Travel – Getting the Full Experience

~ My recent review of The Texas Cowboy Cookbook prompted a friend to ask: Why on earth is a travel blog reviewing a cookbook? And a Texas cowboy cookbook at that?

So today I thought I would explain my rationale for reviewing the cookbook (and other publications), in the hope that it will encourage readers and prospective travellers to expand their reading list and broaden their research before they hit the road.

For me, travel is not only about ancient monuments, famous landmarks, lying around on the beach getting sunburnt, or taking yet another golden sunset photograph. It is also about all those other things that go into making travel experiences truly memorable and unique.

Things like trying to gain insight into the culture and history of the countries I pass through. It’s about digging deeper into the morés and traditions of the people that make these countries what they are. And it’s about immersing myself in the travel experience, so that I can hopefully come away from my latest journeying with a deeper understanding of the world and the peoples that inhabit it.

I am a firm believer that you don’t have to actually be travelling to immerse yourself in the travel experience. The travel experience for me begins with research, with reading a wide range of books about the countries I plan to visit. With gaining a basic understanding of the language of the people so I can deepen the connection with them as I interact with them on a daily basis.

Most people, when preparing for a major journey, confine their ‘research’ to general country guides or location specific guides like the one for New York City previously reviewed on this site (Knopf MapGuide: New York), or Road Trip USA (Road Trip USA). As good as they are, these guides, by their very nature, cannot provide you with the deep background insight into a nation you get from reading good travelogues, biographies of important national figures, and the histories of the people, places, and nations you are planning to visit.

Hence my recent review of Robb Walsh’s 2007 publication, The Texas Cowboy Cookbook, Bill Bryson’s Down Under, A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, and Bypass by Michael McGirr – to name just some of my book reviews.

Actually, I have also wanted to include reviews of feature films, documentaries, and television series on this blog as well, but I just haven’t had the time to devote to this. I believe there are many films and TV programs that help provide another level of insight into the travel experience. For instance, the brilliant documentaries of Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War, etc), the travel adventures of Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor (The Long Way Round, and Long Way Down), and the journeys of Michael Palin (Sahara, Himalaya, and Full Circle, etc), all come to mind.

Then there are great feature films like those of the director Werner Hertzog, whose wonderful films, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, and Fitzcarraldo fuse drama, stunning cinematography and magnificent landscapes to transport you to a world that is both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. Or the more recent Tulpan, by Sergei Dvortsevoy. This film, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, looks at the fast disappearing world of nomadic sheep herders in Kazakhstan, and combines comedy, drama, and documentary style film making to show us a landscape that few city dwelling westerners (or ‘easterners’ for that matter), will ever get to see.

In fact, just writing this entry has prompted me to start putting aside some time to watch these movies, and television programs and write reviews of them. So look out for these in the near future.

I hope this brief rationale for my reviewing policies also prompts you to broaden your research parameters, and gets you thinking ‘outside the box’ about ways you too can get the full experience out of your travels.

NOTE: To see a full list of all the books reviewed on The Compleat Traveller, click on the ‘In Review’ label below.

Image courtesy of Gregor Books…

Spring Has Sprung, Down Under

~ It is one of those quirks of nature that while the northern hemisphere enjoys summer, the southern hemisphere rugs up for winter. And so it is, that the first days of September herald the start of spring in Australia, while Europe and North America start moving into autumn (or fall, as our American cousins like to say).

And so it is too, that the more the months, weeks, and days tick inexorably by, the more I seem to have travel on my mind. Especially now that spring is in the air.

I am still not much nearer to finalising my travel plans for next year. Maybe it’s because I’m a Libran! Or maybe it’s because I’ve never been good at making quick or snap decisions that have the potential for major impact on my life. Personally, I hate to blame my procrastination and constant vacillating on a star sign. That’s too easy, and quite frankly a cop out. Still, all these things are plaguing my thoughts today as I look at the calendar and tick off the days in the lead up to April 2010.

