#and went on a tour all the way to the west coast of France

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Was thinking about decade nicknames like the Roarin' 20s, Dirty 30s etc and for a moment got weirdly emotional over the fact that the 90s were called the Wild 90s/the Free 90s here

[overland-defender]

05/06/2022 - Day 2

We wake pretty early after the Château was beaten within an inch of its life after a heavy rain storm which passed in the middle of the night.

Meeting the team and the rest of the tour guests at the front of Château, Keith briefed each vehicle individually on today’s agenda and the importance of these locations.

The Longues-sur-Mer battery

Omaha Beach

Pointe du Hoc

Maisy Battery

La Cambe German War Cemetery

The Longues-sur-Mer battery We use mostly paved roads until we reach Manvieux, here we traverse unpaved roads parrallel to the coast overlooking the British channel and arrive at our first point of interest Longues-sur-Mer battery. The battery is a Huge, preserved WWII gun installations, built by the Germans to defend France from sea invasion. It was part of Hitlers Atlantic Wall defences consisting of four rapid firing 152mm navy guns, each housed in large concrete enclosures. The site also includes a fire control post, ammunition stores, defensive machine gun posts and accommodation for the soldiers. The battery is actually located between Omaha and Gold beach which made it a massive threat to the Allied landings. Because of this, the area was heavily bombed on the night before D-Day. This was followed by a naval bombardment in the morning. Although the bombing did not cause much damage to the guns it did destroy the phone line linking the fire control bunker to the guns which severely disrupted the batteries ability to engage with the Allied ships that eventually knocked the guns out of action during a duel in which no Allied ship was damaged despite the battery firing around 170 rounds. On the 7th of June the major responsible for the battery surrendered to the British with 184 men. Gravel paths make access easy from the gun enclosures all the way to the coast line vantage points. Omaha Beach 18.5km west is the infamous Omaha Beach which was part of the D-Day Operation 'Overlord'. I could bang about this place for ages as it's such an important piece of the D-day puzzle. But i'm sure readers are already familiar of what happened here, so i will talk about what is here now... and you wouldn't think it was a place of a blood bath where Americans (1st Army, 5th Corps) suffered roughly 2,400 casualties. White sandy beaches and apart from the traffic noise the sound of waves crashing on the break on the beach was tranquil.We get chance to have a quick bite to eat before we head over to another location made famous by the Americans. One last thing to note is a white house nessled under the cliff, this house managed to survive the naval bombardment and Ally landings, it can be easily found as the owners have a picture of the house on D-day next to there letter box. Pointe du Hoc Not what i expected and though i went with zero expectation it is how i can describe as suprising. Prior to this trip inpreparation i had watched a documentary / read some articles of what is described as the most dangerous mission of D-Day and where the first American Forces on D-Day accomplished their mission objectives. The 2nd Ranger Battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel James E. Ruddler were tasked with assaulting the battery on D-Day to silence the guns, protecting Allied ships and soldiers on the beaches below from artillery fire.

Today the site remains cratered from the aerial and naval bombardment prior to the Rangers assault and features a memorial and museum dedicated to the battle. Many of the original fortifications and bunkers remain which you can access as well as the edge of part of the cliff. Given we are attending a around the anniversary of D-Day, an American ceremony was taking place attended by the new generation of US service men and women, as well as some vet's which was awesome to see.

Maisy Battery

The BF4x4 team always have something up there sleeves and it was the Maisy Battery and this was annouced over CB radio whilst driving through rural normandy. I would be very suprised if many people would know about Normandy's best kept secret where you can walk through 2km of original German trenches and explore their WWII bunkers. The Maisy Battery is a group of World War II artillery batteries that was constructed in secret by the German Wehrmacht near the French village of Grandcamp-Maisy in Normandy. British military historian Gary Sterne rediscovered Maisy Battery in 2004, after he had found a hand-drawn map in the pocket of a US Army veteran's uniform he had bought. The battery was about 1.6 km inland marked on the map as an "Area of high resistance".

The battery had been recorded as the second highest D-Day target in the Omaha Sector group of fortifications, but the exact location had been lost from later records. Using the old map, Sterne was able to locate a bunker entrance amongst the undergrowth. He (Sterne) then investigated further and found additional fortified buildings, gun platforms, and a hospital. Over 3 kilometres of trenches were uncovered and apparently there's still more to discover with time and permissions. Making this a little Land Rover related after enjoying the site i saw another defender parked up, a swiss TD5 110 Hicap which would be the definition of 'overlander spec' unfortunately i didn't get the oppurtunity to meet the owner(s) but had a good nose around. Make this location one to visit if you are in area as it’s really interesting and there are also a collection of WW2 guns and vehicles to view.

La Cambe German War Cemetery

I wouldn't say saving the best till last in this situation and like i had mentioned on our first BF4x4 trip (WW1) you don't see too many German cemeteries. Whether it be Allie or German, cemeteries are a place of reflect and appreciation. Though the enemy, these boys and men lives were needlessly cut short, what makes it worse is the value of these individuals post death.... forgotten and it took the families of the fallen to get this site erected. La Cambe was inaugurated in September 1961. Spread out over 7 hectares and located close to the American landing beach of Omaha, 25.5 km north west of Bayeux. It is the largest German war cemetery in Normandy where 21,222 German soldiers are buried. In fact, the mass burial mound holds the remains of 207 soldiers whose names were never discovered.

This ends Day 2 of our D-Day tour, we retreat back to the Château where we join the BF4x4 team to take advange of the fine dining offered as well as on the house calvados... which i still don't like.

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of D-Day and we don’t have a clue what is installed for us.

[thislovintime]

London, January 1968.

“[Karen] Harvey was living in the same apartment building as Tork, at 35 Bedford St., and they cemented a friendship that had started earlier. ‘We’re still very, very good friends,’ she said. Through a girlfriend at one of the art galleries, Harvey also go to know David Crosby. He and Tork were responsible for getting Harvey to move West. 'He [Crosby] fell in love with my girlfriend and took her back to California. Then Peter got this Monkees thing and moved there. Everybody was trying to get me to come to California, and so I eventually went,’ Harvey says. 'She came because I asked her to,’ Tork confirmed during a phone call from California. 'I can’t actually say she was my girlfriend. She was my roommate. She came back and forth for a while. I’m an old fan of hers from way, way back. Karen is a wonderful singer.’ Although she eventually got her own apartment, Harvey spent much of her time at Tork’s house, under the famous 'Hollywood’ sign. 'I was handling a lot of affairs of the house because he [Tork] was working like a slave,’ Harvey said. 'TV work is no picnic.’ With the increasing amount of money and fame through the Monkees’ TV show, Tork moved to a bigger house (once owned by actor Wally Cox) in Studio City. They also needed more room because Tork, Harvey and Robert Hammer, who directed the horror film 'Don’t Answer the Phone,’ had formed a film company called Breakthrough-Influence, whose work included videos for Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Steve Miller." - The News Journal, July 16, 1989 (x)

“I don’t know that it [fame] affected my ability to have friendships. Basically I don’t think I knew how to be or have a friend beforehand, and I don’t think I learned while I was in that operation [The Monkees]. I mean, I had some good buddies, you know, but that wasn’t the same thing, I didn’t really understand. There was only one person in my life that I could turn to when I was hurting who happened somehow to know what it was, what it took to stop me hurting, and that was a woman named Karen Harvey, who later joined me on the West Coast. And I thought, well, here’s a friend come to join me and this will be a real friend. And we were pretty good friends, I guess, but there wasn’t any that, you know, that — I didn’t know what a friend did in a sense of how, on a day-to-day basis, do you maintain your friendships, do you go out of your way to make sure that things are nice and right and, you know, the kind of work that a friendship takes. You don’t just have a friendship without work. And I didn’t know that. And I’m not so sure I know it now.” - Peter Tork, NPR, June 3, 1983

“The producers at one point for some reason decided to take us to Paris, right before we were doing a short tour of Britain — I think one of them had a girlfriend in France, I don’t know. And they took some cameras and they shot us being goofy on the streets of Paris, and that was a lot of fun. And then at the end of the shooting day, ‘Okay, you’re done, go home, go to your rooms, to your hotel room.’ Luxurious hotel room in Paris, who could wish for anything more? Well, I was lonely as hell. So there’s more things than luxurious. So I wrote a couple of songs, just out of, you know, loneliness. One of them will hopefully be forever confined to the dustbin of history. The other one [’Lady’s Baby’] was about the lady that I was living with at the time, and her son. That’s them, that’s my darling Karen, with whom I am still very good friends all these years later.” - Peter Tork during his My Life In The Monkees & So Much More tour, 2013 (x)

[cryptidkeepp]

(maxence danet fauvel) [THE LOST SOUL]. Please welcome [REMINGTON ‘REMI’ DUMAS (HE/THEY)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [27]-year-old [VISITOR] who lives in [THE COMMUNE]. You may see them around working as a [STOCK WORKER AT 7-ELEVEN]. Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive.

GENERAL.

full name: remington alexandre jean dumas

nicknames: remi, rem, du hast

title: the lost soul

hunter / gatherer: neither

birthplace: lyon, france

gender / pronouns: demiboy, he/they

age / birthday: 27, july 7th

orientations: pansexual, panromantic

occupation: former musician, stock worker at 7-eleven

location: commune, visitor

status: chem testing

family: margot dumas ( mother, unknown ), jules dumas ( father, unknown ), guy dumas ( uncle ), james anderson ( uncle )

strengths: creative, independent, adaptable, charismatic, driven

weaknesses: moody, pessimistic, gullible, rebellious, impulsive

character inspo: jane margolis (breaking bad), rue bennett (euphoria), nick miller (new girl), jason mendoza (the good place), natalie (yellowjackets), darlene (mr. robot), philip j. fry (futurama), satine (moulin rouge!), greg hirsch (succession)

BIOGRAPHY.

tw: abandonment, mental illness

born in france to parents who were never meant to be parents. they were involved in shady things, theft for certain but besides that remington never got a real answer about it. what he did know is that at the age of six they dropped him off with his father's brother and his partner in los angeles.

despite remi being thrust into their lives without warning, their uncles never cast them out but they weren't always the most attentive guardians but they did the best they could. they also encouraged remington to explore the arts and chase their dreams, which is what turned them toward music and enhanced their passion for it. from the age of nine they spent everyday practicing guitar, sometimes for hours at a time.

music was their lifeblood. which in school they often felt like a loner and an outcast, they didn’t keep friends for long or make friends at all in some cases which further contributed to their abandonment and trust issues. they would go through long bouts of depression, getting highs and lows at random. it made it hard to build any sort of confidence. he tried to tell himself it didn't matter. and eventually it didn't, eventually he joined a band and actually managed to make it through high school.

being in los angeles allowed him a lot more opportunities than he would have had in the rest of the world. he joined the punk rock band thrift store lingerie not long before he graduated and they rose to mediocre fame within a few years. enough to score a recording contract and get set up with a smaller label.

they began touring the country, made a few videos and albums. they were no sex pistols, but they did alright and remi was having the time of their life traveling, playing shows, partying, and meeting fans. it was like a dream come true and the band was like family to him. but as their track record went with family, the band split after their final tour date in new york city in the fall of 2023.

that shifted everything for remi and he became lost, floating down the east coast spending his money instead of going back home to figure out what to do next. he was on the way to florida for some big new years bash with a group of people he met in vermont and somehow they ended up in west virginia. one wrong turn and they were in huntsville. within the first week the group they came with was gone, rebellious thinking the warnings were lies.

remi settled at the commune but he still is having a hard time adjusting to this new life. he just feels lost and scared and doesn't know how to handle everything. hopefully he can find a way to adapt or they don't know how they're going to survive.

QUICK CONNECTIONS.

friends

someone to help them adapt

bands they toured with

fans

other musicians

a therapist type

partner in crime

HEADCANONS.

very likely has bipolar disorder, but doesn't know that

still has a couple guitars with them, also knows how to play the piano and violin.

can speak french, spanish, italian, and english.

more to come!

[welcometohetaliahell]

Where They Live in Their Countries

*each of the characters more than likely have multiple homes through their countries, and even the world, but what I will be focusing on is where they most likely stay given the season/time of year.

The America’s

America: When it’s time for a new Congress to be sworn in or a new president has been elected Alfred will stay in DC from anywhere to a few weeks to the whole first year of a new presidents term depending on how he’s feeling about the way things are going. His house there is always clean and ready for him to move back in, so it has most of his stuff, because politics are crazy, and you never know when you’ll be needed. He has an apartment in New York and in Seattle which is where he spends the majority of the colder months because he knows that while it’ll be cold as hell he will at least have something to go out and do where if he spent his time in Texas he might be bored. He does, however, go to Texas and LA during the warmer months to spend some time on his ranch, part cows part dog rescue/sanctuary, and to party a bit on the West Coast and grab the latest tech and everything. Canada: Technically he has three homes throughout his country, but he spends the majority of his time between the one Ottawa and the one in Calgary when dealing with politics and social movements and everything. But he does have this cabin way up by the Northwestern Passages that he sometimes escapes to when everything with either his country or his brother or just the world, in general, becomes too much. This little cabin has the bare essentials, one bed, a small kitchen with a food fireplace, and a toilet with shower in the corner. No walls, one door, a few windows. When he goes here the boy is alone and he likes it, often he brings a few books and maybe even a caring kit or something else to do though he mostly sleeps when he’s up here and Kuma loves it he can go out a wander around without worrying about scaring humans and he’s never gotten hurt or lost. Mexico: She technically has a home just outside of San Luis Potosí near the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve but more often than not she’s traveling around her country spending time with her people, getting involved in a social movement, the culture, and trying to influence change and have a good time. She likes to keep busy but stay out of mainstream politics, she’ll go to protest and rallies but avoid political speeches and stuff because it just gives her a headache. She loves her people, not the government/politics which irritates her boss at times but she’ll just kinda disappear whenever they try to get her to stay and participate in a speech or something and she willn’t show back up for a while. She has never missed a world meeting though, she feels like her voice is more likely to be heard there versus trying to talk to her boss. Cuba: Kinda like Mexico, he technically has a home in Havana, but he very much likes to travel around his country and just hang with the people and help them out if he can. When the embargo was lifted he stayed in Havana for a while to make sure everything went smoothly and no one was getting hurt. He even did a few guided tours and all for people, but he mostly just moved about like a local and tried to be friendly and greet everyone. He’ll often stay at places that are close to the beach and have an open design because he really loves being out and about and heard prefer to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean over the roar of A/C. 

