Istanbul to Athens — April 2023

 

At the Parthenon

Link to more photos. As always, view the photos individually to see the captions.

After Victor expressed interest in seeing Greece, I looked to combine it with a bit more, and signed up for this 12-day tour. It went well. The temperatures were a bit cool, and there was some rain on several days. Getting there and back required very long flights, of course, and ten hours time change.

In Istanbul, we began with a visit to Topkapi Palace, center of the Ottoman Empire and home to the sultans. We then got in line early for the Hagia Sophia mosque, the first of several mosques we visited during this trip. We were supposed to next visit the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum, but it was closed due to an electrical outage. Fortunately, it re-opened the next day and we went then. That busy day also included the Istanbul Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar, a carpet-weaving demonstration (including carpets that change color depending on which direction you view them from!), and a Bosphorus cruise. We passed by Turkey's brand new first aircraft carrier, and saw a very long line of people waiting to see it.

We left Istanbul for Edirne, where we stopped at several mosques and a historic health museum. (I had no idea that the first smallpox vaccinations were in Turkey.) The traffic lights at busy intersections include the entire stanchion. (See the 9-second video included in the photo album.) This deserves to spread widely.

The next day we entered Greece. We spent the night in Kavala. The well-preserved aqueduct impressed me. We had great views from our hotel.

We had the archaeological site of Philippi almost to ourselves. In Thessaloniki, we ate all meals together and had a short cruise in the gulf. We were gifted with bags of mountain tea, oregano, and thyme.

At the Royal Tombs in Vergina, we viewed the Vergina Treasures. On our way to Meteora, I asked if we could stop for photos of Mount Olympus. We did, but it was somewhat obscured by clouds. We went to several monasteries in Meteora precipitously perched on massive pillars. 

Before reaching Athens, we stopped at the Leonidas Monument in Thermopylae. Leonidas, King of Sparta, led the famous 300 Spartan soldiers and other Greek soldiers who fought to the death and held off a vastly larger Persian army for three days in 480 BCE.

In Athens, we got to the Acropolis early. By the time we left, the crowds were huge. There's quite a bit more than the Parthenon. I particularly liked the caryatids of the Erechtheion, but it was only later at the Acropolis Museum that I learned that they were replicas, with the originals only in the museum. Also at the museum was this model of the complete Parthenon:

When I saw the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum in 1975 I wrote, 

"... half the Parthenon...! With all that ... right here [in London], why does anyone go to Athens...? I really never knew so much of the Parthenon was in London. Only the skeleton remains on the Acropolis, I suppose." 

Now, at the Acropolis Museum, many items are marked "(BM)" indicating that the originals are in the British Museum, and they want them back, of course.

Later, we briefly viewed Hadrian's Arch and the Panathenaic Stadium, the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble.

Autographs — Emily St. John Mandel

 

My book group discussed this author's Station Eleven in January 2019. I enjoyed it. This book, her newest, looks even more interesting. She spoke and signed books at the Los Angeles Central Library this evening.

(Index to autographs) 

Orlando — March 2023

 

Link to more photos. View the photos individually to see the captions.

I had heard that the Star Wars area at Disney World was bigger than the one at Disneyland (which we have not yet seen), and the Harry Potter area at Universal Studios Florida was more extensive than the one here in L.A. (which we have seen). So when I saw a cheap flights + hotel package for Orlando in March when there's usually not too much rain, I grabbed it.

Not everything worked out. First I found that the added parts at Universal were mainly roller coasters, which Victor would never do, so we dropped that. Once we arrived, we found that Uber was quite expensive, so we did use a rental car one day. Our cheap motel had mandatory resort fees, undisclosed until you checked in, of course. GRRR!! I hope the government succeeds in banning these! And finally, with every passing week, Florida governor De Santis angers me more, so I was unhappy spending money there. At least I did often wear these:

I also had, but never wore this more explicit pin:

As an Internet addict, I got online as soon as we were at the motel, but after about twenty minutes, my (rather old) Chromebook died! I was offline until we got back home! I only use my phone for phone calls and photography; I dislike doing Internet work on the phone.

Our Disney day began quite cool and a bit rainy, though it warmed up later. We didn't pay for Lightning Lanes, so we waited in long lines, but we did get to all of our desired attractions.

