Losing my religion? Hardly. More like losing my mojo. After a brief burst of activity towards the middle of the year, it should be obvious that I have again become a lapsed blogger. It's not that I have run out of things to write about. God knows I have plenty of ideas to flesh out and expand upon, and hundreds of photographs filed away on my backup drives with which to illustrate those posts, but I just can't seem to motivate myself to do the work.
However, lately my thoughts have again begun returning to this blog, and today might just be the start of another revival. We'll see.
Last week, I grabbed an early bird ticket for Europe, flying with Emirates on a return flight from Adelaide, Australia to Athens, Greece. The ticket purchase got me thinking about travel in a concrete way, and this may be the motivating factor in getting me back to writing. After all, the thought of accumulating several thousand more photographs on my upcoming trip - photos I may never make use of - seems pointless if I don't at least use some of them on this site.
U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.
As sketchy as my travel plans are at this point - seven months out from my departure date - what I do plan is to spend a couple of months back on the Greek island my parents emigrated from in the 1930s. I have written about Ikaria extensively on this site, and will hopefully write more as time goes on. Two of my sisters have returned to live on the island with their children and grandchildren, and it always feels like 'coming home' when I return to the island.
Following my stay on the island, I hope to return to New York City in either July or August for another apartment sitting stint at a friends apartment in Washington Heights. I have watched over the apartment and the two house cats on two previous occasions (in 2010 and 2012), and if the opportunity allows I will be there again in 2014.
Village church, Kampos, Ikaria
From New York City, I hope to travel once more within the United States before again returning to Greece, although it would be good to include a visit to Canada if time and money permits. After that, who knows. Certainly not me. Not at this point anyway. But I'll keep you posted.
As a keen traveller, I have taken more than my share of
photographs at each stop on my extended journeys. As good as some of these
photographs are, I still don’t consider myself a real photographer. I am more
the happy amateur who occasionally gets lucky and is able to get the lighting
and the angles right to come away with some half decent images.
Camille Seaman on the other hand, has been taking
photographs all over the world, and since 2003, she has focussed her eyes (and
cameras) on some of the worlds most fragile environments. Seaman's photographs
have been published in Newsweek, Outside, Zeit Wissen, Men's Journal and more,
and she has self-published many books on themes like “My China” and “Melting
Away: Polar Images” through Fastback Creative Books, a company that she
co-founded. In 2008, she was honored with a one-person exhibition, The Last
Iceberg, at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
In today’s TED on Tuesday, I am featuring two short
presentations made by Camille (who was raised as a Shinnecock Indian), at TED
conferences. The first, highlights her nascent career as a storm chaser hunting
down and photographing supercell clouds―some of which can be 50 miles wide,
reach sixty thousand feet in the atmosphere and release grapefruit-sized hail. The second
short video features stunning images of those fascinating monoliths we know as
icebergs.
“Storm-chasing is a very tactile experience … The colors in
the clouds, of hail forming, the green and the turquoise blues. The movement,
the way they swirl … As I stand under them, I understand what I have the
privilege to witness is the same forces, the same process in a small version,
that created our galaxy, solar system, our sun, this very planet.” ~ Camille
Seaman
Camille Seaman: Photos from a storm chaser
“It is not a death
when [icebergs] melt; it is not an end, but a continuation of their path
through the cycle of life. Each iceberg has its own individual personality.
Some refuse to give up and hold on to the bitter end, while others can't take
it anymore and crumble in a fit of dramatic passion.” ~ Camille Seaman
Friday 19,
October, 2012 was the day I ‘died and went to heaven’, and here are the photos
to prove it. Ok, so my idea of heaven may be different from yours, but I will
take Monument Valley’s stunning landscape any day, over some mythical landscape
in the hereafter.
…
The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of
the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 m) above sea
level. The floor is largely siltstone or sand derived from it, most of which
was left behind by the rivers that once carved out the valley. The vivid red
colour comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone, while the
darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their colour from manganese oxide.
