to the south island. Our boat carried dozens of cars down below. Up top, a restaurant sold fish and chips, which we in the

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There was a scent of lilies in the air as we walked down a hill in Wellington. The air is so clean in New Zealand's capital that the flowers on a rack outside of a corner store perfumed much of the surrounding block. Add to that to sight of the blue harbor and green hills, and there are all the ingredients for a pleasant morning walk. I've never seen a city built in such harmony with its

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A 1931 earthquake gave Napier a fresh start. With its downtown destroyed and 162 lives lost, Napier embraced Art Deco as the style for its renewal. It was a great time to put up new buildings, as the pleasant storefronts on Napier show today. Pity the places such as Sao Paolo that had boom construction years in the 1970s and now are full of tall box office buildings. My husband and I stayed

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-32139976445389332512007-02-12T00:19:00.000-08:002007-02-20T21:15:10.566-08:00

All of Rotorua smells of sulphur. There's a faint whiff of it downtown near the hotels and backpacker places and restaurants. At the park where mud bubbles rise and spit, it takes a few minutes to adjust to the smell. It never quite fades into something unnoticed. It's always there. Rotorua draws its crowds because of water and steam boiling up from the earth. There are hot baths

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-83089258963340911932007-02-12T00:15:00.002-08:002007-02-19T05:16:21.941-08:00

A few clues tell immediately that Auckland isn't the usual Starbucks-riddled business district. Its wide green harbor is visible, at least in bits, from almost everywhere. The man in a white shirt and business pants has his chin tatooed in a pattern of New Zealand's native people, the Maori. The name is pronounced like Mao, as in Mao Tse-Tung, and Ree. Mao-Ree, and not May-Or-ree, as I

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-12405690059325695782007-02-12T00:15:00.001-08:002007-02-19T04:31:08.174-08:00

Out of bubbling black goo has emerged evidence of the native lions and camels that California lost eons ago. The La Brea tar pits also have yielded records preserved for extinct saber-toothed cats and mammoths. No dinosaurs, though. Sign after sign at the La Brea tar pits answers the dinosaur question, which dozens of children must ask each day. The museum's Web site also explains that Los

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-55165164504940887412007-02-12T00:13:00.002-08:002009-01-01T14:10:08.552-08:00

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet agreed to meet with a marionette, which stood as tall as government buildings in the nation's capitol, Santiago. Bachelet earlier that week had been in talks with Peru about a border. The marionette was part of a production by France's Royal de Luxe theater company.Hard to say which seemed more odd. The French company's giant marionette roaming Santiago

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-17170910079024036902007-02-09T14:19:00.000-08:002007-02-09T14:52:06.024-08:00

This is a picture of my husband, David, next to a top knot that once crowned a statue on Easter Island. To give some perspective, David is about 6 feet, one inch tall.It's impossible not to wonder what happened here when looking at fallen statues, called moai, pronounced like the verb, to mow and the noun, eye. What wealth the people of this island once had to free up so many workers to make

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-26465825569205935252007-02-09T13:44:00.000-08:002010-01-01T14:26:12.851-08:00

Easter Island looks in places like photographs of Maine. They both have those rocky coasts. It has green rolling hills like Ireland. People build garden walls of reddish volcanic rock around homes in Easter Island's one town, Hanga Roa.Shiny leaves of banana plants rise above these walls. Inside the walls, tell roses can stand near the orange and purple flowers known as birds of paradise.Little

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-25698309637559405772007-02-09T13:35:00.000-08:002009-01-01T12:56:44.298-08:00

Our bikes set off a bell as we entered the winery, the second of the two we'd visit in Argentina's Mendoza region. Brigitte and Philippe Subra were new in the wine businesses and one of the few places open to the public on Sundays.It's a bad thing for tourism that most wineries close on Sunday, said the woman who rented us the bikes a few hours earlier. When my husband and I arrived at her house,

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-53909745326509850892007-02-09T01:19:00.000-08:002007-10-12T02:59:08.978-07:00