One of the downsides of being a solo traveller, is that you have no-one to share the planning and decision making process with. Sure, you can discuss and mull over the various options available to you with family and friends, but there’s only so much you can expect from those closest to you.

Putting myself in their shoes, I think I would soon tire of the constant discussions revolving around which destination to visit first.

“Yes, Jim,” I can feel them thinking, “It’s all very well us sitting around planning your holiday with you, but while you are lazing on the sandy beaches of some Greek island, sipping coffee on the Champs-Élysées, or spending weeks driving the byways of America, we are going to be stuck here in dear old Adelaide!”

So, ultimately, you have to make all the decisions on your own.

As April draws nearer, I will start to solidify some of the ideas rolling around in my head. On any given day they can and do change constantly, but currently my thinking is thus: fly directly to Athens, Greece, and spend the first month or so on Ikaria (see Friday Photo #7: My Island Home, Ikaria, Greece). Then travel overland to one of several possible destinations (Italy, France, Spain or England). Since I am currently learning a smattering of Spanish (see Spanish is The Loving Tongue), it makes sense to visit Spain in order to reinforce the Spanish I’ve already learnt and to hopefully learn even more.

However, early next year I will also undertake a French for Fun and Travel class at the adult learning school where I am currently taking the Spanish class, so it would also make sense to spend some time in France.

At any point I can always return to Greece, which could serve as my European base. My aim is to spend most of the northern spring and summer in Europe, and then travel to America later in the year for a stay in New York, before driving south to Arizona to visit a cousin in Tucson. I will either return to Australia from there, or return to Europe.

As you can see, I have much to decide, and a thousand decisions to make before I book my flight, and for a Libran, a thousand decisions is about 999 decisions too many!

Spring Flowers image courtesy of Rikx Flickr Photostream

The Week That Was #10

Click image to view full size

Welcome to my weekly collection of the Odd, the Useful, and the often Bizarre.

The Odd: Finland Talks Trash: Finland has developed a series of talking trash cans to help keep their cities cleaner and make visitors more aware of carelessly tossing trash. The trash cans also have the added benefit of teaching visitors a bit of the Finnish language. The talking trash bins greet passers-by and encourage them to throw their trash away. They are never at a loss for words. Tourists will be delighted to hear that the talking trash bins speak not only Finnish and Swedish, but also Japanese, English, German, Polish and Russian. Tourists can also learn the basics of the Finnish language, such as: “One of the sure signs of summer in Finland is that the trash bins start talking.” Read more here… or Watch a video of the talking trash bins on YouTube…

The Useful: World Trade Center Transportation Center. Consumer Traveller reports that the first rib-like forms of Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Center (see image) are rising from the giant pit at the base of Ground Zero in Manhattan. This stunning structure is expected to cost more than US$3 billion and will not be completed for another four years. The building will be the transportation hub for the train station below the World Trade Center. Construction will involve miles of walkways for pedestrians below ground as well as facilities for repair and supply of the trains, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space. Read more here…

The Bizarre: Naked Swiss Hikers Must Cover Up. No, I’m not suggesting it is bizarre that naked hikers cover up, I’m with the Swiss authorities on this one. It seems the tiny Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden has voted to prohibit the phenomenon of naked hiking. Anyone found wandering the Alps wearing nothing but a sturdy pair of hiking boots will now be fined. Apparently the locals have been outraged by an upsurge in hikers who think the best way to appreciate the mountains is with their clothes off. The vote, taken at Appenzell's annual Landsgemeinde (an open-air meeting of all registered voters held in the town square), showed there was a big majority in favour of prohibiting naked hiking, and introducing fines of Sfr 200 ($175). Read more here…

Photo courtesy of the Spanish Institute…

The Charm of Broadway

~ By Joy Cagil

We always leave a beloved place in order to return to it sometime. Broadway in New York city is such a place for me, and I return to it as often as I can. Sometimes, I take a flight to JFK or to the La Guardia Airports and then a taxi to a hotel in Manhattan as close to or in Broadway; at other times, I return to it in my heart and in my writings.