…
A very modest $5.00 will get you entry into the park,
where the adventurous can embark on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road route that
passes some of the largest and most spectacular land formations.
The buttes are clearly stratified, and reveal three main
layers. The lowest layer is known as the Organ Rock Shale, the middle is de
Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the Moenkopi Formation.
My travel
journal entry for Friday 19, October, 2012 begins:
Today
I died and went to heaven - and I have the photos to prove it.
Yes, that was the
day I fulfilled a life-long ambition to visit Monument Valley. The valley spans
the Arizona/Utah border, with the most iconic buttes and mesas on the Utah
side. It was everything I expected it to be and more. Even in the middle of the
day the setting was larger than life, with massive red monoliths dominating the
landscape.
I had been driving my Dodge rental car up from Flagstaff,
Arizona for several hours, watching as the landscape slowly changed from pine
forested open country to vast expanses of dry desert covered in the valley's
distinctive vivid red―a colour which is produced from iron oxide exposed in the
siltstone covering the valley floor. In many respects the colour of the earth
reminded me of the rich reds and ochres of the Australian outback, especially
in an area often referred to as the ‘red centre’.
Welcoming billboard on the Arizona/Utah state line
Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning
valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a
cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above
the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona-Utah state line near the Four
Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation
Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163. [Wikipedia…]
The American director, John Ford used the location for a
number of his best known films, including his now classic 1939 movie, Stagecoach, and The Searchers,
while the latest Hollywood film to feature scenes shot in the valley is The
Lone Ranger, which coincidentally
opens today in the cinema complex a few minutes walk from where I sit writing
this.
One of the massive outcrops in Monument Valley
To my surprise, the cost to enter the park was a very modest
$5.00. Once inside the park visitors can drive on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road
(a 2-3 hour trip) that passes some of the largest and most spectacular land
formations. Guided tours are also available, as are horse rides and overnight
camping trips. Apparently, hot air balloon flights are also available between
May 1 through October 31, although I did not see any during my visit.
Sadly, my day trip to Monument Valley was over way too soon.
The eleven hour round trip outing left me tired but exhilarated, and wanting
much more. Far from removing the valley from my ‘bucket list’, the area remains
among the top ten locations on the planet I want to visit or return to. When I
do return to Monument Valley, I want to make the Navajo Tribal Park a major
part of my experience, and I figure the only way to do that properly is find
accommodations inside the Tribal Park.
Thankfully this is easily done following the construction of
The View Hotel, located right inside
Monument Valley.
The View Hotel is the only hotel
located inside Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park adjacent to the Monument
Valley Tribal Park Visitors Center. Each of the hotel’s 95 rooms features a
private balcony with unobstructed views of the valley floor, and the massive
sandstone monuments that tower out of the stunning landscape.
Just writing and thinking about my visit, makes me want to
pack my bag and catch the next flight to Los Angeles! But patience is the order
of the day, at least until next year. Then all being well, I will make my
return to the valley of my dreams.
Rewilding Europe wants to make Europe
a wilder place, with much more space for wildlife, wilderness and natural
processes. The organization aims to rewild one million hectares of land by
2020, creating 10 magnificent wildlife and wilderness areas of international
quality. To this end the organization has already begun focusing on Europe’s
huge areas of abandoned land, and on providing a viable business case for the
support and promotion of wild nature.
To date, Rewilding Europe has focussed on five regions:
Western Iberia, the Eastern and
Southern Carpathians, the Danube Delta, and Velebit (Croatia).
Rewilding Europe is an initiative by WWF Netherlands, ARK
Nature, Wild Wonders of Europe and Conservation Capital.
Sorry, but I could not resist the play on words. I have
written about New York City’s famed music venue, The Bitter End on more than
one occasion on The Compleat Traveller, and I am returning to the topic again
today.
During my August 2012 visit to the venue I recorded the
Israeli singer, Bat-Or Kalo kicking off the fortnightly Bitter End All Star
Jam, along with drummer Mark Greenberg, and bassist, Tony Tino. I recorded most
of the opening set, and now, almost a year later, I have finally gotten around
to editing the footage and producing half a dozen clips of the performance.