Europe

Britain: Technically he still has a number of homes scattered across his former colonies, except for America, but many of them he hasn’t visited in decades – either out of worry or shame. His main house is located a short ways away from the train, which is only about a half an hour ride into London. He didn’t want to live in the heart of London because he still wanted some peace and quiet, but he wanted to be close enough that if the Queen or Parliament needed him he could be there in under an hour. He also shares a cabin with his brothers out near Inverness, Scotland – Angus actually lives there full time but once a year or so all the brother meet up and spend a week there because despite all their bickering and fighting they are family. France: He spends most of his time in his apartment in Paris, mainly because he loves waking up in the morning and going to his balcony and being able to smell the roses on the streets and the fresh baked goods and yeah. He loves the feeling of life that is there. But if it is the holiday season or he just wants to get away and have some alone time he goes out to this little Victorian-esk cottage he has out in Cluny where he can still enjoy wine and good company but with fresh air and open fields. Russia: He still lives in that same house he has lived in for centuries, it’s not run down and if it were anywhere else in Europe where there was a noticeable change in the seasons his house would look a lot less scary than it does on the outside. The inside, however, has changed many times over the years but in general, it is open and kinda fancy but like once you get used to how old the place is it’s really nice. He likes to keep the windows uncovered and there’s a fireplace in nearly every room so a lot of light. He shares this place with sisters most of the year except when tensions get high with the government and he’ll have them go back to their countries because while he knows they can’t die and so does everyone else that knows about them he, like China, has been “killed’ a few times and so he just wants to make sure they’re safe. Germany: He does have a small apartment in Berlin for business and everything but hates being there just cause of the past, he loves how it’s progressed and all but with Prussia exploring being near the place where they were once viciously separated doesn’t do him any good. His main home is in Frankfurt and he has a nice yard where all the dogs can run around and play and sometimes he’ll sit out there and work. He also has a greenhouse from Japan and Italy where he grows some cornflowers and his own potatoes, mostly he puts the snow shovels and stuff in there. He doesn’t have a basement! He has 5 rooms total in his place; his room, an office (with some of Prussia’s journals), Prussia’s room, and two spare guest rooms. It’s two stories with an attic where he keeps some of the “out of sight out of mind” kinda things from the past. He has some workout equipment in the living room but there’s a big closet downstairs that he hides it in when people come over. Italy: He has a place in Venice that he likes to go to when he just wants to drop the facade and be him, not who people think he is. But he loves his apartment in Rome, so he only goes to the home in Venice if his brothers are going there or he needs to escape. He also visits Germany a lot but has tried his best to plan those visits out and not just show up startling Germany in the middle of a fútbol match or as he’s coming home from work. Southern Italy: He tries to stay as far away from Rome as possible unless his brother drags him there or there’s an important event – there’s a little bit resentment there because of his Grandpa but also he hates how loud it gets there. He likes dividing his time between Naples and Lecce, he likes the vineyards and just chilling by the beach. He enjoys sculpture more so than his brother and so goes to a lot of those types of museums. He does share a little place in Venice with his brothers that they celebrate holidays at or escape to where the Vatican is bothering them again. Spain: He balances his time between his place and Romanos. He lives out in the countryside and really doesn’t travel into the city all that much, unless France and Prussia visit, because he likes keeping busy with gardening and music over boring meetings and paperwork. His house is also decorated with some of his artifacts from his life as a country, and he has a lot of books. He loves learning, old habits, and if the weathers bad or he’s just not feeling well he’ll sit down and read, and he gets so lost sometimes that hours will pass and suddenly Romano is there wondering why he didn’t answer his message. He also has an open plan house, but one story, where the living room and dining are pretty much the same and the kitchen is just separated by a counter/island space. His office has his guitar in it along with some recording equipment. Scotland: As mentioned he spends a good bit of the year at the brother's cabin near Inverness, he likes the quiet and the history that is around there. But he also stays in an apartment above a pub in Glasgow that he works at during the busier, tourist months of the year. He likes having something to do but he also enjoys the solitude which what Arthur uses as his excuse as to why he doesn’t let him go to any of the world meetings, saying he’ll try and start a fight. Poland: Like Germany, he chose to live away from the bigger cities of his country due to the history but also the noise. While he’s very much a people person he likes how chill Wroclaw is, plus he can have more land for horses. The outside of his place isn’t too extravagant, but the inside is completely renovated and modern. He had two, TWO, closets that separate his everyday clothes from his special event party clothes. He likes going into the city to have fun, which he often does towards to end of a work week he’s having to spend in the city. Lithuanian: He does not like the city and tries to not have to stay the night there just cause he has the weight in the air of how busy it is and everything. His house surrounded by woods and there’s a really nice river that runs near it. He often sits outside and reads and eats meals out there when it's nice. He has a two-room place, one being his bedroom and the other being his office. Poland, however, loves to drag him off to his country and spend time with him. He sometimes stays at his house and he’ll wander around the town with him loving to go to the markets and get fabric that isn’t in regular shops and such. Latvia: See Estonia. He goes back to his country when he needs to, but he hates being alone and Estonia is an internet rat so he likes to think them living together is good for both of them because he gets Estonia to eat and go outside and Estonia helps him not feel lonely. He loves his country though, he’s just still a bit unsure of what to do really. Estonia: See Latvia. He appreciates the company in his apartment. His city isn’t really loud ever, and so Latvia is calm there and he also helps him to remember that there’s more to life than working a playing online. He has helped Latvia go back and forth between their countries and he really enjoys the culture there, but Latvia is welcome to stay as long as he wants. They’re brothers and they’re still learning how to be countries and it's nice to learn together. Austria: He and Hungary share a home in Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, and he doesn’t have a place anywhere else. His bosses have no problem coming to him if they need him or just calling if he has to travel it usually isn’t for more than a few hours and if he needs to he gets a hotel room. He enjoys being by the river and surrounded by mountains, plus he just loves the old vibe the place has – there’s less noise pollution from people and more natural sounds. He has his piano is a room, that’s part library, that has windows looking out to the river and mountains with a set of huge doors that he likes to open up during the warmer months. Switzerland: He lives on a gated property because he’s super protective and maybe a bit paranoid about his safety and the safety of his sister but it’s a super nice house. It two stories with a big open floor plan for the kitchen, dining, and living room. Upstairs there is his room, his sisters, a guest room (that’s rarely used), and a nice open office area where he likes to work on his computer while his sister paints, crochets, reads, or whatever she wants to do. The dining room opens out into the backyard where there is also a nice garden that he can see from the office space. There’s also a large shed to the right side of the house where he keeps all his guns, and everything locked up but often at night, he’s in there cleaning them and such. Netherlands: So, he technically lives by himself a nice little house off a country road with a nice garden full of tulips and such, but Belgium and Luxemburg are always there, and they even have rooms at his place. He lives maybe 20 minutes or so from Amsterdam, but it looks like you’re in the middle of nowhere because there's huge fields and old houses. He likes to short drive into the city if he has a meeting and he likes being able to go back to his home that is very much his safe space and when he’s not working he likes to tend to his tulips and loves going to market to sell them but also buy a bunch of other stuff, mostly for his bunnies. Yes, he has bunnies. Belgium: See Netherlands. While she has her own room at Netherlands house and is there a good bit of the time she has an apartment in Brussels that she really likes and its super convenient for her when she has meetings, but she also loves the festivals and concerts and just being super immersed into the life of the country and the people apart of it. Luxemburg actually really likes staying with her and she even let him add his own corner to her office when he can paint and sew and stuff. Belarus: See Russia. She enjoys spending her time reading in their library, or the large living room, but also enjoys going out with her sister shopping. Her home in her country is very modest being nearly identical to the others on the street. Most of her things are at her brother's house, she loves her family and likes to stay close. Ukraine: Similar to Belarus, she mostly lives with her brother but her home in her country is much more personalized and she often returns to randomly outside of when Russia sends her away. Being older she likes her privacy and enjoys being at her brother’s house cooking and being around family, but she also enjoys curling up on her sofa at home crocheting and what not.

Nordics

Iceland: No one really knows honestly, like he could be a longtime resident in a hostel/hotel, or he could have an actual house but what is known is that he lives on the northwestern portion of the land away from all the volcanos. He does have an apartment in Reykjavík for business necessities but outside of that none of the Nordics know where he actually lives, just that its obviously a place with wifi. Norway: Kinda like Canada he has one main home and it’s in Oslo where he can ride the train anywhere else he wants/needs to go and he chose to live there for the convenience of the airport and the shopping centers and everything but he also has a place in Trondheim where he goes when he doesn’t need to worry about politics or anything and a cabin up in Alta that he and the other Nordics travel to for a little escape and to spend time together. He also sometimes travels down to Denmark’s place in Skagen to visit but that’s a secret, shhh! Finland: So, he had Sweden live together, with Sealand obviously, and they don’t live in Sweden. They live in a little town called Kemi that’s right by the Swedish border in case Sweden does have to go back over. They compromised on living there because it’s a small town perfect for Sealand but again it’s close to the border. He does rent an apartment in Helsinki when he has to go do business and more often than not Sweden in back in Stockholm so Sealand is with him. Their house in Kemi is adorable a rather spacious because that’s where the Nordics celebrate their holidays together. Denmark: He lives in Copenhagen, which seems stereotypical, but he lives there to get as close to Sweden as he can get without crosses borders just to annoy the shit out of him when they’re both there for business. He also has a place in Skagen because it has a gorgeous beach but also because that’s the closest he can get to Norway without crossing borders. He likes to travel to the cabin and spend time with Norway there. And it has an awesome port and he loves fishing on a boat in his free time, sometimes he also works at the cafes/restaurants in the town. Sweden: See Finland for where he mainly lives, but he has a place in Stockholm that he rents for when he needs to return home for business meetings and everything and he also stays with Sealand when there’s any kind of trouble with the Finnish government going but mostly he books an apartment in Stockholm for a few weeks and the returns to Kemi.

Asia

China: He lives just a little way outside of Beijing, away from the noise and a good bit of the air pollution but close enough that if he needs to he can travel to a meeting. Similar to Turkey he has relatively stayed in the same spot for close to a century but remodeled him home a number of times. Recently he has added more privacy to it with a large garden surrounding and blending into the area. He likes to sit just outside his living room with his tea and listen to the world. His house is orderly but not lacking in character. He has a number of artifacts from his long life scattered about, along with a number of books. He has a large and cozy dining area where he likes to invite over his family for the holidays. Japan: He only goes to Tokyo for conventions and works with the government/other countries. He likes his apartment there and has had to stay there for an extended period of time but whenever he can he likes to escape out to Kochi where he can enjoy the peace and quiet but also take part in the markets and festivals there. Depending on whether or not he’s spending the holidays with his family he goes back to Tokyo to join the crowd essentially, though he tries to not be alone on the holidays. South Korea: He has an apartment in Seoul and he absolutely loves it there. Fast internet, fashion, food, and lots of people. He also has immediate access to the train and the airport if he has to go anywhere. If he wants to stay somewhere else he’ll just rent the place for however long he’s gonna stay there, but he loves the noise and energy of the city while having easy access to anything and everything he could ever want or need. India: Similar to Scotland he has a small apartment above a shop he works at, selling ceramics and rugs. He loves the hustle and bustle of the market but towards the rainy seasons he goes out to the countryside and sometimes stays with the monks, meditating and helping out with the farmers. He really likes to keep busy and his boss doesn’t really bother him too often, only when he wants his to make an appearance somewhere with him as a “representative” or something, or just to remind him of when the world meetings are. When he’s in the countryside he also likes to visit the animals and make sure they’re doing alright – he hates poaching but understands the farmers need to keep their own animals safe so he does the best he can with installing fencing and such to keep the two separated.

Ottoman Family

Turkey: He lives on the same property that his house during his empire was on, just the house itself is much smaller and the yard has been turned into a garden. He hated the empty space in the huge home and so he one day demolished the whole and rebuild it – which was a shock to Hungary, Egypt, Greece, and the others who visited a few months later. But he’s happy and he likes sitting out on the back-porch area he made looking out into his garden. He likes growing his own spices for many of his dishes and there are a few fruit trees back there too. His dogs like to play in the small creek he re-directed to run through which he listens to fall asleep. He jokes that it was his mid-life crisis, but really he just wanted to change it from the empire to him now. He stays there a lot of the times, avoiding the politics of his country. Greece: I swear this man lives in the ruins of the temples of the old god’s, but he has to have an actual place because he’s always fresh and clean whenever another country shows up, but no one has an idea where he actually lives. He’s similar to Cuba, he bounces around his country enjoying to warm weather and cool breeze from the ocean, staying in hostels or sometimes with an ancient family. He lives to have sunbath i.e. nap, on the beach. Egypt: He likes to be by the Nile and lives in a very simple one-story home with a large back porch that leads to a walkway that takes him down to the waters. It helps clear his mind but also keep him connected to his past and his mothers past. He does like being close to the city so that he can enjoy the markets and go to museums and such, again keeping him rooted to his past but he likes to contemplate a lot and spends time reading and writing about his thoughts. His Pharaoh hound trails behind him and will often nudge him to remind him to eat or when it's getting late. Hungary: See Austria. While she enjoys spending time with him and their home is absolutely beautiful full of artifacts of their past but with every modern amenity, they could possibly need/want she enjoys going back to her home during the summer. Her apartment in Budapest is her little escape, her own little world, and more often than not she needs to be there during the summer anyway. She loves seeing her people and spending time with them at markets and festivals. Sometimes Austria has tagged along with her but when she really needs to be alone there he never questions her and gives her that time. She likes to bring him back a pressed flower, a trinket, or something that see-saw a few days prior that reminded her of the home she has with him.

Other

Prussia: Because of his situation (him not being a country) he tends to bounce all over the place. He’s actually gone to England and asked about his old places in his form colonies and stayed at a few of them. He likes to explore, it was one of his favorite things to do when he was an empire, and it keeps his mind busy. He also likes to add his new adventures to his journal collection. He goes to Germany’s for the holidays and stay’s there for the Spring and Summer festivals, also whenever Germany needs him to watch the dogs. But during the winter he’s gone, somewhere on the other side of the world being “The Awesome Prussia”. Australia: Again, do wild animals count? He is a most permanent resident at a animal sanctuary where he helps rehabilitate the wild animals of his home and those that can’t be released back into the wild he helps settle into residency at zoo’s or other long term care facilities where they’ll live like they were in the wild but where they’ll constantly be checked on. He rents a place when he needs to in Sydney but really if he can help it he’ll do a one-day trip there and back cause he prefers kangaroos to people. New Zealand: They’re kinda like Iceland except no one has any clue where they may even live. Some speculate they live in a hobbit hole others think they have a nice tiny apartment in the city. All that is really known is that when another country comes to visit they pop-up out of nowhere somehow always knowing exactly when and where that other country is, even if they don’t want to be noticed.

[shelleyseale]

Six of the best museums in the USA to celebrate Veteran's Day

When it comes to honoring the men and women who have served in the United States military, there's no better way than learning some of the history and their stories.

The U.S. has a wealth of incredible history museums, but I've chosen these six that I've personally visited within the last few years, to recommend as top places to immerse yourself in military/war history, learn their stories and commemorate our veterans.

The National WWII Museum - New Orleans, Louisiana

I just visited this incredible museum earlier this week. Since its opening in 1991, this has been the preeminent collection focusing on World War II history; in fact, it's been designated by Congress as the official WWII museum of the United States. Located in downtown New Orleans on a six-acre campus, five soaring pavilions house historical exhibits, on-site restoration work, a period dinner theater, and restaurants. The museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today—so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. They do this through immersive exhibits, multimedia experiences, and an expansive collection of artifacts and first-person oral histories, taking visitors inside the story of the war that changed the world. If you go, do not miss the film Beyond All Boundaries. Narrated by Tom Hanks, this is a 4D experience that fully engages all your senses and emotions through the United States' participation in the war. INFO: 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 www.nationalww2museum.org/visit info@nationalww2museum.org 504-528-1944

National Museum of the Pacific War - Fredericksburg, Texas

Just an hour and a half west of Austin, this recently expanded museum in the charming town of Fredericksburg (a great place to spend a fun weekend!) extensively covers everything to do with the Pacific Theater of World War II. Discover the human story of WWII in the Pacific in more than 55,000 square feet of exhibit space spread over three galleries located on six acres in the heart of Fredericksburg, Texas. The National Museum of the Pacific War is the only museum in the continental U.S. solely dedicated to telling the story of WWII in the Pacific. Spanning six acres and more than 55,000 square feet, the National Museum of the Pacific War through multiple galleries, Nimitz Education & Research Center, Plaza of Presidents, Japanese Garden of Peace and a memorial courtyard. There's also an incredible outdoor live-action living history amphitheater, where reenactments take place seven times a year (tickets are separate from the museum and are recommended to be purchased online ahead of time, as they often sell out). I just visited this museum a couple of weeks ago for the third time, and got a tour of the living history theater and its educational program, which is quite impressive. INFO: 340 E Main St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624 www.pacificwarmuseum.org/visit/ (830) 997-8600

Pearl Harbor National Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii

If you find yourself on the beautiful island of Oahu, you won't want to miss a visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial, which commemorates the attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 that launched the United States into WWII. I visited this site last year, and here you can not only learn of the history of Pearl Harbor, the invasion and the war; but you can even take a boat tour that departs from the site and takes visitors out into the harbor to view some of the sunken battleships and memorial markers for the ships that were sank, and the thousands of lives lost, on that fateful morning. View my full post about Pearl Harbor here. INFO: 1845 Wasp Blvd. Bldg. 176 Honolulu, HI 96818 www.nps.gov/valr/planyourvisit/index.htm (808) 422-3399

The National D-Day Memorial - Bedford, Virginia

This museum and memorial is dedicated entirely to D-Day, the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Germany-occupied France along the Normandy coast that was the largest amphibious military operation in history. It also was the turning point in the war for Germany's ultimate defeat. This memorial is especially meaningful to me because of a personal connection; my grandfather, E.F. Smith, Jr, was one of those soldiers in Operation Overlord (as the D-Day series of invasions was called). His unit went on to liberate St-Lo, and then to the famous Battle of Mortain, where my grandfather was captured by the Germans. He spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in East Germany until the Russians liberated it.