The weather improved after that first morning. Instead of Universal, we visited several other sites (see the photos): 

The Lake Nona Sculpture Garden has quite a few good pieces, including the charging bull famously on Wall Street and a Henry Moore.

The Morse Museum has the world’s most comprehensive collection of Tiffany works.

The Harry P. Leu Gardens is about fifty acres, including a large lake and multiple gardens. Many flowers were not in bloom this time of year, but at least there were butterflies in the Butterfly Garden.

I definitely wanted to see the Pulse interim memorial. I explained the event to Victor.

Misinformation

 

I am not plagued by misinformation, despite spending hours every day online and on social media. It's not that difficult. You can do it, too. Here are some tips:

Don't believe anything liar-in-chief Trump says.

Stay well-informed. (I rely mainly on LATimes, news.google.com, MSNBC, and CNN).

Only pay attention to news from legitimate sources.

That means don't click on any "news" items in social media, instead google the topic to see what trusted sources say about it.

And that means that social media won't feed you a lot of news or fake news items, because you don't click on them.

Be very skeptical of suspicious stories; check google and snopes. (I'm often the one debunking such items. It feels great.)

Added later: The Pro-Truth Pledge is worth reviewing.

Autographs — Wil Wheaton

 

Wil Wheaton was scheduled to sign his new book at Vroman's on August 31^st:

I was there early. Quite a few folks came. Shortly after 7 pm, they apologized and said they were trying to contact him. After 7:30, they said they had no news. Just before 8, they said it wasn't going to happen. They also said they would try again, and they took our names, promising to notify us as soon as they knew more. As I wrote at the time, everyone hoped he was OK. The next day, he was posting on Facebook, with no mention of the book signing he had skipped.

On September 23^rd, I received an email saying that he would be at Vroman's on October 26^th “for real this time”. I would be out of town (Houston trip). I asked if I could drop off my book ahead of time and pick it up when I returned. I had to write three times before they answered, but they said OK, and that's what I did.

(Index to autographs)

Houston — Oct. 2022

Link to more photos. (View the photos individually to see the captions.)

In February 2020, I booked flights for a trip to Houston a few months later. When COVID shut things down, that was the first of five trips I had to cancel. Now it's the last of them to finally happen. Rice's "Golden Reunion" weekend, my 50-year reunion, was the obvious time to go.

The trip included family, Rice, and several Houston sights, some new to me. We stayed with cousins Joel and Joan in Fulshear, 35 miles west of Houston. Victor particularly loved taking their dogs for walks.

We had dinner one night with more family: Warren, Lisa, Lauryn, Jason, Spencer and Ryan.

Around Houston, I first showed Victor the Rothko Chapel and Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk sculpture in front, which I've always liked. We continued to the Menil Collection. I was surprised by how much they continue to acquire. I had not previously seen their Flavin Installation. (See the photos.)

Because we had recently been to Hobbiton in New Zealand, we had to stop at the Hobbit Cafe. 

The rest of the day was at Rice. I particularly wanted to see Duncan Hall and the Turrell Skyspace. Duncan Hall did not disappoint, but there's really not much to see at the Turrell work unless you're there at dawn or dusk, which we did not manage to do.

The next day, we started at the WaterWall. I showed Victor the Galleria, including the ice rink. The mall has expanded over the years; it is much larger than I remembered. After lunch, there was heavy rain, so I abandoned plans for other sights, and we went directly to the Rice reunion dinner location. As the rain let up, we saw large rainbows over downtown Houston. 

In the weeks before the reunion, I asked several of my classmates whether they were going, and all but one said no. So I only knew a handful of the reunion attendees, but the reception and dinner were fine.

All around the region, when you tell someone that you go to Rice, the most common response is, "You go to Rice? You must be smart!" While I was attending Rice, someone made this T-shirt, which I still have, and which I brought to the reunion:

(I read that someone later made a bumpersticker of that, and Rice students often put it on their cars upside-down!)

New Zealand — Sept/Oct 2022

 Milford Sound

Link to more photos (As always, click any photo to enlarge it, and view the photos individually to see the captions.)

(And don't miss the link to a second album of Hobbiton photos below!)

I have long wanted to visit New Zealand. When I saw a sale price for this short tour, I signed up. Plus, I had sufficient airline miles for our round-trip flights.  But in the following weeks, there were changes. Certain activities were not going to re-open before we were there, and we made substitutions. In the end, we even cut Christchurch entirely and made the already short trip a full day shorter. 

