Archive for January, 2010

• Prague Dancing House

  Thursday, January 28th, 2010

  Prague is a city that breathes mystery, invoking a constant sense of the uncanny.  It is also one of the most exciting cities in the world, culturally, where an evening’s entertainment can run the spectrum from mainstream attractions to the most experimental and underground innovations.  It is a city that is known for its careful hipness, where the excellent tastes of the locals help to fuel the inspirations of some of the world’s most daring artists.  You get the sense that you’ve walked into an elaborate cultural dialogue, and the most splendid thing is that you’re invited to participate in the shaping of new world culture.

  It’s one of the most affordable cities in Europe, too, which doesn’t hurt in attracting young, alternative artists looking for a community that is active, vibrant, and always seems to be creating new and fascinating things.  It’s easy to get around, with hotels like this where you can find great accommodation in the neighborhoods you want to see.  There’s so much to see here, and it’s very likely that one visit won’t be enough.  But if you do get the opportunity, you’ll be struck by the haunting atmosphere, the fantastic coffee houses, and some of the most interesting buildings in the world.

  Gothic architecture is all around, but so is some of its more unusual cousins, such as the deconstructivist Dancing House.  The design in by Croatian Vlado Municic and Frank Gehry, and is certainly one of the most spectacular buildings in the city.  Vaclav Havel lived next door, and had planned to turn it into a cultural center.  That hasn’t been realized yet, but the effect on visitors is astonishing.  In this city of ghosts, here is a building that resembles two people dancing, and the effect can be pleasing and spectral all at the same time, adding to the remarkable visual appeal of this city.

• New York’s Football is not Soccer

  Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

  Weather wise, it wasn’t too cold outside today, so we stepped outside our USA hotel in New York and took the subway to Harlem then walked our way back to Central Park. Before we reached the park, we stopped off at a corner market to buy some interesting foods that would make for a great picnic while we were in the park. We strolled through the northern section, which is a wooded area, we were joined by other New Yorkers enjoying the weather as well.

   

  We then came upon open ground and happened upon a local football game. We thought this would be a great place to sit and enjoy our picnic while watching the game. We couldn’t tell what was happening most of the time, but that didn’t seem to matter, the game proceeded on without us understanding. When we finished off all that we purchased, which was enough for four people, we continued on through the park. We finally made our way to the edge of the park where the Guggenheim Museum is located. We didn’t fit the Guggenheim into our already packed itinerary, but just seeing the beautiful building was worth the pass-by. Leaving the park, after a great relaxing day, we caught the subway to Grand Central Station.

   

  We spotted a local bar that overlooked the spectacularly stunning ‘Arrivals’ hall, so we stepped in and ordered a Manhattan Cocktail! We’ve been waiting to order one ever since we arrived, we giggled as we ordered them. We spent over an hour just watching all the bustle of the commuters going about their business. It was hard to drag ourselves away, but we had a final destination for the day, and that was to the Empire State Building. We wanted to make sure that there was some daylight left by the time we reached the top, so we could watch a New York sunset, then watch the city light up. We arrived just as we planned and made it to the top, without a hitch and we caught the most awesome sunset, then a fantastically lit skyline of New York at night. Wow! This so far has been the highlight of our trip so far.

• Spooky Seattle Scene

  Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

  When you visit a premier hotel in Seattle you will get a chance to see the Space Needle, Pike Place Market Pioneer Square and its near by underground tour. It seems there are many places around Seattle that claim to be haunted and the underground of Seattle is not only interesting because you learn about the design of the city but because there is a ghost inside.

  Seattle has gone through many changes since the first settlement. One of those early changes was when the original downtown experience the Great Seattle Fire in 1889, burned to the ground and needed to be rebuilt. They had had some trouble with poor drainage because it was built on a tidal plain. The city planners wanted to make some changes and raise the streets so there would be better management of the sewage. The building owners were eager to rebuild and the city was taking to long to get the plans into action so they ended up rebuilding at the same low level as the original site plan.

  The city did finally get to the raising of the streets but now you have many sidewalks and building entrances sitting up to 36 feet below the street. People climbed in and out of the buildings from the street for a while but eventually the buildings would have to be modified. When the building entrances were raised through out the city the old sidewalks had to be covered over. This area is now called the Seattle Underground. Visitors can take the Seattle Underground Tour to see some of the old buildings and their original storefronts that are now abandoned under the current city sidewalks.