Broadway has inspired many poets. Of the old school, Sandburg has the pessimistic look when he says: "Hearts that know you hate you/... Cursing the dreams that were lost / In the dust of your harsh and trampled stones." Walt Whitman's excited and dynamic words describe more of what I feel about this parcel of New York City: " Florid with blood, pensive, rapt with musings, hot with passion, /Sultry with perfume, with ample and flowing garments." In fact, Broadway is and has been the theatre district not only for the United States but possibly for the entire world

Broadway, today, extends from the 34th Street to the 56th, on the east and the west of the avenue called Broadway with Times Square at its core. Broadway is most famous for its stage shows. The longest running Broadway shows to date are The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Les Miserables, A chorus Line, Oh! Calcutta, Beauty and the Beast, and Rent.

Broadway's becoming a theatre district goes far back to the time before the Revolutionary War. In mid-eighteenth century when two actors wanted to bring the staging of the plays of Shakespeare to Manhattan, the seeds of Broadway were sown. The first theatre in Manhattan was in Nassau Street. Later on, P.T. Barnum operated an entertainment complex at Broadway and Prince Street. During the first few years, a variety of shows entertained the working and the middle classes. When the Astor Place Theater opened, these theatre goers rose in a riot, objecting to the upper class audiences.

The first performance that added dance and music to a play was The Black Crook, in 1866. Its duration was five and a half hours. This musical attracted so many audiences that musicals became high quality entertainment. At the turn of the twentieth century, some of the earliest musicals were Cakewalk, George Washington Jr., A Trip to Coontown, The Fortune Teller, Little Johnny Jones, and 45 Minutes from Broadway.

Twentieth Century brought Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, and The Red Mill. Since colored lights did not last long, white lights were used at the time; thus, Broadway took the nickname "The Great White Way."

The advent of the motion picture industry and the Actors Equity Association strike were feared to bring a halt to Broadway; quite the contrary, during the roaring twenties, Broadway flourished and added serious drama to its light-hearted repertoire and Ziegfeld revues. Oklahoma was the first such hit. At that time, Noel Coward, Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg produced memorable work alongside with the eternal Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Rodgers and Hart.

Then, in 1947, Tony Awards were established to recognize the best performers and performances of the American Theater and especially Broadway. Nowadays, most shows are made for profit by the many theatre establishments in the area, although some are produced by non-profit organizations such as the Roundabout Theater Company, Manhattan Theater Club, and The Lincoln Center Theater. On the average, musicals run longer than non-musical plays, and some of the successful musicals and plays go on tour to other cities in the off season or after their curtains close on Broadway.

Besides the Broadway theatre district, smaller Off Broadway theatres that are located between 57th and 72nd Streets offer less publicized, less expensive, yet more experimental and daring plays. Sporadically, a successful Off Broadway show will later run on a Broadway stage. Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Godspell, Chorus Line, and Sunday in the Park with George are among such works.

Then, in Manhattan exist Off-Off-Broadway theatres with less that 100 seats for staging smaller amateur performances such as the Flea Theater in TriBeCa. After K. W. Bromley referred to Off-Off-Broadway as "Indie Theater" in his acceptance of an Innovative Theater award in 2005, Off-Off-Broadway shows are sometimes called the Indie Theater shows.

Broadway shows' greatest rival today is the television. The finest plays and musicals and the most talented theatre actors have to compete with the corniest TV shows for audience recognition, mainly because of the high cost of the tickets and the amount of people a theatre can hold. Watching a live stage show, a serious play, or a musical is a great thrill that cannot be matched by the movies or the television.

For me, the streets of Broadway add to the dash of its theatres, musicals, comedy clubs, and movie houses. Broadway and Times Square is where I can walk in and out of two to five-star hotels, coffee houses like the Starbucks, diners and gourmet restaurants; or where I can browse inside all kinds of shops but especially gift shops that sell theatre paraphernalia such as costumes, masks, and props; or I can stroll and absorb the excitement of other pedestrians, the street-corner preachers, and the lights of the establishments while I watch the limousines bringing actors to performances and actors signing autographs in front of the theatre buildings, or an occasional scalper selling last minute tickets to shows with the corner of his eye guarding the whereabouts of the police.