I was not surprised that it rained at least a little almost every day, but it was also colder than I expected. I never wore any of the short-sleeve T-shirts I brought.

We started in Auckland. We walked around a bit, including Albert Park. Few people wore masks. Although we were in downtown, it was difficult to find a restaurant open for early breakfast. We then had a day-long tour of the city and surroundings, including Mount Victoria, both the Pacific and Tasman Sea coasts, the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, and Arataki Centre. We walked a tiny bit of the [Edmund] Hillary Trail in the rain forest, saw giant ferns, large kauri trees, and Piha Beach with gray magnetic sand. (See the photos.)

From Auckland, we went by car to Rotorua via Hobbiton. Despite the drizzle, it was fun visiting Hobbiton. See my separate photo album there. 

Victor and Rodney at Bilbo's house in Hobbiton

In Rotorua, we went on a Duck Tours ride in an amphibious WW2 "duck" landing craft able to drive on city streets and become a motor boat in water. We did both. That evening, we saw the Maori presentation and had an indigenous dinner at Tamaki Village. 

From Rotorua, we flew to Queenstown on the South Island. The Rotorua Airport is a welcome throw-back: no security check, no metal detector, no ID check, and family and friends welcome at the gate. But our flight was canceled due to fog, and we were booked for a flight more than 7 hours later! We spent all day at the airport.

The next day, despite great weather in town, the morning Milford Sound flight/cruise was canceled! When I called, they set us up for a later time, and that worked. The flight was a bit bumpy, but beautiful; lots of snow-capped mountains. (See the photos, of course.) On the cruise, there was more beautiful scenery, a dolphin, and seals.

The following day, we walked a bit, including Queenstown Gardens, a bookstore, and an art gallery.

A cold front came through on the day we departed, so Victor saw snow falling for the first time, even though it was only a few flakes.

Crossing the International Date Line cost us a day when we flew from Los Angeles to New Zealand, but the return was weirder: We left NZ 8 pm one evening, and after a 12-hour flight, arrived in LA at noon the same day!

Autographs — Sandra Cisneros

 

She was at Vromans, promoting her new poetry book. There was an overflow crowd, many with multiple books for her to sign.

(Index to autographs)

Mérida - Sept. 2022

 

Due to COVID, we had not been back to Mérida since Victor came to Los Angeles in May 2019. He had not seen his mother or any of the rest of his family in more than three years!

We were there for two weeks. We will probably return again this coming winter.

There was frequent rain, especially in the afternoons. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people on the street wore masks; many more than in L.A.

As always, we spent a lot of time on and waiting for buses, both to the downtown and to Progreso. Because Victor's house is now mostly unoccupied, there is no longer Internet service, so I used Internet cafes in the downtown or I used Internet at his sister's home in Progreso. 

Manitoba - August 2022

Link to more photos (and one video). View the photos individually to see the captions.

Polar bears, beluga whales, and aurora borealis!

With Victor's love of bears (see here and here and here), we certainly had to go to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears some day. When I found this warm weather tour, I signed up. And despite some rain in the forecast ahead of time, the weather was very good.

First, we flew to Winnipeg. I was annoyed that they booked us at a hotel away from the airport that didn't offer airport pick-up.

At breakfast the next day, we met two people going on our tour. I figured there would be a handful of people joining us, but when we first gathered together, I was surprised to find more than fifty people in our tour group!

We had a charter flight just for our group (!) from Winnipeg to Churchill — no security checks! — followed by a tour of the area.

The next day, we went on a boat tour to see beluga whales. They were easy to find.

The following day was open for pricey extras (kayaking, aqua-gliding) which we didn't buy. So we wandered the town, although it's not very big and there's not a lot to do or see.

Next came polar bears! We did get good views of swimming polar bears and more distant views of them on land. Here's a 13-second video of one coming ashore and shaking off water:

We saw aurora borealis briefly one night (see the photos). On a tundra tour the next morning, we saw a distant caribou, one even more distant pair of polar bears, and birds including a golden eagle.

We left Churchill on another charter flight to Winnipeg, this time staying at an airport hotel. But the next day, our first flight to return home left too early to use the included breakfast.