One incredible local story, and why the memorial is located where in this town, is that of the "Bedford Boys." They consisted of 30 National Guard soldiers from Bedford who landed on the shores of Normandy on D-Day. By day's end, 19 Bedford soldiers were dead. Four more died later in the Normandy campaign. Proportionately, the town of Bedford, then about 3,200 residents, suffered the nation's most severe D-day losses. I actually wrote a story about this for the LA Times, which you can read here. INFO: 816 Burks Hill Road, Bedford, VA www.dday.org/visiting-info/ 800-351-DDAY

Yankee Air Museum - Belleville, Michigan

This Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum with rare historical aircraft ranging from World War I to the Vietnam era. The exhibits include hands-on interactive STEM exhibits, science-based camps, educational tours, unique aviation artifacts, and more. For me, this museum had two really unique, cool aspects that I particularly enjoyed.

First of all, this is home of the Willow Run bomber plant, built by Ford Motor Company to produce fighter planes for the Allies' war efforts. The factory was three-and-a-half million square feet — the largest factory under one roof in the world — and the assembly line was over a mile long. Willow Run began producing B-24 Liberator bomber planes, making one every 55 minutes. By the time the Allies declared victory on May 8, 1945 more than 86,000 airplanes had rolled off the assembly line. It's also the place where the iconic Rosie the Riveter worked — read my story about that here. Second, you can actually take a ride in an original WWII-era plane! This was one of my most thrilling visits to a museum anywhere in the world, and the only place where you can do something like this. INFO: 47884 D St. Belleville, MI 48111-1126 yankeeairmuseum.org/tickets-hours/ 734.483.4030

Smithsonian - Washington, D.C.

Last, but certainly not least, is the extensive collection of Smithsonian museums and institutes in our nation's capital. Particularly the National Air & Space Museum is great for Veterans Day and war history visitation, with its one-of-a-kind artifacts such as Flak-Bait, the only World War II bomber of its kind to retain the original insulating fabric panels lining the interior of the forward fuselage. They also pay homage to units like the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only unit that stormed the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944, and was comprised entirely of African American soldiers.

The National Museum of American History also has exhibits about military history. INFO: 655 Jefferson Drive, SW Washington, DC 20560 https://airandspace.si.edu/visit 202-633-2214 Read the full article

[asweethistory]

Castles of the Loire Valley

Devil’s Food Chocolate Cider Ice Cream with a Strawberry Syrup Swirl 

I Ate a Baguette at Bluebeard’s Castle (written for my Food Memoir Class)

I

We set up outside the crumbling battlement, on the banks of the La Crûme river. It was overcast, but not raining, although the tall and thick dark green grass was damp from some morning drizzle. The students spread out, and my best friend, Rachael, and I got comfortable, resting on a slight hill. Opening up the bags our host mom had handed us earlier that morning, we found one long baguette, some cheese, a tomato accompanied by two tiny salt packets, a small orange, and a full-size lavender-wrapped Milka chocolate bar. Even though neither of us actually ate the tomato, since being American we weren’t prepared to even conceptualize eating one as if it was an apple, I can taste the salt and acid as if I did. We knew our lunch made everyone else with their simple sandwiches jealous.

We crunched on baguette ends, watching white swans swim slowly past us. Trees hung towards the water, their branches doing what I wished I could do with my limbs. It couldn’t have been much more than 60 degrees, but the cool grass, low breeze, and gentle water made me feel like it was a carefree summer day. I wanted to roll down hill into the swatches of green and blue.

Our backdrop was Bluebeard’s castle, Château de Tiffauges; partly in ruins, it was situated less than an hour drive from our home base, Nantes, France. It didn’t seem anymore formidable than any other medieval castle in the countryside, but in 15th century France, Gilles De Rais, who is more commonly referred to as Barbe-Bleue, bluebeard, did many horrible things within its walls. Before lunch, we took a tour of the castle that focused on the preservation of medieval war machines, archery games in which we didn’t take part, and a short silhouette animation, which briefly explained, in terms appropriate for a younger age range, Bluebeard’s barbarism.  So we were able to lunch with no real sickly feelings.

Years later, I learned Bluebeard had been a knight who had fought in the same battles against the English as did Joan of Arc, had been awarded Marshal of France, and became incredibly reckless with his fortune. He built his own chapel and produced a 20,000-line play that required 500 extras, the costs of which necessitated the sale of some of his properties. Bluebeard sought to learn about alchemy and evocation, the art of rousing spirits, in order to save the state of his finances. After many failed attempts to summon a demon named Barron at the 12th century Château de Tiffauges, Bluebeard offered a child as sacrifice. A trial in 1440 revealed that Bluebeard had begun assaulting and murdering children during the spring of 1432. For eight years, Bluebeard, with the help of his cousin and body servants, abused, wounded, decapitated, disemboweled, and burnt the remains of over 100 children. Only under the threat of torture did Bluebeard confess. Charged with murder, heresy, and sodomy, Bluebeard was executed by hanging and burning.

As an eighth grader, I was bused up to the gates of the castle centuries later. This was the first excursion we took in the ten days we had in the country. By selling pizza and bags of chips, we students had raised half the money we needed to go on the trip. This journey to France was the first of three similar trips I’d take with my school between eighth grade and high school graduation. Each one brimmed with memories, but this first one, spent mainly in and around Nantes, included many independent firsts: First mushroom galette eaten outside on a cobblestone street, first Moroccan meal at a restaurant that included lemon sorbet served in the shell of the largest lemon I had ever seen, and first time experiencing a five-course meal.

II

This extraordinary meal, a couple days after the visit to Bluebeard’s castle, concluded our trip to Clisson, a picturesque town with a lovely river, parks, and Gothic architecture. We were told to meet at 5 p.m. at the fancy restaurant, and in the time before that a group of us left to explore. Rachael and I, a couple other friends, and French teacher-turned-chaperone stopped for lunch at a place with a balcony overlooking the water. We all ate spaghetti alla carbonara and drank cider purchased by the chaperone, who explained that it hardly had alcohol in it. Then we went off on our own — walking under bridges, crossing lime green trimmed lawns, and brushing up against climbing lilac wisteria. My modest point-and-shoot camera failed at capturing the light, sunshine, and subtle warmth of the day.

We passed by the 13th century Château de Clisson. Old looking but prettier than Bluebeard’s, we knew nothing of it, but its presence seemed to follow us wherever we walked. Perhaps its palpable aura was due to Jeanne de Clisson, whose third husband, Oliver de Clisson IV, was the wealthy owner of the Château bearing his name. Jeanne is rumored to haunt its grounds. After Oliver was executed without publicly demonstrated evidence, Jeanne decided to come after the French King. She not only raided castles, massacring those who resided there, but she also employed three warships, whose flagship, black with red sails, was named My Revenge. As a pirate, Jeanne, known as “The Lioness of Brittany,” hunted French ships, burned French villages, and aided British forces. All I knew though, lying beneath her castle’s gates as the waters of La Sèvre Nantaise passed languidly below, was peace.

Just as the sun was setting, we joined the rest of the students outside of a two-story stone home. As we waited the boys plucked snails off a low wall and taunted us. “This is going to be our dinner,” they said. “They harvest them right here. Why don’t you try one now?” Dinner did include escargot, my first, but it also included shrimp in puff pastry, a vegetable pasta dish, salad, a cheese course, and dessert, which for me was a large individual serving of crème brulee. Rachael had a whole apple tart to herself, although the crust was very, very thin. It was difficult to walk back to the bus.

III

The next day was lighter. Traveling west towards the coast, we reached Pornic, a seaside village. Clear water lapped at the stone walls beneath us, as I licked a cone of the freshest strawberry sorbet from a roadside stand. The smooth pink was refreshing and cooling, although the day wasn’t particularly hot. There was a sense of excitement being so close to water for us land-locked teenagers from New Mexico. The town itself was refreshing in a way, then, and our experience was continuously sweet. At a small restaurant nearby, my friends studied a menu that had no English translations. I could only pick out one ingredient on the crêpe list: pomme de terre, which means potato but literally translates to apple of the earth. The language barrier held firm and instead of the expected potato-filled pancake, Rachael and I received crêpes filled with hot cinnamon-scented apples. As eighth-graders, though, we of course welcomed dessert for lunch.

Continuing our exploration of the town, we walked the opposite direction from Château de Pornic, a symbol of the town closed off to visitors. We were more interested in the twisting and turnings of the old city’s streets anyhow. Originally built to defend the port, for a time, the castle was also known as Château de Barbe Bleue, one of Bluebeard’s many properties. It was in his procession until the time of his trial when it was confiscated. Its next owner, a lord, also lost the castle, this time due to the French Revolution. It lay in disrepair until the 19th century, when the architect François Bougoüin restored the building in the more Italianate style of Jeanne’s Château de Clisson. Having wandered a while, we stopped for something to drink. Outside of a bar with the castle high up in the distance, I tried, much to the horror of those around me, diabolo menthe, a bright emerald peppermint soda. It tasted exactly like toothpaste in the most enjoyable way. Another first, in another town with an enigmatic antique castle.

[kirrrs-blog1]

FLY WITH ME

Last 4 years ago, my family and I went travelling to China which was our first experience. We were really excited but when we were safely landed in China, we were stranded at the airport because all the sign boards and everything was in Chinese language. So we were confused back then and didn’t know where to go or who to ask because mostly the Chinese didn’t know how to speak English and some of them didn’t care when we were trying to ask questions.  So rude…

 But we didn’t give up until we find the right person to help us and yes we did, thanks to our mom and aunt, they try to communicate with the lady by using their google translate on their phone and finally it worked. The lady tried to catch up on what my mom and aunt were trying to say and so we’ve been guided to our hotel by the tour guide lady.

When we were on our way to our hotel in Shezen , we’ve seen some of the enormous buildings , the night view was magnificent but there’s only one thing that stressed people out that is traffic jams 24 hours which is really tirinig. So most of the Chinese people went home at night from what I heard. Traffic jam is everywhere!!!

Finally, we’ve arrived at our hotel, my sister and I were really with the tallest, modern-hotel, they use sliding door and inside the hotel was fancy. So we check-in  and rushed to our room to see what’s it like to have a fancy room. So we’ve seen our room and it’s not that bad. It has a big bath tub, comfy bed, and LED TV. It was really a tiring day so we when straight to bed. (giggles)

The next day, we went to see the places that we’ve never been before. But the thing is we have to walk all the way to the subway station because there were no taxi available. (Ugh so tiring and lazy....... )  so, when we’ve arrived at the subway station, we have to wait for a long queue to buy the coins for checking in to the subway station. After that, we waited for the train to came, it was really crowded and when it came we have to wait for the other people to come out first because it was really full and then we can get in. So we were on our way to Luohu, where they have this kind of magnificent world called “ Window Of The World”. It’s a place where you can see  vivid replicas of the world’s wonders, historical heritages and famous scenic sites. Well, it’s kind of like miniature world. The entire masterpiece is  built at ratios of 1:1, 1:5 or 1:15. You can visit many reproductions of famous sites from different countries. But before that, you can take the bus or subway line, or take a  cab from the railway station.

 But we prefer to hire a small cab so that we can drive on our own and where to go. At first, we didn’t know where to  start, but then something caught my attention that is the beautiful  Eiffel tower that is the emblem of France that dominates the skyline. So we went there and took a vivid of pictures but we didn’t went high at top of the Eiffel tower, it’s really tiring because you have to take stairs, there’s   also a lift though but you have to wait for the long queue. So we just take pictures from downstairs. There’s   a lot of place to went though, so the next stop is Europe which has a lot more   to offer such as Buckingham palace, the Acropolis, and the winter palace in St. Petersburg. We took vivid of pictures and video.

The next stop is the North African Region, the Pyramids and the Sphinx can be seen. It’s magnificent, the Pyramids, the people that’s wearing the costumes of their countries and the camels but be careful when you take pictures with the camels because if you’re wearing too much perfume then it will puke. So yeah, we didn’t take pictures with the camels. We also went to Taj  Mahal, the way they built it was  really beautiful. We even get wear traditional  costumes like Chinese, Korean and also Indian. I get to wear the Chinese costumes while my sister gets to pick the Korean dress which is not fair, the dress was colorful and pretty and she gets it. But anyway, it was fun though.

We even get to see all the famous sights of  America from East coast to West coast which are also exhibited. We even walk from Manhattan in New York and the Statue of Liberty to totem poles of Western America. You could also ride rafts down the Grand Canyon. The park also tries to make sure you can play some games along the way for a small fee. There’s an Archery Field where tourist can learn from North America Indians how to use a bow. If that still doesn’t appeals you, then I suggest you guys to take the cable car through the tropical forest or do something totally different and visit the Indoor Alpine Ski Run. Window Of The World can offer their visitors 4,000 square meters or an acre of indoor ski slopes.

The difference is that if it’s during festivals and holidays, it holds a special event. They annually hold the  Cherry festival.

[chelsie-fan-55]

JIM CARTER MY LIFE IN TRAVEL When he’s not on a gru­elling char­ity bike ride, the ac­tor is happy with his books and a sun lounger pretty much any­where THE WORST CY­CLING DAY I’ve had was on a trip from Chile to Ar­gentina. De­spite rid­ing down­hill, I was hav­ing to pedal hard into heavy winds and rain. The sun fi­nally came out when we reached Bar­iloche, in the An­dean foothills. I’ve been an avid cy­clist since I was 10 and I try to do at least one char­ity bike ride abroad a year be­tween Novem­ber and Fe­bru­ary. AN EL­DERLY MAN IN LY­CRA is not my favourite look, but cy­cling is a great way of get­ting fit and a real mo­ti­va­tion to shift a few pounds. THE DALES ARE A BEAU­TI­FUL PLACE to cy­cle and the Tour de York­shire has been a real suc­cess for tourism there. I’m thrilled that cy­cling is gain­ing more in­ter­est – and not just the Tour de France. There’s also the Vuelta in Spain and the Giro d’Italia. THE MOST RE­MOTE PLACE I’ve been is cy­cling off-road 20 years ago from Aqaba in Jor­dan across the desert. We vis­ited Mount Nebo and then, af­ter Pe­tra, rode down to­wards Roberts Rock and the Red Sea. ALL I COULD HEAR was to­tal si­lence when I stopped for a mo­ment; not the hum of an in­sect nor a breeze in the veg­e­ta­tion. It re­ally struck me be­cause you never hear si­lence. IT’S NOT JUST SE­RI­OUS CY­CLING though. Last sum­mer I did a four-day bike tour with friends around the Car­cas­sonne hills in Langue­doc. We’d booked little unas­sum­ing ho­tels along the way. Lunch at a vine­yard was al­ways a wel­come break. IT FELT LIKE I WAS LEV­I­TAT­ING while film­ing Swim­ming with Men. I’m also a keen swimmer, so I ap­peared to be the most buoy­ant per­son in the world – the un­sink­able Jim Carter, ev­ery­one joked. I’M NOT AN ALL-AC­TION MAN at all – give me four books and a lounger, then I’m happy. I love stay­ing in Lon­don in the sum­mer, even though I’m cel­e­brat­ing my big 70th birth­day this Au­gust, as we’d miss the gar­den in full bloom if we went away. I hate the gloom of Jan­uary, so we spent two weeks in the Mal­dives this year. I VOWED TO EX­PLORE the world with my wife Imelda [Staunton, the ac­tress] when we got mar­ried in 1983. I let work typ­i­cally take me to ci­ties, while Imelda and I then head to wher­ever there’s sun­shine. I’ve never re­gret­ted spend­ing on hol­i­days. One of our first was to Kenya, on safari. I RE­MEM­BER WAN­DER­ING ev­ery evening round the bay at Ki­waya, our favourite re­sort on the Kenyan coast, quite close to the So­mali bor­der; ba­boons would come down out of the sand dunes and play in the wa­ter. It of­fered com­plete bare­foot lux­ury with ham­mocks as well as straw huts with open win­dows. Sadly the re­sort was shut down due to a spate of kid­nap­pings and mur­ders in the area. I’D BE HAPPY NEVER TO VISIT an­other cathe­dral, but in Venice just sit­ting in a café with a cap­puc­cino or white wine, and watch­ing the world go by, is bliss. I loved Venice. Get­ting up at 5.30am, cruis­ing through the de­serted canals and see­ing the city slowly come alive was mag­i­cal. THE HOL­I­DAY OF MY LIFE­TIME was three weeks in New Zealand three years ago. We started on a little is­land off Auck­land, Wai­heke, famed for its vine­yards and fine food, and stayed at the Boat­shed – one of my favourite ho­tels for its laid-back ser­vice. AUSSIES CAN BE DIS­MIS­SIVE of Tas­ma­nia, but the best art gallery and mu­seum I’ve been to is on the is­land. Cul­tur­ally it’s a mid­point be­tween Aus­tralia and New Zealand. Mona, the Mu­seum of Old and New Art, was built on a clifftop by a lo­cal work­ing-class guy called David Walsh. You get a trendy cam­ou­flaged ferry from Ho­bart over to it. THE ODD­EST PLACE I’ve been recog­nised was in Angkor Wat in Cam­bo­dia dur­ing a char­ity bike ride. Forty Chinese tourists went by and one stopped and exclaimed, “Oh, Mr Carson”. I was gobsmacked to be recognised from Downton Abbey in such a remote place. Even when I’m in shorts and flip-flops, I get recognised. ONE OF MY FAVOURITE MEM­O­RIES is cel­e­brat­ing my birth­day at the Airds Ho­tel in Port Ap­pin on the west coast of Scot­land. I’d been at the Ed­in­burgh Fes­ti­val be­fore trav­el­ling on to Ul­lapool and stay­ing at the Ceilidh Place, a restau­rant/ho­tel/mu­sic venue run by the ac­tor Robert Urquhart. IT WAS IN­CRED­I­BLY PEACE­FUL to walk through the fields down to the shore and watch the cat­tle graz­ing. When the sun breaks out and the heather gets lit up, it’s as beau­ti­ful as any­where in the world. MY IDEA OF HEAVEN is an escape to the Greek is­lands, where we’re off to this month, get­ting up early for a swim, read­ing, scrap­ing to­gether a pic­nic and wan­der­ing to a tav­ern for grilled fish and a bot­tle of wine. Jim Carter’s lat­est film, is out on Fri­day. Source: The Daily Telegraph - Travel