Like Whitman, I too, "arising, answering, descend to the pavements, merge with the crowd, and gaze," because with all its coquettishness, Broadway makes life turn around our drama of existence.

Joy Cagil is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joy_Cagil

Image: Young Frankenstein, Broadway, May 11, 2008

Photo: Jim Lesses

The Week That Was #5

Welcome to my weekly collection of The Odd, The Useful, and The Downright Bizarre.

The Odd: The Floor of The Standard Grill, New York City. Their website is nothing to shout about, but apparently the floors are! The image shows a photograph of one of the floor areas of the New York City eatery, The Standard Grill. Located under the High Line, on the corner of Washington and West 13 Street, at 848 Washington Street. The floor is covered entirely in pennies. (Note: click on the image to view full size).

The Useful: Capturing great photographs of your vacation or family holiday has never been easier if you own a digital camera. However, if you want to improve your photographic skills higher than the usual ‘happy snaps’ that pass for most holiday photos, take a few minutes to read through the tips on the following two Microsoft At Home pages, here; 8 tips for better holiday photos, and here, 8 tips for super vacation snapshots.

The Downright Bizarre: The World's Worst Travel Gear. Spot Cool Stuff is a website that examines products and places of interest for the most discerning traveller. Sometimes, though, a product can be so mind boggling terrible that there is something good about the horribleness of it. Like the Shenis, a device that let’s women urinate while standing up - in public. You can even see a photograph or watch a video of the Shenis in action if you are game! Warning: Adult content. Not for the fainthearted!

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing – enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Friday Photo #3: Cypress Hills National Cemetery

Note: Click on image to view full size.

The Cypress Hills National Cemetery at 625 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, is the only United States National Cemetery in New York City. More than 21,000 veterans and civilians are interred here, including veterans of every conflict from the American Revolutionary War of 1812, through to the Vietnam War.

The Cemetery is just a short walk from the 12 Towns/North Brooklyn YMCA – also on Jamaica Avenue. I spent several weeks at the 'Y' during April and May, 2008, and visited the cemetery on a number of occasions.

It was late spring when I took this photograph (and the video footage embedded below). As you can see, the stunning pink cherry blossoms had begun to fall, blanketing the lush green lawns with a fine carpet of eye-catching colour.

There is something intensely solemn about visiting a site like this. It is not a place you can hurry through. You have to take the time to reflect and remember; to ponder the fate of so many veterans and civilians. To question and contemplate. To ask yourself, Why? To also ask yourself, What if…?

The video footage below was filmed at the same time as the above photograph was taken. As I recall, it was a grey, damp, overcast day. The type of day that helps heighten the experience and adds to the overall impact of seeing thousands upon thousands of white marble headstones laid out in perfect formation. It runs for just three minutes. So why not click the ‘play’ button, and take the time right now to reflect, ponder, question and contemplate?

Location: Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Photography and video footage: Jim Lesses, May 2008.

Note: Click on image to view full size.

Ten Things for Ten Dollars (more or less)

~ The Hostel Bookers website is featuring a number of cities where they say you can see 10 things for $10. That is, ten dollars per selected attraction or event. Well, more or less.

I’m not sure about the math, and I guess it all depends on the exchange rates you achieve at the time you are travelling, but I like the idea behind the series. It is good to know that not everything has to be a constant attack on your credit card whenever you travel.

There are cheap things to do in every major city in the world, and in fact, using the resources of the internet, you can easily find a host of free things to do in all the cities selected for these online features.

So far, the site has created lists for the cities of New York, Edinburgh, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, and London.

The articles focus on the not quite ‘top tier’ attractions. Sites that might be your second choice, rather than your first. For example: instead of fighting your way through the thousands of tourists swarming over the Forum and the Colosseum in Rome, they recommend a visit to Ostia Antica, the remarkable ruins of ancient Rome’s port city.

