Tagged With "Cathedral of St. Paul"
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Re: Liverpool: Three Thoughtful Museums
Excellent history lesson Paul. Interesting and good photos too.
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Re: March 3, 2020: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Booked a wedding anniversary trip to St. Thomas and we had a fabulous romantic time. If you get the chance, take the Red Hook ferry to Cruz Bay at St. John's and explore the Virgin Island National Park. Lots of plantation ruins from back in the day when Denmark ruled the Virgin Islands. We had a wonderful lunch and view from the Caneel Bay Resort, which I understand has not reopened after being pummeled by two hurricanes.
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Regarding hotels, Mac, I think I'd spend a few days in Boston to begin with, presuming that's where you are flying into. This will let you get over your jet lag and also give you a chance to see the state of the colors and plot out where you want to go. I would NOT go without having at least a night's reservation booked ahead because you'll waste too much time looking for a place to stay and will end up paying rack rate. Things will be busy and pretty filled up in the small towns of New...
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Re: Miscou Island Lighthouse, New Brunswick, Canada (Where Gumbo Was, #134)
Interesting story. A little known bit of Canadian history. Thanks. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, October 5, 2015: Stone Gingerbread House
I love stone houses like this one. There was one, on a much smaller scale, in my hometown that was right on the waterfront. @PHeymont - it is listed for a mere 11 million. http://www.zillow.com/homes/fo...4.039602_rect/18_zm/ “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
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Re: St. Michael's Church, Charleston
Beautiful stained glass window photos. Charleston is known as the Holy City because of the many churches of many faiths. An acquaintance of mine, Andy Brack is the author of the Charleston Currents web page that weekly reports political, educational, nature, and people issues for the city of Charleston. He also runs a mystery photo once a week and St. Michael's was once used in that contest.
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Re: Edinburgh, Scotland for 2.5 days....help!
Hi Chickpea, Your hotel is very central as you say. There is a regular bus service to certain attractions. We visited in January and had no problem with entry to attractions, the Castle, National Gallery etc. I would only suggest that you check out the individual attractions websites to obtain tickets in advance if you wish. Hope this helps, Paul.
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Re: London's Fabled Soho...with Food
Very interesting blog Paul. Well presented and colourful.
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Re: Visiting My Backyard—Riverside Park
It was my backyard, too, for quite a while. We lived at 99th St and West End, a short walk away in the late 40s and early 50s, and my uncles used to take me for walks there. My father tried to teach me to ride a bike there (our family story is that I learned, but he didn't teach...go figure). Later, I went to Columbia for several years; aside from anything else, it's where I escaped from tiny apartments and roommates to spread the Sunday NY Times out on a bench. Glad to see it's alive and...
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? # 9
Well, nothing "Thais" us together like a good puzzle! But alas, this one did not last to the weekend. WorkerBee, our puzzle champion started homing in by e-mail on Wednesday, with an inspired but wrong guess: Once again Gumbo is taking time to visit a church. This church is made of wood on a base of stone. The location is near Barsana (Birsana) in Maramures county, Romania. By Thursday, he had continued his research, and last night he was back with another e-mail, and he had nailed it. On...
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo #5.5
It might very well be St.-Paul-de-Vence. I've never been there so can't say. However, it doesn't seem tidy enough for France. At least where I've been in France. I think the French are more particular about details in their medieval towns than this picture seems to indicate. I suppose it could be in a very out-of-the-way corner but, still, it just doesn't seem French to me for that reason.
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Re: Canal St-Martin in Paris/Where Locals and Travelers Mix
The Canal St.-Martin area is also good for food. One of the best-regarded new bakeries, Des Idees et du Pain is on its edge, and there's a great twice-a-week open-air market between the point where it goes underground and Bastille.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 23, 2013: Iceland's Black Sand Beach
Beautiful Photos indeed Paul. I often think travellers who choose the best weather for a vacation miss out on moments like these. I blame the TV weather forecasters who always call a Rainy Day "Bad Weather". If you don't get rain then you wont get Rainbows !
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Re: La Dolce Vita (Part 5) Venezia (Venice)
Great pictures...makes me want to go back! Interesting to note: the Mayor of Venice has been very active lately in trying to get the large cruise ships re-routed to keep them out of the fragile space between San Marco and Guidecca...and last month hundreds of people swam out to try to block the ships!