[wineanddinosaur]

Wine 101: Australia

This episode of “Wine 101” is sponsored by Whitehaven. From the sunny bays and lush green vineyards of Marlborough comes to a new world Sauvignon Blanc that only New Zealand can offer. White Haven’s winemaking philosophy centers on the pursuit of quality without compromise, a principle that is supported at every step, from vineyard to glass. Whitehaven uses only Marlborough grapes in our wines, ensuring that only truly authentic Marlborough character is in every bottle. Inspired by a dream, try Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc. Your haven awaits.

On this episode of “Wine 101,” VinePair tastings director Keith Beavers discusses all things Australian wine. Beavers explains that Australia has so much more to offer than just Shiraz. Though each of Australia’s 60 wine producing regions produces Shiraz, the island also grows some of America’s favorite wines, such as Merlot, Cab Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, and even Chardonnay. Beavers also walks listeners through the rich history of how wine first landed in Australia, thanks to a man named James Busby.

Beavers then serves as a personal travel guide as he takes listeners on a journey through the six states where Australian wine is grown. From the Adelaide Hills to the Hunter Valley, Australian wine ranges in everything from terroir to price. Tune in to learn more about how and why your new favorite wine will likely come out of Australia.

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or Check out the Conversation Here

‬Keith Beavers: My name is Keith Beavers, and what was classical music back in the day? It wasn’t even really classical, right? It was just like “Yo, Bach just dropped his new cantata.”

What’s going on wine lovers! Welcome to Episode 8 of VinePair’s “Wine 101” podcast. My name is Keith Beavers. I’m the tasting director of VinePair. It is Season 2, and how are you? Almost 3,000 miles away from New Zealand is this huge continent, this huge island — the largest in the world — called Australia. They make wine, and we have to talk about it. It’s a little bit crazy. Let’s do this.

It’s big, it’s hot, it’s a continent, and it’s an island. It’s Australia! It is one of the most unique places on earth. Now, New Zealand’s pretty damn unique. We know the biodiversity of New Zealand is crazy. You imagine a place that didn’t see humans until about 800 years ago, and those two islands have been existing for a long time. It’s just crazy. It’s very similar in Australia. It’s just a very different place. Eighty percent of wildlife in Australia is indigenously unique to Australia. You don’t see these species anywhere else. New species are being discovered every couple of years. The Great Barrier Reef is generally regarded as the world’s largest living organism. That’s insanity. It’s the only continent that’s a single country. It’s also the largest island on the planet. If you set it on top of the United States, it’s basically the size of the United States. It’s crazy. When it comes to wine, it’s nuts. This is such a big country, such a big continent, it has six states. Like we have the United States, it has states. But to have six states? Each of them is just huge. That’s the thing about Australia, there’s so much to talk about with Australia that I, as usual, can’t get to it in 20 minutes.

We’re going to have a discussion about Australia, because there are 60 wine regions in that country, and I can’t get to all of them. Even though there are certain varieties that thrive or do well in certain wine regions, the Australians do not discriminate when it comes to grapes. Almost every grape you can name, they have in Australia. In the ‘90s and the late ‘90s as well as the early 2000s, Australian winemakers were considered flying winemakers.

They are a kind of winemaker that is so voracious for information and experience that when their harvest is over in the Southern Hemisphere, they fly to the Northern Hemisphere for harvest and start working in Europe, the United States, and other wine regions. It’s crazy. Some of them never come back to Australia. They stay in Argentina or in California, but they’re some of the most focused, confident winemakers out there. What’s really crazy is, even though there are appellations, I believe their wine regions, like New Zealand, it’s not a definite controlled appellation system. You have these areas and these regions that have vineyards in them with names of the regions, and wine is grown there. But it’s not a full-on controlled appellation system. There’s no way to go through the system to help you guys understand what’s going on.

We’re just going to talk about everything that’s happening. There are no indigenous vines in Australia. There wasn’t a hybrid thing going on there. I’m saying this because it’s so far out there from where vines were that it’s just crazy how European vines made their way to this place, and at some point, started making great wine. None of that would have happened if it wasn’t for the son of a gardener from Edinburgh, Scotland, named James Busby. This guy loved agriculture. When he made it to New Zealand, and then eventually Australia, he fell in love with the place so much that he decided this is where I’m going to grow wine. He had an interest in wine. He actually went all over France, Germany, and Spain to learn about wine. He wrote some books about viticulture, and it was his mission in life to bring the vine to Australia and make it work. He had already done it in New Zealand. He actually was one of the first winemakers in New Zealand where he would sell his wine to British troops. I mentioned that in the New Zealand episode.

James Busby is the father of wine or the prophet of wine or the dude who started the wine thing in Australia. Once he thought vines could grow and wine could be made in Australia, in 1830, he went back to England and proceeded to tour all over the continent of Europe, learning about vines, learning about wine. He ended up taking a bunch of cuttings back to Australia. Basically, he just got the whole wine industry started in Australia. It’s thought that he brought 680 vines. All individual vines are probably a group of one grape, a group of another grape. At this moment, here is this legend, I don’t even know if it’s real or not but it’s a really cool story. The story is that when James Busby was in France, he was in the Rhône region and he got vine cuttings of what they at the time called “Scyras.” He brought that and a bunch of other grapes back to Australia. The Scyras grape was actually Syrah. Since it was labeled Scyras, at some point, the Australian dialect or accent became Scyras into Shiraz. We’re going to talk a lot about that in another episode. That’s a cool, little fun story. I’m not really sure if that’s true or not, but I like it.

Another little fun story about Australia is they’re the ones that invented the bag-in-box by a winemaker named Thomas Angove. In 1965, he was inspired to create this bag-in-box based on a product that was already in the market, but for battery acid. It was a bladder that had battery acid in it, and it was covered by a box, and he wondered what else would we get in that? Wine. Brilliant. If you look at Australia, and you train your eye down towards the southeastern corner of the country/continent/island, that southeastern chunk of Australia, that’s where all the wine is made. There is some wine being made in the southwest, but just not as much. We don’t see a lot of that coming onto the market. We’re starting to see some wines from the Margaret River, but we mostly see wines coming from the southeastern part of the country. These wine regions are in states. And as I said, they’re huge. In the southeastern part of Australia, you have South Australia, the state of South Australia, the state of New South Wales, the state of Queensland. Then, you have Tasmania, which is an island just off the southern coast. That is where the majority of the wine is made even though there are grapes that are doing very well and very popular in certain regions. The Australians plant every grape. There’s Tempranillo from Spain happening in Australia, Riesling, Roussanne from the Rhône, of course, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon blanc, Cab Franc. You name it, it’s being grown in Australia. And if the Australians can make a grape work, they’re going to run with it. However, because of the popularity of Shiraz, almost every region basically grows Shiraz. As I said, there are other grapes.

Let’s get to some of these wine regions so we have an idea of what we’re looking at when we see a bunch of wine bottles from Australia. In this southern east section of the country, in the western corner of this section is the southern part of the state of South Australia. This is where the majority of wine that you will see in the market comes from. It’s responsible for almost half of the annual production of wine in Australia. There are a bunch of wine regions in this area. The ones we’re going to see are a couple of valleys. You have Barossa Valley, which you’re going to see everywhere. It is one of the oldest wine-growing regions in Australia. This is the home of Penfolds, which is the winemaker that made a big statement on the American market. This is a very old historical site, all dry-farmed, meaning it was never irrigated to this day. It is a big deal. We’re going to see a great big, inky, beautiful Shiraz coming from this area.

Barossa Valley‘s neighboring region to its west is a fine wine region called the Adelaide Hills. This is a region that actually has two subregions in it, Piccadilly Valley and Lenswood Valley. Now, I don’t know if you’re going to see that on labels, but it shows that there is terroir here. Whenever you see these subregions, they’re saying not only is Adelaide Hills awesome, but these two places are special for a reason as well. This region is also known for Shiraz, but the Shiraz here — as full-bodied as it is — can get a little bit spicy and almost close to what it’s like in its home in the Rhône of France. Also, what’s done here are sparkling wines made from primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Going north, the Adelaide Hills are part of this mountain range. To the north of that is another valley called Clare Valley. Clare Valley is historically very important in Australia. When we do the episode on screw cap versus cork, we’re going to talk a lot about this place. Clare Valley is known for extremely popular, wonderfully age-worthy, crisp and deep Riesling. It’s just amazing how Riesling works in this area. And there are a lot of others — you’re going to see McLaren Vale, which is going to be coming more onto the market with a really kind of spicy, herby Shiraz. There’s also Eden Valley, which is just south of Barossa Valley or neighboring Barossa Valley, and they do Rieslings as well. That’s stuff to keep an eye out on. The Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, you’re definitely going to see.

There’s also a region way down south towards the coast called Coonawarra. That place is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, not necessarily its Shiraz. We’re going to see more from Coonawarra on the market.

East of the state of South Australia, you move into the state of Victoria. Now, this place is crazy populated with wine and wine history. There are 800 producers in Victoria, and Victoria is pretty small. They’re all packed in there. I think there are 20 wine regions just in Victoria alone. There’s a good amount of wine from Victoria on the American market. You’re going to see them from regions with names like Rutherglen, Alpine Valley, Beechworth, King Valley, Sunbury, Mornington Peninsula, Bendigo. But the one region in Victoria that is making a big noise on the American market is the Yarra Valley. This is very exciting, guys. This is a place where they decided it was a good idea to blend Shiraz with a white wine called Viognier. The result is just awesome. It’s this beautiful, bright, berry fruit, red wine. It has depth to it. Then, you feel this sort of clean, white acidity just running through it. It’s a very cool thing. That’s kind of the one places in Victoria that is standing out.

All the other places I mentioned and there’s more of them, of course, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc. There are all kinds of grapes being grown in this area. However, Shiraz basically rules the day. Yarra Valley is unique because of that blend of Shiraz and Viognier. You’re not going to see a lot of it right now, but it’s coming. The Bendigo region in Victoria is doing really awesome Cab, and there’s a place called the Goulburn Valley. The unique thing about that area is they’re messing around with Roussanne, which is great. There’s not a lot of it in the American market, but it’s coming, and it’s delicious.

Then, we go north from Victoria into the state of New South Wales. There’s a lot of wine-growing regions here, too. What is blowing the minds of people in the wine industry right now from this region is a valley called Hunter Valley. In this valley, they grow grapes called Semillon. If you remember our Bordeaux episode, you’ll remember that Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc is the blend of Bordeaux. Somehow, this native Bordeaux variety over in the Hunter Valley of Australia makes incredible wine. Semillon that can age — well, so far they’re saying like 20 years, which is wild. It develops into this beautiful thing that if you sip an old Semillon, sometimes, you think that it’s just a bunch of oak, but it’s not. It’s just the age of the wine. It’s a very unique place with a very unique wine. Since the area is so popular, the surrounding regions are starting to get a little bit of recognition as well. This region was originally known mostly for Chardonnay. There’s still good Chardonnay coming out of that area. The climate of that area — warm days and cold nights — it brings a fruity, juicy round Chardonnay. It’s very fun and very enjoyable stuff, very good.

There are more places like Heath Coat and Henty and the Grampians, and there’s actually the Pyrenees. It’s actually a joke, because the Pyrenees is just low-lying hills. There’s wine everywhere in Australia and we’re going to see more of it. Australia never backed away from our market. We backed away from Australia. I think at some point we got overwhelmed, overstimulated, I should say, with the Shiraz — the big inky, full-bodied Shiraz. Of course, Malbec comes into the market and replaces that big inky with Malbec’s big inky.

The thing about Australia and what their focus is going forward is they want to show us on the American market that they are not just a big Shiraz ocean. They want us to know that they can be fine wine and smaller producers. There are a lot of wine regions that we’re going to start seeing in the future from Australia that are small. Some of these wine regions have 20 winemakers in them. What they’re doing is they’re focusing. The Australians are good at this. They are focused, and they are confident. When they hit it right, they hit it, and they just keep on hitting it right.

We’re going to start seeing a lot more of Australia come onto our market, but it’s going to be more expensive. That’s just the way it has to be. It’s because it comes from a long way away, and it’s usually in the smaller yield. The thing is, we have to get used to the idea that Australian wine that’s going to blow our minds is going to be a little bit higher in price.

The thing is, I think we should be open to the idea of tasting these wines because Australia isn’t all just Shiraz. Australia is all kinds of stuff. I would say there’s Riesling, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Those four really do well all across the wine-growing regions of Australia. As I said, Tempranillo, Cab Franc, there are so many other vines that are being grown and blended. We just have to wait and see.

Again, this is a very general overview of Australia because of how intense it is. This season, we’re going to have a couple of episodes that will reference Australia, and we’ll get more information on the history of the place. This will get you started in Australia with some regions that you already will see, and an idea of just opening your mind for what’s to come from the land down under.

@VinePairKeith is my Insta. Rate and review this podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. It really helps get the word out there. And now, for some totally awesome credits. “Wine 101″ was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big ol’ shout out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. And I mean, a big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. Listen to this. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.

This episode of “Wine 101” is sponsored by Whitehaven. From the sunny days in lush green vineyards of Marlborough comes a New World Sauvignon Blanc that only New Zealand can offer. Winehaven’s winemaking philosophy centers on the pursuit of quality without compromise, a principle that is supported every step from vineyard to glass, Whitehaven uses only Marlborough grapes in our wines, ensuring that only truly authentic Marlborough character is in every bottle. Inspired by a dream, try Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc. Your haven awaits.

The article Wine 101: Australia appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/wine-101-australia/

[johnboothus]

Wine 101: Australia

This episode of “Wine 101” is sponsored by Whitehaven. From the sunny bays and lush green vineyards of Marlborough comes to a new world Sauvignon Blanc that only New Zealand can offer. White Haven’s winemaking philosophy centers on the pursuit of quality without compromise, a principle that is supported at every step, from vineyard to glass. Whitehaven uses only Marlborough grapes in our wines, ensuring that only truly authentic Marlborough character is in every bottle. Inspired by a dream, try Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc. Your haven awaits.

On this episode of “Wine 101,” VinePair tastings director Keith Beavers discusses all things Australian wine. Beavers explains that Australia has so much more to offer than just Shiraz. Though each of Australia’s 60 wine producing regions produces Shiraz, the island also grows some of America’s favorite wines, such as Merlot, Cab Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, and even Chardonnay. Beavers also walks listeners through the rich history of how wine first landed in Australia, thanks to a man named James Busby.