In Athens they suggest a visit to the Agora (market) that surrounds the Acropolis, and I agree. I spent several hours exploring this area and was surprised by the many ‘hidden’ treasures this site holds. Developed in the 6th century BC, the Agora was once the focal point of Ancient Greek society. It was here that Socrates first talked philosophy and where St Paul tried to convert people to Christianity.

I can also vouch for the full English Breakfast they recommend on the London feature. I would start each day with the ‘Builder’s Breakfast’, which as its name suggests is a meal fit for the British working man. For £5, you can expect each ‘Full English’ to consist of bacon, eggs, sausage, baked beans, fried tomatoes, toast and a large pot of black tea. It may not be the healthiest way to start the day, but it was cheap, filling, and enough to see you through several hours of brisk walking around London’s busy streets.

I can only say, I wish I had the information in my hands before I visited New York, London and Athens, last year. London especially, I found to be very expensive, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that museums and galleries offer mostly free entry, I’m not sure that I would have been able to see very much at all during my all too brief stay there.

Thankfully, New York was much more wallet friendly, and I was surprised at the range of reasonably priced attractions on offer. Of course, there is so much to see and do in New York anyway, that you could spend days, and weeks, simply walking around that great city before you felt a need to pay to see the major attractions that virtually every tourist or visitor has on their list of ‘must see’ sites.

Anyway, if you are heading to any of the cities listed, take the time to explore the links to your location of choice and see how much money you can save by visiting some of the recommended sites.

Image: Agora, Athens, Greece.

Photograph: Jim Lesses

Beating The Post-Travel Blues

~ Julie Blakley is a staff writer for BootsnAll.com and also maintains her own site at France Travel Guide. She recently wrote an article outlining 10 Tips for Beating the Post-Travel Blues which is worth summarising. Among her suggestions:
~ Immerse yourself in your hometown culture
~ Take shorter trips closer to home
~ Write about your trip
~ Start planning your next adventure
~ Remember that everyday life is what makes travel so invigorating
~ Eat your favourite foods from your trip
~ Find a community that is just as passionate about travel or a destination as you are
~ Make a photo album or scrapbook
~ Take a language class or join a conversation group

~ Work on your photography skills

This are all very good suggestions to which I thought I would add my own 2cents worth to some of Julie’s ideas.

Be A Tourist At Home. Pretend you have international visitors coming to stay with you for the weekend. Now make a list of the most interesting places you would show them – and get out and visit them yourself. Or make a list of all those places you have always intended to see ‘one day’ but still haven’t made the effort to visit. There’s no time like the present, as the old adage goes, so get out there and discover the attractions in your own home town.

Don’t Mope – Write! If you were able to maintain a journal while you were travelling, now is a good time to put the finishing touches to it. Or (as Julie suggests) get creative and put together a photo album or scrapbook. Add photographs, ticket stubs, postcards, receipts, menus, in fact anything that helps document your trip. You will be amazed at how much this helps you remember the small details of your journey, and also how it keeps you focussed on your next holiday, even if it is a year or more away. Which brings me to…

Start Working on Your Next Trip. When I returned to Australia last October following my seven month vacation, I was already thinking about the next one – starting March next year – which I am constantly working on and researching. I have been frequenting lots of second-hand books shops, looking for books about America, Mexico and other countries I plan to visit, or hope to visit over the next few years. Becoming knowledgeable and informed about the countries you would like to visit is a great way to prepare for your journey. I am reading travelogues, histories, and books dealing with art and culture. In fact, anything that grabs my attention and helps me ‘know’ the countries I plan to visit long before I get there.

Learn the Lingo. I have written previously (Never to Old to Live And Learn) about signing up for a Spanish language course, or other short courses which will help me as I travel through the American south, and Mexico next year. It doesn’t matter that I won’t be able to speak the language fluently. I have found that often you can endear yourself to the locals simply by making the effort to learn the language of the country you are visiting. It is probably the one thing that sets you apart the most from the bulk of the common tourists who are merely passing through, and who are not interested in trying to connect with the local people in any meaningful way.

