Blog retirement

I've decided to retire this blog. I don't really have the time or interest to keep it up... Any content of value has been transferred over to my personal blog. Feel free to follow me there.

Leaning Tower of Dallas

A wee bit of drama in Dallas, Texas this
week after a less-than-textbook demolition 

The locals are having a blast...

Here's my favourite story:

"As the infamous wrecking ball continues to tap away at the Leaning Tower of Dallas, Jerrel Sustaita is there to paint its progress. Since last week, the Dallas artist has stood before his easel outside the slanting building, painting acrylic impressions of the scene... When the tower finally falls, Sustaita will move on to another project, but he said he hopes his miniature art exhibition will find its way into a museum gallery. Although he’ll be printing copies of the paintings for sale, he said he wants the original pieces to remain together as a testament to the historic Leaning Tower of Dallas. “I’m not really interested in a situation where people buy it and take it off the wall,” he said. “I’d like it to stay up for a little while just for people to reminisce.”..." [read the full story on dmagazine].

Not your best demolition company ad...

Review: Rooftops of Tehran

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic
I loved this book. I chose to read this book in light of recent news and politics, hoping it would give me more insight into Iran and the Iranian people. It did not disappoint. The hopes and dreams of Iran's youth, set against the context of the country's norms and traditions, provided a rich picture. The characters were very real to me. The tiny details of the neighbourhood, the cooling hose in the heat, the imaginings under the stars, took me right there. Richly written. Great narration. 5 stars.

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Review: Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dark history in the white city.
After a false start a year ago, when I couldn't get into this book, I picked it up again. I had just come across "Bloodstains" by Jeff Mudgett, the great grandson of the "devil" in this book, and thought I should read this first (I recommend reading them in this order; it gave good context for Mudgett's revelations).
Overall, this was a pretty good book, but tying together two largely unrelated storylines isn't easy to do. While both were joined by the time and place of the Chicago World's Fair, flipping from a mass murderer's arrival in the city to the architects planning the site couldn't help but feel disjointed.
In the end, the stories were joined in the grizzly nightmares and calamities during the fair. It was disturbing to learn that the disappearing women barely registered with authorities and the "devil" carried on under their noses.
It is a dark history, but interesting nonetheless.

Read my review of Bloodstains
View all my reviews

Opera Garnier learnings

I have been a fan of the Opera Garnier since I stumbled upon it early into my month in Paris in 2009. I was already blown away by the building when I looked up and first set eyes on Chagall's remarkable ceiling. I gushed at the time, and have since acquired a tremendous print of the ceiling (yet to be framed) and a book or two.

Yet, despite learning that construction began in the 1860's, I never really thought about how that Chagall got there.

Then, this morning, reading an old copy of a Sunday NY Times left over from a vacation (I buy a copy and read it front to back over a week, and unfinished sections set aside... one of which just surfaced), I had a major ah ha moment:

"Among the theater's most famous fixtures are the chandelier and the painted ceiling that surrounds it ~ originally by Jules Eugène Lenepveu, then replaced in 1964 with a new sprawling work by Marc Chagall depicting scenes from operas by Mozart, Wagner and more."
Behind the Curtain at the Paris Opera, New York Times, September 8, 2019

Of course!!!!

Balzac's home in Paris

Novelist Honoré de Balzac's home
Photo copyright Peter's Paris

Add this to your list of off-the-beaten-track sights to see in Paris, courtesy of my favourite Paris blog...

"The house where the novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) lived for some seven years (1840-47) has recently been reopened after some restoration works. This is where he finalised a large part of his famous “La Comédie Humaine”, some 91 stories, novels, essays… How many have you read? I have only read one, “The Père Goriot” (Old Goriot). Balzac always lived beyond his means and, as he now and then had some unwanted visitors, he was happy to live in a house with several exits, including to the small narrow street on the back side. We are in the Passy area of Paris, in the 16th arrondissement, and this old little house is now surrounded by fashionable apartment buildings..." [read more on Peter's Paris].