Beavers then serves as a personal travel guide as he takes listeners on a journey through the six states where Australian wine is grown. From the Adelaide Hills to the Hunter Valley, Australian wine ranges in everything from terroir to price. Tune in to learn more about how and why your new favorite wine will likely come out of Australia.

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or Check out the Conversation Here

‬Keith Beavers: My name is Keith Beavers, and what was classical music back in the day? It wasn’t even really classical, right? It was just like “Yo, Bach just dropped his new cantata.”

What’s going on wine lovers! Welcome to Episode 8 of VinePair’s “Wine 101” podcast. My name is Keith Beavers. I’m the tasting director of VinePair. It is Season 2, and how are you? Almost 3,000 miles away from New Zealand is this huge continent, this huge island — the largest in the world — called Australia. They make wine, and we have to talk about it. It’s a little bit crazy. Let’s do this.

It’s big, it’s hot, it’s a continent, and it’s an island. It’s Australia! It is one of the most unique places on earth. Now, New Zealand’s pretty damn unique. We know the biodiversity of New Zealand is crazy. You imagine a place that didn’t see humans until about 800 years ago, and those two islands have been existing for a long time. It’s just crazy. It’s very similar in Australia. It’s just a very different place. Eighty percent of wildlife in Australia is indigenously unique to Australia. You don’t see these species anywhere else. New species are being discovered every couple of years. The Great Barrier Reef is generally regarded as the world’s largest living organism. That’s insanity. It’s the only continent that’s a single country. It’s also the largest island on the planet. If you set it on top of the United States, it’s basically the size of the United States. It’s crazy. When it comes to wine, it’s nuts. This is such a big country, such a big continent, it has six states. Like we have the United States, it has states. But to have six states? Each of them is just huge. That’s the thing about Australia, there’s so much to talk about with Australia that I, as usual, can’t get to it in 20 minutes.

We’re going to have a discussion about Australia, because there are 60 wine regions in that country, and I can’t get to all of them. Even though there are certain varieties that thrive or do well in certain wine regions, the Australians do not discriminate when it comes to grapes. Almost every grape you can name, they have in Australia. In the ‘90s and the late ‘90s as well as the early 2000s, Australian winemakers were considered flying winemakers.

They are a kind of winemaker that is so voracious for information and experience that when their harvest is over in the Southern Hemisphere, they fly to the Northern Hemisphere for harvest and start working in Europe, the United States, and other wine regions. It’s crazy. Some of them never come back to Australia. They stay in Argentina or in California, but they’re some of the most focused, confident winemakers out there. What’s really crazy is, even though there are appellations, I believe their wine regions, like New Zealand, it’s not a definite controlled appellation system. You have these areas and these regions that have vineyards in them with names of the regions, and wine is grown there. But it’s not a full-on controlled appellation system. There’s no way to go through the system to help you guys understand what’s going on.

We’re just going to talk about everything that’s happening. There are no indigenous vines in Australia. There wasn’t a hybrid thing going on there. I’m saying this because it’s so far out there from where vines were that it’s just crazy how European vines made their way to this place, and at some point, started making great wine. None of that would have happened if it wasn’t for the son of a gardener from Edinburgh, Scotland, named James Busby. This guy loved agriculture. When he made it to New Zealand, and then eventually Australia, he fell in love with the place so much that he decided this is where I’m going to grow wine. He had an interest in wine. He actually went all over France, Germany, and Spain to learn about wine. He wrote some books about viticulture, and it was his mission in life to bring the vine to Australia and make it work. He had already done it in New Zealand. He actually was one of the first winemakers in New Zealand where he would sell his wine to British troops. I mentioned that in the New Zealand episode.

James Busby is the father of wine or the prophet of wine or the dude who started the wine thing in Australia. Once he thought vines could grow and wine could be made in Australia, in 1830, he went back to England and proceeded to tour all over the continent of Europe, learning about vines, learning about wine. He ended up taking a bunch of cuttings back to Australia. Basically, he just got the whole wine industry started in Australia. It’s thought that he brought 680 vines. All individual vines are probably a group of one grape, a group of another grape. At this moment, here is this legend, I don’t even know if it’s real or not but it’s a really cool story. The story is that when James Busby was in France, he was in the Rhône region and he got vine cuttings of what they at the time called “Scyras.” He brought that and a bunch of other grapes back to Australia. The Scyras grape was actually Syrah. Since it was labeled Scyras, at some point, the Australian dialect or accent became Scyras into Shiraz. We’re going to talk a lot about that in another episode. That’s a cool, little fun story. I’m not really sure if that’s true or not, but I like it.

Another little fun story about Australia is they’re the ones that invented the bag-in-box by a winemaker named Thomas Angove. In 1965, he was inspired to create this bag-in-box based on a product that was already in the market, but for battery acid. It was a bladder that had battery acid in it, and it was covered by a box, and he wondered what else would we get in that? Wine. Brilliant. If you look at Australia, and you train your eye down towards the southeastern corner of the country/continent/island, that southeastern chunk of Australia, that’s where all the wine is made. There is some wine being made in the southwest, but just not as much. We don’t see a lot of that coming onto the market. We’re starting to see some wines from the Margaret River, but we mostly see wines coming from the southeastern part of the country. These wine regions are in states. And as I said, they’re huge. In the southeastern part of Australia, you have South Australia, the state of South Australia, the state of New South Wales, the state of Queensland. Then, you have Tasmania, which is an island just off the southern coast. That is where the majority of the wine is made even though there are grapes that are doing very well and very popular in certain regions. The Australians plant every grape. There’s Tempranillo from Spain happening in Australia, Riesling, Roussanne from the Rhône, of course, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon blanc, Cab Franc. You name it, it’s being grown in Australia. And if the Australians can make a grape work, they’re going to run with it. However, because of the popularity of Shiraz, almost every region basically grows Shiraz. As I said, there are other grapes.

Let’s get to some of these wine regions so we have an idea of what we’re looking at when we see a bunch of wine bottles from Australia. In this southern east section of the country, in the western corner of this section is the southern part of the state of South Australia. This is where the majority of wine that you will see in the market comes from. It’s responsible for almost half of the annual production of wine in Australia. There are a bunch of wine regions in this area. The ones we’re going to see are a couple of valleys. You have Barossa Valley, which you’re going to see everywhere. It is one of the oldest wine-growing regions in Australia. This is the home of Penfolds, which is the winemaker that made a big statement on the American market. This is a very old historical site, all dry-farmed, meaning it was never irrigated to this day. It is a big deal. We’re going to see a great big, inky, beautiful Shiraz coming from this area.

Barossa Valley‘s neighboring region to its west is a fine wine region called the Adelaide Hills. This is a region that actually has two subregions in it, Piccadilly Valley and Lenswood Valley. Now, I don’t know if you’re going to see that on labels, but it shows that there is terroir here. Whenever you see these subregions, they’re saying not only is Adelaide Hills awesome, but these two places are special for a reason as well. This region is also known for Shiraz, but the Shiraz here — as full-bodied as it is — can get a little bit spicy and almost close to what it’s like in its home in the Rhône of France. Also, what’s done here are sparkling wines made from primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Going north, the Adelaide Hills are part of this mountain range. To the north of that is another valley called Clare Valley. Clare Valley is historically very important in Australia. When we do the episode on screw cap versus cork, we’re going to talk a lot about this place. Clare Valley is known for extremely popular, wonderfully age-worthy, crisp and deep Riesling. It’s just amazing how Riesling works in this area. And there are a lot of others — you’re going to see McLaren Vale, which is going to be coming more onto the market with a really kind of spicy, herby Shiraz. There’s also Eden Valley, which is just south of Barossa Valley or neighboring Barossa Valley, and they do Rieslings as well. That’s stuff to keep an eye out on. The Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, you’re definitely going to see.

There’s also a region way down south towards the coast called Coonawarra. That place is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, not necessarily its Shiraz. We’re going to see more from Coonawarra on the market.

East of the state of South Australia, you move into the state of Victoria. Now, this place is crazy populated with wine and wine history. There are 800 producers in Victoria, and Victoria is pretty small. They’re all packed in there. I think there are 20 wine regions just in Victoria alone. There’s a good amount of wine from Victoria on the American market. You’re going to see them from regions with names like Rutherglen, Alpine Valley, Beechworth, King Valley, Sunbury, Mornington Peninsula, Bendigo. But the one region in Victoria that is making a big noise on the American market is the Yarra Valley. This is very exciting, guys. This is a place where they decided it was a good idea to blend Shiraz with a white wine called Viognier. The result is just awesome. It’s this beautiful, bright, berry fruit, red wine. It has depth to it. Then, you feel this sort of clean, white acidity just running through it. It’s a very cool thing. That’s kind of the one places in Victoria that is standing out.

All the other places I mentioned and there’s more of them, of course, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc. There are all kinds of grapes being grown in this area. However, Shiraz basically rules the day. Yarra Valley is unique because of that blend of Shiraz and Viognier. You’re not going to see a lot of it right now, but it’s coming. The Bendigo region in Victoria is doing really awesome Cab, and there’s a place called the Goulburn Valley. The unique thing about that area is they’re messing around with Roussanne, which is great. There’s not a lot of it in the American market, but it’s coming, and it’s delicious.

Then, we go north from Victoria into the state of New South Wales. There’s a lot of wine-growing regions here, too. What is blowing the minds of people in the wine industry right now from this region is a valley called Hunter Valley. In this valley, they grow grapes called Semillon. If you remember our Bordeaux episode, you’ll remember that Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc is the blend of Bordeaux. Somehow, this native Bordeaux variety over in the Hunter Valley of Australia makes incredible wine. Semillon that can age — well, so far they’re saying like 20 years, which is wild. It develops into this beautiful thing that if you sip an old Semillon, sometimes, you think that it’s just a bunch of oak, but it’s not. It’s just the age of the wine. It’s a very unique place with a very unique wine. Since the area is so popular, the surrounding regions are starting to get a little bit of recognition as well. This region was originally known mostly for Chardonnay. There’s still good Chardonnay coming out of that area. The climate of that area — warm days and cold nights — it brings a fruity, juicy round Chardonnay. It’s very fun and very enjoyable stuff, very good.

There are more places like Heath Coat and Henty and the Grampians, and there’s actually the Pyrenees. It’s actually a joke, because the Pyrenees is just low-lying hills. There’s wine everywhere in Australia and we’re going to see more of it. Australia never backed away from our market. We backed away from Australia. I think at some point we got overwhelmed, overstimulated, I should say, with the Shiraz — the big inky, full-bodied Shiraz. Of course, Malbec comes into the market and replaces that big inky with Malbec’s big inky.

The thing about Australia and what their focus is going forward is they want to show us on the American market that they are not just a big Shiraz ocean. They want us to know that they can be fine wine and smaller producers. There are a lot of wine regions that we’re going to start seeing in the future from Australia that are small. Some of these wine regions have 20 winemakers in them. What they’re doing is they’re focusing. The Australians are good at this. They are focused, and they are confident. When they hit it right, they hit it, and they just keep on hitting it right.

We’re going to start seeing a lot more of Australia come onto our market, but it’s going to be more expensive. That’s just the way it has to be. It’s because it comes from a long way away, and it’s usually in the smaller yield. The thing is, we have to get used to the idea that Australian wine that’s going to blow our minds is going to be a little bit higher in price.

The thing is, I think we should be open to the idea of tasting these wines because Australia isn’t all just Shiraz. Australia is all kinds of stuff. I would say there’s Riesling, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Those four really do well all across the wine-growing regions of Australia. As I said, Tempranillo, Cab Franc, there are so many other vines that are being grown and blended. We just have to wait and see.

Again, this is a very general overview of Australia because of how intense it is. This season, we’re going to have a couple of episodes that will reference Australia, and we’ll get more information on the history of the place. This will get you started in Australia with some regions that you already will see, and an idea of just opening your mind for what’s to come from the land down under.

@VinePairKeith is my Insta. Rate and review this podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. It really helps get the word out there. And now, for some totally awesome credits. “Wine 101″ was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big ol’ shout out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. And I mean, a big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. Listen to this. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.

This episode of “Wine 101” is sponsored by Whitehaven. From the sunny days in lush green vineyards of Marlborough comes a New World Sauvignon Blanc that only New Zealand can offer. Winehaven’s winemaking philosophy centers on the pursuit of quality without compromise, a principle that is supported every step from vineyard to glass, Whitehaven uses only Marlborough grapes in our wines, ensuring that only truly authentic Marlborough character is in every bottle. Inspired by a dream, try Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc. Your haven awaits.

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[citylightsphotos]

Once Around the Park

(Here’s another one from the vault of “photos I’ve taken but never got around to posting, but am doing so now because I’m not riding and shooting due to the pandemic.”) 

Back in 2018, I did something I had not done in more than 35 years — rode my bike around Central Park. It’s hard to believe I went so long, considering it used to be a regular activity for me.

When we were kids we headed out of the friendly confines of Jackson Heights, tacked our way across northwestern Queens and boldly ventured across the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan. I say “boldly,” because there were no bike lanes back then and the bridge’s outer roadway was open to cars. And we were indeed kids — only 14, if I remember correctly.

After a long steep climb (it never seemed that steep when I was riding in my dad’s car) we reached the midway peak and then joyously coasted into Manhattan. Manhattan!! We had been here before via subways, buses, and cars but never on a bike. It was such an adventure for us. After futzing around on Second Avenue for a while, we headed west on 60th and ended up in Central Park — our unspoken destination.

There was no bike culture back then. Bike riding was a thing for kids, delivery boys, and the occasional adult in weird-looking shorts, so essentially we had Central Park’s loop road to ourselves as we set out to circumnavigate the park. It was at once so familiar because of all the sights we knew from school trips, but it was so oddly wonderful to be seeing them from the saddle of a bike. It was truly a joyous day.

We made it home in one piece, and didn’t say a word to our parents, but we were hooked. Over the next few years it was a regular thing to ride into Manhattan and Central Park, though we expanded our repertoire, heading all over the island and even venturing into exotic Brooklyn.

At some point in the mid-‘80s I was in Central Park but it was clear I no longer had it to myself. The wide road that we used to own was now divided into bike lanes, jogging lanes, and roller skating lanes. The bike lane was jammed with numb-nuts slowly riding four abreast, along with the occasional pack of guys in weird shorts that thought they were in the Tour de France. If I dared drift out of the bike lane I was serenaded with that classic New York whine “Excuuuuuuse me …” Now you understand my hiatus.

But in 2018, I figured my self-imposed exile had gone on long enough. On a beautiful fall day I headed in and made a loop around the park stopping at a few choice locations along the way. I stood at the edge of the lake, which personifies why Central Park makes it easy to forget you are in the middle of a congested city, and took this picture. There is a reason why someone wrote a song called “Autumn in New York.” All of the city, and especially Central Park, looks sensational in the fall. 

“It's autumn in New York, It's good to live it again.”

(November 8, 2018)

[shelleyseale]

Six of the best museums in the USA to celebrate Veteran's Day

When it comes to honoring the men and women who have served in the United States military, there's no better way than learning some of the history and their stories.

The U.S. has a wealth of incredible history museums, but I've chosen these six that I've personally visited within the last few years, to recommend as top places to immerse yourself in military/war history, learn their stories and commemorate our veterans.