  The underground has some ghosts and has had visitors for many years coming to see if they can see the apparitions. There have been some television and film movies that have used or referenced the underground. It was a feature in the TV movie The Night Strangler which starred Darren McGavin in 1973. Even an episode of Scooby-Doo played in with the underground. The more current third season of Ghost Hunters also featured the underground sidewalks.

• Cousins Reunite at National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton

  Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

  Mikey and his cousin Paul spent almost every afternoon together from the time they were five until the day Paul and his family moved to Dayton, Ohio when they were fourteen. Last summer Mikey was allowed to fly by himself to Dayton and spend a week with Paul and his family. This was exciting for the sixteen year old, though to be honest he was also a little nervous. Never having flown alone, and really not having flown much in his life he was worried about getting lost in the airport or somehow missing his flight. Of course he never expressed these minor concerns to his parents or friends, to whom he had bragged about his upcoming trip, and acted as though he was an old pro at traveling alone. This didn’t fool his mother, who had always had an instinctive understanding of what her son was feeling, though she felt he would be fine and the experience would be good for him.

  His mother was right, and Mikey had no difficulty navigating the airport and landing himself on the plane. Fortunately, the pilot took care of the rest and safely guided not only Mikey, but the other passengers to the Dayton International Airport. Paul and his parents were there in the baggage area waiting for him and both of the boys were immediately struck with how different the other looked. This caused and unexpected hesitation in their greetings, which was something they hadn’t experienced before. Typically and without thinking they went straight into talking about the latest ballgame, music release or movie. Mikey found himself almost wishing he could stay in one of the hotels Dayton.

  This abrupt sense of awkwardness lasted through the evening when Mikey noticed he was more comfortable talking to his aunt and uncle than his cousin, who really didn’t seem to have anything to say either. However, the next morning the whole group headed out for a sight seeing tour of the city and their first stop was just outside the city at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Both of the boys were instantly amazed with the oldest military museum in the United States and became so engaged with the displays of missiles and aircraft they forgot their newly acquired difference and when right back into an ease of conversation and mutual understanding. This lasted the rest of the day and the remainder of Mikey’s trip and it turned out to be a great experience for both of them.

• Five Thousand Years of Art in New York

  Monday, January 11th, 2010

  There is not another city on the Earth quite like New York City.  And, in all the Earth, there’s nothing quite like the museums of New York, particularly the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Founded one hundred and forty years ago in 1870, the museum’s purpose was to keep a library of art, which encouraged and developed the study of fine arts, as well as applying the arts to “manufacture and practical life,” and advance the general knowledge.  Just ten years ago, the museum’s trustees affirmed that statement but also added that the goal is to study and exhibit their collections as well as encourage appreciation for works of art that represent human achievement at its highest level.

  Currently, from now until June 6th of 2010, you’ll find the museum is keeping its word with an exhibit featuring five thousand years of Japanese Art.  The Met acquired in 1975 over four hundred pieces of Japanese art from Harry G.C. Packard, which gave the museum one of the best collections of this kind in the West, with art work from the Neolithic period up through the 19th Century.  The Five Thousand Years of Art exhibit is meant to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Packard Collection, and present archaeological artifacts, iconographic Buddhist scrolls, screen paintings of the Momoyama and Edo periods (16th to 19th Centuries), ceramics, as well as Heian and Kamakura period sculptures (9th to 14th Centuries).

  One of the main features of the exhibit is the masterworks of two artists from the 16th Century, acquired just last year.  The artists are Kano Sansetsu, who lived from 1589 to 1651, and Kano Eino, his son, who lived from 1631 to 1697.   The father’s work is a set of sliding door panels known as the Old Plum, while the son’s work is two six-fold screens, titled One Hundred Boys.

  If you’re a new visitor or seasoned traveler to New York, the Met is a prime destination spot, which you’ll find in Central Park on Fifth Avenue, running from 80th to 84th streets).  Whether you already live in Manhattan or have traveled from abroad to find one of the hotels New York USA offers, you’ll want to join the five million others who visit the museum each year.

• It Takes a Decade to Raise a Village

  Friday, January 8th, 2010

  Greenwich Village was a very different place in 1969.  Not that I have any idea, but I can imagine, and it’s what everyone told me when I was living there in in 1985.  Everyone said that it had changed, and it wasn’t nearly as good as it used to be, that it had become too commercial, and that no one was really doing any interesting work here any more.  They all said that outside of luxury hotels, New York City just wasn’t getting any better, and that what we were seeing then was the end of an era.  Or perhaps it was the last gasp that we were all witnessing.

