8 September 2021
I have visited Munich several times in the past so looking for new experiences and sites. Munich is more than beer and English Garden. And a lot of the best museums are grouped around the Königsplatz making it convenient to visit a plethora of art and artists. Unbeknownst to someone having not visited Munich for a couple decades, even the old is pretty new.
(more…)8 September 2021
I have to admit travel planning is NOT what it used to be. And being a solo traveler, I might be getting too old for this worry. I am used to 50 years of getting on a plane and going wherever and whenever I wanted. I always knew my independent trips were numbered at some point, but Covid was not what I expected would be the fly in the ointment. Even less did I think the situation would be worsened because a gaggle of nationalistic fascist would threaten the freedoms of the United States of America.
(more…)Since becoming a first state to legalize marijuana in 2012, its residents have taken it to heart. Walking this mile high city is a great but pungent experience.
I judge a city by several criteria: public transportation, food, cultural activities, architecture, and walkability. I was pleased to quickly learn Denver has it all. I couldn’t have chosen a better city to roam for a few days. It took me no time at all to fall in love with Denver.
(more…)There is the old adage that “You can’t go home again.” It comes from Thomas Wolfe’s 1934 novel of the same name.
There are many reasons why this adage probably is true. “Home” will never be the same after an absence of decades. In the off-chance of becoming overly nostalgic, one should visit their old childhood stomping grounds; but at the same time, childhood memories can be shattered by the reality of how things have changed.
I briefly visited my childhood home, drove its roads and observed its changes. It was not pretty.
(more…)Illinois – The Land of Lincoln: 18-22 June, 2021
NAPERVILLE
Travel writers love to make up lists of the “10 Best” be it for living there or just visiting. I have been fooled before by pretty pictures and a tourist board’s rosy use of adjectives. But in the case of Naperville, the recommendation was what these flâneries needed as a welcome respite from the trees and seas of Michigan.
Yooper Blooper: June 16
“Why would anyone build the most spectacular bridge in the world at the top of Michigan instead of at Detroit where everyone could see it?”
—letter from an irate “troll” taxpayer to the Governor of Lower Michigan, 1980—
The taxpaying troll’s question reminds me of the man who lived close to my hometown in Indiana. In 2011 he wrote to a local newspaper: “A lot of deer get hit by cars west of Crown Point on U.S. 231. There are too many cars to have the deer crossing here. The deer crossing sign needs to be moved to a road with less traffic.”
Perhaps deer are flâneries.
(more…)Yooperland: June 13-15
“The best thing that could happen to the U.P. would be for someone to bomb the bridge.”
—John Voelker, former Michigan Supreme Court Justice and the author of Anatomy of a Murder and Yooper resident—
Well, I have to say blowing Da Bridge might be a little extreme. Permit me to say the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is unique and it is obvious Yoopers want to keep it that way. Too late. Hordes of tourist are upon them each summer. Nancy and I, flâneries at heart, wanted to discover the U.P. This is what we found:
(more…)