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Re: La Dolce Vita (Part 5) Venezia (Venice)
Thanks for your comments, PHeymont. The cruise ships are BIG business in Venice, and certainly allow a lot of people to enjoy the destination if only for a day. But there are easily places the ships could park that wouldn't hurt the delicate lagoon, then shuttle people into the city.
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Starting to get things planned now Hank ! You have the choice of flying into Edinburgh in Scotland. Manchester in the North of England. Or Gatwick / Heathrow which both serve the London area in the South of England. You can get a Train to Paris to end your tour with a few days of Culture in a foreign language ! Fly back to the US from Paris will save you hundreds of Dollars because you wont pay the UK "Departure Tax" but not vital ! Liverpool is less than an hour on the Train from...
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Re: Frommer's New EasyGuides: A Future for Print
That's a great review Paul, and I'm delighted to see Frommers guides back in the hands of the Frommers. I like their simple "Day By Day" series and this reboot of their guidebooks sounds very helpful and useful. I still like to travel with a guidebook in hand (though I research the trip beforehand). Thanks for the thoughtful review.
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Re: Traveling for Local Food
To be honest, Varsity ain't what it was when I was in college...there's better places around. Some good stuff on Marietta St. near the convention center, and lots of good places in Decatur area (we're near there). That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for to make up our road trip.
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Re: Frommer's New EasyGuides: A Future for Print
A review for London ? Haven't been there for 40 years Paul. Really don't like big Cities and the "too busy to care attitude of people who live there" It's just my personal opinion. On the Tube Train into London people don't make eye-contact or talk to strangers. Here in Liverpool you'll be in conversation with 3 or 4 strangers and share a few laughs on the journey ! Someone falls on the street here ( and most of Northern England ) and folks rush to help. London they step over you. Rant over...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Nov 8, 2013 : The Sanctuary Knocker, Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage site
It's an impressive image, Mac, made all the more interesting by the story behind it. One sometimes forgets the role the church played in "forgiveness" acts through the centuries. I'm always astounded at the quality of craftsmanship behind these thousand year old items. In many ways, we've lost ground, not improved on their skills. Thanks for the education, and sharing this photo!
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Nov 8, 2013 : The Sanctuary Knocker, Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage site
That's an amazingly cool photo!!!!
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
Re the name "Montreal": there is a town in France with the same name so it is not certain that the City of Montreal is called that because of Mont Royal. Apart from that small quibble, I heartily agree with all you have written about my home city. Oh, wait ... it really isn't so that "almost everyone speaks English quite well". Venture east of Blvd St Laurent and you'll soon find that isn't the case. But then the average visitor, unless by accident, will not find him/herself in the part of...
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Re: Frommer's New EasyGuides: A Future for Print
I know Paul - I'm just being a bad traveller ! It's like folks go to France and complain that Parisians don't smile! But they do when they know you! I just find big cities much the same. Like Havana is the same as any other overgrown City in the Caribbean! Crumbling Spanish Architecture. Dominican Republic is another good example. I must be getting Claustrophobic Paul ! Give me the wide open spaces of Delaware State Park and I'm in heaven. Some days I have the whole Park to myself. Solitude...
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
Thanks for your note, Arion! I really didn't run into anyone in Montreal who couldn't speak some English. My French is weak at best, but got by here. That certainly wasn't the case as we headed further east. Maybe we can convince you to do a piece on the "hidden Montreal" -- the places only locals know about. I'd like to explore some of them the next time I'm there.
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
Yes Arion,please do. There are a lot of us US travelers that are really unfamiliar with what our great neighboring country has to see.
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
I'll give it some thought while cruising the Hawaiian Islands later this month, if I have a minute when not learning to hula dance, eat poi and look down into volcano craters. Aloha from Montreal, in the Province of Quebec where our provincial government wants to pass a law making it illegal for Muslim women to wear the hijab, for Jewish men to wear the skull cap (forget the proper name) and for South Asian men to wear turbans, if they work in government institutions (i.e. schools,...
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
A word of warning about poi. It's even more tasteless than you've heard.
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
In Europe, I have had good luck finding value accommodations at Booking.com and Europe-Stays. com. Those sites list hostels with their ratings and prices. A quick peek for June shows several promising choices for around $ 21 USD per bed per night. Unless you just want company, you might budget hotels pricing similar to the hostels. They often charge per person, not per room, which is a big help for the solo traveler. Tune Hotels will work for the London part of your trip, but they are not in...