  In 1996 I returned to New York, after having lived away, working as a photojournalist in Guatemala.  That was going to be a short trip, to cover some of the more visible after-effects of the war, and to put together a story about a growing movement just to the north, in Chiapas.  Things were much more complicated than they appeared, of course, as they always are, and I wound up living there for a few years.  Long after the job was over, I decided to stay, because there were interesting connections I was making with some of the local communities, or maybe they were making them with me.

  Either way, when it was obvious that the money was long gone, an old friend wired me a ticket back to the city.  She told me that New York had changed a lot, that it simply wasn’t the same as it was when I lived there nearly a decade before that.

  It’s hard to anticipate where any road is leading, and when you’ve decided to change jobs, from journalist to anthropologist, there’s really no telling.  But it did surprise me when I realized that after having lived in Port Au Prince, I would be moving back to the city once again, to do a project in urban ethnography.  This was, by far, the most rewarding work I’d done, and not just because it’s what I’m doing right now at this moment.  I like the people I work with now, and it’s fulfilling.  But it also fascinates me when people tell me how Greenwich Village has changed, that it’s never going to be the same, and not nearly as cool as it was in 1985.

• Sore Feet and Garlic in San Francisco

  Friday, January 8th, 2010

  I knew before arriving in San Francisco that the city will be hilly, but hilly doesn’t quite cover it. Some of the hills are very steep and there are plenty of them. I was really thankful for the cable cars as I made my way to the Castro district to a restaurant called the ‘Squat and Gobble‘. The restaurant was one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the whole world. The view and the service was supreme. I thought I’d probably starve while I was in San Francisco, but there were many places that cater to the vegetarian, some are expensive, but the dishes are divine. I had no idea a San Francisco restaurant could be so good.

  I was here to spend time with a dear friend, and she just amazed me with her sense of taste. I was stunned at how she impressed the wait staff when she recognized most of the ingredients in the dishes and how she knew what leaf was served with the dessert we ordered. I mean, really! She knew which rose plant the leaf came from! After my glorious meal, we caught the tram back to my hotel and had a few beers.

  The next day was pretty calm, which I appreciated. My friend took me shopping and later that evening we hiked it up to North Beach and went to a restaurant named the ‘Stinking Rose‘. Garlic was in everything they serve. When I walked in, my senses were hit with garlic, I think I could even hear garlic growing. I told her we won’t be able to socialize for days because we’ll reek of garlic. She told me not to worry about it, because once I take my first bite, I won’t care about the after effects. She was right! I never knew I’d like garlic permeating everything I put in my mouth, but every bite was so savory and delicious.

  On my last day, she took me to Coit Tower, which gave me a perfect view of all of San Francisco, the Bay area, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and a great view of Lombard street, Crissy Fields and Fisherman’s Wharf.  We then walked some very, very steep streets. I think we walked some 15 miles and my feet can testify. My feet were so glad to get a chance to chill when I caught my flight back home.

• The Colorful Los Angeles: Venice Beach

  Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

  One of the bohemian and artistic areas of the greater Los Angeles area is Venice Beach.  After two years living in LA, it became one of my favorite spots to walk around during the weekend afternoons, as you really do not know what you may see on any given day.  From the spooky little apartments along the boardwalk to the multi-million dollar homes of the movie stars along the coast, this is one area that while the real estate prices have soared, the eclectic and the spontaneous, and the mix of people from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds has remained varied and interesting.

  One day I waved to Angelica Houston has she tended her garden, drank a carrot juice and watched a street sense basketball game at the courts just on the southern tip of the beach.  That Saturday was completed by the drummers on the beach at sunset, a tradition that has been taking place for many years, one which draws at least one hundred bongo and conga players on any given Saturday.  Some of the best Los Angeles hotel accommodations can be found along Venice, as well as up the coast a bit in Santa Monica and Malibu, giving you easy access to the beaches without the annoyance of spending hours in the LA traffic nightmare.

  At one time, Venice Beach was an uninhabitable marshland.  However, as most creative entrepreneurs do, Abbot Kinney saw something in the marshes that others had overlooked.  He decided that he wanted to create a Venice in America, with canals, gondolas and Venetian architecture.  While the beach was affected by World War II and the Great Depression, and suffered greatly from the gang activity in the early 1980′s, it is now one of the most visited sections of the city.  A mix of culture, art and music, Venice Beach is collective melting pot creating a whole, the vibe of Southern California.  From clothing vendors, to artists, to street musicians, to fortune tellers and the body builders of Muscle Beach this is one many areas of Los Angeles which remains steeped in the history of the generations that came before, and those that are living there today.