World Places
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U.S. Places
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Places I still want to go
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This is a little town in China (little meaning that only 3 million people live there). To get there you take the train north from Hong Kong; cross the Chinese border on foot; and get on another train for a 6 hour ride to this amazing place. No one there speaks any english, and there are no signs with roman based characters anywhere. It's the first time in my life that I ever thought - hum, so this is what it is like to be completely illiterate.
Impressions: Fantastic Food (rule number one: Eat it first, then ask what it was.) Phone company billing by abbacus. Arriving to chaos at the train station. Buddhist Monestaries and shrines. Commerce on the street. Drinking WAY TO MUCH. A wonderful young lady translator who was a wonderful human being.
I always wanted to go to Hong Kong before the Communist Chinese took over. I never thought I would actually make it. But I did. What a place. The lights. The life. The subway. It's one of the most alive places on the earth.
First impression - the notice in big red letters that said DRUG SMUGGLERS WILL BE EXECUTED. That sure made an impression. Clean city. Safe to wander around in no matter what time of night. HOT food. Kareoke singing. Late night wandering and dinner. Shrimp the size of your hand. Fruit that smells like rotten garbage, but if you can hold your nose it's not that bad.
This trip was no fun. Spent a week being derisively grilled by a group of engineers on how are system worked - being told it was no good - then finding out at the end of the week that their system was held together with bubble gum and prayer. The only day off we got.. we went to the race track. Which might have been fun for someone else, but I WORK AT RACE TRACKS.. and find almost zero entertainment value in them. A total working trip.
Another Business Trip. I spent 9 weeks there, with one week off in the middle to fly to London and tour around there for a while while thei"tested" the software without me. This is a beautiful city in a wonderful country. The people were universally friendly, and the weather was great. I got to enjoy 2 spring times that year. Though the sun going down at midnight and coming up again at 3:00 am threw me for a lopp for a bit.
Ever since my first years in college I had wanted to go to Athens and see the parthenon. I managed to on my honeymoon for my second marriage. We took a cruise that started here, and ended in Istanbul. We made it to the Oracle of Delphi, and it was all just as fantastic as I had always thought it would be.
The Oracle of Delphi was particularly interesting in one part. There is this long flat wall. And if you get close to it, you can see that there is writting carved into it... nothing consistent, just hundreds of bits of writing carved into the wall by hundreds of different hands. Now, you'd think that this would not be allowed, or that it happened some time after the Oracle fell into disuse and was simply graffiti. Well, you'd be wrong. There was a tradition at Delphi that, if any slave managed to make it to the grounds of the Oracle, they were automatically free men, and their freedom was carved into the wall next to the temple of the Oracle.
Wow. That is just too cool. And once it's explained to you, you start to realize how many different carvings there are, and how many people were freed this way. Kinda chokes one up.
Istanbul is a is a GREAT city. I would go back there in a heartbeat. There is so much to explore there. One of the things I had always wanted to see in my life was the Hagia Sofia Mosque. Ever since I had first heard about it in a freshman art history class I had wanted to go there. It is absolutely spectacular.. I could spend a couple of days just exploring that (assuming I'd be allowed to).
There is so much history in Istanbul. It was the crossroads between east and west at one time. I would love to spend time going through the markets.. the old churches and mosques... and trying out restaurants. I'd also like to learn the water taxi system there.. Like buses in any U.S. city, Istanbul has boats that ply the river that divides the two halves of the city carrying thousands of people every day from one place to another... this is really a city based on water.
There is so much history, so many museums and monuments, so many mosques and churches, and so many markets that you could easily spend a month here and never get tired of it. I know I'd like to.
Vienna
Weidhoffen an den Ybbs
I LOVE LONDON
I mean.. this city is so entertaining on many levels. If you're a history buff (I am a little.) then you can't miss this town and everything there is to see there. If you're a museum buff - well, the British Museum is second to none. I got to see the Elgin Marbles there, which helped alot when I finally saw the Parthenon. I also saw the Rosetta stone - one of histories greatest finds. I spent ana afternoon in the British Genelogical Societies library trying to confirm and old rumor about my families history (NOTE: It is not confirmed. The story about Lady Jane Cartwright has no merit).
This was a business trip, but also a complete joy. The people were wonderful. The work was interesting. My company was fun. People in Argentina don't know what vegetables are.. if you go you better like meat. There is a kind of specialty restaraunt there that just serves course after course after course of meat. You sit down.. and keep eating until you can't eat anymore. Oh.. and each course is different kind of meat.
(in alphabetical order)
I stopped in Daphne, Alabama on my cross country trip with the Volvo I bought on e-bay. Seemed nice. It is just across the bay from Mobile, Alabama. I never realized that Mobile was such a huge shipping port. Hell, I never even realized it was on the water. The bay is impressive.
Grand Canyon. And a strange place called Quartzite. Very very strange.
