World 66
April 28, 2005
At World66 you can create maps to visually display all the countries, states, or other political bodies you’ve visited. You can also help build a world travelers’ website with content written by world travelers — what a great idea! Here’s where I’ve been in the U.S.:
Actually, I’ve also lived in many of them. I thought I’d seen a lot of the world, until I created my world map and discovered that the land mass of Caribbean and South Pacific islands don’t look like much compared to the continents! Nonetheless, I took the travel type quiz to discover I’m a:
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Your travel type: Culture Buff
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The culture buff needs to see a museum, an art gallery, a 16-th century church every day during his holiday. When he travels he is always well prepared. He has read history books, speaks a few words of the lingo, knows about the strange habits the locals have.
New York City Here I Come!
April 28, 2005
Looks like my urge to travel is going to sated sooner than I thought, although probably still not soon enough. My best friend and I are heading to NYC for Memorial Day weekend (which also happens to be her birthday!) I can’t wait to get there and explore. Even though I’ve been there a number of times, it just feels good to get out of my home and see a different part of the world, even if only for a few days.
Time to start planning my trip after that!
Valentien Paintings
April 27, 2005
Visitors to northern California will have the opportunity to view the first tour showing of A. R. Valentien’s California watercolors since the exhibit debuted in San Diego in December 2003. The joint project of the San Diego Natural History Museum and the Irvine Museum brought 80 of Valentien’s 1094 botanical paintings to public view almost a century after their creation. Philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps commissioned Valentien in 1908 to paint all the California wildflowers. The project extended to include grasses, ferns, and trees over the following ten years. The Scripps estate donated the collection to the San Diego Natural History Museum in 1933. The Cincinnati (OH) Art Museum owns approximately 100 of Valentien’s earlier California paintings. Valentien and his wife were well-known decorators with the Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati. The exhibit includes examples of Valentien’s Rookwood pottery, landscapes in oil, historical photographs, and personal artifacts. It is showing at the Oakland Museum of California until December 4. 
Hours
Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday, noon - 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
First Friday of each month open until 9 p.m.
Museum closed on these holidays:
New Years Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day
The Oakland Museum of California is located in downtown Oakland, one block from the Lake Merritt BART station and a few blocks from highway 880. Parking is available in our underground garage, or you can park in the lot located at the Kaiser Events Center next to the museum on 10th Street.
April in Paris!
April 27, 2005
As the old song says, “April in Paris”. And one of the better ways to see the city is from the ubiquitous tour boats that ply the Seine River, which winds its way through Paris, looping from the southwest arrondissements 12 and 13, through the heart, to exit heading southeast through the 15th and 16th. This view is from La Rive Gauche, the famous Left Bank where writers and artists once haunted, near the Orsay Museum. Across the river, the Tuileries gardens burst into colorful spring flowers at this time of year. It’s sometimes a bit windy, and showers cause a chill, giving us ample excuses to frequent the quaint sidewalk cafes. The large structure at the right of the photo is one end of the enormous Louvre museum, I think — or else it’s Notre Dame Cathedral. Someone will let me know, I’m sure!
Southern Hospitality
April 27, 2005
On the first day of our trip to Raleigh, I noticed how relaxed and calm everyone is. When you go into a shop, the cashier will give you a cheery dissertation on the weather, the basketball game and the latest highway smash-up. When my boyfriend or I respond, and our decidedly Yankee accents are heard, this is followed by “And how do y’all like the area?” At first, I’m a bit nonplussed (it’s such a far cry from the Massachusetts counter service of “NEXT!”), but soon I come back with an all-purpose response:
Sure is nice/sunny/warm/rainy. From Jersey, but we met in Massachusetts. Yeah, for college. Oh your cousin/brother-in-law/neighbor went to UMass? That’s awesome. Yeah, we might move down here but not for a few years. His folks live in Raleigh. No, we’re not married yet. No, no kids. Thanks, you have a good day too.
It’s very friendly and cheerful and puts me in a good mood. Of course, this is slightly less cute when I’m in line to buy tampons and Advil.
Houston, Texas: The Menil Collection
April 26, 2005
The Menil Collection
1515 Sul Ross
Houston, Texas 77006
Tel: 713-525-9400
Fax: 713-525-9444
Museum Hours:
Wednesday – Sunday, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
http://www.menil.org
The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas is an incredible collection of a variety of art from tribal to modern, Egyptian to Alaskan. The Museum is free but allows no photography or electronic devices. Inspiring collections from the Menil Collection, which is operated by the Menil Foundation, Inc., and was opened to the public in June 1987 as the primary repository of John and Dominique de Menil’s private collection. One of the most significant of the twentieth century, the collection consists of nearly 15,000 works dating from the Paleolithic era to the present day. Here you can tantalize your aesthetic thirst of Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. Antiquarian? Better yet with art from South America, Egypt, North America, and the Greeks. It’s a definite must-see when in Houston.
Over the Rainbow!
April 26, 2005
I traveled to Oz a few years ago and can’t wait to go back. I am a poet so the idea that they call it Oz makes me title most of my poems or at least include the whole ‘Over the Rainbow’ idea. What a great place, amazing people, history, and CHEESE!!! I went to all the war monuments and despite the stereo type that Australians dislike Americans I found that the only thing they really talked negatively about was our president, who at the time with our cunnilingus loving Clinton 
I recommend this trip to anyone who wants a taste of traveling. I stayed in hostels to cut costs and made life long friends from all over the country. Next stop is Switzerland, I even have a house to stay in thanks to my Oz trip.