Balzac's statue in
the Cimetière
du Père-Lachaise

To visit
The Maison de Balzac is located in the 16th arrondissement at 47, rue Raynouard (nearest métro and RER stations are Passy and Avenue du Président Kennedy) - open daily except Mondays and holidays (admission free)/
Maison de Balzac - Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau
Maison de Balzac Profile and Visitor's Guide - Trip Savvy
Back to Balzac - Literary Traveler


To learn more
Balzac's Paris - a Guided Tour - University of California
Balzac's Paris: History and Modern Walking Tout


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A step back in time to La Alberca

La Alberca's Paza Mayor

Perhaps the most enchanting step back in time I took on my 2009/2010 Europe trip was the village of La Alberca in Spain. I was staying nearby while volunteering at Pueblo Inglés (from which I have many memories but have not written much, except a brief post, Consulting My Pillow in La Alberca).

In Spain, every village has its own distinct design. My friend
Lisa Ch, sporting the La Alberca village ring we both bought there
(this pic from later that year, when we reconnected in NYC)

Anyways, it was with interest that I stumbled across this enchanting post by a traveller who has been there more than once, and though that I'd share it.

"When my parents came to visit in Madrid last year, they brought with them some of my old photos, a box of a few hundred slides I’d set aside years ago. It was a random sampling of the uncounted thousands of Kodachromes and Fujichromes I have sitting in the not-so-archival environment of my parent’s damp basement in Toronto.

There are a lot of things I prefer about digital photography over film, but film has digital beat when it comes to looking at old photographs. You get to hold the actual original thing, for starters, and you can see it without having to plug anything in. Slides can’t be perfectly copied in a keystroke, they’re one of a kind. And for that same reason, you see them only once in a while. They get put into deep storage and get forgotten about until they surface sometime later, like artefacts from the past.

Photo copyright Spain by Mike Randolf

There was one slide in particular that caught me eye. I took it out of the plastic sleeve and held it up to the window. My uncle Miguel had died the year before, but in the image, taken some twenty-five years ago, he looked not much older than I am now. We were in a village called La Alberca with my aunt and an old woman we met while wandering around..." [read more on Spain by Mike Randolf].

It's a great story.

Mike also has some great photos, they are really worth a look.

Sunset for the Travelling Boomer

The Travelling Boomer is signing off.
Photo copyright Paul Marshman

It was with a mix of both disappointment and understanding that I read the following announcement on one of my favourite travel blogs:

"For the past five years, I’ve been regaling you with stories about the pleasures of travel on this website. But today that comes to an end, and for a very good reason: it’s called climate change. Right now, the world is facing a climate crisis that threatens the future of all of us. And unfortunately, one of the things making it worse is travel. So I can’t in good conscience keep inviting you to go travelling and add to a problem that’s killing this planet..." [read more on the Travelling Boomer].

Paul is a brilliant man and has contributed so much the world of travel, but I think he has hit the nail on the head.


Thank you, my friend - and client - for all you have done. I look forward to learning about your next venture.

Review: Pictures at an Exhibition

Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The art world post WWII
I really enjoyed this book, and my only complaint was that it wasn't longer. Set in Paris on the heels of World War II, the story provides unique insights on what the city was like at the time when concentration camp horrors were just coming to light, and those who had gone underground for years were reemerging. Who had survived and who hadn't was still unknown. Owners were returning to the homes they fled only to find them occupied, abandoned after serving as Nazi facilities, or destroyed. I haven't encountered many books that captured this time so well. It is against this setting that the story is set. The son of an art dealer scours the city, looking for works that had belonged to his family, unearthing forgeries and family secrets as he goes. And, yes, re-finding his lost love and slowly learning of the lengths she went to save great works of art, disguised as an obedient clerk in the Louvre. A great listen for art and history fans.