I spoke to Bat-Or Kalo at the end of the evening to give
voice to my appreciation for her musicianship and performance, and she
immediately handed me a flyer promoting a crowd funding campaign for a new
album she was hoping to record. She just happened to be using Kickstarterto
raise money for the CD, and since I had supported other crowd funding campaigns
via Kickstarter, I promised to make a donation. A promise I honoured the next
day.
I'm delighted to say that Bat-Or Kalo's Kickstarter campaign was a great success, and that she continues to work on the album, while touring and performing across the United States.
I have not embedded all the videos here, but I have included
two of my favourite performances from the night, Bat-Or Kalo singing Blue
Chevy, and the eight minute rocker, Like It Or Not.
Blue Chevy
Recorded at The Bitter End on Sunday, August 12, 2012. Video
features Bat-Or Kalo (guitar/vocals), Mark Greenberg (drums), and Tony Tino
(bass),.
Like It Or Not
Recorded at The Bitter End on Sunday, August 12, 2012. Video
features Bat-Or Kalo (guitar/vocals), Mark Greenberg (drums), and Tony Tino (bass),.
I have just completed a two week house
sitting gig in the Adelaide Hills, near the delightful hills town of Gumeracha.
To be more precise, the property was located at Mt. Crawford, and to be even
more precise, I was pet sitting rather than house sitting. I suspect the area
would have been isolated enough and safe enough for the owners of the property
to simply lock the house up and leave it for two weeks, but having a very
active and friendly house dog necessitated having someone live on site and care
for the canine, and since it was there―the house.
Not that I’m complaining.
Actually, I will complain now that I think of it. I woke up
most mornings bloody freezing (if I may be permitted to use the Great Australian
Adjective). While it is not quite the middle of winter right now in the
southern hemisphere, it has still been cold enough to freeze the you-know-whats
off a brass monkey. Especially at Mt. Crawford.
Alert coney grazing close to house
Still, despite the cold nights and even colder
mornings, I did enjoy my brief bucolic rural idyll. Every morning the day was
sung in by a bevy of magpies and kookaburras which seemed to be competing
with each other over which species could make the most noise at 5:30 in the
morning!
By the way, as well as being referred to as a 'gulp' or
'murder' of magpies, the collective name for a group of magpies also includes
'A tiding' or 'charm' of magpies. Maybe this accounts for their early morning
carousing and carolling. There doesn’t appear to be a collective name for
kookaburras, so may I humbly submit ‘a comedy of kookaburras’ in honour of
their distinctive ‘laugh’?
If I got up early enough―I never did, of course―I might have
been lucky enough to see several rabbits gambolling about near the house. How
do I know there were rabbits gambolling about near the house? Because they also
liked to hop about just as dusk was approaching, as long as they couldn’t see
or hear either myself or the very active and friendly house dog.
A trio of kangaroos working their way across the lower paddock
Along with the rabbits, the magpies, and the kookaburras,
early morning and early evening was the perfect time to observe a mob of
kangaroos as they slowly left the nearby forest and grazed in the property’s
lower paddock. Actually, the kangaroos left the relative safety of the forest
in the evening, and by mid morning they could be seen eating their way back towards the trees again. In
between their evening exit from the forest, and their morning re-entry into it,
they often spent the night working their way right up to house, grazing as they
went. This I knew from the many droppings they left behind, just metres from
the back patio.
I know there are deer roaming wild in the Mt. Crawford
forest, but only once did I observe several of these beautiful creatures leave
the forest one evening, and graze well away from the main house.
My bucolic country getaway. Early morning fog greets early morning sun.
On a previous house sitting gig for the same owners, I was
lucky enough to see an echidna while out walking the dog late in the afternoon.
