Travels in the 2nd half

Just a week and a half has passed and here I am, back in Boston! This time it is a vacation with The Amazing Ms. D.  Truthfully this is the first time i have been to Beantown on vacation in several years and I am looking forward to it. On the way in we decided to stop in the historic town of Concord MA. That is - as in the Battle of Lexington and Concord(1775), you know Paul Revere and all that. Concord is a lovely town that looks exactly like what I see when I think of a New England town, with all of the colonial touches there and none of reinactors (take that Williamsburg). It has the white clapboard churches and brick front houses. Shops to look in on, food to eat and a fantastic bookstore. The commercial center of Concord is small, about 6-8 square blocks, and can be easily seen in 1-2 hours (more if you if eat or spend a lot time in the stores. There are also several historic buildings/museums nearby and of course the Minute Man National Historic Park  is just 4 miles...

I recently attended a conference in Boston, and instead of rushing back to the Big Apple I decided to take a more leisurely route, at least for the morning. My morning started with breakfast at Victoria's Diner . In business since 1949, it sits on the southern end of Massachusetts Ave. I had the eggs and homemade corned beef hash - an excellent choice. Victoria's Diner 50's chic? Victoria's Diner sits on an industrial stretch of Mass Av. just north of Dorchester. Travel just a short distance north and you enter into downtown Boston. Continue on passed Symphony Hall and the Christian Science Center with its wonderful Mapparium , a 3 story tall stained glass globe. Continuing on Mass Av takes you into the Back Bay neighborhood. You can then choose to continue on into Cambridge, but this time I turned onto Storrow Drive. Storrow Drive is a parkway that follows the southern bank of the Charles River. It is a beautiful park with paths for walking, running, biki...

What does a traveler do on a weekend. Well is he has no other obligations he might take a day to explore. And so The Amazing Ms. D  and I took off on a recent Sunday for the destination of Morristown NJ (map) , which sits about 40 miles from our home. Morristown is now a suburban center with commuters traveling to New York City, Newark and up and down the I-287 corridor.It is a somewhat bifurcated town with an upper middle class population on one side of the town square (yes, they have an actual square in the middle of town) and a working class population  of mostly Central and South American immigrants on the other. What drew us was a quality, juried craft fair. The was run by a company called  ARTRIDER . They run fairs whose vendors are much more ART than Craft. For example we met Robin McLaughlin, who owns Stonecrop Beadworks  (web site).  She was very friendly and makes the most beautiful bead and stone jewelry. Shopping for something special ...

Today has been my last day here in Lisbon. Tomorrow I fly home, back to the waiting arms of The Amazing Ms. D . In deference of my aching legs, I took an easy day, but an interesting day. I decided to spend the morning on Lisbon’s natural tour bus – the Electrico 28. I decided that the best way to do this was to get on at the 28E terminus at Plaça Martim Moniz. Martim Moniz was a Portuguese knight in 1147 during the reconquest of Lisbon from the Moors. The plaza has been rebuilt recently to provide parking underground. It is now a large cement open space with trees and food stands. It sits on the edge of an Asian neighborhood in Lisbon, so I got have steamed pork buns for breakfast. Getting on at the terminus is important because the 28E is a small old tram and if you want a seat so that you can see out of the windows you have to be near the start of the line. You might even want to let one tram load and wait for the next. The 28E starts at Plaça Martim Moniz an...

I am not sure what it is about me, sites of natural wonder and bad weather, but we three seem to go together. Take for example my first (and so far only) trip to the Grand Canyon. Well, the Amazing Ms. D and I had already spent a beautiful week under the hot south-west desert sun. We had traveled to Santa Fe, Taos, Acoma and Canyon de Chelly. Sunny and hot every day. Even driving up to the eastern gate, not a cloud in the sky. But, as soon as we entered the park - BAM! the fog rolled in. I think we drove along the south rim, truthfully all I could see were the tail lights of the car in front of me. It is true that today I have amazing photos of the fog coming up out of the Canyon, taken from above. Or take our trip back from spending a year in the Canadian Rockies. While it is true that we had a lot of beautiful days in the Rockies, it is also true that the temperature did not go above 70 degrees from the 10 months we were in Canmore. Yet the day we crossed the border back into th...

Forcing myself to take a break in my hike through Bairro Alto, I choose the outdoor cafe at Miradouro de Santa Catarina. Sitting above the riverfornt looking down on Cais do Sodre, I am rewarded with a panorama of the Tagus River. To my right is the April the 25th Bridge. this bridge was designed by the same company that built the Oakland Bay Bridge  (see here) but it painted to resemble the Golden Gate Bridge. Originally named after the dictator Salazar when opened in 1966, it was renamed after the Carnation Revolution that removed him in 1974. The name now commemorates the date that the revolution started. April the 25th Bridge I am struck here in Lisbon, as in many European cities, by the space given to just sitting, thinking and talking. Plazas, squares, overlooks, all were and are considered an important part of civic design. A place to slow down, have an coffee, relax and catch your breath. Visit with a friend. Spend some time people watching. T...

Today I went to Belém, a neighborhood along the Tagus River. Belém has many reasons to visit, both old and new. Belém is the area from which many exploratory ships left Lisbon. It sits near the mouth of Tagus River. For that reason King Manuel I built the Mostiero dos Jerónimos (Hieronymous Monastery) in 1501. The Monastery is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was meant to impress all those who were arriving in Lisbon by boat. The church at the monastery contains the tomb of Vasco de Gama along with some beautiful stained glass.  In addition to wanting to impress visitors, King Manuel I also understood the need to impress vistors and sailors so he built towers on both side of the river welcome sailors back with goods from colonies and trade around the world. The Torre de Belém has survived. It sits over-looking the river.  Belem Tower April 25th Bridge from Belem Tower Up close at the tower The area also includes many museums (s...