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
Thanks Red Rover. My last trip I was supposed to go to Edinburgh ,but went to Liverpool instead . I guess I remembered The Tune Hotel from the untaken trip .
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Re: The Tulou of Fujian Province
HistoryDigger, I'll explain. At the end of the first day of tulou visits, the large tour bus rendezvoused with a small van and it was indicated that I should bring my things and come with a young man. Since no one could explain, I had to simply trust and go along, an interesting sensation. I later realized that I was the only one who had opted for the second day. The young man drove me to a very basic village of mostly new buildings built, I suspect but of course don't know, for...
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Re: And the tallest US building goes to?
The judges have chosen the "fairest in the land". I would be happy to tour both buildings. The ingenuity of architects and engineers never ceases to impress me. Some buildings that I have particularly enjoyed touring - the World Trade Center and the Rockefeller Center in NY, the dome of St. Peter's in Rome, all of St. Paul's in London, the Reichstag in Berlin and all of the small historical buildings at Greenfield Village, Michigan.
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Re: Seville Cathedral
The beautiful golden glow on the façade is reminiscent of the shimmer of Columbus' catafalque, contained within the cathedral. Thank you for the fine image.
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Re: Seville Cathedral
That is gorgeous...the color and the composition make it see so inviting! I can hardly wait.
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
I'm ready for a visit. The Beatles history alone is worth the trip! Liverpool has a "reputation" as being a "dirty, industrial" city. I presume that was not the Liverpool you experienced, Rob?
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
In a way, most of the places in the world worth visiting have some history of being "dirty, industrial" places--that's where people cluster and societies are forged. The ancient cities of the Middle East and Greece, and Rome itself were like that! We recently visited the excavated Roman city under central Barcelona, and were surprised to see how much of the area in the center of the ancient city was given over to commercial laundry, large-scale dye works and industrial-scale wine-making. The...
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
No offense intended, PHeymont. I was trying to make a point that the modern reality is very different than the "reputation".
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
No offense taken...your remark just started me on a train of thought that stopped at a new station!
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
Liverpool has never been a Dirty Industrial City. Shipping, sugar and timber have all been the source of employment. All that you would associate with the Industrial Revolution - Mills, Chimneys and the Cotton trade had no connection.
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
No, not thinking of mills and chimneys, necessarily--note my very pre-Industrial Revolution examples--but certainly industrial, and by the nature of sizable cities with people living in close quarters and with the side-products of their industry, an argument can be made for dirty. It's not a slam...it's just the condition of cities that are alive. Here's a quotation, by the way, from the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health: The industrial revolution in England had by the beginning...
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
Not only is Liverpool a great city to visit,but it has so many great places for daytrips that make staying there an excellent base. And to me it seems prices are half the cost of London. One thing Garry might expand on in the thousands of European tourists that are coming there for the day or weekend ,thanks to the budget flights. It has a very international feel to it.
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
Here's a good quote Paul PORTRAIT OF AN UNHEALTHY CITY - NEW YORK INTHE 1800'S by David Rosner Columbia University When a horse died, its carcass would be left to rot until it had disintegrated enough for someone to pick up the pieces. Children would play with dead horses lying on the streets. In addition to lacking street cleaning, the city also had no sewage system and no flush toilets. Garbage--which included both human and animal waste--was basically thrown out windows and onto city...
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
Originally Posted by PHeymont: According to JECH, there is an exhibit of reconstructed "back houses" at the Liverpool Museum of Liverpool Life. That must be a fascinating museum! And the author mentioned that while most of the back houses were town down in urban renewal, the few that remain have been turned into luxury housing! I visited a block of "back to backs" in Birmingham, the last left after thousands were demolished in the move to urban renewal in the city center. They've been...
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
Garry...I certainly did not mean to pick on Liverpool, or to pick it out of the very large crowd consisting of all large cities of the time. My point was that the reputation that Dr. F mentioned was not untrue--but was also nothing special about Liverpool. All the great and interesting places have been through that stage, and to some extent it will never end. While Prof. Rosner's description is a little simplified and sensationalized, it could serve as a prototype for writing about most...