Category Archives: Travel

Jan16

Out of the mountain of despair: MLK Memorial

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MLK Memorial

This has been on my to-do list for a while, so it only seemed fitting to finally visit Martin Luther King Jr’s Memorial on this sunny but chilly Monday (off). I’ve seen the Memorial from a distance before while driving by but never up close. It opened to the public last August but the official dedication ceremony was delayed until October due to Hurricane Irene. Many visitors have already been there since then. Obviously today it was an especially popular destination with whole families out and about despite the frigid temperature. The visitors span the demographic gamut: kids in colorful hats, couples strolling hand in hand, even a grandma with a walker. Everybody – including me – snapping lots of pictures.

The Memorial sits on the westen edge of the Tidal Basin along the axis linking the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials. It consists of the three main elements. First, symbolic Mountain of Despair, a massive boulder with a passageway carved right through it, forms the main gate to the Memorial. The centerpiece of the Memorial, a Stone of Hope, rises a few feet beyond that gate, with a monumental relief of Martin Luther King carved as emerging from the far side of the granite mass. On both sides, a two-winged inscription wall shows excerpts from King’s sermons and speeches. Read the rest of this entry →

Jan16

Foodie’s guide to Kraków

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Kleparz market in Kraków

Most visitors come to Kraków for sights – the imposing Wawel Royal Castle, St. Mary’s Church on the grand, medieval Main Square, or bustling Sukiennice Cloth Market to name just a few. But especially for those new to Poland, Kraków also provides a great introduction to that key aspect of exploring all foreign lands: food. The Main Square, where most people start their city adventure, has plenty of restaurants and cafes to choose from but you can do much better in terms of originality and selection, not to mention price-to-performance ratio, by venturing out a bit. Here a foodie’s guide to some of the best restaurants and places to eat in Kraków, Poland. Read the rest of this entry →

Jan15

Keep Austin weird. Seriously, please do!

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Legendary Shiner at the legendary Maggie Mae's on 6th Street

Just got back from a short trip to Austin. People ask me how was Texas? And I don’t really know because it didn’t feel like I was in Texas. For one, zip car equivalents here are smarts, which is something I never thought I would see in the U.S. and especially in the Lone Star State. “Keep Austin weird” is a popular local slogan and there is definitely something to it. I wasn’t on a lookout for all things weird although there are plenty if you’re so inclined (and yes, chicken s**t bingo is a real thing =) My dual focus was music and food – and Austin delivers on both accounts.

The self-proclaimed live music capital of the world, Austin brings to mind big names like Willie Nelson or Janis Joplin. And the nightly music scene keeps thriving, especially on the iconic 6th Street. To find out who’s playing where check out The Austin Chronicle or Austin Metro Entertainment. I had two favorites. Blue Monday Blues Jam at Maggie Mae’s with Mike Milligan, accurately described on stage by the Austin Post as “a force of nature, a bundle of musical energy, an explosive, emotive singer and one of the best harp players the blues has ever seen.” The second was Carolyn Wonderland at The Parish. Incidentally, I heard an interview with her on NPR the day my husband and I left for Austin, without knowing who she was at the time. What an amazing artist! Frequently compared to Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughan, she has a great voice and awesome guitar skills (she plays with her fingers rather than a pick). Coupled with a few bottles of Shiner and Real Ale such great music makes for a perfect Austin evening. Read the rest of this entry →

Jan6

Winter wonderland on Antelope Island

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A hawk (I think) gazing across frozen Great Salt Lake toward Antelope Island

I had never heard of Antelope Island until my trip to Utah last year. This largest island on the Great Salt Lake (about 40 sq miles) in the summer provides a great place for hiking, biking, horseback riding and everything in between with miles of picturesque trails. But a visit there in winter is also well worth it – breathtaking in fact. First, there is getting there. Driving on a narrow road that connects the island to Salt Lake City mainland is like skating seven miles straight across a giant empty ice-rink. Frozen lake surface is bare and quiet, dotted only by a few moving black spots. Just squint your eyes… coyotes. Once you’re there the key attraction is a free-roaming herd of 500 bisons. Introduced on the island in 1893 (just 12 animals to start with brought there by boat – I guess they liked this romantic seclusion), today they are an intergal part of the landscape. Seeing dozens of them just hanging out in a distance, their dark silhouettes sharply contrasting with milky white show and the backdrop of the island’s mountainous interior is quite unreal. Read the rest of this entry →

Dec31

Lessons from 2011

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The road ahead may be long…

Sonora desert, Arizona (January)

…and winding

Road to Park City, Utah (January)

but make sure to stop and smell the blossoms

Cherry blossoms, Washington DC (March)

take time out

Big Island, Hawaii (April)

think deep thoughts

Nairobi, Kenya (May)

follow the rainbow

Sopot, Poland (June)

find new perspective

Yerevan, Armenia (June)

find new direction

Manila, Philippines (July)

look at the bright side

Muir Woods, California (August)

and don’t forget to feed the squirrels

Home (December)

Dec28

O Christmas tree

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Capitol Christmas tree

Pretty much everybody knows about the National Christmas Tree – a magnificently decorated conifer in front of the White House lit in a crowd-pleasing ceremony. The tradition started in 1923 and is still going strong. But fewer people realize that there is another great location in Washington to enjoy holiday spirit with a beautiful tree as the backdrop: the Capitol. This year the Capitol Christmas Tree is a gorgeous Sierra white fir, 118 years old and 63 feet tall at harvest, that traveled more than 4,500 miles during its three-week tour en route to DC from California’s Stanislaus National Forest. Providing a Capitol Tree has become the proud task of one of the National Forests since 1970.