The National WWII Museum - New Orleans, Louisiana

I just visited this incredible museum earlier this week. Since its opening in 1991, this has been the preeminent collection focusing on World War II history; in fact, it's been designated by Congress as the official WWII museum of the United States. Located in downtown New Orleans on a six-acre campus, five soaring pavilions house historical exhibits, on-site restoration work, a period dinner theater, and restaurants. The museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today—so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. They do this through immersive exhibits, multimedia experiences, and an expansive collection of artifacts and first-person oral histories, taking visitors inside the story of the war that changed the world. If you go, do not miss the film Beyond All Boundaries. Narrated by Tom Hanks, this is a 4D experience that fully engages all your senses and emotions through the United States' participation in the war. INFO: 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 www.nationalww2museum.org/visit info@nationalww2museum.org 504-528-1944

National Museum of the Pacific War - Fredericksburg, Texas

Just an hour and a half west of Austin, this recently expanded museum in the charming town of Fredericksburg (a great place to spend a fun weekend!) extensively covers everything to do with the Pacific Theater of World War II. Discover the human story of WWII in the Pacific in more than 55,000 square feet of exhibit space spread over three galleries located on six acres in the heart of Fredericksburg, Texas. The National Museum of the Pacific War is the only museum in the continental U.S. solely dedicated to telling the story of WWII in the Pacific. Spanning six acres and more than 55,000 square feet, the National Museum of the Pacific War through multiple galleries, Nimitz Education & Research Center, Plaza of Presidents, Japanese Garden of Peace and a memorial courtyard. There's also an incredible outdoor live-action living history amphitheater, where reenactments take place seven times a year (tickets are separate from the museum and are recommended to be purchased online ahead of time, as they often sell out). I just visited this museum a couple of weeks ago for the third time, and got a tour of the living history theater and its educational program, which is quite impressive. INFO: 340 E Main St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624 www.pacificwarmuseum.org/visit/ (830) 997-8600

Pearl Harbor National Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii

If you find yourself on the beautiful island of Oahu, you won't want to miss a visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial, which commemorates the attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 that launched the United States into WWII. I visited this site last year, and here you can not only learn of the history of Pearl Harbor, the invasion and the war; but you can even take a boat tour that departs from the site and takes visitors out into the harbor to view some of the sunken battleships and memorial markers for the ships that were sank, and the thousands of lives lost, on that fateful morning. View my full post about Pearl Harbor here. INFO: 1845 Wasp Blvd. Bldg. 176 Honolulu, HI 96818 www.nps.gov/valr/planyourvisit/index.htm (808) 422-3399

The National D-Day Memorial - Bedford, Virginia

This museum and memorial is dedicated entirely to D-Day, the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Germany-occupied France along the Normandy coast that was the largest amphibious military operation in history. It also was the turning point in the war for Germany's ultimate defeat. This memorial is especially meaningful to me because of a personal connection; my grandfather, E.F. Smith, Jr, was one of those soldiers in Operation Overlord (as the D-Day series of invasions was called). His unit went on to liberate St-Lo, and then to the famous Battle of Mortain, where my grandfather was captured by the Germans. He spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in East Germany until the Russians liberated it.

One incredible local story, and why the memorial is located where in this town, is that of the "Bedford Boys." They consisted of 30 National Guard soldiers from Bedford who landed on the shores of Normandy on D-Day. By day's end, 19 Bedford soldiers were dead. Four more died later in the Normandy campaign. Proportionately, the town of Bedford, then about 3,200 residents, suffered the nation's most severe D-day losses. I actually wrote a story about this for the LA Times, which you can read here. INFO: 816 Burks Hill Road, Bedford, VA www.dday.org/visiting-info/ 800-351-DDAY

Yankee Air Museum - Belleville, Michigan

This Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum with rare historical aircraft ranging from World War I to the Vietnam era. The exhibits include hands-on interactive STEM exhibits, science-based camps, educational tours, unique aviation artifacts, and more. For me, this museum had two really unique, cool aspects that I particularly enjoyed.

First of all, this is home of the Willow Run bomber plant, built by Ford Motor Company to produce fighter planes for the Allies' war efforts. The factory was three-and-a-half million square feet — the largest factory under one roof in the world — and the assembly line was over a mile long. Willow Run began producing B-24 Liberator bomber planes, making one every 55 minutes. By the time the Allies declared victory on May 8, 1945 more than 86,000 airplanes had rolled off the assembly line. It's also the place where the iconic Rosie the Riveter worked — read my story about that here. Second, you can actually take a ride in an original WWII-era plane! This was one of my most thrilling visits to a museum anywhere in the world, and the only place where you can do something like this. INFO: 47884 D St. Belleville, MI 48111-1126 yankeeairmuseum.org/tickets-hours/ 734.483.4030

Smithsonian - Washington, D.C.

Last, but certainly not least, is the extensive collection of Smithsonian museums and institutes in our nation's capital. Particularly the National Air & Space Museum is great for Veterans Day and war history visitation, with its one-of-a-kind artifacts such as Flak-Bait, the only World War II bomber of its kind to retain the original insulating fabric panels lining the interior of the forward fuselage. They also pay homage to units like the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only unit that stormed the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944, and was comprised entirely of African American soldiers.

The National Museum of American History also has exhibits about military history. INFO: 655 Jefferson Drive, SW Washington, DC 20560 https://airandspace.si.edu/visit 202-633-2214 Read the full article

[jghouse-asia-pacific]

New Post has been published on https://www.jg-house.com/2020/02/19/madeline-sylvie-senegal/

Madeline and Sylvie, Senegal

It wasn’t too hot. The temperature on that Friday in Senegal was agreeable, 22 degrees Celsius, while Lomax and I sat at a table under a big umbrella with remnants of our breakfast. No other foreigners sat at the tables in the courtyard, only two middle-aged African men wearing suits and drinking coffee in a corner. It was 10:34. The blue of the sky toward the west, somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean, was interrupted by a single cumulus patch, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. I became aware of a figure in front of me. Ismael was standing there.

“We wondered when you were going to show. You’re a little late. We can’t go now,” Lomax commented.

We knew we needed a guide for a tour of the traditional fishing community occupying the spit of land, known as La Langue de Barbarie, which faced the Atlantic Ocean to the west and stretched over the border from Mauritania toward the south. The neighborhood called Guet N’Dar and connected to N’Dar Island by a narrow bridge, Pont Moustapha Malick Gaye, was home to a group of people called the Lebou. They supported themselves by fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. But the fishing industry was in steep decline. In a desperate search for other means of survival, growing numbers of fishermen and their families attempted to migrate to Europe. The journey to Spain at the southern tip of Europe was treacherous whether by boat around Morocco and via the Strait of Gibraltar or by jeep through the sands of Mauritania or Libya and then across the Mediterranean in flimsy watercraft. Many started the journey; few finished.

“For a visit to Guet N’Dar,” I said to Ismael, “how much do you charge?”

“15,000,” Ismael answered. “I can take you now.” Converting CFA francs to U.S. dollars, I calculated his fee, $25.

“No, not now,” I replied. “We have to take care of other business first. Meet us in the lobby tomorrow.”

“You don’t need me today?” Ismael said.

“No,” I said. Ismael looked displeased, even angry.

“Are you familiar with Maison d’Hotes au Fil du Fleuve?” I asked, realizing Ismael was desperate for work and also changing the subject to defuse his anger. The name of the hotel where François was staying had suddenly come to me, and I wanted to visit the place sooner than later.

“Yes, the hotel is near the southern tip of N’Dar Island,” Ismael replied, regaining his composure. “The view of the Senegal River as it empties into the Atlantic Ocean is excellent from the top floor of the hotel.”

I stood up. I reached into the pocket on the front of my shirt and removed three 5,000-CFA-franc bills. “Your payment,” I said, placing the money on the table. As soon as I saw the gold rings on Ismael’s hand glinting in the morning light, I wondered if they came from Mali like Sylvie’s bracelet.

“By the way,” Ismael commented, “I know most of the people who work on board the Bou el Mogdad. For example, I know Ansoumana, the chief guide. Also, I know Anta, the masseuse. They can help you with your projects. I can speak with them if you want for a fee.”

Boys Playing Marbles

Anna, the Italian

Across the street from Hôtel de La Résidence, on the east side of Rue Blaise Diagne, Lomax and I passed through a metal door and entered the offices of the river-boat company, la Compagnie du Fleuve. Sitting behind a desk just inside the door was an attractive woman in her early 30s with an olive complexion, dark hair, and dark eyes smoking a cigarette. When she saw us, she tapped the end of the cigarette on the edge of a small ashtray, flicked away a long ash, and expelled a cloud of smoke. “My name is Anna, and I manage the office here,” she said with an Italian accent.

Lomax replied, “François sent us. He thought you could help us.”

Anna stared at Lomax, a blank expression on her face. It was obvious she had no idea who François was.

Lomax started waving one hand in the air, attempting to dispel the cigarette smoke as he moved backward away from Anna toward the front door. Anna, who was watching closely, put out her cigarette.

Lomax became silent. He stood at a distance from Anna, half of his body inside and half of it outside the door.

“We have reservations on the next cruise, leaving this Sunday,” I said, wondering if Lomax was having a bona fide allergic reaction or putting on an act to embarrass Anna. I stood silently for a little while and then said slowly in Italian, “We would like to switch from a single room without air conditioning to a single room with air conditioning. Please. If you can help us, we would be grateful.”

Anna replied without hesitation in Italian, “No. This is not possible.” She repeated the statement in English. Lomax, who still was coughing, turned around and went completely outside, bumping into an old man on the street only to re-appear in the doorway a moment later.

“Ask her again.” Lomax said to me, now speaking in Spanish. “Why can’t she change the rooms? Ask her again. Be firm.”

Anna appeared astonished and, replying in Spanish to me, said, “I don’t know what I can do.” She paused. “But,” she continued, “I want to help you. Let me think about it for a while. Give me 25 minutes.”

Colorful Woman

“Gracías,” Lomax said.

Looking at me again, Anna switched back to Italian and explained to me that the two Roman couples, who had reservations for two rooms with air conditioning on the forthcoming trip, were supposed to be arriving in Dakar from Rome the next day, a Saturday. “If they don’t arrive here in St. Louis by noon on Sunday,” Anna added, “you can have one of the rooms.” She glanced at an ancient green telephone next to the ashtray on the desk. “I’ll call the travel agency in Rome.” She paused. “Anyway, they still haven’t paid the remainder of their fees. If they don’t pay us, it doesn’t matter when they arrive. They don’t get on the Bou el Mogdad.”

When a moment later the telephone started ringing, Anna glanced at me and picked up the receiver. “Bou el Mogdad,” she said, and after listening for a few moments, she began to speak in Italian once again. After a few minutes, she replaced the receiver. A displeased expression settled over her face. With her mouth a narrow slit, she said, “Va bene. You can have one of the rooms. They don’t pay.”

“Thanks,” Lomax replied.

“The problem solves itself,” Anna commented in Italian.

“Are you from Rome?” I asked in English. Then, not waiting for an answer, I added, “I used to live there in an apartment across the street from Basilica San Paolo.” Anna stared at me. “But it wasn’t easy,” I continued. “My apartment was directly above a bar,” I said, “called Bunny’s Pub Disco.” I paused, studying Anna’s face. “It was very loud,” I smiled, “every night.”

Anna appeared to regain her composure. She said in Italian, “You guess right, although I don’t know how.” She removed a new cigarette from a pack lying on the desk. “My friends and I went to Bunny’s many times. Usually, we were drunk.” A young black man wearing a suit without a tie entered the room through a back door, came to Anna’s side, and whispered in her ear.

“I have to see about some other arrangements,” Anna commented, glancing from me to Lomax and back to me. “Was there anything else?”

“Where can I find an embroidered top and pants like those you’re wearing?” Lomax said, interrupting. “For my girlfriend in California.”

“Next door,” Anna replied, standing up from her chair, pointing with her hand, and starting to move in the direction of the back of the office. “Hamimu has beautiful things.” Then Anna stopped and looked at Lomax. “You can buy me something too,” she said, “because you are very rude. Don’t you know most Italians understand Spanish?”

Lomax smiled. “Sure,” he said, “when we get back to St. Louis, I’ll take you out to dinner and show you a good time.” He paused. “By the way,” Lomax continued, “François said our cruise would be taking us down the river from Podor to St. Louis.” He paused again. “But listen. We understood we would be going up the river, leaving from St. Louis. Why the confusion?”

Anna stared at Lomax. Then she started to walk away. “Who knows?” she answered without looking back. “François was right. Whoever the hell François is.”

Two Boys, a Man, and a Woman

Hamimu, the Designer

Lomax now appeared to be over his coughing fit. We entered a narrow, rectangular room with a colorful selection of clothes. It was the shop of Hamimu, the place Anna had recommended. Following Lomax into the room, I stopped inside the threshold of an open door and looked at my watch. 11:45. I wondered how hot it would get that afternoon and turned around to face the dusty street for a moment. The heat from the asphalt was intense, but I could feel a slight breeze blowing off the Senegal River a block away. I was aware we were in the desert now and we would stay in the desert for the coming week. The heat, as we traveled inland from the coast, only would continue to rise. The trip on the boat might be a little grim.

In contrast, the interior of the shop was cool and dark. I saw Lomax standing next to a slender man dressed in bright colors, including a blue tie and a red cowboy hat. It became clear the man was gay. The two of them stood in front of a rack of clothing from which tops and bottoms of different sizes were hanging. “I designed and made all of the clothes you see,” the man explained to Lomax. “Ooh, your girlfriend would love this one,” he said, handing a multi-colored pant suit to Lomax. I sat down on a chair near the open front door and scrolled through messages on my phone. I didn’t find the one from Washington, D.C.

“Check out another outfit Hamimu has for Gina,” Lomax shouted to me, referring to his girlfriend in California. I stared. Lomax was showing off a pair of long pants with a matching blouse. They were awful.

“Hi, darling,” Hamimu said, waving at me across the room. The gay man from Senegal swung his hips and winked. He liked me.

My phone, still in my hand, pinged. I looked at the screen and saw a message from Ismael. How did he get my number? I tried to recall giving it to him, but could not. He had information for Lomax and me and would be waiting for us in the lobby of Hôtel de La Résidence at 1:00. Damnit.

“What are you doing here?” a voice said. I looked toward the doorway. Madeline stood just outside in the street smiling. Sylvie stood beside her. They appeared out of breath as if they had been walking fast, exploring, and as if they now needed some place to sit down.

“Oh, not much. Shopping for women’s clothes as we do every Friday,” I replied. I was making a joke, but I felt irritated by Ismael. I stood up. “We’re just leaving,” I added, looking over my shoulder. “Come on, Lomax,” I continued, “Make up your mind. Pay Hamimu.” I paused, looking back at Madeline and Sylvie. “We have to go.”

The women moved toward a clothing display on the right side of the door and began picking through and holding up blouses. “Where are you going?” Madeline asked, looking up from a blue shirt with yellow flowers.

“To the hotel,” I replied. “We’ll eat in the bar. Then, at 1:00, we have a meeting with our guide.” I paused. “He’s out of line,” I went on. “His behavior is annoying.”

“You’re referring to Ismael?” Sylvie asked, holding a green blouse in one hand. “I want to talk with him. He can help us, if he can’t help you.”

Lomax approached carrying a plastic bag in one hand. “Let me see,” Madeline said, grabbing the bag and removing a single pair of women’s slacks. “It’s okay, just okay” she said, dismissively, holding the pair at arm’s length. “But which pair are you going to wear to dinner tonight? This one?” she asked, looking at Lomax. He lit up. Hamimu, watching from across the room, laughed. “I want a suit in this color myself,” Madeline added. Then she couldn’t hold back. “Who are these for?”

At that moment, Hamimu came to the doorway. “Let me help you find what you want,” he said, draping an arm around Madeline’s shoulders and staring at me.

“We’ll be there for lunch,” Madeline said, looking at me over her left shoulder as Hamimu led her away. “It will take us 10 minutes.”

A House on the Beach

Planning a Trip to Mali

At the south end of the main dining room on the ground floor of Hôtel de La Résidence, Lomax and I opened a set of wooden-framed, glass-paneled doors and entered the hotel bar. As we were sitting down at a small table at the back of the room, I saw a message from François and said to Lomax, “François has viewed your work in your on-line gallery and wants to meet and take some photos.” I looked up from the phone. Other than Lomax, I didn’t see anybody else in the room.

“Sounds good,” Lomax replied. “But it’s noon. The sun is directly overhead and too bright. We can’t shoot anything effectively.” Lomax had his rules.

“Good point,” I said, staring at my phone and typing a text message to François. “I told him to meet us in the lobby at 1:00. He can join our meeting with Ismael.” The moment I set the phone back down on the table I received a reply from François, confirming the time.

A short black man wearing a white apron came out from behind the bar to take our order. I hadn’t noticed the barman earlier. Lomax and I asked for the national dish of Senegal known as thieboudienne, a type of ray-finned fish called sardinella accompanied by white rice. Before the barman could reach the glass-paneled doors to make his way with our order to the kitchen, the front doors opened and Madeline and Sylvie entered, each carrying a plastic bag. Glancing at Lomax and me, Madeline spoke in French to the barman, who had stopped in front of her. Then the women walked over and sat down at a small table next to ours.

