Well, our hotel is a happening place. When we arrived, a dance competition was just finishing up, and now we have the band Kiss in concert across the street at the arena (I wanna rock and roll all nite). I seriously feel in need of a jumpsuit. It seems like at least the road crew…
Category: Travel
Looking for the Colonel
Today I went in search of the Colonel. Francis Wayland Parker was a New Hampshire boy, and he was also the founder of the school where I teach. I found out after I had been at CMK last year that he was buried here in Manchester. I actually think that his cremains are interred here…
Day One: Constructing Modern Knowldege 2011
I’m in NH at a conference that I had the pleasure of attending last year. Constructing Modern Knowledge is a “minds on” conference where we are encouraged to put on our learner hat and take off our teacher hat. I have two paths that I want to follow over these four days; I want to…
Magic Spaces
“Sometimes, if you stand very still in the shadows of those places, you can hear songs on the wind, whispers in the trees. That is why I travel.” from The Silence of Trees by Valya Dudycz Lupescu We have all (I hope) had the enormous pleasure of stepping into a place, a space in nature…
Dining Alone
By far the hardest thing about traveling alone, beyond my travel anxiety about missing trains, phone PINs, oversleeping, heat, getting lost, and overstaying my welcome was finding the wherewithal to go out to a restaurant, taverna, or bar and eat alone. I am not all that good with eating by myself, but I do it….
Things that I like about Spain
Besides the wine and the tapas and Spanish beer which may be the first beer I’ve actually enjoyed in my life, and the polpo…. Yes, there are non-food related things that I like about Spain. First- municipal recycling. While it is different in each of the three cities that I visited, it is clear that…
The Alhambra
Remember what I said about castles? Location, location, location. This one is perched high on a hill overlooking, well, everything. The swallows circle overhead, in and around all of the buildings. It is an amazing place, full of magic and energy. At the confluence of rivers you will always find people. Early hominids through whatever…
Granada, initially skeptical
Ok, seriously, what did I stumble upon? I thought that I was a bit put off by Granada. The train station had the longest queue for taxis that weren’t there, but arrived leisurely in ones and twos. There was an older (than I) British couple behind me in line and she was so rude to…
Cordoba, day three: gardens and ruins
So yesterday I planned a day of a short walk to a thing to a short walk to another thing to lunch to an appointment at the Hammam Cordoba. And generally it all worked out except that I didn’t bring my camera. I had read in one of the guidebooks that I would not be…
Yesterday- small museums, many voices
Yesterday I returned to La Juderia to get a sense of the other voices here in Cordoba. I started at the Alcazar de Los Reyes Christianos, a palace along the river where, I am told, Ferdinand and Isabella planned the explor/exploitation of the Americas. Lots of postcard views of a lovely garden, full of lemon,…
Mosque and Cathedral – light and darkness
When I think, a day later, about what I take away from the overwhelming experience of the Mezquita, I think it is understanding who has control of the light. The arches are dimly lit with hanging lamps and some sunlight comes through the openings in the ceilings, but the brightest spot is the Cathedral, uncomfortably…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 