I skipped the lighting ceremony (mostly because John Boehner as Speaker of the House was doing the honors =) but took a walk there on Christmas evening. The sight was wonderful indeed! The tree is really massive – equivalent to about 6-story tall building – but surprisingly slender and perfectly symmetrical. 10,000 LED lights light up the night and the citizens of California prepared 5,000 ornaments that adorn the evergreen branches. For the most part they are beautiful, thoughtful, and touching although some made me wonder: a rubber chicken? Lakers t-shirt? Well, the theme was “California Shines” but still… Read the rest of this entry →

Dec18

Noodkamp diary

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South African shantytown (photo: http://www.concierge.com)

In another unexpected unearthing of an old travel piece, I found this diary entry I wrote ten years ago during a trip to South Africa that changed my life. It was my first time outside Europe and the U.S., a trip that was delightful, shocking, and inspiring at the same time. And it made me want more – see more, experience more, understand more… Here is one special evening from that trip.

June 4, 2001
Noodkamp, shantytown outside of Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa

As I watch the sun slowly bow its head behind the rugged roofs, another gust of penetrating breeze makes me shiver. Who thought it would be so chilly in Africa of all places?! I still didn’t quite become used to June being the middle of winter. There was not enough time, though, to think about the weather. I was there to record an oral history interview with someone who lived though the painful past of this colorful nation, so deeply torn apart and now awaiting brighter future. Read the rest of this entry →

Dec10

The other Florida

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Hotel formerly known as the Dunes (photo: http://www.hiexpress.com)

When the weather in the northeast turns cold, my thoughts migrate south in a snowbird fashion. Today I’m thinking about one of my favorite Florida escapes – Pensacola. More specifically, I mentally teleport to the Dunes hotel sitting on a narrow strip of Santa Rosa Island. It faces the Gulf and is separated from the mainland by a long sound, which means that every guest room faces the water. I still remember walking into my room and being greeted by the soft humming of the ocean surf, so close it seemed like I could just outstretch my hand and touch it. And I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw dolphins playfully jumping between the waves just offshore.

Santa Rosa is a perfect escape. The site of Spanish arrival in the early 16th century, this 40-mile barrier island today belongs in part to the Gulf Islands National Seashore with the landscape ranging from gleaming white beaches and rugged maritime vegetation to historic Fort Pickens on the island’s western tip. Built in 1834, it was the largest of four forts guarding Pensacola Harbor. During the Civil War, Fort Pickens was reinforced the day after Fort Sumter surrendered, later withheld the Confederate assault in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, and became one of the few southern forts to continuously remain in Union hands. The Fort stayed under military use until after WWII when its old fortifications and gun batteries became obsolete and now is a part of the Seashore. Read the rest of this entry →

Dec4

Magical Kraków

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Kraków's Main Square with St. Mary's Church

Having lived in Kraków, I find it hard to blog about it: there is just so much to say. It’s such a great place, special in so many ways, and returning there always feels like recharging batteries. The Main Square especially, even though it is probably the most touristy part of town, has this special energy. First, there is the scale: with sides about 200 meters long it is one of the largest medieval squares in Europe. Then there is history: over the ages the square has been its witness. From the spot now marked by a church where St. Adalbert (Wojciech) preached back in the 10th century, through the place of homage by Prince Albert Hohenzollern of Prussia to Polish King Zygmunt I in 1525, the location where Tadeusz Kościuszko took an oath to defend the country against foreign partitions in 1794, to the commemorative plaque placed there upon Poland’s entry into the EU in 2004. Finally, there is the atmosphere: old churches next to hip cafes, high-end restaurants competing with obwarzanki stands (Polish version of a bagel), kids chasing pigeons around the local landmark of poet Adam Mickiewicz’s statue affectionately known as “Adaś”… Life here flows to the rhythm of Hejnał Mariacki, traditional tune played by a trumpeter each hour from the tower of the stunning St. Mary’s Church. Read the rest of this entry →

Nov19

Tunisie, je t’aime!

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Medieval streets of Sousse

Tunisia will always hold a special place in my heart for a simple reason: that’s where I went for my honeymoon. I got married in Poland and we were looking for a place that would be a great vacation spot (i.e. sea warmer than the Baltic), have historical and cultural depth to it (i.e. no Disneyland), and let us fly there in under 3 hours. Sousse – or Sūsa in Arabic – a gorgeous city 140 km south of Tunis met all the criteria.

Geography is a weird thing. In my mind North Africa is a different, exotic place. But Tunisia almost touches the tip of Sicily and, not surprisingly given this close proximity, its history is tightly intertwined with that of Europe. Tunisia was founded in the 11th century B.C. as a Phoenician port of Hadrumetum, then for centuries was a part of the Roman Empire, a Byzantine city of Justinianopolis, and finally in the 7th century A.D. conquered by the Arabs who gave the city its current character. Its medieval heart, medina, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with truly unique architecture and atmosphere. Narrow streets meander through spice-scented souks and countless shops, sumptuous aromas ooze out of hole-in-the-wall eateries, and street vendors call out their offers. To my great surprise they address me in Polish! I guess there have been so many Polish tourists in Tunisia in the last few years that it pays to learn how to haggle in the client’s language – and clearly I look the type. Read the rest of this entry →