Australian echidnas (sometimes known as spiny anteaters), are small, solitary
mammals covered with coarse hair and spines that resemble the anteaters of
South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. Unlike
hedgehogs and porcupines though, which give birth to live young, the echidna
(which is a mammal) lays an egg! According to Wikipedia:
Echidnas and the platypus are the only egg-laying
mammals, known as monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery
egg 22 days after mating, and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching
takes place after 10 days; the young echidna then sucks milk from the pores of
the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for
45 to 55 days, at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a
nursery burrow and deposits the young, returning every five days to suckle it
until it is weaned at seven months.
Here endeth the lesson.
Now I am back in the cosy confines of my suburban retreat,
again close to shopping centres, cinema multiplexes, fast food franchises, and
within easy walking distance of cafés, coffee shops, and freshly baked muffins.
As good as it was to spend two weeks in a rural setting, I am happy to be back
in the burbs writing this. Don’t get me wrong, I am also more than happy to
return to Mt. Crawford to house sit again―but only when the weather is another
twenty degrees warmer.
I must admit I was not prepared for the grandeur on display
at the Palace of Versailles.
The size, scale, and opulence of the place is quite overwhelming when seen for
the first time.
Once the home to generations of Kings and Queens of France,
the Palace of Versailles stands as a stark reminder of the many excesses of
King Louis XIV (14th) in particular, and that of his heirs and successors.
Excesses which became exposed for all to see with the onset of the French
Revolution in 1789.
It’s not just the 700 rooms, the 6,000+ paintings, 1,500
drawings, and more than 15,000 engravings. Nor is it the sight of 2,100
sculptures and around 5,200 pieces of furniture and objets d’art, which
overwhelms. No, it is all these and more. Including the 800 hectares of
woodlands, landscaped gardens, fountains, Grand Canals, and many nooks and
hidden corners, which surround the main Palace building. Then there are the
Grand Trianon, Marie-Antoinette’s estate, numerous copses and groves, fountains
and open-air salons, the King’s Garden, the Apollo Baths, the Ornamental Lake
of The Dragon, and other locations large and small.
I walked around part of the massive Palace grounds on a
freezing December day, with the snow crunching underfoot, a light mist clinging
to the ground, and my warm breath hanging in the air.
I took many photographs that day under a dark, grey sky, and
the image I’ve selected for this post captures that setting very well. In the
image we see the Sun god Apollo, mounted on his chariot, emerging from the
frozen waters of the Apollo Fountain (located in the Grand Canal).
The horses themselves seem to be springing out of the icy water, following
close on the heels of the bugler leading them.
The work of Tuby, after a drawing by the French artist, Le
Brun, this monumental sculpture was designed and cast between 1668 and 1670,
then transported to Versailles and
installed and gilded the following year.
Montezuma Castle
National Monument is located in Arizona, approximately 140 km (87 mi) north of
Phoenix, and about 80 km (50 mi) south of Flagstaff. I wrote more about my
visit to the monument here, so for my Friday Photos feature today I thought I would post some more images
from that amazing site.
Click images to view full sized
...
The Native Community
Numerous information panels provide
interesting historical and cultural facts about the cliff-dwellings, and the
surrounding landscape.
Mysterious Departures
The five-story stone and mortar dwellings
contained 20 rooms and once housed about 50 people.
View of brickwork and roof supports
Neither part of the monument's name is
correct. More like a prehistoric high rise apartment complex than a castle, the
site was abandoned by the Sinagua 100 years before Montezuma was born.
MontezumaCastleNational Monument
No access to the ruins themselves has been
allowed since 1950 due to extensive damage of the dwelling, and the unstable
nature of the limestone cliff face.
Diorama of cliff dwellings
This architecturally correct diorama gives
visitors an idea of the internal layout of cliff-dwellings.
Diorama of cliff dwellings
MontezumaCastleNational Monument was one of four original sites designated National Monuments by
President Theodore Roosevelt in December 1906. The Monument was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in October, 1966.
A wall of glass greets the faithful to the Adelaide Apple Store
How many years has it been since Apple Inc
began setting up their Apple Stores around the world? According to Wikipedia: “On May 19, 2001, Apple opened the
first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California. As of November
2012, Apple maintains 394 retail stores in fourteen countries as well as the
online Apple Store and iTunes Store.”