Use The Internet to Connect With Like-Minded Travellers. While I have long been aware of, and made use of the reviews on Trip Advisor, I have only recently joined the forums on that site. This has given me a chance to not only help with my own research, but to also offer advice and tips to other travellers who are planning to visit locations I have already been to. Whether you use Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor, or one of the many other online sites, connecting with fellow travellers is a great way to keep your travel dreams alive.

Take a Short Course. In the same way that I am preparing for my next trip by taking a Spanish language course, you can also sign up for many other types of short courses as well. In a previous entry (WEA = Life-long Learning) I wrote about the opportunities to broaden your knowledge about a huge range of different subjects via adult classes at local colleges, universities, and other places of higher learning. Whether your interest be photography, archaeology, history, culture, dance, or other creative arts, there is almost certain to be a class or short course taking place in your town or city. Use the internet to research these courses or visit your local library and ask there. Or drop in to your local college or university and make enquiries about summer classes and courses.

Image: United Nations Building, New York, April 2008
Photo by Jim Lesses

In Review: The Mole People (1993)

~ There were many times during my stay in New York City in the spring of 2008, when I stood on a subway platform beneath the streets of Manhattan, and watched some work detail, or maintenance squad disappear into the dark, dimly lit tunnels of the New York subway system.

I remember thinking how a tour of that subterranean world would make my New York stay an even more memorable and fascinating experience than it had already become. So when I saw a copy of Jennifer Toth’s The Mole People at my local resellers of “quality books” – I couldn’t resist picking it up to read and review.

However, The Mole People is not a story about the thousands of maintenance men and women working for the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority. Instead, the book claims to tell the true story of thousands of New York’s homeless who had turned abandoned subway tunnels deep underneath Manhattan into their homes.

In 1993, Jennifer Toth was a 24 year old intern working for The Los Angeles Times when she began researching and writing The Mole People. I say, ‘claims’ because the book was originally met with some scepticism, and Toth was criticized for her lack of precise details regarding many of the locations mentioned throughout the book. Nonetheless, what is not in doubt or in dispute is the fact that there was then – and still are – homeless people living in abandoned and derelict sections of the labyrinthine New York subway system.

On April 23, 2009, the The Coalition for the Homeless released its tenth annual "State of the Homeless" report, an annual assessment of homelessness in New York City. The report finds that currently more than 36,000 homeless New Yorkers, including 15,500 children, sleep each night in municipal shelters. “Thousands more sleep rough on city streets, in public parks, in the subway system (my emphasis), and in other public spaces.”

Jennifer Toth reported that some of the people she met had been living underground for only a matter of weeks or months, while others said they had been living beneath New York’s towering skyline for up to 15 years or more. Some die underground, struck by trains, or electrocuted by the dangerous ‘third rail’. Others die of natural causes or diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and pneumonia, and still more die as a result of violent confrontations with other members of the homeless community.

There has been a concerted effort to clean up the subway system in the years since Toth’s book was published, but it is patently clear from the Coalition for the Homeless report mentioned above, that the system is still the shelter of choice for many individuals.

Some live underground simply because they can not afford to pay rent for even the most substandard housing in New York. Others are on the run from the police, or their abusive parents or (in the case of some teenage tunnel dwellers) from foster parents. Still more suffer from some type of mental illness, or are drug or alcohol addicted. Some stay underground for the freedom it affords them – because they can’t deal with the regimentation associated with staying in emergency accommodation or government run shelters. Despite the hardship they face, some are able to form supportive communities underground, and generally try to look out for each others welfare.

Part melodrama, part exposé; part history, part Gothic horror story; veering between sociological study and classic investigative journalism, Jennifer Toth’s The Mole People is a depressing indictment of modern America, and its inability to help the most vulnerable and most disenfranchised people in the wealthiest country on earth.