“We ordered fish with rice also,” Madeline said, looking at her watch. “We should have just enough time to eat before Ismael arrives.”

Lomax looked at Madeline, raising his eyebrows. “You want to accompany us on a tour of the fishing village in Guet N’Dar?” he asked.

“Oh, are you going to Guet N’Dar?” Madeline said. She paused. “No, we can’t.” She glanced across the room at the window with its view of Rue Blaise Diagne. “We’re tired. We’ve been walking all morning.” She looked at Sylvie. “Anyway, we’re hoping Ismael can help us with a problem.”

I knew what she meant, glancing at the thin gold bracelet Sylvie wore. “What makes you think Ismael has any knowledge of jewelry?” I asked.

“The rings he wears,” Sylvie responded, laughing before glancing at Madeline. “We know that his gold he actually mines himself, somewhere in the south not too far away.”

Woman in Photograph

I was about to ask where Sylvie had gotten her information when the barman returned carrying a large circular tray on one hand, just above the right side of his head. The man from the Fulani ethnic group of Senegal placed a dish with fish and rice in front of Lomax and me.

“Who is the woman you’re buying clothes for?” Madeline asked once again.

“What about your experiences in Mali?” I said to Sylvie, ignoring Madeline. “We’re planning a trip to Mali after our trip down the Senegal River. We want to start in Bamako and go up the Niger River.”

While Madeline and Lomax talked between themselves, Sylvie and I discussed the itinerary of their just completed trip. They had gone from Timbuktu in the center of Mali down the Niger River through Djenne before ending up in Bamako, moving in a direction opposite to the one we wanted to take.

At 1:00, the four of us walked into the hotel lobby. François sat in one of the old, fraying chairs. “As I was on my way over here,” he said, “I saw an announcement on the front door of a café saying Oumar Ly will be in St. Louis next week.” He was a Senegalese visual artist whom Lomax wanted to meet. On our first day in St. Louis, Lomax had purchased a book of photographs by Oumar Ly, who had taken most of the photos in Podor, at the northernmost point of Senegal, where he lived.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the front door of the hotel open and Ismael step into the lobby.

Bicycles and Photographs

Planning Visits to Migrant Camps

At 4:00 in the afternoon, I was asleep on my bed when voices outside the door woke me. Two women were talking to each other in the corridor. I could understand some of their words because French was a language my ex-wife had spoken. I recognized the voices of Madeline and Sylvie. Madeline apparently was asking Sylvie where she wanted to eat dinner that night.

A few minutes later, when I entered the bar, Ismael, Lomax, and François were sitting at a table next to the window. Three bottles of beer rested on the table in front of them. I sat down at an adjacent table since I didn’t see a fourth chair at the table where the others sat. “Ismael says he can introduce us to a man who studies the lives of West African migrants,” Lomax said. “He’s a professor at a university in Dakar, a serious scholar.” Lomax turned to Ismael. “What did you say his name was?”

“Karim Wade,” Ismael replied. “Tonight, I introduce you.”

Lomax finished his beer. “I don’t think I can go tonight,” he said. “I have a large number of images from Dakar I need to download to my computer.” He gestured to the man standing behind the bar. “Then I have to start processing the images in Photoshop, a time-consuming job.” He paused. “If it turns out Karim can arrange visits for us to some migrant camps in Mali and Burkina Faso, I’ll meet with him when we return from Podor on the boat.”

The barman came over. Lomax glanced at me. I nodded. Ismael hurriedly raised his bottle, catching Lomax’s attention. “Three more Flag beers,” Lomax said to the barman, ignoring François who had consumed nothing of his beer.

“I’ll go to meet Karim Wade tonight,” I said.

“I can’t go with you tonight,” François countered. “I have another meeting.” Then he put his bottle of beer to his lips and attempted to drink all of its contents in one long pull. But, he started choking. Lomax and I stared at him. Ismael quietly drank the rest of his beer, holding the bottle to his lips with one hand while with his other hand patting François on the back. Noticing the barman setting down three new bottles of beer, Ismael quickly placed his empty bottle on the table and picked up a full one. I watched Ismael, feeling my irritation rise.

“What time do you want to go tonight?” I said, picking up a full bottle too. Ismael was aware I was watching him, but he didn’t care. He finished his new beer almost instantly. I became even more annoyed.

“7:00,” Ismael answered. “I meet you in the lobby.” Ismael stood up, moved toward the door to the street, and disappeared. He didn’t seem unsteady in the least.

“How did it go today?” I asked, turning my attention to Lomax and François. Neither one of them replied. Lomax looked like he was about to go to sleep. François appeared to be thinking about something else entirely. “What are your impressions of Ismael?” I asked, looking at François.

François shrugged. “He’s an African,” he said, “doing whatever he can to stay alive, hustling. I have to go. Let me know if you need anything.”

Young Woman with Three Girls

Flamingo Restaurant, Karim Wade

After exiting Hôtel de La Résidence, Ismael and I walked south on Rue Blaise Diagne a short distance and then turned left on Rue Blanchot. We walked another 250 feet to Quai Roume, stretching along the banks of the Senegal River. It was almost 7:15pm. The sun, now completing its descent in the sky over the Atlantic Ocean less than a mile to the west, cast shadows over the streets of N’Dar. I saw no sign of the men who had been following Lomax and me through the streets.

When Ismael and I turned right on Quai Roume, we walked another 50 feet in a southerly direction toward Pont Faidherbe. Ismael came to a stop in front of an open iron door in a hedge extending along the road. The waters of the river were 30 feet away. They looked motionless, but they were not.

I stopped next to Ismael, realizing Quai Roume was completely deserted. Above the doorway was a large piece of sheet metal displaying a single word, Restaurant. In addition, two other metal signs, one on each side of the doorway, displayed the same words, Flamingo Restaurant.

Ismael’s skin assumed a gold tint in the rays of the setting sun. He broke his silence, saying, “We meet Karim here,” and we passed through the doorway carved out of the hedge, emerging into a compound. In the middle of a grassy area lay a pool of blue water. Around the pool were wrought-iron tables and chairs arranged in groups. An iron railing just beyond the tables on the opposite side of the pool marked the far edge of the property. Beyond the railing was the river, its darker waters catching here and there in the fading evening light.

Ismael and I walked toward a low building containing a kitchen. I could see a bar extending the length of a wall. Rows of bottles were visible on a series of shelves behind the wooden bar.

As Ismael lowered himself into a heavy metal chair at one of the tables, he waved to an African man at the bar; I sat down in another metal chair facing the pool. The barman brought two bottles of beer and placed them on the table, tilting it slightly to one side because either one of its legs was short or the grey flagstones were uneven.

Ismael took a swallow of beer while I admired the well-kept grounds. I imagined how appealing the setting would be to a tourist looking for a place to escape the heat and enjoy the pool.

Tensions, though, were rising steadily in the region. In the past, Senegal had enjoyed relative stability compared with its neighbors. But because of a decline in the country’s food production, including both the agricultural and fishing sectors, one based in Casamance and the other in St. Louis, more people went hungry. In St. Louis, despair among fishermen was evident. In Dakar, refugees fleeing war and famine from adjacent countries poured into broken-down neighborhoods. As migrants roamed the streets, Europeans and North Americans stayed away.

Clothes Hanging from a Balcony

“Deposits of gold have been discovered in the southeast along our border with Mali,” Ismael revealed, seeming to read my thoughts. “They provide hope,” he added. “I have a claim on a mid-sized plot in Diabougou,” he said, “with two partners.” He shifted in his wrought-iron chair. “We plan to start up our operations again soon. They are shut down right now.” I glanced at Ismael’s jewelry, but, at the same time, I also started having more doubts about his intentions.

A figure emerged suddenly from the hedge, entering the compound through the gate which Ismael and I had used. He was bulky, wearing a dark-blue suit jacket over a pair of white trousers. His appearance suggested someone overly fastidious and eager to stand out.

“I’m Karim Wade,” the figure announced. I stood up from the table, shook his hand, and introduced myself. In the presence of Karim, Ismael seemed to become deferential. The barman, too, reacted, bringing out a small tray with three more bottles of beer and some slices of pineapple on a plate. As soon as the barman placed the bottles on the table, Ismael began drinking compulsively.

“I can’t stay long,” Karim declared, sitting down. His English was good, but it also revealed the typical lilt of a native French speaker. Karim continued, “I have to go back to Dakar this evening and present a paper.” He took a sip of beer, grimaced, and looked at the label. I grinned and suppressed the grin. While Ismael had been drinking as many beers as he could get his hands on, Karim couldn’t even drink one.

“I’m a lecturer in political science at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop, specializing in human geography,” Karim explained, launching into a discussion of the economic and political forces at work in West Africa. “I study migration patterns,” Karim added, “making recommendations for policy changes to address strategic issues.”

I had heard similar words before.

While Karim expertly recited facts and figures, I already was aware of them and, very soon, stopped listening. The mobile phone lying on the table in front of Ismael, I noticed, vibrated off and on. Each time Ismael picked up the phone and glanced at it before putting it down again.

Karim finished talking, took a sip of beer again, and seemed to find the liquid still distasteful.

“Would you be interested in seeing the migration routes people are taking from Timbuktu in Mali to the U.N. camps in Burkina Faso?” Karim asked, then stood up. “I’m going to Timbuktu sometime in the next two weeks,” he continued. “You could go with me.” I noticed that his suit jacket and his white linen trousers were made from very expensive materials. They were immaculate and showed no wrinkles, in contrast to Ismael’s polo shirt and jeans. “Let me know,” Karim said, handing me a card with his name and number printed on it. He shook my hand. “I assume you will write about these issues when you leave Senegal and return to Washington, D.C.”

Karim turned and disappeared through the hedge onto Quai Roume.

I sat down again, staring into the night. I still didn’t see anyone on the restaurant grounds. On the river beyond, no boats were visible in the encroaching night. From a stereo speaker somewhere behind me, music came out and seemed to float in the air. I recognized the group and the singer. “Baaba Maal,” I remarked. I raised my head and turned in the direction of a speaker mounted on a beam on the patio’s roof. Baaba Maal, who came from Podor, was one of Africa’s most popular musicians, touring constantly across Europe and Africa.

“Baaba Maal is in St. Louis now,” Ismael replied. “He just returned from Germany. You might see him tonight. I saw him last night. He was good.”

I looked at my watch. 8:47. Ismael’s phone was flashing.

Ismael picked it up and talked for a few moments in Wolof. Then he closed the phone, put it into a pocket on the front of his shirt, and drained his beer. He turned to me, but said nothing. He gestured to the barman.

“Pay the man,” Ismael instructed.

**

#Africa, #Travelogue #Africa, #Art, #Beauty, #ClimateChange, #Environment

[khorazir]

A cartographic plot

The first part of this was written for Spark. I went a bit over the wordcount while talking about the importance of places in my fanfics, and decided to post the entire thing here on tumblr. The bit published in Spark is above, the rest below the cut.

I started writing BBC Sherlock fanfiction in the back of my parents’ car after a week spent cycling in the French Alps. For years, my father had talked about tackling the Col du Galibier, a pass of Tour de France fame, by bicycle. In the summer of 2012, we finally did it. Ah, but Sherlock and cycling? Where’s the connection? When I began writing the story, scribbling on whatever scrap of paper was available in the car, at first the only connection was that I loved both Sherlock and cycling, and that my recent experiences in the mountains, spending hours in the saddle arduously ascending winding roads, had made a deep impression on me. I was desperate for an outlet for my pent up inspiration.

Eventually, what started out as a cracky premise for a Post-Reichenbach Sherlock story became Over Hill and Under Hill, a fanfic of 75k words and the first finished instalment of my Over/Under series. In the story, the extreme, beautiful landscape of Savoyen serves as a backdrop for the Baker Street boys to deal with the fallout of the Fall (written before Series 3 aired, my version of Sherlock’s reunion with John is different from canon) and their feelings for each other while basically doing what I had just done: climbing Alpine passes on their bicycles. At some point, a case creeps into the story, too, which Sherlock solves from abroad.

Apart from telling my version of the reunion, I wanted to write a story about grandiose nature, the hardship of ascending two thousand metres of altitude on a bicycle, the elation of standing on top of the pass glancing over the mountains, and the rush of adrenaline during the steep descents. I yearned to include some of the strange people we’d met on the way and who return as minor characters in the story, such as the chap cycling all the way in tight black swimming trunks and nothing else. How fortunate for the storyteller that the long ascents give John and Sherlock time to think and to talk, while the descents make their adrenaline junkies’ hearts soar. They have to share a room and a double bed at the hotel, of course, which leads to ... things. The plot itself is structured by the landscape, almost following the roads they cycle on bend for bend and landmark for landmark. Weather conditions such as hot, relentless sun and a sudden thunderstorm add a touch of drama. Stops along the way provide incentives for reflections, conversations and realisations, and for the boys getting to know each other again after their separation.

I was surprised by how well it worked to transfer these very urban characters so closely associated with London into this new setting and unfamiliar activity, keeping their essence (hopefully) while letting the landscape and its particular blend of beauty and danger work its magic, moulding the two men into the couple they hadn’t realised they’d been all along.

Looking back, the way Over Hill and Under Hill came about shouldn’t have surprised me. Of the books and stories I grew up with, and which have left a lasting impression on me, most have a very specific setting and precise sense of place. Be it the stories by Astrid Lindgren, mostly set in the Swedish region of Småland during the time of her childhood in the early 20th century, or Vasapark and the small islands around Stockholm of her adult life, or Otfried Preußler’s masterful descriptions of the Lausitz region in Eastern Germany where his captivating novel Krabat is set. Or be it JRR Tolkien, the master of making the fictional yet reality-grounded landscape of Middle-earth absolutely integral to the plot and structure of his writings. Even if many believe Middle-earth to be found in New Zealand, based on Peter Jackson’s film adaptations, the true inspiration for the Shire are Tolkien’s beloved West Midlands. The hemlock glade where Beren sees Lúthien dance for the first time in The Silmarillion is based on a similar glade near Great Haywood Tolkien watched his wife dance. And the gruesome Dead Marshes on the borders of Mordor Tolkien experienced himself on the war-torn battlefields of the Somme. I think it’s safe to claim that the landscapes that he encountered as a child and young man seeped into his writings, in many cases becoming not just interesting tableaux to add colour to the stories, but important tools to provide characterisation, suspense, and poignant reminders of the preciousness of the natural world.

For me, the spatial setting of a story and its detailed description have always been an important requirement for my enjoyment of a tale. The “willing suspension of disbelief”, to quote Tolkien, works best for me when the setting of a story is as detailed and well observed as possible, grounded in physical laws and restrictions as well as the distinctive laws of the story. Weather, vegetation, distances, languages and the effects they have on the characters have to be realistic – both when existing and imagined places are described –, otherwise I’m quickly pulled out of the narrative and lose interest (by the way, this is one of my major gripes with “The Final Problem”: the way it sets at naught many of the basic “laws” established in previous episodes of Sherlock). Hints at local customs and peculiarities add colour, depth and believability to a setting, providing the characters with material to rub against and to engage with, to test their limits and limitations.

For me as an author (and illustrator), researching locations for fanfics or art is part of the enjoyment of writing, especially when it can be linked with visits to said locations (my excuse for frequent trips to the UK – I’m based in Germany). I’m a stickler for detail born out of a profound interest in the natural world, in botany, eco-systems, geology and geography, but also in the way historic events shape and influence landscape and its inhabitants. All these aspects I need to see reflected in fiction, and rendered faithfully, or else I can’t take a setting seriously, not the characters and their motivations. Most of the fanfics I’ve enjoyed so far have a very strong sense of place, be it London, Edinburgh, New York, Continental Europe, the Near East or the English countryside. In my own stories, I try to emulate this, preferring to write about places I’ve come to know through repeated visits and extensive literary and online research, as well as correspondence with locals.