If you do go to Australia (fighting off the urge to say: If you do decide to go down under, they hate how yanks find this hilarious) here are the top five must see locations and or monuments:
-Capitol City: Canberra. Besides the cute shops, amazing hotels, the parliament is something as Americans we should experience. The building it’s self is beautiful and the architect is actually American I believe. You walk inside and see all the blah blah but upstairs and outside you are able to walk over the top of the entire parliament building. It’s the greenest grass and amazing view you’ve ever seen. This signifies that the people have a part in all aspects of the government.
-Melbourne: A smaller city but if you are from Seattle, or just a smaller city in general this will feel like home. Driving down the main drag past the trolleys (which were sent from San Francisco when they got new ones) trees are everywhere and yet it’s 80 degrees (I can’t remember the Fahrenheit translation) and not a cloud in the sky.
-Bondi Beach, Sydney. Besides the fact (for the men) this is a topless beach, the surfing is the best in the country.
-Sydney of course. The opera house, the bridge (which you can walk on top of with a group of people), and the manly ferry are just a few reasons. The restaurants and café’s are to die for, and the people…well I cannot say enough, they are all so kind. I did not see a drop of road rage the five months I traveled around.
They take life one day at a time.
-Last but definitely not least, Perth. Anyone heard of Heath Ledger?? He is from here and like Melbourne it is a fairly small large city but there are tons of beaches. This is a little more artsy of a city in my opinion, so many cute little shops to buy art and just see the culture.
The urge to travel
April 22, 2005
Ah, that good ol’ urge to travel. It has been biting me hard and non-stop recently. Today I told a friend about my sailing trip in Greece…and I longed to be back on the Aegean Sea, suning myself on the back of a sailboat. The other day it was Paris that was calling my name. Just yesterday a friend invited me on an impromptu trip to NYC…the same day that another friend called to beg me to drive to Indianapolis with her. Do I just have too many well-traveled friends? Or has it been too long since I jumped on a plane and explored that world? Probably a bit of both.
Now I know that I am lucky to have travelled to so many interesting places. Many people would kill to have the full photo albums that I have gracing my shelves. But I still want more! I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to ignore this itch.
Small Town Festivals
April 22, 2005
My hometown celebrates spring and fall with street festivals (Springfest and Autumnfest, respectively, because we’re really creative here). Springfest is coming up this weekend, and I can’t wait to stroll the Farmer’s Market, see the hippies, wander through the booths, take in some belly dancing, maybe some kids doing karate, and look at some cool scary bugs at the university’s science portion of the festival.
It’s not a huge event, and it’s not very fancy, but it is a lot of fun. There are always tons of dogs, and you usually run into someone you haven’t seen in a really long time there. It’s like living in a small town (which I guess we kind of do).
Speaking of small towns, I spent a summer living in coastal Massachusetts and happened to catch Gloucester’s Fiesta, which celebrates St. Peter’s feast day (he’s the patron saint of fishermen). It’s a huge three-day party with a carnival, Italian music, fireworks, seine boat races and the unbelievable greasy pole competition (where a telephone pole is rigged horizontally over the ocean with a flag at the end and greased up thick and the crazy guys try to walk across the poll and grab the flag).
The point of all this is that almost every community has some kind of festival in the spring, summer or fall celebrating something special to that community. In the area where I live there’s also Featherfest (in the town where Tyson’s world headquarters is), Friscofest (in a town with train history), the Grape Festival (in an Italian community once known for its wine) and the Apple Festival (in an area where there are no longer any orchards).
Wherever you’re traveling or wherever you live, seek out these festivals, fairs and commemorative events. They are a lot of fun and can teach you something about the history of a place and what it values. And they’re great excuses for eating funnel cakes and pork rinds.
“The Gold Exhibit” (Houston Museum of Natural Science)
April 17, 2005
“The GOLD Exhibit” - on tour in Houston
Houston, Texas
by Leaf McGowan
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Houston Museum of Natural Science Climbing upstairs from the Egyptian Exhibit, through the African Wildlife Exibit I entered a chamber with a guard. She asked me to power off my cell phone. No photography. Through the portal I entered the realm of Golden Sunshine - Case upon case of Gold. All types. All shades of golden Yellow. From Raw Nuggets to Gold Leaf, from Panning the Rivers to Sunken Vessels. From Egyptian artifacts to Elvis’ Gold phone. Gold Leaf covered room created from leafing of 1 coin. A pan for your own gold exhibit where attendees could pan for their own gold and take home whatever they find. It was intriguing to see some pieces I already saw in British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology. More intriguing was shipwreck gold I had the privelege of seeing behind-the-curtains before this exhibit when I worked at Florida Division of Historical Resources. Always wild to see treasures like that on tour. I enjoyed the exhibit. Then downstairs into the Imax theater for a presentation of “Gold Fever” - a 3d presentation on Gold, production and hunting … very inspiring … made me want to go back to the Northwest and start hiking around looking for gold. I thought they did a good job on this exhibit. Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.
 the Raven Myth - Gold Item from Vancouver Museum of Anthropology (Press photo from Museum web site) |
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