But is the book true? I have no doubts that the story Jennifer Toth exposes so graphically, is as accurate as any 24 year journalism intern can hope to make it. In the book Bernard Isaacs, one of the long-term tunnel dwellers, makes the point that the most important truth about underground people is that there is no single truth about them.

“They tell many stories and there is truth in all their stories,” he says. “You just have to find it.”

One can only hope that things have changed dramatically since the book was written in 1993. Sadly, judging by the figures already referred to above in the Coalition for the Homeless report – I wouldn’t count on it.

--o0o--

More Information

The New York Times archives: New York Times journalist John Tierney was one of the first to write about the tunnel dwellers and bring them to the attention of the general public. If you visit the New York Times website and search for "Mole people" John Tierney you will be presented with several articles John wrote as far back as 1990.

On Film: I have tried in vain to find the title of, or information about a documentary I saw many years ago (probably back in the 1970s) which showed some of New York’s homeless living underground. I clearly remember one scene in which a homeless man barbeques a large rat over an open fire before eating it! And no, it was not Voices In the Tunnels: In Search of the Mole People, the 2008 documentary by Vic David. If you want to view the trailer for Voices in The Tunnels, click here…

Other Books: New York Underground, By Julia Solis, and Invisible New York, By Stanley Greenberg & Thomas H. Garver, both shed light on this fascinating topic.

Margaret Morton: Scattered throughout The Mole People, are a number of stark, black and white photographs depicting some of the homeless featured in Jennifer Toth’s book. The images were taken by New York photographer, Margaret Morton. Morton has published several stunning pictorial books documenting the lives of New York’s homeless, and these are available for purchase via the 'Reading List' box on the left, or directly from Margaret’s website.

Jennifer Toth Today: Jennifer Toth continues to write books with strong social themes. Her second book, Orphans of the Living (Simon & Schuster, 1997) examined the system of foster care as it existed – and may still exist – in the United States at the time the book was published.

In 1998, Toth served as the editor of the book, Keeping America's Promise to North Carolina's Children. Unfortunately (at the time of writing this), apart from the title, I haven’t been able to find out any more about the book or its main theme. Just what is “America’s promise”, to the children of North Carolina?

And finally, her last book (as far as I can ascertain), is What Happened to Johnnie Jordan?: The Story of a Child Turning Violent. Billed as “…a riveting narrative of youth violence in America,” What Happened to Johnnie Jordan? was published in 2002.

Finally: More adventurous readers may be inspired by this…

--o0o--

Click image below to purchase The Mole People from Amazon.Com...

Never to Old to Live and Learn

~ Yesterday, I signed up for a ten week Spanish For Fun and Travel course at an Adelaide based institution, the WEA. The Workers' Educational Association was founded in 1913, and is Australia's largest non-government adult community education organisation. It provides learning opportunities for anyone aged 15 years or older in its nearly 1800 short courses – for which the Association receives over 30,000 enrolments annually.

Using a concession card my ten week by two hour course cost me just AUD$112.00. That breaks down to a mere AUD$5.60 per hour! Even at the full price of AUD$124.00 the course is still incredibly cheap. Further down the track I may even sign up for a French or German language course. And why not? At the above prices, learning a language for ‘fun and travel’ is pretty much affordable to everyone.

I’ve decided to tackle Spanish first because next year I want to drive across America. I will probably start on the west coast at Los Angeles and either drive Route 66 to Chicago and New York, or drive across the south towards New Orleans and then up the east coast to New York.

After spending eight weeks in New York City last year, it quickly became apparent that a basic knowledge of Spanish would be very useful – not just in New York but wherever I happened to be in the United States. Of course it will be even more useful if I decide to take a side trip into Mexico during my road trip.

I know there are regional differences between Spanish as it is spoken in Spain as compared to Mexico (and indeed throughout Latin America), but I figure the little I learn during this course will be better than the complete lack of knowledge I now have.