To answer my own question then, it has been
12 years since Apple opened their first store. And make that figure 395 retail
stores and counting. I mention this because a few weeks ago (May 25, 2013) Apple Inc opened its first Adelaide store in
the heart of the city in Rundle Mall. I wish the venture every success, but I
can’t help wondering if it may be arriving a little too late. I mean, it is not
as if Apple products are impossible to find here. Not when pretty much every
telecoms shop, Harvey Norman, JB-HiFi, and Dick Smith store sell Apple products.
And let’s not forget every major department store, and a host of other outlets.
Oh, and of course, there are the stores that specialize exclusively in Apple
products such as Next Byte and others.
And just to show how my timing is off―as
usual―the Adelaide Apple store opened less than a month after I traded in my
old iPhone 3GS for the latest Galaxy S4. Oh, well. Better late than never, I
guess. Good luck Apple. It is good to see you here, at last.
Australian speakers seem to be few
and far between on TED, so I was particularly pleased to watch this talk by the
former cross-country skier, Janine Shepherd.
Janine was aiming for an Olympic
medal―until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride through the Blue
Mountains (60-90 minutes from Sydney). Shephard’s doctors did not expect her to
survive, and when she did, they warned her that she would never walk again. But
she not only learned to walk again―she learned to fly.
Janine focused intently for years on healing both her broken
body and crushed morale. A turning point came watching small planes flying
overhead. She decided: “If I can’t walk, I’ll fly.” While still in a full body
cast, Janine was lifted into an aircraft for her first flight. Within a year
she had her private pilot’s license. Later, she earned her commercial pilots
license and instructor’s rating. Janine recently served on the board of
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and became its youngest―and
only―female director.
Despite being a walking paraplegic, Janine Shepherd is also
a pilot and aerobatics instructor, as well as a powerful motivational speaker
and author. In this TED talk she shares her inspirational story about the human
potential for recovery. Her message: you are not your body, and giving up old
dreams can allow new ones to soar.
Today, Janine is the patron of the Australasian Spinal
Research Trust and is committed to helping find a cure for spinal cord injury
in the near future. In the meantime, she seeks to inspire those coping with
physical disability. She is the author of five books, including Never
Tell Me Never. And while doctors told her after her accident that she would
never have children, she now is a mother of three.
This 19 minute TED talk was first posted in November 2012.
“It [doesn't matter] what you look like, where you come
from, or what you do for a living. All that matters is that we continue to fan
the flame of humanity by living our lives as the ultimate creative expression
of who we really are.” ~ Janine Shepherd
TIM HAHNE is not only the founder of StereoScreen, but also a multi-talented visual artist who loves to
combine style and content with a very unique pictorial language. Tim started
his professional career in 1994, and has mainly been working as a director, but
also shoots, cuts, writes and composes music.
His film “24 HOURS in 19500 FRAMES” about the
24 Hour Nürburgring car race was an international success in 2010. Following that, the
BBC Top Gear program gave him the nickname “Car Telly Guru.” However, today’s
Armchair Travel video seems to be the short film that helped propel him into
the limelight after it was first posted to Vimeo in January 2010. Since then, The Beat Of New York has become a benchmark for modern
editing, mixed with contemporary sound design. Since its début Tim’s Vimeo site
has attracted millions of visitors, with this video itself gathering more than
600,000 views.
About The Beat of New York, Tim writes thatThomas
Noesner, the Director of Photography for StereoScreen, was in New York for a
Mercedes shoot. Right after the job, he took his camera and strolled through
the bustling streets of New York City. Tim adds, “While screening the pictures
of a drummer in the tube station, I had the idea of creating a remix of the
recorded drum sequence to use it as a soundtrack for the film. That’s when our
sound designer Toussaint came into play. We simply composed a track around the
drum beat of this guy. Watch and listen to the beat of New York!”
