Jay and I were excited and happy when we read in the paper that there is a Christkindlmarkt (an open air German Christmas market) at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago during the whole Christmas season. We both have fond memories eating Currywurst (Bratwurst with curry ketchup and sometimes a small roll) and warming our frozen fingers with mugs of Gluehwein (a hot spiced wine). Gluehwein is the only thing that can make my toes feel warm when I'm standing there freezing in the sleet and snow. I always buy a paper cone of roasted, candied almonds. The scent of roasted chestnuts [View Full Entry]

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During the nearly four months we spent in Great Britain, we learned more than most tourists. The following are some of the things that we've really enjoyed during our stay: 1. British humor- It's not just on television. When you see people talking on the streets, they always have a smile or a joke, no matter how grim the political or sports situation is. I love talking to the small shop owners in Basingstoke because they are friendly and more helpful than I am accustomed to in the U.S. Consumer goods are expensive here (more than twice what they cost in [View Full Entry]

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Jay and I had visited the British Museum this past Sunday on a very important mission- to take photos of the mummies for my nephew, Azriel, who is seven years old and fascinated with all things Egyptian. Remember that point in your childhood when you thought mummies were cool, fascinating, and scary? There are more mummies at the British Museum than I have ever seen in any collection. The colors on the wooden coffins are still bright. There are two or three inner coffins that are actually made of gold. What is even more interesting is there are three or four [View Full Entry]

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In many ways the Victoria and Albert Museum is much more interesting than the British Museum. The collections are certainly more varied. They have colorful and beautiful objects in the following categories: architecture, Asia, British collection, ceramics, childhood, contemporary applied art (such a furniture and appliances), fashion and jewelry, furniture, glass, historical styles, metal work, painting and drawing, photography, prints and sculpture, and textiles. To amass a good collection in any of these categories would be an achievement for any museum. The V&A has beautiful objects of great craftsmanship and historical value in all the exhibitions I saw. We had only [View Full Entry]

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Jay and I wanted a weekend away to relax so we flew to Amsterdam Although it is one of the important European financial and trade centers and a very popular tourist destination, Amsterdam is a quiet city. There are few cars and even fewer parking spaces. The main modes of transport within the old central part of the city are bicycle, streetcar, canal boat, and on foot. There are only a million permanent residents. The Dutch are mostly courteous, helpful, and laugh readily. Many of them are very good looking (think Rutger Hauer). All that walking and cycling must keep them [View Full Entry]

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A couple weeks ago I put the spare flash card into the camera and discovered some July 2005 photos of Texas that I took in San Antonio and and on Highway I-35 between Austin and Fort Worth. That there are beautiful parts of Texas is an open secret to natives but unknown to most visitors. There are miles and miles of the state that are brown, sun-parched plain most of the year except for that brief blissful period in the Spring when the wildflowers bloom. It doesn't help the state's reputation that movie westerns show Texas as a barren wilderness where [View Full Entry]

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Most of you know that Jay is a great cook. He really misses his Food Network cooking shows (Emeril and Alton Brown) so I thought it would be a great idea to go to a food show. There were five cooking shows in southern England over the weekend. The Hampshire regional show at Romsey (located a few miles southwest of Winchester (see map below right)) seemed most interesting. The cooking show turned out to be more of a county fair. There were carnival rides, a display of antique farm machinery, a military band, arts and crafts tents, food and clothing vendors, [View Full Entry]

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While taking a leisurely Sunday stroll around the park in Basingstoke yesterday. Jay and I discovered some public art that we hadn't seen before in a pedestrian underpass (called a subway in England). The work consists of five green painted panels with cutout, backlit text that refers to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (pronounced 'oo rid' ee kee"). Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, was bitten and killed by a snake one day while fleeing the amorous advances of Aristaeus. Orpheus (son of Apollo) composed and sang such mournful music in his grief for Eurydice that even the gods were [View Full Entry]

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Jay and I decided we couldn't take looking at another historical bulding this weekend so we went to the Safari Park at Longleat in Wiltshire. Longleat is actually the estate of the Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath. He is 37th on a list of the richest people in Britain. Even so, it must take an enormous amount of money to keep an estate running. Therefore, there are 12 family attractions here, such as an adventure castle, miniature railway, butterfly garden, safari boats, etc. The place is a small scale Disneyland. The management has done a great job with crowd management, [View Full Entry]

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From childhood, Jay and I have always wanted to see a real castle - not the sort where Queen Elizabeth lives - where you pay a lot of money to see silk and velvet draperies, numerous portraits of royal ancestors and a fortune in antique furniture and crystal. No! We wanted to see a stone fortress where you could really imagine the Normans raining arrows through narrow stone slits and pouring boiling oil down on the invading armies - a place where you could envision chain mail clad invaders catapulting boulders over the crenelated towers and trying to scale the rough [View Full Entry]

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