Postcards of Mendoza, Argentina, don't do it justice. They can tell only about how pretty are the city's plazas, parks and nearby vineyards and olive groves.They don't tell you about catching the scent of a rich meat-in-wine dish on a summer night's breeze, and then tracking it down at the food stands at a free concert in the park, whose gate is seen to the left.Postcars don't tell you about of

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-54135218731358078072007-02-09T00:16:00.000-08:002007-10-12T02:48:07.236-07:00

The city of Valparaíso rises almost vertically from its wide smiling mouth of a port. The few blocks closest to the water are flat. They seem like the city's version of customary formalities, offered without much sincerity.Once these are dispensed with, the city gets down to its business. It leaps up and up, to better show off its broad bay. To climb all of the stairs of Valparaíso would be to

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-69541549816823354732007-02-09T00:06:00.000-08:002007-10-12T01:58:37.588-07:00

São Bento Monastery offers old-time Catholicism, monks singing and incense burners swinging. My husband and I went to hear the Gregorian chant that opens the 10 a.m. Sunday mass. We wound up staying for the whole thing. Too many people were standing behind us by the time mass began. It would have been awkward to leave.Sunday at São Bento shows you that Sao Paulo has one of the largest

looking around a bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423041598213972412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626185117916777073.post-32412839613562726202007-02-02T15:53:00.000-08:002010-02-13T18:51:27.695-08:00

We lucked into our best Brazilian meals in a surprising place...a German-style restaurant in a tourist town. A patio thick with palm trees, attracted us to Foz do Iguaçu's Bier Garten. Good food at cheap prices kept us coming back.It was at the Bier Garten that David got to try Brazil's national dish, a stew of pork and black beans known as feijoada. Perfectly cooked rice accompanied the rich

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For me, São Paulo was a case of like at first site. My husband and I had to dash across the city earlier on our trip. David and I had little more than an hour to get from one bus terminal to the next on our way to the waterfalls of Foz do Iguaçu from the one-time gold-rush town of Ouro Preto.We'd have been lost without the information desk at the first terminal. The staff had printed

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It's amazing how wired humans are to notice snakes. My husband and I stood on on hill, maybe a few hundred feet above some of the world's best beaches, those near Florianópolis, Brazil. Turquoise water and white sand stretched for miles above us. A little island stood opposite the larger one where we were, completing the scene.David was the first to see a greenish-brown snake slither off under a

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We escaped the January rains of eastern Brazil by heading to some of the world's biggest waterfalls, Foz do Iguaçu. It was 19-hour ride on a bus that ambled its way through Brazil's countryside. The bus stopped again and again, letting off people who carried packages from the city and the pillows they'd used to sleep on the bus.After more than a week of drizzle and rain, the sun beat down full

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Ouro Preto, Brazil's city named for black gold , could hold its own with Italian hill towns that ripened over centuries. Steep cobblestone streets lead from one church to the next. Paintings of saints look down from the ceilings, giving the impression of watching the congregation.Yet, Ouro Preto sprang up over some heady decades of a gold rush. Portuguese craftsmen, African slaves and children

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Brazil's first and last homegrown emperor reigned for about 50 years, more than a quarter of all of its time as an independent nation. Dom Pedro II began in 1831, less than 10 years after Brazil broke from Portugal. He went into exile in 1891 as Brazil decided a monarchy was no longer in fashion.Pedro's grandfather, Dom Joao, then prince regent, had fled to Brazil to avoid Napoleon's march on

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When it comes to the theater of daily life, Brazilians may be to other Americans as James Brown was to other singers. They put on a show that would be damned hard to beat.I'd seen James Brown play for the first time about four years ago at a Washington rock station's Christmas concert, which featured performers young enough to be his son or grandsons. Brown blew them away. Other singers stood

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My husband points to a blue symbol, a circle with a line through it, on a sturdy white plastic bag. He's decided to use the shopping bag, a souvenir saved from his 2002 Central Asia visit, to help me learn the Cyrillic alphabet. "You've seen that symbol on fraternity sweatshirts, " he asks me, making this a game, to pass time during a Christmas Day layover at Chicago's O'Hare airport. ''What

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