Want to see more? Last year, Tim co-directed the most
watched commercial in U.S. television history―the 2012 Superbowl ad for
Cadillac, which you can see here on YouTube. And make sure you visit Tim’s Vimeo page to see more of his excellent work.
Updated April 2016. Please note, this review refers to the former Hotel Brunswick in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and in no way reflects or refers to the new Hotel Lancaster which today occupies the same building. At the end of this review I wrote, "... the current owners/managers must pay more attention to details, and push staff to provide a better, friendlier service - and they need to do it soon, or the hotel may continue its decline beyond the point of no return."
That 'point of no return' occurred in late 2013, when the hotel was closed down and taken over by new owners who have refurbished the building and rebadged it as the Hotel Lancaster. The transformation from the old rundown hotel into an updated and renamed hotel seems to have given the building a completely new 'lease of life', so much so that the reviews on TripAdvisor and other sites are today overwhelmingly positive, whereas once they were almost all negative. I was tempted to delete this post, but have decided to keep it for historical purposes.
- o0o -
The Hotel Brunswick in Lancaster, Pennsylvania promotes itself as
“A full service hotel with a three-star rating to accommodate all your needs
while travelling. We boast 221 spacious rooms and over 12,000 sq. feet of
meeting and banquet space for conventions and family gatherings.”
I like to make a point of being as honest and as positive as
possible with my reviews, but quite frankly I had to work hard to be positive
reviewing the Brunswick. The hotel website is full of beautifully presented
images that do not always reflect what I saw during my five night stay during
August 2012. In fact, on initially viewing the website I thought I was looking
at a completely different hotel.
An image on the hotel website shows a group of uniformed,
smiling staff who look like they are bursting with energy and enthusiasm, and
who want nothing more than to please hotel guests. I suspect this is a stock
photo image, or at best reflects much better days for the hotel. I saw no
uniformed staff during my stay, and while the few staff I did see carried out
their duties well enough, reception staff came across as mostly bored and
indifferent. However, my stay was not a disaster by any means, and I even
extended my initial three night stay by an extra two nights.
Room 912 bathroom had plenty of towels, mini shampoo, and hair dryer, etc
LOCATION: The Hotel Brunswick is located in the heart of
historic downtown Lancaster. Within walking distance of the hotel are many
restaurants, the city’s famous Central Market, Fulton Opera House and numerous
shops and art galleries. The hotel is also directly opposite the local bus
station which is perfect for travellers (like myself) who don't have their own
transport. Note: the Greyhound/Amtrak terminal is about 3/4 of a mile away at
the end of North Queen Street. For those visitors with their own vehicles, a
privately run parking garage is located right next to the Hotel Brunswick.
Separate fees apply when using this facility.
Room 912 general view
FACILITIES: Room 912 had everything most travellers would
expect to find in a typical hotel room and while I have no complaints about the
size of the room or its amenities, it was immediately obvious on entering
(judging by the bits of paper and other detritus on the floor), that the carpet
had not been vacuumed for what seemed like several days.
Other facilities listed on the hotel website include:
Free Wireless Internet service [which worked fine for my
purposes]
Cable TV and Showtime Channels [umm, can’t remember much
about these]
Voice Mail [if it was available, I never used it]
Coffee Maker, Ironing Board/Iron, and Hair Dryer [yes]
Individual Climate Control [yes, if they mean the ability to
adjust the air-con yourself. In fact, the air-con unit in my room was so
efficient that I had to turn the temperature up to warm the room. And this was
during August.]
BREAKFAST: Breakfast was passable (two cereals, bread for
toast, frozen waffles, mini-muffins, coffee, apple and orange juice, etc.), but
the service was very poor. Sometimes there were not enough plates, and at other
times, no napkins, or the coffee had run out. To cap it all off, no one
appeared responsible for cleaning tables after they had been vacated, which
often meant tables were smeared with jelly and butter, or covered with food crumbs
of one type or other.