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Review: The Paris Architect

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a complelling book!
I loved this book, all while it broke my heart, and fed my soul. As soon as the book starts, wham, you are taken immediately to the horrors of World War II in Paris, as Jews are torn from their homes. This experienced through the words and eyes of a little girl, and how she tries to save the life of her little brother in a hiding place they used for hide and seek. Fast forward 3 or 4 years, and the theme of hiding continues, as we learn the story of the architect who risked his life creating places to hide jews in Paris. Fast forward to almost modern times, and the stories that unfold as a woman and her husband get ready to move into the home that was once that of the little girl who hid her brother. Many twists and turns, compelling characters, and insights into the stories from Paris in wartime. Brilliant.

View all my reviews

Brussels: This is not a street

Ceci n’est pas une rue.
Brussels honours artist René Magritte with a new street name.

"If you could name a street in your hometown, what would you choose? Belgian citizens had the opportunity to mull just that question as part of an initiative to name 28 streets, squares, and walkways in the Belgian capital’s Tour & Taxis district*. The city crowdsourced the names as part of an ongoing regeneration project in the Tour & Taxis district—a formerly industrial area now set to become one of the city’s cultural and residential meccas. After receiving nearly 1,400 suggestions from the public, the final list was chosen by a jury of city officials, historians, and the site’s property developer, Extena...""[read more on Quartz].

*The district is named after the famous Thurn and Taxis, a German noble family that was a key player in European postal services until the fall of the Holy Roman Empire.

Street name signs in Brussels are in Flemish and French.
There have been more going up lately.

"Once a railway station and inland port, the district was a maze of warehouses, customs buildings and post and telegraph offices. By the early 1990s the area had fallen on hard times: lorry transport had rendered rail freight lines obsolete, while the introduction of a European customs union and harmonisation of standards drastically reduced incoming goods..." [read more on The Guardian].

"Did you know that the site once served as the largest freight station of Europe? The historic buildings were years ahead of the rest of Europe. The architects and engineers combined beautiful Belgian architecture with the most innovative technologies of the time. The result? Buildings that still have all modern facilities with an attractive, historic flavour..."read more on the official website].

"The eclectic mix of new names chosen by Brussels residents range from Passage de la Kriek, named after a famous Belgian cherry beer, to Ceci n’est pas une rue (This is not a street), inspired by the art of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. “To give a street a name, it gives it a certain identity,” Kris Verhellen, CEO of the Extensa development group which owns the former transport hub in the north of the city..." [read more on Reuters].

The new Brussels street names - and what they mean

• Allée des Douanes: Customs Alley
• Ceci n’est pas une rue: This is not a street (honouring Belgian artist René Magritte)
• Chemin du Bonheur: Path to Happiness
• Chemin d’Un Monde Meilleur: Path to a Better World
• Drève des Rêves: Drive of Dreams
• Drève du Parc: Park Drive
• Drève Maritime: Maritime Drive
• Drève von Thurn und Tassis: Tour and Taxis Drive
• Mer des Pavés: Sea of Cobblestones
• Passage de la Caricole: Passage of the Caricole
• Passage de la Frite: Passage of the fries
• Passage de la Praline: Passage of the Praline
• Passage de la Kriek: Passage of the Kriek (Belgian beer)
• Passage du Chicon: Passage of Chicon (a Belgian cheese and endive dish)
• Passage du Cuberdon: Passage of Cuberdon (a Belgian candy)
• Passage du Speculoos: Passage of the Speculoos (a Belgian spiced cookie)
• Passage du Stoemp: Passage of the Stoemp (a Belgian vegetable dish)
• Place de la Musique: Place of Music
• Place des Choukes: Place of Choukes (a Belgian term of endearment)
• Place des Grands Hommes Place of Great People
• Quai des Brumes: Quay of the Mists
• Rue Chantal Akerman: Chantal Akerman Street (a famous Belgian feminist and avant-garde filmmaker)
• Rue des Entrepôts: Warehouse Street
• Rue du Méandre: Meander Street
• Rue Isala Van Diest: Isala Van Diest Street (Belguim's first female medical doctor)
• Voie 1: Way 1
• Voie 2: Way 2

The Brussels city flag

To learn more
Tour & Taxis District - official website
Belgians chose “This is not a street” as one of 28 new Brussels street names - Quartz
Beer, chips and historic women inspire new Brussels street names
New names of the Tour & Taxis streets - Brussels city website
Ceci n’est pas une rue: Brussels to adopt whimsical new street names - The Guardian
Brussels Honors René Magritte & Other Painters With Bizarre Street Names - The Travel


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Fetlar, Shetland Islands

Fetlar is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland.

Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands, is a subarctic archipelago that lies northeast of the island of Great Britain and forms part of Scotland in the United Kingdom.

The islands lie some 80 km (50 mi) to the northeast of Orkney, and 280 km (170 mi) southeast of the Faroe Islands. The Shetland Islands form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean (to the west) and the North Sea (to the east). 15 of the 100+ islands are inhabited.

Fetlar Interpretive Centre and Leagarth House

Fetlar is the fourth largest island of Shetland and has an area of just over 4,000 hectares (15 sq mi), and is home to 61 residents (2011 census).

Human settlements on Fetlar can be traced back to the Stone Age. The Vikings colonized Fetlar 1,200 years ago, with Gruting rumoured to be the site of the first Norse landing in the Shetlands.

One of the strange features of Fetlar is a huge wall that goes across the island... [continue reading on the cruisetravelbug blog].



If you would like to explore travel here or elsewhere, please contact me.

Port Frejus: seaside Roman ruins in France

A largely European invention, 3-4 week 'long stays' escapes in France, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain, are popular with budget-minded travellers. It was as I was searching long stays apartments in the French Riviera for a client that I stumbled across Fort Frejus. Its seaside location and Roman ruins caught my eye, and I was called to learn more.

Fréjus (Occitan: Frejús, French pronunciation: ​[fʁe.ʒys]) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one town.

The many ruins around Frejus make one curious about how the town came to be.

The origins of Frejus probably lie with the Celto-Ligurian people who settled around the natural harbour of Aegytna. The remains of a defensive wall are still visible on Mont Auriasque and Cap Capelin.

The Phocaeans of Marseille later established an outpost on the site.

Julius Caesar founded the city as 'Forum Julii' meaning... [read more on my cruisetravelbug blog].



If you would like to explore a long stay here or elsewhere, please contact me.

Imagine yourself at the Tour de France?

If you're like me, you're bleary eyed and wondering what to do with yourself first thing in the morning. What, no Tour de France to watch at 5am? It's been a great 3 weeks in the couch peleton.

Moi at the TDF in 2009 (story)

If your thoughts include dreams of witnessing a Tour de France stage in person, I can only say JUST DO IT! There is nothing like being part of the crowd (even though I stood for hours in the rain when le tour went through Barcelona).

It's easy enough to coordinate your travel plans to be in the start city or Paris ~ or just to be in France in July ~ and it costs you nothing extra to stake out a piece of the sidewalk. Start and finish dates are available now, and the full race route is released in October.

If you want a more packaged affair, with hotels, grandstand seating, VIP access, transfers, breakfasts, bike storage and daily bike rides, there are a range of options available from the official VIP access provider. This is the full meal deal.

Grand Depart Brussels 2019 weekend packages (in Eddy Merckx's hometown!) include:
• Thursday, July 4, 2019: Team presentation in Brussels
• Friday, July 5, 2019: Team training day in Brussels
• Saturday, July 6, 2019: Stage 1, Brussels
• Sunday, July 7, 2019: Stage 2, Brussels - Team Time Trial
• Monday, July 8, 2019: Stage 3, Brussels to TBA

Weekend packages for the Tour de France's conclusion on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Sunday, July 29, 2019, range from basic to full Tour de France Triomphe Packages with VIP access, grandstand seating and, yes, champagne.

Tempted? Please contact me if you'd like more information on official Tour de France travel packages, or assistance in making your own independent plans.