Researching my WW2/codebreaker AU Enigma constitutes a special challenge in this respect, because it not only requires me to gather information about existing locations like Bletchley Park, Kent or London, but also wartime Britain in general, removed not just by space but by more than seventy intervening years. Although the internet is a brilliant tool for research, while trying to find out more about the history of the Enigma locations, visits have brought the places to life for me, particularly Bletchley Park. The venue has been transformed into a commendable museum that seeks to recreate the atmosphere of it’s hay-day as a secret codebreaker base through reconstructed huts and historical installations, as well as information about important figures such as Alan Turing, and live demonstrations of his inventions. Interestingly, at the museum, I even found factual confirmation of what I had considered an invention for my story. When it came to locating Sherlock’s and John’s billet in Bletchley in 1941, Google Maps was of limited help: most of Bletchley was built after the war – it’s now part of Milton Keynes –, and from the map, it was almost impossible to tell which parts of it would have existed during the war and which were built afterwards. Old maps or arial photographs were scarce. So I used a bit of deductive reasoning and common sense, basically looking at the main roads leading in and out of town and assuming that they would have been built first. On a whim, I chose one of those thoroughfares, Buckingham Road, and placed the billet there. And lo and behold, during a subsequent visit to the Bletchley Park Museum, I found a photograph depicting billets of the park’s staff situated on the very road.

Lucky coincidences aside, nothing beats a visit to a location one wants to write about. However sometimes, due to constraints of time or money, visits aren’t possible and research from afar has to suffice. I worked like that when I started writing The Summer Boy. I’d been toying with the idea of a story partially set in Sherlock’s childhood for a long while. 1980s nostalgia played a part since I was a child during that decade as well, as did the desire to get to know the character better and to speculate what made him the man we encounter in the show, after glimpses of his past shown in Series 3.

However, a fitting setting for my story to unfold long eluded me. I was striving for an atmosphere similar to that of one of my all-time favourite films, “Stand By Me”, a bitter-sweet yet authentic depiction of childhood with a strong sense of spatial setting. I wanted the location to be a rural one, preferably close to London, with a distinctive landscape and somewhat fragile eco-system, the partial destruction of which would feature in the story to symbolise a place Sherlock could not really return to, but that offered him the chance of “growing up“ and finding an alternative retreat through his developing relationship with John.

Given the canonical links Sherlock Holmes has with Sussex, I began looking for potential locations along the Sussex coast and in the South Downs. I didn’t just want to invent a village or landmark, but wanted the story that was going to contain mythical and supernatural elements (based on how it’s interpreted, at least), to be set in a real place. The landscape and particular vegetation of the chalky downlands were going to play an important part in the story. And remember: stickler for detail. The plants, animals and historical sites Sherlock encounters had to be correct. So I researched the South Downs and their particular chalk-based vegetation, read up on South Down sheep, about Bronze and Iron Age settlements and their remains, and about the myths and legends of the area. I found striking similarities to Terry Pratchett’s masterful depiction of the Chalk in his Tiffany Aching series (The Wee Free Men and its four sequels), which is doubtlessly based on the chalky Wiltshire Downs he lived on. The link to Pratchett, his blend of real, meticulously observed, and fantastical elements based on myths and local culture (which are again inspired by the landscapes they originated in) seemed a good foil for my own story, which grew to contain lots of references to his works. I even partly modelled some of the characters on figures from his series of books.

Still, the dilemma remained to find a concrete place, preferably one featuring an ancient site or landmark such as a hill-fort or a barrow that would function as a focal place for young Sherlock to discover and to spend time at with the mysterious friend he encounters there, and who seems to be a personification of the South Downs, and of summer. By chance (and Google Image Search), I stumbled across a place called Chanctonbury Ring, a henge of trees planted in the 18th century on an Iron Age hill-fort. The South Downs Way leads past it, it commands a good view all around. Sheep graze there in summer, and on the grassy and partly wooded slopes surrounding it many rare plants grow. It’s in walking distance of a quaint village (Washington), which I could use as a base for Sherlock to be accommodated at with relatives. And what ultimately made Chanctonbury Ring the perfect location for my story was the fact that during the Great Storm of 1987, the trees of the henge were almost completely destroyed. I had wanted to set the story in that very year, because I imagine BBC Sherlock’s age to be around Benedict’s and my own (we are only seven months apart), which would make Sherlock around nine in the story, pre-pubescent. Perfect. His fake gravestone from TRF even says 1977, so that fit. And we all know what’s said about coincidences and lazy universes ...

So, perfect spatial and temporal setting found, I still faced the sad fact that I hadn’t actually visited Chanctonbury Ring, nor could see any chance of getting there soon. Nevertheless, the story demanded to be written. Consulting Google Maps as well as photographs helped to get an idea of the place. I looked at similar places in my home country across the Channel. Thus equipped, I started writing (the muse wouldn’t suffer any delay and kept pestering me until I relented), in the hope to actually be able to visit Chanctonbury Ring before I had come too far, enabling me to revise potential mistakes.

Eventually, when the story was already half written, and during the wrong season of the year (the story is set in the summer, I went in December), I visited Chanctonbury Ring. I was pleased to find that my descriptions of the landscape were surprisingly accurate based on what research I’d done, although the visit did add a feeling for the place that hopefully enabled me to make the latter chapters more poignant.

Arguably the most important location for writing Sherlock fanfic is London, a place I’ve become very familiar with in recent years due to frequent visits with long walks and a full timetable of museums, exhibitions, galleries and cultural events, lots of reading about the history of the city, a strong interest in current events, and constant curiosity that lets me explore places off the beaten tracks.

London was one of my favourite places even before I my obsession with BBC Sherlock happened. Actually, I’m convinced the way London is portrayed in the series is one of the main reasons Sherlock struck such a chord with me. Apart from the humour, the obvious chemistry of the protagonists, the cleverness of the dialogues and the overall aesthetics, it was the way modern London was depicted and made an integral character that fascinated me so much about the show. Despite large parts of Sherlock being filmed in Cardiff and elsewhere, they nevertheless feel like parts of the British capital just off the main tourist tracks. Sherlock’s London is both familiar and strange, ugly and beautiful, dark and bright, historic and modern. The character’s particular way of focussing on seemingly unimportant details is reflected in the cinematography. The choice of unusual settings and locations such as Speedy’s Café, Battersea Power Station, the streets of Soho, Leinster Garden, a disused Tube station and the banks of the Thames add atmosphere and colour, making London a living, breathing character in the show – as it was in the original Conan Doyle stories. Occasionally, a touch of Victoriana, ever present even in modern London, creeps into the series, linking it back to the stories it’s based on. Sherlock has definitely rekindled my love of London, or rather, has fanned the already existing embers into hot flames. In the sequels to Over Hill and Under Hill, and several of my other Sherlock fanfics, I’ve tried to honour this tradition by including curious locations in, and little-known minutiae about London to make it come to life as an integral part of the narration, and also to create credibility for the setting.

I have plans to dive even deeper into London past and present. For about a year and half I’ve been working on a Sherlock/London graphic novel in which the location becomes centre point. The story is simple: to alleviate boredom, on his birthday, Sherlock is sent on a “treasure hunt” through London, moving from riddle to riddle and clue to clue set, from one little known location to the next, discovering facts and anecdotes about what he visits in the process. The idea for the book was born out of my many walks through London, along the South Bank, through the City on Sunday mornings when it’s like a ghost town, deserted, along the Regent’s Canal to Camden and on to Hampstead Heath, through the East End and the West End, Chinatown, Soho, Bloomsbury, through Chelsea and Kensington, and further out to the Docklands and Greenwich. I’ve discovered real gems through these walks, some of which Sherlock is going to visit as well – as many as I can realistically squeeze into twenty-four hours without completely exhausting the poor man.

The project is going to occupy me for a good while yet. Also planned are two sequels to The Summer Boy. One is based on a painting I did for the Holmestice Exchange and which depicts John and Sherlock in a disused Tube station. There was some clamouring for a story based on the image, so I’m going to oblige. Since the Tube is such an integral part of London and I’ve long been fascinated with its history, I look forward to researching it.

The second sequel is going to be set in the Lake District. Some of the research for this new story has already been done, and another visit to the area has been booked for the autumn. I haven’t really thought of a plot for the story yet, some vague ideas aside, but I’m very sure that the landscape of Cumbria will provide it once I’m there. A cartographic plot, as usual.

[workingontravel]

I live in between these places, emotionally

You can read a Swedish translation of the text here. I first met Elizabeth Ward at the festival ImPulsTanz in 2012. I vaguely remember being part of a conversation in which she said she had been living in a suitcase for years. Whenever I met her again after that, in different places around Europe, I kept thinking about her statement – what it meant for her to live in a suitcase and how she got to that state of being. With this project, I finally got a chance to ask her about that and about other things that concern travelling and work. These are some of the answers she gave me. Elizabeth Ward: I had stopped flying in the mid-nineties because it was so polluting. I’m in my forties now, but I grew up with discussions about transportation, justice and environmental sustainability in Elementary School. I grew up in a part of the US that had been countryside, in the South outside Atlanta. In the eighties, when my parents moved there, the whole metro area had 300,000 people. Now it has five million. It was a kind of urban development that could make a thirteen-year old go: “This is really bad.” You could just watch the way they were ploughing down forest and building these sprawling, stretching suburbs. Where my parents live, there are no buses. This is a legacy from a white supremacist legislator in the sixties, and a community that wanted to keep areas segregated even if the federal government told them they couldn’t. So, their way of doing that was through transportation. I remember a teacher said – with pride – that Atlanta hoped to be the LA of the South East: the same kind of vast urban landscape where you have to have a car to move. Then, on the news you heard about the smog in LA and the traffic jams. All these people feeling entitled to developing a city in this way, having these huge cars… I somehow connected flying to it. I’ve forgotten the exact comparison, but I read something, like, every time a jet plane goes off it’s the equivalent of travelling by car from San Francisco to Buenos Aires. So, I started to always take the bus or train.

The ironic thing is that I fly all the time now. It changed around 2002. I was living on the West Coast. I really liked my life, but I felt flying was a necessary evil if wanted to work with dance on a deeper level. People would come back from Europe saying things like, “You know, artists there, they don’t even have a second job!” Because of this, I knew that I would move, first to New York and then to Europe. Which is funny, because I hadn’t even been to Europe. So, this whole thing is about more than travelling for me, it’s about immigrating. When I moved to New York, me and the choreographer DD Dorvillier did a bunch of projects together. She had funding, good funding for being in the US. But she didn’t have the type of funding where she could rent a studio every day for four weeks and hire me for rehearsing all that time, so that I could cover my rent. She did have enough money that she could fly me to France. I could sublet my room, and we could work for a week or two, and I could get some amount of money that felt good, but it didn’t have to cover my rent. So, the two of us were living in New York City, but rehearsing at PAF (Performing Arts Forum) in St Erme. Some others from the New York dance field were doing similar things. You had to get creative to make working conditions if you lived there. One thing that could mean was leaving.

That thing about living in a suitcase is true. I was in Vienna performing in 2008 when I found out that my roommates and I had been evicted from our apartment in Brooklyn. We didn’t live in a rent-controlled building, and we were basically pushed out because the area was becoming more gentrified. That summer, the family above us moved out, and two NYU students moved in. They paid double, and the landlords realised they could get that. We were six people in our flat, but that raise was still too much for us. I just never got an apartment in New York again after that. And I didn’t have a base for at least four years. I crossed the ocean fairly often to get a stamp in my visa so that I could continue to be a tourist in Europe. If I needed a place to go in between projects, I’d go to PAF. And I was always carrying stuff around. There’s this balance between having all you need and not having anything so that you don’t have to carry it. I was always feeling like I failed in both directions.

I’m a nomadic-minded person. I moved a few times in my childhood, and also as a kid I was travelling a lot to see family. There’s something about moving that I just enjoy. I like how your understanding of things can shift when you realise that in different parts of the world, people do it differently. Simple things, like you don’t have to have a shower curtain. What I don’t like so much with travelling is living somewhere, creating a community, and then letting it all go, leaving for somewhere else and restarting it all again. When it comes to friendships, some stay with me but the majority just disappear. Not for lack of care, it’s just impossible. I get to meet so many people. That’s great, but when I’m always on the move it can get to a point where it’s oversaturated, like during the years in the suitcase. It’s a social sprawl, where sometimes I don’t even remember people later. For example, I ran into someone who was asking me a bunch of questions and I was trying really hard to place her, and she was like, “Oh, we cooked that dinner together at PAF!” That rang a bell but it felt really not cool to not remember. At one point, I was invited to a two-year project with a guarantee of money in Austria. That allowed me to finally get an artist visa, and it really changed my travelling patterns. I got a base in Vienna, didn’t have to carry stuff around, and stopped going to PAF. It just didn’t make sense to go there when I had a desk and a bed of my own.

I have continued travelling quite a bit, though. This year to Sweden, Belgium, Brussels, Romania, USA… I’m very happy for the international work. But something funny is that when I lived in a suitcase, I would have tried to find a place to stay in, for example Sweden, in between rehearsals. You know, a month or two: a short-time apartment or staying on someone’s couch. But now, the cost of living is too high compared to going back to Vienna. And I don’t want to stay on someone else’s couch now. It just makes more sense to come back in between. This weekend, I was away for just three days to work. So, in a way I travel more back and forth now than before. At first, I didn’t find airports relaxing. The closed environment is draining. It’s stressful to go through security. And flying dries out my skin. I’m neurotic about it, always drinking a lot of water. If I’m flying long distance, I always have an aisle seat so that I can chug water and pee as much as I want without having to disturb someone. I always have a moisturiser with me. For a while I had as a ritual to go to the duty free and look for the most expensive, fancy French moisturiser and put it on before boarding. Then ten years ago, I met a meditation teacher who told me airports are great places to practise because you encounter so many people that you don’t have any relationship to. Something is also intrinsically anxiety-producing in going through security and being taken up into the air and all this stuff. So, airports have become an interesting place to work on anxiety for me. They’re also interesting because they are this transit place, always kind of the same, wherever you go. Airports have their own culture. People go to sleep on the floor, take off their shoes. I saw a woman with a trolley full of suitcases that she couldn’t fit in through the bathroom door. So, she just let it outside, with her phone on top, in the main hallway. It’s like because she went through security, she had this idea that she was safe. Or like, people brushing their teeth in the common bathroom. These are things that you’re probably not going to see the same people do in a restaurant or in a public place.

Just the other day, I had a conversation about transportation and the environment with a friend who works at TanzQuartier in Vienna. She said programmers are starting to politically discuss the practice of just going wherever to see the opening of a show. And another friend told me she turned down the opportunity to go and play in Russia because she was thinking of flying and what it means. And now you are asking me about it. Five years ago, that wouldn’t even be a question. But the last couple of months, people have started talking about it. And it’s funny, because these things were always in the back of my mind. It’s interesting to be confronted with it now. It doesn’t feel so strong anymore. If I were invited to Russia to perform, I would probably say yes, even though I’ve been there before: for the pleasure of touring, showing my work to a new audience, getting out of my bubble.

You know, to take that step to do what I wanted when I was younger, I had to let the worry recede. Nowadays, I feel I have to travel by plane. Also to the US, still. I don’t want to just cut things with friends and family. I feel I live in between these places, emotionally.

It’s not about hanging on to everyone or everything. Now, when I go back to New York, for example, I contact less and less people. If you’re filling your schedule, you’re not leaving it open to what is coming up in that moment. And sometimes when I go back to a place, I’m too exhausted to open up past stories. This wouldn't happen with a best friend, but sometimes even if I like someone and think I want to meet that person again, I realise that I don't even let them know when I’m in their city. I still wish them well, but it can feel exhausting to open all those stories again.

It’s interesting what friendships stay, how they’re maintained. Of my old friends I’m mostly in touch with a friend from Portland who now lives in Italy. With some friendships, it also doesn’t matter how long it takes. I met a friend that I hadn’t seen in fifteen years. It felt like no time had passed. It’s sometimes a question of how one can reach out to each other, what technique is accessible. One friend from Paraguay I didn’t see in ten years. She kept on reaching out occasionally, but I didn’t hear from her in a year. Then suddenly, she sent me a photo of her farm via Whatsapp. Now she does that every week or two. That way of being social, via photos, is fairly new, I think. Our way of touring is also fairly new. An older idea of a tour would be that you have five cities lined up and you do things one city at the time. But the last years, if you get a show you get it whenever. And then you just pop back and forth. That’s the way Ryanair and other low-price companies have influenced the contemporary dance scene. It made this kind of popping around possible. The flight is so cheap that it stays the option. We try to maximise everything. I like to travel by train, though, if I can afford the ticket and have the time. Most of the time when I travel for work, I don’t have that time.

We don’t know what the future will look like. But I think we can never go back. We can only go somewhere where we haven’t been before.