Large comfortable queen size beds
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: According to the ‘History’ section of the hotel’s website, “The
property operated under the “Hotel Brunswick” name until June of 2001 when it
acquired the “Ramada” flag and was named the “Ramada Inn Brunswick Conference
Center.” In February of 2005 the hotel was purchased out of bankruptcy
[my emphasis] by a California based company and the “Ramada Flag” was removed.
The hotel owners decided to keep the historic name of “HOTEL BRUNSWICK.”
Clearly, the hotel has seen better times, and even though it
apparently underwent some renovations a couple of years ago, it looks like it
has never quite recovered from the financial crisis that hit in 2010. It is
possible that renovations are still taking place at the hotel, albeit very
slowly, which might account for the very divergent reviews for the Brunswick
that can be found on TripAdvisor and other websites. The website advertises an
on-site restaurant but it was not operating during my stay, and I would venture
to say that the restaurant has not operated there for quite some time, although
the dining area was being used as the breakfast space.
Room 912, general view
I checked the hotel website while writing this entry. Under
the ‘Dining’ tab, the site states clearly that, "Our restaurant &
lounge are temporarily closed.” However, under the ‘Guest Rooms’ section of the
website, I found this: “The Hotel Brunswick offers an on-site restaurant and
versatile meeting rooms.” I can’t vouch for the meeting rooms, but I am
prepared to guess that the restaurant and lounge are still closed. It seems
little has changed in that respect in the ten months since my stay.
Despite everything I have written, the Brunswick was not the
dump some reviewers seem to think it is. Yes, the escalators leading to the
reception area were not working while I was there (and still appear to be out
of order), however the lifts were and still are operational.
The view from room 912 overlooking Lancaster Square
The excellent location and the great price make the
Brunswick a perfect place from which to explore the city of Lancaster and the
surrounding Amish country. However, the current owners/managers must pay more
attention to details, and push staff to provide a better, friendlier service -
and they need to do it soon, or the hotel may continue its decline beyond the
point of no return.
Here is a short video I put together from footage recorded just after my arrival in room 912:
HOTEL BRUNSWICK, LANCASTER, PA | My Rating: **1/2
151, North Queen Street, Lancaster, PA. Ph: (717) 397-4801
The Morning Star, Venus, hovers above a rising sun
My photographs today, feature a selection of
images taken during the early morning hours, either before the sun had risen
above the horizon, or soon after. In the image above, you can see what is
popularly known as the ‘morning star’, although the planet’s official name is
of course, Venus (also known as the ‘evening star’).
Early morning countryside. Mr Fox is out there somewhere.
Early morning country field somewhere along
Australia’s Mallee Highway (Route B12), not far from the Victoria country town,
Ouyen. I remember watching as a fox slowly loped across this open field, while
presumably on its way back to its den after a night out foraging for food. I
had pulled into a parking bay along the highway the night before where I slept
in the back of my station wagon.
The Mulwala Bridge linking Victoria and New South Wales
Early morning at Lake Mulwala, where the twin
towns of Yarrawonga (in Victoria), and Mulwala (in New South Wales) are joined
together by the Mulwala Bridge, seen here soon after dawn. The name,
Yarrawonga, is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘place
where the wonga pigeon rested’. Mulwala derives its name from an aboriginal
word for 'rain'.
Early morning fog haze over Sydney
The early morning sun is rising through a haze
of fog in the image seen above. This, and the photo below was taken during a
visit to Sydney in 2009. In the image below, the sun has risen higher and is
burning away the morning mist to promise a beautiful day out and about on
Sydney Harbor.
Early morning Sydney skyline
...
Someone to watch over me. My early morning 'angel'.
And finally, the early morning sun throws my shadow 50 feet just before continuing my 2009 road trip from Adelaide to Sydney.
“Look at the dog chasing the man,” said the
boy, who seemed to be around seven or eight years of age.
“What are you talking about?” asked his
mother in obvious confusion.
“There,” said the boy, “see, there’s a dog
chasing a man?”
It was late on a Friday evening in
mid-September, when I, and a group of 20-30 international and American
visitors, gathered close to the edge of Grand Canyon’s south rim to watch as a
perfect autumn day drew to a close, and long shadows began to rise and stretch
across canyon walls away to the north.