Death by Selfie: is social media worth it?

Shannon Falls, British Columbia

The tragic death of three young people at Shannon Falls, near Vancouver, BC, Canada, while out for a day fun with friends, has saddened many.

The group of friends were hiking near the falls, when one, a young woman, fell in. Two young men, one her boyfriend, fell or jumped in while attempting to rescue her. All three died.

News of the positive yet daring adventures of one of the deceased - a vlogger* - made me think of this death-by-selfie piece I wrote a few years ago. For me, the connection is the drive to share life experiences in social media. I'm not suggesting the friends were doing anything foolish when the accident happened; it just seems timely to share.

*Vlogging is a form of blogging based on videos (the vlog category is popular on YouTube).

DEATH BY SELFIE

- by Roberta Westwood

Think that selfie is fun? Harmless?

Aside of the downsides of "missing" the experience of where you are, because you're so busy capturing your selfie, you may be surprised to to learn that taking selfies is actually dangerous.

What starts as playful fun can cross the line when selfies become an obsession, in which you become less aware of your surroundings and take ever-increasing risks.

Especially for men. The truth is that while women take more selfies than men, 75% of selfie death victims are MEN.

Selfie deaths?!? Really? You bet.

Selfie-takers have been killed by:

• Falling off cliffs while taking selfies (many)
• Falling over viewpoint barriers
• Falling over a cliff when leaning on a gate that gave way
• Sitting on boulders forming a safety barrier over a gorge, which gave way
• Falling into a volcano crater
• Falling down stairs
• Falling down stairs while taking a selfie at the Taj Majal
• Falling off bridges (many)
• Falling off dams (several)
• Falling into a pond
• Falling into a spring
• Falling in irrigation canals
• Falling into water reservoirs
• Falling into a quarry filled with rainwater
• Falling into a well, while leaning over it to take a selfie showing the depth
• Taking selfies in a melt hole (cave) at the front edge of a receding glacier, when the roof gave way
• Taking selfies with waterfalls (several)
• Standing in rivers while taking selfies
• Waves, when standing on the beach (several)
• Waves, while standing in the surf, in a storm, taking selfies
• Taking selfies with trains (several)
• Falling off moving trains while taking selfies
• Climbing on top of moving trains
• Climbing on top of stationary trains mistakenly believed not in service (many by electrocution)
• Crashing cars while taking selfies or uploading selfies while driving
• Being hit by cars
• Being hit by a car while taking selfies with airplanes
• Standing in a boat to take selfies (drownings)
• Climbing on a fountain to take selfies
• Climbing onto a glass dome to take selfies, and falling through
• Climbing on girders in a construction site to take selfies
• Preparing to take a selfie by hanging from a rope from a high-rise
• Leaping to take a "flying selfie" (at Machu Picchu)
• Falling into a geyser while taking a selfie
• Posing with guns (many!)
• Posing with grenades
• Posing with a rattlesnake
• Posing with tigers at the zoo (several)
• Taking selfies with a walrus at the zoo
• Posing with a bison in a national park (gored)
• Posing with an elephant near their tent on a safari
• Getting out of a vehicle to take selfies with a herd of elephants blocking a road

Places where selfies have banned, due to deaths:

• In Pamplona, Spain, during the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona
• At New York State zoos (tigers)
• Anywhere in Mumbai (India has very high selfie deaths)
• In Japan, selfies and selfie-sticks on train station platforms are banned

Places where selfie bans have been proposed, due to high selfie deaths:

• In Paris, at the Eiffel Tower
• In Rome, at Trevi Fountain
• In Rome, on the Spanish Steps

Do you believe me now?

Even if you are not killed, just imagine the extent of serious injuries any of the above could cause.

Seriously, have fun out there, but don't let it cost you your life (or limbs!)