From the USA I will be going to Europe, and since I have never been to Spain, I am considering a trip to that beautiful country too.

Life is for living and learning, folks, and now that I have the time, I plan to live and learn and travel as far and wide as my finances will allow.

By the way, the WEA is not unique to Adelaide. There are similar institutions elsewhere in Australia and overseas, so if you want embark on a journey of life-long learning, check out the sites below, or ask at your local public library for information about similar organisations in your city.

Links to Associated Sites

• WEA Sydney
• WEA UK
• WEA Illawarra
• Council of Adult Education Melbourne
• Adult Learning Association
• International Federation of Workers' Education Associations (IFWEA)

In Review: Knopf MapGuide: New York

~ When I travelled to New York in the spring of 2008, for the start of my two month stay, I had several ‘indispensable’ guide books in my suitcase, but it didn’t take long before one small book proved to be the most indispensable of all.

Alfred A. Knopf/Random House, produce a series of city specific “MapGuides” (as they call them), that are compact, filled with information, illustrated with large, fold-out, easy to read maps, and which just as importantly, are very lightweight.

The New York MapGuide runs to just 48 pages, but don’t let that put you off. The designers of these little books have managed to pack a wealth of information into those pages that other publishers would do well to make note of.

You begin with an opening fold-out map of New York which helps you visualise the eight large districts the guide is divided into. At the end of the MapGuide are another four pages of valuable information, handy tips and useful address.

The eight districts with their accompanying fold-out maps are:

1. Downtown
2. Lower East Side and East Village
3. SoHo, Greenwich Village, Chelsea and TriBeCa
4. Midtown East
5. Times Square and the Theatre District
6. Upper East Side
7. Upper West Side, and finally
8. Central Park and Harlem.

For each district there is a double-page of addresses listing restaurants, cafés, bars, music venues and shops, followed by a fold-out map for the relevant district with essential attractions and places of interest to see. While the shops, attractions and places of interest are by no means the only ones on offer in New York City, all the main buildings and attractions are listed in the guides or marked on the maps.

The last fold-out consists of transport maps for the Manhattan subway system and Manhattan’s bus services, and four pages of information that include a selection of hotels ranging in price from $70 up to $300 and over.

What I also like about the MapGuide is that despite the brevity of the entries, they still manage to pack all the essential information you need into the space allocated for them – as this entry for the Woolworth Building shows:

Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway (Barclay St). Commissioned by Frank Woolworth for his company headquarters, this building is as big as the empire he create. In 1909 the five-and-dime-store king purchased a piece of land on Broadway and paid for his skyscraper in cash. Four years later the tallest building in the city was opened: an enormous 60-story (792-ft) Gothic structure with a Latin cross-shaped lobby, marble walls, Byzantine-style mosaic ceilings – everything here exalts the virtues of work and prosperity. (New York MapGuide, 2006, Ed.)

There you have it. An encapsulated history of the Woolworth Building in just 79 words and numbers! We learn who commissioned it and when, how long it took to complete and how it was paid for, how tall it is and even something about the architecture and design features of the building. Concise writing at its best.

To complete this small and incredibly useful package, the MapGuide has a Thematic Index. That is, an index listing all the sites and addresses in the guide by theme. This makes it very easy to find restaurants for example, or museums or parks and gardens.

As already noted, this slim guide weighs next to nothing, fits easily into a handbag, backpack, or coat pocket, is easy to use and nowhere near as conspicuous as fighting with the large fold-out Manhattan maps that many visitors seem to struggle with. Nor do you have to lug around large, heavy guide books filled with hundreds of pages of tightly packed information.

As long as you have done the bulk of your research and reading utilising larger publications before your New York visit, and assuming you already know what you want to see in New York City when you set out each day, the New York MapGuide should be all you need to get you through the day in that magnificent metropolis.

Highly recommended.

Note: The above review and quote is based on the 2006 edition of the New York MapGuide.

Click here to buy the 2009 edition of the Knopf MapGuide: New York (Knopf Mapguides).