The young boy pointed off into the evening
haze, and dozens of curious visitors followed the direction of his outstretched
hand to look for the ‘dog chasing the man’.
Eventually, even the oldest pair of eyes
watched in wonder as the two shadows seen in the image above slowly grew,
stretched and changed shape as the sun settled lower in the west.
I don’t know if the child’s parents had
ever told the lad the story of The Boy Who Cried, Wolf, but memories of
that old folk tale come to mind each time I look at this image, and I remember the
boy who taught me once again, the simple pleasures of looking at the world
through the eyes of a child.
During my 2012 visit to the United States, I spent five nights in
Flagstaff, Arizona, which I used as my base while I explored some of the
surrounding country. During my stay, one of the locations I happened upon―as I
headed somewhat randomly, south―was the Montezuma Castle National Monument, a
short distance off Interstate 17. Phoenix is approximately 140 km (87 mi) south
of the monument, and Flagstaff, is about 80 km (50 mi) north.
I had never heard of the monument before my visit, nor
therefore, had I seen images of the site. To say I was awestruck by the size
and scale of what turns out to be some of the best preserved cliff-dwellings in
the American Southwest, is an understatement.
The cliff-dwellings at Montezuma Castle were built and used
by the Pre-Columbian Sinagua people around 700 AD. The Sinagua were northern
cousins of the Hohokam, and the site was occupied from approximately 1125 to
1400 AD, with peak occupation thought to be around 1300 AD. By the way, when
European Americans discovered the cliff-dwellings in the 1860s, they named them
for the Mexican Aztec emperor, Montezuma II, due to mistaken belief that the
emperor had been connected to their construction. In fact, neither part of the
monument's name is correct. The site was abandoned by the Sinagua 100 years
before Montezuma was born, and the dwellings were not a castle. The building
was more like a prehistoric high rise apartment complex.
Exactly why the Sinagua abandoned the cliff-dwellings is not
known, but warfare, drought, and clashes with the newly arrived Yavapai people
have been suggested. The five-story stone and mortar dwellings contain 20 rooms
and once housed about 50 people. Nearby are the remnants of Tuzigoot (Apache for
“Crooked Water”), a Singuan Village built on the summit of a ridge. Tuzigoot
was two stories high, with 77 ground floor rooms that were accessible via
ladders through roof openings. Unfortunately, little of this site has remained.
Montezuma Castle information panel
Due to its isolated location, only about 350,000 tourists
visit the site each year. Access to the ruins themselves has not been allowed
since 1950 due to extensive damage of the dwelling, and the unstable nature of
the limestone cliff face. However, there is a paved trail that leads from the
visitor centre and skirts the base of the cliff containing the ruins, from
which excellent views of the dwellings can be seen. In addition, numerous
information panels (like the one seen at right) provide
interesting historical and cultural facts about the cliff-dwellings, and the
surrounding landscape.
The dwellings and the surrounding area were declared a U.S.
National Monument on December 8, 1906 as a result of the American Antiquities
Act, signed earlier in June of the same year. It was one of the four original
sites designated National Monuments by President Theodore Roosevelt. The
National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on
October 15, 1966.
If you are visiting Montezuma Castle, allow time to visit
Montezuma Well several miles away. The well is a limestone sink created by the
collapse of a large underground cavern, which is fed by permanent springs.
There are also ruins located here from large pueblos to one-room houses.
What You Need To Know
> Operating Hours & Seasons
Open Daily: 8:00 AM-7:00 PM in summer, and 8 AM-5 PM in
winter.
Closed on Christmas Day.
Phone: (928) 567-3322
Model depicting internal layout of cliff-dwellings
Montezuma Castle Entrance Fees
Adults (16 and over): $5.00 (good for seven days)
Children (under 16): FREE. Entrance fees for Montezuma Castle are collected inside the
park Visitor Center during normal business hours.
Passes are available at a discounted rate of $8.00 for both
Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments.