Passed thru once when I was a kid. No lasting impression. I was 9 at the time. What do you want?
I love California. It is my current home. I orginally moved to Los Angeles. And later moved to San Francisco, and from there to San Rafael.
I love the variety in this state. Deserts, Forests, Oceans, Moutains, Snow, Beaches - it's all here in California.
I'm kinda fond of the deserts myself. I like how empty is all is. Growing up in Delaware, well.. there were always people in every direction. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place and a beautiful state, but you can never ever get away from man-made sound in some form or other. Trip on out to Death Valley; park the car; walk for a couple of hours, and the nearest human could be 15 miles away. No traffic sounds. No people sounds. Not even jet traffic overhead. Nothing but the wind and your own heart beat. (And, of course, when you talk to yourself... or is that giving up too much.) It's a little like being on another planet, and the only person you have to depend on is yourself. - Oh yeah.. I like to go alone.
Denver & Colorado Springs. Air was too dry for my tastes.
That's that place on the freeway after New York that you buzz thru on the way to other places, aint it?
Wait.. isn't that the same thing they say about Delaware... it's that place you buzz through on I-95 when going from Washington to New York. 10 minutes and it's over. (But 2 toll plazas !!!)
Grew up there for goodness sake. The whole state from top to bottom.
My favorite place in Florida is Key West. The southern most tip of the state, and the 48 contiguous states. I like it because it is so laid back.. a kind of contnous low key party that sometimes becomes a high grade party when some event or other is in town.
Atlanta. And passing thru.
The "big Island". Saw lava flowing. I loved the volcanos.
Around the whole island. Nude Beaches. Nice Nice Nice.
This is the best of them so far. The best beach in the world.
Chicago. OH MY GOD.. the most depressing dream of my life I had while in Chicago.
Went there recently (2002) for a neices wedding. Reminded me of Delaware.
New Orleans. Wow.. what a town
Portland and the White Mountains area.
The eastern shore. Annapolis. Passing thru on the way to DC and points south. Baltimore.
Boston for a week once. Passing thru on the way to New England.
Detroit. And some hurried drives up and down the state trying to get the right parts for the work I was doing to the places they needed to be.
I married into a LARGE family. Went to Minneapolis to visit a future sister-in-law. Didn't see much of the place, but did manage to buy an engagement ring there!!!
Mississippi is another state I passed through on my cross country e-bay auto buy. I didn't stop in this state, and can't recall a thing about it.
Las Vegas. And a small junction in the road about 50 miles from Death Valley, in the absolute middle of nowhere, where I ran into a place called the SHADY LADY Ranch. Who goes there? Who works there? Next time I'm stopping for a drink.
The middle of the state.
Both the Turnpike and the Freeway. An interesting evening in the Newark Airport once. Cape May - gorgeous place.
The only place I've been in New Mexico is the Carlsbad Caverns. Now, these are out in the middle of NOWHERE, and it's kind of a miracle that anyone comes out that far to see em. But they are totally worth it. I plan on going again, and staying a couple days to do all the trails in the mine, and see the bats come out at night.
New York City, many times. Long Island (used to work there). The Catskills once on the way back from Vermont.
My family has deep roots here. Spent many a summer in Charlotte, and the Smokey Mountains. A lot of great memories from there. (Note: South of Charlotte where the International Airport is located is a township named after the settlers of that region in the earl 1800's - My family. It's a little strange to wander thru an old cemetary and see your own name over and over and over again.)
A town south of Oklahoma City.. the name of which I forget. Flew there alone when I was 9 and spent some time with friends of the family. I remember it being a really pleasent place.
Portland. A couple of times. Nothing special. Never made it into town actually.
Philadelphia plenty. Gettysburg. Pocono Mountains where I worked a summer. Kennet Square where I had my first job.
Visiting with another college friend near Providence. Hit the Hamptons while there.
Some time with relatives again. And passing thru to points south. Spent a week in Charleston. The moss is impressive as are the remaining plantation buildings.
I drove across Texas.. the whole state. Damn it's big. I entered the state from Louisianna driving across country. I stopped in Houston, and did a days worth of work at the Sam Houston Race Park. Then I drove to Fort Stockton. From there I went north into New Mexico to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. And then back down until I got to El Paso and up into Arizona. Texas would take a while to explore... since it takes so long to get from one place to another. I don't know how they did it on horses.
Pretty much the whole length of the state. With particular stops in White River Junction where my best friend from college (the first time around) lives
The Blue Ridge Parkway starts here. Beautiful drive.
Smithsonian. National Gallery. Capitol. White House. D.A.R. museum and library. Washington Monument. Went there as a kid on field trips. Went there as a teen during anti-war demonstrations. Went there as an adult and spent DAYS in the National Archives (going in thru the back door - I never even realized that I could go to the other side of the building and see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - I just wanted to get to the research rooms).