Anicet
Penny and Vernon Joined: January 6th 2006
Logged in: January 22nd 2012
Logged in: January 22nd 2012
Travel Blog Posts
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CANADA ON THE RAILS, WESTWARD THRU ONTARIO Thursday, September 22, at 10:00 PM Eastern Time, Penny and I ambled out of Union Station, Toronto, on a train taking us across our Native Land, mile by rolling mile, to Vancouver on the Pacific shore some 2700 miles away. The cityscape was dim, sparing the environment and us un-necessary glare; instead, the metropolis burned a low, incandescent glow, as we slipped away from it and into sleep. Now, we sit after breakfast next morning in the sky dome of our cross-Canada train as it eases its way into the quiet of the morning mist, through a land of rock face that yields gravel-stone tempered by lakes and gardened by nature with vegetation in autumn glory. We are into early north Ontario, a vast land, various generations of wooded ... read more
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CANADA ON THE RAILS, WEST THRU THE ROCKIES We woke up in Edmonton on Sunday morning, September 25, where our train was stopping for an hour to add another dome car for Rocky Mountain Viewing which was in our future today. While the various crews were getting this done, I did my constitutionals, at 6:30AM, walking fro and to, and to and fro, along our thirty car caravan, stationary for now outside the limits of the city airport strip. The new dome hitched in, we were on our way, settled for a ride into the Rockies. We floated along, taking breads, tea, coffee and yogurt, self-served. As we travelled west, intending to veer south for the Rockies when they would come, a few wild horses made their way parallel to us. We registered that the conifers, ... read more
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CANADA ON THE RAILS, WEST THRU THE PRAIRIES We left Winnipeg at about one in the afternoon, Saturday, September 24, having spent the morning in the train station visiting family of choice we had not seen for far too long and enjoying them and their two-year old first grand child. Let me tell you, there is nothing so engaging as a freshly minted Bubby in her junior years. And if you give her as much space as the entrance of the Winnipeg railway station in which to engage the child, it is just extra-ordinary, quite extra-ordinary, while Zaida simply wears that same smile of quiet content he did some forty years ago. We sat on the hind of our train in the bullet dome, pre-lunch aperitifs on ice in hand, quite content, as we watched the ... read more
Hills rolling against a Horizon of Clouds
SONOMA IN THE AFTERNOON The spell of Redwoods at Muir lingered as we wended our way into the Sonoma Valley. Its southern entrance, influenced by cool breezes from the Bay, provides a hospitable environment for grapes that yield Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. The fruit that bear Merlots, Cabernets and Sauvignons thrive further north in the Valley, away from the moderating effects of wind and water. We drove past lands Sir Francis Drake had claimed for England in 1579, our guide of sixties vintage regaling us with tidbits such that vineyards in this area were an endeavour of priests in the Spanish Missions, late seventeen hundreds; and that the right to produce wine for religious rites enjoyed legal protection during the Prohibition era of the nineteen twenties. Before long, we entered the Valley. Its contour traced half ... read more
Lush Valleys on Our Way to Muir
REDWOODS AT MUIR IN THE MORNING The time had come, on Monday, to set off on an excursion into the countryside, north, beyond the Bridge into forests of red in the morning, and valleys of wine in the afternoon. We would do this in a vintage Wagon, driven by a guide whose speech, dress, gestures and bearing were a dream from the sixties, except that the hair of his body, face and head had all gone pure grey with the passing of time. Our companions on the trip would be, firstly, a freshly minted couple, just arrived from Adelaide, married yesterday, or was it today, they were unsure, the date line having intervened during their trip over; secondly, by a mature couple from Ohio, married for twenty years, so long ago, in Canton, that the wife ... read more
Mural as Community Art
A SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY AFTERNOON Two stops from Union Station on the BART rail system, using one seventy-five from each of our trusty travel cards; and we emerged above ground in the Mission District, which immediately felt like a comfortable, well used living room, all be it out door. At the portals of the BART, a grizzled pavement vendor of art curios took in Penny’s wordless, questioning gaze, and replied that she was at Sixteenth where it meets Mission, “dear”, that she no doubt wanted to go to Valencia; and assured her that she would be well taken care of, anywhere on that street, indeed, anywhere in this District, provided she had the presence of mind to seek directions and assistance, promptly. “Welcome to the District”, he intoned. It seemed like we had been given a ... read more
United Methodist
SUNDAY (MORNING) IN SAN FRANCISCO With Sunday morning came the occasion to go to church. We chose a congregation to which our hotel contributes, in our neighbourhood, where Union Square meets the Tenderloin District; two blocks over, for a breakfast of fresh fruit, peeled and cut to order; and another block down, United Methodist, 11am service. Ushers at the entrance, somehow recognised us for what we were, visitors for the day, and, kind hosts that they were, escorted us to prime seats in the orchestra. Looking around, getting a sense of the place, it was clear this church does not suffer from the syndrome of empty pews rampant elsewhere. Every permanent seat was occupied; people were packed in, elbow to rib, just within the limits of social distance; additionally, temporary chairs were in use, extending every ... read more
Transamerica Building - Our Beacon in the Sky
THE NORTH BEACH: THEN AND NOW Breakfast on the eleventh December is of fruit, smoked salmon, and bagels; no sausages, no cream cheese, no hot chocolate, doubling down on my religious bets this Friday morning. Afterward, we drop a dollar fifty, total, for two seniors, into a cash box at the front of another cross town bus; and ride it along Stockton up to Columbus, where it tri-sects with Green, and where the Italian community has held sway since the late eighteen hundreds. Looking south east down Columbus, the pyramidal outline of the Trans-America building defines the cityscape, in its role as tallest of the tall, its wings and spire reaching above all else. About a mile away, we choose it as the beacon to which we would gravitate as we sample other sites today. In ... read more
Golden Gate Bridge
LANDS END: GOLF & GARDENS AND ART AT THE LEGION We got into Thursday morning, December 10, with a breakfast of corned beef hash under two eggs lightly over, at an emporium to baseball greats of the Bay Area. Then we walked to about mid-hill and hopped a city bus, for a trip across town, up to a point where the Pacific swept and swelled, a sheer drop of some two hundred feet. Because the Ocean was there, we set out on a descent to it, spurning, for now, the Palace of the Legion of Honour, which had been our destination of choice when we left home. We proceeded down a sloping route, sometimes gentle, sometimes knee-challenging, often times over dirt, other times along challenging fairways of a tightly grassed golf course.Along the way, we read ... read more
Accommodating pigeons
WHERE THE CABLE CARS CLIMB AND THEN DESCEND Most walks in this Town take place on a pronounced slope, one way or the other. Our morning began with a brisk promenade, straight-up and then side-up, to our place of breakfast, a down home cosy nook in the wall. That we had to queue up was a promising sign of food satisfaction to come. After a ten minute wait in the entrance, under a sign with the admonition, defense de fumer, no translation, in-joke, we were ushered to an oblong table for four, of olden wood. I sat at one of the two near-antique, straight-backed chairs, on the one side. Penelope squeezed and slid into her piece of a soft seated bench, along and against the wall, on the other side. My fare was freshly squeezed orange ... read more