Related resources
List of selfie-related injuries and deaths - Wikipedia
40% Selfie Deaths from India, Selfie Obsession kills over 60 people Worldwide - Phone Radar
Mumbai sets no-selfie zones as deaths linked to selfies rise - Associated Press
No Selfies Allowed: Social Media Bans at Landmarks - Conde Nast Traveler
Selfie deaths: six people who died while taking a selfie - The Week
In Goa, red flags go up on beaches after tourist deaths: Selfies can be dangerous - The Indian Express
Selfies can be deadly - and India leads the way - Economic Times
Two young women struck by lightning while taking selfies - Economic Times
Death by Selfie - Martin Parr

Venice: Murano on a shoestring

Perhaps you have heard that Venice is expensive. It is... and it isn't... More on that in another post, but here's a good example of what you can do on the cheap in Venice and still have an amazing experience: a self-guided Murano glassmaking tour.

Setting out to Murano is as easy as jumping on the vaparetto - and if you are in Venice for a few days then you probably already have a vaparetto pass; if not, tickets are cheap and you'll be using a few everyday anyways. So I consider the transportation segment "free".
Once on the island, you can find a glassmaking demonstration for as little as 5E. As I was getting off my vaparetto (at the first stop on Murano), there was a guy pointing the way to demos, less than 5 minutes walk away - I listened and paid attention to the details so that I could come back after lunch. But to the experience itself. I walked in, paid my 5E, they waited a few minutes longer for others to arrive and then the demonstration started. Exciting to be there, right in the workshop, next to the truly red hot furnace. There were only two other people there so I was able to get very close. Here are the glassmakers getting started...

Just before they got started, they noticed that one of the stones in their oven broken. The solution? Weld it together with a blob of hot glass!

Now, here is our blob of hot glass...

I had my camera on the glass-end of the process, but they guy would have been blowing down the tube you see while he rolled the rod around and the blog began to change shape...

He would put the glass back in the oven every few minutes before continuing on. At this point, there was another guy with another blob of glass in a different colour holding his stick next to the main guy. Here you see the main guy using tools to manipulate the second piece of liquid glass as it was twisted around the original piece...

Shaping the glass with scissors, hard to tell what is happening, but very interesting... They did have an audio recording playing during the demo, in English, explaining the overall process, the heat of the ovens, etc.

I literally gasped out loud as I recognized the horse that he was making...

Creating the legs...

And the finished product!!! Took all of 5-10 minutes to create. We had a quick minute to take pictures then this horsie was heading to a cool-down furnace for 24 hours.

They shepard you into the glass shop after the demo - with incredible stuff costing hundreds and even thousands of dollars - but all I bought was 2 little pieces of glass (a paper weight and a butter knife) for 10E each.. They didn't make their millions on me, obviously! Walking back to the vaparetto I spotted this gate at another glassmaking establishment and snapped a couple pics...

Another closeup of the gate....

Now, for a few other pics from my time on Murano... This is one of the glass places:

And another... this sign was made out of little chips of coloured glass:

This canal was the other way from the glassmaking demo and it's where I went first for a bit to eat and to soak in the ambience....

Oh, on the way to Murano, the first stop you come to is this one. Don't get off here, unless you have a hankering for seeing some crypts and graves...

These were some pilons that had seen better days that I spotted on the journey... I think they were just for directional purposes (once you get out on the water to/from Murano you can clearly see that they have "lanes" for the waterways)...

While I was at lunch, I observed this activity taking place on the canal across from me. The boat had a big winch (from which the operator made a point to look cool and grin once he spotted me taking pics, lol) and they were lifting heavy stuff out... Once they get these materials out of the boat, they will put them on top of that rickety old wheel barrow and all they guys would help push it along to a nearby building. It was rather hilarious as I was wondering if they wheel barrow would survive...

My pizza and beer. Pretty cheap, for Venice, totalling 21E for a whole pizza and two beers. And veeery good!

Found this guy fishing for lunch near the glassmaking demo place...

So, that was my budget tour. You don't need a tour company for this little jaunt. It was easy to do, very pleasant and for 5E who can complain?

This story was originally published on my personal blog while travelling.

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